After listening to Pastor Perry Stone’s message “Beware of the Dogs,” and on Scandal (see links below), I was inspired to write this! And it fits in with my previous post of Persecution, because this will also be a part of the persecution that Christians will suffer. We are already witnessing unprecedented slander of well-known Pastors, Teachers, Prophets and those in Ministry! So can we expect this to increase? YES!
Having had first-hand experience in this many years ago, in the workplace, I can offer some invaluable advice! Firstly to give a brief background, which I learnt from Pastor Larry Huch’s book “10 Curses That Block the Blessing.” The first two curses which block the blessing of God on your life, is to do with your mouth, i.e. your words! This can even include your own negative words you speak over yourself (see Keith Moore, “The Significance of Saying”)! God takes this VERY seriously because our words have creative power, for the negative or the positive. He wants us to speak positively AND to use His Word to bring about victory, change, healing and encouragement into people’s lives, and to create or prophesy our future. NOT for destruction and pain!
Here is an excerpt from Asteroid Impact P104, “Words are like arrows, once they are released from the bow they are no longer in your control and cannot be stopped, or can the damage be reversed. You are still responsible for those words and will have to give an account of every idle (rash, harsh, inoperative, thoughtless, careless and fruitless) word spoken (Matt. 12:36-37). In James chapter 3 he talks about the tongue being the hardest part to tame and being a fiery member contaminating and depraving the whole body (vs. 6; Matt. 15:18). And how a man who has control over his words has full control over his whole body (vs. 2). If he does not his religion is worthless (vain, useless, futile, barren) (James 1:26). These are strong statements. It proves the incredible importance of words and controlling them. Remember words have creative power for the positive or the negative; we can bless or we can curse; we can praise or we can criticize. This is what differentiates us from all other creation. They are powerful and wield great responsibility.”
Ok, so when we use our words negatively, the Hebrew word for this is Loshon Hora – evil speaking. The first level is gossip, talking negatively about someone behind their back. Then there is cursing someone, wishing evil and harm upon them with deep malice. When you curse others, you are in fact cursing yourself, because what you sow you shall reap. And not only that, but you are also blocking your own blessings. The third is slander, which is by far the MOST serious and dangerous! Pastor Perry in his message, called it scandal, and then he explained that in the Bible it refers to it as being a “false witness.” This term is found in the ten commandments (Exod. 20:16, 23:1; Prov. 19:9), BUT it is also found in Prov. 6:19, one of the “Seven Deadly Sins.” The reason that these seven abominations are called the seven deadly sins, is just that – they are deadly, and can even cause your life to be shortened, never mind blocking your blessings! Pastor Larry Huch, teaches that slander in God’s eyes, is the same sin as murder!!! Wow, how can that be?
Let me try and explain. When a person uses vicious slander against someone, they have one purpose in mind, and that is to destroy you. In the dictionary the word slander is also called, “character assassination.” The slanderer wants to first destroy your character and your reputation, and then in turn, to destroy your livelihood and income. In other words, I would say this, the intent of their heart is not just malice, BUT MURDER! They do not have the courage or maybe the ability to kill you with their own hands, so they use their words instead! Hoping that it completely destroys you and your income, and hoping that you will commit suicide, thus their murder plan would have succeeded! But because they have sown murder, murder is what they will reap. Can you now see how SERIOUS this sin is? In my own case, the person that started the slander against me, which by the way spread like wildfire, even across the world, died at a fairly young age, her life was cut short!
I have to add another VERY IMPORTANT point that Pastor Larry made, and one that affects us ALL. Slander is only passed on by people who first LISTEN to it! Then they too will pass on the same slander. They therefore have partaken of the same sin, slander (not as serious as the one who started it), and are associated with it, and are not guiltless. THERFORE DO NOT EVEN LISTEN TO OR HEAR SLANDER, shut it off immediately, and do not be a partaker of it!
Now, how do you overcome this, if you are the victim of slander? The first and most important thing I would say to you is, “KEEP YOUR OWN MOUTH SHUT!” This is extremely hard to do, because our natural human, carnal instinct is to retaliate! We want them to suffer the same pain and humiliation that they have caused us! We want to defend ourselves and tell the truth, and show them to be liars! Firstly, do not waste your time and energy trying to defend yourself, as people will usually believe the worst, and it is hopeless trying to tell them the truth! It just makes things worse, to be honest. I have noticed that people do not even want to hear your side of the story anyway. So again, keep quiet, do not retaliate, as then you have ALSO committed the same sin and have just stooped down to their level. I only spoke about my situation to one family member and two close prayer partners, so that they could pray for me. I had a deep, intense desire to speak evil about my slanderer too, but thank goodness I somehow had the strength to abstain!
The Lord has emphatically told us that vengeance is His, not ours (Rom. 12:19)! We are to leave the outcome in His hands, so that our own hands do not become soiled. And even though it may take time, He will vindicate us (Isa. 54:17; Ps. 37:6) and He will take vengeance on the slanderer, which will be far better and greater than our own…
I love Pastor Perry’s illustration of the dog trying to stop the train! The train represents the Ministry that God has given you, and it cannot be stopped or halted, by a puny little devilish dog! So just keep trusting God and do NOT allow distractions or offence, and do not take the bait and fall into the trap of offence and bitterness. Carry on with what God has told you to do, regardless of what others are saying about you. Remember it is God that you will have to give an account to, NOT people…
Lastly, I want to share that even though we go through trials and difficulties, ultimately God can use them for our good (Rom. 8:28). After I had been slandered and everyone thought the worst of me, it freed me from the fear of man, and what people thought of me, as they already thought the worst! I was then able to do things that I would never have attempted before. I pray for strength, courage, will and determination for you, if you have been the victim of slander, keep pressing on and don’t look to the left or to the right (Prov. 4:25,27) i.e. don’t for one moment put your eyes on those around you, who mean you harm. Keep your eyes fixed straight ahead, on the finish line. Keep going on with grit determination…
Oh, a word to you if you are the slanderer, and you call yourself a Christian! We all slip and make mistakes in this area, but if you are habitually doing this and even years down the line, then there is serious doubt as to whether your salvation is true and genuine! But there is still hope, there is still time to repent. But it will mean you will need to make restitution and a sincere and humbling, PUBLIC apology to the person or ministry you have wronged! Slander, as with murder, cannot be atoned for as the damage is irreversible! Unfortunately the consequences of slander may also be irreversible, you too will suffer greatly, you will lose all the blessings God intended for you, but hopefully if you repent in time, you will not have your life cut short too! God help you and strengthen you to do the right thing!
This is a very hard word but an extremely important one! Also please read the story about Noah when he became drunk (Gen. 9:21-27). His son Ham exposed his fault, but the other two sons Shem and Japheth hid and concealed their father’s nakedness. Notice the first son was cursed and the other two were blessed! And notice it also affected future generations! S.J.
ALSO SEE:
PERRY STONE'S “3 Stunning Last Day Warnings For Your Family”