Erring Through Wine

Isa 28:7 "But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of
the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed
up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they
stumble in judgment."

If you have known those who are alcoholics, you know that you have not seen the real
person for years; you have been talking and relating to the alcohol. The alcohol distorts
his judgment, victimizes him, and makes him unfit to render judgment in church or in
state. When they sober up, you may be amazed at what a different person has been
hidden under the alcohol.

Alcohol swallows up people and turns them out of the way. This is the reason that
elders and overseers in the church must not be abusive of wine or strong drink, for how
can they be just with men when they err in vision and stumble in judgment?

Proverbs 31: "4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for
princes strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of
any of the afflicted."

Of course, the sin is not in the bottle or in any material thing: the sin is in the heart; the
lovelessness that turns to self-indulgence rather than doing the hard work of judgment
in church or state. It is an idolatry and rejects the world that God created in favor of a
dream world created by the drug.