There are some ministers who think that temperance lectures are entertaining and illuminating, but that they have no converting power. Perhaps that is one reason why so few ministers engage in the temperance work. Recent experiences have led me to believe that a Spirit-filled temperance lecture can be blessed of God to the conversion of souls.
A prominent businessman who made no profession of religion tried to drown his sorrow in the wine cup after his wife died last April. He spent his evenings in a tavern near his home and gave himself up to drinking. His relatives became seriously alarmed for fear he would not only waste his fortune in the tavern, but end his life as a bum. In their anxiety they coaxed him to go to one of our camp meetings over a week end, and it so happened that I spoke on the subject of temperance and the evil effects of alcoholism. That sermon so gripped the heart of this man that he resolved to quit drinking, and he has not touched any liquor since. Just a few weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting him in his home, and of leading him to the foot of the cross in a full acceptance of present truth.
On another occasion I was delivering a temperance lecture in a large theater packed to the doors, in a town that had a saloon for every two hundred inhabitants. A local-option issue was on as to whether the town was to remain wet or go dry. I desired to use, during the lecture, an illustration which would show up the finished product of the saloon. I wanted someone to dress in rags and act the part of an old drunkard.
Someone suggested that I secure the real article—the most typical one in town, made so by the saloons of that town. They told me where I could find him. I hired him to come and act the part, and had him concealed behind the stage in the theater. When the time came for me to use the illustration, they brought this product of the liquor traffic upon the stage and had him sit down on a chair. I asked him a few questions and answered the questions myself. I asked him who had made him a drunkard, and then I turned to the packed house and said: "He replies that the Christian voters of this town who voted to legalize the saloon are responsible for his condition."
I asked the Christians in the audience where they expected to go after death, and I answered the question by saying: "Of course you all expect to go to heaven in the final judgment day."
Then I asked the poor drunkard, "Where do you expect to go on the judgment day ?" And I answered for him: "The Good Book says that the drunkard cannot inherit the kingdom of God; therefore I am doomed for hell.'
I then took the drunkard by the arm and said to him: "Come, let me lead you down the steps to hell." I led him down the back steps of the stage, and said as a parting word, "Poor drunkard, you are doomed for hell."
He looked up at me, and said very pitifully: "Do you really mean it?"
And I answered, "Yes, unless you repent." He answered, "I repent right now."
I stepped back on the stage and said to the audience, "That poor drunkard says that he wants to repent. If he goes back on his repentance, he is doomed for hell. If he goes to hell, just so surely as there is a God of justice, all you Christians who voted to legalize the saloon, to aid and abet its hellish traffic of ruining souls, are going to be held equally responsible with the saloonkeeper for his damnation."
That poor drunkard, a faithful Seventh-day Adventist today, repented and drank no more, and his reformation had such a sobering effect upon the people that they voted the saloon out of town. Temperance lectures can and ought to be made soulsaving agencies. We can make them soul gripping and Spirit filled, and transforming power will attend them.
I have spoken recently to thousands of high-school students and to parent-teacher association meetings, with the most encouraging results. Everywhere, the students, parents, and teachers received these temperance lectures with the greatest interest and enthusiasm, and have voted unanimously to have me come again. Our ministers and people ought to be leaders in this great reform. The ministers in these towns have been deeply impressed with the good work we are doing in pointing out in a scientific way the harmful effects of alcohol and cigarettes upon the human mechanism which was made in the image of God. They invariably ask for our temperance literature, and frequently request us to speak in their churches on these subjects.
Our ministers have many God-given opportunities in this field of endeavor, which if embraced and improved would not only break down prejudice, but would lead to the conversion of many souls that could not be reached in any other way. May God arouse us and endow us to meet these wonderful opportunities, that His cause may be greatly advanced.
