New Wine Testimony: Bernie

My mentor is Brian Reif, to whom I am deeply grateful. As a 54-year-old man who started drinking in his teenage years, I am truly amazed at where I am at this point in my life. My father was an alcoholic who quit drinking before I was born because my mother had threathened to leave him if he didn't. From the time I was born to when my mom died when I was 17, my father never touched a drop of alcohol. After mom died, my father was totally lost. He managed to work hard every day, but every night and weekend would be devoted to burying his sorrow and sense of loss in a bottle. Dad died two years after mom. As much as he had loved mom and seemingly couldn't tolerate life without her, I know that if he had Christ in his life, his life could have ended much differently. I say all this because, for a long time, I realized that alcohol had turned from a fun pastime to be shared with friends to an addiction. I tried to conquer it for years, mostly in my own power, with on and off success. Although I have been a believer for a long time and also tried AA, it wasn't until I found Setting Captives Free that I finally found the freedom for which I was searching and yearning. The element that was taught in this course that made all the difference to me is the plain truth that alcohol abuse is a sin. It separates us from our walk with God and hinders our relationship with Him. Realizing this and knowing through experience that no matter how hard I tried and how honest my intentions were, I was helpless in my own power. I have totally surrenedered my sin of drinking to God's grace, repenting of it and thanking God for never giving up on me. I have abstained from alcohol for different periods before, but am now totally free of its grasp because it is now not I who live, but Christ who lives within me. People for all time have wondered what is the secret of life? It simply is to put God first. To love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your stenghth. In II Corinthians 5:17 it says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." There are no possessions, or even a relationship like my dad had with my mom that can endure and bring joy forever outside of our relationship with our God. Praise and glory to Him!