It was a big hit in 1959.
Former DJ, Wink Martindale later became a game show host and still appears in reruns on the Game Show Network.
Posted on 01/31/2008 12:19:34 PM PST by null and void
The Deck of Cards
It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard.
The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.
As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.
Just then an army sergeant came in and said, 'Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?' The soldier replied, 'I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord.' The sergeant said, 'Looks to me like you're going to play cards.' The soldier said, 'No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards.' The sergeant asked in disbelief, 'How will you do that?'
'You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.
The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments
The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The Five is for the five virgins. There were ten but only five of them were glorified.
The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.
The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.
The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth.
The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.
The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.
The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.
The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary
The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.
When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.
There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year.
The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.
So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for.'
The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, 'Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?'
Please let this be a reminder and take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting Prayer for the Military.
Tex Ritter and some others recorded that in the 1950’s. Had the 78!
And then the sergeant said:
“Well, isn’t that special. Now get your happy @ss out with the rest of the platoon before I put my boot so far up it you won’t be able to sit down for a week.”
FYI - There are no bans of bringing Bibles to any place the US military goes.
Written and originally recorded by T. Texas Tyler.
Recorded by many other artists including Wink Martindale, Tex Ritter, Max Bygraves.
The Wink Martindale version hit the Billboard top 100 several different times.
Widely available as an MP3 downloadand on CD.
Outstanding. Thanks..
A few minutes of googling:
In Saudi Arabia, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is illegal; only Muslims can be Saudi citizens; one of the Saudi king's titles is "custodian of the two holy mosques"; proselytizing for any religion other than Sunni Islam is barred; and Mecca, Islam's holy city, is forbidden to all non-Muslims.
For years, Saudi Arabia also imposed restrictions, or persuaded the U.S. government to impose restrictions, on American troops defending the country during and after then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait. For example, U.S. postal and customs officials have barred mailing materials "contrary to the Islamic faith," including Bibles. The U.S. military also has required female service members to wear a long, black robe called an abaya when traveling off base in Saudi Arabia. Both regulations were rescinded or clarified after public outcry based on reporting in the U.S. media.
Source here
Great song.
For years, Saudi Arabia also imposed restrictions, or persuaded the U.S. government to impose restrictions, on American troops defending the country during and after then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait. For example, U.S. postal and customs officials have barred mailing materials "contrary to the Islamic faith," including Bibles. The U.S. military also has required female service members to wear a long, black robe called an abaya when traveling off base in Saudi Arabia. Both regulations were rescinded or clarified after public outcry based on reporting in the U.S. media.
Hey Dude, I have been there and so have my buddies in other units. Also, Iraq and Afghanistan. Not one time was there ever a ban on having a Bible ro even a question of bring one over. It is different for civilian but the song is not about civilians.
What about Saudi Arabia when we were there?......
It was a big hit in 1959.
Former DJ, Wink Martindale later became a game show host and still appears in reruns on the Game Show Network.
The late and great Red Sovine (’Phantom 309’, ‘Freightliner Fever’) did a cover of this tune, and it was one of the best, well worth hunting down.
And Iraq isn’t Saudi.
Still, as much as I loathe islam, I’m inclined to believe the 2nd banana. Personal experience trumps a web search.
Besides, if he’s mistaken, I think there might be a FReeper or two who would deign to say something!
Also verboten:
Pr0n
Alcohol
Pork products
Of course I complied fully with the restrictions, and emailed him to open it in private. :)
__________
Nothing like eating pork rinds washed down with booze while watching porn before reading the Bible.
THE RED DECK OF CARDS
It was during the last days of the prisoner exchange in Korea,
I was there as they came through Freedom Gate, shattered, sick
and lame. There in a red cross tent, as the weary group rested,
a soldier broke out a deck of cards. A look of hate crossed the
tired face of one boy as he sprang up - knocking the cards to the
ground. As the cards lay around, many of them face up, he picked
up the Ace and began.
“Fellows,” he said, “I’m sorry, but I hate cards. The commies tried
to use them to teach us their false doctrine. They told us the “ACE”,
meant that there’s one God, the state. We knew that to be untrue
for we were religious boys”
“And the “DEUCE” meant there were two great leaders. Only two.
Lenin and Stalin. And we couldn’t swallow that either.”
“And this “TREY” stood for three religious superstitions that the
Reds would soon destroy. The Catholic, the Protestants and the
Jewish.”
This black “FOUR”, the soldier boy continued, stood for the four
corners of the earth, where the Hammer and Sickle would soon
reign supreme. There in that prison camp, far away from home, we
hoped it was a lie.
And this red “FIVE”, was the five points in their Red Star. Tears
were streaming down the boy’s face, as he picked up the six.
And this “SIX”, the commies told us, stood for the sixth and final
wars that America had luckily won.
The Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish
American war, World War I, and number six - World War II.
Now in this war, this cold war, America would be destroyed.
And the “SEVEN”, stood for our seventh foolish day, Sunday,
which we wasted on our Lord.
The “EIGHT”, stood for the 8 hours every day we would have to
spend learning to be, uh, progressive.
The “NINE”, for the cat-of-nine tails, lashed across our backs if we
ever knelt to pray.
The “TEN”, was to remind us that our ten commandments, were ten stupid
rules that only Capitalistic fools believed in. That’s what they
told us.
The “JACK” meant that Christ was a knave of uncertain birth.
The “QUEEN”, that maybe his mother was a non-virtuous woman.
And the “KING”, stood for our Lord God whom the commies told us did
not exist. A dream, a fake, a joke. That’s what they told us.
The HEART stood for Christ’s blood, all shed in vain.
The DIAMOND signified the real precious jewel, the communist party.
The CLUB - the weapon of oppression with which they beat us;
And the SPADE - a tool with which we would dig our own graves
This was the RED DECK OF CARDS.
So you see fellows, the soldier boy said, that’s why I hate cards.
His buddies picked up the cards torn them into pieces and with
shining faces walked arm in arm toward a simple chapel in Korea.
—Tex Ritter, 1954
That’s commie revisionist history!
(Actually, I don’t know what came first, but I prefer the version I published today)...
I’m given to understand that there are actual reasons why the standard deck is the way it is.
The suits are the classes of society.
The Hearts are the poets and artists
The Diamonds are the rich
The Spades (they are actually spear tips!) the military
The rabble are represented by their weapons - Clubs
The Kings and Queens are actual historical figures, IIRC, one is Charlemagne. I don’t recall ‘the rest of the story’, but I bet another FReeper will...
Wink Martindale too!
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