In magnifying the requirements of the ninth commandment, God instructs His people as follows: "Thou shalt not raise a false report," and "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people" (Ex. 23:1; Lev. 19:16).
There are not many things that God hates, but among the seven listed in Proverbs 6:18, 19 is "a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
Hated equally by men, false reports and rumors are evils that menace individuals, churches, and conferences—evils because they have the ability to poison relationships between people and affect the wellbeing of the whole church.
Cutting across boundaries with the speed of a prairie fire on a windy day, they regard neither person, position, nor age. Directed mostly against someone or something, they are deadly in creating suspicion, misunderstanding, and alienation. Although containing grains of truth, both are characterized by invention and deceit, and both are insidiously malignant.
One cunningly devised false report or rumor has more power than a hundred good deeds. It is a choice morsel that is immediately snatched up by talebearers. Never wholly wiped out, it outlives a thousand sound arguments. It can fasten a mark on the injured party that may remain with him through life. Out of the realization of this danger has grown the civil law of libel and defamation with its heavy penalties.
How Does a False Report and Rumor Start?
Not much is needed to start either. Neither brains nor ability are required. Just let a group of irresponsible busybodies get together and one has the basic material needed to spawn poisonous half-truths, suppositions, and downright lies.
"Of course," prattles the effervescent babbler, "I am not sure that it is true, but I have been told that so-and-so may have to resign because he and his wife are not getting along." Ah! What a scoop for wagging tongues. The telephones start ringing, and an ugly supposition begins that may well blast a man's influence, career, and family.
Often the basis may be an actuality. An individual sees or hears something that he considers startling news. He furnishes fanciful verbal embroidery to enhance the incident. The facts are distorted or emphasized out of proportion. Or worse yet, the incident is lumped with others of an incriminatory nature, and thus "guilt by association" is established.
It is easy for a peddler of distortions and exaggerations to go on from that and enlarge his hellish activities. With a flair of religious sanctity, he defends what he considers violated religious principles. However, the talebearer's poison pen and tongue unmask his real intention. He is not so much concerned about defending any particular principle as he is in blackening someone's reputation and character.
Flushed with success, the coiner of false reports and rumors becomes arrogant. The attention and applause he receives from those who share his cannibalistic diet turns his head. Swollen with conceit, he mistakes his toy trumpet for the trombone of fame. He envisions himself as a corrector of heretics and a defender of the faith for the inarticulate few, whereas his brayings are most offensive to all thoughtful men and women.
Why Does a False Report and Rumor Start?
There are many reasons. Individuals harboring an inordinate desire for prominence will seize any opportunity to make the headlines. And nothing gives these prima donnas a sense of prominence as does their flaunting of every principle of decency, fairness, and respect when discussing men in responsible positions. Not able to gain prominence of themselves, they seek it by dragging down men who obtained it by hard work and honest achievement.
Envy and jealousy constitute still other reasons. An individual feels that he is not being promoted fast enough, or that he is better qualified than others for some particular position, so to shoulder some worker out of the way he improves every opportunity to give the obstructing man a verbal black eye.
Rumors and false reports may also arise from the love of our pet ideas or the feeling that we have been treated unfairly. Taking a verbal slap at someone triggers an emotional release. It gives us the sense of getting even. Feeling hurt and aggrieved, we often unthinkingly participate in a false report or rumor because it provides the chance to explain to ourselves and to others why we feel as we do. So we justify ourselves at the expense of another.
Let us not think that all the dire results of a rumormonger belong to the victim. Far from it! The loose talker undermines his own integrity. Convinced of his own unreliability, he finds it difficult to trust others. He suspects everyone, misses the joys of true friendship, and spends his life seeking and feeding on the husks of human failings. What a miserable existence!
The most important question is: How does one relate himself to a false report and rumor?
First of all, if wrongly accused, keep the mind stayed on God. Under the lash of stinging words and accusations, keep silent. Do not retaliate, for to do so would mean descending to the level of your accuser. And that is a long way down.
Why be so naive? The rumormonger is simply a tool in the hands of the devil to divert you from your work and to destroy your confidence in your fellow workers. Keep at your task. This is the best way to rock the devil back on his heels. Do not dash away from the job because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil's dogs or to chase his rabbits.
Stay by your God-given assignment. Let others quarrel and accuse. Do not enter into their fracas or participate in their accusations. Let liars lie, but keep your hands busy. Let the devil and his agents do their worst, but see to it that nothing takes you away from your work.
God has not given us the job of defending our characters, nor the fruitless task of disproving the falsehoods that Satan and his assistants may start and peddle. If we did these things, we would never get anything done, and we would be working for ourselves and not for God.
Whatever others may say and do, God's counsel to us still remains: "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile" (Ps. 34:13).
