The Danger of Drunkenness and the Day of Trumpets

Did you know that every year, there are 3 million people who die because of the harmful use of alcohol? That’s equivalent to 5.3% of all deaths in the world. Moreover, statistics show that alcohol abuse causes more than 200 diseases. Aside from the health problems that alcohol abuse causes, it also leads to significant economic and social burdens to individuals and society. Research has also established a strong link between alcohol abuse and mental and behavioral disorders.

The Connection Between Drunkenness and the Day of Trumpets

Now, you might wonder, why am I talking about drunkenness during the Day of Trumpets? Is there a connection between these two concepts? Well, there is, and today, I want to show you how drunkenness can prevent us from fully appreciating the meaning of this Holy Day.

To demonstrate to you my main point, let’s go to Luke 21:29-36. In these verses, we read Yahshua started to give the parable of the fig tree:

29 Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

So, we can see that the coming of our Savior, Yahshua the Messiah (also known as Jesus Christ) is foretold in the Bible. It is something that is sure to happen. It is just a matter of time before Yahshua will be here on earth.

Now, all of us here believe that Yahshua will return, but the problem is that we don’t know when He will return. That’s why, in verse 34, Yahshua gave us a warning:

34 “But take heed to yourselves — meaning, pay attention and stay focused to who? To yourself! Sometimes, we get so focused on criticizing others and gossiping about them. We are so busy finding fault in others that we forget about examining ourselves. We forget that we too are vulnerable to temptation and stumbling in our Christian walk.

So, Yahshua was saying that we should take heed to ourselves. Why?

Lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day comes on you unexpectedly.

Yahshua listed three things here that could add weight or a burden in our hearts. If we are not focused or don’t pay attention, we can easily be burdened or weighed down by carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life.

The meaning of carousing and drunkenness

On this Day of Trumpet, I want to focus on these two things that can weigh down our hearts and that is carousing and drunkenness. These two words are actually related, so related that it is sometimes difficult to find the difference. So, let’s examine these two.

Carousing comes from the Greek word kraipalē (krahee-pal’-ay), which refers to a specific type of headache that is caused by drunkenness. What’s interesting about this Greek word is that it only occurred once in the Bible. Drunkenness came from the Greek word methē, which means intoxication.

The dire effects of drunkenness

What is so bad about drunkenness, brethren? How does it affect us? Alcohol has a unique way of altering, interrupting, and interfering with the communication pathway of the brain. Literally, alcohol changes the way the brain works.

Too much alcohol can affect our balance, memory, speech, and judgment. Long-term alcohol abuse can destroy neurons or nerve cells in our brains. According to research, drinking alcohol during your teenage years can prevent proper brain development. Moreover, alcohol misuse can cause blackouts, which blocks the brain from converting short-term memory to long-term memory. That’s why some drunkards have a hard time remembering what happened to them.

Alcohol abuse can shut down the basic life-support functions of our brain that affect breathing, the beating of the heart, and temperature regulation. Alcohol overdoses can lead to permanent brain damage and worst of all, death.

What the Bible says about alcohol abuse

Basically, alcohol destroys the brain and Satan loves to use this tool to prevent us from thinking straight. Once Satan destroys our ability to think properly, we can’t be as effective anymore in following God’s commandments. When we lose our mind, we lose focus, and when we lose focus, we are in danger of forgetting about the second coming of our Savior.

Perhaps, the immediate consequence of getting drunk is losing our ability to effectively serve God. Let’s go ahead and read the instruction in Leviticus 10:8-11:

8 Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: 9 “Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, 11 and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”

As we can see here, Yahweh knew the tremendous negative effects of wine and intoxicating drinks. He doesn’t want His people to get drunk while serving Him.

The Danger of Spiritual Drunkenness

Now, I don’t know any of us who have a drinking problem. We might say, “Oh, I’m safe. I’m definitely not a drunkard. I don’t abuse alcohol. So, this is something, which I should not worry about.”

Before that kind of thinking comes into your mind, let me remind you once again about the warning given by Yahshua: “Take heed to yourselves.”

Do you know why? Because carousing and drunkenness aren’t simply about physical drunkenness. The Bible also talks about spiritual drunkenness.

Let’s read Revelation 17:1-2:

​¹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

Fornication in this verse came from the Greek word porneia, where we also get the word, pornography. Now, are you drunk with pornography? You see, like alcoholic drinks, pornography has a unique way of dulling the senses. According to research, pornography causes abnormally increased levels of dopamine in the brain, which causes the brain to decrease in size, shape, and chemical balance. Pornography literally destroys your brain and when your brain is destroyed, Satan will have a better chance of destroying us.

Drunkenness and idolatry

However, it goes deeper than pornography. The Greek word porneia is also used to describe idolatry. Read the description of the woman in Revelation 17:3-4:

³ So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

People will see the allure, the beauty, and majesty of the woman. They will be so impressed with her that they will be attracted to her, forget about the true God and simply worship the woman and what it represents. We read in Revelation 17:5 that this woman is called Babylon the Great.

This world is built in the Babylonian system, a system that is founded in rebellion against God. It doesn’t mean that you don’t bow down to a graven image, you don’t commit idolatry anymore.

You see, this world will attract you and if you are not careful, you would allow this world and what it offers to come between you and God. We can be so engrossed, so immersed, and so occupied with what this world has to offer and when we receive it, we become intoxicated and drunk.

We can be drunk with success. We can be drunk with money, with our gadgets, with our work, with our physical possessions, and with our worldly ambition to the point that we are going to forget what this day pictures.

Now, don’t be mistaken to think that drunkenness can only happen when we are successful. We can also be drunk with our sadness, our anger, our self-pity, our bitterness, and even our faithlessness.

A serious warning we should heed

That’s why, brethren, when Yahshua warned that we should be alert against carousing and drunkenness, He was really serious about it. He knew that this world is going to be so attractive that we would have a hard time saying no to its temptation.

He knows how we can easily be weighed down by spiritual drunkenness. You can also clearly see now that carousing and drunkenness are deeply related to the cares of this life. When we are spiritually drunk brethren, the Day of the Lord would come on us unexpectedly.

When that happens, brethren, we will surely regret it when we hear the last trumpet and you see that the other saints are transformed into spiritual beings and are floating towards the sky to meet Yahshua in the air. No matter how hard you try to jump, you are not part of the firstfruit. It sounds scary, but we can avoid this from happening when we put God first in our lives, avoid spiritual drunkenness, and focus on His Kingdom.

That’s why brethren, it is super important for us to keep the Day of Trumpets. It is a yearly reminder for us. The sound of the Trumpet we hear, the messages that we listen to, and the observance that we do wake us up from our spiritual drunkenness. It helps us to align our focus in the coming Kingdom of Yahweh.

With that said, I hope and pray that all of us know the danger of spiritual drunkenness and how we should be more serious than ever to make our calling sure. My sincerest desire is that when the seventh trumpet sounds, we’ll see each other floating together to meet our Master and Savior, Yahshua the Messiah.

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