"Is a gamble on the National Lottery wrong?"

(Sermons preached in former years in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church against national apostasy. Preaching the message of salvation through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone must ever be coupled and joined with earnest contenting for the faith against the lies and errors of the devil and his agents.)

"And he (the Lord Jesus) said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth," Luke 12:15. In one word, the answer to the question in our title is YES! In the very launching of the Lottery there is that which any Christian will find objectionable, indeed blasphemous. The advertising of the event features a mysterious and ghostly hand that points to individuals and says "It's you". The hand, accompanied by the playing of Handel's"Hallelujah Chorus", is intended to suggest that behind the Lottery will be the kindness and mercy of God Who will deposit undreamed of riches into the hands of the 'lucky' each week. This is not the way of God. The true God acts strictly according to the rule of cause and effect. We reap what we sow. The idea behind the National Lottery is to generate income for a number of projects by exploiting the natural greed of men. These projects would otherwise have to be funded by government. We must have no doubts about the motivation of the participants. It is the opportunity to gain much at the cost of little that moves people to take part. In other words, it is greed or covetousness.