THE CURSE OF ALCOHOLISM

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21)

The man who drinks a little alcohol, drinks too much alcohol !!  You don't think so - well let us look at the sordid record of alcohol consumption across the world today.

Alcohol is becoming a bigger problem than drugs right here in Canada.  Kids are drinking alcohol at younger and younger ages  and are drinking alcohol in such excess that the hospital emergency rooms are full every weekend of young teenagers with Alcohol poisoning.  There seems to be a desperate need for young kids to escape from reality and turning to that bottle of alcohol seems to be the answer for so many people searching for happiness.

In Alberta, Canada, figures show that more money is spent each year on alcohol than is taken in province wide in oil revenue.  Alberta,  Canada's Oil Province  will soon become known as the 'Alcoholic Province'.  And the destruction that follows the drinking is leaving families in ruins with scars that do not heal. Alcohol can lead to  cheating on your spouse, violence and turmoil in families, divorce and confused troubled children having no stability and no where to turn - so they in turn start drinking to ease the pain and loneliness.

As the drinking alcohol continues, what follows is loss of jobs, violent fights that at times end in death and murder, car accidents and deaths caused by drunk drivers.               

Someone said, "Alcohol gives you a red nose, a black eye, a green brain, brown breath and a blurry outlook."   

Many people drink alcohol to get their courage up .... others drink alcohol to get happy, but the happiness is just temporary.  One day you wake up with a hangover and realize that you have no job, your wife has left you, your kids have drifted away from you and you are all alone.  So you continue to drink and your life slowly progresses from bad to worse, the depression sets in and the endless battle of trying to find happiness causes you to drink more alcohol to try to forget the mess your life has become.    

Alcoholism is becoming a world wide disease spreading quickly.  Oppression and lack of freedom experienced by 97% of the citizens of the former Soviet Union for 70 years, and the majority of blacks and coloreds in South Africa until recently, was the excuse given for excessive alcohol intake.  

The heavy alcohol drinking of Russians has paid off handsomely, producing a nation of drunks, broken homes and abject poverty.  And the hardships suffered by a lot of Canadians -  unemployment -  has given  rise to the same mental attitude .... endure hopelessness through alcohol consumption.

Social drinkers get hooked and eventually graduate to the class called alcoholics or alcoholism.  Judge Lewis Drecker of Cleveland, Ohio state: "The chronic alcoholic and excessive drinker is a graduate of the moderate drinker."

ALCOHOL IS THE SPOILER

Alcohol has been the ruin of many great men in every walk of life, and for thousands of years. Connie Mack stated, "All the umpires put together have not put as many ballplayers out of the game as 'old man booze'.

Friedemann Bach, the most gifted son of the great German  composer Johann Sebastian Bach, went to pieces through drinking alcohol.  Michael Hayden, younger brother of Joseph Hayden, and hardly less gifted, was also ruined by alcohol.  Franz Schubert became an constant wine drinker and died in his early thirties.

ALCOHOL CAUSED ROBERT SCHUMANN'S NERVOUS
      BREAKDOWN

After the death of his wife, Rembrandt, then 36 years of age, became an alcoholic.   "I call drink the greatest trap that life has put before the feet of genius.:  - Upton Sinclair              

J.C. Penny never drank anything stronger than ginger ale.  When someone reported that he had indulged in cocktails, he said, "My reputation which I value has been damaged.  From henceforth it will be plain water or tomato juice for me. "

Charles Lamb, English essayist, confessed that - because of alcohol - he was, "gliding into the abyss with open eyes and bound will, seeing his own destruction before him without having the strength of will to break away and with all good drained from his heart."

Vance Havner - well know Baptist minister and writer stated: "The alcoholic commits suicide on the installment plan. "  Marjorie Black - chairman of the American Medical Committee on Alcoholism stated: "The requirement of our society that drinking is a social obligation to which one must conform is one of the major causes of alcoholism in our country."                  

Abraham Lincoln declared: "ALCOHOL IS THE GREATEST AND MOST BLIGHTING CURSE OF OUR MODERN CIVILIZATION.  THE LIQUOR SELLER IS SIMPLY AND ONLY A PRIVILEGED MALEFACTOR - A CRIMINAL."

Irv Thomas - former Edmonton bureau chief for CHQU Radio - struggled with alcohol from the age of 19 years.  12 years of going to bed drunk every night, with the exception of 6 or 7 sober nights a year.  On July 30, 1982, he beat booze when he decided that he'd had enough and called out to God for help.  On the verge of losing everything, friends, health and job, Irv became a tea drinker and is now a very happy man.

And by the help of God and the Holy Spirit, he is still free from alcohol.  It can be done by faith in God, commitments to Christ and some old fashioned will power.             

Marv Mohr was an alcoholic when he began attending Faith Cathedral, Edmonton in 1985.  He had been hooked on Alcohol for 16 years, even though he could still hold good jobs because of his relative youth, talents and work ethics.  His marriage had ended up 'on the rocks' and realizing his need for spiritual help he called upon the Name of Jesus for help.

Through Biblical counseling and prayer, we were able to help Marvin back to God and a new life in the Holy Spirit.  Today he is a prosperous businessman on the West coast, with a heart for God and the work of missions.

Gerry Eppinga immigrated to Canada from Holland as a very young man.  After about 5 years of hard work and prosperity, but extremely lonely, he got involved with the wrong crowd and spent his time in the bars every weekend and soon each evening.                    

It wasn't long before Gerry became addicted to alcohol.  He lost his desire to work and inched his way downward to a place where he was losing his  health, money and ability to work were gone.  He ended up running a nightclub in Prince Rupert and began supplying the Native Indians with illicit drugs with as many as 8 pushers.  He was banned from every bar in that city.

Then, Gerry heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our crusade in the Islander Hall in 1975.  He was gloriously converted and was delivered from his demon spirits.  Gerry's Club 7 nightclub was situated on the main floor of the Islander Hall and we were conducting a gospel crusade in the large ballroom above.

When I heard loud rock and roll music, I inquired from whence it came.  Someone said, "Thats from Gerry Eppinga's Club 7".  I declared to the congregation "Let's close down that hell hole, in the Name of Jesus."             

The next evening, Gerry attended the service and was converted.  During the sinner's prayer and 'confession of faith', the evil spirits threw him in the air, screaming.  I commanded them to leave in Jesus' all powerful Name and they had to go.               

Gerry became a successful man, an ardent Christian and a witness of Jesus Christ.  He sold his business, attended Bible College and spent a number of years as a missionary to the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands.  At this time, Gerry ministers to the Dutch population of B.C.'s lower mainland and his former homeland of Holland.  God has endowed him with a marvelous gift of preaching.              

Don McInness of New Sarepta, Alberta, couldn't function as an engineer without his daily bottle of hard liquor - which he had consumed for many years - until he met Pastor Marvin Swanson of the New Sarepta Country Church.  Pastor Swanson - formerly a heavy drinker - led Dan to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and he was delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is still free from alcohol and very active in the church.

Randy Huisman of Smithers, B.C. was hooked on booze from his late teenage years.  After years of heavy drinking - whiskey on  a regular basis - he thought of suicide, but God intervened and he received Jesus Christ into his life.  Together with his wife Patti, Randy is a solid, sincere and motivated soul winner.

Russell Brass, formerly of Keys Reserve near Norquay, SK was brought to Faith Cathedral, Edmonton in 1985 by his nephew Rev. Allan O'Soupe.  
        Read Allan O'Soupe's full testimony here

Russell who had diligently consumed about a gallon of wine on a daily basis for almost 40 years was saved and set free from his horrible sin, as I prayed in the Almightly Name of Jesus Christ.   Russell stopped drinking immediately and remained sober, free and full of God's joy for the next  8 years until his death - Hallelujah! 

Don't forget my friend, Jesus came to set the captives free.  Hear His words of truth and liberty.  Believe them and be free.  "The Spirit of the Lord in upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;  He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."  (Luke 4: 18)

  ALCOHOLISM:  A Sinful Lifestyle causing heartbreak,
      violence & death.

"Thou shalt not give thy neighbour strong drink." (Proverbs)  "No drunkard...adulterer...homosexual shall enter the kingdom of heaven." (Revelation)              

They used to be called drunks - high class drunks, middle class drunks and skid-road drunks.  Preachers used to call drunkenness a SIN and medical doctors warned about a deviant lifestyle that leads to sclerosis of the liver, heart disease and death.

Drunkards have really "come up in the world."  They are now call alcoholics and excessive drinking is no longer considered sinful by many but a terrible disease called alcoholism.         

That alcoholism is a serious problem in North America is an understatement.  It is a major problem which will NOT go away.  A recent report from the North American Indian Counseling Services says, "Alcoholism is one of North America's top health problems, along with cancer, heart disease and mental illness.

The report lists the harmful effects of alcoholism for - the individual - their families - the economy.   It warns that alcoholism ruins a person's life, causes loss of self respect, happiness and effects health and safety.

 "Nineteen our of 20 alcoholics are intelligent men and women, not skid row types.  The average alcoholic has 4 others in the family.  Loss of income and loss of respect lead to greater problems.              

The loss to the economy is staggering.  Ten billion dollars is lost annually in work hours to businesses, industry and civilian, government and military occupations.

And 100 billion dollars is spent on health and welfare services for alcoholics and their families.  30 billion dollars in property damage, medical costs and the over head costs.  This amounts to an average annual cost of $14 nationally.  We all pay for this.             

  SYMPTOMS OF ALCOHOL
       Loss of Control over alcohol intake
       Develops a need to drink more and more to
           achieve the same effect
       Painful withdrawal  symptoms and hangovers
       Uncontrollable reliance on alcohol to cope with
            problems

  STAGES OF ALCOHOLISM
       It comes hard to differentiate between a heavy social
       drinker and an early stage alcoholic

  EARLY STAGES OF ALCOHOLISM
     Increased use of alcohol at social functions
     Drinks to relieve tension
     Drinks every day as a relaxant
     Getting drunk - when not intending to.      

  MIDDLE STAGES OF ALCOHOLISM
     The subject develops a cycle drinking more and
          more
     Guilt and isolation drinking
     Discouragement at drinking
     Needs drink first thing in the morning
     Occasional blackouts
     Prefers lower class of companions to drink with

  FINAL STAGES OF ALCOHOLISM
     Is often lonely and depressed
     Lives to have the next drink
     Has severe personality swings
     Liver damage - Major health problems

  ROCK BOTTOM
     Death
     Prison
     Mental Institution
     Marital Breakup
     Violence

THERE IS HOPE   Don't forget my friend, Jesus came to set the captives free.  Hear His words of truth and liberty.  Believe them and be free.  "The Spirit of the Lord in upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;  He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."  (Luke 4: 18)

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