Proverbs 23:29-32: “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.”
The headlines have been utterly dominated this week by news of Arlene Foster’s demise as leader of the DUP, with much mention made of her softening stance on moral issues.
The final nail in the coffin for her leadership appeared to be her abstention on a motion at the NI Assembly in relation to “gay conversion therapy”, and that is something we intend to, in the will of the Lord, address in another post next week.
However, a matter arose a few weeks ago which we wish to highlight first and which, we believe, is indicative of the degenerative plight of the DUP in recent years, a plight accelerated under her catastrophic leadership.
It is the matter of professing Christian Diane Dodds, determined Arlene acolyte and now an MLA and Minister in the Stormont Executive (no doubt due to her dazzling political acumen and not in any way connected to who her husband is) celebrating and smiling proudly at the opening of a new gin and whiskey distillery in the town of Ballynahinch in County Down.
It is certainly rather at odds with her former party leader Ian Paisley’s stance of describing alcohol as “the devil’s buttermilk”.
In her role as Economy Minister, she visited the new ‘Hinch Distillery and visitor centre’ to wish them every success in the promotion and sale of a very strong variant of the devil’s buttermilk.
Speaking about the distillery, the professing Christian said: “Northern Ireland is known globally for our great hospitality along with the pure natural quality of our produce.
“Investments like these will help us sow the seeds of recovery and rebuild our economy following the impact of the pandemic. The hospitality and tourism industry has been especially impacted so I am delighted to be here today to be able to celebrate this investment, and I want to congratulate Terry and his team and wish them every success.”
Her quotes can be found in this article you can find by clicking here. Diane Dodds also retweeted the Department of the Economy tweet plugging this investment, so she is certainly not ashamed of it. Her retweet of that post is pictured below.
Diane Dodds evidently considers hard liquor to be “pure natural quality” rather than a debauching, harmful, addictive substance which ought to be discouraged from consumption, especially by a professing Christian.
And she states that she was “delighted to be here” and wishes “Terry [Cross, the distillery owner] and his team every success”.
How odd it is that Diane Dodds should be delighted to be at a distillery and smiling like the cat who got the cream beside the owner of the distillery and chief distiller, standing with three bottles of booze on a barrel?
Should her delight not be in the Lord (Psalm 37:5) and not in the world?
Diane Dodds wishes this purveyor of intoxicants “every success” – how on earth can that be consistent with what ought to be a godly desire to live a separated life?
Proverbs 20:1 reminds us of the damage done to the individual of alcohol in general, with specific reference to strong drink, which whiskey undoubtedly is.
It says: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Does Diane Dodds or her party wish to have such characters as those mentioned in Micah 2 held up as desirable examples?
She says in the quotes signed off by her above that “investments like these will help sow the seeds of recovery and help rebuild our economy following the impact of the pandemic”.
Micah 2:11 says: “If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.”
It would appear that Diane Dodds is “prophesy[ing] unto thee of wine and of strong drink”.
Those false prophets told the people of the land that better days were to come despite the reproaches they were under of the Lord. They were prophesying to the people that there will be wine and strong drink in abundance in the days to come, that their crops will be bountiful, their produce and prosperity abundant.
And that was the type of character the people wanted to have as their prophet.
Do the comments of Diane Dodds not bear a striking resemblance to those type of sentiments condemned by the Lord through Micah?
Read what she says again: “Investments like these will help us sow the seeds of recovery and rebuild our economy.”
Her prophesy of wine and of strong drink will lead to “recovery” and “rebuild our economy”.
She is telling us we will all be better off as a country with more gin and whiskey being flogged and with more people visiting the tourist centre to have the image of alcohol, an addictive drug no less, further polished up and glamourised.
Sorry Diane Dodds, that is an utterly unacceptable comment from anyone, but especially from a professing Christian, and we would urge you to reflect on this and think upon it.
So many lives have been ruined and debauched by the demon drink, yet you seek to fund it, promote it and tell us we will be better off as a nation as a result?
Professing Christian Diane Dodds’ promotion of this distillery and expression of hope for the success of this business means she wants people to buy and consume this alcohol.
Think about that – Diane Dodds, a professing Christian and DUP Minister, actively wants people to buy and consume strong drink, indulging in a lifestyle utterly synonymous with the sinful world around us.
We would call on Diane Dodds to publicly repudiate her shameful actions and apologise for them.
Oh the folly of indulging in alcohol!
We will finish as we started, in the hope the message may get through.
Proverbs 23:29-35: “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. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
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