The Spiritual Butterfly Effect

There is a theory in science that has not been widely published. It is called the "Butterfly Effect." The term was made popular recently in a Hollywood Movie. The theory seems farfetched at the outset, but this is how it can be explained; one explanation calls it the SENSITIVE DEPENDENCE ON INITIAL CONDITIONS. Some call it a key link to the Chaos Theory… that small initial changes, can bring about radical results.

I’ll give you an example; let’s just say that you were walking down the sidewalk, and saw a patch of beautiful purple flowers growing nearby. They were the "Purple Ponilians." You bend down to smell them, and when you do a bee flies out and stings you right on the nose. You are so angry, you go home, get a hoe, and hack up the flowers.

What you failed to realize was that these little flowers were the last of their kind. Not only that, they were the only suitable nesting ground for the yellow ring-tipped ground lizard. With the Purple Ponilians gone, the lizards are unable to lay their eggs without them.

And that’s only the beginning; the Yellow Ring-Tipped Ground Lizards, already endangered by the lack of breeding grounds, become extinct because this little patch of flowers is destroyed. It doesn’t seem that important, but this was one of the only reptiles controlling the population of black widow spiders in Jackson. Because these lizards are gone, the spiders go crazy.

With the population of Black Widow spiders out of control, a particular field, next to an abandoned Crack House was laden with the arachnids. The Mayor decides to hold a press conference from this field, to discuss the drug problem in Jackson. While he is there, he is bitten multiple times by a Black Widow Spider, and subsequently dies.

The Mayor at this time just happens to be pro-life. However, his replacement is unconditionally pro-choice. He helps pass legislation allowing for increased abortions, for more reasons. Abortions within the state of Mississippi quadruple. One of those aborted is slotted to be a great Evangelist, under who’s ministry over 1 million people should have come to Christ. Another aborted was a biophysicist who would have discovered the cure for cancer.

The results… all because a bee stings you on the nose.

That’s how the butterfly theory works. It says that a butterfly, flapping its wings in mainland China, could through chain reaction, spawn a tornado in Tyler, TX. Answer me this; is it even possible? It seems a little ridiculous; A little farfetched; But IS IT?

I can’t vouch for the Butterfly Effect in the natural realm, but I find a resounding theme in scripture. A little of something can bring about a BIG EFFECT. The Butterfly Effect can be found in the Bible. If you don’t believe it, look at these:

Doesn’t scripture tell us that a LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH the WHOLE LUMP? (1 Cor. 5:6) That’s a SMALL THING, becoming a LARGE THING. It was Paul who told Timothy… “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth…” Then he goes on to say… “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker…” (2 Timothy 2:15-17) Again, a small thing, INCREASING to MORE UNGODLINESS.

Hosea said this one; For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: (Hos. 8:7) Again… planted small… reaped big. It’s an ongoing theme of the Bible. The SPIRITUAL Butterfly Effect.

Like when Paul said, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13) The SPIRITUAL BUTTERFLY EFFECT; something SMALL affecting something very great in the Kingdom.

There is an interconnectedness to God’s creation. It’s all working in the system God has established. And it’s all connected. Some would say, “Prove that…” Cain posed the question… “Am I my brother’s keeper?” to the Almighty God. God’s response to Cain’s sin, indicated even without an answer, that YES, we are responsible.

The Watchman’s warning in Ezekiel 33, tells us that we ARE RESPONSIBLE for the condition of our brethren. Jesus made it clear that if we cause someone to stumble, that it would be better that a millstone were hung around our neck, and that we were thrown into the depths of the sea. (Mark 9:42) We are responsible for others. That’s a hard reality; a hard truth. If you go to hell, I’m partially responsible for that. But if someone around you goes to hell, YOU’RE partially responsible for it. There is a connectedness to it all.

Everything God made is utterly known to Him. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground that God doesn’t know about it. That’s connectedness. And we’re meant to be connected. We’re meant to be aware of the falling of sparrows in our lives. We ought to have a SPIRITUAL AWARENESS of the connectedness of all of it. Because of the interconnectedness of God’s Creation, the things we do have an affect on other people. That’s where the SPIRITUAL BUTTERFLY EFFECT comes into play.