Poor Jack Whittaker

by Tim Hall

Can you feel pity for Jack Whittaker? You really should try, though for some it won't be easy.

On Christmas 2002, Jack Whittaker of Winfield, WV won the Powerball Lottery. His prize of $314.9 million was the largest single prize ever won in U.S. lottery history.

Pity this man? Please, hear the rest of Jack's story.

According to an article carried by the Associated Press on March 11, 2004, Jack's office was broken into on Tuesday of this past week and $2,000 was taken. Two days later, thieves broke into his vehicle as it sat outside his home and made off with undisclosed property.

Earlier in the week, an employee of a local casino filed charges that Jack Whittaker had assaulted her in March 2003. Jack has made no formal response and no criminal charges have been filed.

There's more. In January of this year, Jack Whittaker was charged with threatening to kill the manager of a local bar and with drunken driving. In that same month, $100,000 was taken from his vehicle. Four months before, $500,000 he was carrying in a briefcase was taken from him after he was drugged at a strip club.

We suspect this is not the end of Jack Whittaker's woes.

As we consider the saga of this "lucky" man, let's also be sure to consider the words of Ecclesiastes 5:11,12: "When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep." Do you have trouble understanding what this passage means? Consider the experience of Jack Whittaker.

Whittaker's experience also helps us to see the truthfulness of 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (Do I hear an "Amen" from Winfield, West Virginia?)

What could be better than winning the biggest jackpot of all time? Here's God's answer: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim. 6:6). "Great gain" isn't measured in dollars and cents; it's measured in peace of mind and contentment.

Now can you feel pity for poor Jack Whittaker?

mass510, 2004.06.30, 10:10

talk is cheap

talk is cheap when the story is good. Suddely when you win money like that your whole life is in the spotlight and the press focuses in on every rotten thing you do.When I heard of his winnings I was amazed and skepitical because afterall if he was a strong christian he wouldnt have been gambling in the first place nor going to strip clubs. What I think is amazing is all the good he has done for others which outweighs the bad stuff.no matter what he claims to be he still has been very generous to those in need and yet still everyone wants to trash him. nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes.

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