Beyond prostitution, there are 122 casinos as well as video poker and slot machines in gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores – even Walmart. Gambling is everywhere. Sports radio programs focus on the betting odds of the big games. It is common to find many people struggle with severe gambling addictions.
Drug addiction is amazingly prevalent. A recent local news paper quoted Las Vegas Recovery Center Medical Director Dr. Mel Pohl as saying, “Prescription drugs are a huge problem in our state, second only to marijuana in terms of substances of abuse.” I have met many more drug addicts in Vegas than when I spent my summers serving in Manhattan.
In a recent study of the 85 largest cities in America, Las Vegas was identified as one of the least-reached cities in the nation. Cults abound here. New age, Jehovah Witness, and Moonies flourish. The number of Mormons more than doubles the number of Evangelical Christians.
And such were some of you. But [now] you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
If 1st century Corinthian “sinners” could be washed, sanctified, and justified by the power of the gospel in the first century “Sin City” of Corinth, God can do it again in the 21st Century “Sin City“ of Las Vegas. Paul also wrote:
“But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21)
And that is why we are here – to see grace reign where sin has been multiplied.
Pray for us as we cooperate with God to see “Sin City” transformed into “Grace City.”
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