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PASTOR'S REPORT, June 18, 1979
Page 9
fine talks with Mr. Dale Hampton recently--as has Mr. Armstrong--and we have
both been impressed with the seriousness of the alcohol problem right in
God's Church! Later, I talked to some of my grown children and other young
people besides, and they � ery quickly admitted it is a BIG problem to many,
many of our young people in various church areas.
One factor most of us have not focused on is that too many of our
people think they "must" have liquor at an occasion for it to be "special"
or successful. The idea of just getting together a group for an outsjde
barbecue or an inside card party or gathering with lemonade or iced tea
or some similar drink as the only beverage is passe with perhaps most of
our people!
Somehow, the idea has been instilled that you're not "with it" unless
you serve alcohol; that you are supposed to drink alcohol ,�very day; that
you have got to have that light-headed feeling or "happy glow"; that you
must have two or three drinks before you can really "be yourself" and have
a good time!
Fellows, that kind of reasoning is just simply wrong and in fact
cunningly evil!
We, who should be FILLED with God's spirit--with a sense of brother
hood in our purpose and JOY through that spirit--should NEVER need to have
our minds dulled by alcohol in order to relax with one another, to "be our
selves," etc.
In fact, the "self" we become through alcohol may easily
become a WRONG personality--one who is frustrated and insecure and afraid
of reality and therefore seeks to blot it out through alcohol. Then, slowly
and subtly, the NEED for alcohol often "sneaks up
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on such a one and he be
comes its absolute SLAVE--a confirmed alcoholic!
We must STOP this thing in God's Church, fellow ministers!
So let's cease working so hard to educate the "Bible Belt" types into
drinking and spend more energy intelligently teaching and warning ALL our
brethren about the increasing DANGER of alcoholism in this degenerate age
of mankind.
Teach them to have more socials and friendly gatherings without
the presence of alcohol. And show them that "moderation" is NOT two or
three martinis after dinner and then the ability barely to walk out the
door without stumbling or falling!
Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Hampton, and others of us will give you more on
this later, but I want you to know that we in Pastoral Administration are
very serious about this matter! Working with Mr. Hampton and others, we
hope to develop an alcoholism prevention program as well as programs to
assist those already "over the brink."
So you also take this seriously, fellows. Set the example yourselves
and start to give your congregations the biblical overview of what is be
coming a major CURSE in western society and even a growing threat to many
of our own people.
Keep up the good work overall that is being done out there in your
areas! Thanks again for your loyalty and love and all your letters of en
couragement. Keep praying for Mr. Armstrong and for one another.
�Ze}!�
Roderick
c.
Meredith