Nearly everyone who has lived long enough here on this earth has been hurt by someone who was very close to them. In fact, when someone does something bad to us it often hurts us much more if we have loved and cared for them. If a wife divorces a husband often both partners are hurt inside. If however they were just mere acquaintances, the pain they would have felt would have been much less. How great a pain God must feel when he sees those he loves choose to forsake God and trample the gift of forgiveness poured out by his son Jesus! Unfortunately the world seems to be getting increasingly wicked, increasingly cruel, and people such as you and me are often the victims of the outright evil behavior of others. Acquaintances who are mad at us we can handle, but what about church members and family members? How should we treat those who have hurt us in the past? What does God desire you to do today? Let us study the Bible to find the answer to this important topic.
Are you worried about peer pressure? What happens when you sit in your workplace, in your school, or spend time with your friends? In a world filled with political correctness, do you conform to the crowd or do you transform others? What’s the right thing to do with the life God gave you? Discover the answer today.
Poker, gambling and its forms have often been considered acceptable in today’s society. What was once found only in gambling halls is now found on primetime television. No longer relegated to Las Vegas, poker is in California, online, and practically in every state in the U.S. If you do a Google search for “Christian Poker”, the top ten results for me at least showed only articles saying “go ahead” or “as long as it doesn’t take over your life you are not sinning” but each article had little or no study of the Bible. Surprisingly, there is hardly any Christian material on this subject.
The question is, are we obeying God’s commandments? Are we following Jesus by playing poker? Are we dishonoring God by playing poker? Can a Christian justify playing poker? Is there such a thing as a Christian poker player? Is it a sin and does the Bible say anything at all? These questions can be answered by investigating what Jesus said. So let us study the Bible, God’s word to find the answer to whether Christians should play poker.
Closely examine your own heart as in the light of eternity. Hide nothing from your examination. Search, oh! search, as for your life, and condemn yourself, pass judgment upon yourself, and then by faith claim the cleansing blood of Christ to remove the stains from your Christian character. Do not flatter or excuse yourself. Deal truly with your own soul. And then as you view yourself a sinner, fall, all broken, at the foot of the cross. Jesus will receive you, all polluted as you are, and will wash you in His blood, and cleanse you from all pollution, and make you fit for the society of heavenly angels, in a pure, harmonious heaven. There is no jar, no discord, there. All is health, happiness, and joy. — Testimonies For The Church Volume 2 p. 81
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