Pill Poppin’ Christians

By Ben Zornes

Orcs and Elves

Aged women are given explicit Apostolic instruction to be “not given to much wine (Tit. 2:3).” A deacon’s (and probably elder’s) wife is, among other things, to be sober, νηφαλέους (1 Tim. 3:11). The entire congregation is commanded to not be drunk with wine, but filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Sober-mindedness is a frequently commanded virtue. God wants His people clear-headed. That’s the virtue which is being admonished.

Now, is wine the only way in which sober-mindedness is compromised? Of course not. Is wine expressly forbidden? Of course not. Wine stands in for other forms of mood/mind altering substances. And we should not forget that wine is a blessing from the Lord, given to make the heart of man glad (Ps. 104:15). That blessing should be embraced without blushing.

But the devil likes the blessings God gives. He loves to mangle and corrupt them, and bids us do the same. The blessings God gives can be corrupted from the means of enjoying God’s grace and goodness, and turned into a means of self-worship. The same wine that can gladden the heart can also turn one into a drunken brawler (Pro. 20:1). Orcs were once elves, mind you.

For the rest of this very good article, go here.

Image by analogicus from Pixabay