I am not a proponent of circumstance, of happen chance. I take the Word of God literally when it speaks of the steps of a man being ordered by God. I fully believe and whole-heartedly accept that God knew that my wanderings would lead me to your FB page which would also lead me to your personal website.

Following your birth place to your college choices, I can certainly identify with where you have been. I have family in Rome, an aunt and 4 cousins…. lived just a few miles down the road from Brewton Parker while in med tech school and have friends that are currently or have been affiliated with BCF. See, you are not a stranger and this world is not such a huge place.

I will be reading with great interest your blogs. I feel God has brought you into my life for such a time as this. I am excited about the possibilities. While personal failures will forever prevent me from again entering full time ministry, my heart will always be closely attached and will always find me on the fringes of supportive ministry.

One last thought…. it takes more than one to be fertile!

It is immoderate drinking that the Bible condemns repeatedly, not the drink itself, and nowhere in scripture are we supposed to restrain ourselves from partaking in things simply because someone somewhere might over-indulge in it. That argument, could be used to restrict us from doing just about anything.

The Bible does however, tell us that we should not use our freedoms to try to cause someone to do what their conscience forbids them from doing. This would be for them to sin against their conscience, and could cause them a variety of trouble. Interesting though, that the Bible does not use this argument to simply forbid us from exercising any of our freedoms. And in the case of alcohol, it could have done just that. Why, for crying our loud, did the Bible not simply give us clear, unambiguous language to say that the drinking of all alcoholic drink was unequivocally evil, if this is what God wanted us to know. Why so many times does the Bible speak of wine as a good gift from God. Why in the world would God speak out of two sides of his mouth. The fact is, he doesn’t. He simply calls immoderate drinking what it is,…sin.

You are however, wrong, in your assumption that the Bible calls church leaders to a higher standard. Every Christian is called to the standard of Christ-like godliness. Leaders, are simply judged more strictly, although the standard is the same, because we are often emulated in our behavior. I have no problem whatsoever with anyone, of a like conscience, choosing to drink alcohol in a moderate, respectable way which maintains their christian dignity and glorifies God through the enjoyment of one of his many gifts. If God created the natural processes through which grapes, grains, and other fruits can ferment, (this is scientifically demonstrated as naturally occurring in nature) then those processes will glorify him, and only the immoderate use of them would not. “Feeding the flesh” is to partake in those things which the scripture forbids, and since it does not forbid the moderate use of alcoholic beverage, or good pipe tobacco for that matter, then I will smoke my piper and drink a cold Newcastle to the glory of God

If, however, God wanted Christian leaders not to drink, he would have told us, and when the apostle Paul had the perfect opportunity to restrict us from drinking alcoholic beverages at all, instead, he said that pastors and deacons should not be given to “much” wine. I, sir, am not given to “much” wine, therefore, I am within the biblical standard and I will not try to be holier than the Bible. And for the argument that good references to wine in the bible referred to non-alocholic grape juice, why in the world would God restrict pastors from drinking much grape juice? It is actually quite good for the digestive system.

If the people in my care drink to excess, they will be accountable before God for their sinful behavior. I am clear in my teaching that we are to appreciate the good gifts of God, without allowing those good gifts to become ultimate for us, which is sin.