How God Helped Me Overcome Gambling Addiction
Reading time: 9 minutes
I was 20 years old and played poker online all the time. It had become an addiction that I could not escape from by myself. But when I prayed continuously to God, He healed me from the devil’s trap.
How I Get Into Gambling
As a teenager, I start betting on football matches. Although it is illegal for my age, they let me do it—there is no control. I hope to win easy money. Although there are friends who tell me it is just a waste of time and money, I do not listen.
One day, a friend of mine tells me, “Hey, why don’t you play some poker online for free?” I do, and I notice there are tournaments with no entry fee and a small real-money prize pool.
I am 18 years old and do not know what a job is. Although I am going to church, I do not know that gambling is wrong.
How Poker Hooks Me
I start playing with real money, and after I win €1,175 for first place in a tournament, I am really hooked. €1,175 at that time was something like ten minimum salaries in Bulgaria.
My First Big Win at a Tournament – 1,175 EUR.
I start considering myself a really good poker player and think I can earn good money from tournaments.
And I am right—during my first two years at university, I am able to earn good money from poker, which allows me to have a good student life financially.
I have Managed to Multiply About 5x Times my Money on this Table.
However, I realize the hard way that ‘When a man wins, he does not realize what he loses.‘.
I may win good money, but it comes at the expense of everything good and important—Christian morals, family, friends, and even health.
A Representation of a Poker Player.
How Gambling Changes Me
The problem with poker is that the whole game is based on lying and stealing. You either lie that you have a weaker hand, or you lie that you have a better hand through a bluff. The goal is to take other people’s money through deception. It is the game of the devil.
At first, I felt sorry when I took someone’s money in poker. But little by little, I had to harden my heart in order to win money. If I felt sorry for the person I was playing against, how could I win? I had to become heartless.
Sadly, I do not realize that at the time. However, I know something is wrong with me when I sense my Christian morals deteriorating and hatred and pride growing enormously within me.
It is like a devil inside me is trying to enslave me through my vices. Little by little, I am abandoning my Christian morals by trying to become good at poker—thinking about lies, greed, loss of sympathy and love for others, and thinking that I am better than others.
Something is terribly wrong with me, and in my helplessness, at 22 years of age, I shout to God for help.
God Helps Me Fight My Addiction
As I am trying to fight my addiction and hatred, I come across a book written by an American Christian long ago called A Young Man’s Guide by William Alcott. The author explains why gambling is bad and useless.
The Cover of the Book ‘A Young Man’s Guide’ by William Alcott.
Reading the Bible and going to church also helps me in healing from my addiction.
The Spiritual Battle During Sleep Paralysis
While I am trying to quit my online poker addiction, I become involved in what I experience as a strong spiritual battle during sleep paralysis while taking an afternoon nap.
Sleep paralysis is a brief state where your mind wakes up but your body is still in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, so you temporarily cannot move or speak. You may also feel pressure on your chest or see or hear frightening things. It usually lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes and is generally harmless.
In this state, I see my body from the corner of the room. I see animal-like creatures on my body that are trying to enter my body. They look like hyenas, about 1.20 meters tall, and I hear one of them say, “Hurry up, let’s get inside him.”
These are demons.
A Close Representation of what I saw in my Sleep Paralysis State (image made with AI).
In my fear, I begin praying to God for help. Then I see an angel looking from the side. I cannot see its face because it is glowing white and gold. It is very tall—like three meters.
A Close Representation of the Angel I saw in my Sleep Paralysis State (image made with AI).
It disappears, and I become very afraid. I think it is all over and that the demons will get inside me.
But soon the angel comes back with a couple of other angels—all very tall—and one that I believe is an archangel.
I think that these angels are so gentle. They look like they are made from very thin glass. How will they be able to help me when the devils are like wild predators?
The archangel scatters the devils with something like a glowing spear made of gold. The battle is hard and fierce. It looks like, in the battle for my soul, an angel is injured by the devils.
A Close Representation of the Battle I saw in my Sleep Paralysis State (image made with AI).
The devils go away, and I see an angel entering my body. I feel calmness and joy.
I manage to wake up, and shivers run through me. I am so thankful to God for helping me.
I Stop Playing Poker
After that extraordinary experience, which you may not believe happened but which I must tell the whole world about, I stop playing poker.
I also go to a Christian camp, where communicating with some Christians, especially a good-hearted and beautiful Christian girl I like, helps me renew the Christian morals I have gradually abandoned.
A Photo from the Christian Camp I went to in 2011.
Years go by, and I am also able to overcome my addiction to betting on football matches, which I consider harmless compared to poker. But I realize that it is just a waste of time and money, as a friend of mine used to say.
I quit gambling, and God blesses me with several honest professions that I like—graphic designer, gardener, and now a writer.
‘The bread tastes good when you have sweat for it.‘.
What the Bible Says About Gambling
By reading Christian books on gambling and talking with Christians, I realize that the Bible in fact addresses gambling in some way, although in biblical times there were not such kinds of games.
‘Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.‘.
Proverbs 13:11
Every gambler hopes for an easy profit—to gain wealth hastily.
‘By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground…’.
Genesis 3:19
Christians should work an honest job that is good for both themselves and others.
‘If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.’.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
Trying to earn money without honest work is un-Christian.
NEW TEMPTATION 15 YEARS LATER
Fifteen years later, just as I am writing this article in 2027 (I post my articles with backdated dates to reflect when these events actually happened), I meet a friend of mine who is playing poker. I have told him before that I believe poker corrupts the spirit, yet he continues to play. He has won a ticket to a major live tournament in the Czech Republic with a €5 million prize pool, and he offers the ticket to me because he does not intend to go.
I become deeply tempted. I start searching for the cost of the trip and a hotel stay. I even find myself remembering the time when I played online poker and wanting to do it again. However, through prayer to God and with the help of another friend, I am able to resist the temptation and avoid returning to gambling.
I realize that I have to fight this vice, along with other weaknesses, throughout my life.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had gone to that tournament and won the €1 million first prize. It would have solved all my financial problems. But it would have changed my spiritual life for worse. I might have simply wasted the money on useless things, just as I did with my previous winnings.
But what if I were to make €1 million through honest work over thirty years? Through work that God gives me and that I genuinely enjoy, such as graphic design and gardening? That would be far better.
There is a great difference between receiving wealth through gambling and earning it through honest work. One may promise a quick solution to our problems, but the other can shape our character, teach us patience, and allow us to live with a clear conscience before God.
God’s Mercy Is Everlasting
God helps us all the time. His mercy is everlasting and infinite. We just have to pray for it with faith, and God never fails.
You who are reading my article, I hope it encourages you to overcome your addictions, illnesses, and any kind of demonic oppression you may have. God helped me heal mine. Great are You, Lord, for Your everlasting love and mercy.