A self-confessed atheist has become a believer after mocking God by sarcastically praying for his mother to win the lottery.
However, his joke prayer was amazingly answered as the next day his mother won $1 million on the New York Lottery Sweet Million game.
Sal Bentivegna, 28, who did not previously believe in God, had sarcastically asked his mother to "ask your God for a million dollars".
However, his mother Gloria Bentivegna, follows the Catholic faith, and staying true to her belief refused to ask God for such a thing.
Taking his joke further, Sal then prayed out aloud saying, "God, I don't know if you're real or not, but if you are there, please let my mother win a million dollars."
He added, "If Jesus wants me to believe in him, that's what he'll do".
The following day his mother bought a "Lotto Tree" of unscratched instant win tickets from her Church's charity auction. Sal was then left absolutely stunned when he found out his mother had won a million.
Realizing that the odds of his mother winning were so farfetched, Sal has now become a firm believer.
He testified, "I can't shrug off that Jesus had a hand in it."
"No pun intended, but it was a Godsend," he said.
Gloria Bentivegna, reflecting on what had happened, is thankful to God for her winnings, but even more thankful for her son's conversion. She said: "'God performed two miracles, a true miracle."
By winning New York's Sweet Million game, Gloria Bentivegna will now receive $50,000 every year for the next 20 years.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Now thats wassup!
But something tells me that not everybody who challenges God like that can be a millionare. If it was possible I would say that prayer every 6 months lol
Great story, God bless her.
Congrats to the Bentivegna family! Mother and son are both winners!
Oh I love this story!! It's called putting a fleece before the Lord!!
Hmm... Well I thought the bible contained numerous verses that pertained to testing God, and that it pissed Him off... Hopefully this reborn christian will beg for forgiveness once he learns.
Or perhaps ever since this world has gone to crap, God decided that He needs to let His presence be known so this plane of debauchery that we call earth can finally adopt some sanity... it is getting awfully close to that 2012 phenomenon...
And I don't mean to force any religious views or beliefs onto any of y'all, for I am a self-proclaimed agnostic, or as my father would say: "half-assed christian." In a "glass is half empty" sort of way...
ok ill give this a go :P
If she'd won without buying tickets, then it'd be impressive.
Ask and it shall be answered...... sometimes yes and sometimes no !
Congrats, let's keep on asking >>>>>
EddessaKnight
My kind of story....love it...They both got blessed!!!!
"Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, ‘Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.’"
RL
Its hard to say anything good about this story. I don't like when atheist temp God to bend to
their will by preforming stupid little parlor tricks. just to prove his existence. "if there is a God he'll knock
this glass of water right off the table" or the college professor who claimed that there was no God
and that if there was; he would come knock him off his podium. how much more arrogant can the human race become? He is the Supreme Being and has nothing to prove to you or me. now I can't answer why
this woman won the lottery; but I can say that a million bucks is nothing compared to spending eternity
knowing that your son is in eternal <snip>ation. maybe, he has become a believer I hope so. but he
better quit throwing his little temper tantrums like a 5 year old and start taking our heavenly Father
serious and start showing him a little respect!
I love stories like this........
Isaiah 61:7 "Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs." The mother got 2 blessings her son becoming a believer and $1 million dollars.........
Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!
Yeah I waited for like an hour for this story to be told on TV (that is why I dislike watching news on TV...they give it to you as it suits them and not you). I was thinking it was an online game jackpot win. Yes, $50K per year for the next 20 years is nice dough (of course, after taxes she is not a millionaire), but this would have been more impressive had it actually been an online game in which she had picked numbers like 1, 2, 3, 54, 55, and 1 for MB/PB...a highly unlikely combination to win and she won it. Now of course, the numbers I choose are hypothetical, but if anyone wants to play them, go ahead as I don't have a patent on that combination (just joking!!!).
Nice story but I think in the end, the fact his mom won still hasn't made him a "hallelujah, jumpin' for Jesus, praise you Jesus" kind of guy. I mean, if God were to bless me to win either Mega Millions or Powerball, I would make it a point to step into a church every Sunday (or a given day of the week if I couldn't do so on a Sunday) just to worship HIM and give thanks. Until then, I will remain critical of how many pastors present the Bible seemingly for their own gain at the expense of the followers.
You shouldn't "Mock" GOD. Maybe the lord is trying to tell this guy something? Prayer is a powerfull thing.....maybe the lord did let him win to give him a message...... Interesting Story!
100% coincidence.....PERIOD!
Silly story.
If one prays to win a jackpot and it does not come true, that does not prove god does not exist.
But if it does come true, then god does exist?
Flawed logic!
So God only answers mock prayers?
The moral of this story is don't mock God as he is very powerful and will surely answer whatever you are mocking for.
Congrats to his mother
maybe
maybe not
i happen to believe it's 100% congruent with Gods nature that he could have accomplished this within that man's life in order to get his attention. i have personally been a witness to these scenario's many times in my lifetime, so i know He does.
i also see the value when He doesn't
but......the difference in a man's heart determines what God does at times, and because God knows the heart of each man, He knew that sal bentivegna would make good on his end of the challenge, so God chose to do it.
the key to this isn't a $1,000,000
the key is that sal bentivegna made good on what sal's heart was saying all along. long before sal spoke those words
that he WANTED to know God. not that he wanted to excuse him away.
if the real condition of sal's heart was only to consistently excuse him away, sal would have mirrored your response.
sal just made a new discovery. i won't take long for sal to realize a million dollars is inconsequential in comparison to the treasure he now has
Presumably whatever he has said these past few years; that have felt as a 'thorn in his mother's side' each time. Perhaps he's a very verbal sort of fella, very common. The same thoughts.
I bet there is an increase today in the number of mothers receiving phone calls from their sons asking if they won the lottery. I wonder how many will get the response they want to hear?
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-friends-weekend/index.html#/v/965576000001/lottery-prayer-is-answered/?playlist_id=163197?test=faces
Wow, this guy is VERY arrogant to think "God" answered his mock lottery prayer for a million dollars while a child dies every few seconds from starvation and disease. On a side note I wonder which religion he converted to? He has thousands to choose from:) Whos knows which one is correct. If he happened to choose Christianity I wonder which of the 38,000 denominations he chose LOL.
This entire thing is completley ridiculous and anyone who believes "God" answered his lottery prayer and gave his mother 1 million dollars to "get his attention" while so much suffering is happening to innocent children is in serious need of mental evaluation.
"The moral of this story is don't mock God as he is very powerful and will surely answer whatever you are mocking for." I almost spit my drink up at this comment. So, if I mock "God" my Mom gets a cool million? Why wouldn't you mock "God"?
That is all.
TruthSerum, you say there are 38,000 Christian denominations. Add to that the thousands of other religions and picking the correct one is like a Pick 4 game.
The last time I compared religion to a lottery, my post was deleted. I think it was god's will.
I've never seen more hate than the hate non-believers have for Christians.
Funny thing is, they're always gutless cowards.
Every last one of em.
I love how you know what God is thinking and why he does things.....and that's IF God even exists. You religious folks are too much.