One Percent Can Be A Big Deal

 

One percent doesn’t sound like much, but it really depends on the number that the one percent comes from. For example, what is one percent of one dollar? The answer is one little ole’ red penny. Now, that doesn’t sound too big does it, but how about one percent of ten thousand dollars? Well, that would be one hundred dollars and to me that number is growing substantially at only one percent. Every time you add a zero to the number being divided, the little one percent also gets a zero and after a while it’s not so little anymore. One percent can be a big deal. According to a comprehensive study released in 2006, for the first time ever in our nation’s history one out of every one hundred adults in America was sitting in prison. That’s one percent of our adult population. That one percent costs an estimated $49,000,000,000.00 to house, feed, guard, etc. according to the study. That doesn’t include the damages done to victims and their families and property. To beat it all, the crime rates are still rising. According to Wikipedia, at the end of 2016 one in thirty-eight American adults were under some sort of correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison). In 2018 it was estimated that there were 698 people incarcerated per 100,000 population. Prison, parole, and probation operations generated an $81 billion annual cost to American taxpayers, while police and court costs, bail bond fees, and prison phone fees generated another $100 billion in costs paid by individuals.

Some in our society, and throughout the world, call the Bible an outdated book. According to them mankind has become too sophisticated to believe in God. This is the same society that has over 5% of its adult population in prison! A society cannot get sophisticated enough to outgrow the works of the flesh that has plagued humanity here on Earth. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is…” (Ephesians 5:15-21). Our “sophisticated” society could use a huge dose of that so-called “outdated” book. No politician, no social program, no amount of money, no man-made laws and no form of government can fix a nation with no God.

[Galatians 6:7] Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. John Lennon said, “Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was okay, but his subjects were too simple. Today we (The Beatles - 1966) are more famous than Him.” Lennon was shot to death for unknown reasons. Tancredo Veves (President of Brazil) during his presidential campaign, said if he got 500 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from the Presidency. He got the votes, but he became ill one day before taking office as President and died. Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer, and poet) during a show, while smoking a cigarette, blew some smoke into the air and said, “God, that’s for you.” He died of AIDS in a horrible manner at the age of 32. The man who built the Titanic, Thomas Andrews, was asked, “How safe is the Titanic?” With an ironic tone Andrew’s answered, “Not even God can sink it!” I guess we all know how her maiden voyage concluded.

The absence of a three or four dollar copy of God’s Word (yes, one can actually find a Bible that cheap here in America) in our homes and hearts sure is costing folks a lot more than they ever expected to have to pay. The over one percent of our national debt is absolutely nothing compared to the debt our society, and the world, owes God for what He has given us (U.S.) through the generations. There are not enough zeros in math to express just one percent of that debt. Is one percent a big deal? The numbers don’t lie.