Portents and Percentages

One problem with raising political questions from the pulpit is that it causes the mind to wander away from the mystery of God's saving grace and raise questions in the mind such as, "Where did he come up with that?"

Such was the case today as our preacher began to expound on Mark 13:24-37.

24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26 Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. 27Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

I know that there will always be people who try to interpret the signs in the heavens as signs of the time of the second coming, and those who are unemployed in our current economic downturn might be more inclined to look to these soothsayers and place their trust in someone other than the Almighty, but do people really have more confidence in a communist form of government than they have in our Unitrd States Congress? At least that's what we heard today in the sermon.

I guess that if people do not have faith in God's plan, then they will seek out or create false idols such as communism to solve their problems.

But communism over Congress? Really?

Distracted, I turn to Google.

I found a possible source for our preacher's statistics at the Lebanon Daily News where we read,

"You know you've fallen pretty far when the number of Americans who approve of your performance is less than the number of Americans who would like to see the country become communist.
On the floor of the Senate a few days ago, Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet revealed only 9 percent of Americans polled approved of Congress' performance; 11 percent want to see the country adopt a communist form of government.
On a chart he presented to accompany this revelation, Bennet showed how Congress' approval rating has dropped through the years. The chart looked like a rendering of a mountain precipitously flowing down into a sea."

11% of Americans want to see the country adopt a communist form of government? I don't buy it, but it might be a portent in the heavens.

With Congress' approval rating at 9%, can you trust a Congressman to present accurate numbers on such a question?

Maybe he meant 11% of his constituency.