When the Gospel was first carried to the Indians of British Columbia the great
Story★★★★Illustration 1. When the Gospel was first carried to the Indians of British Columbia the great evil among them was whiskey drinking.
After a while there were many converts among them. They wished to teach the young people the dangers that lie concealed in drinking whiskey. They gathered them together and in their presence they took a keg of whiskey and poured it out on some flourishing green grass. That whiskey destroyed the grass.
The Chief as spokesman for the tribe and especially for the Christians among them, told the young people that just as the whiskey burned that grass, it would burn them inside, little by little, if they drank it. Every year this experiment is gone through in the presence of all the young people of the tribe. The result is that there has been but very little drinking of whiskey among these Indians since that first time the demonstration was made.
236 THE ILLUSTRATION Question 2 You are bringing out the point that death does not always mean the defeating of God’s plans in our life. By using this illustration what elements of missions would be enforced indirectly?
— Gospel
The point
Young Native Americans learned the dangers of whiskey by watching it burn grass; this annual demonstration successfully prevented drinking in their community for generations.