5
In a hidden back room in a place called The Church Casino, I was invited to watch a high stakes game of poker being played.
The players were some of the biggest names in religion. Each had come, not with a cross, but with a stake to hopefully parlay into the winning hand in the greatest poker tournament of all eternity. The prize? The church of Christ itself.
All seats save one were filled. A man with white hair and a little white goatee announced the name of this game. He said, “This game is called 5 Fold Ministry Hold ‘Em. Whoever wins gets the church, her money, influence, the heart of the worshippers, in short, all of it. It’s yours to hold. Now deal.”
With that, the dealer began to deal those around the table their playing cards. I noticed the card deck had no jokers, just a devil.
These players were well practiced at the bluff necessary to successfully play poker for they had been playing this game for years. I saw Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Lutheran and Evangelical all seated at this table. A good poker player knows that it is not the cards, but the other players, that he is playing.
With cynical side glances, each player at the table drew on the power of their soul to try to both undermine and to figure out what the other players were really up to. Weird, but each player seemed to be playing by their own peculiar rules yet these man made rules did not seem to violate the rules of the house. And I realized that they had all been playing dirty poker for many years.
The kitty, the pot in the center of the table, grew with each hand. The sweat and stench of flesh under pressure was nauseating. And then a stranger came to the table. Dressed in black, he walked over without being invited and he sat in the empty seat and said, “Deal me in.” No one objected because they all suddenly understood that he was supposed to be seated.
The stranger played with flair and skill and soon others at the table began to fold. They would despair as they lost their stake in the game to the stranger, and he would cut them a deal. “You can keep your title and position but I own you.” To keep their positions, they agreed. They became his poker partners at the table.
The stranger was wearing a black hat and no matter how the cards fell, he seemed to always win. I began to suspect he was cheating. Finally I called him out demanding to know how he kept winning. Though I could not see his eyes, I could see a sly grin spread across his shadowed face as he replied, “Cheating? Hell no! I invented this game.”
A spot at the table opened up and I found myself so angry I was ready to take a seat and play this monster in a hand of sudden death. He dismissively motioned an invitation to me to sit and play but the Holy Spirit restrained me.
“Lord,” I objected, “I must act. Your people have been betrayed. Their leaders have made a treaty with this stranger and have become prey and are falling into this snare.” I cried out for wisdom and asked God how to win this game and he whispered, “Walk away. This is their game.”
In obedience to the Spirit of God, I shook my head declining the invitation and turned towards a door I had not seen until that moment realizing that a way of escape had been granted to me. The stranger and the other players mocked me to scorn as I left their den of iniquity, left the Casino, and left their dirty, double dealing game behind for good.
As I stepped through the door, I noticed others were quietly leaving, too. I felt a surge of victory in my soul and I declared out loud that I am not prey to be won. I was already bought and paid for with a price - the blood of the son of God. I would not play their dirty game.
And the game of 5 Fold Ministry Hold ‘Em continued well into the night.
Bryan Hupperts (c) 2009
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Comments
By dean on March 10th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Revelation 18:4