I do not plan to participate in this Gambling Referendum election process but if I do decide to do so, I will vote NO, not because of what the Christian Council says but, because of what the Bible says about gambling or “casting lots”. Aside from the fact that the Bible encourages us to work (Ephesians 4:28 says “…let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”) and not be lazy (Proverbs 21:25 says “The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.”), it sternly warns us, at Proverbs 1, to avoid gambling and those who encourage us to do it:
10 My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. 11 If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul; 12 let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; 14 cast lots (GAMBLE) with us; we will all share the loot”— 15 my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; 16 for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood.
Those hoping to win resort to all sorts of means to derive lucky numbers or responses –studying dreams and astrology books, matching birth and death dates, working witchcraft, consulting the dead whether by walking backward in the graveyard or playing with cemetery dust, communicating with psychics or obeah men and the list goes on. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 declares: “Let no one be found among you … who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD.”
Gambling most definitely is focused on the love of money and undeniably tempts people with the promise of quick and easy riches.” First Timothy 6:10 (modified) says it best: “…the love of money is a root of all evils, of which some having lusted after, were seduced from the faith and, as a result, cause themselves to suffer through many sorrows.” Hebrews 13:5 declares, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Matthew 6:24 proclaims, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
I fully support the Government putting the question to the people because that is their duty. They are more than right to do so and the Bible sanctions their authority (see Romans 13:1-7, 1st Peter 2:13-17 and Matthew 22:21). It is our response, as the electorate, to these questions, that should be carefully contemplated and appropriately rendered. The question of whether we need to legalize gambling to survive as a nation represents a challenge of our faith in Jehovah God to sustain us as a nation. And, yes, God also advises us what to do when we come to such junctures; at Joshua 24:15 He tells us to CHOOSE.
*A WARNING TO PASTORS, CHURCH & CONGREGATION LEADERS: I urge those religious leaders who are allowing the demons of faithless greed and worldly prestigious attention to distract them from their spiritual purpose to read Jeremiah 23. If you are a man or woman of the cloth who does not understand Jeremiah 23 in the King James Version then read it in the New International Version. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. In short order God is going to deal with wicked clergy members who knowingly lead His people astray.***
***Isaiah 40:28-31
- 28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, JEHOVAH, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
- 29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
- 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
- 31But they that wait upon JEHOVAH shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Marvin R. Z. Gibson
