The Powerball Generation - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html
The recent hype over the Powerball lottery has been hard to ignore. For several nights the major news networks had the lottery craze as their lead story. People were waiting in line for up to at least three hours to have a shot at winning $1.5 billion.
The weirdest thing I noticed throughout this national drama was how hundreds of people were flooding into the California 7-Eleven-the store that had sold one of the winning tickets; the prevailing mindset was to tap into the magical energy in the place.
Lottery fever passed over me, because I have a full comprehension of the odds against some- one winning. How long are those odds? According to Powerball's website, the odds of winning the grand prize is 1 in 292,201,338.00. A few years ago, the odds were a mere 1 in 195,249,054.
But the folks operating the lottery decided to increase the jackpot by doubling the price of a ticket from 1 to 2 dollars and by increasing the number of balls in play in each drawing. People fail to realize it is far more likely for someone to die due to an accident on the way to buy a lottery ticket than to actually win the lottery.
The annual odds of anyone dying in a car accident is 1 in 6,700. Here are a few more sobering statistical odds:
One in 3,703 odds of being wrongfully convicted of a crime.
One in 4,464 chance of losing an appendage in a chainsaw accident.
One in 18,000 possibility of being murdered in a given year.
One in 115,300 likelihood of going to the E.R. with a pogo stick-related injury.
One in 700,000 odds of being crushed by a meteorite.
One in 1,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash.
People who don't fly or own a pogo stick may think luck is on their side. They should try an exercise that demonstrates the foolishness of such dreams. Even though the drawing had already taken place, I wrote down six random numbers. When I looked at the winning numbers, I didn't get a single number right; which is the case for over half of the tickets sold. Unlike millions of people, I still have my two bucks.
One of the worst things about gambling is the temptation and burden it places on the poor. There was a study in 2010 showing that households with annual take-home incomes under $13,000, on average, spend $645 a year on lottery tickets (which comes to about 9 percent of their yearly income). I know people who have played the lottery for decades, and would have a sizeable nest egg if they had put all that money into a savings account.
I once listened to an interview featuring Steve Wynn. He has overseen the construction and operation of several historically notable Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos. Wynn said he has never witnessed someone winning big in his gambling joints, and then walk away rich. "They always give it back," said Wynn. His own father died with $350,000 in gaming debts, so Wynn obviously decided it's better to be on the other side of the blackjack table.
Winning a lottery can be more of a curse than a blessing. We've all heard stories about people who win millions of dollars, and then blow it all. What you don't hear about is the corrupting nature of money. When parents win the lottery and play the role of a financial Santa Claus to their kids, the result more often than not is a life of idleness.
Because easy money destroys productivity, people who are given wealth are often sent into a spiraling downward direction. Studies have shown that 7 percent of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and a stunning 9 percent by the third, according to the Williams Group Wealth Consultancy.
I know of a Christian who came into a vast future. He gave millions of dollars to various ministries. The money was to be used productively for the kingdom of God, but it went down a rat hole because those entrusted with the funds failed to wisely administer the money. Some of the deadest churches in America got that way because someone died and left them a fortune.
Not many years ago, it was possible to accumulate wealth through honest and intelligent hard work. Today, the quick payout is the primary goal of most people. This short-sightedness is the reason why America is floundering both financially and spiritually.
The jackpot I'm looking forward to is the one we'll receive when the Lord takes us home. If you are a believer in Christ, your chances of winning that grand prize is 100 percent. In heaven, there is no lump sum cut, and the mansions are tax free.
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2).
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