The Domino Effect
December 17, 2000
Dear Friends:
Back in the 60′s there was a lot of talk about a concept called the Domino Effect. This theory was one justification for US involvement in Vietnam. The theory said that if you let one of these Southeast Asian countries fall to communism, the rest would follow like a line of dominos.
Network marketing companies like Amway are built upon a similar principle. If you get eight of your friends to join the business and they in turn get eight of their friends and so on, pretty soon everyone is rich and never has to work another day in their lives.
The problem with the Domino Theory and with network marketing companies is that you must have an equally enthusiastic audience as you are in order for it to work. Your eight friends must get their eight friends for it to work.
You may remember the story of the Chinese man who was due a handsome reward by the Emperor. Rather than ask for a large sum of money or a beautiful home, the man asked the Emperor for only one grain of rice the first day. He asked that each day it double for one month so that he would receive two on the second day and four on the third day, etc.. By the end of the month, the man was the new emperor as he had bankrupted the palace in rice payments.
The spread of the Gospel is built on a similar concept. Paul tells Timothy “the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” In other words, Paul taught the Gospel to Timothy who was to teach it to others who were capable of teaching it to still more people.
If we all followed the encouraging words of Paul to Timothy to preach the Gospel, how long would it take for the world to be filled with believers?
The beauty of this system is that we have nothing to sell or gain from sharing this message of hope. There is no brownie point system where we move up in the standings if we get more converts. We have nothing to gain but the comfort of another brother or sister in Christ. The ultimate benefit goes to the hearer. By sharing the message of the Gospel, we can save a life.
The key, it seems, to this working is everyone feeling that it is there personal responsibility to preach. Preaching does not have to be standing up in front of crowds of people. It can be sharing one on one. It does not have to be in exotic, far away lands. It can be in the neighborhood, at work or at school. It does not require advance degrees or specialized skill, it simple requires the ability to articulate why and what you believe.
Think about this. If each believer in the world today just taught one person about the saving name of Jesus Christ in the next year, the ecclesia by the end of 2001 would double in size. Your don’t need a calculator to do the math. It also does not seem like an impossibility for a believer to teach just one person the hope of the Gospel in the course of a year.
The question is: are you doing your part?
Have a great week!
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