Sleeping With the Enemy Can Keep You Up at Night

The cleanup and rebuilding process following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is ongoing of course. Although the Mississippi gulf coast received less media coverage than the New Orleans area, the state is making up for it now with the hot issue of the demand by casinos along the coast to move off the water and onto land.

I will say first of all that I do not want casinos in Mississippi or anywhere else for matter, on land or water. My position on “gaming” (which is the politically correct way of saying gambling) has been clearly noted in print and on the air. Gambling is the most closely held open secret vehicle of destruction in history. Great efforts are made to fool the general public concerning the destructiveness of gambling, and this includes not only the gambling industry, but governments, politicians, economic leaders and yes even some “faith-based” organizations. The crazy thing about it all however, is that the dangers have been made known and they are by and large ignored anyway.

The local newspapers were full of op/ed pieces today, mostly in support of the casino demands and being critical of those who oppose inland casinos, especially the efforts of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, of which I am a part.

It is understandable when you read the newspaper editorials that they would not want to say anything that would insult the gamblers. I mean you don’t bit the hand that feeds you right? And we know that they receive a lot of sales revenue from the “boats" don’t they?

Some of it can be attributed to fact that a lot of the gambling supporters, the media, the politicians and the like, frequent the casinos themselves, and all that is included with them such as alcohol and the like.

As disappointed as I am with politicians and business leaders, I am more disgusted by the lack of opposition from Christians. I expect some politicians and civic leaders to be spineless and to go whichever direction the crowd goes. I may be naive, however there is part of me that still expects Christians to follow Christ. I guess I am weird that way. It is so sad that we have so much time and resources to spend on making church seeker-sensitive, user-friendly and fun loving, and spend almost nothing on defending the faith and standing for truth and righteousness. I hold the leaders responsible for being timid and caring more about sparing peoples feelings that preaching the Word.

I hate to sound skeptical, but my gut feeling is that in this sinful, selfish society, and in the case of inland casinos, the gambling industry will get want they want, when they want and how they want it. As I have said on the radio before, when you go to bed with a harlot, be prepared for the consequences, and it seems that many people like it that way.