Noah, Ham, Canaan, Armageddon…and Alcohol (The Genesis Series, Part 36)

There are so many marvelous proofs that establish the Holy Bible as the inerrant Word of the living God which surely satisfy the natural analytic mind, but they are entirely subservient to a holy, prescient proof—even a truth of a much higher, even impregnable, order. 

The personal knowledge of salvation—the recognition of one’s BORN AGAIN status—is never naturally achieved and never naturally discerned for it is of the Spirit that sits high up above all natural understanding. A believer’s Holy Ghost paternity is not certified by church membership or by an organizational certificate because it is only spiritually validated.  This marvelous salvation is not of this world.  Romans 8:15-16:

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

For BORN AGAIN, the earth has no duplicate.  It is truly out of this world.  It is not possible to overstate its magnificence.  I Corinthians 2:9:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Dear visitor, have you yet to be BORN AGAIN as Jesus states in John 3:3?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

A marvelous opportunity stands before you today.  In mere moments, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will most literally be born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God.  You will become a new creature—brand new.  Today, all of your sin and shame will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood. You will become a child of God.  Today, as in just moments, all of Satan’s chains on your life will be shattered, the bigger the better.  You will be clean and free.  BORN AGAIN is bigger than words can fully describe. 

Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 9:20-27:

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father''s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 23:29-35:

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

GOD SAID, Revelation 16:15-16:

15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

MAN SAID: I drink moderately—you know, a little moderation.  Besides, Jesus made wine, didn’t He?

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1256 that will, for the 1,256^th time, certify the marvelous inerrancy of God’s majority-text Holy Bible.  All of these Word-centric features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and to be used as ammunition in the battle for the lost sons and daughters of Adam.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.

Thank you for visiting.  May God’s face shine upon you with Light and Truth.

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 36.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

Genesis 9:20-27:

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father''s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

The foundations of life are established in Genesis, from creation to Armageddon.  For those looking for God-inspired truths in God’s first book of the Bible, please note that this is feature 36 in this series and we are only in Chapter 9.  Genesis has fifty chapters. 

The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Alcohol and Armageddon:”

When God condemns an action of any kind, wise men and women take heed.  Years ago while working in the prison ministry, I met a man named Victor.  Victor was an alcoholic and was incarcerated as a result of deeds spawned by his bondage.  Victor had all the necessary tools to succeed in life, but in his approximate 60 years, success was absent.  Poor Victor’s life was wasted, and many other lives affected.  Family members, friends, loved ones, employers, taxpayers, and more, were directly damaged by his actions.  I asked Victor when he became an alcoholic and he said, “My first drink.”  Moderation didn’t work for Victor.

In etymology, which is the study of words, a guideline exists known as the rule of first occurrence. The rule basically states that a word''s definition is established during the word''s first use. The word "drunken" is first found in Genesis 9:21. This is the first account of the existence of alcoholic beverages and of someone suffering the effects of alcohol, and it happened to none other than Noah.  Some creation scientists suggest that Noah was blindsided. He was an expert husbandman, making wine for hundreds of years, but this time, immediately after the worldwide flood, things were not the same. Further on in this feature I will explain. Nevertheless, Noah became drunk and passed out in his tent. His son Ham, in the presence of his brothers, showed disrespect to his father concerning this matter. When Noah awoke, being aware of what Ham did, he cursed Ham''s son Canaan.

Foundational names in Genesis like Canaan, Ishmael, and Esau have one thing in common: God’s judgment is upon them.  These three, in large part, have amalgamated together under the common banner of Ishmaelites, or Muslims.

They will find themselves complicit in bringing about the great and horrendous world-ending battle of Armageddon. Imagine, the first occurrence of alcoholic beverages will go on to participate in the battle of Armageddon.

The devastating effects of alcohol are, in fact, like an Armageddon on the world''s population. The statistics cited are from the United States. The effects of alcohol in many other nations, I''m sure, are as bad—or even worse—than those of the U.S. The current population of the United States is estimated at 340.1 million. Consider these facts: One in ten Americans aged 12 or older have alcohol use disorder (AUD) and untold millions are adversely affected by its results.  Excessive alcohol use is responsible for about 178,000 deaths in the US each year, and it shortens the lives of those who die by an average of 24 years.  One in five deaths among adults 20-49 is attributable to excessive alcohol use.  Alcohol consumption is known to be a significant factor in various violent offenses. Drunk driving accidents are responsible for approximately 11,000 deaths annually, representing one-third of all traffic-related deaths in America. The most recent comprehensive analysis indicates that excessive alcohol use cost the U.S. approximately $249 billion in 2010.  It has been 15 years since then, I can only imagine the cost has grown exponentially. For a global perspective, a systematic review of studies from various countries estimated that the economic costs of alcohol consumption amount to 2.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP), with costs averaging $1,306 per adult.  More than ten percent of America''s children reside in an alcohol-abusive home and suffer psychosomatic illnesses. Consider the broken hearts of deserted mothers, fathers and children: consider the broken homes, the adultery, rape, fornication, and other woes that are caused by consuming alcoholic beverages.

Another terrible devastation caused by alcohol is the effects on the unborn in the mother’s womb. It is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It can be caused by a mother drinking as little as one alcoholic beverage during pregnancy. It is the number-one cause of birth defects and renders its children with IQs 13 to 16 points lower than their non-affected counterparts. Many cases of mental retardation are the result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Drinking kills neurons, causes cancer, destroys livers, damages the ability to discern between right and wrong, and so on. 

With this phenomenal weight of witnesses testifying against the consumption of alcohol, why does so much Biblical confusion appear to exist?

The Word of God speaks about wine and strong drink. (Wine is the main focus of this article.) I wrote earlier that Noah was the first man in recorded history to become drunken and that  some scientists say that this righteous man was blindsided, and here''s the reason why: The natural fermentation process which causes the juice of the grape, for instance, to ferment, is a result of atmospheric changes that took place during the days of Noah. Prior to the great Noahitic flood, a water canopy encompassed the earth.  This water canopy was destroyed by God and cast down to the earth. It has since been replaced with an ozone layer. According to scientists, the banished water canopy would have filtered out the ultraviolet killer rays from the sun. For one thing, UV rays cause bacteria (a natural yeast) to form on the grapes in the field as well as on all other fruits, which in turn causes the juice to ferment. Prior to Noah, these UV rays were blocked by God''s water canopy. Consequently, Noah would have been unaware of the dangers of fermentation.

In Proverbs 23:31, it reads:

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

In other words, don''t drink the wine after it has fermented. Also, the wine God commanded us not to drink had a very low alcoholic content because of the low levels of sugar in the grapes of the Middle East in comparison to today''s alcoholic beverages.

Some of the confusion concerning the drinking of alcoholic beverages is that many erroneously think that the word "wine" in the Bible strictly refers to the fermented juice of the grape. A simple search of the scriptures, however, reveals that unfermented grape juice is called wine as well as the fermented juice. This is shown in the following Scripture passages:

Isaiah 65:8:

Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants'''''''' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

Joel 2:24:

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Please note that it is called wine as it comes forth from the wine press.

In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words which are both translated into English as the word wine. The first word, tirosh, occurs 38 times and it means, "must, fresh or new wine." The word must is defined as, "the expressed unfermented juice of the grape." Again from the textbook Archaeology and Bible History, the following excerpt deals with the two Hebrew words translated as wine. It begins by explaining the word tirosh:

Examination of the use of this word shows that it does not refer to a fermented drink. Eleven times it speaks of wine as a first fruit fresh from the harvest, usually in the phrase, "corn, wine, and oil," and obviously refers to grape juice. Seventeen times it is used with grain and oil, as natural products of the field, again clearly implying grape juice. In three places tirosh is said to be filling the presses, obviously referring to freshly pressed juice (Joel 2:24, Hosea 9:2, and Prov. 3:10). Isaiah 65:8 pictures tirosh as being still in the cluster of grapes, and Micah 6:15 is the clearest of all, mentioning tirosh as the material from which fermented wine is formed. Only in one place is there any association between tirosh and wickedness (Hosea 4:11), "Whoredom and wine (yayin) and new wine (tirosh) take away the heart." Even here in this particular context there is no mention of actual drunkenness and no suggestion that tirosh in itself is intoxicating.

It is clear, then, that tirosh is regularly used in the sense of "grape juice," a beverage with no appreciable content of alcohol.

Concerning the second Hebrew word, yayin, it goes on to say:

Yayin is the most common word for wine in the Old Testament, occurring one hundred thirty-five times, and clearly means fermented wine. At least thirty times yayin is definitely associated with drunkenness, and its use is more or less condemned; it was prohibited to the Nazarites (Num. 6:3); Daniel refused the king’s yayin (Dan. 1:8). About half the passages mentioning yayin in the Old Testament are clearly denunciatory. In some places, it is mentioned merely as a natural product without praise or blame, just as polygamy is referred to at times without specified condemnation being given at that reference. An examination of passages supposed to support the use of yayin shows that they really do not give such support: the use of yayin in making the drink offering does not support partaking of wine, for this offering was not drunk; [End of quote]

(Please note: this drink offering was never consumed, but was poured out before the Lord, just as all things detrimental to human health were commanded by God to not be consumed; i.e. the fat, the blood, the dung, the kidneys, and the caul above the liver.)

As in the Old Testament, the word wine in the New Testament can mean unfermented or fermented wine. When Ephesians 5:18, says, "And be not drunk with wine," it refers to fermented wine. Wine, then, can be fermented or unfermented.

Now concerning the marriage supper in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, there is one very obvious reason that certifies that Jesus, in fact, did not create fermented wine and that reason is that the Lord Jesus Christ was sinless. Had He created fermented wine and contributed to the drunkenness of others, He would have been guilty of disobeying the many commandments forbidding it.

Do you suppose Jesus would have created wine that, if consumed by a pregnant woman attending the marriage supper, could have harmed her unborn child with fetal alcohol syndrome? Do you suppose that our Lord Jesus would have given the people fermented wine causing men to lust after their neighbors'''''''' wives, fist-fight in the parking lot, and wreck their chariots on the way home?

Would it be so hard to fathom that the miracle wine Jesus produced would be the finest wine that man has ever tasted and that the Creator of the universe (Hebrews 1:2) could accomplish this feat without the contamination of alcohol? Wouldn’t  you suppose that Christ’s miracle wine would be free of fermenting bacteria caused by harmful UV rays from the sun? The answers are "of course" and "of course."

Proponents of alcoholic consumption felt vindicated when a 1999 University of Wisconsin Medical School study ascribed great health benefits to fermented wine—at least that’s how much of the story was reported. The research revealed that in wine are found tannins and flavinoids that diminish cholesterol and may fight blood-clotting. What most media failed to report is that unfermented wine (grape juice) has the very same health benefits without the deadly side effects.

Those who promote the concept of moderation, citing verses such as I Timothy 3:8, which reads:

Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

need to read a few verses above that, in verse two which reads:

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

This word, sober, is discussed in the following paragraph in Archaeology and Bible History:

The New Testament attitude toward intoxicating drink is shown by the injunction for Christians to be nephalios, translated "sober." This word is used only three times in the New Testament (I Tim. 3:2,11, and Titus 2:2), but it is used regularly in the classical authors meaning "free from all wine." This word shows strongly that the New Testament ideal is total abstinence.  [End of quote]

The dictionary defines sober as: "not given or addicted to the use of intoxicating beverages; abstinent; free from the influence of intoxicating beverages."

Finally, from Archaeology and Bible History:

In summary, we are left with the Biblical condemnation of alcoholic drink, and a definite denunciation of drunkenness as sin. Nowhere is moderate drinking given approval. The existence of light fermented wine does not mean that God sanctioned its use for beverage purposes. Furthermore, a different situation exists today with the use of modern strong alcoholic beverages. Solomon''s observation of long ago is just as applicable today, if not more so: "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red ... at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder" (Prov. 23:31,32). [End of quote]

The Christians'' motto should simply be, "We drink no wine that''s past the line," and of course that includes all fermented or distilled alcoholic beverages. [End of quotes]

The following excerpts are from Wilkerson’s 1978 book, Sipping Saints:

The word “juice” does not appear in the New Testament and only once in the Old.  All fruit of the vine was called wine, whether it was fermented or not.  There are thirteen different words used in the Bible which are interpreted as wine, nine in Hebrew and Chaldee, and four in Greek. 

The distinction between fermented and unfermented wine is cited by ancient writers.  Again from Wilkerson’s Sipping Saints:

Even classical writers spoke of unitoxicating “wine.”  Horace, in 65 B.C., says: “Here you quaff under a shade, cups of unintoxicating wine – this day sacred in the revolving year, remove the cork fastened with pitch from the jar which was set to fumigate.

Drinking was referred to “without passion.”  Plutarch, in 60 A.D., writes: “That filtered wine neither inflames the brain nor infects the mind and the passions, and is much more pleasant to drink.”

Aristotle says of sweet wine called “glukus” that it would not intoxicate, and the wine of Arcadia was so thick it was necessary to scrape it from the skin bottles in which it was stored and dissolve the scrapings in water.

Virgil, in 70 B.C., says: “Or of sweet ‘must’ boils down the luscious juice.”

Homer, in his Odyssey, Book IX, tells us that Ulysses took in his boat a goat skin of sweet, black wine, and that before it was drunk, it was diluted with twenty parts of water.  [Being thick, it required water to prepare it for drinking.]

Varro speaks of “gathering wine;” Cato of “hanging wine;” Ovid, “And scarce can the grapes contain the wine they have therein.”  Columella and other writers who were contemporaries with the apostles inform us that in Italy and Greece, it was common to boil the wines [which, of course, they would not have done if the alcoholic content were desired].

Archbishop Potter, born A.D. 161, in his Grecian Antiquities, Edinburgh edition, 1813, vol. ii, p. 360, says, “The Lacedaemonians used to boil their wines upon the fire till the fire was consumed; then after four years were expired, began to drink them.”  He refers to Demoncritus, a celebrated philosopher, who traveled across the greater part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and who died in 361 B.C., also to Palladius, a Greek physician, as making a similar statement.  These ancient authorities called the boiled juice of the grape “wine.”

“The Mishna states that the Jews were in the habit of using boiled wine.” – Kitto, vol. ii, p. 477.

Concerning boiling the juice, Wilkerson weighs in with the following:

It is an unchangeable law of nature that vinous fermentation requires temperatures between 50 degrees and 75 degrees F.  Fermentation in climates above 75 degrees F would be acetous (vinegar-like).  Fermentation may be prevented by boiling, by filtration, by excluding air, and by adding sulfur.  Grape juice boils at 212 degrees F; alcohol evaporates at 170 degrees F – which is 42 degrees F below the boiling point – the object of boiling being to preserve the sweetness of the juice.

I am convinced, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Jesus turned water into new, sweet wine—unfermented.  It was the same kind of sweet, unintoxicating wine that is still produced today in many southern Asian and European countries. [End of quote]

Much noise has been made concerning the benefits of wine-drinking (meaning fermented wine.  But you haven’t heard as much noise about the medical world’s backtracking on their original proclamation.

The following paragraphs from GodSaidManSaid’s “Wine II” address these issues:

The following excerpt is from the publication Better Nutrition:

Solid research indicates phytonutrients in the wine, not the alcohol, are the awesome antioxidant workers.  Red wine, and its non-alcoholic equal, purple grape juice, are brimming with the antioxidants resveratrol, grapeseed anthocyanidins, quercetin, ellagic acid, phenolic flavonoids, and epicatechin.  Purple grape juice is, perhaps, the most powerful antioxidant on earth, having demonstrated the highest ORAC rating of more than 40 fruits, vegetables, and juices tested in the lab! [End of quote]

The following excerpts are from a report citing the research concerning alcohol consumption. “Cancel Happy Hour: Alcohol Shrinks Brain” was the title of the report.  It reads:

Dec. 5, 2003—Forget that cabernet at dinner; at happy hour—just say no.  For middle-aged people, drinking alcohol in moderate amounts actually causes the brain to slightly deteriorate, a new study shows.

What’s more, you get no protection from stroke—which runs contrary to previous studies that show moderate alcohol intake is associated with some protection against it.

A new study, published in this month’s issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association also delves into this issue of drinking alcohol and brain shrinkage.  Previous studies have linked heavy drinking with brain deterioration as well as stroke.

But this is the first to show that even moderate drinking (seven to 14 drinks a week)—causes the same sort of brain atrophy and it occurs as early as in middle age, so writes researcher Jingzhong Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist with the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  [End of quote]

The following short paragraphs are from the fall 2008 issue of b•Well, a publication of the Cleveland Clinic:

Since researchers found a link between red wine and a reduced risk of heart disease, many women have been enjoying a glass a day.  However, women should weigh the benefits and risks for themselves after the surprising finding that all types of alcohol, including wine, increase a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer. [End of quotes]

🍸 GodSaidManSaid, “Alcohol and Christians (Part Two):”

Concerning the Marriage Supper and Jesus:
In the first article on this subject, we explained the miracle of turning water into wine, performed at Cana by Jesus.  We fully dispelled the notion that this wine would cause drunkenness.  Here’s more on this subject.  John 2:9-10:

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 

Concerning the words good wine in verse 10, ancient writers Pliny and Plutarch stated that “good wines” were those which would not intoxicate, having had their alcoholic content removed.  Concerning “good wine,” Dr. S. Bacchiocchi of Andrews University, author of Wine In The Bible, said:

Scriptural and moral consistency requires that "the good wine" produced by Christ was fresh, unfermented grape juice. This is supported by the very adjective used to describe it, namely kalos, which denotes that which is morally excellent, instead of agathos, which means simply good.  [End of quote]

Concerning Timothy’s Stomach:
Much to-do has been made about the instructions that the Apostle Paul gave Timothy in I Timothy 5:23:

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

Again, from A Preview of Wine In the Bible:

Ancient writers such as Aristotle, Athanaeus, and Pliny indicate that unfermented wine was known and preferred to alcoholic wine for medical purposes, because it did not have the side effects of the latter. In the light of these testimonies and of the other Biblical teachings regarding wine, it is reasonable to assume that the wine recommended by Paul for medical use was unfermented grape juice.

The conclusion of this whole study on the Biblical teaching regarding the use of alcoholic beverages can be summarized in one sentence: Scripture is consistent in teaching moderation in the use of wholesome, unfermented beverages and abstinence from the use of intoxicating fermented beverages. [End of quote]

Alcohol consumption is Satan’s snare.

In the September 14, 2018 issue of The Week on their “Health & Science” page, you’ll find the following excerpts under the heading, “How Much Alcohol is Safe?”

In a hotly disputed finding, a major global study has concluded that there is no “safe” level of alcohol consumption, and that even the occasional drink can be harmful to your health.  The Global Burden of Disease Study examined data on drinking in 195 countries between 1990 and 2016, focusing on how consumption affected risk for 23 different alcohol-related issues.  The researchers found that even as little as one drink a day over a year slightly increased the incidence of health problems.  A low level of alcohol use does seem to provide some protection against heart disease and diabetes, researchers acknowledged, but those benefits are outweighed by other impacts. [End of quotes]

The September 4, 2020 issue of The Week posits “A Healthier Drinking Life?” Excerpts from the article follow:

New federal guidelines in the works may soon put a damper on cocktail hour, said Sumathi Reddy in The Wall Street Journal. 

The change, which has to be approved by two federal departments before officially becoming part of US dietary guidelines, comes in light of growing evidence that moderate alcohol consumption contributes to more than 60 diseases, including six types of cancer. “Whatever kind of study you look at,” says Boston University alcohol researcher Timothy Naimi, “two drinks a day is associated with a higher risk of death than drinking one drink a day.” [End of quotes]

In an August 24, 2018 article published on LiveScience.com, researchers discovered that, when it comes to alcohol, there is no such thing as “moderation.”  The following are excerpts from the feature, “There’s No ‘Safe’ Level of Alcohol Consumption, Global Study Finds:”

Drinking alcohol in moderation is more harmful than previously thought, according to a new study that concludes there’s no “safe” level of alcohol consumption. 

The comprehensive study, which analyzed information from millions of people in nearly 200 countries, found that alcohol is tied to nearly 3 million deaths globally each year, with about 1 in 10 deaths linked to alcohol use among people ages 15 to 49.

What’s more, any protective health effects of alcohol were offset by the drink’s risk, including strong links between alcohol consumption and the risk of cancer and injuries such as those resulting from car accidents.

The study analyzed information from nearly 700 previous studies to estimate how common drinking alcohol is worldwide, and examined almost another 600 studies including a total of 28 million people to investigate the health risks tied to alcohol. The researchers found that, globally, about 1 in 3 people (32.5%) drink alcohol, which is equivalent to 2.4 billion people worldwide, including 25% of women and 39% of men.

Worldwide, drinking alcohol was the seventh-leading risk factor for early death.

The researchers said that, based on their results, public health campaigns should consider recommending abstinence from alcohol.

Humphreys [professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, not involved in the study] called the work the “most sophisticated global study of the impact of alcohol on human health ever conducted.” [End of quotes]

The January 3, 2025 ABC News headline blared: “Surgeon General Warns of Link Between Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk.”  Excerpts follow:

The US surgeon general issued an advisory on Friday warning of a link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. 

Consuming any type of alcohol, including beer, wine, or spirits, increases the risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including breast cancer for women, as well as cancers of the colorectum, esophagus, larynx, liver, mouth, and throat, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote in a post on X, announcing the release of the advisory.

Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, according to the surgeon general’s advisory. [End of quotes]

A paragraph from the January 17, 2025 article in The Week, “Alcohol: Cancer Risk in a Bottle?” follows:

Because alcohol is “America’s favorite drug and its most dangerous,” said Dr. Luis E. Seija in StatNews.com.  In emergency rooms, alcohol is “the invisible force behind trauma cases, the culprit in new diagnoses of liver cirrhosis.”  Outside hospitals, it destroys careers and wrecks families.  Yet even though some 30 million Americans are addicted to the stuff, alcohol “has escaped the stigma of being labeled as a drug,” in part because the booze industry has successfully peddled the myth of “responsible enjoyment” and repeatedly killed legislation to curb excessive drinking.  “Murthy is right.”  We have a drinking problem. “It’s time we sober up.”  [End of quote]

Finally, consider these words on fetal alcohol syndrome from the Mayo Clinic:

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a condition in a child that results from alcohol exposure during the mother’s pregnancy.  Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause the child to have disabilities related to behavior, learning and thinking, and physical development.  The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child but are lifelong.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is on the severe end of fetal alcohol syndrome disorders (FASD).  FASD is a range of conditions in the child caused by the mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. 

There is no amount of alcohol that’s known to be safe to drink during pregnancy.  If you drink during pregnancy, you place your baby at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.  [End of quote]

When God’s Word speaks, the wise children of faith give diligent ear.  Noah, Ham, Canaan, Armageddon, and alcohol.  The word is total abstinence. There is no moderation. Be free! 

GOD SAID, Genesis 9:20-27:

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father''s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 23:29-35:

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

GOD SAID, Revelation 16:15-16:

15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

MAN SAID: I drink moderately—you know, a little moderation.  Besides, Jesus made wine, didn’t He?

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

“Alcohol: Cancer Risk in a Bottle?,” The Week, January 17, 2025

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “Alcohol and Armageddon”

Kekatos, M., “Surgeon General Warns of Link Between Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk,” ABCNews.com, January 3, 2025

Mayo Clinic, “Fetal Alcohol Syndrome”

 

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