The Highest Stake Shell Game

A walk through New York City in the summertime can be amazing, if you stay by the parks, watch the theatrical talent on most every corner and look up as often as possible. You are in a city filled with the finest shows on Broadway every night and the finest food, just about anywhere you go...Back in my day, Billy Hong's was the finest Chinese restaurant in town. They featured a lobster roll that remains a part of my permanent memory bank, because I never tasted one before or after. If you want to dance, act, play an instrument or sing, New York City has to be on your dance card as you learn and eventually perform.

If you ever get a chance to go, spring or fall are the best times. When the leaves change in Central Park, it is a sight to behold. Across 59th street from Central Park between Broadway and approximately 7th Ave. you will always find the "street vendors." You know the souvenir cart, the hot dog cart, the fake watch cart, and of course one of the oldest scams in this world, the shell game.
These games can be found in any city park and on any hot corner in the city. Game seems simple enough and has easy rules as follows:

• Need 3 half shells in a straight line
• Need one pea to put under one of the shells.
• Need one huckster to move the shells around in circles.
• Need one sucker to wager $20.00 on finding the pea when the huckster stops.

Sounds simple, just keep you eye on the shell with the pea until he stops and bingo, you win $20.00. Well, after $100.00 I figured out that the game was rigged right from the start. There never was a pea under any shell as soon as he began shuffling them around. You see it had dropped off the table into his lap or went up into his palm based on where you were standing. He made sure that I had no line of sight to what he was doing, and he needed only a second or two to make certain he was going to take my money. Nifty game of chance, with a better take than the best slot machines in Vegas. In my case, the huckster lets a shill win a time or two to get the crowd started, making it appear that someone can really win at this game, and then WAM, you make 5 plays and loose $100.00.

If you are still with me, there is a method to my madness above. It is imperative that you be able to see clearly in this world, because as time goes by your immortal soul is what is at stake, not the $20.00 wagered in the shell game. How do I know this, and what the heck does your immortal soul have to do with this stupid game? The answer is everything!

In our progressive, modern world we have many religious and non-religious groups. Some of us believe in Atheism, Satanism, Catholicism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Muslim, Buddhism, and on and on ad nauseum...In the global community we also have Democracy, Communism, Socialism, Dictatorship, Totalitarian Regimes, Monarchy, Military Junta, and so on ad nauseum. Believe it or not organized religion and organized government are each there own shell game. They are much bigger games with more shells and have incredibly high stakes. From a religious perspective you are waging you own soul and from the government perspective, you are wagering your freedom.

In my past I have gambled for some very large stakes, but it was only money. In the Bahamas about 10 years ago I had $36,000 bet in one game of craps at the Atlantis Hotel & Casino. Also, in the late
90's I attended an invitational golf tournament at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. That evening at a $100 crap table, I won $38,000 on one man's roll of the dice. His nickname was Goose, and he was from Alabama. By the time he finished, he roll 168 times over the course of one hour and thirty-eight minutes. This is the only time I have seen the "house" get killed in the 30 years I have played at a crap table. Once in a great while, against hard, statistical facts to the contrary, you can can win during a short span of time. While the casino was not happy, they know that they will get every dollar back and then some, over time. Like the shell game, you are a pre-determined loser whether you believe it or not. For this post I will stick with religion, and maybe after Christmas I will get back to the same thoughts concerning government.

According to the oldest, active religion, Judaism, the Hebrew calendar began 5,763 years ago, on the 6th day of creation. Adam & Eve were created on the 6th. You might get some argument from China whose history dates back about the same length of time, but we have little hard fact about those early years that span almost six millennia.

Of course there are many other religions, sects, and offshoots. The eternal shell game of which I speak is hosted by Evil, and he is not playing for money, power or fame. He is playing for your immortal soul. As long as he can keep you guessing during his life long game, he has you right where he wants you for eternity. As long as he can keep you challenging, rationalizing and sinning, he is in control, while you decide how long you will play. Short term you might beat him without God in your life. You might be amazingly beautiful, or very rich, or a talented singer, stock broker or ball player. In those instances and others providing a golden pathway through this life, you may believe that you do not need God at all. Just like the Hebrew nation in  the Pentateuch, every time they got settled, comfortable and satiated with life, they quickly turned away from God to all of the other gods in life, like clothes, shoes, money, fame, notoriety or worse to graven images of other gods. You are in control of your life, but Evil is pulling many strings to keep you in the shell game while time passes. Before you know it you are compromising yourself more and more to stay, "in the game," until you are doing things never imaginable by you or your family, much less God. I have seen it in my own family, and I have lived it myself.

Protect your gift from the "God of gods" by understanding it's power in your life right now, and its all important relevancy for eternity...

The Digital Disciple