The House Always Wins

The Money and the Power   The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America 1947-2000, Sally Denton and Roger Morris, Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.  479 pages, index, end notes.

“Don’t run for public office.  We own the politicians.”  Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel to one of his men.  This is really the story of Las Vegas.  Politicians owned by the casino operators.  This fact enabled the little dusty town on the road from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City to become the center of much of America.  Known for its gambling, Las Vegas’ influence is felt through the country.  Little stands in the way of Las Vegas;  whatever Vegas wants, Vegas gets.

The book is a history of the city, but it is really a collection of portraits of its operators, the men who founded the now massive gambling empires and the politicians that were paid to help and protect them.  It is an amazing collection:  immigrant eastern European Jews, Italians, Irishmen, an eccentric millionaire industrialist, and a French Basque.  The CIA would also use the city and its casinos for its own purposes.

The authors cut through much of the mystique of the city.  It was not all Italian Mafioso in flashy suits and gaudy jewellery that started the empires.  It was a couple of Jewish thugs.  It all began with the Bugs and Meyer gang.  The first hotel/casino was built by Siegel and Lansky.  It eventually cost Siegel his life once it was found out that Siegel was skimming money from the construction funds, but the hotel and casino were a success, if not initially, that inspired many to follow.  It seemed that it is impossible to loose money in Las Vegas unless you make a bet.

Siegel’s murder was an aberration, at least in the early days.  The Syndicate  (the authors’ preferred term, and probably a better one considering the multi-ethnic character of the hoodlums in control) declared that Las Vegas would be an open city to all comers.  There would be no turf battles.  This caused the rapid growth of the “gaming industry.”  Murders would come soon.

Initially the funding for the casinos came mostly from drug and prohibition alcohol sales.  Later more legitimate funding would come from such diverse places as the Mormon Church and the the Teamsters’ pension fund.  The diversity of funding ensured the appearance of legitimacy.  It also ensured that a lot of people would be well paid for their services.

The casinos were very successful.  They ensured their continued success by copious contributions to elected officials.  This is the most amazing thing revealed in the book.  Political corruption is not new, but the extent of the corruption spawned by the success of the casinos is enormous.  It is to be expected that the casinos would pay off those directly affecting the casinos, but the money also went to presidential candidates and congressmen.  This effort was repaid in the stymieing of congressional and Justice Department investigations into Las Vegas gambling.  The house always wins.

Grace is Irresistibly Good

Irresistible Grace is the fourth letter in the TULIP acrostic.  It means that those on whom God has bestowed his eternal love will respond to that love by believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The elect cannot do otherwise.  They do not want to do otherwise.

It may seem that this doctrine is a violation of man’s freedom of choice.  It is not.  Man is free to chose according to his nature.  In the natural, unregenerate state, man always chooses to not believe.  It is man’s natural desire to flee from God.  Man, until changed by divine grace, cannot do otherwise.  It is as if one jumped from an airplane: falling is an inevitable effect.

This why there must be a heart of flesh place into man before man can believe the gospel.  The heart of stone can do nothing other than reject the truth.  The heart of flesh can do nothing other than believe the truth.  It is the nature of the hearts that determines their action.

Irresistible grace is sometimes called effectual calling.  This is a good synonym because it emphasizes the effectiveness of the divine command upon the new heart.  The purposes of God are not thwarted by unregenerate man.  The new heart of man is designed to obey the divine command to believe.  The new heart always does what it is designed to do.

It is this calling, this application of grace, that enables man to respond.  Without such grace, man will give his natural response: rejection.  We see this in the account of the encounter of Nicodemus with Jesus in John 3.  Jesus explains how the new birth is necessary.

The effects of the new heart are given to us in Ezekiel 11:19-21:  “And I will give then one heart, and put a new spirit within them.  And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them.  Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.  But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

Here the effects of the new birth are evident: walking after the ways of God.  Also evident are the effects of not having a new birth: their “hearts go after their detestable things and abominations.”  It is a matter of will; it is just that nature determines will.  It can be no other way.  Will is not neutral.  It is determined by one’s nature.  This is why grace must be applied to the heart before the proper response to the gospel can be made.  With out this calling, this irresistible application of grace,  we would always go after “detestable things and abominations.”

The doctrine of irresistible grace follows from the doctrine of total depravity.  Since man is in a state of total helplessness, man cannot extricate himself.  Man requires what only God can give.  Let us be thankful that God does give it to those He loves!