Monday, January 16, 2012

The Independent Fundamental Churches Of America, International Promotes Abstinence From Alcoholic Beverages

By Pastor Bruce Oyen

      As we know, alcoholic beverages have long been a curse to the world. What follows is a good statement against their use. It is an official resolution by The Independent Fundamental Churches Of America, International. This resolution can help us in these days when more and more Christians are accepting the use of alcoholic beverages, so long as they are used in moderation.

RESOLUTION ON INTOXICATING BEVERAGES

1980 - Green Lake (Wisconsin)
WHEREAS, righteous and godly men such as Noah (Genesis 9:20,21) and Lot (Genesis
19:32-38) brought sorrow and shame to their homes and the world through intoxication with
wine and strong drink, and
WHEREAS, no priest was to enter the temple of God who had drunk wine or strong drink “that
ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean” (Lev. 10:10),
and these Old Testament patterns are examples for us ( I Cor. 10-6, 11), and are profitable for
correction, for instruction in righteousness (II Tim. 3:16), and
WHEREAS, Proverbs 23:20-35 lists the harmful effects of drinking as poverty, woe, sorrow,
contentions, babblings, wounds without cause, redness of eyes, poison, immorality, perverse
talking, death, numbness, fights, sleep and alcoholism, and
WHEREAS, Jesus said it is better to have a millstone hung around the neck and be drowned in
the depth of the sea than to offend one of our youth (Matt. 18:6), and alcoholic drinking by adults
is a primary offense in giving our youth a supposed just reason for drinking, and
WHEREAS, the abstaining entirely from the drinking of alcoholic beverages is the only certain
way to avoid numerous sins and sorrows, and
WHEREAS, Christian believers should be willing to say with the Apostle Paul that “It is good
neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended, or is made weak” (Romans 14:21),
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Pastors and the Delegates of the churches of the
Independent Fundamental Churches of America meeting in Annual Convention, June 23-27,
1980, at Green Lake, Wisconsin, reaffirm the position of total abstinence from alcoholic
beverages, which position, we believe, to be both specifically and in principle, a sound Biblical
position.

The resolution was taken from the IFCA, International website. Here is a link to the statement against alcoholic beverages: http://ifcamedia.org/ifcaweb/docs/resolutions/1980-GreenLake.pdf