Food Fraud
Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. Let all who are simple come in here! she says to those who lack judgment. Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. (Proverbs 9:1-6)
The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. Let all who are simple come in here! she says to those who lack judgment. Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious! But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave. (Proverbs 9:13-18)
Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil. Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred. (Proverbs 15:16-17)
Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. (Proverbs 17:1)
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. (Proverbs 23:1-3; ESV)
Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. (Proverbs 23:20-21; ESV)
There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites a head taller than any of the others. (I Samuel 9:1-2)
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)
The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. You were anointed as a guardian cherub. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. (Ezekiel 28:11-13a, 14a, 17a)
Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. (Proverbs 6:25)
Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (Proverbs 7:10)
My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways, for a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. (Proverbs 23:26-27)
Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:29-30; ESV)
It Sparkles and Stings!
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1; ESV)
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? (Proverbs 23:29; ESV)
Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. (Proverbs 23:30; ESV)
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. (Proverbs 23:31-32; ESV)
Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. They struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink. (Proverbs 23:33-35; ESV)
Alcohol in the Bible Alcohol use is not condemned and sometimes commended Alcohol abuse is consistently condemned Alcohol is deceptive and dangerous Alcohol use is restricted for certain individuals Alcohol abuse is linked with devastating evils Alcohol use is amoral and thus must be governed by the law of love for one another
Food The Deception of Immediate Gratification Appearances The Deception of Making Judgments Based on Appearances Alcohol The Deception of Substances that Sparkle and Sting
Jesus answered, It is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)
They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. (Matthew 27:33-34)
Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. With that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30)