There are many ways we can waste our lives, and bring destruction to our souls.  In this lesson I will give stories which I have never told about my parents.  I’m not doing this to sensationalize, nor for anyone to pity me.  Others are living in far worse conditions.  I am grateful to God I came out of that situation and am now a faithful child of His.

I want you to know firsthand what this evil will do.  I have read accounts of some wayward ministers who have been deceived by this evil as well.  I can tell you for a fact.  I never saw my father draw a sober breath.  And he was violent when he drank.  Therefore, this lesson.

INVOLVING OURSELVES WITH DRINKING:  I have seen firsthand what drinking can do to a family.  I’m sure you have seen the same within your family, acquaintances, or friends.

“Satan promises the best and pays the worst.  He is a liar from the beginning.
The foolish are deceived by him.  The promised crown becomes a halter.
The promised comfort becomes torment, the promised honor becomes
shame, and the promised heaven becomes hell.”     ~ David Harris

I was five years old when I saw the havoc drinking could bring to a family.  I saw fights between my father and mother, for they were both drinking.  I saw my father push my mother’s head into a cabinet and my screaming for him to stop.  I remember a deep gash in her head.  I saw him try to kill her on two occasions when he was drunk.  I witnessed her trying to kill him.  Utilities were turned off on many occasions; no food was provided to the point I ate the dog’s food once and even searched a garbage can for food because I was hungry.  No proper clothing, no love, no spiritual training, and at times I was placed in a closet for punishment.  For what, I don’t know.  I remember drunk driving, being taken to gambling casinos in Reno when they took us from my grandparents in Texas.  I remember my father trying to get as close to the edge of a mountain without the car falling below.  I remember the police, the ambulance, and eating at a neighbor’s house on multiple occasions, for this is where the police sent us so we would not witness their dealing with my parents.  I was scared, humiliated and ashamed of what I witnessed and lived in fear on a daily basis.  These are extreme stories, but I tell them to warn others about the evil of drinking.  No matter how drinking is portrayed in the commercials, or your relatives or friends tell you that drinking is harmless, it is not.  God calls it sin and ultimately it will destroy the soul.  My father died of cirrhosis of the liver attributed to drinking, and my mother died of a heart attack attributed to drinking and drugs.  Both lost their souls.  Never once did I hear the name of God in my home, and when He was mentioned, His name was taken in vain.

In the end we were taken by the state and placed in foster and state homes.  All stemmed from the evil of drinking.  God warns us about this sin, but many are being deceived by it including some so-called Christian universities, ministers which have fallen away, and members of the church who believe they can toy with sin without consequences.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:  and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”    Proverbs 20:1

“Who hath woe?  who hath sorrow?  who hath contentions?  who hath babbling?  who hath wounds without cause?  who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  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.  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.”    Proverbs 23:29-35

“Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.”   Hosea 4:11

“Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:  of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”   Galatians 5:21

“The necessities of life I’ll take from you.  I’ll take from you days, I’ll take from you years;
I’ll double the flow of  your bitter tears.  I’ll take your heart, give you one of stone;
I’ll cause you to walk through life alone.  I’ll take your desire to live aright.  Your light
of day, I’ll turn to night.  I’ll cause you to dishonor your mother and dad, I’ll take all the
pleasure you could have.  I’ll turn your love for your friends to hate, Your desire to repent
will come too late.  Your road to despair for you I will pave; I’ll cause you to fill a premature
grave.  I’ll put you in an institution for the insane, and normal thinking I’ll not let you gain.
I’ll cause you to murder your best friend, I’ll trouble your mind to the very end.  I’ll bring
you contention, I’ll bring you strife; I’ll finish with you by taking your life!       ~ Author Unknown

Eileen Light