Thursday, September 29, 2016

The Mouth, the Kid and the Finger

Let's say it upfront: We are not taking sides in the U.S. Presidential election. We'll explain why in a moment.

But of course, many other people are taking sides. And this week, there's been a curious combining of poker and politics.

A lawyer and "free speech activist" asked on Twitter if Hillary Clinton was giving signals to the moderator during this week's first debate, by pointing her finger toward her face. He specifically asked for comments from "poker pros like The Mouth Matusow." Mike Matusow has been tweeting against Ms. Clinton a lot, so he was happy to respond:

Wow ive watched the debates 3 times & never noticed!! I felt the whole time she had the questions but after watching that i she def signals

(We'll open the floor for your comments right here: Do you agree with Matusow? Why or why not?)

Considering moderator Lester Holt was found to be a registered Republican and Donald Trump's campaign manager called him "brilliant" before the debate began, we're not sure why he would have suddenly switched sides. But anyway....

We move on to Daniel Negreanu - who declared on Twitter Ms. Clinton won the first debate, while admitting he's biased in her favor. Considering Negreanu is Canadian and can't vote in the U.S. election, his endorsement may hurt in U.S. voting as much as it helps.

Then there's Phil Hellmuth, who's apparently become a political analyst in his spare time. He gave both Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump "A" grades for this week's debate - and in other commentaries has compared Mr. Trump to a "loose aggressive" poker player.

So the poker world is watching the election closely - and they're certainly free to comment about it. So why are we not taking sides? Because several months ago, we handed over our vote to a higher authority....

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. - Romans 13:1


These words were written when the Roman Empire was in charge, and voting for leaders was unheard of. The apostle Paul accepted the fact that, like them or not, God had put the Roman authorities in charge - or at least allowed them to be there.

Some people wanted Jesus Christ to overthrow the government during His time on Earth, and become "King of Kings" on the spot. But instead....

"Do you refuse to speak to me," Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given you from above...." - John 19:10-11


The Lord could have called down angels and begun to "fight the powers that be" right then. But He didn't. Jesus came to Earth for a different purpose about 2,000 years ago. But someday soon....

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." - Acts 1:11


Jesus will come back to Earth in a powerful way, to establish the Kingdom of God upon this planet:

On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. - Revelation 19:16


That's the leader we're waiting to see - and Jesus is the One who has our ultimate vote. Can you think of anyone who would do a better job?

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