LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: `DON'T BE DUPED, CRHISTIANS"

To the Editor:

"Don't be duped, fellow Christians!" (A 1993 paraphrase of James 1:16). Don't be duped before the upcoming election. I say "don't be duped" again because it is so easy to be deceived. Commercials with positive facts and beautiful scenery. Ads with smiling faces and giving hands. Investment in our lovely community. A major boost to our struggling economy. Nice sounding words like "gaming". Money for our schools that is "free," given just for the privilege of sharing our wonderful little corner of the earth.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Surely does to me! And all I have to do is go to the polls and "just say yes"! Not!

Don't be duped! The Boyd Group is motivated by one thing: greed. Making a fortune at the expense of other people. And the group members probably don't even think greed is their motivation because they've been duped by their own deception. If my mathematics are correct, Cape's cut of the "gaming" millions will be well less than a tenth of the projected profits. And where will the dollars come from, another planet? I doubt it. The dollars will probably come from people just like you, except duped, who might otherwise spend those dollars in Cape businesses. (The rest of our duped friends' and neighbors' millions of dollars will go to help pay the electric bill in Vegas). Two or three years later when the novelty wears off, with glorious words of how wonderful it has been to be a part of our fair city, the boat will steam off to another city on the horizon where people have also been duped and coincidentally, where there are no loss limits. Then we can become sister cities with Fort Madison and sit around the riverbank and swap debt stories. The Boyd Group is interested in Cape for one reason: money, a whole riverboat full of money that will come from the duped people of our region.

Some Cape Girardeans have already been duped because they are motivated by covetousness. Wanting something for nothing.

We are not being anti-progressive fuddy-duddies or seeking to maintain a local tradition of "we've never done it before". We are called to preserve the values given by God through the Bible. The scriptures give many accounts of societies that crumbled when they opposed God's instructions. We have witnessed the decay of a powerful nation who shook its fist in the face of God and we see its continuing struggles in the Missourian almost daily. We must be responsible or our end will be the same.

The Nov. 2 election will be determined by people who go to the polls and vote, and nothing else. We, the church, must be motivated by Jesus' instructions to be a salt of the earth kind of people. Every vote counts. Be responsible and go to the polls.

Don't be duped!

Audie Long, Pastor

New Vision Community Church