This posted yesterday at The Elephant's Debt.
Folks: Reality is often more fascinating than fiction!
On October 18, 2013, World Magazine published an article titled, “No Bluffing,” in which they report that Moody Board Chairman, and famed Left Behind author, Jerry Jenkins gambles. In the article, Jenkins admitted that he has won thousands of dollars in professional poker tournaments. Moreover, he also reports that he shares a close relationship with James MacDonald. In addition to authoring a book together, Jenkins confirms that he and MacDonald have gambled together. What is particularly interesting to note at this point is the fact that late last year, three separate sources all informed The Elephant’s Debt that Dallas Jenkins, Jerry Jenkins and James MacDonald had taken, in the past, a trip to Las Vegas together solely for the purpose of gambling.
What makes this article so fascinating is that in the midst of talking about Jenkins’ gambling practices, it also takes the opportunity to summarize the ongoing issues raised by The Elephant’s Debt. Over the past 12 months, many people have asked why Moody Bible Institute continues to air “Walk in the Word” on its airwaves in light of TED and the numerous former elders and pastors that have testified at TED. So the question must be asked. Has World Magazine answered people’s question for us in this article by connecting these two stories?
Cue Lady Gaga's Poker Face…
Jerry “Buck” Jenkins.
Greatest Christian Author of All Time (GCAAT).
Whose holy hackwork and bad Bible fanfic is regulary snarked at both Slacktivist (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/tag/left-behind/) and Heathen Critique (http://heathencritique.wordpress.com/) for good reason.
Who runs an online Christian Writer’s course scam for $1200 a pop.
And he’s a gambling man. (That explains the $1200 a pop he’s charging for that online writing course…) Well, Thomas Kincade was a closet drinking man and Ted Haggard liked male prosties, so I’m not surprised. At least he’s poker, which is skill gambling against a live opponent instead of chance gambling against the House. And at least he never went on Righteous rants against gambling.
P.S. Isn’t Jimmy Mac the one who’s gotten his church real deep in hock and is always preaching TITHE TITHE TITHE?
@ Headless Unicorn Guy:
Jenkins certainly has plenty of money to gamble.
Dee,
I heard the song Poker Face on the radio shortly after reading this post. Providential, perhaps?
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I think so…I wonder what his compensation package actually looks like?
Dee,
The elephant foto makes me wonder if Jenkins in a former time (the land of ago) would have shot them with custom made rifles like Hemingway did. I’ve noticed that sort of me-macho-american-man ethos with Paige Patterson as well.
Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:
I don’t know if I’d pick on all self professing believers equally and undiscriminately.
Kincade painted pictures. As far as I am aware, Kincade never abused kids or anything like that.
We all have our weak areas where we struggle.
My issue with some Christian celebrities is how they handle their weak areas. Do they try to cover them up? Do they try to seek help for it? Do they preach against X yet commit X themselves?
If they know they have a problem with X and admit it or seek therapy, then I’m a wee bit more apt to be patient and forgiving with them.
Some of these preachers have a love of money. They keep bilking financially strapped church members for their meager incomes to go buy big houses. They will give false promises that robs people (e.g., “tithe $400 to me, and God will give you a new car next month”).
Their particular sin area (greed in that example) is hurting other people, and that’s something else that bothers me. It’s not like with gluttony, where only you are going to get big and fat and develop diabetes from it.
I don’t think Kincade went around with his chest puffed out saying “Look at me, I never sin. I’m so holy and pure.”
Also, the guy was at least making something (paintings), where as the rich preachers, what do they make or provide to anyone of any lasting value but long, shallow sermons filled with false promises?
Gee, I am having trouble finding the verses in scripture, when it talks about Paul and Barnabas gambling while they were on their missionary journey.
Can anyone help me out and find them?…..I think it must be recorded somewhere in the Acts of the Apostles.
@ Southwestern Discomfort: At least once a year JMAC has taken the time to speak to his congregation on the basis of Malachi 3:10 and how they need to trust God with their finances. Along with the series that he did on money this past Spring 2013 on money.
@ Lin:
I could not find this. I do know they picked Matthias by lots .However. There is some controversy about whether this was OK. I do not know of any verses regarding gambling ala Viva Las Vegas buT I could be wrong.
@ Dee:
Hmmm……I was thinking it was in Acts 31 / 32 somewhere. ; )
Gambling addictions destroy thousands of marriages, families, and children. It is no laughing matter.
To patronize a casino and to allow it gain profits is immoral.
Such behaviors are not ones that other men should emulate in any way.
Real men do not gamble! These brothers should ACT LIKE MEN!
For what it’s worth, I share a name, but not a body with the person who posted above. 🙂
Anyhow, you all do realize that Lady Gaga’s Poker Face has little to do with card game after which it’s named… right? That’s not to say that the song isn’t relevant to some of the shenanigans that go on in Christendom today, of course!
Let me play devil’s advocate here: Since the Bible doesn’t address gambling, why do so many Christians state that it’s a sin? Greed is a sin, but is it possible for a person to spend a few dollars gambling without being greedy? I think it’s possible to drink alcohol without getting drunk, so it seems possible that someone could play poker with their buddies and not be sinning.
That said, gambling is unwise and does destroy some people’s lives and families. I might even agree that pastors should avoid it because God wants his shepherds to be avoid reproach. But I’m not convinced that the $7 I used on penny slots in 2003 was sinful.
@ HoppyTheToad:
It’s interesting that Jenkins goes out of his way to state that he doesn’t consider poker to be gambling, because it’s a game of skill. Well, yes, poker does involve skill. It also involves chance. For Jenkins to draw this distinction so absolutely tells me that he feels really, really guilty about what he’s doing, and/or that he doesn’t know much about poker.
Enabling an industry that preys on the poor and addicted is immoral.
Allowing it to survive as a business for an extra day, hour or minute permits it to destroy another marriage, family, or child.
So easy to speak in the theoretical until you are the victim of that destroyed marriage or family!
So easy to speak about the harmlessness of $7 until you realize how you may have unknowingly and unintentionally influenced others for ill through your presence in the casino.
Gambling involves the presumption of short-term material gain, largely on a game of chance. The focus facilitates self-absorption rather than on the patient waiting on the Lord and trust on His faithfulness.
The winnings of gamblers are winnowed from the losses of other gamblers, most often the poor and addicted. Gambling merely accelerates the cycle of poverty and is often called a tax on the poor.
Bottom line…gambling is for losers!
@ HoppyTheToad:
@ RubyTea:
Yeah sure, game of skill……which just happens to revolve around winning or losing, MONEY. The objective is money not skill.
Bro wrote:
Some people become addicted to video games, alcohol, or sugar. There are families destroyed by video game addictions or poor health caused by sugar or other food addictions. Does this mean buying sugar or video games is automatically immoral?
I agree that gambling is like a tax on the poor. It is unwise and I wouldn’t encourage anybody to try it. However, that doesn’t make it a sin for my mother-in-law to buy a lottery ticket every few months.
“So the question must be asked. Has World Magazine answered people’s question for us in this article by connecting these two stories?”
Sadly, I fear, the answer is yes. I have a great love and strong affinity for MBI. I wrote to them last year and expressed my concern over their ongoing relationship with James MacDonald. They wrote me back to say that they had looked into it and based on what they found, they were comfortable with James and in affirming their relationship with him.
Interestingly, there was something in their reply that didn’t mean too much to me at the time, but now it jumps off the page. They indicated in their E-mail reply to me that a group from MBI looked into the allegations and that group included their chairman of board…..wait for it…..Jerry Jenkins. LOL, so in other words, they had the wolf check on the hen house and the wolf confirmed that all is fine. so sad.
@ HoppyTheToad:
Hoppy, you are correct. But I would argue that there’s a difference in no-names like you and me playing slots in the evening and losing a few bucks and in JJ, as the head of the board of trustees being involved in high stakes gambling. Yes, I know, $10,000 to JJ is akin to a few bucks for me, but I think that skirts the issues. $10,000 is a lot of money, even if you’re loaded, as JJ is.
But, here’s my main point. Many of you won’t know this, but since I’m a supporter and general fan of MBI, I do know this. MBI recently had a change to their decades old policy for employees. For as long as anyone knows, if you worked for MBI in any capacity (president of Moody, professor, or janitor) you signed a statement in which you said you would abstain from tobacco, alcohol, dancing, gambling, etc. Side note: please don’t turn this into a discussion on that policy. MBI never said a Christian can’t do any of those things. They simply wanted that standard for their employees. Well, within the last month, MBI has revised that policy to allow employees the freedom to do those things that fall in the category of “gray area.”MBI has received a lot of criticism about the change from some of their more conservative supporters. So, recently on Moody radio on a regular show called “chris fabry live” they decided to addres the change in policy. Interestingly, on that edition of the show, they had three people on from MBI to address the change in policy. The three were President Paul Nyquist, Bible professor Dr. Bryan Litfin and……you guessed it……Jerry Jenkins. They were basically defending the change in policy and saying that it’s now fine for their employees to enjoy their new found freedom. Here’s the part that bothers me. They spent the entire show only discussing the policy as it relates to tobacco and alcohol. they never once uttered the word “gambling.” Coincidence?? I think not. Full discolusre, as chairman of the board, JJ is not an employee and thus he’s not bound by the community standards policy of MBI. So, he’s free to drink, smoke and gamble anyways. But, it’s disingenuous (at best) for him to state on thw show that he’s never had a drink in his life, all the while never mentioning the gambling issue. So sad.
@ Alan:
I believe students at Moody college had to sign a similar statement. I’m wondering if the change is for the benefit of JJ at this point.
@ Bridget:
@ Bridget You know, that’s a great point and I too had the same thought.
It’s worth noting that the students do sign that statement and the change in policy did NOT affect the students. The community standards policy still applies to the students there. The change was only for employees at Moody. But like you, I too naturally wondered if the change was to save face with the chairman of their board (JJ).
“For Jenkins to draw this distinction so absolutely tells me that he feels really, really guilty about what he’s doing, and/or that he doesn’t know much about poker.”
Never hid it. Read the article. Wouldn’t it have been easier to avoid this lame controversy by declining to talk about it? If he thought it was wrong or shameful, he could’ve done a much better job at hiding it.
And to say “if you don’t think poker is gambling means you don’t know much about poker” shows YOU don’t know much about poker.
To prove Jenkins is is the wrong here, one must prove 1) gambling is inherently sinful and 2) poker is gambling.
Go…
@ Carl: If you bet money, it is gambling. Unless you get to define what the meaning of the word “is” is.
As for the sinful part, I would rather take a different point of view. I used to work in an alcoholic and substance abuse hospital. There is an old AA saying. If someone thinks you have a problem, you have a problem.
Now, I was discussing MacDonald as the one whose gambling habits were raised. I found it most interesting that Jenkins gambles with him which seems to corroborate that MacDonald does, indeed, gamble. And they appear to, at least once, done so In Las Vegas. But I could be wrong. Perhaps they went there to see Chris Angel levitate.
“WORLD came across Jenkins’ name on GlobalPokerIndex.com, a website that compiles poker tournament results submitted by casinos and creates public profiles of players who cash in. When I called Jenkins to ask if the Global Poker Index profile was of him, he confirmed that it was.
“I don’t play for what I would consider significant amounts of money. And I wouldn’t gamble, either. I mean, I don’t play slots,” he said. “I consider poker a skill game.”
Too funny. Christians are really good at this. Slots are gambling. Poker is a skill. Love it.
Not to affirm the state of California, but they agree. Gambling is illegal in California, and their casinos are filled with poker tables.
Would you consider the stock market to be gambling?
And again…is gambling inherently sinful?
@ Carl:
Whether the stock market is gambling depends on the strategy one uses. It may be an investment, but some people “play” the market like others “play” the ponies, which looks more like gambling.
Correct. Couldn’t the same thing be said about poker?
Carl wrote:
I do not know why you keep asking this question. It is obvious from the posts about James MacDonald that there is a concern about his gambling habits. People with gambling issues also tend to have money issues. There are money issues with James MacDonald that have been raised by his former elders.
Since I am somewhat familiar with compulsive behavior, I raised the possibility if these two items: the debt and the gambling might be linked. Jenkins, bless his heart, has confirmed that he has been to Vegas with MacDonald and that they gambled or, to appease you, played games of skill.
This issue has nothing to do with sin and is merely raised as a question of potential compulsive behavior. I only raised Jenkins name since it corroborated the concern of MacDonald’s gambling.
Lets try another tact.
I do not think drinking alcohol is a sin unless one is routinely getting drunk. However, if someone is drinking in excess amounts so that people raise questions then one should consider the possibility of alcoholism or pre-alcoholic behavior.
If I were to write a post in which a pastor was having some monetary issues and was also seen to be drinking to excess routinely, I might raise the question of an issue that needs to be considered. To keep harping on the question if drinking alcohol is a sin would not be addressing the point.
So, 3 to 1 odds you will not like this answer.
MacDonald has publicly stated that he doesn’t play poker anymore…not because he acknowledges poker is gambling or even that gambling is wrong…but because of the whole “causing a brother to stumble” thing. But I neither know nor care about MacDonald’s other issues. I’m specifically referencing Jenkins and this gasp-inducing story that he plays poker. Do we care if people waste money on golf, or dinners out, or movies? This is hypocritical and hyper-critical of a hobby that some people struggle with. I equate it with your example of drinking. Jenkins playing for “insignificant amounts of money” is akin to Average Joe having wine with dinner. Why is this different?
@ Carl:
Carl wrote:
Please read my comment right before your comment here. It totally answers your question. This has nothing to do with wasting money on clothes, dinner, etc. It has nothing to do with sin. Once you have read that comment, if you have further questions, let us know.