Not so, it was already given before this response, which seems to have been not read at all:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7764079-44/#post64261897
http://www.christianforums.com/t7764079-44/#post64261899
...so that which is ignored is not upon the part of the Seventh-day Adventist.
Indeed, it is written:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; Mark 16:17
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:18
...but it does not say we ought to live in presumption, by deliberately placing ourselves in harms way, in the drinking of poisons, toxins, etc.
We have the example from Christ Jesus Himself, that He would never live in presumption, for when asked to prove that He was the Son of God, satan tried to get Him to presume upon God's saving powers, and the devil even
partially quoted scripture to Him, to prove the point, yet not the whole of the scripture was given:
"...If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down from hence..." Luke 4:9
"For it is written,
He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:" Luke 4:10
"
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Luke 4:11
...yet Jesus said:
"And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Luke 4:12
...a Christian is not to live in presumption of the grace of God, and deliberately do foolish things, for God has given us life in stewardship. It belongs unto Him.
Paul himself understood this, for when he was bitten by a serpent, he was not injured of any venom:
"And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid
them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand." Acts 28:3
"And when the barbarians saw the
venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live." Acts 28:4
"And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm." Acts 28:5
"Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god." Acts 28:6
...Paul did not deliberately go looking to be bitten by any venomous serpent to prove the word of God. He did not live in presumption, but obedience to the Word of God.
...to continue to knowingly partake of the cursed drink of Belial, that alcoholic venom, one is deliberately committing suicide, even if slowly... they are breaking the 6th Commandment against murder, for suicide is self-murder., and it would not matter if one drank cyanide slowly or quickly, cut themselves minutely a thousand times or in one great gash across the throat, verily both are the same.
...those which do not turn unto God and repent of the cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, drug using, cutting, abuse of eating, inappropriate contentography, violence, unholy tempers, etc, etc... will destroy themselves, and are counted as murderers, and their end will be according to their works.
...our hearts should be, "We cannot do this thing..." and sin against God.
If someone throws us into boiling oil, or into a den of lions, or into the fire, that is no presumption, and then the power of God may be seen...
...yet let not a single person which claims the name of Christ, ever seek to presume upon God... and think that we may say in our hearts, I will take my own life [in whatever way], that I may prove God to be able to resurrect me...
The text clearly says
"Wine..." "...is a mocker..." "...and..." [in addition to, on top of, furthermore, etc]
"...strong drink..." "...is raging...", and does not cease there either but continues further upon both by saying,
"...and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.", and this was already addressed:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7764079-43/#post64261854
...the Bible calls fools, even
"not wise" those who are
"deceived" by their own choice to continue to live in sin in the face of the Grace of God, inspite of it even, all the while they think they follow God, but rather they follow their own bellies and lusts...
...the Bible says,
"Woe..." unto you, whomsoever you are...
A pitiable and wretched condition... lamentable, sorrowing of sorrows, and such gross darkness upon the people... a church that fears to call sin by its right name... truly Revelation 14:8, they are "fallen, fallen"...
When Jesus said,
"I Thirst" it was to be in fulfillment of prophecy
[Psalms 22:15; Judges 15:18], even as prophecy foretold of His thirst, and He making it known that they may see prophecy fulfilled, said it aloud, and so the wicked gave Him gall and vinegar to drink, even as it was written:
Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked
for some to take pity, but
there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. Psalms 69:20
They gave me also gall for my meat; and
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalms 69:21
Therefore as the Scriptures record, and as the commentary [as others] states, it was a fulfillment of prophecy and the vinegar [sour wine] the symbol for "taking the sins of the world into His body", and thus it is no excuse for anyone to partake of such things it any casual or comman manner, lest one is attempting to show literally their spiritual drunkenness, debauchery and their relationship to drinkning of the cup of Babylon and the drink of Belial, and therefore of the corrupt and cursed wine of abominations. Additionally the greek word is "received", not "drank", and to receive it into the mouth is just as much as receiving as needed, furthermore, it was not given in a glass, nor cup, nor mug, nor any great container as if Jesus were to receive even so much as a spoonful, but rather the vinegar having been soaked up into a sponge [upon a hysop branch], and pressed against the lips/mouth of Jesus, what but a few droplets can therefore have come of it? What sober-minded Christian then will advocate by any of this the common practice of 'drinking' done today, in pubs, in ale houses, in bars, at their Babylonian spread fares in their own homes and churches? Yea, they mock Christ in His perfect life and His perfect death in their liscentiousness...
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that
he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9
As was stated before, this kind of 'wine' was for those ready to perish, for the dying, in death throes:
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and
wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Proverbs 31:6
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Psalms 31:7
This was already given previously here:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7764079-44/#post64261940
Habakkuk says:
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to
him, and makest
him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Habakkuk 2:15
Chrsit Jesus was indeed naked upon the cross, having taking our sins upon Himself, for as the First Adam was naked in the garden for his sin, the Second/Last Adam became the propitiation for us...
), long and intense, but rewarding. When it was over we stopped by a local establishment, and sampled a very hoppy brew; Creemore Lager... so good!
