A CHRISTIAN
GAMBLER?
Rev. John W. Gerald
I. YOUR CHILDREN ARE YOUR HEIRS
Ezra 9:12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave [it] for an inheritance to your children for ever.
God’s children are admonished not to intermingle with the heathen around them, for their sins will cleave to them. When we associate with the ungodly, their habits will not look so bad to us. They will persuade us to partake of their sins. It would not seem so bad to buy a lottery ticket, or roll the dice, or flip the cards when we see them doing it with such gusto. Soon we would be just as addicted to the
"sport" as they are. God wants us to securely keep our possessions as an inheritance for our children forever. Gambling them away would be a crime.
II. ALL IS LOST IN A MOMENT
Job 21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Things change quickly. We may have sufficient goods for today, and in a moment, they are gone. The gambler will see them snatched away before his eyes, but he can not stop it then.
Psalms 44:10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
God will not defend us in the day of our desolations. The enemy will spoil us at will. The gambler will see this picture himself.
III. GAMBLING IS LIKE STEALING
Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with [his] hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Gambling is a form of stealing. It also results in the uncontrollable loss of a persons property. Everything is put at risk on the gaming tables. Whatsoever a man earns should be put to good use in the supply of his family’s needs, and to share with needy neighbors.
IV. WINNINGS ARE UNCERTAIN RICHES
1Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
The scriptural admonition to the rich is that they not act as rich men act, but to be humble, and trust in God, for their riches cannot save them in that day. God gives us all things to enjoy, not to hoard and deprive others of their use. We cannot hoard up the sunshine and the rain, the wind and all the gifts of nature. We share them, rich and poor alike.
1Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Rather than gambling your goods away, be ready to give them away to the poor and needy. Gambling with your goods is not blessed of the LORD, but giving them away in His name is.
1Timothy 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
V. COVETOUSNESS IS AT THE ROOT OF GAMBLING
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Mortify means to let die, or crucify. The members which are upon the earth are carnal.
This is a typical list of carnal appetites:
1.) Fornication, an illegal act of sex by an unmarried person.
2.) Uncleanness, something defiled by contact with an unclean thing, sin, leprosy, a dead body or unclean animals used for food.
3.) Inordinate affection, inappropriate affection, or display of it, lustful acts.
4.) Concupiscence, lust, strong affection for anything that God forbids.
5.) Covetousness, greed, materialism, which is spiritual idolatry.
This is what is at work in the gambler’s mind and heart.
VI. GAMBLING RESULTS IN HARDSHIPS FOR THE FAMILY
Zechariah 7:10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
There is nothing more oppressive to the poor than having a provider who gambles their assets away. It is the poor, who are the least able to afford it, who are enticed into gambling away the little they have in hopes of greater gain. The casinos do not care who loses his money at their tables, nor how well he can afford it. "Seventy percent of those who buy my tickets are poor or (minorities)" said a lottery agent in New York. Many of them spend up to 20% of their income on the lottery. Americans spent $350 billion in 1995 at the casinos! That is beside the government sanctioned lotteries, horse racing, dog racing and other assorted forms of gambling. I hope that none of you spent even one dime in one of them! Gambling is as bad, or worse, than drinking on the welfare of the family.
A church secretary stole $186,000 from her church in order to gamble! Forty percent of all white collar crime is linked to problem gambling. Assaults and thefts increased four to one after casino gambling came to Colorado. Armed robberies and rape increased threefold after casino gambling came to the Gulf Coast. Burglary, larceny and car theft doubled. Loan sharks and prostitutes follow in the wake of gambling, and do a brisk business. Organized crime has a controlling interest in all forms of gambling. Retail businesses fail by about 33% in the wake of casinos.
Furthermore, the state will pay out between three and seven dollars in hidden costs, such as law enforcement, for every dollar taken in from gambling. It was estimated that 50,000 pathological gamblers in the state of Maryland cost $1.5 billion in lost productivity and embezzled, stolen or otherwise abused funds.
Problem gamblers will accumulate between $35,000 and $92,000 in debt before they will apply for help with their habit. Between five and ten times more gamblers commit suicide than the rest of the population percentage wise. There are more than 10.5 million problem gamblers in the United States today. Since the introduction of casinos in New Jersey, more than 32,000 calls are made to the Council on Compulsive Gambling Helpline annually.
An estimated 80% of adult problem gamblers started before age 14. A fifteen-year-old girl, an illegal gambler, lost $5,000 at New Jersey resorts, even as her father begged the casinos to bar her as a minor. Another teenager stole $20,000 to pay his bookie, while another boy prostituted his girlfriend around school to raise money for his gambling debts. In Massachusetts, 90% of high school seniors had purchased lottery tickets, illegally.
Child abuse, violence and divorce increased dramatically after the introduction of legalized casino gambling into South Dakota. Twenty-five percent of the children of problem gamblers become problem children. One girl remembers how her father lost their 1400 acre farm "on the flip of a card", Thrusting the family into poverty. A pastor, who preached against gambling, was fired!
Psalms 44:12 Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase [thy wealth] by their price.
VII. A TYPICAL RESPONSE OF THE GAMBLER
Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
They refused to hearken! When people do not want to receive the good instructions of the LORD, they stop their ears and pull away their shoulder, to show contempt for His word. Even when it is offered through a loved one, a wife or a child, it will not be received. The gambler is such a person! Even when disastrous losses face him, he believes he will recover it all on the next cast of the lot. He will not believe that the gambler is always the loser! The average loss for each gambler at the casinos in Biloxi, Mississippi, is about $70 per night.
VIII. HOW TO ESCAPE THE ADDICTION
1Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
Even though man’s law says a thing is legal, that does not make it right in the sight of the LORD. A thing that is addictive, such as gambling has been proven to be, brings those affected by it under its power. They are in bondage to it. It certainly is not expedient for a Christian to be brought under the power of gambling forces.
IX. THE GAMBLER WILL SELL HIMSELF
Isaiah 52:3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
The gambler is a born loser! He will sell his soul for one more round, hoping to win the illusive pot. "Ye have sold yourselves for nought". The hoped-for treasure never materialized. You have given up real treasure for a dream, a fantasy.
X. HIS FAMILY WILL BE SOLD
Matthew 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Matthew 18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Matthew 18:25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Every sinner is insolvent; sinful man has become bankrupt, and has nothing to offer, nor has he any righteousness, nor any works of righteousness, and if he had, a debt of sin cannot be paid by a debt of obedience; since God has a prior right to our obedience.
Sin being committed against an infinite God, contracts an infinite debt, which cannot be paid by a finite creature. Christ only was able to pay this debt, and he has done it for his people. Without an interest in his blood, righteousness, and satisfaction, every debtor will be cast into the prison of hell, there to lie till the uttermost farthing of the ten thousand talents is paid, which will be to all eternity. We see what a sad condition sin has brought men into; it has stripped them of their estates and possessions; it has reduced them to want and beggary; it exposes them to the wrath of God, and the curses of the law. What little reason there is to think that a man should be able to merit any thing at the hands of God, to whom he is so greatly indebted. He must first pay his debts, which is impossible, before he can pretend to do any thing deserving the notice of God.
Even if he were set free, and clear of all his debts, and entered upon a new life of obedience, and this strictly attended to, without contracting any debts for the future, yet all this would be but what is due to God, and could merit him nothing.
We see also how much the saints are obliged to Christ Jesus, and how thankful they should be to him, who became a surety for them, who has paid all their debts, and procured for them every blessing of grace they stand in need of.
Think, O sinner, what thou wilt be able to say and do, when God comes to reckon with thee, and thou hast nothing to pay, nor any to pay for thee, or be thy surety; hell must be thy portion forever.
"His Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had"; according to the Jewish laws, for a man’s being sold, or selling himself when poor, see Le 25:47. The law in Ex 22:3, respects the selling of a man for theft (possibly,
this servant had embezzled this money), and not for debt. (He must have been a champion gambler to have used that kind of money!) Of the selling of a man’s wife for the payment of his debts, I do not remember to have read any law concerning it, or instances of it; but of children being taken for bondmen by the creditor, for their father’s debts, mention is made, 2Ki 4:1. There seems to be an allusion to this practice in Isa 50:1. It was not only the custom of the Jews to come upon children for the debts of parents, but of other nations, as well.
Now this expresses the state of bondage, sin brings men into; they become slaves to their own lusts, vassals of Satan, and in bondage to the law; and also the ruin and destruction it exposes them to; as, the curse and condemnation of the law, the wrath of God, eternal death, even the destruction of body and soul in hell. What a price the sinner (and the gambler) pays for his sin!
XI. ALL PARTIES WILL PAY FOR THEIR PART
1Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
2 Cor. 6:9-11 The Corinthians are warned against many great evils, of which they had formerly been guilty.
There is much force in these inquiries, when we consider that they were addressed to a people puffed up with a fancy of their being above others in wisdom and knowledge. All unrighteousness is sin; all reigning
sin, nay, every actual sin, committed with design, and not repented of, shuts out of the kingdom of heaven. Be not deceived. Men are very much inclined to flatter themselves that they may live in sin, yet die in Christ, and go to heaven. But we cannot hope to sow to the flesh, and reap everlasting life.
They are reminded what a change the gospel and grace of God had made in them. The blood of Christ, and the washing of regeneration, can take away all guilt. Our justification is owing to the suffering and merit of Christ; our sanctification to the working of the Holy Spirit; but both go together. All who are made righteous in the sight of God, are made holy by the grace of God.
1Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
"Nor thieves", Who take away another man’s property, secret or openly, by fraud or force. (This fits the gambler!)
"Nor covetous", insatiable, in the lust of uncleanness; or greedy of worldly gain, bent upon increasing their substance at any rate, by circumvention, fraud, and deceit; and do not use the things of this life as they should, for their own good, and that of others. (This also fits the gambler!)
"Nor extortioners" plunderers of men’s substance in an open and forcible way; or who extort unlawful gain shall inherit the kingdom of God; not that these sins are unpardonable; for those who have been guilty of them may, through the blood of Christ, receive remission of them, and through the grace of the spirit of God obtain repentance.
(Some of the foregoing information was obtained from Dr. Gill’s commentaries on the On Line Bible program; some of it from the CWA magazine, "Family Voice", March, 1996; some of it from Major Edgar C. Bundy’s publication, "Ed", March, 1996, and some of it is my own commentary, adapted to this subject.)
