For example, as Christians:
• We can not allow others to do our thinking for us when it comes to deciding what is RIGHT and what is WRONG.
• We can not just ignore these issues we face and hope they will go away.
Through the ages of time, God’s people have had to face difficult situations in society head on. Then they had to take a stand for what they believed would please God, whether it was popular or unpopular.
THE BIBLE
AND GAMBLING
Proverbs 28:20-22, we read, “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”
Also, look at 1 Timothy 6:10, we read, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Notice that Paul said that those who love money have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Can this be documented? Yes, it can in many ways.
Today we are hearing and reading some alarming things about the lottery. We frequently hear about those who have won money in the lottery. They are smiling, and people watching them think, “I wish that I had been the one to win the lottery.”
But while we see them when they win the lottery, we never hear about what happens to them with this cursed money.
For example in “The Detroit News,” an article was written by Ron French. He wrote about the problems of those who have won the lottery.
The article contained the following: The bad news is that you probably won't win tonight's Big Game lottery. The good news is that you may be better off if you don't. Lottery winners typically are no happier swimming in money than when they were broke. Some become embroiled in lawsuits, estranged from family and friends, and divorced from their spouses. One study found that instant millionaires are no happier than recent accident victims. None of which is likely to quell excitement surrounding tonight's jackpot, which soared to $325 million Monday and could surpass the U. S. record $363 million by today's 11 p.m. drawing. More than 23 million tickets are expected to be sold in Michigan for the multistate game, more than two for every man, woman and child in the state.
The dream of becoming rich overnight is carried in wallets and stuck to refrigerators across the state. But at 11:01 p.m., when most of those tickets are thrown in the trash, players can take solace in studies of lottery winners over the past three decades.
Winning the lottery doesn't change people's lives as much as is imagined, said H. Roy Kaplan, author of several books on lottery winners.
Kaplan has interviewed more than 600 winners of more than $1 million, and found that "People's lives don't change radically. You can catapult people from one economic status to another overnight, but a lifetime of beliefs and experiences change more slowly.”
“People who were outgoing and gregarious before winning took it in stride,"
Kaplan said. "People who were shy and withdrawn before winning became suspicious and paranoid."
Most lottery winners keep their jobs, but find their relationship with coworkers changed. Most are inundated with requests for money, both from friends and strangers.
And some find that their lucky day brings them nothing but bad luck.
Consider these unlucky winners while standing in line for your lottery tickets:
• Norman Fletcher of Deckerville won $1 million in September 1974, and then was sued by his best friend.
• Charles Lynn Riddle of Belleville won $1 million in August 1975. Afterward, he got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was indicted for selling cocaine.
• Kenneth P. Proxmire of Hazel Park won $1 million in 1977. Within five years, he declared bankruptcy and his children and wife of 18 years left him.
• Larry Frederick of Livingston County split a $33 million jackpot in 1988. Frederick, who was financially well-off before winning the lottery, found himself awash in lawsuits.
• Willie Hurt of Lansing won $3.1 million in 1989. Two years later, he was broke and charged with murder. His lawyer said Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine.
Money doesn't change a person's level of happiness, said Kennon Sheldon, a psychologist at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Sheldon said, "We consistently find that people who say money is most important to them are (the unhappiest),"
Shante Roberts laughs at such talk. She works at Chene Trombley Market in Detroit, one of the state's biggest lottery retailers, and has a pocket-full of tickets of her own for tonight's drawing. "I know I'd be doing better with the lottery," she said. "People love money." (End of article)
There are many tragic stories today that are related to the problem of gambling, just like these stories we just heard about in this article.
Even though the lottery has completely destroyed lives and the homes of so many, there are some who still can not see anything wrong with gambling.
We are told today by the experts that:
• The number one sin in America that is growing the quickest is INTERNET PORNOGRAPHY
• The number two sin in America that is growing the quickest is GAMBLING
Whether it’s betting at the race track, bingo at the church, pulling a lever, rolling the dice, shuffling cards, or buying a lottery ticket, gambling is fast becoming the national pastime for many countries.
Pollsters tell us that:
• 80% of the Roman Catholics classify themselves as gamblers
• 77% of the Jews state they enjoy gambling
• 74% of the Presbyterians say they gamble
• 74% of the Episcopalians say they gamble
• 63% of the Methodist say they gamble
• 43% of the Baptist say they gamble
• 33% of the traditional conservatives say they gamble
Gambling is promoted today by the gambling gang, the sports industry, the government, and even some churches.
For example, the Catholic church for years has been providing a place for people to come into their church facilities and gamble. They promote gambling (Bingo) as a harmless activity.
Illus: Did you hear about the man that was struck by a bus on a busy street in New York City. He lies dying on the sidewalk as a crowd of spectators gathers around. As he lay there he said, "A priest. Somebody get me a priest!" A policeman checks the crowd ---- no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind. "A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again.
Then out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I'm living behind St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church on First Avenue, and every night I'm listening to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."
The policeman agreed. He kneels down, leans over the injured man, and says in a solemn voice: "B-4. I-19. N-38. G-54. O-72. . ." [Explanation for some - they're Bingo numbers!].
But anyone who knows anything about gambling knows that gambling is no laughing matter.
But some do not see gambling as a serious problem. It is because their concept of life is that LIFE IS A BIG RISK. They say we all gamble each day as we go through the routine of life.
Those who say this, do not really know what gambling is. For example:
A. THEY DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAMBLING AND TAKING A RISK!
LIFE IS A RISK, BUT LIFE IS NOT A GAMBLE.
Those who see RISKING and GAMBLING as the same thing are wrong!
There is nothing wrong with taking a RISK, but it is sinful to GAMBLE.
The difference between a RISK and GAMBLING is this:
• Gambling leaves everything to CHANCE ONLY
• Risk does everything to MINIMIZE CHANCE
Let’s consider what some say about life being a RISK or a GAMBLE, and that it is all the same.
They say that when you get in your car you are gambling with your life. No, when you get in your car you can be gambling, but you also might be taking a risk.
You are taking a risk when you drive in your car if you do all you can to minimize the chance of getting killed, such as:
• You minimize the risk to your life when you put your seat belt on
• You minimize the risk to your life when you drive at a safe speed
• You Minimize the risk to your life when you stop at the red lights
• You minimize the risk to your life when you drive in an alert and sensible manner
Life becomes a gamble when you drive, and ignore all these things you can control, and speed through an intersection, running the red light, taking a chance that no one is going to plow into the side of your car and kill you. That is GAMBLING with your life!
Some do not know the difference between RISK and GAMBLING. But also-
B. SOME DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAMBLING AND INVESTING
For example, they will say that when people invest in the stock market they are gambling.
It can be gambling, but it also can be investment.
For example, it is GAMBLING when someone is putting money in the stock market randomly, not knowing a thing about what they are putting their money on, and they are willing to take a chance. THAT IS GAMBLING!
INVESTING is putting money into a corporation or a mutual fund that has a track record of years of making good decisions for their stockholders. The investor has taken time to do the research, to find the track record of a corporation or a mutual fund that can show the investor those who have done this for the last ten or twenty years. They show the kind of returns they have made on the money they invested.
By investing in a corporation or a mutual fund that has a good track record, a good bit of the chance of losing your investment has been eliminated because of the sound decision that is based on a good track record.
Investing takes advantage of minimizing the risk of losing your money.
It is important that we know the difference between:
• TAKING A RISK AND GAMBLING
• INVESTING AND GAMBLING
But it is also important that we know that GAMBLING does not produce anything. It is simply getting goods to change from the possession of one person to another person.
But when we invest in the stock market, or a business, our money goes to build factories, provide jobs, pay wages, create goods, and put food on the table for hungry children.
But those who gamble provide none of these things. They just change money from one hand to the other.
Those who gamble have a mutual agreement. What is the agreement they have? Everyone who gambles has a mutual agreement to steal from each other that which belongs to someone else.
• THEY WANT MONEY
• THEY DO NOT WANT TO WORK FOR MONEY
They are willing to gamble with their money to get other people’s money.
Someone very wisely said, “He who gambles and wins is a thief. While he who gambles and loses is a fool.”
• Gambling is predicated on one thing, FOR EVERY WINNER THERE MUST BE A LOSER
• Taking a risk is predicated on the fact that everybody can be a winner
For example, when we invest in the stock market, we want the business we invested in to win so that we can win. The corporations make money, we make money. Everybody is a winner!
But in gambling, for every winner there must be a loser.
We have looked at what the difference is between RISK TAKING, INVESTING and GAMBLING.
Why is Gambling a sin?
I. GAMBLING VIOLATES GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ACCUMULATE WEALTH
God made it clear that the way we are to provide for ourselves and our families is through work.
Contrary to what some people think, work will not kill you.
One of the most healthy things we can do for ourselves is to develop the mindset that says, “I have some things to do with my life today.”
In fact, you can not find retirement anywhere in the Bible.
It is not only healthy to work six days and rest one day as God says we are to do, but also, did you know that one of the most dangerous things we can do in our life is to have too much spare time on our hands?
Illus: Remember David got into trouble with Bathsheba during the time of war. When he should have been on the battlefront fighting with his men, he was on the rooftop playing “Peek-a-Boo,” watching Bathsheba take a bath. If he had been busy doing what God had called him to do, he most likely would not have gotten into the trouble he got into.
The old cliché is still true, “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop!”
After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God commanded that they no longer sit around under the shade trees, but that they work six days and rest one day.
Paul certainly saw work as God’s means of providing for ourselves and our families.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 3:10, we read, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
Gambling is a means of circumvent the will of God by people who think they can gamble instead of working.
But Proverbs 13:11 says clearly, “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.”
That is exactly what gambling is, it is vanity.
For example, when you gamble in the lottery, you may have a chance of 1 in 10 million of winning. This is vanity! (Wishful thinking!)
Illus: Would you invest in a mutual fund that had a track record that showed they had not made a profit in fifty years? That is, you know that for the last fifty years, this mutual fund has not made any money, but now you are willing to bet that in 1 out of 50 years it is going to make a profit. You would be an idiot to invest in a mutual fund like this. But people will gamble with their hard earned money with even greater odds of losing.
When people take their money they have worked hard for, and gamble with it, knowing they only have one chance out of a million, or ten million, they are dumb!
These poor, dumb people still say, “Give us a chance to win those big millions.” Here is your chance:
• The chance of seeing a no-hitter in a baseball game is 1 in 1,347
• The chance of finding a pearl in an oyster is 1 in 10,000
• The chance of being dealt a royal flush in five card stud is 1 in 649,739
• The chance of having quadruplets is 1 in 705,000
• The chance of being struck by lightening is 1 in 1,900,000
• The chance of winning the lottery is 1 in 12,913, 583
Illus: The math department at Berry College, said that the odds against
winning the Lottery with any one lottery ticket are 7.25 billion to one.
WHO ARE THESE DUMB PEOPLE THAT DO THIS?
Research has shown that it is the uneducated poor. The rich have acquired wealth by hard work and good investments.
• They know what it is to work many hours, when others have gone home
• They know what it is to make every penny count
• They know that wealth comes through people using THEIR BRAINS, THEIR HANDS, and THEIR BACKS
Research has shown that it is generally the poor and uneducated that will gamble with their money when they only have 1 chance out of 10 million.
They have been told that this is a way they can have instant wealth.
Illus: For example, a college student, Ernie Kovic, stood in line to buy $3,000 worth of Power ball tickets - money he had been saving for tuition. Kovic told The New York Times: "If I win, I won’t have to go to school. Heck, I can buy my own aircraft." Guess what? Kovic lost, as did 79,999,999 other gullible betters.
You can stand in stores that sell these lottery tickets and watch the poor people coming in to buy the lottery tickets. The scene saddens us.
One man asked another man who was buying a lottery ticket, (who stated he was 58 but looked more like 70), why he came in to buy several tickets nearly every day. He said, "This is my retirement plan. I’m going to hit it big." He continued on: "I play every day. . .I lose more than I win - but I won $100 one time."
Lotteries foster a get-rich-quick mentality while belittling the work ethic.
It was a shame when the politicians of this land legalized alcohol. It has destroyed lives and homes of millions.
• But some states say they have state run liquor stores to control it. Listen, the only things those politicians care about is the money they make from these people who are addicted to alcohol. They want that money so they can take it and use it to stay in office, doing favors for those who will support them in the next election.
• The same thing is true concerning gambling. All they care about is the money they can get from the poor, uneducated people, who are addicted to gambling, so they can use the money to stay in office.
No government that cares about their people will take advantage of the poor and uneducated people among them, by appealing to their weaknesses, rather than their strengths.
For example, they tell us the lottery will be used for education. But do you know what research has shown? Those who get the college scholarships are the middle class and the rich.
In other words, these evil politicians have discovered a way for the poor, uneducated people to pay for the college tuition bills of the rich and the middle class, and they can stay in office at the same time. This is why they promote this stuff.
For example, a Massachusetts Lottery ad offered two options for how to "make millions." Let me quote:
1. "Plan A: Start studying really hard when you’re about 7 years old. Then grow up and get a good job. From then on, get up at dawn every day. Flatter your boss. Crush competition ruthlessly. Climb over the backs of coworkers. Be the last one to leave every night. Squirrel away every cent. Avoid having a nervous breakdown. Avoid having a premature heart attack. Get a face lift. Do this every day for 30 years, holidays, and weekends included. By the time you’re ready to retire you should have your money."
2. "Plan B: Play the lottery."
Notice, how the state of Massachusetts plays down working, and we wonder why we as a nation are fast becoming a trifling nation that sits around, taking every penny we can lay our hands on to play the lottery.
GAMBLING VIOLATES GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ACCUMULATE WEALTH, and …
II. GAMBLING VIOLATES GOD’S COMMANDS ABOUT LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR
Remember, gambling is predicated on one thing; for every winner there must be a loser.
That is, if I play the lottery, I am betting that all those who took their hard earned money and placed it in the lottery, are going to be losers, so that I can WIN!
Gambling is based on selfishness. Gamblers have the attitude, “I do not care if you lose everything you have, as long as I can get it.”
Gambling is a SELFISH DESIRE TO MAKE EVERYONE ELSE A LOSER, AND WE BECOME A WINNER!
This does not sound like anything Christ would do, does it?
Illus: Gambling is like:
• Two men meet in an alley. One has a deck of cards, and comes out with all the money, and the other one comes out with none.
•Two men meet in an alley. One has a gun, and comes out with all the money, and the other one comes out with none.
They were both thieves, because they took something that belonged to the other man, and gave nothing in return.
In either case, the money was not willingly given, nor rightfully earned. One took the money by using a deck of cards, and the other one took the money by using a gun.
Someone also very wisely said, “Gambling is simply legalized thievery.”
The person that gambles, violates God’s law for us to love our neighbor as ourselves, because gambling is a desire to make everyone else a LOSER, and ourselves a WINNER!
The Bible teaches that you are to, “Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you.”
None of us wants to be a loser, and if we are Christians, following the teachings of Christ, why would we want others to be losers?
Gambling not only violates the law of God, also-
III. GAMBLING IS DESTRUCTIVE TO OUR ECONOMY
Many states have passed the lottery. But there is not one state that can show where legalized gambling has helped their economy.
But there is an abundance of evidence that shows that the economy of state after state has been hurt by the lottery.
HOW DOES IT HURT THE ECONOMY?
It takes millions out of our economy when folks take their hard earn money and give it to the gambling industry. These millions go to people their bank accounts and not into buying cars, shoes, clothes, and houses.
Many of these who are in the gambling industry, take the hard earned money that people gamble with, and use it to promote pornography, drugs, and prostitution.
Let me give you a several good examples, such as:
• A retired military man attended First Baptist Church, of Hopkins, South Carolina. The man had served his country, and he had a good retirement check coming to him for the years to come. After his retirement, he obtained a secular job. But when he got off work, in his idle time, he started to play the poker machines in one of the neighborhood convenience stores. Soon he was addicted to playing them each day. One day he spent his entire retirement check playing the poker machine. When he had no more money, he sold his car and lost that money, and had to find someone to take him home. TRUE STORY!
• Also, Dr. Odell Belger tells of a young couple started attending his church. They were a nice looking couple that had a young girl around 9 -10 years of age. They came every Sunday morning with their daughter. But one Sunday morning when he was going to the sanctuary, I met him in the corridor. I greeted him and asked where his wife and daughter were. Sadness came over his face as he said, “Pastor, can I talk to you after church.” After church, I invited him to come into my office so we could talk. He wasted no time in telling me that his wife has a gambling problem. He said, “When I would go to work, she would pawn things in the house to get money to gamble with. When she had pawned about everything she could pawn, she then began to max out every credit card she could get her hands on. Then when she could not get a credit card, she started writing checks.” He said, “She wrote 19 bad checks in this county, and 23 in the next county.” He said, “Pastor, you asked me where my wife was. She is in jail, and I do not know when she will be getting out!”
These are examples of gambling families that are not using their money to help promote a good strong economy, but only helping questionable people in the gambling industry that do not care about their lives and homes.
Just as the government has given the liquor industry a license to get people addicted to alcohol, the government has given a license to the gambling industry to get the American people addicted to gambling.
Politicians who will use their office to support such addiction, do not care about their constituents.
IV. GAMBLING PREYS ON THE POOR
The Boston Globe documented how the lottery saturates the poor neighborhoods in Massachusetts.
• For example, Chelsea, an economically struggling community, has one lottery retailer for every 363 residents
• By comparison, the affluent suburb of Milton, has one lottery retailer for every 3,657 residents
Chelsea residents, many of whom are on welfare, spend nearly 8% of their incomes on lottery tickets. That amounts to more than $900 per person, annually.
A store owner said, "The lottery is not good. It robs from the poor. It robs from my neighbors. People lose a lot of money. The government has no business being involved."
When the social security and welfare checks arrive, local residents line up outside the stores and down the sidewalks, hoping to parlay their meager subsistence into instant wealth.
It’s the same story everywhere. In Texas, the poorest citizens, who together earn only 2% of the state’s total income, buy 10% of lottery tickets.
In Colorado, the 32 counties with the highest per-capita lottery sales, each have incomes below the state average.
An advertising plan for the Ohio lottery recommended that "promotional pushes" take place at the beginning of the month. Why? Because government benefits, payroll and Social Security payments are released on the first Tuesday of each calendar month.
An infamous Illinois Lottery billboard campaign in a Chicago ghetto, showed a picture of a lottery ticket with the caption: "This could be your ticket out." Fat chance!
V. GAMBLING CORRUPTS THE RULING ABILITY OF GOVERNMENT
The gambling industry also pours vast sums into campaign coffers of gambling-friendly politicians. It is time for the public to examine these politicians, who are regularly jetted off to Las Vegas and other gambling centers to pick up these enormous contributions. Republicans have been given $6.1 million, and Democrats $7.6 million in recent years.
• For example, in one of the elections in California, nearly $100 million was spent by casino interests to influence the outcome of various races and measures
• House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, (D-Mo) went to Vegas to pick up a $250,000 check
• Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass), Mitch Mcconnell (R-KY), Slade Gorton (R-WA) and John McCain (R-Ariz) have received large contributions from the gambling industry.
• Former DNC Chairman Joe Andrew proudly proclaimed that Democrats in Washington want to, "Be the party of the gambling industry."
We must ask, what service is being provided in return for this generosity?
Conclusion:
Gambling used to be behind closed, locked doors. Why? Because it was illegal, and because it was a sinful act that no one wanted others to know they were doing. But today, we have changed the name of gambling to entertainment.
In fact, in South Carolina where they promote the lottery on many radio stations, they advertise it as fun time activity, they say, “Try it, it’s fun!”
It won’t be long before some psychologist will state, “Gambling is not a sin, it is a disease!” It has already been listed as a “Psychiatric disorder of impulse control.”
If it is a disease, which it is not, why is our government encouraging and supporting it?
WHAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO GAMBLE?
Gambling is like all sins, it generally starts off small and soon becomes an addiction that is out of control.
In South Carolina, they call it the “Educational Lottery”. If it is, it is time that we wise up and recognize gambling for what it is: it is a, “Consensual agreement where people, without any work, desire to steal from someone else!”
It has proven to be true in every state, that once these people get addicted, they have cleaned out their savings, maxed out their credit cards, and then they begin to steal everything they can get their hands on.
After all, the whole time they have been gambling, they have been taking a chance to steal from others, so why should it bother them to satisfy this addiction now by stealing with their hands?
We have heard a great deal from our politicians about the positive side of gambling, now it is time we get educated about the negative side.
The negatives far out weight the positives.
The chief source of funds in organized crime has always been gambling. Is it any wonder then that Nevada, the gambling capital of America, has a per capita crime rate double, and a suicide rate triple the national average?
Then you have those who will say that if you do not have legalized gambling, you will have illegal gambling. If we are going to use that logic:
• We are always going to have prostitution, so let’s legalize it and tax it
• We are always going to have dope peddling, so let’s legalize it and tax it
Just because we are always going to have certain evils in our land, we do not bow to them, we oppose them.
Because the uneducated support the lottery, hoping to win millions, they put the lottery tickets in the stores in their neighborhoods.
Someone said, “Only horse sense is what keeps horses from betting on what people will do.”
We all need to be like the man who commented on the “Educational lottery”. He said, “Every time I buy a losing ticket, I get a little smarter!”
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT OUR NEEDS BEING MET.
Look at Philippians 4:19, we read, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
We are to put our trust, not in “LADY LUCK”, but in a LOVING GOD.
Note: If you would like to hear Dr. Odell Belger preach on other subjects go to YOUTUBE and spell out the work LYKESLAND
