My Dear Friend,

As God would have it, people who habitually indulge in gossip - untruths, half-truths, and almost truths passed on as full truths - eventually reap the harmful deception they are sowing. How?

They grow so confident in this unsavory mode of communication that, as time passes, they begin mistaking the gossip truth for the Gospel truth. Younger readers, be advised, "Gospel truth" is an expression commonly used in the past to affirm that something said is as true as the New Testament Gospels.

The Gospel truth is absolutely true, divinely inspired, and not to be doubted. The gossip truth, however, is rarely true, humanly inspired, and always doubtable. Why?

Gossip is loose, often whispered, conversation in which unconcerned persons discuss unconfirmed information describing unrepresented people in uncomplimentary ways. Nothing is sure, nothing is tied down, everything is incomplete and subject to error - yet the conversation goes on! Excitedly. Sometimes for hours. Once "reported," gossip serves as its own confirmation. Because one says it, and then another, and another, well, it must be so. All these people couldn't be wrong. Or so we reason. But this foolishness is nothing new.

In both Old and New Testaments, the Bible gives us the Gospel truth about the gossip truth.

• When Joseph's envious brothers saw him coming to visit them, they noted sourly, "Here comes the dreamer" (Genesis 37:19, NLT), or "Lo, this man of dreams comes" (YLT). Their envy of Joseph's dreams, gift of interpretation, good behavior, and faithful service to their father, Jacob, filled them with rage. And rage always has to be vented. In their case, they initially released it through gossip, often mocking "the dreamer." Later, they tried to turn his life into a bad dream, kidnapping him and selling him into slavery.

• Nehemiah reported that his Samaritan adversaries "heard that I had rebuilt the wall [of Jerusalem]," when, at the time, the wall was not finished (Nehemiah 6:1, NKJV). The "press," or news media, in his day was also full of gossip. His adversaries said, "A report is going around among all the nations . . . that you and the Jews plan to rebel [against Persian rule]" (Nehemiah 6:6). As confirmation, they added, "and Geshum says it's true." But their "reports," and Geshum's, were entirely hearsay and false. Nehemiah and the Jews had no intention of rebelling. Nevertheless, the report persisted, and many who heard it mistook the gossip truth for the Gospel truth.

• Seeing Paul accompanying two Gentiles in the outer (Gentile) courts of the temple, some Jews assumed he had taken them into the inner (Jewish) courts, a forbidden act punishable by death. Tongues began wagging, rumor mills turned, and in only minutes a "holy" mob pounced on Paul and began zealously beating him - until a clear-thinking Roman captain arrived to halt the gossip-fueled killing and begin a fact-finding inquiry.

Paul wasn't the only Christian to suffer abuse from gossips. Every Bible-studying, Spirit-following, God-trusting, consistently obedient Christian will also be gossiped about, sometimes relentlessly. And carnal Christians, not unbelievers, are often the chief gossips! The Gospel truth incarnate warned us the gossip truth would afflict us: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you . . . and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" (Matthew 5:11). Then He added a sweet promise: those who endure these great reproaches on earth will receive great rewards in heaven (Matthew 5:12).

The Gospel truth also reveals that those Christ uses most extraordinarily usually suffer the most extraordinary gossip. John the Baptist is a case in point.

As Christ's divinely designated forerunner, John played a key role in the First Advent. Unable to wait until John was born, Israel's gossipers targeted his mother long before his arrival. Before conceiving John in her old age, Elisabeth had for years been stigmatized by being "called barren" by countless wagging tongues (Luke 1:38). Wherever she went, whispers followed, "There goes the barren one." These who mistook the gossip truth for the Gospel truth were stunned and shamed when Elisabeth came up pregnant - and birthed the greatest prophet ever born of women!

The practice of gossip is easy to start but hard to stop. Why? Gossiping is a habit. (And according to Scripture, one of the worst! See Leviticus 19:16; Proverbs 6:16, 19; 11:11; 18:8; 26:20, 22.) It is sparked and fed by unhealthy curiosity. Healthy curiosity is a desire to discover needed information for constructive purposes. Unhealthy curiosity is an itch to discover unnecessary information for destructive purposes, usually to harm another's reputation. It conducts bad business with what is none of our business. Instead of yielding to this ungodly itch, we should pray for godly, anti-itching grace - and promptly walk away from itching ears and loose lips. How will you know when evil curiosity is working on you?

If you are a born-again Christian, the Holy Spirit, who is not the wind of rumor but the "Spirit of truth" (John 16:13), will quickly make you sense you should probe no further. Or listen no further. Or get up and go somewhere else. Or say, "Hey, guys, this is just gossip, let's turn the conversation elsewhere." What response will this bring?

The Lord will love you and smile, but the gossips will loathe you and frown. Except in rare cases where they are not so far gone that they will humbly acknowledge their error and thank you. It's time for us to decide who we want to please, our gossips or our God?

And let's ask another question: who is tempted to participate in gossip? Every living, breathing soul with a sin nature, mouth, and ears may at one time or another indulge in gossip. Pardon me, while I indulge in some myself: it is reported that women are the biggest gossips! Pardon me, ladies, but that's the report I have heard from many men! And men, the Gospel truth is, male tongues love to wag unholily just as much as our whispering wives, mean-spirited mothers, and giggling girlfriends. And this indictment continues . . .

Regrettably, some ministers also are slanderous gossips. At ministers' fellowship meals, sometimes the "meal" served is neither chicken nor beef but another pastor or leader who has fallen into sin, disrepute, disuse, or hard times. Sadly, these erring elders, who should always think and speak redemptively in healing tones, are instead given to reproach, wounding those they should heal. Why?

Their curiosity gets the best of them. They just can't wait to get the latest report about another man (or woman) of God - usually one with whom they disagree on some doctrine or practice, or envy because their church is larger or ministerial reputation more impressive. Consequently, many of our holy men have unholy mouths.

Another reason is the gossip truth is so pervasive. It has saturated and captivated our culture. The tabloid gossips we used to laugh off as fools' food at grocery store checkout counters fifty years ago is now our menu of choice. And, like our culture's children, Christ's children are now feeding on gossip - filthy garbage that is unconfirmed, unimportant, none of our business, and doing Satan's business. And it is damaging not only others, but our own souls and our relationship to Jesus - whose name and Word is the Truth.

Our News Media appears hopelessly infected with gossip truth. When "sources are saying" don't swallow those sources' sayings. When Internet posts try to hook you with titles designed to prick your curiosity so you will click on it, don't bite the bait. Why? Controlling your curiosity will help "mortify," or minister death to, your evil curiosity. And, yes, because we Christians still have an old nature, we still have evil curiosity rise up in us at times. There are exceptions we must consider.

Sometimes we must listen to uncomplimentary information about people who are not present because our office or position requires us to make character decisions about them or about some project, message, or mission they propose. If so, we must commit to seeking facts, not fiction, the Gospel truth, not the gossip truth, concerning them. Here are some helpful practical suggestions:

• We must never make premature decisions, including those we feel the Lord told us. First impressions are sometimes false impressions. So, ask the Lord to confirm His will, all while paying close attention to all pertinent facts we discover (Proverbs 3:5-6).

• We must set aside personal feelings. We are all naturally inclined to like some people more than others. But this personal bias must be disregarded if we are to make truly fair decisions.

• Stereotypes and prejudices - yes, we have these also where we have not yet fully formed the mind of Christ - must be acknowledged and consciously rejected. Then we can see the person before us as an individual, not a clone of a particular demographic group with all the stereotypical bad characteristics prejudice-blinded gossips tell us they possess.

• The person themselves must always be directly consulted. Leaving them out of their own examination process denies their right to explain misrepresentations and add new, clarifying information. And if gossips have accused them, they should also have a right to rebut their accusers face to face. This often brings to light information gossips have twisted, added, or omitted because they do not like, or perhaps even hate, the person in question.

• And when we make our final evaluation, we must do so truly but mercifully. Why? We will be judged as we have judged: "The standard you use in judging is the standard you will be judged by" (Matthew 7:2, NLT).

And that, my friend, is the Gospel truth.

No Gossip truth here,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES