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Key Bible Verse: For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing (Isaiah 61:8). Bonus Reading:Ephesians 6:10–13

Given gambling's massive money-dump on Washington and statehouses, and the complicity of the govern- ments themselves in extolling the "benefits" of legalized gambling, the odds seem stacked against those seeking to block this vice's spread. If the flood of gambling is to be turned back, it'll be churches at the vanguard, taking up positions on the levees.

In 1991, Galena, Illinois, saw the local county board approve a riverboat casino on the Mississippi River west of town, despite overwhelming opposition. The local populace had nixed the project in an advisory referendum by 80 percent. That's when Methodist pastor Tom Grey decided to take action. He educated himself on the issue and subsequently took his antigambling gospel to the country.

He formed the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling in 1994, after successfully repulsing an Okla-homa lottery referendum. He then mustered a mere 1,261-vote defeat for a measure that would have expanded Missouri's riverboat industry. "We had no money; we generated a movement," Grey says. "God gave us this incredible victory."

—Tom Raabe in House of Cards

My Response: Here's how I'll look for a way to stand up and be counted in my area:

Thought to Apply: Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

—Edmund Burke (British statesman, 18th century)

Adapted from: House of Cards (Focus on the Family, 2001) by permission.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, may I rely only on Your loving guidance and provision—never on chance or fate.

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