My dear readers,

1. Singapore Now in “CASINO CLUB CLASS”

With the opening of its first Casino earlier this year, Singapore is now in the “CASINO CLUB CLASS.” Rich people, and “not so rich” ones are flocking to Sentosa, hoping to strike gold. The likely outcome is the hopeful and happy visitors to the “Isle of Peace” will return a “sadder but wiser lot” for their experience.

Below I reprint an article from “Christian News” and some illuminating excerpts from “Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations” by Paul Lee Tan, 1979.

2. Lottery Catastrophe Friday Church News Notes

In the book Money for Nothing (One Man’s Journey through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions), Edward Ugle says the “broke or financially troubled lottery winners are the rule.” In fact, the consequences of winning the lottery are often more frightful than mere financial trouble.

Abraham Shakespeare, a professing Christian who “knew his way around the Bible,” purchased a winning lottery ticket in November 2006 and received a $17 million payout after taxes. In a little over two years he had spent most of the money and was murdered by someone who was probably one of his newfound “friends.” His relatives said that he was “miserable early on from his newfound fortune.”

In January 2007 he purchased a million-dollar home and then sold it for a loss of $350,000 two years later to a woman who said that she wanted to write the story of his life.

On January 29, 2010, Shakespeare’s body was found buried under a slab of concrete on that property. If he knew the Bible, Shakespeare should have known better than to gamble. The Bible exposes the lottery for the lie that it is. The lottery encourages covetousness, which the Bible condemns, and it mocks contentment, which the Bible exalts.

The deceitful message of the lottery is that wealth can solve your problems, but the Bible says, “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:5). It is a poor testimony for a Christian to trust in “Lady Luck.”

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5-6). – Feb 22, 2010

3. Money and Happiness

Keith Nicholson won $426,495 in the British soccer pool. His wife announced that he was going to “spend, spend, spend.”

But look what happened to the money and the Nicholsons.

They bought a luxury home for $47,600. (Before they hit the jackpot, they had rented a city housing for $5.43 a week.) They gave parties almost every night. In four years they managed to spend $196,000. “We had lots of money,” reported Mrs Nicholson, “but we lost our friends. The people we had known in the old days, and whom we really wanted to see, never came along.”

In 1966, Nicholson was killed in a crash in the $5,600 car bought out of his winnings. From the jackpot money, $107,113 went to the government in death taxes. The remainder was invested, half in trust for the three children, and half to give Mrs Nicholson $25 a week income.

4. “Millionaires seldom smile”

Where is happiness found? John B Rockefeller, a Christian millionaire, said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.” Broken in health, he employed an armed guard.

W H Vanderbilt said, “The care of 200 million dollars is too great a load for any brain or back to bear. It is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.”

Henry Ford, the automobile king, said, “Work is the only pleasure. It is only work that makes life worth living. I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

Andrew Carnegie, the multi-millionaire, said, “Millionaires seldom smile.”

5. Money: What good is it?

It is recorded of one of America’s richest men, that before he died he said to a friend: “I don’t see what good it does me – all this money that you say is mine. I can’t eat it, can’t spend it; in fact, I never saw it, and never had it in my hand for a moment. I dress no better than my private secretary, and cannot eat as much as my coachman. I live in a big servants’ boarding house, have dyspepsia, cannot drink champagne, and most of my money is in the hands of others, who use it mainly for their own benefit.” This is the testimony of one who put his treasure in “a bag with holes.” – Gospel Herald.

Franklin’s observations – Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and trebles that want another way. That was a true proverb of the wise man; rely upon it: “Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith.” – Benjamin Franklin.

• The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money. – John D Rockefeller, Jr

• Upon the statue of Joseph Brotherton is the inscription, “A man’s riches consist not in the amount of his wealth, but in the fewness of his wants.”

•People who set their minds and hearts on money are equally disappointed whether they get it or whether they don’t. “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

Faithfully in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor