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Billy Sunday
William Ashley “Billy” Sunday (1862–1935). Born on November 19, 1862, in Story County, Iowa, to a poor farming family, Billy Sunday rose from a hardscrabble childhood to become America’s most famous evangelist of the early 20th century. Orphaned at 10 after his father’s Civil War death and mother’s remarriage, he worked odd jobs before excelling as a professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings (1883–1890), known for speed despite a .248 batting average. Converted in 1886 at Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission, he left baseball in 1891 to work with the YMCA and study briefly at Evanston Academy. Mentored by evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman, Sunday began preaching in 1896, holding over 300 revival campaigns across the U.S., drawing millions with theatrical, plainspoken sermons on sin, salvation, and prohibition. His tabernacles, like those in New York (1917), packed thousands nightly, reportedly leading to a million conversions. He authored no major books but shaped evangelicalism, supporting World War I and opposing evolution in schools. Married to Helen “Nell” Thompson in 1888, they had four children, though three sons’ scandals marred his later years. Sunday died of a heart attack on November 6, 1935, in Chicago, saying, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist.”
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher discusses the negative effects of alcohol consumption on society. He highlights the new law passed by Congress, which imposes a two-dollar tax on whiskey and a five-dollar tax on beer. The preacher argues that this will result in a significant amount of money being taken out of legitimate trade channels, leading to a decrease in spending on essential items such as food, clothes, education, and automobiles. He emphasizes that what America truly needs is not the repeal of the law, but repentance and righteousness, and that the solution lies in turning to Jesus rather than material possessions.
Sermon Transcription
Food sold to a preacher or a high school girl has the same effect as when it's sold to an automobile thief or a horse thief. Congress has passed a law putting $2 a tax on whiskey, and they expect to realize $300 million. That means that the American people have not to buy and drink 150 million gallons a year. They have to put $5 a barrel tax on beer. That means the people have not to buy and drink 32 million barrels of beer a year. It doesn't take a lawyer to figure out that if you do that, you take that much money out of the legion of the channels of trade. You spend that much less for food and clothes and boots and shoes and education and automobiles. Oh, America didn't need repeal. She needed repentance. She didn't need wrong. She needed righteousness. We don't need Jags. We need Jesus. We don't need Lord Brock. We need Lord God.
Prohibition
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William Ashley “Billy” Sunday (1862–1935). Born on November 19, 1862, in Story County, Iowa, to a poor farming family, Billy Sunday rose from a hardscrabble childhood to become America’s most famous evangelist of the early 20th century. Orphaned at 10 after his father’s Civil War death and mother’s remarriage, he worked odd jobs before excelling as a professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings (1883–1890), known for speed despite a .248 batting average. Converted in 1886 at Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission, he left baseball in 1891 to work with the YMCA and study briefly at Evanston Academy. Mentored by evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman, Sunday began preaching in 1896, holding over 300 revival campaigns across the U.S., drawing millions with theatrical, plainspoken sermons on sin, salvation, and prohibition. His tabernacles, like those in New York (1917), packed thousands nightly, reportedly leading to a million conversions. He authored no major books but shaped evangelicalism, supporting World War I and opposing evolution in schools. Married to Helen “Nell” Thompson in 1888, they had four children, though three sons’ scandals marred his later years. Sunday died of a heart attack on November 6, 1935, in Chicago, saying, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist.”