Doctors are seeing more young patients like Martin, people in their 20s and 30s with symptoms of acute liver disease related to alcohol consumption.

Those of you who have read my testimony of salvation know that when I got saved I was struggling with alcohol and attending AA meetings. Those of you who know me on a personal level know that the struggle to stay sober continued even after getting saved. I know how hard it is to get off of America’s favorite legal drug, alcohol, which is really nothing more than liquid opiates.

“Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.’” Billy Sunday

Alcohol is rammed into our consciousness on a daily basis, ads for alcohol are at all sporting events, on nearly every radio station, certainly on every television station, on the majority of web sites that serve ads, and line our nation’s highways on enormous billboards displays. Many parents, even many Christian parents, condone alcohol consumption and here in the enlightened 21st century is still considered a beloved “rite of passage” when a child comes of legal age. But here on NTEB, we’ll tell you the truth about alcohol from the Bible’s perspective, and here it is.

• ALCOHOL CAUSES PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION: “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” Proverbs 23:29-32 (KJB)
• ALCOHOL BRINGS DOWN THE STRONGEST OF PEOPLE: “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” Isaiah 5:22,23 (KJB)
• ALCOHOL BRINGS SHARED MISERY: “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 (KJB)
• ALCOHOL WILL MOCK AND DECEIVE YOU: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1 (KJB)

No, Jesus did not drink any alcohol in the Bible, not one drop, you won’t find a single verse to support that. And that first miracle at the wedding feast? Yes, Jesus turned the water into wine, wine from the Throne Room that tasted like nothing else they were drinking, and seemed to have the curious effect of sobering people up instead of intoxicating them.

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 1:2 (KJB)

On a positive note, if you have been battling alcohol and want to try and reverse some of the damage that has been done to your body, please visit the NTEB Health and Wellness section to see the many natural ways to restore your healthy and vitality. God wants you to be healthy in your body as well as in your heart and in your soul.

They were young. They thought they had time. Then they nearly died of liver disease.

Although Rachel Martin would never deny she had a drinking problem, she figured years would pass before it would take a toll on her health. After all, she had not yet hit 40 and she had managed to eke out two years of complete sobriety about a decade ago. Even when she was drinking, she would hit the bottle hard for three weeks but then go cold turkey for a week.

So when Martin started feeling off about a year and a half ago, she tried to ignore the symptoms. She lost her appetite, her skin itched, and as she put it, she lost her waist as fluid accumulated in her abdomen. For four months she continued to drink, but in mid-March 2019, she decided she was done.

The next day she finally went to the doctor and found out she had cirrhosis of the liver, something that did not surprise her, given her internet-aided self-diagnosis.

What did surprise her, however, was what her doctor said: If she did not stop drinking she might die within a month. Even if she did quit, she might not make it three months.

“You know it’s bad for you, you know it’s not healthy at all whatsoever, but you think, ‘Oh, I have no family history of this,’ ” said the Bloomington resident, who is now 39. “I know people that drink more than I do, and they’re fine. I have years before I have to worry about this.”

Doctors are seeing more patients like Martin, people in their 20s and 30s with symptoms of acute liver disease related to alcohol consumption. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published a study in January that found that from 1999 to 2017 the number of alcohol-related deaths per year doubled, rising from 35,914 to 72,558. Just under a third of those resulted from liver disease.

Similarly, a study in the British Medical Journal published in 2018 also noted a dramatic increase in deaths in the United States from cirrhosis from 1999 to 2016. In that time period, people ages 25 to 34 saw the highest increase.

“There is an epidemic of alcoholism and alcohol use disorder that I think is hiding behind the opioid crisis,” said Dr. Naga Chalasani, head of hepatology at Indiana University Health. “Alcohol consumption has risen in this country. … Everything is sort of going in the wrong direction. There are more people drinking, and the people who drink are drinking more.”

Many of those who wind up requiring care do not fit the stereotypical image of an alcoholic. They may be highly productive individuals who work and have families until suddenly they find themselves facing an acute health crisis brought on by alcohol-related liver disease, such as acute hepatitis or cirrhosis.

The trend is particularly pronounced in middle-aged women, where studies suggest that high-risk drinking is the highest it has ever been, Chalasani said. A 2019 study by University of Michigan researchers that looked at more than 100 million Americans with private insurance found a 50% increase in the prevalence of alcohol-related cirrhosis in women from 2009 to 2015.

The people getting sick are not necessarily the people you might expect. READ MORE

Alcohol and Me: A Message for Young People

We were asked by Alcoholics Anonymous to help them with their messaging to target young people and their relationship with alcohol. They wanted us to make an accessible animated explainer video that would ask the young person some questions to help them decide whether they might have a problem with their own drinking, and help them take a serious look at what drinking might be doing to them.

Billy Sunday Preaching On Alcohol

Billy Sunday is known as being one of the major promoters of temperance. His preaching was theatrical. He threw objects. Sunday was animated. He was excited. And he was effective. One of his most famous sermons was “Booze, or, Get on the Water Wagon.” That sermon convinced many people to quit drinking.  Sunday said ‘ I am the sworn, eternal and uncompromising enemy of the liquor traffic. I have been, and will go on, fighting that damnable, dirty, rotten business with all the power at my command.’ Sunday preached that ‘whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.’

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

• HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

CLICK NOW TO HELP US SEND THOUSANDS OF KING JAMES BIBLES INTO JAIL, PRISONS AND DETENTION CENTERS ALL ACROSS AMERICA!!

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

“It’s a thing,” said Dault. He offered as proof a podcast called Homebrewed Christianity, recorded by “guys that brew their own beer and like to smoke cigars.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: All my life, both lost and saved, I have battled alcohol. Having been raised in a hard-drinking, German Irish family and having my first drink at age 11, there are some things so deeply ingrained that only death or the Rapture will remove them. But drinking is not a good thing, it never leads to good things, and it certainly has no place in the church or in the Body of Christ. Make no mistake, the Bible at no time condones habitual drinking because ultimately it will lead to drunkenness, which is a sin. If you’re a Christian who struggles with alcohol, let me encourage you to keep fighting and never quit. The Bible, speaking in any dispensation, calls us to soberness and holy living as much as it is within us to do so. Fight the good fight. 

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1 (KJB)

The big screen at Bernie’s Tap Room in Waukesha flickers with a baseball game between Texas Christian University and Dallas Baptist. The players are nearly life-size. But the action on-screen is lost to the 15 people seated at two long tables in front of the game. They are deep in conversation about Jesus, church and life, stopping occasionally for a sip from the pint glass at hand.

Jesus + Beer is in session

In and near Milwaukee, some people are getting a little faith with their froth. Assemblages like Jesus + Beer are part of a national trend of groups combining Bible study with elbow-bending. Sometimes, it’s just easier to talk religion over a beer, one pastor said. It’s also an idea that goes back to Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.

Brandon Brown, pastor at Collective MKE church, said he started Jesus + Beer because “people have left traditional church structures but still want to talk about Jesus.”

And he liked the selection of brews at Bernie’s, 351 W. Main St.

“That’s the trajectory of my life,” said Brown, whose Bay View version of the monthly Jesus + Beer sessions meets May 17 at Tonic Tavern, 2335 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. “Beer’s actually a late addition. Jesus’ love was there from the beginning.”

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” Ephesians 5:18 (KJV)

J. Patrick Hornbeck, chair of the theology department at Fordham University in New York, says pubs represent a space of freedom that churches don’t always offer.

“It gives people permission to say a little more,” said Hornbeck, who says pubs offer something of a theological lubricant. “It’s something more of an equalizing force.”

Drinking beer and talking religion played a role in the Protestant Reformation, said Steve Jerbi, pastor at All Peoples Lutheran Church, 2600 N. 2nd St.

The Reformation was funded by brew that Martin Luther’s wife made, said Jerbi, who hosts a monthly meeting at the Riverwest Public House, 815 E. Locust St., where people of all faiths — and, as often as not, no faith — drink beer and talk religion.

“This week, we had a Reconstructionist Jew, a secular Muslim, a candidate for the ministry in the Baptist church, a lesbian and a middle-aged mom,” Jerbi said.

“Part of it is that I enjoy having a good conversation over a pint,” he said. Jerbi’s group has been meeting since the Public House opened five years ago.

David Dault, head of the nonprofit Chicago Sunday Evening Club, said the relationship between religion and alcohol can be chronicled through the Reformation. Look for which countries had beer as their main alcoholic beverage as opposed to wine: Catholics and wine vs. Protestants and beer.

As in Luther’s day, perhaps, “craft beer allows you to nerd out about the technicalities — about hops, about mash time. People that geek out about theology have a similar craft,” Dault said.

“There’s a certain technical pride in both creating something and playing with holy things, intoxicating substances. Things that are spiritual in both senses of the word.”

Dault points to a current “theology hipster subculture” in which groups of men with beards and pipes host hard-core discussions of orthodox theology.

“It’s a thing,” said Dault. He offered as proof a podcast called Homebrewed Christianity, recorded by “guys that brew their own beer and like to smoke cigars.”

Recent patrons at McBob’s, 4919 W. North Ave., might have seen Dan Quakkelaar and friends sharing a few beers. They were identifiable by Bibles crowding the table.

“It does sometimes get looks — a bunch of guys with their Bibles out, drinking beer,” Quakkelaar said.

Christopher Boucher doesn’t go to church. He doesn’t read the Bible. But the 26-year-old global product manager is a regular at Jesus + Beer.

“In traditional religious settings, you need to be formal. You need to know all the sayings that go with all the different parts of the service,” Boucher said. “You might feel obligated by the collection plate.”

The night’s discussion is never written in stone, and tangents are welcome, Boucher said. As a result, he said, “not only do people listen, they respond.”

Caroline Moan, 53, sits at the same table as Boucher. She followed Brandon Brown from his former church, Elmbrook, to his Jesus + Beer group.

“Some people think Christians are not supposed to drink,” Moan said. “Brandon is not afraid to go beyond what the establishment thinks in a very respectful way.

“He wants people to understand there is a role and that it’s OK to bring alcohol into a Christian’s life. I think that’s part of it,” she said. “The venue is purposeful.” source

“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 (KJV)

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

• HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

CLICK NOW TO HELP US SEND THOUSANDS OF KING JAMES BIBLES INTO JAIL, PRISONS AND DETENTION CENTERS ALL ACROSS AMERICA!!

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Making a mockery of the everlasting arms of Jesus Christ to sell beer

The folks at Guinness have created a visually beautiful commercial, and when you watch it most likely a tear or two will come to  your eyes. A soldier fighting off alone on a far-flung battle field, and his sweetheart who runs the bar pouring a beer in his honor and placing it at “his seat” every day that he is gone. Ever since there have been wars, there have been home-front sweethearts waiting their soldier’s return. But there’s a problem.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1 (KJB)

Guinness Commercial: Empty Chair

The music that is playing throughout this commercial is a classic Christian hymn about Jesus Christ. Leaning On The Everlasting Arms was published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman. It talks about the sweet, Christian fellowship that believers have in the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms;
   What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms.
   • Refrain:
     Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
     Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.
2. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms;
   Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms.
3. What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms?
   I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
   Leaning on the everlasting arms.

So, according to the folks at Guinness, the “fellowship” that is a “joy divine” is not with Jesus Christ and church people, but with people at the local bar drinking very strong drinks like Guinness? The very same people who wake up the next morning with massive hangovers, and car wrecks, and the tawdry remains of cheap, one-night affairs? Because if you ever spent much time in bars, you know that’s how the snow blows after awhile.

“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 (KJB)

Second problem with this commercial is that when the soldier finally comes home, he does not rush into the arms of his sweetheart, or into the arms of his friends. No, he is directed to pick up the beer that has been poured for him fresh every night, and have his first spot of “fellowship” with an alcoholic beverage. That is a demonic thought process, that is against God. The bible is very much against drunkenness, very much against drinking alcohol. Jesus never drank alcohol one day of His earthly life, send us the verse to prove He did. Paul tells Timothy to “take a little wine for thy stomach’s sake”, but that was truly for medicinal properties. The bible pronounces woe on all those that “put the bottle to his neighbor’s lips” to get them drunk. The bible is an amazing book, you should read it sometime.

The folks at Guinness have created a beautifully-done commercial that is an affront to Christians the world over, and mocks the very God of the bible. They make the case that the “everlasting arms” is not that of Jesus Christ, or even fellowship with other believers. The “everlasting arms”, according to the folks at the Guinness beer company, are the myriad tentacles of alcohol with all its related misery and woe.

Alcohol has destroyed the lives of millions and millions of people. Few and very far between are those who can “drink socially” and retain control over it. Go spend some time with an alcoholic, and see for yourself the damage done by drink. When a person gets saved, and finds themselves in the “everlasting arms” of Jesus Christ, one of the first things to drop off into the trash can is the desire to drink alcohol.

Jesus saves.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

• HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

CLICK NOW TO HELP US SEND THOUSANDS OF KING JAMES BIBLES INTO JAIL, PRISONS AND DETENTION CENTERS ALL ACROSS AMERICA!!

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB