Another factor that led to the outbreak of the war was a religious awakening of the Native Americans in the region in the 1760s. Food shortages and epidemics, as well as discontent with the British fed the movement. The most influential person in this phenomenon was Neolin, known as the "Delaware Prophet". Neolin said, Native Americans should steer clear of the trade goods, alcohol, and weapons of the whites. Merging elements from Christianity into traditional religious beliefs, Neolin told listeners that the Master of Life was displeased with the Native Americans for taking up the bad habits of the white men, and that the British posed a threat to their very existence. "If you suffer the English among you," Neolin said, "you are dead men. Sickness, smallpox, and their poison [alcohol] will destroy you entirely." It was a powerful message for a people whose world was being changed by forces that seemed beyond their control.