Figures Can Fool You

I heard in a few year China will become the economic superpower and America's reign as the #1 will be over.  That is, until you come to the per capita figure which is the total number of goods and services created divided by people and we are far greater than China.  Numbers can be confusing for a purpose.  If I go to buy a dress for my wife, I know to get a size 10 which has no real relationship to weight.  Men buy pants based upon two measures: waist and inseam.  I wonder if marketing for women's clothes came up with that idea.  I wish men's clothing stores would do the same so I might be able to buy pants with, say, a 16 verses my waist size. 

Another number which is flashed around during religious holidays is 96% of Americans believe in God. Any higher power according to AA is the first step to sobriety.  It does not have to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It could be a stone or tree or anything for that matter.  I know many who also believe in aliens and UFOs, but their belief does not mean they exist.

Existence is not measured by what someone believes about it, but upon several factors.  In Genesis, we are told God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and he lived.  We see Jesus breathe over his disciples to receive the Holy Spirit.  Scriptures are God-breathed and are living.  Breathing, or should I say the lack of it is a marker for death.  Though God is spirit, He allowed man to write his scriptures so we could understand he is a living and breating God. 

While the statistic of Americans believing in God seems high, you have to remember even the demons believe in God and they have a response to that belief-fear and trembling. Do the 96% of Americans quoted tremble at the thought of God?  Do we treat the needy as needy or a nusiance?  Do we obey his commands and refrain from evil?  Do we receive His offer of forgiveness and then offer this same forgiveness to one who has done harm to you?

I knew my parents existed.  They were there doing what they did and I obeyed them or suffered the consequence.  I must realize the statistic will persuade many that we are a good and godly nation.  We cannot rely on figures from man because they can be deceiving based on their agenda.  God has no agenda when he says there is no one righteous--not one. 

Once I was told by another minister when I went to Massachusetts to plant a church in a small town "We don't need another church in this town."  I told him with respect that until everyone in this town was in church we need another church in this town.  Church is not the answser to America's moral decay--it is our believing in a God and then disregarding that belief.  Our decline will not cease until we stop, drop, and pray and repent over this nation.