With the Powerball Lottery eclipsing $700 million and likely to be over $900 million by this coming Saturday I would like to remind people that No CHRISTIAN should play the lottery. No. Not one dollar. Not 50 cents. And I’d like to give you the top six reasons why:
1. God Abhors Greed
It appears at least twice on his top five list of abominations. God does not have a problem with risk. Often he expects us to take chances. One of Jesus’ own parables of the talent shows the principle of investment and reward. But gambling and the lottery in particular is one of real heinous evil. You see, God expects us to lean on him to meet our needs. When we lean on our own understanding, or skills, or means, or worse: the way of the world. Well, God has a real problem with that. He calls it greed. Are you ‘trusting’ in him, or ‘chancing’ on the world? In another of Jesus’ parables he tells of the wealthy and prosperous man who says to himself, that he has done well, his barns overflow, so tomorrow he will tear down the smaller barns and build bigger ones to hold everything still in the field. Jesus says, God said, fool tonight you will die. That I don’t think was a judgement as much as poor planning and irony. What good does wealth do you if you are dead? If he had consulted God on his decision, God already advised him what to do. In fact at that time even poor struggling farmers were required by God to leave some of their crop in the fields to feed the poor who could not farm. God has a problem with greed with those ‘rich’ who acquire more than they need. Ignoring God’s instruction is like sticking a finger in his eye. Or putting fingers in your own ears. La la la, I’m not listening to you I’m doing things my way. Your way keeps me struggling, leaves me hungry sometimes – or might! I’m not listening la la la la. Worse. Even if you only spend $1.00 in this evil greedy world idea of wealth that is $1.00 you DIDN’T spend doing good. Not that I believe all good Christians actually tithe ten percent, let alone $1.00 a week. But that $1.00 furthered Satan’s end (more on this later).
2. Obedience is better than sacrifice
The priest Samuel told King Saul this as God stripped away the King’s title and gave it to his servant David. I hear people all the time say: “If I won the lottery I’d keep ten percent and give away to God 90 percent like a reverse tithe.” Sometimes I hear this: “I’ve prayed about this, and I think God wants me to do this.” Or maybe a corollary: “if I win, then I will know God really wanted me to win that money.” (It’s not the God you think. More on this later). We rationalize and justify our sins. The ridiculousness of this is easy to see if we substitute sins. “Even though I sell my body for $1,000 a night, I only keep $100. I give $900 away to feed and clothe the poor.” “I’ve prayed about this and I think God wants me to leave my wife for my lover.” “If I get away with it, it isn’t a sin, otherwise God would have got me caught!” Intentions. Good intentions are only good if God thinks they are good. God calls gambling and greed evil. No money gotten sinfully will God accept back as sacrifice or offering.
3. Who is not with me is against me
Somebody once argued with me that Wicans who practiced Good “White” magic were actually doing God’s will. I reminded them that God said, those who did not obey me, serve Satan. There is no middle ground. If you ever hear, or say, “What I am doing doesn’t hurt anybody. . .” This is just another excuse that normally means, anybody HUMAN. The hurt is usually aimed at a Divine Creator who has already instructed not to do this. So let’s not fool ourselves. We serve our own carnal needs, the lust of the world and certainly Satan when we do that which God clearly tells us not to do: God calls it sin.
4. That you might have life and more abundantly
The Christian life is not a series of don’ts. Real Christian’s live lives of abundance. Even without mammon (money, the wealth of the world) they don’t die of starvation, they have peace of mind that lets them sleep, find joy in simple things, and are grateful for everything. Their trials end in victory, their misery is shortened, their hope eternal, and no money in the world can replace these things. God gives more benefits than the lottery can. Leaning on him, he surprises us with gifts we don’t deserve, and we share them generously with family, friends and the world.
5. The wages of sin is death
Sin pays generously. Too bad it’s only for a season. And the thought of a $900 million payout for something you only paid $1.00 for seems like a heavenly dream. Certainly the world paints a beautiful picture of it. The slick commercials show us dream lives elevated out of obscurity with the catch phrase: “you must play to win”. After all, if they say, “Win and risk and possibly lose everything you love!” Won’t sell lottery tickets. In the late fifties a book was published titled, “And the Winner Is. . .” And it told the tragic story of the first fifty winners of the New York lottery, the first million dollar lottery in the country. Yes. Tragic. Without exception the lives of the first fifty winners in this true story were ruined. Everything you can imagine. Spouses, held together by struggling together, split over cash. Many starting great feuds with friends and family over money. Overindulgence in everything from alcohol to drugs to spending to sex destroyed, even killed many. Doesn’t take too much imagination to envision that now. Setting our own “good intentions” aside, we know ourselves. If we had the money to do ‘anything’ – the problem is we would. Often my prayer includes this line, “Thank you Lord for protecting me today from me.” God says, all have sinned. In another place that the heart of men is desperately wicked. No matter what good you can imagine that money would do, what hardships it would cover or what obscurity it might spare you from: the money will destroy everything you hold dear. It was not given to you divinely. God tries to protect you from temptation and evil. If you win, it is a gift from what the bible calls “the god of this world”: Satan.
If you don’t believe this, let me tell you about the last big Powerball winner who is like me a West Virginian, a Christian, father and grandfather.
from Wicepedia:
“Andrew Jackson “Jack” Whittaker, Jr.(born c. 1947 in Jumping Branch, West Virginia) is the winner of a 2002 lottery jackpot. When he won US $314.9 million in the Powerball multi-state lottery it was, at the time, the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in the history of American lottery. After winning the lottery, he had several brushes with the law, as well as personal tragedies.”
Personal tragedies? After an extramarital sexual “purchase” gone wrong (where he also lost $250,000) in a briefcase stolen out of his truck at the strip club where he intended to buy sex, he lost his long time wife in a divorce. His granddaughter living with him, got hooked on drugs she could now afford, died of an overdose and her body was hidden for months by her boyfriend. Jack lost his business, his money, his reputation and more importantly his Christian testimony.
When he won the Powerball lottery a special issue of his life was published by the WV Lottery in its quarterly magazine. They showed his loving wife and live in granddaughter smiling. Five years later when his life was utterly destroyed he made this statement: “If I had known what winning the lottery would have done to my life and my family, I NEVER would have bought a ticket.” There has been no further comment of Jack’s life since that special issue in the WV Lottery magazine and certainly not his heartfelt, weeping lament. He continues to be, like the first fifty winners of the New York lottery, the best precautionary tale of the Powerball Lottery. (Look him up on the web if you are still unconvinced)
6. Train up a child in the way he should go
If your son or daughter (or grandchild) thinks you feel ‘stuck’ in a life that the lottery will rescue you from, then you have lost your own Christian testimony that God does, and will, meet all your needs. We have to live the life we profess. We have to believe and act upon those beliefs we profess. Again, no Christian should ever participate in the lottery. We prove to the world with our lives that He knows best, and gives us the best, and our gratitude should be passed down to the next generation.