Ephesians 5:18-19 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, (19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
Ironically, the second passage of scripture that people use to justify their shameful behaviour when “drunk in the spirit” is the one quoted above, where Paul admonishes the church not to be drunk with wine because it leads to dissipation, which in effect means shameful behaviour. And so, the very passage that admonishes the saints not to behave in such a manner is the one they use to justify their behaviour. And in the same passage the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul, tells us exactly how the saint that is filled with the Spirit will behave, i.e. they will speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. The ones that take this passage out of context however, state that Paul was encouraging Christians to become drunk in the Spirit as an alternative to becoming drunk with wine. Those people then act in exactly the same manner as they would if they were drunk with wine, i.e. shamefully and claim that now their behaviour is condoned in scripture because it is done in the “spirit”. The false prophets in the church love to promote this type of behaviour as evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon an individual, when in truth it is the power of an unclean spirit coming upon that individual. Many carnal believers have flocked to meetings that display such behaviour, because they too desire to experience being “drunk in the spirit”. The devil accommodates them in their greed to become drunk, and each one comes away from those meetings with demons attached to them that they never had before.
Michael E.B. Maher
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