Danger of Gossip

Beautiful bouquet of flowers up here. It would be great if we could have such a large bouquet like that every Sabbath, but certainly appreciate the flowers, whoever took care of those. I'd like to start the sermon today with a little anecdote to introduce the subject. There were four preachers who met for a friendly gathering, and during the conversation, one of the preachers said, you know, our people come to us all the time, and they pour out their hearts, and they confess their faults to us. Let's do the same, because, you know, confession is good for the soul. And all of them agreed it would be good things just to get things off their chest that had sort of built up, you know, during the week. One of the preachers confessed he liked to go to movies, and he would sneak off when he could to get away from the church. The second preacher revealed that he really liked to go to the racetrack and put his money down and see if he could win something. And the third one confessed he liked playing poker. He enjoyed playing poker. And when it came to the fourth one, he chickened out. He chickened out. And he wouldn't confess. And the other three just pressed on him and pressed on him, saying, come on, you know, we've confessed ours. What's your secret? And finally, the fourth one acquiesced and answered, it is gossiping. And I can't wait to get out of here to tell everything I know. Gotta be careful who you tell things to. Well, brethren, gossip is not one of those things we normally are humored by, especially if it's certainly of serious concern to us if it concerns us. I don't know how many of you have ever been the brunt of gossip in your life, and I won't ask you to show your hands. My wife told me to say that, by the way. I said, why not? Why should you be ashamed of being the brunt of gossip? I'll raise my hand. I have been the brunt of gossip. Gossip is defined as a casual conversation or unsubstantiated reports about other people. And it goes on in the definition, chiefly derogatory talk about other people's private lives. We look in the world, of course, and some people actually, they deal in this kind of thing. You know, I can't remember the names of the programs that are on television that deal about the private lives of all the movie stars. And anybody that is someone, I guess, usually they try to nail in some way in these gossip television programs. And most gossip, I would say, usually is harmless banter. You know, sometimes we hear good news about someone else, and that maybe somebody has said about someone else, and hearing good news about the church, hearing good news about the work of God is often something that circulates in advance of actual official reports from the home office. And of course, that's not something meant to be harmful, and yet it goes on. I will say this, however, that sometimes when people say good things about people's lives, they actually get upset because they would like to be the ones to tell other people the good news that has happened in their lives. But you know, some people have this deep desire, I think it is maybe a vanity thing, to be recognized as being in the know about something, so that they actually try to seek getting the latest scoop about something before everybody else, and so that they can begin to share it with other people. Again, I don't think people mean that to be harmful. However, not all communication about someone or something is completely innocent, and I think we all know that. Some of it can be very dangerous, and some of it can be very damaging. I want to ask you a question. Should Christians engage in gossip? Should Christians engage in gossip?

I know that sounds like a rhetorical question that doesn't need or even deserve an answer to it, and we know that there's a command that tells us not to bear false witness, a commandment against lying, that we should certainly practice. But if I were to ask someone, should Christians engage in gossip, people would again say, well, that doesn't even deserve an answer, because certainly the Bible condemns that. And everybody knows the answer to that, somebody would say. Well, brethren, if that is the case, why do so many Christians engage in gossip? Why do they themselves engage in something that is condemned in the Bible?

Well, brethren, I think it's because people don't know the dangers of gossip, some gossip that take place within the church. I will tell you this, since I've been in the church in over 40 years, my wife's been in much longer than I, and some of you that are here sitting in this audience have been in a long time within the church as well. We've had a number of periods of time where gossip flew about the church like wildfire. You know, I could go back and I can name you the years when these things happened. You know, going back to 1974, of course, 1972 was one of those years as well, 1978. Now, if you're an old-timer, you will be able to attach what happened in those years. And of course, certainly 1995. You know, how could any of us forget what happened in 1995 and in 1998 as well? And so, we can go back through all of these years where, again, rumors flew around the church like wildfire and people were gossiping one to another. And you know, by experience, I have found usually when conflict occurs, there is a fallout of some kind when it occurs.

The unity of the church is stressed when it occurs, and even some people of high reputation, rather than, end up leaving the church. I was talking to Mr. Spears, you know, in the kitchen before coming out here and talking about people through the years. And you know, he threw out one name, I threw out another name, and it adds up.

But, you know, and of course, the one that I think we remember the most is where Mr. Armstrong himself dealt with it, and this was in 1978, in that period of time, that it happened with his own son. Now, I don't know how clearly many of you remember that, that occurred, but Mr. Armstrong, you know, had to, at that time, put his own son out of the church. And of course, that was a time of a lot of gossip and so forth that occurred within the church. And all of you remember what happened then, in 1978, Mr. Armstrong, remember, had his heart problem and was almost fatal. And some say he actually died of a heart attack, but he came back.

And from 1978 to the time he died, in 1986, the church grew and grew and grew. In other words, life went on, and the work of the church was done. You know, we of course experienced this rather than in our time, but it happened in the early church too. And we have to be aware of the fact that it happened and occurred in the early church as well, where some men of reputation, you know, for some reason, ended up not being a part of the church.

John, in fact, the last surviving apostle, sent his representatives to speak to a particular group that the Bible talks about. Let's go over to 3 John chapter 1. It has only one chapter there, but in 3 John chapter 1 and verse 8, it says, We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. And so here John had sent some representatives of his to take care of some matters, and it says, I wrote to the church.

So John wrote to the church. It doesn't, of course, tell us here where that church was specifically. But he says, I wrote to the church, but diocrophies who loves to have the preeminence among them does not receive us. And so here was a case where Paul or John tried to send representatives and they did not receive, you know, the representatives that he sent. In verse 10 it says, Therefore if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, preying against us with malicious words, and not content with that he himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

And so this was done, brethren, in John's time, the last surviving apostle. And John says that malicious words were spoken. And the word malicious means characterized by malice. In other words, intending or intended to do harm. And in this case, of course, discredit the apostle John. The question is, what malicious words did diocrophies use? And also, who repeated this to other people so that it became an issue within the church that John felt he had to make public in this way and in this manner?

Well, you know, it had to be from the members of the church that were there and passed it around. And again, it became a big issue and here we're reading it in 2010. You know, something almost 2000 years ago that occurred. You know, in case somehow we think, brethren, that I'm accusing someone, I want you to know that I am not accusing anyone in the church today. If you're allowing your mind to go that way, please don't think in those terms. My point here, brethren, is not that we focus on personalities, but the problem of gossip. The problem of gossip. When gossip gets started, it tends to have a mind of its own.

I don't know if you've ever done the little game where people pass on, you know, one thing. By the time you get to the end of the line, what was said at the beginning, you couldn't even recognize it by what was said at the last. Now, if we started here on this side with Mr. Waters and went back there to Mr. Willis, we'd have two different things that were being said. So, you know, gossip has a mind of its own, and it can really get out of hand and be a serious problem if we're not careful.

And I say it has a mind of its own. Unfortunately, it isn't God's mind. It is the devil's mind that happens and results because of it. Remember, Satan is called the accuser of our brethren, and he does so before God's throne, the Bible says in Revelation, day and night. And Satan maliciously whispered to remember in Eve's ears in Genesis chapter 3, nearly 6,000 years ago, and his purpose was to cause them to disbelieve God. And what happened is Eve whispered into the ear of Adam, and Adam disbelieved God.

And as a result of that, the whole world today disbelieves God. Or what's happened again 6,000 years ago. And so Satan accomplished his mission, and everybody in the world has helped him to do that. Has helped him to accomplish what he wanted to do. Well, brethren, in God's church as Christians, we should dedicate ourselves to live by the scriptures in our conduct and in our fellowship.

And I've tried to talk about this topic a lot with you this year, the subject of love. And I think that, brethren, that we need to remember that word, love. L-O-V-E. That is the most important thing, brethren, that we can learn. And unfortunately, sometimes we have not learned this new way of life that God is giving to us by calling us to be Christians in this day and time. Oh, we know the word love, but do we know how to practice love? You know, I think it's so important for us to really understand and graph that. I talked about last week of how the Spirit of God flows out of us, brethren, in the form of good works. And within those good works, brethren, it is the Spirit of God.

It's like, as it were, if you squeeze out of those works, there is the living water of God that can water other people and that can help other people. But it has to be practiced in a Christian way. It has to be done in a Christian way. It's not good enough to just say, I love somebody.

We have to practice love in our lives. And like I said, as Christians, we should be living our lives by the Scriptures. One thing I think we need to understand, brethren, in the current situation that we have within the church, or any future situation that we may have for that matter, is all of us, brethren, must endeavor to preserve unity. It's like Mr. Aquilinius was talking about the loyalty that we should have toward God and the fact that God has loyalty to us. Jesus Christ is loyal to us and we need to be loyal to Him. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, what I'm saying to you, of course, shouldn't be new in any way, shape, or form in talking about how we all must be endeavoring to preserve unity.

But let's notice over here in Ephesians 4 and just the first three verses here, it says, "'I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.'" Paul says, "'Beseeth you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.'" And so we ought to walk worthy of that calling. Well, what is our calling? It says, "'With all loneliness,'" humility, in other words. "'Gentleness,'" trying to be kind and gentle with people. "'With long suffering,'" patience, in other words. "'Bearing with one another in love.'" I don't know if you've ever had anybody tell you, "'I can barely bear you.'" You know, sometimes a mother would say, "'I don't know if I can bear this child,'" you know, because of how they would be. That's what we're talking about. Bearing people. Being able to put up with some kinds of the shenanigans that people do in their lives. But notice in verse 3, "'Endeavoring.'" To really work at, that's what that word, "'Endeavoring' means to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." To keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So all of us, brethren, have to be working at, endeavoring to keep the church in unity, and that our calling demands that of us. You know, if we really believe, again, that this is God's church, if we really believe that we are God's people, and, you know, we're not around and haven't stayed around for all these decades, if we don't believe that, I certainly know that all of us have not come this far to start acting non-Christian, but to be Christians. Well, we have a job to keep the church in unity, and this means that we have to be patient. We don't always get all the facts right away, so we have to be patient until we get all the facts. We need to be humble. In other words, not get up on the high horse and start judging other people, and we need to be willing to bear one another. You know, when others may lose their heads, we cannot lose our heads. We have to keep control and conduct ourselves, again, as Christians in everything that we do. You know, Jesus Christ made this statement, and during the time of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln used it, and he talked about the house divided when the United States was on the verge of falling apart. But Jesus said, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. In other words, brethren, if we don't work together, if we don't work together, if we bite at one another, we, as a church of God, will not survive. That's just a fact. So we need to keep aware of that.

But, you know, sometimes we find people, again, who are releasing, as were rumors, and sometimes they drift here and there in the church, and sometimes they are not aware of what damage that it does to the church. First of all, it takes away our focus, doesn't it? Because people start thinking about that, and they don't think about our real calling and what we're supposed to be doing. It's God's people. You know, in World War I, during the 1900s, 1915, the first use of chlorine gas occurred, and it was tested back in those times. But during the war, you know, chlorine gas was used on enemy forces, and it was a lethal gas which killed men slowly and agonizingly as their lungs were scarred, and what essentially happened is they choked to death. And so that's what the chlorine gas did. In other words, chlorine gas killed after it induced panic in the person and after a terrible suffering that took place in those people that experienced that, you know, back in World War I. And there was always one huge problem when it was deployed in the time of war. If there was a quick change in the wind direction, a change in wind direction brought the gas right back on those who released it. And when that happened, it not only killed the enemy, but it also took out everyone else, even those who had launched the chlorine gas.

Brethren, gossip is just like that. It can take us all down. It can take all of us down, and Jesus Christ warned us a house divided against itself cannot stand. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5.

And believe me, brethren, if Satan brings down this house, don't think that your life is going to be a piece of cake after that occurs, because Satan is relentless, and he will not give up on us in trying to destroy us. Because once we're down, then Satan will begin to try to blot it out entirely so that it does not rise again. Let's go to Galatians 5 and verse 14. Galatians 5 and verse 14. Here, notice in verse 14, it says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so we're told to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But notice in verse 15 what Paul warned, he was warning the Galatians about this, but if you bite and devour one another, beware, lest you be consumed by one another. Just what I was talking about about that chlorine gas, brethren, we can all be consumed, and we can all go down as a result of people biting and devouring one another. What we need to be, brethren, is people who are building up the church of God, and people who are helping one another. And when there are differences in the church, brethren, it might be that one faction is wrong and the other is right. What do you do, brethren, when that is the case? What if you determine one side is right and the other side is wrong?

I would disagree with you because, you know, when you have two sides, then you have a third or a fourth side, you know, and then there's always God's side that people often don't consider.

But what do you do, brethren? Well, again, we just read it in Ephesians 4. We exercise patience, long suffering, and bearing with our brother, and we pray for unity. We pray for unity.

You know, if you think one way is right and you are wrong, think about this, brethren. You know, if you think one way is right and you are wrong, what could happen is you could end up destroying someone's faith by gossip. And one thing would be very sure, brethren, you know, you would be definitely guilty before God if you destroyed somebody's faith. They fell away from God's church. You know, think about what Jesus Christ talked about. He talked about a millstone being put around somebody's neck and they're being drowned in the depths of the sea. You know, so sometimes people in an effort to spread something because they think it's right, sometimes they can end up destroying the faith of someone where they are definitely guilty before God when that kind of thing is done. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And down in verse 17, notice this, brethren, it says, if anyone defiles the temple of God, you know, if you look in the King James, I believe it says destroys the temple of God. Of course, this is the church. God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy which temple you are.

And so, brethren, if we're guilty of destroying the church, God will destroy us.

Christ will destroy us at his second coming. You know, our job, brethren, is to keep unified.

That's what our job is. Our job is not to correct the problems that come along.

You know, Jesus Christ, brethren, is the head of the church. It is Jesus Christ's job to correct the problems that happen and occur to the church.

You know, Mr. Herbert Armstrong said this many times, either we hang together or we will be hanged separately. How many of you remember him saying that? Am I the only one that remembers that? I remember that and have spoke about it many, many times over the years.

So, brethren, we have a job of preserving the unity of the church. That's our job. That's a part of what we should do as Christians, as God's people. Another thing, brethren, and again, I'm going along the lines of the theme here of these things of love. We must be determined to love our brethren and do no harm. We must be determined, brethren, to love our brethren and do no harm to our brethren. You know, this is our duty, brethren, to our neighbor. This is our duty to our fellow brethren within the church, to not be harmful to anybody within the church. Let's go to Romans 13. Romans 13. You know, sometimes when we use the New King James version, it uses a little different wording here. It talks about in the King James in this particular verse that love does no ill toward his brother. But here in the New King James, in Romans 13 and verse 10, it says, love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

And so our job, again, is to do no harm as Christians, one to another. The problem of rumoring, brethren, is that it does just that. It does harm to people. It hurts people. And when we tend to say things which are not true, and that happens quite a lot, because we don't tend to have the whole story. Now, I have to admit with regard to things that have happened, you know, in South America and in the home office, I don't have the whole story. I'm not privy to it. In fact, some of the things that I'm not privy to were held in confidence within the council itself.

And I could not know. The only thing I know is what I have read from the council, who do represent, again, the authority of the church today. And so, you know, when we often hear things, and of course if it's outside of official channels, you know, we don't hear the whole story.

We hear part of the story. And, you know, brethren, if someone doesn't have the whole story, and they're spreading rumors about it anyway, then they are operating out of malice.

Now, think about that, brethren. If you don't have the whole story, and you're saying something that could be condemning or hurtful or harmful to somebody else, it is done out of malice.

Why would somebody else otherwise use it? Why would they do it? You know, I guess it's possible that someone just has an itch, you know, they tell everything, but they don't have everything, so they just throw you what they got. Brethren, if we don't have the whole story, and we start, again, spreading rumors, we could be guilty of doing things malicious.

You know, we can tend to join up on one side or another of an issue. And when we do that, what we do, when we join up on one side, what happens? We condemn the other side.

And, of course, that is not God's way either. You know, so we condemn the other side, and we uphold the one side that we have. And, you know, the wise thing to do, brethren, be on God's side.

Obey what God tells us to do within His Word. And the wise thing to do, brethren, is to withhold judgment until you do get the whole story. Withhold judgment as well, brethren, let God work it out. Let God work it out. Do you think God can't work it out?

You know, it's amazing to me. We look at how intricate human beings are designed with every kind of system to help us survive. You know, and somehow we think God can't run His church.

That's amazing to me to think about. But I remember when Mr. Waterhouse was alive, he would, you know, go around from church to church, and he would tell people, he would say, do you think God knows what's going on in the church? This is when we had, you know, different problems and so forth. He said, well, God's sitting up there. He usually put his arm like this, you know. God's sitting up there, and we better tell him because he doesn't know what's going on in the church. And, you know, usually he would elicit smiles and so forth, because it sounds sort of ridiculous, doesn't it? To have to tell God what's going on in the church.

You know, we're like little snot-nosed kids down here that, you know, God's got a wipe of our noses, and we're going to tell him something. You know, of course, parents shouldn't be surprised by that, because we hear that from sometimes when kids get to be teenagers, but not these teenagers here, not that way. But let God resolve things, brethren. You know, the reason why it's good to let God resolve things is because if we begin to shoot our mouths off, and we begin to line up behind this person and ostracizing this person, then if we trust God's judgment, then we don't have to go and apologize to people afterwards that we offended. Maybe because we said things that we shouldn't say, maybe because we hurt them in some way or fashion. Maybe they felt like they were ostracized because of which side they chose. But like I said, I think it's better, brethren, to choose God's side. Let's go to Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. There's so many verses on this in the Bible. Once you go through it, I was looking at all the verses, and I said, well, I can't use all those verses in a sermon. The brethren will throw me out if I do that. And I chose some of them. But there's a preponderance of the evidence. Like a lawyer tried to prove a case, what a Christian shouldn't do. Rumoring is just one of them we shouldn't do. Proverbs 16 in verse 28. Let's note this on down here. In verse 28, it says, A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends. You know, as a result of, in other words, of somebody whispering into somebody's ear, it can separate friends. You know, it's been said that people will believe almost anything if it is whispered into their ear. Let me tell you the story about this. You got me. You know, somebody will want to hear that always, it seems, if it's whispered. Chapter 18, Chapter 18, over here in verse 8, Chapter 18, the words of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body. It's like somebody whispers in your ears, like giving you a chocolate, you know. Here, take this, put that in the mouth, goes down, that, oh boy, that really tastes good. You know, should we be that way, brethren, as God's people?

You know, should we delight in every morsel of rumor that we hear about something or someone? The word trifles, if you look in the, if you have a King James version, it uses the word wounds. Wounds. Gossip is like, you know, a delicious treat to someone who delights in it, but it can be a wound to someone who is injured or harmed by it. And so we need to be very careful, you know. You ever been, had a paper cut?

All those have, haven't we? What do you do? Oh, but that hurt, that little bitty paper cut. Someone made a cut in you that affects us, and when they cut us, and it's interesting in, you know, language, sometimes some of the things that are in the Bible come out of the Bible in people's language. Well, he cut me, or he dissed me, as some people say today. He disrespected me.

But it is like a wound. I'm not going to go to these verses, but Proverbs 11 and verse 13 says, a tail-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

So, you know, God's people, brethren, ought not be people that are trying to reveal, you know, what maybe should be secret. You know, if something happened within the council, and it was intended to be secret, why do I need to know it? Why do I need to know it? You know, some people don't like the fact that the council goes into executive session. This is where they can be secret with one another. You know why they have to go into executive session like that? Well, they have to talk about sensitive issues. Should this man be reinstated into the ministry?

Should this member be allowed to return to the church? And if so, why? Or if not, why not?

You know, in other words, these are secret things. Now, I don't think you would like it if, you know, whenever a decision was made in your life that I, you know, we call all the elders up here, all the members are out here, and we sit and we start talking about you.

None of us are like that, would we? We don't want that. And that's why they're called executive sessions, and they should remain that way. But a tale-bearer reveals secrets. Psalm 52 and verse 2, I won't turn there either, but you could write it down. Your tongue, he's speaking of Saul, who was the king at the time, your tongue devises destruction like a sharp razor working deceitfully.

Like I said, it's like a cut, and it's a wound that takes place, harm that takes place with someone.

You know, who among us likes a cutting remark by somebody against us? You know, we may remain composed, and I think we should. We may remain dignified, but it still hurts, doesn't it? If you overhear somebody talking, you know, how many times have you in your life said something, and you saw the person right next to you, and you thought, oh, I wonder if that person heard what I said? How do you think they felt if they heard you say something that was negative? You know, Winston Churchill exemplified, I think, if there was a man that was a man of integrity and quite dignified, particularly during World War II. He faced so much opposition, and during his last year in office as prime minister of Britain, he attended an official ceremony. And, you know, a couple rows back behind him, there were two men that began whispering to one another.

They said, hey, that's Winston Churchill! And, you know, they say he's senile.

And they say he should step aside, and he should leave the running of the country to more dynamic and capable men. And when the ceremony was over, Winston Churchill turned to the man and said, gentlemen, they also say he is deaf.

You know, we're not deaf, are we? You know, humanly we're going to hear what somebody says somewhere along the line. And, you know, sometimes if I've heard that kind of thing, it just reduces my view of the person who says it. You know, sometimes it's happened, that I've seen people have said things, and I thought, well, I thought higher of you until this comment that I just heard. I thought you were a better person, a better man, a better woman than that. So, brethren, we should determine to love our brethren and do them no harm.

And another point here, brethren, that is along the same lines, but it is different, is, you know, sometimes we wonder, what do I owe my brethren? What do I owe my friends?

You know, what do I owe those that I'm close to? Well, brethren, all we owe to our brethren is to love them all. That's what we owe. You want to know what we owe, what you owe to your friends? That's what you have, to owe them. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 19.

God-given sermons about how we need to love all the brethren, and not just the ones we like.

You know, you can like somebody, and you know, that they're easy to be around, and maybe there's some that are not your cup of tea. But, you know, all of us owe love to all of our brethren.

In Leviticus chapter 19, let's go on down here in verse 15. Leviticus 19 and down in verse 15, it says, "...you shall do no injustice and judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor." In other words, we should, from the standpoint, brethren, of righteousness, judge our neighbor. You know, always doing things from the point of view of God's law. In verse 16, "...you shall not go out about as a tailbearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. I am the Eternal." So God says, don't take a stand against your neighbor.

And, you know, our duty, brethren, is to love all of the brethren. And the people that are here in this room, brethren, are your neighbors as well. So we're to love all the brethren and not be a tailbearer. If you look up a tailbearer, this is someone who was a scandal monger.

And in verse 16, "...the cause prohibits that which might interfere with the course of justice." I remember one time a fellow was telling me about his neighbor that did him so many injustices.

You know, he was not a good neighbor that he had. He was always saying things to him and being rude to him and so forth and so on. But, you know, that member of the church, even if he disliked that person who was his neighbor, he could not stand against him. You know, some people, as you know, will say, I'm just going to go against this guy just for general principles. You know, I don't like him. But you see, God says, no, you better be honest. You better be just about what you do.

And if your neighbor is not somebody that you can prove something against, in other words, you have legal proof, then you better keep your mouth shut. You better not say anything so that justice cannot be done. So God didn't want his people to be respecters of persons.

You know, he didn't want to have that kind of an attitude. Well, I'm going to support him because he's my friend. You know, God says, no, you shouldn't do it that way. You should not be that kind of a person. You know, in this world, this kind of partiality is common. Often, even the media will tear someone down. You've seen it before, brethren. They will tear them down, rip them to shreds, you know, in the newspaper, make such a scathing report that it practically destroys their lives. But later, when they find out that it's wrong, all wrong, how many newspapers do you know that will go to the same extent to prove that the person was innocent? You know, it doesn't happen. Usually, you read in the paper, you know, somewhere in the paper, it'll say, sorry, we made a misprint here and shouldn't have done that. A little bitty box, you know.

It's all you get. You know, as far as I know, I don't think anybody goes to the extent, the same extent, to prove someone was innocent. And, you know, that is the problem, brethren, about gossiping. The problem with gossiping is oftentimes we do not get all the facts.

And, you know, it's like the old saying, people should look before they leap. So, brethren, if we don't have the facts, we shouldn't say anything. We don't have the facts.

Sometimes people's lives, again, have been destroyed because of what has been said.

But, you know, people can get angry sometimes and they'll dash off an email.

You know, they'll do it about people that they don't like, say things that they shouldn't say.

You know, being in the ministry, I would say anybody that's been in the ministry has experienced this before, where members even get upset at the ministry. And I know you're surprised that members would get upset at us, you know, that we actually have people that get upset.

Of course, I'm being facetious. But, you know, they send out these trashy emails, or they send out letters as they used to do. But when they find out they're wrong, do they come back and send a letter to everybody? You know, in Yiddish folklore, I think there's a story that offers a lesson about gossip makers. There was one man who had told so many malicious untruths about the local rabbi that finally he came to the point where he was sorry and he was remorseful for what he had said about the rabbi. And he came to the rabbi, and he begged him. He begged him to forgive him. And he said, Rabbi, Rabbi, he says, tell me how I can make amends. And, you know, the wise old rabbi side, he said, I'll tell you what, take two pillows, go to the public square, and there I want you to cut the pillows in half.

I want you to wave them all around in the town square up in the air, then come back. And so the rumor monger quickly went home. He got the two pillows and a knife, and he hurried to the town square. He cut the pillows open, he waved them in the air, and he ran back to the rabbi. He said, I just did, Rabbi, what you said to do. The rabbi said, good. And the old rabbi smiled now, so you realize how much harm is done by gossip. Go back to the square, and the man said, and do what? And he said, then collect all your feathers. Quite a lesson, isn't it? Because you can't collect them all.

You can't take it back. And that's what happens with gossip, brethren. We can't take it back and continue to float. They continue to float like those feathers from that pillow that were waved in the air. It's hard to correct it. Romans 13 in verse 8 tells us, brethren, and I won't go there, but you can write it down, oh, no one, anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. That's what the law is all about, brethren. That's what we owe people. We owe only love. And if we don't say it, brethren, no one can repeat it. If we don't say it, no one can repeat it. Proverbs 26 and verses 20 and 21. Please write that down, and I'll just quote it to you. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no hell-bear, strife ceases. As charcoal is to the burning coals and wood to the fire, so is a contentious man to kennel's strife. And so, you know, if we all want to get into the business of being rumors, I mean, we can really start a big fire, can't we? We could make a big fire that will burn us all up.

We can bite each other so much that we disappear, and we're gone. You know, the Mishnah contains rabbinic wisdom or oral traditions about the Torah. And what it does is interesting. It discusses actual cases and tries to show how the law is applied. If someone was commonly prone to bear false witness or be a malicious type person, you know what? And according to Mishnah, that person was disqualified as a witness. And that person's testimony was worthless at all times and in all circumstances. That's pretty serious, wouldn't you say? That if a member gets to the point where nobody can trust their testimony. So we have to be very careful with our words. The Mishnah stated, that if someone was caught bearing false witness, that person must be punished with the same punishment that would have been assigned to the accused if they were convicted. In other words, brethren, if the penalty for fraud was five years in prison, the accuser would get five years in prison. You know, if the person would be beaten, the accuser would be beaten as well. Sometimes, in fact, the accuser would get twice as many lashes as the person that was accused.

In other words, what this tells us, brethren, that God's law taught everyone before someone spoke so much as one syllable against another person, they must speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Now that's sort of what we are supposed to have in our courts, isn't it?

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You know, the bishop said one other thing. If a witness offered testimony which would result in the death of the accused, the witness had to serve as the executioner himself.

Oh, that puts a big different light on it, doesn't it? The intent of this is that a person could not withdraw himself from the execution of the accused, and that he would have to live with his conscience for the rest of his life because he gave false witness. In other words, it is intended to prevent false witness. It's intended to keep people from giving part of the story, to make sure that they do not open their mouths to say anything. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 5 and turn there. I think it's quite interesting that, you know, hear people that did not have access to God's Spirit, you know, could discuss these things and realize how serious they were and teach them as they did so in many occasions within the Mishnah. But in Leviticus 5 and verse 1, it says, if a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter, if he does not tell it, he bears guilt. You know, considering the fact that God did not want somebody to open their mouth unless they could speak the whole truth, I would think that many people would say, well, the safest thing for me to do is not to say anything, not to bear witness at all. You know, whether it was true or false, simply keep one's lip buttoned and my head down. In other words, don't make any waves whatsoever. But you know what? That wasn't permitted in Israel either. You see, you couldn't just turn and look another way and say, this had nothing to do with me. If you saw something, if you heard something, you were bound by the law to give a testimony. And if you didn't, what happened is you would be a partaker of the sin yourself and be responsible for it. So the principle here, brethren, is if a person remains silent when they hear gossip and they don't say anything about it, then they, that person, becomes a party to the gossip. If we don't denounce it right there on the spot, that person would be deemed guilty of gossip himself or herself. You see the principle here, brethren, the way God wants us to be. And of course, I think, considering this, brethren, that if we did not know the whole truth about something and we at all pass it on to anybody else, we have to state that. I don't know everything. This is what I have. I don't know if it's true. Of course, if somebody tells you that, brethren, you hear something like that, you should know, well, this is not verifiable information.

This is not substantiated. So how could I receive this anyway? And if it's not substantiated, brethren, then it is gossip. It is gossip. I know this may seem difficult to do. You think about, you know, by the way, these principles are in the old book, as they say, the old Bible, Old Testament.

These things seem to be very difficult to do, but God expects His people to be people of character, of high character and integrity. And with God's help, we can do it, brethren. And, of course, if we fall short, we have to repent. We can, brethren, refrain from gossip. We can expect truth from one another. And if we do that, brethren, we will be God's special people.

If we don't do that, well, I think certainly we are going to be like everybody else that's in the world, you know, that is not going to be loyal to God and His Word.

Oh, Will Rogers said this, in terms of how we ought to be living our lives, he says, so live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

So you've got to be careful about what you say and to make sure, again, you wouldn't be embarrassed to sell that old, talking parrot who's everything that is in your house to the town gossip.

Finally, brethren, finally, in this message, again, on the dangers of gossip, we should get all the facts before saying anything about something or someone. We should get all the facts.

Brethren, we must realize that we are limited in what we can know for sure.

You know, somehow, I think sometimes we think that we have this unlimited power to know everything.

We don't. You know, we know in part, brethren. You know, I look in this audience here and I know you and I love you, but I only know you in part. I don't know all about your life. Somebody asked me about you, I'd say, well, from all I can tell, they are decent people. I've never seen anything that would make me question that. Somebody asked me about you, but you know, you don't know all about my life either. You can hear what I say. You know, the Bible does say you know them by their fruits. You know, people live a certain way. They tend to show those fruits over a long period of time, but you know, there are things, obviously, that you don't know about me and I don't know about you and probably won't. Even in the kingdom, I won't know all about you then either.

You know, I don't think God's going to give us all instant ability to figure out all the bad things that everybody's done in the past and, of course, those things will be forgotten, won't they?

I think we'll know each other better because we'll all be on the same sheet of music and that is God's law and we'll have that hammered into our minds and we'll be like God in the sense of our character. We'll know our character. So, brethren, you know, we must realize our limitations. When we discuss things which are out of our realm of responsibility, this is especially true.

I don't know what they talk about in the cabinet of the United States. I just don't know.

They may tell jokes there. I don't know. They mean bad jokes. Worse than I tell, you know.

But, you know, I don't know what, you know, some people again are doing in this country.

I don't know what their heart is, some people. Sometimes you think that they're working against the United States, but I don't know what their heart is. But, you know, the thing to realize is that if it's out of our realm of responsibility, this is especially true, you know. The further away from a matter that we are, the more distorted the information will tend to be in terms of communication. Because what we get is peace built. We don't hear everything.

And so we have to let those people who have the responsibility to take care of those things and are closest to that particular responsibility to deal with those things. Often facts can be mixed with untruths, brethren. And what do you have, brethren, if you have a story that is a mixture of truth and falsehood? Do you have the truth? No, you don't. You know how the truth is. It interlaces one with the other. You know, we don't have the truth if we have a mixture of falsehood and truth. Let's go to Romans. Back to Romans, over in the book of Romans here.

And, you know, I think, brethren, as we look in the world today and realize that we are getting closer and closer to the end of this age, I think it's certainly high tide that we began to preach the gospel of the world as the witness that we're supposed to be giving in this time of things that are going to occur and the troubling things are going to occur in the future, but also the great things of the world of moral that are going to come. But in Romans 13, and down in verse 10, we'll read this verse once again. It says, Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Now, let's look on down here to verses 11 and 12. And do this knowing the time that now it is high time, he says, to wake out of sleep. In other words, as Christians, we need to wake up to what this world is doing incorrectly and wrongly, and we need to do an about-face and go God's way, and that is to love our brethren and do no harm to them. So we need to wake up, and it says, For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, Paul says, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of God, which is the armor of light, as it says here in verse 12. And he says, Let us walk properly as God's people, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts. Because there were those there in the Roman church that were not loving their brethren. They were doing harm to their brethren. And in this case, you can read chapter 14, and we see that it had to do with meats that were offered to idols.

What some of the members were doing and what some of the members were not doing in the church there. This was dealing with a physical matter. This that we're going through and dealing with in the church, brethren, is a spiritual matter. And it has to do with how we treat one another.

So, brethren, let's cast off the carnal approaches that we perhaps utilize, sometimes as God's people. Let's live on a higher level. Let's live on a higher level as Christians. It's time we threw off the darkness and put on the armor of light.

And, brethren, it's not time to make war with each other.

But it's time to be at peace. It's time to be in unity. It's time to preach the gospel to this world while there is time for us. You know, let us think. You know that word, T-H-I-N-K, think?

Used to be that people would put this word, think, you know, around, you know, big letters.

Let's think, brethren, before we gossip about anyone or anything in the church.

Let's, in fact, use the word, think, as an acronym.

And I want you to try to remember this, because I think it really will help you.

The word, think, is an acronym for us. And, of course, an acronym is where each letter stands for something so that it causes us to pause before we say something that we're not sure is true, that we don't have, again, the whole story about. You know, the first letter of think is T, and that word, you know, equals that word T should be truth. Truth. Is it the truth? Is it the whole truth? And nothing but the truth. Ask yourself that. H of the word, think, equals helpful.

Is it helpful? We do no harm. Is what you're going to say helpful to the hearer, the listener?

The letter I equal to inspiring.

Does it inspire? Does it uplift? Is it inspiring to you to hear these things?

The letter N necessary. Is it necessary to say?

Or is it an exercise of somebody who likes to spread gossip?

K equal the word kind. Is it kind? Is it kind to the listener? And not just to the listener, brethren, because sometimes people can be eager to want to hear a rumor. But is it kind to others as well? Maybe someone who is the vortex of such a thing. So, brethren, think. Think.

You know, then we should say this to ourselves, if what I'm about to say, does it pass these tests? And if it doesn't, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not say anything at all.

So, brethren, we must be determined to carry ourselves about as Christians at this time.

Let ourselves not to be carried away with gossip so that we fall down and we begin to act in terms of carnality on this basic tenet of Christian conduct. You know, again, from almost the beginning of Genesis all the way to the end, the Bible condemns gossiping or tail-bearing. Let's think about what we say to others, making sure we are always building up one another in the church of God, that we're building up the church. Remember this, brethren, gossip is dangerous. So, let's not, as Christians then, practice it.