Concerning Wine

I would agree that we are to be sober and to not be drunk with wine. Eph:5:18: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" Notice Paul says that there is excess in being drunk. When we are drunken we are not able to discern what spirit we are being influenced by. In that verse Paul is also showing us the better way to be joyful; being "full of the Holy Spirit" 1Thes:5:6: Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. Many in the world as you know are asleep as to the day we live and what is really happening, and they are trying to drown their pain by escaping with drunkenness. We should know better. 1Pt:5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"
Wine in the scripture is used as a type of the Joy of the Spirit. It is used in the story of the "Good Samaritan" He poured wine into the wound because the alcohol acts as an antiseptic, but the spiritual type was that he was restoring his Joy. "The Joy of the Lord is your strength" Neh:8:10
As far as wine in the Bible being just grape juice, that is incorrect. Some would say that it was "New Wine" and new wine is not fermented yet so it was not alcoholic. Wine in those days was important because it was able to be preserved because of its fermentation. You could not always have good clean water so men carried wine skins to drink. In the Book of Acts we see Peter telling the crowd that they were not drunk on "New Wine" They had just been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Acts:2:13:" Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.14: But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 16: But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh". Now if new wine was non alcoholic, why would the crowd accuse the disciples of being drunk on it?
As far as making oaths the scripture tells us that this is not wise. In Mathew 5:33 Jesus tells us not to swear but be honest in what we say. It should be our character to mean what we say and be trustworthy; but to swear an oath can get you in trouble. Invariably you find yourself breaking it or you are put in a place that you have to keep something that you may not want to. Mt:14:9
Now we are not under the law but under grace. we therefore are called to walk in wisdom.
1Cor:6:12: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient (wise): all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (or anything)." again
1Cor:10:23: "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." So if wine is not something that has a hold on you but a glass at dinner is something you enjoy, then you are not in error or sin; but if you have a brother that you could cause to stumble and may have an alcohol problem or would think badly of you, and therefore not hear the word of the Lord from you perhaps it would be better to not partake in the wine. Rom:14:21: "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."
Phil:4:5: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
I hope this is helpful and a blessing.
Peter Zarcone

I would also like to mention, I will being doing my first Christian/911 radio broadcast on internet radio. http://www.themicroeffect.com/index.htm "The Micro Effect" . It will be a call in talk show named "Pursuing Truth". (888) 747-1968
If you go to the "Broadcast Schedule" on the side bar http://www.themicroeffect.com/broadcastschedule2.php and scroll to Tuesday at 4pm Pacific time which will be 7 pm my time (Eastern) you can click to listen. I hope to be on every Tuesday at the same time. I pray that the Lord will use this.

Alcohol and the Bible

1 Peter 5:8 - Be sober, vigilant because the devil seeks to devour.

I found this well-known bible verse while reading the other day, and for some reason it really stuck out for me. Being 22 with plenty of friends who drink, its common for me to go to the bar or hang out home and have a few drinks. But as a Christian, and knowing that the end is near, should I be sober?

I never really thought of drinking as a problem. I cited internally how Noah was a drunkard and Jesus turned water into wine. I also remember reading plenty of Bible verses on wine. Adding to that I was raised Lutheran, and it is socially acceptable within the church to have a few drinks occasionally.

But I felt compelled to do a Google search on "Sobriety in the Bible", very similar to how I felt compelled last year to do a search on "Bush + Antichrist". I read an interesting bit that there are many passages that refer to wine favorably or as a blessing, but the wine is clearly not alcoholic. The blessing of "wine" in the Bible refers to unfermented grape juice.

There went my "wine in the Bible" idea, if Jesus had made 200 gallons of alcoholic wine he would have been promoting drunkenness, a sin. I decided to tackle my last quip with alcohol and the bible, Noah.

While doing some research on Noah I read the original bible verse (Follow the link to read). Pondering this I did some research and I was led to the following website (a recommended read) that made a very well thought out argument that the story refers not to Noah being a drunkard and a sinner, but that the sin was with Ham that slept with Noah's wife and fathered Canaan. The website makes the argument that

The phrase "drank of the wine" typifies the joy he has of his Salvation. Though it says he "was drunk", it is not here referring to his being given to wine as we find in other scriptures. He is simply overcome with JOY.

and also

The phrase "nakedness of his father" is referring to Noah"s wife, which is Ham"s OWN mother!

I thought that this argument had strong validity and so I scratched that off my list. The arguments that I once had that alcohol was "ok" had no biblical backing, so I decided to learn what the Bible has to say about it.

A quote on this website answered my question quickly.

God expects us to avoid practices of personal pleasure and self-indulgence which hinder our ability to think clearly so as to recognize and resist temptation. We will see that the very first effect caused by drinking alcoholic beverages is to weaken the mind's judgment, self-control, will-power, and inhibitions. For this reason, the Bible specifically warns us to avoid the lure of alcoholic drinks from the very beginning.

Note that it is not enough for a drinker to claim, "You can't prove I am intoxicated." Rather, to please God he must be sure that he is sober!

Studies have shown it only takes a single drink for alcohol to effect our brain, even if we don't notice it. It affects our judgment and reasoning, making us more vulnerable to give in to temptation. So I guess now I come to see the point. Christians should not practice social drinking nor drink modern alcoholic drinks as a beverage as practiced in our society.

Upon praying on this, I have decided to pledge sobriety to please God. It's going to be a strong challenge with my age and social scene, but I feel called to do this. Please pray for me :] I hope this post is helpful to someone else as well.

Some bible verses to think upon:

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 - Exercise self-control to keep the body in control.

Proverbs 4:23 - Keep the heart diligently, because it determines issues of life.

Matthew 6:13 - Pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Matthew 18:8,9 - Lose parts of the body rather than be lost for sin.

Proverbs 6:27,28 - Can we take fire to the bosom and not be burned?

Bush Declares a National Emergency.

On June 26th, 2008, George W Bush declared a state of National Emergency. This date marks the 3 1/2 anniversary of the Tsunami in Asia, which I have regarded as a future milestone for a few years. However, as significant of an event as it may be, it is a dormant power. I have learned that there is a marked difference between declaring a state of National Emergency, and declaring a state of Martial Law. When Martial Law is declared, we will almost definitely be aware of it. But this declaration of National Emergency came through as a whisper...nothing seems different because of it. What gives?

Martial Law is probably coming, but even still this "National Emergency" issue has a lot to do with the new dictatorship government of America. Until finding out about this declaration (thanks to Dan), and doing some research on exactly what a "state of National Emergency" means...I knew very little. Then I found this, and learned a few interesting facts (on pages 13-16). Here's the run down:

• Reagan declared "National Emergency" 6 times during his 8 years in office, while America was under the threat of the "Evil Empire".
  
• Bush sr. declared it 5 times during his presidency (4 of them had to do with the first Iraq war).
  
• All declarations by Reagan and Bush sr. were revoked by later Executive Orders.
  

Now here is where it gets really interesting:

• Despite the fact that the Cold War was over, and the only real threat to our National Security had crumbled through bankruptcy, Bill Clinton declared National Emergency 18 times!! throughout his presidency. Several False flag operations like the first World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma city bombing gave excuse for these declarations, but I believe that Clinton was helping to prepare America for the New World Order.
  
• Eleven of these declarations have been revoked. The other seven were never revoked, and one has been renewed every two years since 1995.
  
• Between 1-20-01 and 8-1-07, George W Bush declared a state of National Emergency 12 times, and never bothered to revoke any.
  

There is a law that was passed in 1976 that makes declarations of National Emergency expire after 2 years, unless expanded or specifically renewed. It's called the National Emergencies Act.
Even with this, The United States have been in a state of Emergency indefinitely since the end of World War 2.

On May of 2007, George Bush changed the conditions of declaring a state of National Emergency, and the continuation of government after a debilitating attack in H.S. Directive 20. This was yet another step of consolidating power under the executive branch, while undermining the constitution. America as a democracy is over, and has been. The media will inform the masses of this only once the foundation has been set in stone. Laying the foundation is, of course, what's been going on for the past several years.


Bush Declares Himself Dictator


As stated earlier, Bush declared another state of National Emergency on June 26th 2008. Was it for the economic hardships that have recently plagued our nation? No, but it could have been. Was it for the great Mississippi floods of 'o8? Again, no, but it could have been. With very little fanfare, George W Bush declared a state of National Emergency because of the Nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

These days, the political world is living more and more in the future, planning and preparing for Bush's successor, while regarding the current president as mostly harmless. It's the old bait and switch. Since Election '08 fever began, the spotlight has been taken off of Bush (just as the people weren't really paying attention to Bush before 9-11-01). 2008 is the first tax rebate bribe that we have received since 2001. and 9-11-08 will mark the prophetic seventh anniversary of the terrible day in history. I believe that something will happen on that anniversary...something that will cause the elections to be canceled and allow Bush to stay in power. This is the same rough plot delivered by George Lucas in Star Wars, Episode 3 (the rise of Emperor Palpatine). But George Lucas is probably not so much a prophet of current events, as he is a history buff, who is familiar with Adolf Hitler's rise to power. There are many startling and irrefutable parallels between Bush and Hitler. We just don't remember or know about how Germany was transformed from Democracy to Dictatorship between February 27th, 1933 and the invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939. Both events (and others between the two) are the result of false flag operations staged by the Nazis in order to allow Hitler to gain more power. This is neither a conspiracy theory, nor speculation, but is in fact a lesson from history.


People love to hold themselves in higher regard than the current leader of the free world. Bush's foolish persona has completely enchanted millions of people into "misunderestimating" him. People don't think about him as a threat or danger to the world's safety. This is insanity. But, just as today, throughout the rise of Hitler, his fury and mustache made outsiders laughingly refer to him as "Charlie Chaplin". Nobody took him seriously until it was too late.

Islamic terrorism in our time is an elaborate hoax, consisting of false flag operations carried out by Western Governments for many years now. The real culprits have never been caught, never been held accountable, and they have previous experience in evil and destructive scapegoating practices. Like any good magic trick, the terrorist attacks that plague western nations are well planned, and they are set up while the majority of people are looking elsewhere.

I have been doing my best to keep watch, to see what's going on beneath the headlines and behind the scenes. But it was fellow blogger Dan who showed me this most recent, and disturbing step taken by the Bush administration. Thank you, Dan.

End Times

I've been thinking a great deal about the end times, or the last days, and through the process of thinking and reflecting on the meaning of these days, and the events transpiring before our eyes, I have come to a conclusion: that we may be so polluted by the Left Behind folks that we may be missing the boat. Here is what I mean.

The Satanic System that runs our world has existed for millenia. It began as a theocracy, a unificaiton of a pagan priest system with a monarchy(Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome). Its exists today only in secular form as a monarchy (I know, I know, America is a democracy you say. However, it is clear that, whatever we once were, we have now devolved into a monarchy, since King George can pretty much do what ever he wants). The theocratic or religious component of the system, however, is waiting patiently to be reattached. This is clearly symbolized in the floating capstone above the pyramid on the back of the one dollar bill. The famous "all seeing eye" is the eye of Horus, the God of the Egyptian incarnation of this Satanic Domination System. Big Brother, or in this case Big Horus, is watching and wating to be reunited with the secular order which still holds power.

Ever wonder why the elites of the world are so gaga over paganism, ever wonder why they choose to go to places like Bohemian Grove and worship Molech, while appearing Christian to the outside world? The answer is simple, they worship in secret the gods of this world system of domination, suffering, and death and hope someday to reestablish ancient pagan worship with the secular system which they control. The question becomes of course, why would they want to do this, especially since we know that many of them are only marginally religious? The answer is simple: they must destroy all vestiges of the Christian God if they wish to hold control for all eternity. Christianity is the only system on the planet which is capable of overcoming them because it holds the power to organize ordinary people into a non-violent force for social change. Therefore, by resetablishing certian pagan systems (like Molech worship which includes human sacrifice) they can effectively destroy Christianity by reasserting into human consciousness the idea that the gods crave human sacrifice and demand allegiance to their human vassals, the elites of the world. In effect, those who control the economic and political power today will become, as it states in Genesis 3, "gods who know(or who can decide) both good and evil."

Having said all of that, why am I asserting in the introduction that we may be missing the boat because of pollution by the Left Behinders? Because, as Christians we must wake up to the relaity that we, yes WE, are not passive bystanders in this symbolic war between Michael and Satan! We are called, in whatever way we can and with whatever means we have, to stand up like men and women of faith and confront this beast and refuse to allow it to complete its task. We must witness to the truth, that this Satanic System will never, ever become prominent again and that it will lose what it has now, its economic and political power. The Left Behind series sees us as passive pawns in a divine game, however our Lord has clearly told us that we shall overcome in his name! Armageddon means decision, and Apocalypse means Revelation, and the Left Behind series would have us think that these words mean Nuclear Anhiliation. What they do mean is that when the sons and daughters of God are revealed(Apolcalypse) in all their glory and splendor, the nations of the world will be forced to make a decision (Armageddon). As foreshadowed in the Book of Deuteronomy, they will be asked to choose life or death. If they choose the latter, all the plagues listed may well be visted upon nations.

WHY LOVE IS THE GREATEST GIFT

We are not just supposed to love God, rather we are commanded to love God. He even goes on to tell us how to love and honor Him by not placing any other gods before Him or making graven images of Him to worship. We love God because He first loved us and He gave us His only begotten Son because He so loved the world. Jesus' message has a lot to do with this thing called love. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, we were given the Holy Spirit out of His undying love, devotion and affection to know and believe that we are never alone.

Love is the very reason you and I were created; for us to love Him and for Him to love us. His love for us is beautifully and majestically manifested in our Lord and Savior Jesus.

The Bible verses about love are vast and far too numerous to list, but some of the better known ones are:
1 John 4:8-21:

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

1 Cor 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What is charity if not Jesus for what He has done for us. Love is the greatest gift because love is Jesus, Jesus is love and it is Jesus that is our greatest gift. His love will endure for eternity.