The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1943-05-20
Sunday School
Lesson In Brief
By REV. B. A. MEEKS

Bible Passage: Proverbs 2O:1;
23:29-35; Matthey 24:45-51.
Golden Text: AT the last it
biteth like serpent, and stingeth
like an adder" Proverbs 1882.
Temperance lessons are not
easy to write or to teach, but
Sunday School teachers and other
church leaders cannot afford to
be indifferent toward the liquor
problem because of the havoc and
destruction it causes. Even
though the fight against the Ii
quor traffic appears to be an up
hill business, the church must eX-
ercise all the influence it can
muster to combat this social
menace for the sake of innocent
children and those too weak to
resist the temptation to drink.
The Bible, prayer and personal
example are the weapons in the
hand of the church to overthrow
this great evil. May the people
of God use these weapons to the
utmost advantage. No effort is
to be spared to develop public
sentiment against the sale and
use of alcohololic beverage.
Our Bible tells us that wine
is a mocker, strong drink is rag
ing: and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not WISE. The Amer
lean Standard Version translation
of the verse is: wine is a mock
er, strong drink a brawler; and
whosoever erreth thereby is not
! wise" The Bible in this verse
has personified wine by saying
that wine is a mocker. In a real
sense wine is mocker. Wine
turns a person into mocker. 1t
will cause him to scorn, deride,
ridicule and finally to despise and
defy all that is holy and right.
Wine when consumed over a per-
iod of time, especially when car
ried to excess will cause one to
lose all sense of sacred things.
Strong drink has a way of devel
oping a distaste for the church
and sacred things as we'll as all
church people. Liquor interests
has a strong dislike for the
church and defies the very word
of God.
Our verse tells us that strong
drink is a braWler. A braWler is
one who quarrels, wrangles noisi-
ly and outrageously. The term
"a drunken brawl'' is used to de-
scribe a scene in which drunken
people are quarreling, fighting
and otherwise resulting in loud
confused noise. Those overcome
with drink are usually given to
contemptuous action and insult
ing speech which inevitably lead
to braWlS.
Many people given to illusions
drink in order to drown their
sorrows or to escape life's real
ism only to find that their sor-
rows and difficulties are increas-
ed. who hath woe? Who hath
sorrow? Who hath contentious?
Who hath babblings? Who hath
wounds without cause? Who hate
redness of eyes? They that tar
ry long at the wine; they that go
to seek mixed wine. Those who
drink to overcome worries are
merely being deceived. They
find that they have adopted
habit that will prove worse than
any worry, because it will ruin
their health, rob their purses,
drive away their friends, separ-
ate them from their families, de-
stroy their usefulness in bust
ness, and finally lead them to a
drunkard's grave, after it has de-
graded them and brought them to
the lowest depths of poverty and
ruin. Evangeline Booth Of the
Salvation Army, says: Drink has
drained more blood, hung more
crepe, sold more houses, plunged
more people into bankruptcy,
armed more Williams, slain more
children, snapped more wedding
rings, deffled more innocence,
blinded more eyes, twisted more
limbs, dethroned more reason,
wrecked more manhood, dishon-
ored more Womanhood, broken
more hearts, blasted more lives,
driven more to suicide, and dug
more graves than any other poi
Soned scourge that ever swept
its death-dealing waves across
the world". And yet, many peo-
pie scott and ridicule and des-
pise and hamper every honest eff
fort to drive this greatest of all
scourges from the face of the
earth. Those who make and sell
the stuff and those who drink it
walk hand in hand trampling I'M