The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity" WELLINGTON, FEBRUARY 1, 1949 WHY I REFUSE STRONG DRINK

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 1, 1 February 1949, Page 4

The White Ribbon. "For God, and Home, and Humanity " WELLINGTON, FEBRUARY 1, 1949 WHY I REFUSE STRONG DRINK

By Pastor Wm. Campbell. Auckland

ADDRESS GIVEN AT THE AUCKLAND DISTRICT CONVENTION, 1948

Of sheer necessity I was early taught thrift. 1 never lacked the necessaries of life, but every penny had to be spent .to advantage in my home. Neighbours’ children went ragged and hungry, because the oarents drank. The fear of Cod, and reverence for His Word were instilled into my young heart in my home, and at Sunday School aid Band of Hope. One text was emphasised: “Wine is a mocker, strot.g drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). There were many public houses around, and I saw this text exemplified continually. Further, Solomon wrote: “ Ponder the path of thy feet,” and “ Keep sound wisdom and discretion.” Before I knew the meaning of these words 1 was led in these paths; and I am grateful today.

In youth I pondered about Eternity. I rew (i Cor. 6:9, 10) that drunkards would not inherit the Kingdom of God. I» grew upon my consciousness that strong drink constituted a delusion for this present life, and a fatal

snare as to the life to come. There was something in drunkenness that earned the W'rath of God: 1 desired His favour.

When I definitely became a Christian 1 began to study the Bible, and saw more about this matter. There is much in God’s Word, in one way or another, about wine and strong drink: but quietly running through it ail is not only God’s wrath on excess, but His favour towards abstinence. In general, there was 1 Thess. 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” Strong drink has the very appearance of evil to me. If I see any one taking it, or smell it from the .breath, immediately that one’s reputation drops heavily in my mind.

Again, there* is I Cor. 10:31 “Do all to the glory of God.” Indulgence in strong drink is the very opposite of that.

As a young man 1 was led to engage in Christian service amor g children. 1 frequently addressed a urge meeting of boys and girls. I myseli owed much to the high example of Godly parents and Christian friends; and I felt the responsibility towards the younger generation to supply them with an example equally high. That utterly excluded strong drink. I Cor. 8:13 says “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.” Nowadays food is not presented to idols; but the underlying principle applies to strong drink.

As I progressed in understanding of the Scriptures I saw deeper lessons still. In the time of Moses, as now, new laws had to be enacted as new circumstances arose. In Lev. 10:9, 10 a new regulation was laid down: “Do not drink wine nor strong drink . . .

when yc go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die.” The preceding verses indicated the reason. Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, entered God’s presence with incense in their censers of a wrong mixture. God had stated emphatically the apothecary’s prescription for the incense which was to be reserved for Him. Nadab and Abihu were probably hob-nobbing with some idolatrous heathen friends around the camp, and had received some of their incense and thought it gave a better odour; and they had been drinking; and in their fuddled state of mind they over-

looked God’s law of the incense, and presumed to go into His presence with the incense of the idol; and tire Hashed forth from the divine Presence and slew them. This law prohibiting wine before entering His Presence was then laid down, to prevent further tragedies of this kind.

The regulation, however, seems to infer that taking strong drink at other times was not forbidden. It is to be remembered that Israel did not have ideal laws laid upon them, because of the hardness of their hearts (and in this they represented humanity in general) they could not bear them. For the Christian Church, however, the position is raised to heights without limit. “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, 1 will dwell in them . . . Wherefore come out from among them, and he ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and 1 will receive you.” (II Cor. 6:16, 17). If we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot ever get away from the presence of God; for by His Spirit He dwells inside of us all the time. How much more, then, is it laid upon us to leave deceiving drink alone.

Doubtless we have all read some brief indication of the strict training laid upon the two famous princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, in England; training with a view' to high position and responsibility amid royalty. God gave brief injunctions to those who would occupy royal positions in Israel. “It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes, strong drink: lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.” (Proverbs 31:4, 5). How much more shall not this injunction rest upon us, of whom it is written: “. . . blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3). Evidently all who are . Christians are destined for very high positions in heaven; and this present life is a training school to prepare for that. Indulgence in strong drink, therefore, ought to be far beneath us. All such specific injunctions arc svval- ’ lowed up in that brief exhortation, expressing the highest possible ideals for Christians today: “ Walk worthy, of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” (Eph. 4:1).

But the work of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union is not only towards personal abstinence for one’s own sake, but to strive to lead

dthers in that direction; and even to reform society and influence national legislation. What right have they to thrust their personal opinions upon others, like that? They have every right. All round us the fearful ravages caused by this evil indulgence are manifest. They include sudden danger to life, limb, and property. One morning in Mount Eden Read I saw a small car literally wrapped round an electric-wire pole. Later I learned that a drunken driver had driven it there, and a girl was killed in the smash. That driver must have passed, a quarter of a mile away, a church with a Temperance poster showing a skull and cross bones, and bearing the words, “Death rides with the drunken driver.” And Death rode with him that night! But what if YOU had been on the footpath just there and then? There might have been a double tragedy; not by mech-. anical breakdown or unavoidable by the imbecility of mind caused by strong drink. The W.C.T.U. has every right to demand reformative legislation that will make such things impossible.

“Alcohol will remove' stains from summer clothes," says a “ Household Hint.” A witty writer pungently added, “ This is true, but it also removes the summer clothes, the spring, autumn and winter clothes — not only from the one who drinks it, but from the wife and family as well. It also removes the household furniture, the eatables from the pantry, the smiles from the face of his patient wife, the laughter from the innocent lips of his children, and the happiness out of his home. As a rerr.over of things, alcohol has no equal.”

But alcohol does more; it deadens the intellect towards the appeal of the Gospel, which has the promise of the life to come. Conversely, by the power of the Spirit of God through the Gospel, the deadly temptation of strong drink can he overcome.

A young man was converted. An acquaintance said to him, 44 The most terrible thing I ever heard and they expected me to believe, was that there was a God in the beginning, and that He had taken a piece of mud, and breathed into it the breatfi of life and it became a man!” This young Christian answered, 41 My friend, 1 wasn’t there; all I know is what the Bible says in that regard. But I ha* 4 this to say to you—l was a drunkard. I was a thief; I lived a life in sin in the greatest degree; and one day Jesus Christ found this piece of mud and cleansed my heart, washed me with His precious blood, and now I am connected to Him, and am happy on my way to heaven. My children used to be bare, they needed the necessities of life, because I used my money for drink and consumed it in whisky and beer, and all that goes with it. Now I have carpets on my floor, and furniture in my house. We have a car; and we are happy in Jesus Christ. I

was dead in sin; now I am alive through Him.” It would be a tragic loss to the nation if the work of the W.C.T.U. were given up. Against the menace of drink all too few voices are raised. The Government gives much attention to the education of the young; spends thousands of pounds to establish a National Orchestra; and even advertises “Don’t Spit”; upsets the nation’s life by regulations to combat the infantile paralysis epidemic; puts people on short rations of meat, tea, sugar, butter, and petrol; but what utter folly is it that leaves this disgraceful trade so free to spread its poison and sin and degradation and wreckage everywhere; and tends rather to discourage the noble efforts of those who would seek to clamp it down.

It is a constant battle against a malignant enemy who is in a strongly entrenched position, because “ the people love to have it so.” But few battles have gone smoothly from the first shot to the final victory as either side planned.. There is always a fierce swaying back and forth. The man who brought out the “ daylight saving ” idea died in disappointment at the derision with which his idea was hailed: he did not live to see it adopted .all over the world. The W.C.T.U. has an infinitely higher cause than that; it is the saving of lives from destruction in this life, and from perdition in the life to come. It is the Lord’s work; it is carried out under His banner; and they can confidently take to themselves those great words of divine encouragement: “ Therefore, my beloved sisters, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”