Today's News and other items of interest

Police: Pastor shot dead at church, others stabbed
By JIM SUHR (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
March 08, 2009 4:46 PM EDT
MARYVILLE, Illinois - A gunman walked down the aisle of a church during a Sunday service and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and slashed two other people as congregants wrestled him to the ground, authorities said.

The man walked into the sprawling red brick First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-caliber handgun and shooting Winters once in the chest, said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.

The gun jammed before the man could fire again, Timmins said. The attacker then pulled out a knife and injured himself before churchgoers subdued him. Two parishioners involved in the struggle also suffered knife wounds, Timmins said.

Timmins said officials don't know whether Winters, a married father of two who had led the church for nearly 22 years, and the gunman knew each other. Officials did not know the suspect's name.


This is from the church website-- please keep them in prayer.

A Message About Today’s Loss
Today, a little after our 8:15 service began, a man entered First Baptist Church and fired several gunshots at our Senior Pastor, Dr Fred Winters.

Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss.

In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives. We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God’s Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in.


COMMENT:
I remember back in Connecticut when a friend and I were walking his beat around Foxwood Casino. He'd point out the cars shrouded in snow to belong to denizens who had been at the casino for more than 48 hours, just playing slots. That was in 1993. We have now upscaled to video slots which are more frightening. The computer is a beast we bear in the age we live in. We just have to accept it and work around its seduction. I come from a family that bore the burden of a few alcoholics, have attended AL-ANON myself, dealt with the multiple addictions of a family member that, if not doing harm to those around him, almost killed himself. I've dealt with the personal conviction to stay away from alcohol and gambling because of my propensities towards addiction in those areas, and by Christ alone I've avoided offense so far in these things. Needless to say, any breath of addiction aside from the basic illogic of giving ones virtue and mind over to dull stimulation by choice via a stationary object without intellect seems preposterous. But its done every hour of every day by mindful, intelligent people, even Christians who are to have the mind of Christ, are to foster a heart pliable to the Holy Spirit free from carnality and hypocritical activities, having no other Gods before them.

The Creator made our body and mind to glorify him. The passivity of any addiction is given strength by ones even minimal amount of aquiescence to the stimulii present. II Corinthians 10:5 speaks of bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. It's already difficult in this day and age to do that, thus the reason scripture tells us to be thoughtful about what we involve ourselves in.
Some things are inconsequential and take no thought like making a bank deposit or shopping for tires for the car but it's the ability of choice, the thing we give ourselves over to that in the end may have power over us, and this is what we are told to remain on the alert for: strongholds. We need to stay alert. This is why the small things are insidious, never getting involved outside of ourselves and focusing on our online family, lighting our eyes on sexy movies or literature, soft porn, most tv, buying lotto tix, going to Vegas, nightclubbing, dismissing the basics like attending church ("gather with the brethren")prayer or scripture are just things that dampen the work of the Holy Spirit to conform us to the person of Christ, damage our fellowship with God, let alone become a gateway for things that are potentially strongholds.

When we choose those things over God continuously, they become idolatry and our heart, much like seared meat, gets hardened to the things of the spirit. They look like foolishness to us because we are fostering a worldly mind by willfully feeding our flesh, which is voracious and needs to be crucified in Christ each day by the basics of our walk with the Lord and the things that encourage the activity of the Spirit: prayer and basic study of the Word, things which take no time at all. We give hours over to things that are producing wood, hay and stubble, but forfeit fifteen minutes with the Lord early in the morning. Have you ever wondered why you feel so awake at an odd time in the morning? I believe (for myself ) that God desires time with me and I am to respond sweetly, in compliance even if it just slipping out of bed for ten minutes and kneeling to thank him for getting me through the night. If we continuously cut Him off, we will reap wind in our walk and I for one do not want to face Him with the ashes of my life and wasted time that he has given me here on earth. We are given gifts of friends and love and good things but He also requires something, and it's not much. Just ourselves, and our love. Unfortunately, what you love, you give yourself over to. Thats the thing we give our most precious asset to: our time. Time is not our creation. It belongs to God and we are to steward each minute as wisely as we possibly know how.

Idolatry becomes an addiction of sorts. It just becomes a "god". There is validity regarding the physical damage caused on the mind by continual driven involvement with insidious things like working 60 hours a week to keep up an unnecessary standard of living, being in perpetual debt because of hobbies or out of control spending, continual online gaming and gambling (be it stocks or slots), aside from the obvious like sexual or food addictions, is all an appetite/covetousness issue, idolatry, needs not being met and seeking something other than what God intended to satisfy the need, be it social, physical or emotional. Addictions and idolatry are not diseases but spiritual-root problems that create fruitless lives. We all have our own sins and struggles, but in the extreme cases we cannot think that 'it can never happen to me'. We need to be soldiers in Christ. The duty is to remain a watchman for Him and to be the best example we can be, even in our sinless state and not consciously give ourselves over to spiritless things that yield wind.
We already do that unwittingly. Doing that with intent is just being a bad steward of what God gives us with our mind and body.

I know my sin and propensities. If you know yourself and can admit to some stuff, it just ceases to waste time and allows God's reign and His grace to flow with our cooperation in tow. Otherwise it is blatant disobedience and we are in sin willingly, forfeiting grace because we're feeding the flesh.

The point is that: if you know its godless or has something questionable about it, just err on the side of wisdom and cease the activity. Its simple and extremely difficult, but in Christ we can do all things and He breaks bondage. Keep it together and know you are loved. But take the walk of this life seriously, because we really don't have lots of time left and each hour is His grace and mercy in effect.
Be wise and go forward.

Article following::

Glitzy video slots seen as particular addiction risk
Critics say video slots like these at Foxwoods are especially addictive to some. (JANET KNOTT/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2003)

By Carey Goldberg
Globe Staff / March 7, 2009
Among addiction specialists, video slot machines have come to be known as the "crack cocaine" of the gambling industry.

Graphic Video slots a fast game
The mechanical wheels of spinning fruit used in the old one-armed bandits have gone the way of the typewriter. Modern-day slot machines are computerized sound-and-light shows so skillfully designed to keep players glued to their seats that some have been known to wear adult diapers to avoid bathroom breaks.

As state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill promotes the idea of licensing three slot parlors in Massachusetts, some mental health and gambling specialists warn that the newer machines deliver such potent gambling highs that they can be particularly addictive.

The video slots allow players to gamble incredibly rapidly, winning or losing a game every several seconds without a break, to the point that their brains are undergoing the equivalent of an intravenous drip of an intoxicating drug, said Bob Breen, director of the Rhode Island Hospital Gambling Treatment Program.

"When you sit in front of the slots, especially if it's 24/7, there are no cues for you to quit," he said. "There's no time to stop and think. You're getting that constant drip, and people describe it as being in the zone," he said.

The gaming industry defends the computerized slots, saying their widespread use has not led to increased addiction problems.

But in 15 years of clinical experience, Breen has found that gambling descends into pathology much more quickly among slots players than among people who bet on sports, races, cards, or lotteries.

It tends to take just a year, as opposed to up to five for other types of gambling, said Breen, who has published two studies that analyzed more than 200 addicted patients.

It is not only the speed of the games that makes so addictive the playing of new-style electronic gaming machines, which include video lottery and electronic poker games along with high-tech versions of traditional slots. The machines produce a highly intense and continous experience for players, said Natasha Schull, an MIT professor who has studied the machines, their designers, and their players.

There is no waiting for the horses to run or the wheel to stop spinning, she said. And the machines have been cramming more and more betting possibilities into each wagering moment, so that a nickel machine might actually allow 100 bets of a nickel at one push of the button.

"It's like playing 100 machines at once," she said.

Brain studies have shown that gambling causes the release of dopamine, a feel-good chemical that spurs the desire to repeat a pleasurable behavior and that is involved in drug addiction. The pleasure comes not just from winning, but from the process of playing and anticipating a possible win." Continued playing causes damage to these synapses and the psychological effects in the long run can become equally damaged, along with compromising familial and personal relationships.