A King on the River

Today is a holiday in the U.S., marking the birthday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Do a search for his name and "poker," and you might find "bonus points" offers at casinos or special holiday tournaments.

If you really want to "honor King" by playing poker, you can order a King Memorial deck of playing cards online. For only ten dollars, he can stare at the other players for you. And if you really wanted to have a holiday theme, we suppose you could have a poker game where Kings are wild.

People old enough to remember Dr. King's causes and campaigns probably would find these things tacky at best, and insulting at worst. But some people invoke Dr. King's name in support of poker cash games and similar gambling. One casino website put it this way several years ago:

The Reverend spoke of equality, and the freedom of every American to have choices. Gambling is a choice that Americans should have the right to decide whether they want to take part or not.

If Dr. King made a direct statement on gambling in a speech or sermon, we could not find it. (If you know of one, please let us know in a comment.) But that website strikes us as turning words out of context. In fact, Dr. King's semi-rival of the time Malcolm X gave up gambling because he thought white people had "forced" it on black people to keep them economic slaves.

Yet the website has a valid point about choices. As a minister by trade, Dr. King might have said God gives humans choices. For instance....

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.... - Deuteronomy 30:19

God does more than offer a choice. He tells humans the right answer. For instance, "choose life" - a phrase we're sure would get the late George Michael in some trouble, if he wore it on a T-shirt in a music video today.  But back to our point....

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable for you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. - Joshua 24:15

You can serve "the Lord" - the God of the Bible - or some other god that is fake and false. Joshua chose to follow the Lord which led Israel into a land of promise. We face that same choice today. If you make poker your "god", as in the thing you worship and idolize more than anything else, consider this...

Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.... - Proverbs  8:10

Will you pay attention to what God instructs, or your desire for money and riches? In reality, living God's way could lead you to all these things. We'll develop that concept in an upcoming post.