Posted on 12/27/2002 12:16:35 AM PST by kattracks
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Andrew Jackson Whittaker Jr. thanks God that he picked the six numbers that won him the $314.9 million Christmas Day Powerball jackpot, and he's putting up the money to prove it.
"The very first thing I'm going to do is go home and make out three checks to three pastors," Mr. Whittaker said. Those checks, a tithe to the Church of God, will total $17 million.
"Seventeen million in the state of West Virginia will really do good for the poor," he said, adding that the three pastors will control the money and perhaps establish a Christian school.
The 55-year-old contractor, who won the largest single-winner lottery jackpot in history, opted to take a lump sum of $170 million before taxes, instead of 30 annual installments. The lump sum is worth more than $111 million after taxes, lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said.
"I just want to thank God for letting me pick the right numbers, or letting the machine pick the right numbers," said Mr. Whittaker, who claimed his winnings dressed in black and wearing a big, black cowboy hat.
Mr. Whittaker lives in the small town of Scott Depot, about 20 miles west of Charleston, and is president of three construction companies that build sewage-treatment plants and other water projects.
"I've had to work for everything in my life. This is the first thing that's ever been given to me," he said.
Mr. Whittaker said he originally thought he had lost the jackpot because the numbers came up wrong on the televised drawing Christmas night. It wasn't until yesterday morning that he realized he won.
His wife of 36 years said she plans to go to Israel.
"I'd just go to go there. It's where Jesus walked," Jewell Whittaker said.
The couple planned to travel to New York City last night.
Mr. Whittaker said he would share the rest of his winnings with his family, and may expand his business. He has a daughter named Ginger and a 15-year-old granddaughter.
Ginger McMahan said she had cancer twice and had not worked for about a year. "I was getting ready to go back to work, but I think I'm retired now," she said.
Mr. Whittaker also said he wants to help "people who want to better themselves to have a better life."
"I'm getting really excited because of the good works I can do with this money," he said.
He said little about buying luxuries for himself — aside from a helicopter he said he had had his eye on for a while.
"I have 25 people laid off right now at Christmas, and I want more work so I can put them back to work," he said. He now employs 117 persons.
He told Miss Bulla he was not a regular lottery player but he bought $100 in tickets because the jackpot was so high. He plays when it reaches $100 million.
The ticket was purchased at the C&L Super Serve in Hurricane, 25 miles west of Charleston.
Mr. Whittaker went back to the store yesterday morning to fill up on gas and buy some biscuits, as he does each day. The clerk was the one who sold him the ticket. He told her he won, but "she said, 'No, you didn't, you're not excited enough to win the lottery.' And she just pushed me out the door," he said.
"It's so just that the poorest state in America wins the biggest Powerball in history," said Bob O'Dell, a 51-year-old resident of the town that's pronounced herr' ah cun. (West Virginia's per-capita income actually was second-lowest to Mississippi's in 2000.)
The Super Serve's owner, Larry Trogdon, will get $100,000 for selling the winning ticket.
"I have a daughter getting married this summer," he told NBC.
"I guess we're honeymooning in Hawaii," said his daughter, Amy, who manages the Super Serve and is getting married next summer to a clerk at the store.
"Heck, if you're going to Hawaii, I'm coming with you," Mr. Trogdon answered, laughing.
The jackpot was the largest ever for a single winning ticket, Miss Bulla said. It also was the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history.
An unexpected Christmas Day run on Powerball tickets pushed the already whopping $280 million jackpot to $314.9 million just before numbers were drawn, making it the Powerball's largest prize ever.
The winning numbers were 5-14-16-29-53 and the Powerball was 7.
Mr. Whittaker had the option of taking a cash payout of $170 million before taxes or collecting the entire jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years. He took the lump sum and Gov. Bob Wise presented him with an initial check of $10 million.
Powerball, the nation's largest lottery game, is sold in 23 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Before the Christmas 2002 prize, the largest Powerball jackpot was $295.7 million in July 1998.
The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was a Big Game prize of $363 million, won in May 2000 by ticketholders in Michigan and Illinois. The second was a $331 million Big Game jackpot split between three tickets in April.
Spain's annual Christmas lottery known as El Gordo — "the Fat One" — is billed as the world's richest. This year's $1.7 billion jackpot spreads wealth among millions of people. About 10,000 numbers win some kind of prize, from $20 to $200,000.
The night of the PowerBall jackpot drawing, Whittaker said he got the wrong numbers from television. He went to bed Christmas night thinking he had matched only four of the five numbers, plus the PowerBall.
A spokeswoman with WSAZ-TV in Huntington said the station accidentally listed 11 instead of 16 in the series of six numbers. The jackpot numbers were: 5-14-16-29-53 and the PowerBall was 7.
The mistake almost cost Whittaker millions.
"I saw the next morning that the ticket had been sold at the station I buy biscuits and gas from every morning," he said. "I thought that the odds of me hitting five numbers and someone else hitting all six on tickets from the same place were astronomical. So I told my wife we should check it again."
A second look proved his intuition right.
Good thing he didn't toss that ticket........Stay Safe Katt !!
I dont understand how it would have cost him money. He knew he hit five of the numbers right, including the powerball. That nets him 100K. What was he going to do, throw the ticket out because it was a measly 100K? He would have still turned it in and learned he was rich.
So let me get this right - he gambles - and then tithes it - Id love to hear the priests rationalization in being the recipient of gambling proceeds.
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
I wouldnt wish the curse of big money on anyone. It is often a destructive, deadly force.
God fill this man with the supernatural strength needed to turn from this gambling sin.
Not all Christians believe buying a lottery ticket is a sin.
The lottery is a voluntary tax. It gives poor people a chance to pay voluntary taxes, I love it.
I volunteer to pay $2 to $4 a month, it's for education and the children . . . you know. {;o)
Scripture is also quite clear about the accumulation of wealth
Funny how you and I will be accused of legalism - rather I think you see it as I do.......a hindrance to personal holiness and piety
Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep. 13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
He just ruined three churches, which were unprepared to have that kind of inflow of cash. Regular giving will drop off from everyone else, and they'll probably undertake grandiose expansion schemes that they won't be able to sustain.
Are you actually criticizing this man for tithing.........and the churches' pastors for accepting those tithes????
You forget, my friend. That isn't his money. That tithe is God's money. It's really just that simple.
I don't think I need to point out the ways these funds can and probably will be used for the Lord's work as opposed to, say, giving the same amount to Earth First or PETA or........worst of all.............the United Way.
LOL - how true
First off congradulations to the latest Powerball winner from West Virginia. I'm sure that money will do an awful lot of good.
Now, I want to pose a hypothecial question to all freepers out there. Let's just suppose the powerball winner was a diehard conservative Republican. A Rush Limbaugh dittohead if you will and when asked what he is going to do with the money he states that's he going to donate a portion of it to conservative causes like the Media Research Center, Free Republic, what have you and he talks about issues in the style of Rush Limbaugh.
If the Powerball winner was someone like that, How do you think the media would handle this story? Would they demand an inquiry to see if it was rigged or something? Given the media's softball treatment of the Democrats and liberal and progressive causes versus their blatant and deliberate mistreatment of christians and conservatives, I would be a bit dubious about how they would handle it.
If I myself were a Powerball winner I don't think I would be quite as generous to the news media as that fella was.
Regards.
Me, I don't do it, I won't play games that I know have a negative expected return.
You do realize, don't you, that this passage can also be interpreted as a prohibition against savings accounts, spare change in a jar, and investment in the stock market?
Besides, it looks to me like Mr. Jackson is not hoarding his money, but is rather giving it away.
If the money is derived from sin - its not "of God", nor does it exhalt Him.
By your measure, tithes of a contract killer would be acceptable for Holy use -
Money is the root of all evil...whats the hard part?
Congratulations you made ignore,
your hype and trivia were such a bore.
You made me sick, not one more word,
Everything you write is totally absurd.
You lie, cheat, deceive and steal,
making claims on some good deal.
Now if you want to truly profit,
I'll tell you how if you'll only stop it.
You must repent, confess your sin,
Arrange your account and buy CPN.
Hold it long and watch it not,
and within one year you'll have a lot.
If my words don't console you,
and the lines won't bring relief,
then what I've said, it must be true...
that CPN49er is a stupid thief.
P.S. The same goes for anyone hyping something at which there is almost no hope of return.
Perhaps for the unawake (in a stretch), rather in context of Luke 19 & Matt 25 it applies
Matt 25
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.
15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.
17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.
18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Miss Marple, do you still care to make the contention that Ecc 5:13 applies "as a prohibition against savings accounts, spare change in a jar, and investment in the stock market?" ?
.........and he had how much last week?
Yes. And it is much more often a positive life giving force. Money big or small is just another of God's Blessings on us.
Wish it on me and my Church. We could both stand the strain.
In mortal sin, yes
Matthew 19:24
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
I thought it was *The love* of money is the root of all evil. If the Bible is against wealth, why did the master in Jesus's parable in Matthew reward the two servants who invested his money wisely and punish the one who buried his talent in the ground? Our attittude toward money is what is important; God blesses many good people with wealth and/or the ability to accumulate it.
So money is the reason "good" people do "bad" things? What responsibility do they have to only accumulate money through honest means?
I see..........but who are you to decide what is "of God" and what isn't? Jesus made it a point to hang out with the dregs of society.......and when He did, undoubtedly there were those who gave Him food, wine, shelter.........I assume He should not have accepted them, then.
Where do you work? What do you help produce? How are those products / services used? Are you so certain that they aren't used in some nefarious way by anybody on the planet?
I am in the engineering division of a LARGE computer company. Can I swear that the systems I help design aren't used in some "sinful" way? Does that mean that my income.......and thus my tithes and offerings........are unworthy; not "of God"?
To equate buying a few bucks worth of pieces of paper for a chance at winning bigger bucks with taking a contract for a hit is disingenuous and spurious.
While we're at it, let's attack every chuch fund-raiser known to man. We all know that the money should just walk in the door, so any attempt by churches to raise money for a youth group, let's say, is clearly not "of God", correct?
Look, I believe you to be a very, very decent and good person with a good heart.......but you'd best check your assumptions, my friend.
Proverbs 25 21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
23 As a north wind brings rain, so a sly tongue brings angry looks.
Do you hunger for worldly riches or living water ?
When you look at the verse in context, it reads:
"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go throught the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdome of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?"
And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Matthew 19:24-26
When trying to determine a position to take based on the Bible, it is wise to consider the whole counsel of God rather than to pick out individual verses that support your position.
What about the story of Job. Godly man who was rich, God stripped him of all he had, stood the test of his convictions to God, God gives him everything and MORE for his convictions.
your choice
We all know that the money should just walk in the door, so any attempt by churches to raise money for a youth group, let's say, is clearly not "of God", correct?
how exactly is a Christian youth group not "of God"
For the record - my denomination does not participate in fundraisers, relying on tithes and offerings to fund our youth programs
Too bad isnt it?
Gods will - do you presume to argue with God ?
Tell how gambling on a game of chance is Gods will ? - what matters more, the $10 this guy would have tithed with a clean heart or the 17 million he tithes with dirty hands in hopes of clearing his conscience
and this personal attack aids your corrupt position how
- Lord give them eyes to see !
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