Proverbs 10:19, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” James 3:5-10, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”
The Bible teaches that every form of wild beast has been tamed by mankind, but the human tongue CANNOT be tamed. We find the reason why from reading the following passages of Scripture. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Matthew 12:34, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future! Amen! The Bible says in the multiple of words (i.e., much speaking) there wanteth not sin.
Due to the sinful nature of our heart as humans, the more we talk there is an increased likelihood that we will say something we ought not say. God knows that I am as guilty as anyone. That is why I don't talk much in a group. And when I do talk I am careful to avoid talking about people. Pastor Jack Hyles taught me the following:
Great minds talk about ideas.
Good minds talk about things.
Weak minds talk about people.
We feel better badmouthing people who have hurt us. It is in our nature to be vindictive, even if only verbally. But our words can be just as deadly as murdering someone with a hatchet. In Revelation 12:10b Satan is called “the accuser of the brethren.” The Devil doesn't accuse the world, he accuses the saints. When you are a Christian, the whole world is waiting for you to fall. A wicked man can tell a dirty joke in the workplace, and other wicked men will laugh and think nothing of it. But if a Christian man tells a dirty joke in a moment of weakness, his ungodly co-workers will make sure to let everyone in the workplace know what awful thing he said, to tarnish his Christian testimony and bring reproach upon his name. What saith the Scripture? ...
John 15:17-19 “These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
You don't have to be worldly as a Christian to be hated by the world, you just have to be a Christian. Telling the lost world that you are a Christian immediately gets their attention. Romans 1:18-19, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” Even the vilest of sinners know what a true Christian is supposed to live like. Unsaved people can spot a phony Christian a mile away!
So if you tell anyone that you are a Christian, they will hold you to a higher standard than by which they shamefully live. You may join them at the strip club and live a sinful life in their sight, but they will not respect you. In fact, at some point you will learn that they felt contempt for you for your hypocrisy. They know what they are, being heathens. But they also know what you should be as a Christian. As the Bible says, they hold the truth in unrighteousness. You cannot fool God or man dear friend. If you are a phony as a Christian, the world will see right through you.
That is why Lot's son-in-laws laughed at him, as one who mocked, when he tried to speak to them concerning spiritual things. Lot was an unfaithful man, and the Bible says in Proverbs 25:19, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.” A broken tooth is very painful. A foot out of joint is very painful. Lot's confidence in a time of trouble was a painful experience for the family, because they didn't take him seriously. Our testimony precedes our words.
We Don't Need To Know Everything People Say About Us
King Solomon teaches an important principle about gossip. Solomon said that we ought not try to know all the scuttlebutt about everyone. Solomon in his wisdom gave people room to criticize him, knowing that they were mere humans. Solomon admits in the following Scripture passage that he too has said bad things about people, which he shouldn't have said, and later regretted. So being an honest man, the king understood that his servants weren't any different than him. We are all human, and we all say things we ought not say sometimes. So we should love each other and not seek to micro-analyze everything around us. In other words, we ought to learn to let people be people, and love them unconditionally. ...
Ecclesiastes 7:17-22, “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.”
Solomon says that there is not a just man. We are all sinners! The Bible says every beast of the field has been tamed, but the human tongue cannot be tamed. It is poison. The human tongue is subtle, like a deadly snake. The art of gossip is inherited at birth. Solomon realized that he would be a nervous wreck, and die prematurely from stress, if he micromanaged his kingdom and made a big deal out of every little criticism found among his servants. Solomon literally didn't want to hear it! And that is a Biblical truth. If someone slanders me on the internet, please don't tell me. I love everyone, even the people who criticize me. If I can make something on my ministry websites better, then I'd like to know. I don't like, care nor want to hear about the horrible things people say about me.
Mark Twain was right: “It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.” Now you better understand the meaning of “faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6a). Philippians 4:8 commands us as believers to think on things that are honest, lovely, of good report, true and edifying.
The Devil Is An Accuser And A Liar
That is why I don't watch the daily news daily. It is a bunch of cleverly fabricated propaganda, disinformation and utter lies. Remember, the Devil's most notable characteristic is that of being A LIAR (John 8:44; Revelation 12:9). Jesus warned that the Devil is a thief, who comes only to kill, steal and destroy. Thankfully, Jesus came to give us eternal life (John 10:9-10). If you are saved, you already possess eternal life. The Bible exhorts us to LAY HOLD on it, and make the best of our short time upon the earth, living for Christ (1st Timothy 6:12).
I read a Twitter post by Pastor Joel C. Fugate which is 100% true: “Don't forget that the whole point of the 'main stream media' is to make enough noise that you don't know the truth!” God only knows how many billions of hours, accumulatively, that Americans have foolishly spent thinking and talking about Hillary Clinton's emails. I didn't listen to any of it. The mainstream newsmedia is controlled by Luciferian elite criminals, who know that most people are extremely shallow, and simple minds are easily deceived. Proverbs 14:15, “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”
The only thing you can believe from the newsmedia is the date. Jesus said that the children of darkness are sometimes wiser than the children of light (Luke 16:8). I marvel at the woeful ignorance of millions of saints today concerning the Devil's fake Bible versions, the dangers of the heresy of Lordship Salvation, the sinful denial that we have an infallible King James Bible today, the hoax of manmade Zionism, the blatant criminal fraud of the central banking system, and the naivety of the saints concerning just about everything going on in the world today.
Be Very Careful What You Say Publicly About Others
The most destructive accusations are true ones! Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” Humans can be so cruel. All over the internet there is accusations, slander and scuttlebutt about Christians, uploaded by hateful trolls. There is no pardon nor forgiveness in the eyes of a critic. Once a Christian's sins (or anyone's for that matter) is uploaded to the internet, or even false accusations against someone, it becomes a permanent record against their name. Literally, anybody can say anything about anybody nowadays, and it is assumed to be the truth, and is used against them for the rest of their life.
What saith the Scripture? 1st Timothy 5:24, “Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” The only difference between a Christian who is smeared all over the internet, and the ungodly person(s) smearing their name, is that we won't find out about the other person's sins until a later time. The Bible says all men are woeful guilty sinners! The harder you bash people who have sinned, the harsher will be your judgment when you stand before God. Matthew 7:1-3, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” I dare not condemn any sinner, for I feel like I am the biggest sinner I know.
I am not talking about looking the other way to protect criminals, God forbid. I am not saying that we shouldn't speak up about ongoing sin. That is not what the Bible is teaching. 1st Timothy 5:20, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” Nor does it mean that you must trust someone who has forfeited that right. It simply means that everyone deserves a second chance. What is in the past is in the past. If someone has messed up, they should be given a chance to exist without constantly having dirt thrown in their face. You've got bitter hateful critics on the internet slinging mud from thirty years ago about people. That is a horrible sin.
If We Judge Ourselves, We Shall Not Be Judged
Preaching against present-day open sin in society is a pastor's duty! Albeit, no one has a right to condemn or harass someone for their past sins, failures and mistakes, if they have been held accountable for them. If someone has done evil, but never made things right with their victims, then that is another story. No one has a right to expect pardon or forgiveness from people they've never tried to make reconciliation with. You can rest assure that God will address the matter. 1st Thessalonians 4:6, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”
Yet we are promised by God in 1st Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Speaking to the saints, if we take care of a difficult matter here on earth, then God won't have to at The Judgment Seat Of Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11; Psalms 6:1). Many believers are in big trouble with the Lord, because in their pride they sinfully refuse to go make things right with their brother or sister in the Lord whom they've defrauded. We should just go ahead and forgive that person, and commit the handling of the matter into God's hands for judgment (Romans 12:19-21). No one ever gets away with anything wrong (Hebrews 4:13; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Proverbs 15:3; 24:12).
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