by Tom Wacaster
Most of you who receive
my weekly “Tom’s Pen” know that I send out each week’s article to all of my
subscribers using the “blind carbon copy” [bcc] rather than the “carbon copy”
[cc] feature offered with most email servers. When you send out “carbon
copy” the recipients of your email are shown ALL of the other email addresses
that have been sent the email as well. Unfortunately this provides the
email hackers and advertisement guru’s a veritable gold mine when it comes to
getting new email address for their spam. Now consider if you will
how sending your messages to a number of recipients using the carbon copy can
multiply, multiply again, and again, etc.
Suppose you send an
email to a dozen people, and you use the “carbon copy” feature in your
email. Let us suppose that six out of those twelve decide to forward your
message to a dozen of their friends. You now have the original six who
have your email, plus seventy two more who, upon receiving the forwarded email,
now have access to your email address [and many of these do not even know you
personally]. Now let us assume further that each of these 72
to whom the email was forwarded decide to forward that to twelve of their friends,
all using the “carbon copy” feature. That means 72 x 12 = 864, plus
the original 72, plus the original 12 – you now have an incredible 948 folks
who have your email. The more that article is forwarded, the more your
email address is made public, and the more spam you get. Unfortunately it
increases proportionately. And then you wonder, “Why am I getting so much
spam!” Well, now you know.
With that said, there is
a really great lesson we can learn regarding the power of sowing, reaping, and
multiplication. I know you have heard the figures. If you save one
person this year, and then each of you are instrumental in saving one person
the next year, and each one thus saved continues to multiply with each passing
year, the figures become astronomical in a short period of time. The
power of the Gospel will permeate our society till change of the face of a
society becomes inevitable.
I thoroughly believe
that the time for judgment upon the United States has arrived. But I also
believe that God will spare a city, or a nation, if there can be found a
sufficient number of “righteous” souls within that city or nation.
When Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, God agreed that if a
certain number could be found He would, indeed, have mercy upon the city.
Unfortunately there could not be found ten righteous people in that city, and
God’s judgment rained upon the ungodly cities of the plains. If for
no other reason, perhaps we should consider going about planting the seed
of God’s word in the hearts of men in hopes that enough souls will respond to
the Gospel and avert the inevitable judgment that will come upon this nation
should we fail to do so.
Surely there is at least
one person with whom you are acquainted who, if taught the truth, would
obey. It may take inviting ten, or perhaps twenty, to find that one
soul. If we are willing to “forward” emails that are worth sharing with
our friends, why not “forward” the message of the gospel that has been given to
you by some precious soul that loved you enough to share God’s
word. Think about it!
Oh, by the way, if you
are accustomed to forwarding emails to others, would you be so kind as to use
the “blind carbon copy” feature so as to protect the email address information
of all your friends who happen to be on your email list? Thanks!