Bartender: For Christians who sell alcohol
By David Cox
[CP04] v1 © 2006 www.folletosytratados.com
This brochure can be photocopied and printed freely
Woe to the one who gives drink to his neighbor! – Habakkuk 2:15
Sometimes there are Christians who have stores or restaurants that ask the question, “Is it wrong to sell alcohol in my business? My clients ask me, and I’m really not responsible if someone else sins with something I sell. ”
Sin involved with Alcohol
In the Bible, they drank wine. But according to people’s customs these days, these drinks were very low in alcohol content. In the 1500s they discovered the alcohol distillation process, but then before 1500 the alcohol content was about 5% to 6%, some were less. In addition to this, the custom was that they mixed their wines in a percentage of 3 parts water to a part of wine (the strongest) up to 20 parts of water to a part of wine (the least strong) reducing the alcoholic content even more.
Of course, there were drunks on that day, and the Bible condemns this in both Testaments. There was also the custom of mixing pure wine with species and perfumes to still have more strength to get drunk. Who will ay be for? Who is the pain for? Who do you resent? Who are the complaints for? For whom are wounds in vain? Who has redness of eyes? For those who stop a lot in wine, For those who are looking for mistura. Do not look at wine when it reds, When its color shines in the glass. It enters softly; But finally as a snake it will bite, And as a asp it will give pain. Proverbs 23:29-32. The point is that the wine they produced and served at that time was very low alcohol wine. His habit was to take it with food, which medically stops its effect so that the person does not reach the drunk state very easily. Even if they did drink wine, it was usually difficult to get drunk or consume enough to be under its influence without trying to do so with will (sitting down to get drunk as this verse speaks).
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk with wine, in which there is dissolution; Rather be filled with the Spirit. God clearly forbids getting drunk or being intoxicated with alcohol (which is a poison to the human body). “Dissolution” comes from the word salvation with an article of denial in front of it, and then it means “not saved”, something that does not belong to a saved person.
And manifest are the works of the flesh, which are:… drunkenness … and things similar to these; about which I admonish you, as I have told you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err … nor the drunks … will inherit the kingdom of God. And this was some (of you); but you have already been washed, you have already been sanctified … I will not let myself be dominated by any. 1 Cor. 6:9-12
Woe to those who wake up tomorrow to continue drunkenness; that they are until the night, until the wine ignites them! And in their banquets there is… wine, and they do not look at the work of Jehovah, nor consider the work of their hands. 22 Woe to those who are brave to drink wine, and strong men to mix drink; Isaiah 5:11-12
So alcohol intoxication is a sin that demonstrates a lack of understanding about salvation (the person is not saved). Paul said in 1 Cor. 6:11 that the Corinthians were like that, but now they are not because in accepting the Lord as their Savior, they set these things aside to follow Christ.
We must understand very clearly that currently with alcohol as strong as it is made, having a single drink is equivalent to getting drunk. That is, drinking alcohol today (without diluting one in 4 of water or one in 20 of water) is simply the sin of getting drunk that condemns the Bible. He who sells alcohol knows that the people who buy it buy it to sin then, and you become part of his sin by selling it to him. 1 Timothy 5:22 … do not participate in the sins of others.
1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all kinds of evil.
Ephesians 5:11 And do not participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but rather rebuke them.
Now, if you sell alcohol so people get drunk, are you a participant in their sin by providing the drug they use? Or are you rebuking them? It is obvious that you are a participant of his sin. Drug traffickers participate equally or more than users. No? Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of it, my people, that you may not be partakers of their sins, nor receive part of their plagues. Here God commands believers to separate themselves from the sins of the world, not to be participants in their sins so that they do not receive the same condemnation of God upon them (the plagues) that God commands to punish them.
Causing others to stumble
Luke 17:1-2 Jesus said to his disciples:Impossible not to be stumbled; But woe to him for whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were tied around his neck and thrown into the sea than to stumble one of these little ones. ((The word here does not necessarily mean “children” but small, someone younger than you. It implies that if you cause someone who is not at your level in the spiritual life, or is unconverted or immature in the faith.))
Romans 14:13 So, let us no longer judge each other, but rather decide not to stumble or fall for the brother.
1 Corinthians 8:9 But see that this freedom of yours does not become a stumbling block for the weak. 13 Therefore, if the food is my brother’s chance to fall, I will never eat meat, so as not to stumble my brother.
That people are going to sin, yes without a doubt. But what an eternal curse for the people who cause these stumbles to people!
Curses on poisoning others
Habakkuk 2:15 Woe to the one who gives drink to his neighbor! Woe to you, who brings your gall to him, and intoxicates him to see his nakedness! 16 You have filled yourself with dishonor rather than honor; drink you too, and you will be discovered; the chalice of the right hand of the Lord will come to you, and a vomit of annoyance upon your glory.
God condemns those who give alcohol to others to take advantage of them. Here he speaks of intoxicating others to see his nakedness, but the matter is not limited only to this, but to anything where one takes advantage of his neighbor. In Genesis 19:32-35 Lot’s daughters used wine to make incest with him. King David in 2 Samuel 11:13 also tried to cover up his sin by getting Uriah drunk. Compare 2 Samuel 13:26-28; Rev. 17:2.
Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of their fornication; and the kings of the earth have fornicated with her, and the merchants of the earth have enriched themselves with the power of their delights.
God presents Satan here as a bartender serving wine to poison the whole world to take advantage of them. His ministers in this diabolical plan are the bartenders who administer the poison with which they get drunk. Although probably here it does not really speak of actual wine, but of sins of all kinds, but the image that God presents to us remains engraved for us as bartenders who are Satan’s servants, who cause God’s curse on the whole earth. If you are a true Christian, and you seek to get rid of other people’s sins (to have nothing to do with them), and also to enter under God’s condemnation of their sins, it must be very clear that you cannot sell alcohol to nobody.
The Christian’s Testimony
In addition, the Christian has a testimony that must be that he is separated, separated from sin. Rather, I wrote to you that you do not join with anyone who, calling himself a brother, is fornicator, or greedy, or idolatrous, or cursed, or drunk, or thief, with him or even eat … Take away, then, that wicked one among you 1 Cor. 5:11-13
God commands us to separate ourselves from every person who wants to identify as a Christian but is playing with sin. Nor should we have a deal with him, less companionship. Romans 13:14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not provide for the desires of the flesh. Philippians 4:5 Your kindness be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Greed is at the bottom of all this
Why is it so difficult for stores and restaurants to stop selling alcohol? It is simply because this is what gives them a lot of profit. The bottom line of this is the greed that alcohol manufacturers know very well that it will always be someone greedy who will sell their products or the damage they cause. It is also extremely difficult for one who begins to earn the “easy money” to leave nothing else. But greed is equal to a sin that is not named among Christians, because no miser will enter heaven (Eph. 5:5; 1 Cor 5:10-11; 6:10).
Because there will be men … greedy … who will have the appearance of mercy, but will deny its effectiveness; to these avoid. 2 Tim 3:2-5.
Look and beware of all greed; because the life of man does not consist in the abundance of the goods he possesses. Luke 12:15
The one who was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the eagerness of this century and the deception of riches stifle the word, and it becomes fruitless. Matthew 13:22
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; and he who loves much to have will not bear fruit. There is a painful evil that I have seen under the sun: the riches kept by their owners for their evil; which are lost in bad occupations, and the children they fathered, nothing remains in their hands. Eccl. 5:10-14
But great gain is piety accompanied by contentment; because we have brought nothing to this world, and we can certainly get nothing out. So, having sustenance and shelter, let’s be happy with this. Because those who want to get rich fall into temptation and bond, and in many foolish and harmful greeds, which plunge men into destruction and destruction; because the root of all evils is the love of money, which, coveting some, went astray from the faith, and was pierced with many pains. 1 Tim. 6:6-10
Yes, it will cost you a lot to leave your association with alcohol, but God will pay you in heaven.
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