PASTOR’S WELCOME

          I want to welcome you to the Hindman Methodist Church. Thank you for taking the time to visit us on our Website. The Web-site is a new venture for us. In the future we will be adding features and updating others. Soon we hope to be able to take you on a picture tour of the church so that if you visit (and we hope you will), you will already be familiar with the church and where things are located.

Some might ask questions like, "Do I have to dress up to come to your church? Do you have a dress code? Are you against tattoos or body piercing? Others have asked such questions as, "Can I come to your church if I am divorced …in a live-in relationship … or struggling to get off drugs?"

We promise to welcome you, love you and accept you just like you are. We believe that any genuine and long-lasting change that is needed in a person’s life doesn’t come from the church pressuring people to live up to the standards the church has set. Real lasting change comes from the Holy Spirit moving in our lives as we join together to worship, study God’s word, and participate in one of the several small groups we offer for sharing, support and spiritual growth.

If you are looking for a church family to come home to … give us a try.

In the love of Christ,

Pastor John Shroll

FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK…

Why I Oppose Gambling


There is a movement in the Commonwealth to add Casino Gambling to lottery tickets and racetrack gambling. I would not write this article if this were only an economic or political issue, because I am neither a politician nor an economist, but many people like me see a moral component to this issue of gambling. When there is the slightest suspicion of a moral component to an issue, then Christians are compelled to go to the Word of God for clarity. What are the moral implications of gambling?

Zechariah 7:10 reads, “Oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor…” This doesn’t mean that everyone else is fair game. It means that we are not to oppress anyone, especially the most vulnerable in our society. It is commonly said that gambling “is a tax on the poor.” The meaning of this is simple. Some poor people believe that there is ZERO chance that they will ever have enough money to free them from financial worry: to have a nice home, car, and a safety net in the form of a savings account. A lottery ticket or a slot machine offers hope that it could happen. These same people consider a 10 million to one chance better odds than a ZERO chance. Many will gamble what little resources they have in hopes of “striking it rich.” Some will spend the money needed to support their families, lose that in gambling, and then in desperation spend more to try to win that lost money back.

Some point out that gambling is in the Bible; in the form of casting lots. The Hebrew word for “lot” is pronounced, “go-rawl' and means a pebble or a small stone. In Bible times the Go-rawl or the lots were used like dice, today. The legitimate use of casting lots by the people of God is NOT the same thing as gambling. Gambling is seeking to gain by chance a material advantage over someone. The biblical practice of casting lots was not for one person to gain an advantage over another. In fact, it was the very opposite. It was to remove human advantage (influence, strength, intelligence) out of the decision making process and provide the opportunity for God to render His decision. Casting lots was used to divide the Promised Land among the tribes after they had conquered Canaan (Numbers 33:54). Amid the deadly storm at sea in the story of Jonah and the big fish, the people aboard cast lots to decide who had angered God causing the storm (Jonah 1).

After Pentecost, casting lots disappears as a practice of God’s people. Why … because God’s people now had the Holy Spirit to teach them and guide them.

God has ordained for all humans in Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground.” God is not saying that people ought only to do hard physical labor. God is saying that humans are to work for what they receive. We are not talking about salvation. There is no way we can work for salvation, it is God’s gift. But in our human relationships, when we want something that another person has and is willing to relinquish, then we should exchange something that belongs to us and of equal value. Both sides go away satisfied. In gambling only the winner is happy.

Gambling is a subtle form of covetousness. Exodus reads 20:17, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house … wife … manservant … ox … ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.” The English word “covet” is in Hebrew “khaw-mad” which means to “lust after” and “to have a compelling desire for”. Reason tells us that this law is not talking about the legitimate kind of want or desire we have that leads us to purchase or trade something. Thieves covet what they steal (another of the Ten Commandments) before they ever steal it. Covetousness is the thief’s sinful desire without the actual act of robbery. Gamblers have the same covetousness of a thief; they desire to have what belongs to the other gambler, to get it for nothing and to leave the previous owner with the loss.

The commonwealth may successfully legislate to legalize gambling but their legislation will not have any affect on the gambler’s sinful attitude; his or her desire to get something for nothing and leave a host of losers in the wake. Romans 14:22-23 reads, “Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves…everything that does not come from (Bible-Centered) faith is sin.”