Many born again Christians
have learnt about the power of prayer and of the instruction for them to pray
in agreement with their brethren. However some have misused the instruction
Jesus gave us about prayers of agreement to promote gossip. A typical example
would be where one sister visits another and begins a long story about one of
the brothers in the church. She goes ahead to speak about the stories she has
heard about him and of all the women he has been dating and how he fought with
his workmate. After the long story where the host has been listening gleefully,
she then winds up by saying, "I just told you all this so we can pray for
him. The people in church these days need prayers!" Then she departs
without even praying for it together with her fellow sister in Christ. Such a
situation is equivalent to disguised gossip. It reminds of some of the movies
produced in Nigeria which have no reference to God at all but at the end of the
movie a caption appears stating, "To
God be the Glory." This is how many believers hide their gossip and
slander these days.
The Psalmist tells about the
qualifications of a person who can stand on God's holy hill and one of them is,
"He that BACKBITETH not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a against his neighbor" (Psalms 15:3).
To backbite is to censure, slander, reproach, or speak evil of the absent. Many
believers are guilty of speaking about the errors of their fellow Christians to
everyone else apart from the person themselves. Most times this is done with a
hidden motive of appearing to be superior to others. It also results when
someone speaks more than they ought to since a multitude of words produces a
multitude of sin (Proverbs 10:19). When you notice a fellow Christian in a
wrong, go and tell them privately. That is the method Jesus gave us to use, "Moreover if thy brother shall
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault BETWEEN THEE AND HIM ALONE: if
he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother" (Matthew 18:15).
Before telling anyone else about your brother's fault, tell it to his face.
Anyone who does otherwise is disobeying the Word of God. When you have told the
brother his fault and he still refuses to change then you can go ahead to tell
another person according to Matthew 18:16-17. Even when you tell someone else
it should be with the intention of meeting the brother together with the person
you have told so that they may help restore him to the right path. When the
brother refuses to listen to the group of 2 or 3 you have called then you have
the license to declare it to the whole church. When they refuse to hear the
church then the world can get to know about it because the church would have
expelled them.
A lot of harm has come to
the body of Christ because of talebearers, "Thou shalt not go up and down as a TALEBEARER among thy people"
(Leviticus 19:16). A talebearer is a person who officiously tells tales; one
who impertinently communicates intelligence or anecdotes, and makes mischief in
society by his officiousness. God says that no one should become a zealous
gossiper among His people. Most of the time the information passed on by the
talebearers is "tales" or stories that are commonly false and which
they have derived from secondary sources that could have evil intentions of
their own. Many Christians through this habit have become the ministers of the
devil since he is called "the
accuser of the brethren" (Rev 12:10). The devil enjoys speaking evil
about others and slandering them.
One of the most dangerous
consequences of gossiping comes about when believers do it against spiritual
leaders. The Bible tells us that God can not permit anyone to slander his
ministers, "Saying, Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm” (Psalms 105:15). When you touch the
anointed by gossiping about them you open up yourself for judgment and attacks
from the devil. Refrain from slander and only raise prayer requests about a
person when you have spoken to them and prayed for them in private and they
have not changed.
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