Revivalist Preaches Against Card Playing, For Soul Winning

Port Arthur, Texas, 1924

CARDS SCORED BY REVIVALIST

'Religious Gamblers' Are Packard's Target

Scoring cards as an evil not to be tolerated by the church and vehemently declaring that church members who play cards are nothing more than "religious gamblers," Dr. Paul H. Packard in his sermon on "Soul Winning" last night at the First Christian church urged the church members to come out from the world and help in cleaning up Port Arthur for Christ.

"God can't clean up Port Arthur unless he has clean instrumentalists to do it with," Dr. Packard said. "The Saviour is beseeching you to help in saving Port Arthur for God. No one is adapted to Christ's work who plays cards. The slogan of all our campaigns is 'Come clean or don't come at all.' The church has all the religious gamblers it can have for the next 50 years. You can play cards if you want to, but you can't play cards if your life is in touch with God!

Revival in Home Needed.

"Give me a membership and a church board who is willing to face all odds for Jesus Christ and we'll clean out sin and hell from Port Arthur! God expects you to do it! Why don't you? If we could feel a concern about those people without God and the less unfortunate, Port Arthur could be saved in three weeks, and could be made into a kingdom of righteousness in this section of the great commonwealth.

"The world wants that type of Christianity that shows we believe in the gospel teachers of Jesus Christ. Would that we would manifest as much concern over spiritual distress as we do over physical distress. While I commend the great American spirit for its willingness to go down into its wealth and distribute it among stricken countries and cities, I wish it were more deeply concerned with the moral welfare of the people.

"As I said last night there must be a revival in the home before we can win the world to Christ. How many young men and women there are in Port Arthur tonight who on that great last day will point the finger of condemnation at their mother and father and say, 'You never cared for my soul.' I pray that all the parents may be on the job during this revival to win their girls and boys to Jesus.

All Can Save.

"Somebody is responsible for every young man and woman who walks from Procter street tonight without the thought of God, or the salvation of their souls. We can't turn over the unsaved young people to the Salvation Army. May God help you to feel your responsibility. One always knows where to find a man when you want to sell him a ticket to make money for the church, but none knows where to find him when you want to talk to him about his soul. That's why the world is saying, 'No man cares for my soul,' and what Port Arthur needs tonight is the personal touch of the individual which means more than anything else.

"I have failed to find one yet, who if his life is in tune with God, cannot win one to Christ. God will help you, even in your own broken way. You say you can't save souls because you have not the gift of speech, or the education. I haven't seen where God says anything about that in His Book. Some of the greatest soul winners America has ever had were men of little education and little gift of speech. Jesus said, 'Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.' The command, 'Follow me,' is universal. You can win men to Christ if you want to."

Dr. Packard will speak on "The Betrayal of Jesus" at tonight's service at 7:30 o'clock.

—The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas, November 4, 1924, page 2.