Casino plans and the Whore of Babylon

Statement from Gospel Mission regarding the proposed new Casino on False Creek.

Gospel Mission welcomes the prospect of an expanded casino on False Creek. The casino will definitely generate new business for us: new people finding themselves caught in their addictions, broke and in debt; and we will welcome them to our rescue mission to hear the Word of God, share a hot meal, and re-connect with Hope that goes beyond the empty promise of easy money through gambling. We find that when people have their backs against the wall and hit rock bottom at the same time, they inevitably turn to Jesus. We have seen that with drug addicts and alcoholics who have come through our doors over the past 82 years, and now we look forward to this new crop for harvest. Further, since we do not ourselves receive money from gambling operations -- including the relatively tiny pot reserved for charities in BC's gaming revenue -- but place our confidence in Jehovah Jireh, the Lord Who Provides, we know we will be there to catch whoever falls. We are, after all, just a stone's throw away from the casino: a six-sided stone, if you catch our drift.

Hands up, all those who caught a bit of sarcasm there ......

In one of its weekly collections of news clips (at least, this was the case the last time I read the magazine), Sports Illustrated would have a kicker called "This Week's Sign That The Apocalypse Is Upon Us"; some weird, usually funny, statement or event that suggests that things are not as they should be.

There are plenty of those around right now, and nowhere near amusing -- the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, for example, is the latest. Add it up with the fires, flooding and tornadoes in Australia, earthquakes in diverse places, vicious and short-notice (if not unpredictable) weather events and all the issues surrounding the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout last year, and an inescapable reality emerges: the signs Jesus foretold of His return are coming to pass.

As the song says, People Get Ready.

But the end-times prophecies are not all bad news -- after all, Jesus' return, and God taking over His Creation, bringing the New Jerusalem and coming to live among His people is good news and to be embraced and welcomed as well as prepared-for. And the Book of Revelation has lots of cause to celebrate.

Take, for example, the current controversy in Vancouver over plans to build a "destination casino" next to BC Place Stadium. There already is a high-end casino there: this would expand it and include a resort hotel and seven restaurants. And the opposition has been swift and loud. Opponents don't want Vancouver to turn into a northern version of Las Vegas and they're not swayed by the proponents' arguments. Health officials have waded into the debate -- coming out against the casino, saying problem gambling is already an epidemic in BC and this will make it worse.

I've blogged before about my views on gambling in general, but I'm noticing something else here, tied to end-times talk. In the past, arguments about the amount of money being generated for health care and community charities have won the day for the gaming proponents; but this time, those points -- along with the repeated assertion that it will "revitalize the area" and "boost Vancouver tourism" -- seem hollow and desperate.

("Boost Vancouver tourism"? In case anyone has missed the past 100 years, Vancouver already has a good tourism industry, with wonderful restaurants, entertainment -- Grammy-award-winning symphony, the Arts Club, the Playhouse, the Jazz Festival, the Yale, Gastown; not to mention natural beauty which you can still see from downtown despite the forest of high-rises. If any place does not need a casino to suck people inside and suck their pockets empty, it's Vancouver.)

You'll find that "something else" in Revelation 17-18, which refers to The Whore of Babylon. I see that as a description of the world economy, where kings and merchants worship and bow down to this gorgeous, jewel-bedecked woman, but when God steps in and exposes her for what she is, the kings and merchants cut and run and try to stay as far away from her burning as possible -- all the while bemoaning her demise.

What I'm seeing with the casino debate is the failure of the "money argument" to sway people in favor of the project, and the increasingly desperate tone that argument is taking. Is the Whore going down? Are people starting to back away? Are merchants starting to wail for her?

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works:

in the cup which she hath filled, fill her to the double.

-- Rev. 18:5-6

And the Word of God encourages us to realize that this world economy has oppressed and ignored the people and that we are to ignore and oppress that Whore right back. Could we be seeing this now?

Of course, to close the loop back to the statement at the beginning here, we'll be there to help people: but there are times we kinda wish we didn't have to.

He comes through again!

As we've mentioned in so many posts, both here and at my Convenient Truth blog, the story of The Lord's Rain has been one of God's provision. He has intended for this project to happen from the get-go, and even at times when the world might say it couldn't happen, He's done something to prove the world wrong.

Some years ago, the Lord told me I was not to have anything to do with gambling -- and that included receiving money from gaming revenue. I'll go into the minutiae of that in another post, but for now, let's just say that gambling is an all-you-can-eat buffet of Things That Offend God -- lust, greed, laziness and the absence of faith represented by putting more trust in the turn of a card than in God to provide our needs. As for the revenue, because gambling is an addiction, the proceeds can hardly be said to have been given willingly to a church or other organization. It's been taken, and in many ways, the whole system profits from human misery.

Kenneth Copeland put it quite finely when he said that gambling cannot be ordained by God, because gambling involves losing, and God would never ordain something where somebody loses.

A couple of years ago, a particular church supported the work I was doing on the Downtown East Side. One day, I looked at the cheque and did a double-take. It was written on the church's "gaming revenue account". I told the church as politely as I could that I was not allowed to accept that money and I laid out my reasons. They piously declared they would respect my wishes.

Then one of my helpers -- who's still associated with that same church -- started receiving money to purchase food for Gospel Mission and our Saturday night services in particular. I had my suspicions about the source of the money but I have to confess, I did nothing out of fear of a variety of things. Finally -- a couple of months ago -- the Lord got in my face about it, so I swallowed hard and told my helper that if the money was, indeed, from gaming revenue, he would have to tell the church, thanks-but-no-thanks.

Why did I swallow hard? Because the enemy -- the world -- was nattering at me that I was putting the Mission in jeopardy ... that we were already having financial struggles, so I shouldn't blow off a source of income like that ... but I declared -- and did so in an email to our supporters -- that God would provide.

Immediately, someone else stepped forward and said she'd re-direct her tithe to pay for the groceries. There was a period when things looked a bit bleak -- darkest before the dawn, as they say -- and then donations started coming in: big ones and small ones, as God tapped people on the shoulder to help.

And this happens as we get an object lesson in how dangerous it is to rely on gaming money. The BC government is 'reviewing' its gaming grant programs. This morning's Vancouver Sun reports that a total of $77 million will be shed from the pot, meaning organizations -- groups that do some big things for their communities -- will have to make do with less.

I thank God that He warned us not to accept that money and that we heeded the warning; but I say that not out of smugness or self-righteousness: we could very easily have fallen out of faith and continued receiving the gaming revenue and even applied for a grant of our own. I pray that the Lord will help meet the needs of those organizations that are struggling and even that they, too, will turn to Him to be their Provider. He did it for us - He can do it for them, and the thing I've learned from The Lord's Rain is that you only have to ask.

One further note: the amount the province has set aside for grants out of gaming revenue is $139 million. The BC Lottery Corporation website states the government received almost $1.1 billion last year. You do the math.