title: They Drank from the River and Died in Wilderness
author:  David Ravenhill 
description: David Ravenhill, who is engaged in a full-time itinerant ministry, established Spikenard Ministries to reflect his desire to see extravagant worship, intimacy, and maturity brought to the Body of Christ. His teaching and preaching have taken him across the nation and around the world. David, the son of the late Leonard Ravenhill, resides in Lindale, Texas with his wife, Nancy.
zlib_text: ### The Lord of the... whatever, Book I, Chapter 5:
  
  ## A Conspiracy Undressed
  
    
  
      
      
         "Well," said Morrie, as the laughter subsided, "we'd 
      best be going ourselves.  I'm looking forward to a meal 
      and a pint of ale."  Across the river the hobbits could 
      see the cheerful glow of neon lights blinking in the 
      windows of Brandy Hall.
      
         Long ago, Gorhendad Oldbuck (Morrie's great-great-great-
      grandfather, his great-great-uncle, or his third cousin once 
      removed, depending on which branch of the family tree you 
      trace) was the town drunk of Bywater.  People called him all 
      kinds of names -- Drunkenbuck, Alebuck, and the like -- but the 
      name that stuck was Brandybuck.  Unfortunately for him, he 
      lived at the time of the Shire's great experiment with 
      prohibition.  Unhappy with the dry state of affairs, he moved 
      across the Brandywine River and set up his own little country, 
      where the alcohol flowed freely.  Pretty 