Gambling and Fixed Odds Betting Machines
In our “something for nothing” culture you can scarcely pick up a newspaper without a scratch card falling out. In local supermarkets people queue to purchase lottery tickets, each purchaser hoping this will be the day that his or her financial worries will end. Gambling is portrayed as an acceptable and normal leisure activity by our media and culture; an illusion is created that cash will solve all our problems. Viewers glue themselves to TV screens convinced that their numbers will “come up” this time as astronomical National Lottery figures flash before their eyes. This illusion is wholly supported and “sanitised” by governments and promoted by the BBC.
The reality that such money is not earned, and effectively leaves the poor subsidising the rich, is ignored. Postcode lotteries, horse racing, dog racing, football matches – almost anything can be a source of gambling and has been a curse on our society over decades. These evils are thrust in our faces. We are being seduced by the media (and, behind them, by Satan) even although these same media record the misery some “winners” have experienced subsequently. Gambling is addictive, as every sin is, but perhaps new depths have been reached in the proliferation of “Fixed Odds Betting Terminals” (FOBT) which have gripped our nation.
These high-stake, casino-type, computerised roulette machines are now easily accessible on our high streets and have been described by some as “the crack cocaine of gambling”. They accept notes up to £50 while the “customer” feverishly punches random numbers into them. His money is invariably
swallowed up and if he does get something back he may be so desperate to recover more that he continues recklessly. He is hooked just like a drug addict. In premises in Glasgow, an observer watched a couple go in, insert £40, then £20, and then another £40. £100 was gone in one minute. A student came later in and fed £30 and then five £20 notes into the machine. His “credit” rose to £250. He continued hitting buttons and, after a few spins, looked in bewilderment at the terminal as he too lost everything. So Satan lures sinners into his web through covetousness and greed.
A recent health survey suggests that £400 000 a day is being spent on these machines, installed in 950 betting shops in Scotland, netting an annual profit of £122 million for the gambling “industry”. It is estimated that 33 000 Scots are addicted to this form of gambling while, across the UK, FOBTs generate a staggering £1.5 billion, drawing in gambling addicts from various walks of life, but especially from the more deprived areas. The doors are open from 7.30 am to 10 pm seven days a week. Theoretically, by law, betting chains are allowed only four machines to a shop, but owners circumvent this by having clusters of individual shops near to each other.
Successive governments, who annually stand to gain around £300 million in tax revenues from the activity, have relaxed laws to legitimise these venues. One newspaper report stated that it is as easy to open a betting shop now as to open a new bank branch. When accused of ignoring the issue of addictive gambling, the betting “industry” defends itself by claiming that adequate safeguards are in place: there is a warning leaflet, clear signs are shown on the machines and workers are trained to help customers with problems. How subtle the enemy of souls is in making sin look plausible and acceptable!
However, there are growing concerns, especially among health professionals as well as economic and social experts. The present UK Government, recognising something of the problem, has announced that it will conduct a review into the possibility of limiting those machines but it will not be completed until autumn 2014. One can sense a hesitancy in doing anything that will reduce its lucrative tax revenue. Dr Clive Sherlock, a leading specialist treating “gambling patients”, says that the machines, “feed desires, the hope that the next press of the button will win. There is no logic to it . . . to say that there is no link between them and problem gambling is like saying that there is no connection between alcoholism and the sale of drink. . . . They are carefully designed to make you want to press the button.” He adds, “Some say that gamblers are not taking responsibility for their behaviour, but the bookmakers are equally irresponsible because their only desire is to make money”. Another source claims that “no gambling product has grown so rapidly . . . they know what is going on but they deny it”.
God’s Word tells us that all those participating in gambling or games of chance are responsible for this sin against God. There is serious bondage involved and evil habits are formed as men and women are seduced by “the love of money [which] is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). God made it clear, from the beginning that we are to earn our wages by working: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen 3:19). Jeremiah warns us: “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days and at his end shall be a fool” (Jer 17:11). The Saviour teaches us: “Beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk 12:15). We are not to look to “chance” to supply our needs but to the sovereign God of providence. This same God can save the gambler from his addiction and mercifully save all who cry to Him from whatever bondage their sin has brought upon them.
KHM
Floods in England
The unusual floods in England, especially in Somerset – which the Prime Minister has described in rather exaggerated language as being of “biblical proportions” – have been leading people to ask what the reason is. Some would attribute it merely to “climate-change”; others discern the hand of God.
A councillor in the UK Independence Party, David Silvester, in Henley-on-Thames, has been expelled from the party for blaming the Prime Minister and his determination to legalise homosexual marriage. In a letter to his local newspaper, Mr Silvester wrote: “The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war. . . I wrote to David Cameron in April 2012 to warn him that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill. But he went ahead despite a 600 000-signature petition by concerned Christians and more than half of his own parliamentary party saying that he should not do so. . . It is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods.”
Whether the connection between the flooding and homosexual marriage is quite as direct as the letter claims is open to doubt, but certainly it is a biblical principle that, where there is “evil” (misery, distress, injury) in a city, the Lord has done it (Amos 3:6). Troubles and disasters in this world happen by the holy and sovereign will and permission of God; and those that are caught up in them, and onlookers, should therefore be led to examine their sins and to consider whether their conduct has provoked God’s providence towards them. Britain has passed several evil laws recently, and there is a
general and open opposition to the gospel, the Bible, and the Christian Church throughout the nation, and we may expect indications of Divine displeasure. The expulsion of Mr Silvester for his biblical warning brings UKIP into danger in this respect.
The people of God note these things with sorrow, and go and tell Jesus (Mt 14:12), but they do not give up. “Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor 15:58). DWBS
“The Right Thing to Do”
Recently, it has seemed almost impossible to hear anyone giving their opinion to the media without also confidently affirming that some policy or course of action is “the right thing to do”. This is particularly common with politicians and was first most noticeable with the British Prime Minister. The phrase is now so overused that it has virtually lost the meaning that it ought to have.
In a period of just over 24 hours, the media relayed this phrase in relation to a diverse range of matters such as government funding for homosexual-rights campaigns, Labour party reform, football management decisions, business models, businesses going into administration, retirement packages for senior public officials, investing in flood defences, banning the sale of sky lanterns and leaking official secrets. While there is nothing wrong with the phrase in itself and any concern for moral resolution is to be welcomed, it is interesting that this reflex response has become so clichéd. One would be forgiven for thinking that there is a shared understanding and clear basis for distinguishing absolute right from wrong in our society.
The fact is that no one can challenge a person’s use of the phrase in our society because there are no acknowledged ultimate standards of right and wrong; it is a matter of preference and opinion based on one’s personal observations. Sometimes called moral relativism, this is plainly and simply the denial of morality, as when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. “Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?” The truth is: “they know not to do right”. What will be the end of such thinking? “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
If we were to question most of those who assert “the right thing to do” as to the basis of their claim, the response no doubt would be: “It feels right to me”, or, “Lots of people think it is right”. It is ironic that such strong language is based upon such a sandy foundation. What is really being expressed is that “it seems to me to be the right thing to do”, which can easily be, “what suits me or appeals to me is right”. Relativism therefore destroys the conscience,
and preference rides above that voice recalling our duty to a higher standard in the revealed wisdom of the Most High. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise”.
The most false and offensive use of this phrase in recent months was expressed by Alex Neil, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Wellbeing in the Scottish Government: “We are introducing same-sex marriage in Scotland because it is the right thing to do” (The Daily Telegraph, 13 Dec 2012). Such opinions go to show how distorted the deceived conscience may become, when what is absolutely wrong is heralded as “right” (see Is 5:20). We are reminded of the words of John Knox to Mary Queen of Scots: “Conscience, Madam, requires knowledge, and I fear that right knowledge ye have none”.
Mr Neil goes on to say: “We are striving to create a Scotland that is free, tolerant and fair and I am pleased to say there is support across the chamber for this significant step”. True freedom is in following that which is fair and just as made known by the One who is eternally just. Yet even by common-sense reasoning, the supposed “rightness” of this decision falls down. It removes freedom for public officials to refuse to conduct “marriages” to which they conscientiously object. It is not fair to redefine marriage for all and to refuse sufficient safeguards to those who cannot be bound by this decision. It is not tolerant of widespread public opinion and refuses to accord respect to those who believe that same-sex marriage is wrong. Neither is it tolerant to ensure that it is taught in schools and that parents may not be permitted to withdraw their children from such pernicious instruction.
The solemn reality is that though “every way of a man is right in his own eyes . . . the Lord pondereth the hearts”. God alone is Lord of the conscience. To live freely is to live morally and spiritually in the fear of God. The only way we can ever properly speak of “the right thing to do” is when we acknowledge that the Judge of all the earth, who does right, “hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
It was only when and because “David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord” that he could say, “I follow the thing that good is”. MV
[Moses’] best deeds were misrepresented, and he was charged with ambition and arrogance; yet he bore it all well. He showed us by example what we ought to be and to do in the day of darkness and conflict. Once did he fail, and that showed him to be a mere man. Only once did he fail, and that showed him to be an uncommonly good man.
All outward religious acts may be performed without a spark of love to Christ. Let us cast away all slavish fear of the cross and be careful for nothing but a holy life.
W S Plumer
Church Information
Ordination and Induction of Rev N Sibanda
The Zimbabwe Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland met at Mbuma Church on 5 December 2013 for the ordination and induction of Mr Nopel Sibanda to be Pastor of the Mbuma Congregation.
On November 14 the Presbytery had met with the congregation, who filled the church. A total of 82 communicants and 112 adherents signed a call to Mr N Sibanda to become their pastor. As there were no dissents, the Presbytery was most willing to sustain the call, and Mr Sibanda indicated his readiness to accept it. Thus 5 December 2013 was set as the date for Mr Sibanda’s ordination and induction. Due notice was given to the congregation.
The Mbuma congregation had been without a pastor since the retirement of Rev P Mzamo in December 2006. He had served the congregation faithfully for over 40 years. There was an evident sense of eager anticipation when the Presbytery met with the congregation on December 5. People came from almost all parts of the country where our congregations are, including Zvishavane and Donsa. Quite a large crowd came to witness the proceedings.
The Officer of Court was instructed to go to the door of the church and make a proclamation three times. After having done as instructed, he reported that no one appeared to object.
The Moderator, Rev M Mloyi, then went to the pulpit and preached from 1 Peter 5:1-3. When public worship was ended, he gave a brief narrative of the steps leading to this point. He then directed to Mr Sibanda the questions appointed to be put to probationers before they are ordained and inducted. Having given satisfactory answers, Mr Sibanda signed the formula in the presence of the congregation. He then knelt down and the ministers of the Presbytery put their hands on his head and ordained him to the office of the gospel ministry by prayer. Following the ordination prayer, the Moderator, in the name of the Presbytery and by the authority of the Divine Head of the Church, formally inducted Mr Nopel Sibanda to the pastoral charge of the Mbuma Congregation. All members of the Presbytery welcomed the new minister to the Presbytery by giving him the right hand of fellowship.
Thereafter, Mr Sibanda was suitably addressed by Rev S Khumalo and Rev A B Maclean who exhorted the congregation in appropriate terms. The name of Rev N Sibanda was added to the Presbytery roll. After the formal meeting was concluded with praise, everyone had the opportunity to greet Mr Sibanda at the church door.
Food was then served from the school and manse, by the congregation, to all who attended. The first heavy downpour of the season then followed,
falling on the dry ground. May the Lord Himself bless Rev N Sibanda and his family, and above all, his labours in the Lord’s vineyard. “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth” (Ps 72:6). So may the blessing be in Mbuma!
(Rev) S Khumalo
Free Presbyterian Publications
Brothers Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine were among the most eminent ministers in eighteenth-century Scotland. Ebenezer Erskine’s Works, in three volumes, each about 500 pages long, have already been reprinted by FPP. We expect that sets will again be available about the time this Magazine appears. Ralph Erskine’s Works are in six volumes, each has about 650 pages. A very few copies of volumes 2, 3, 4 and 6 are still available (at £16 each). However, the complete set is being reprinted and should be available, DV, at the end of March. Copies may be ordered from the F P Bookroom.
Singapore Congregation
The Australia and New Zealand Presbytery wish to alert the people of the Church to the aspiration of the Singapore congregation to have a place of worship of their own. The congregation has been renting various premises in the approximately 14 years since being accepted as a congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Donations can be made via the General Treasurer.
(Rev) G B Macdonald, Clerk of Presbytery
Jewish and Foreign Missions Fund
By appointment of Synod, the first of the year’s two special collections for the Jewish and Foreign Missions Fund is due to be taken in congregations during March.
W Campbell, General Treasurer