There’s an impulse that all of us deal with to one extent or another – it is the desire to control our environment. That impulse can become an ugly vice when we attempt to control family members or fellow citizens, to act in such a way as to elicit a certain behavior or to act in such a way as to prevent a certain behavior.

This seems to be a very human tendency. Frustrated with our lack of success in controlling our own emotions and behavior, we obsess in our attempt to control our environment. There’s a huge difference between the two desires. It’s the difference between the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the fruit of the flesh (Galatians 5:17-21).

It seems to me that the Prohibition was a large-scale example of the desire to help others in ways they did not want to be helped. Nevertheless, the Prohibition was the best thing to happen to the wine making industry in Sonoma and Napa Counties. In 1917, when wine was legal, Americans consumed 70 million gallons – imported, domestic and homemade. By 1925 – during the prohibition, Americans were drinking 150 million gallons a year – just the homemade stuff. They needed grapes. And this region provided grapes for people throughout the nation for home wine making.

The Volstead Act of 1919 was drawn up to provide for implementation of the new amendment. Its 67 sections dealt with the definition of intoxication, whether non-alcoholic beer could be called “near-beer.” It also accommodated exceptions to prohibition of alcoholic beverages, such as the religious practices of the nation’s Jews and Catholics so that both could continue their sacramental practices. People could also produce in their own homes wine and apple cider as fermentation was necessary to preserve the fruit. (Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, By Daniel Okrent.

The grape growers of Northern California and the valley also provided sacramental wines for the Catholic Church, where communion was in demand more than ever and for Jewish synagogues and cultural centers, which also saw growth. One Jewish Center in LA grew five times its pre-prohibition size.

It was almost comical. After several years, prohibition was recognized as a failure, as bootlegging (rum-running) became widespread. Al Capone and organized crime took control of the distribution of alcohol. Distilleries and breweries in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean flourished as their products were either consumed by visiting Americans or illegally imported to the U.S. Chicago became notorious as a haven for prohibition dodgers during the time known as the Roaring Twenties.

Prohibition generally came to an end in the 1930s as states took less interest in forcing the laws and, officially, in 1933, with the 21st Amendment, which simply repealed the 18th Amendment. Prohibition was over.

So, what went wrong with this well-intended movement?

When self-control gives way to the desire to control others, who do not want to be controlled, the result is comical, frustrating, hopeless. Even those who want to be alcohol-free, will rebel against the government forcing them to be alcohol-free.

This was the problem in Galatia –legalism – the attempt to control people and make them righteous with rules. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” writes the apostle, “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

We should not be burdened by a yoke of slavery. But, neither should we burdened by a yoke of sin. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Galatians 5:16-17

It brings us back to the fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control, not the attempt to control others.

READ Part 1 – Self-Control or Controlling Others?

READ Part 3 – Prohibition

One of the leaders of the temperance movement in Petaluma was Rev. Lorenzo Waugh, 1808-1900. I wrote about “Father” Waugh HERE>