WEBVTT 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:39.520 Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.720 I am Cory J. 00:00:40.720 --> 00:00:44.720 Mahler. And I'm still Woe. 00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:44.960 On 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.120 today's Stone Choir we're going to be discussing the subject of slander. 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:51.760 This is part of one of the Ten Commandments. 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:54.400 It is something that appears throughout Scripture. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.000 In fact, a week or so ago when we picked this topic, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.280 I didn't realize just how much of an in-depth Bible study this 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:02.320 could turn into. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:06.960 There are easily hundreds of passages about slander and bearing false witness 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.480 and the like in and throughout scripture. 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:14.560 We're not gonna belabor the point with hundreds of verses, but we're 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:18.320 probably gonna tackle twenty or so today that are key. 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:22.160 The reason that we're tackling slander in particular is that this is 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:26.240 not only a live issue in the world, which I think we 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:27.600 all understand. 00:01:27.600 --> 00:01:32.400 It is such a vital issue inside the church that it is 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:36.800 very realistically destroying some churches today. 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:41.120 And Corey and I have been first party victims of some of 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:42.080 that behavior. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.520 And so as we talk about the subject today, we're going to 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:48.720 be talking about in various places some of those particulars. 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:52.000 At the outset, I want to say something to folks who've been 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.600 listening for a while. 00:01:53.600 --> 00:01:59.360 A week or so ago, James O'Keeffe recently of Project Veritas did 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.360 another one of his exposes, and leading up to it, he had 00:02:03.360 --> 00:02:09.760 this super melodramatic, flaming excuse for I'm not suicidal, they're after me, 00:02:09.760 --> 00:02:12.960 they're trying to kill me, I'm a truth teller, I'm blah, blah, 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:17.600 blah. And as he was putting on his little performance, I realized 00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:20.640 that some of the things that he was saying sounded all similar 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:23.280 or a lot like some of the things that I have said 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.000 about having been docs and some of the other things in the 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.520 past. And I realized that I'm sure that some of you who 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.320 heard some of those things were really put off by it and 00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:35.840 thought that I was being maladramatic, and so I'm sorry if I 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:36.880 gave that impression. 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:38.400 I it's a genuine apology. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:39.760 That's it's revolting. 00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:41.520 I wouldn't want anyone to feel like that. 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:43.120 It was not my intent. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:45.680 And so we've kind of put the cart before the horse by 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:50.720 talking about that subject without making this case first. 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:51.200 And so 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.560 the reason I mentioned that is again, we have to give the 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.280 specific examples because they're vital. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:02.720 They're relevant to demonstrate the principle and the practical effects of these 00:03:02.720 --> 00:03:04.560 things in the real world. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.960 And because these things have been done to Corey and myself, we 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:10.720 can speak to them as experts. 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:13.200 But in the past when I've discussed when we talk about today, 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:17.440 it is not a plea for attention or for pity or anything 00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:18.560 of the sort. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.560 It's when I've discussed it in the past, what I had in 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.760 mind was the two hours that we're gonna do today on slander. 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:30.320 about the fact that when you destroy a man's reputation, you involve 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:35.440 everyone else, whoever hears and entertains those lies in your wickedness, in 00:03:35.440 --> 00:03:36.480 your sin. 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:40.480 That is in some ways far worse than even murdering the man. 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:43.920 If you kill someone, it's one and done, and there's only one 00:03:43.920 --> 00:03:47.440 sinner involved, and lots of people are hurt by it, one directly 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:49.360 and others indirectly. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.640 On the other hand, when you slander, man, when you destroy his 00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:56.480 reputation, which it takes a lifetime to earn and a moment to 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:02.000 lose, the effect of the spreading of the slander necessarily implicates every 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.880 single person who hears it and participates it. 00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:07.200 And it's a point that I've we've made before and we'll we'll 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.280 go into some detail again here. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.400 But when this sort of thing is done, especially when it's done 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:16.640 in the church by people who are masquerading as Christians, it's the 00:04:16.640 --> 00:04:20.480 sort of hypocrisy that can very easily destroy people's faith. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.680 And so I've said before, I'm glad that it happened to me 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.120 and not someone else, because there are men who would have killed 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.200 themselves after what happened to me. 00:04:29.200 --> 00:04:30.960 To me, it was a completely indifferent matter. 00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:33.600 And again, like when O'Keefe says that stuff like he's being a 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:38.400 drama queen, I'm simply saying to you, this stuff is happening in 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:38.880 the church. 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:39.440 Forget me. 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:40.480 I don't care about me. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:41.920 I don't want you to either. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:43.520 I want you to care about the church, and I want you 00:04:43.520 --> 00:04:47.280 to care about Christian conduct because these things will happen in your 00:04:47.280 --> 00:04:48.560 presence as well. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:50.960 And so as we lay out the case for today for what 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:54.960 slander and bearing false witness actually means, and we go through all 00:04:54.960 --> 00:04:57.360 the places in script not all we go through some of the 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:01.840 places in scripture where it is outlined, you're going to realize that 00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:05.040 you have participated in evil slander. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:06.000 I certainly have. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.520 It's an easy thing to do. 00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:10.480 And you don't necessarily realize it when you're doing it. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.800 That's something that sets it apart from some of the other sins 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.360 we're going to get into in just a minute. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:18.960 But just again at the outset, when we're talking about ourselves in 00:05:18.960 --> 00:05:22.720 this specific context, it's solely because it's happening in the church. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:26.000 And in the case of Stone Choir the Podcast, what was done 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:28.320 to me and has been done to Corey was because of the 00:05:28.320 --> 00:05:29.840 show that you're listening to. 00:05:29.840 --> 00:05:33.280 It wasn't because we said mean things on the internet at some 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:34.000 other time. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.440 It's because when people listen to Stone Choir, they start going to 00:05:37.440 --> 00:05:41.920 church. Every week now, a couple people are joining churches, either new 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.120 churches, better churches, or they're joining churches for the first times in 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.680 their adult lives because they've been listening. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.400 That is not a credit to us, that is a credit to 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:54.560 God's work through what we are doing, which is the underlying impetus 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.880 for when Christians are slandered. 00:05:56.880 --> 00:06:00.560 At the end, we're going to get into how scripture says if 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.880 you're a Christian, you're going to be slandered. 00:06:02.880 --> 00:06:06.480 The world is gonna hate you because you are in opposition to 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:07.120 the world. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.760 So this is a matter of spiritual war. 00:06:09.760 --> 00:06:11.440 It's not just gossip. 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:12.720 It's not just name calling. 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:16.880 It's not just, you know, sort of negative social behavior. 00:06:16.880 --> 00:06:21.120 This is much more fundamentally about the spiritual war that we're all 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:22.160 subjected to. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.800 And that's the only reason that we've ever mentioned it. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.160 If it were only somebody being mean to me, you wouldn't care. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:29.440 I wouldn't ask you to care. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:30.640 I don't care. 00:06:30.640 --> 00:06:33.040 I care that evil is happening in the church and is being 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:33.920 done to Christians. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.240 I'm glad it was me and not someone else because I could 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:36.880 take it. 00:06:36.880 --> 00:06:38.800 That's one of the things that I think we really need to 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.720 appreciate is that when we are unwitting participants in slanderous behavior, like 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.760 I said, it's very easy, but the damage is in some cases 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:54.320 incalculable, and you may never know, which is particularly terrifying for Christians 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:56.880 because how do you repent of something if you don't even know 00:06:56.880 --> 00:06:57.840 you did it? 00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:01.120 Well, the best way is not to have committed the thing in 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:01.840 the first place. 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:04.560 So as we go through the details today, just keep in mind 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:06.240 that you're guilty of doing this. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:09.200 I know because I am, as I've reviewed these past like yeah, 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:12.720 I here's some examples where I know I've definitely gone up to 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:15.840 that line and crossed it in some cases. 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:17.120 We should all repent. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:20.560 And we'll talk about what repentance for this actually means too. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.520 We're going to first talk about the Old Testament, talk about you 00:07:23.520 --> 00:07:27.760 know the eighth commandment, this is Lutheran numbering, thou shalt not bear 00:07:27.760 --> 00:07:29.680 false witness against thy neighbor. 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:32.480 And then we'll talk about how it's treated in the New Testament, 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:35.440 and we're going to end with how it led directly to Christ's 00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:40.560 crucifixion. Because Jesus died on the cross, because he was doxxed and 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:45.040 slandered. It was lies, it was false accusations, it was men bearing 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:48.320 false witness against Christ that caused him to be nailed to the 00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:51.920 cross and murdered for our sins, including all those sins that I've 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.640 committed and you've committed, and all the people who are doing those 00:07:54.640 --> 00:07:57.280 things to Jesus committed in his day. 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:00.560 He was nailed to the cross because of slander and lies. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.160 That's how serious this is. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.800 He was murdered because of slander. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.560 So that's where we're gonna end up. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.440 But I just wanted to lay out at the outset, this is 00:08:09.440 --> 00:08:11.680 not a minor social point. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:16.240 This is this is as life and death as it gets without 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.400 your body being destroyed. 00:08:18.400 --> 00:08:22.080 So the interesting thing when you look at the second table of 00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:25.360 the law, the the second table of the ten commandments Commandments. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:30.080 After the one about parents, you have you shall not murder, you 00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:33.520 shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, then you shall not 00:08:33.520 --> 00:08:35.600 bear false witness against your neighbor. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:40.000 And then the last two are almost peripheral because they're specifically about 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.200 coveting what your neighbor owns. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.400 I want to principally focus on those four in the middle: killing, 00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:49.600 adultery, stealing, and slander. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:52.640 If you kill someone, as I said, they're dead. 00:08:52.640 --> 00:08:54.240 There's no undo for that. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.240 There is no possible fix for a murder. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:02.000 You can repent if you're a murderer, but you can't raise the 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.000 dead. Only God can do that. 00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:08.160 Adultery also is not fixable. 00:09:08.160 --> 00:09:12.800 You can repent and you can forgive within the marriage, but that 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:16.160 damage is never completely undone. 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:18.560 The breaking of the one-flesh union is never 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:23.840 even when the the two who were separated by adultery come together 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:29.120 again as a proper union, as a proper marriage, it's a reunion 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:30.880 because it was broken in the first place. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.800 That's what adultery is. 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:35.280 It's a breaking of a godly union. 00:09:35.280 --> 00:09:38.880 So you can glue it back together, but it's something that's been 00:09:38.880 --> 00:09:43.600 broken, which at least you can patch it over. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.920 Stealing is very easy to fix. 00:09:45.920 --> 00:09:48.400 If you steal something, you give it back. 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:52.000 And in the law, it's preserved and going back to antiquity. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.360 Oftentimes, treble damages are involved, depending on the severity of the manner 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:00.640 in which something is taken, maybe you have to give back three 00:10:00.640 --> 00:10:03.200 times what you stole. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.280 So in that sense, restorative justice is possible in the context of 00:10:07.280 --> 00:10:11.600 the seventh commandment about stealing, because it's just stuff. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:15.120 But it's stuff that God takes so seriously that He will send 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:16.800 you to hell for doing it. 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:20.560 But there's at least there's an actual undo button for stealing. 00:10:20.560 --> 00:10:26.240 So we come to bearing false witness, which includes slander. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.400 When you rob a man of his reputation, what is the undo 00:10:30.400 --> 00:10:31.520 button for that? 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:36.160 What is the restorative justice when a man loses his good name? 00:10:36.160 --> 00:10:38.080 In theory, it is possible. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:41.920 Someone could be slandered, he could have his reputation destroyed, and then 00:10:41.920 --> 00:10:43.760 somehow it could be restored. 00:10:43.760 --> 00:10:46.640 There may be a few examples in history, I couldn't think of 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:49.920 any, but you may have some that come to mind, where it's 00:10:49.920 --> 00:10:53.120 actually possible for someone to have a good reputation, have it destroyed 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.320 and then have it fixed. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:56.400 But it's exceedingly rare. 00:10:56.400 --> 00:11:00.800 In virtually every case, when a man has his reputation diminished or 00:11:00.800 --> 00:11:05.680 destroyed by bearing false witness and slander, He'll never get it back. 00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:08.240 Usually you get thrown into that hole and you just stay in 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.360 that hole forever. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.720 The best you could do historically was to move somewhere else where 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:14.000 nobody knew your name. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:14.960 But guess what? 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:16.960 With the internet, that's not possible. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:21.600 And so one of the key aspects of modern doxing when someone 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:27.120 is accused and falsely slandered of wickedness that the world hates, which 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.720 when the world hates wickedness, that usually means it's righteousness. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.440 There's nothing the world hates more than God's righteousness. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.840 So when you look at the things that are the most destructive 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.360 to men today, it's usually things that aren't even sins, which we've 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.360 covered in numerous past episodes. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:46.000 One of the reasons that Corey and I are despised in those 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.040 who are falsely claiming to be of the church is we say 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:53.680 that things like slavery are not sin, that feminism is sin, that 00:11:53.680 --> 00:11:58.400 things like racism are not a sin, that genocide is not a 00:11:58.400 --> 00:12:02.720 sin, that sodomy rightly would be executed by the state. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:06.800 That's not something that has ever been tolerated in the history of 00:12:06.800 --> 00:12:08.960 Christendom. Today we do. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:10.240 Today we tolerate it. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:14.080 And when a man says, you know what, this wickedness has never 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:18.880 been permitted among Christians in history, we become the bad guys. 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:21.440 And so that is the nature of this. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:27.200 When a man loses his reputation for doing something that's godly, the 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.480 damage is still done. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.040 And so no matter where you go in the world, because of 00:12:31.040 --> 00:12:33.520 the internet, The name follows you. 00:12:33.520 --> 00:12:35.200 Even if you change your name, there's a record of that. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:36.480 It's like there's no escape. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.280 When the damage is done, it's permanent. 00:12:39.280 --> 00:12:44.080 So that is a way in which it is most closely related 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:45.440 to the fifth commandment. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.280 Thou shalt not murder. 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:49.360 Because when a man is dead, he stays dead. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:53.200 When a man's reputation is murdered, in virtually all cases it's going 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.400 to stay murdered. 00:12:54.400 --> 00:12:57.840 It may fade, you know, maybe the slander fades, but you're really 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.600 never gonna get it back, which is why God draws such a 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.680 bright line around not going anywhere near robbing a man of his 00:13:05.680 --> 00:13:08.560 reputation. It's that important, because there's no undo. 00:13:08.560 --> 00:13:11.440 Just like there's no undo for murder. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:13.600 You can't fix it once you've done it. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.560 And so the only thing that we as Christians can do is 00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:20.480 stay as far away as possible from robbing a man of his 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:21.760 reputation in the first place. 00:13:21.760 --> 00:13:25.520 And there's a lot to say about how we prevent that. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:29.600 So to start off this episode before we get to some of 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:33.440 the verses dealing with slander, I want to make sure that we 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.640 all understand a little bit about the terms that we are using 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.960 as we are using them. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:42.160 And the reason for this is that in English, when we hear 00:13:42.160 --> 00:13:47.360 the word slander, what we generally hear is a legal term, because 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:52.320 the legal profession, for better or worse, has managed to monopolize this 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:53.600 particular term. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:55.200 And that's for a number of reasons. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.520 People have watched a lot of crime dramas and things like that. 00:13:57.520 --> 00:14:02.880 And so slander means, to the English ear, the publication of a 00:14:02.880 --> 00:14:07.280 false statement, which is essentially the legal definition of it. 00:14:07.280 --> 00:14:09.920 And you may be thinking, well, there's the difference between slander and 00:14:09.920 --> 00:14:12.320 libel, and they're both kinds of defamation, which is true. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.160 That's not the point of the episode. 00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:16.160 But the point I want to make about the term slander 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:21.360 is that used in this context in the moral context in the 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.920 context of scripture in the Christian life, it does not have the 00:14:25.920 --> 00:14:29.120 exact same scope as slander used in the 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:31.760 secular courts. 00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:37.040 So we're not necessarily just speaking about a false statement that is 00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:42.560 published, a statement that is designed to harm another person, that part 00:14:42.560 --> 00:14:47.200 is more important, which is not actually as important for the civil 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:51.920 courts. But we'll leave aside the civil courts for now because that's 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.760 not again not the point of the episode. 00:14:55.760 --> 00:15:00.080 And so to give you an idea of the difference in scope, 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:06.080 slander what is prohibited by all of the various injunctions in scripture 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:10.400 dealing with false witness and speaking ill against your neighbor, that's the 00:15:10.400 --> 00:15:12.240 key here. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.000 Speaking the truth may very well be included. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.480 Let me be careful about what exactly I mean by that. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.160 If you know a secret about your neighbor that is scandalous, that 00:15:24.160 --> 00:15:27.200 would harm him if it were published, and you go out and 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.400 become a gossip which gossip is a related matter that is also 00:15:30.400 --> 00:15:34.000 a sin but you go out and become a gossip, and you 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.400 spread this far and wide, you are causing him reputational harm that 00:15:38.400 --> 00:15:41.600 probably cannot be undone, and you are doing it with what is 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.000 ostensibly a truth. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.760 That is still speaking ill of your neighbor, that is still something 00:15:47.760 --> 00:15:51.280 that you as a Christian are prohibited from doing. 00:15:51.280 --> 00:15:55.520 And so in the civil courts, that would not be slander, because 00:15:55.520 --> 00:15:57.840 truth is an absolute defense. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:02.320 However, in God's court, it is a different matter. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:06.320 Just because something is true and just because you know it does 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.440 not mean that you get to publish it to the world. 00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:12.960 There are secrets and there are things that you may know about 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:17.440 your neighbor about those closest to you that you should keep secret, 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.880 that you should take to your grave with you, because you are 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:23.520 doing it to defend your neighbor, you are doing it in order 00:16:23.520 --> 00:16:26.800 to live peaceably with those around you. 00:16:26.800 --> 00:16:29.760 And so it is important to keep in mind that there is 00:16:29.760 --> 00:16:33.840 a different scope of the term slander as we will be using 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.960 it and as scripture uses it, if you look at the underlying 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.400 Greek term, some of this is perhaps a little more clear. 00:16:40.400 --> 00:16:43.360 I don't think we'll really get into the Greek too heavily in 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.080 this episode because that's not the point. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:51.440 The point is that you bear in mind that slander is speaking 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:53.040 ill of your neighbor. 00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:57.120 And to speak ill of your neighbor does not necessarily imply, and 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:01.440 does not necessarily entail, that what you are saying about your neighbour 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:04.160 is in fact false. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:07.760 Rather it is something that is said to harm your neighbor, or 00:17:07.760 --> 00:17:11.920 that could harm your neighbor, or perhaps will harm your neighbor, something 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:15.280 that you should not be saying, something you should not be spreading 00:17:15.280 --> 00:17:20.160 abroad. Because again, just because you know a fact does not mean 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:23.120 that you are entitled to share it with others, does not mean 00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:26.240 that you are entitled to publish it. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:30.800 Now, in most cases, of course, it is going to be true 00:17:31.280 --> 00:17:33.680 that slander is false. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:38.800 That is just, even in this context of the theological context, of 00:17:38.800 --> 00:17:43.280 the scriptural context, slander is typically going to be something that is 00:17:43.280 --> 00:17:46.720 false. I just want you to bear in mind as we go 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:52.560 through this episode that it is not necessarily false, because the scriptural 00:17:52.560 --> 00:17:58.240 range, the scriptural sense of slander is broader than what you naturally 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:02.160 hear when you're thinking of the civil law sense of the term. 00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:08.480 So after God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, which includes thou shalt 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.360 not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 00:18:11.360 --> 00:18:17.680 In Deuteronomy 19, it goes into some more detail about the consequences 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.040 for violating this law. 00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:25.600 God says a single witness shall not suffice against a person for 00:18:25.600 --> 00:18:28.640 any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:30.160 he has committed. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:34.000 Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:35.840 a charge be established. 00:18:35.840 --> 00:18:40.000 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:43.360 both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the 00:18:43.360 --> 00:18:47.360 priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 00:18:47.760 --> 00:18:51.440 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.600 witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to 00:18:55.600 --> 00:18:58.480 him as he had meant to do to his brother. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.080 So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and the rest 00:19:02.080 --> 00:19:06.320 shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil 00:19:06.320 --> 00:19:07.200 among you. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.040 Your eye shall not pity, it shall be life for life, eye 00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:16.240 for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:21.120 In the capitalism episode, we mentioned that this was a corollary in 00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:23.680 parts to the law of Hammurabi. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:26.800 And I point out in that episode, and I'll reiterate here that 00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:32.480 one of the really interesting laws of Hammurabi in terms of an 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.000 eye for an eye, which it went on extensively, much more so 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.720 even than the Old Testament, There is the example given that if 00:19:41.040 --> 00:19:44.880 you go to your neighbor's house because it's on fire and you're 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:47.840 helping to put out the fire in his home, and you see 00:19:47.840 --> 00:19:50.960 something of his, some of his property that you desire, and you 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:55.040 steal it from the burning home, if you loot, the punishment for 00:19:55.040 --> 00:19:58.480 looting is that you are to be thrown into the self same 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:01.440 fire. In other words, you're to be executed on the spot if 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.320 you steal your neighbor's stuff. 00:20:04.320 --> 00:20:06.640 When God says an eye for an eye and a tooth for 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.800 tooth here, it's consistent with that, which, as we pointed out there, 00:20:10.800 --> 00:20:16.560 was in in evidence that this notion was not in fact some 00:20:16.800 --> 00:20:23.920 archaic Barbaric, prehistoric, animalistic thing like we're told it is today. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:25.440 It was God's law. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.320 Now, this was how it was laid out for his people, and 00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:33.680 it illustrates a principle, but it does not today as we've said 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.120 in other episodes, it does not bind what the civil law should 00:20:37.120 --> 00:20:38.320 be today. 00:20:38.320 --> 00:20:42.880 So when we point to this, we're not saying these are exactly 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:44.960 what the punishments should be today. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:48.720 However, these are certainly within the moral bounds of punishments that are 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:52.000 acceptable. The only way you can say that this is immoral is 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.520 to accuse God of sin. 00:20:53.520 --> 00:20:55.360 Congratulations, you're going to hell. 00:20:55.360 --> 00:20:58.400 You're certainly not listening to this podcast unless you're a hate listener, 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:01.200 because no Christian would say, Well, that's God's evil. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:03.440 I I I don't that's not my God. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.080 Many people in the church today, that is their response. 00:21:06.080 --> 00:21:09.040 When they hear what God says, in some cases in the Old 00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:11.280 Testament, their response is well that's evil. 00:21:11.280 --> 00:21:13.040 I that's that's not my God. 00:21:13.040 --> 00:21:14.640 That is a true confession. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:18.080 Men who say that they hate this, hate God, they're going to 00:21:18.080 --> 00:21:20.560 spend eternity with the other guy. 00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:25.840 Now, the obvious argument against what I have just said here, it's 00:21:25.840 --> 00:21:29.680 a bad argument, it's a specious argument, but the cheap shot would 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:34.000 be to quote Matthew 5, where Jesus said in the Sermon on 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:37.040 the Mount, You have heard it, that it is said, an eye 00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:39.440 for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:42.720 to you, do not resist the one who is evil, but if 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.920 anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:46.240 also 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:52.560 What's useful in illustrating what is going on when someone quotes that 00:21:52.560 --> 00:21:58.080 sort of passage against the Old Testament is that it completely misconstrues 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.280 the context of who was being addressed. 00:22:01.280 --> 00:22:04.160 To whom was God speaking in Deuteronomy 19? 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:05.680 What was he establishing? 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.000 He was establishing civil laws. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.600 He was saying in effect to the government, this is how the 00:22:11.600 --> 00:22:12.800 state shall govern. 00:22:12.800 --> 00:22:15.680 He Here are the rules, here are the laws, here are the 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.760 penalties. Jesus is not addressing that audience. 00:22:19.760 --> 00:22:21.360 To whom is he speaking? 00:22:21.360 --> 00:22:25.600 Jesus is talking to us as individuals and to them as individuals, 00:22:25.600 --> 00:22:29.040 saying to us, You, I do not hold an eye for an 00:22:29.040 --> 00:22:30.480 eye and a tooth for a tooth. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.200 That is absolutely binding upon us. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.520 Because it's not even in view of what's being said in Deuteronomy. 00:22:37.520 --> 00:22:40.960 When Jesus said that, and when he says it to us, it's 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:45.600 not said past tense, Jesus is saying that for us as individuals, 00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:49.760 we don't get to say, Well, you slandered me, you hurt me, 00:22:49.760 --> 00:22:51.520 I'm gonna hurt you back. 00:22:51.760 --> 00:22:57.200 Absolutely impermissible, unchristian, not what we think, not what we've ever said, 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:58.720 totally out of bounds. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.160 But it doesn't overthrow what is said in Deuteronomy, which is what 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:03.760 no one wants to pay attention to. 00:23:03.760 --> 00:23:07.280 When Jesus was sitting on the mount preaching to a crowd, he 00:23:07.280 --> 00:23:09.920 was not establishing a new government. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:14.080 He was talking, as Cory was saying earlier, about Christians are to 00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:18.160 live with and among each other, and among even our pagan neighbors. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:21.520 When we When a neighbor who's a pagan or a Christian does 00:23:21.520 --> 00:23:25.840 something to you, you don't automatically seek justice yourself. 00:23:25.840 --> 00:23:28.000 You don't seek retribution. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:29.920 That is what is impermissible. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.560 And you know how I can say this with absolute certainty? 00:23:32.560 --> 00:23:35.360 Because I don't ignore the rest of Matthew 5. 00:23:35.360 --> 00:23:39.200 If you scroll up just a couple paragraphs, Jesus says this before 00:23:39.280 --> 00:23:41.520 he says, You have heard it said, an eye for an eye 00:23:41.520 --> 00:23:42.480 and a tooth for tooth. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:43.840 This is what he said first. 00:23:43.840 --> 00:23:46.480 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:47.360 the prophets. 00:23:47.360 --> 00:23:49.920 I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:53.120 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, 00:23:53.120 --> 00:23:56.240 not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:58.400 all is accomplished. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.480 Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:05.040 others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom 00:24:05.040 --> 00:24:08.240 of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:10.800 great in the kingdom of heaven. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:15.760 So the only way that you can possibly say, well, Jesus overthrew 00:24:15.760 --> 00:24:20.480 that is to say that Jesus was violating what he said three 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:22.240 paragraphs previous. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:24.480 Jesus was not abolishing the law. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.840 Jesus was not relaxing one of the least of these commandments. 00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:30.880 When you actually look at what was but said in the intervening 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.240 lines, it also discusses the fifth commandment and the sixth commandment. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.600 It's when Jesus says you've heard it said you shall not murder, 00:24:37.600 --> 00:24:39.280 I tell you don't hate. 00:24:39.280 --> 00:24:42.960 Why? Because murder begins in the heart as hatred. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:46.000 You've heard it said do not commit adultery, I say unto you, 00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:47.120 do not lust. 00:24:47.120 --> 00:24:50.960 Why? Because all adultery begins in the heart as lust. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:55.440 Therefore, if you wish to follow the command in the ten commandments, 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:57.120 you begin in your heart. 00:24:57.120 --> 00:25:00.960 He was making things much more strict than the Pharisees had. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:02.960 He was doing the opposite of what we're told today. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.120 Oh, Jesus was loosening everything up. 00:25:05.120 --> 00:25:09.360 No, he was making it very clear that every single Pharisee was 00:25:09.360 --> 00:25:13.040 said, I uphold the law fully, as a liar and as a 00:25:13.040 --> 00:25:14.400 damned fool. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:18.640 Because no man is free from murder, not in his heart. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:21.360 No man is free from lust, not in his heart, with the 00:25:21.360 --> 00:25:25.040 incredibly rare exception of the man who is actually celibate. 00:25:25.040 --> 00:25:27.120 That has a zero interest whatsoever. 00:25:27.120 --> 00:25:28.960 That's not anyone who's listening. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.040 It's certainly not anyone who's speaking. 00:25:31.040 --> 00:25:32.960 These sins are our sins. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.280 And when the Ten Commandments are said, you shall not murder, you 00:25:37.280 --> 00:25:40.800 shall not commit adultery, don't steal, the reason that nine and ten 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.840 are there in the tenth commandments about coveting is that that is 00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:45.840 the root of stealing. 00:25:45.840 --> 00:25:49.680 And so when we're looking at slander, it's important to keep in 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.920 mind that bearing false witness and slandering are hand in hand, because 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:58.960 when Deuteronomy nineteen says the penalty for bearing false witness is that 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:02.960 you receive whatever punishment would come upon the guilty man. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.720 If you accuse someone of something and he's found guilty of it, 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:10.080 if you lied and has discovered that you lied, you face the 00:26:10.080 --> 00:26:13.200 punishment for that crime that you made up that he would have 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:17.920 faced. Which means, for example, if a president of a synod goes 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:21.760 to the FBI and accuses Corey and me of terrorism. 00:26:21.760 --> 00:26:25.280 He makes up false charges to the feds to try to get 00:26:25.280 --> 00:26:26.720 us swatted. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.880 That would cause us to be killed. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:33.760 Under Deuteronomy nineteen, under God's law, the just punishment for that would 00:26:33.760 --> 00:26:36.080 be the execution of that man. 00:26:36.080 --> 00:26:39.840 Now, we no longer have any govern godly government, and we're certainly 00:26:39.840 --> 00:26:44.000 not permitted to seek personal retribution, so what do we trust? 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:47.360 We trust that God will sort these things out in His time 00:26:47.360 --> 00:26:50.160 and in His day, and we know with certainty that they will 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:51.360 be sorted out. 00:26:51.360 --> 00:26:54.800 It would be better for men to receive the punishment in this 00:26:54.800 --> 00:26:58.000 life for their wickedness than to receive it in the next. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:00.640 Unfortunately for them, that's not gonna happen. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:04.160 They will get away with these things until they die, and then 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:07.520 they will not get away with them anymore because they're not repentant. 00:27:07.520 --> 00:27:12.880 This stuff is life or death eternally, not only temporally. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.200 So a lot of times people say, oh, they're focusing on the 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:18.080 Old Testament. 00:27:18.080 --> 00:27:20.640 We're focusing on God's word. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:25.200 If you subordinate the Old Testament as a lesser version of the 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:27.360 New Testament, you're denying that God is God. 00:27:27.360 --> 00:27:30.000 You're saying that there was a junior God and a senior God, 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.040 or there was a demiurge, and then there was a full fledged 00:27:33.040 --> 00:27:36.960 deity that came with Jesus or from you know the same time. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:38.240 It's not Christian. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:42.320 That's all manner of heresy that's been dispatched in history. 00:27:42.320 --> 00:27:46.160 The same God, it was Jesus who delivered Deuteronomy nineteen. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:49.440 It was the same Jesus who delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses, 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.480 who said, I do not come to abrogate the law but to 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:53.760 fulfill it. 00:27:53.760 --> 00:27:55.760 We have to believe that. 00:27:55.760 --> 00:28:00.560 And so when we see how slander, how false witness is treated, 00:28:00.560 --> 00:28:03.760 when the penalty can be death, no, it's not always the case. 00:28:03.760 --> 00:28:07.840 If the slander would cause death, then the penalty biblically would be 00:28:07.840 --> 00:28:11.920 death. But there may be lesser penalties, but that's just an illustration 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.440 of how serious this is. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:14.960 It's that serious. 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:18.480 If you bear false witness and you could get someone killed with 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:18.720 it, 00:28:19.840 --> 00:28:21.600 that's the punishment. 00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:24.160 As we said, we're going to wrap up with the crucifixion of 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:26.400 Jesus, where that's precisely what happened. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.880 The Pharisees bear bore false witness against him and he was murdered 00:28:31.040 --> 00:28:34.400 for their sins and for my sins, for your sins. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.000 And thank God for it. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:39.120 If not for their wickedness, for the wickedness of Judas who doxed 00:28:39.120 --> 00:28:42.880 Jesus with a kiss and all these other things, we would have 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:43.920 no forgiveness of sins. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:47.520 So God permitted that evil to occur so that he could do 00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:48.480 good for us. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:53.040 But it doesn't change the nature of the evil that's underlying what 00:28:53.040 --> 00:28:55.200 we're dealing with here today. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:58.720 I did say that we would not go over too much Greek 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:02.240 in this episode, but I do want to go over four Greek 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:08.560 verbs just briefly, because these are the four most important verbs in 00:29:09.360 --> 00:29:13.120 the language of the Greek Old Testament and New Testament relating to 00:29:13.120 --> 00:29:17.280 the issue of slander and the scope of what that means. 00:29:17.280 --> 00:29:21.520 The first is katalaleo, which means to speak ill of another, and 00:29:21.520 --> 00:29:24.160 we have that a number of the verses we'll be going over 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:29.760 shortly. The other is Katamarpure, which is to testify against. 00:29:29.760 --> 00:29:32.160 That one does not necessarily mean to slander. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:35.040 That one could be used of testifying against someone in court. 00:29:35.040 --> 00:29:38.240 You are not slandering a person when you speak truthfully in court, 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:39.200 that is permitted. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:41.360 We're not telling you to lie on the stand, that is a 00:29:41.360 --> 00:29:43.040 different matter. 00:29:43.040 --> 00:29:46.640 And as a Christian in fact you are required to speak truthfully 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:49.120 in court, not least of all because you will be under oath 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:51.280 before God. 00:29:51.280 --> 00:29:55.520 But then the term that is present in the Old Testament, in 00:29:55.520 --> 00:29:59.840 the Septuagint, when we have thou shalt not bear false witness against 00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:01.120 thy neighbor 00:30:02.080 --> 00:30:06.400 is pseudo martureo, which you may note that there is a similar 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:07.040 word there 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:11.200 as in the last Greek verb that I mentioned, and that is 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:15.360 because there's Martu Maturo which is to witness is to testify. 00:30:15.360 --> 00:30:19.040 This is related to the word martyr because what martyr means is 00:30:19.040 --> 00:30:19.920 witness 00:30:20.800 --> 00:30:25.200 and you may recognise from English pseudo false, so it is to 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.160 bear false witness is all that verb means. 00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:33.520 And the last one is blasphemeo, which is to slander, revile, defame, 00:30:33.520 --> 00:30:34.560 to blaspheme. 00:30:34.560 --> 00:30:37.280 That one is very obvious since it's basically the same verb in 00:30:37.280 --> 00:30:38.480 English and in Greek. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:43.200 So to speak irreverently or impiously would be another sense of that 00:30:43.520 --> 00:30:50.400 verb. And so those are essentially the verbs that encompass the scope 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:54.240 of the topic of slander within the scriptural context, what we will 00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.680 be discussing in this episode and the verses we'll be going over 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:05.600 shortly. But I want to read a quick selection from the 00:31:05.600 --> 00:31:09.840 large catechism on the Eighth Commandment specifically. 00:31:09.840 --> 00:31:15.760 In his commentary on the Eighth Commandment, Luther distinguishes essentially three different 00:31:15.760 --> 00:31:21.200 kinds of slander, three different kinds of violations of the eighth commandment. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:24.880 The first is to bear false witness in the public courts, which 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:28.560 is the standard definition that will come to mind for most people 00:31:28.560 --> 00:31:29.440 when they think of this. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:31.520 It is to speak falsely on the stand. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:34.160 It is to be a lying witness. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:37.920 The second is to bear false witness in spiritual matters, which is 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:40.560 to attack true teachers. 00:31:40.560 --> 00:31:43.040 It is to say that those who are teaching the truth are 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:46.160 in fact liars. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:47.360 That is the second kind. 00:31:47.360 --> 00:31:49.600 It's in spiritual matters. 00:31:49.600 --> 00:31:51.760 And then the third is lying. 00:31:51.760 --> 00:31:53.600 It is bearing false witness. 00:31:53.600 --> 00:31:56.080 It is more encompassing. 00:31:56.080 --> 00:31:59.360 It is broader than just lying in the sense of saying something 00:31:59.360 --> 00:32:02.400 false. It is to speak ill of another. 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:03.840 And this is the most common one. 00:32:03.840 --> 00:32:05.760 This is what we see in everyday life. 00:32:05.760 --> 00:32:09.440 Of course we see plenty of the second version in today's world, 00:32:09.280 --> 00:32:09.840 since most 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:14.160 actually true teachers of Christianity are attacked as false because they don't 00:32:14.080 --> 00:32:15.760 line up with the world religion. 00:32:15.760 --> 00:32:19.920 But what we see most often is this third sense, and so 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:23.840 I want to read what Luther says about that one just briefly. 00:32:23.840 --> 00:32:28.400 In the third place which concerns us all, this commandment forbids all 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.920 sins of the tongue, by which we may injure or confront our 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:35.200 neighbour. To bear false witness is nothing else than a work of 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:35.520 the tongue 00:32:36.560 --> 00:32:40.800 Now God prohibits whatever is done with the tongue against a fellow 00:32:40.800 --> 00:32:45.440 man. This applies to false preachers with their doctrine and blasphemy, false 00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:49.440 judges and witnesses with their verdict, or outside of court by lying 00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:51.440 and speaking evil. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:57.200 Here belongs particularly the detestable shameful vice of speaking behind a person's 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:01.040 back and slandering, to which the devil spurs us on, and of 00:33:01.040 --> 00:33:02.800 which much could be said. 00:33:02.800 --> 00:33:06.080 For it is a common evil plague that every one prefers hearing 00:33:06.080 --> 00:33:09.520 evil more than hearing good about his neighbor. 00:33:09.520 --> 00:33:13.280 We ourselves are so bad that we cannot allow any one to 00:33:13.280 --> 00:33:15.280 say anything bad about us. 00:33:15.280 --> 00:33:18.560 Everyone would much prefer that all the world should speak of him 00:33:18.560 --> 00:33:22.480 in glowing terms, yet we cannot bear that the best is spoken 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:23.760 about others. 00:33:23.760 --> 00:33:27.040 To avoid this vice we should note that no one is allowed 00:33:27.040 --> 00:33:30.640 publicly to judge and reprove his neighbor, even even though he may 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:34.720 see him sin, unless he has a command to judge and reprove. 00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:39.520 There is a great difference between these two things, judging sin and 00:33:39.520 --> 00:33:40.880 knowing about sin. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:43.680 You may indeed know about it, but you are not to judge 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:47.280 it. I can indeed see and hear that my neighbour sins, but 00:33:47.280 --> 00:33:50.000 I have no command to report it to others. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.240 Now if I rush in, judging and passing sentence, I fall into 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.400 a sin that is greater than his. 00:33:56.400 --> 00:33:59.280 But if you know about it, do nothing other than turn your 00:33:59.280 --> 00:34:02.720 ears into a grave and cover it, until you are appointed to 00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:06.640 be judge and to punish by virtue of your office. 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:10.800 People are called slanderers who are not content with knowing a thing, 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.280 but go on to assume jurisdiction. 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.880 When they know about a slight offense committed by another person, they 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:18.480 carry it to every corner. 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:22.400 They are delighted and tickled that they can stir up another's displeasure, 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:25.840 just as swine delight to roll themselves in the dirt and root 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:27.280 in it with the snout. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.880 This is nothing other than meddling with God's judgment and office, and 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:34.960 pronouncing sentence and punishment with the most with the most severe verdict, 00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:38.720 for no judge can punish to a higher degree, nor go farther 00:34:38.720 --> 00:34:42.640 than to say that person is a thief, a murderer, a traitor, 00:34:42.640 --> 00:34:43.840 and so on. 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:48.480 Therefore, whoever presumes to say the same things about his neighbor goes 00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:52.000 just as far as the Emperor in all governments, for although you 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:55.680 do not wield the sword, you use your poisonous tongue to shame 00:34:55.680 --> 00:34:57.200 and hurt your neighbour. 00:34:57.200 --> 00:35:01.760 God therefore would have such behaviour banned, that any one should speak 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:05.440 evil of another person, even though that person is guilty, and the 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:09.040 latter knows it well, much less if any one does not know 00:35:09.040 --> 00:35:11.840 it, and has the story only from hearsay. 00:35:11.840 --> 00:35:14.640 But you say, shall I not say something if it is the 00:35:14.640 --> 00:35:16.240 truth? Answer. 00:35:16.240 --> 00:35:19.680 Why do you not make your accusation to regular judges? 00:35:19.680 --> 00:35:22.720 Ah I cannot prove it, and so I might be silenced and 00:35:22.720 --> 00:35:26.480 turned away in a harsh manner Ah indeed, do you smell the 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:31.280 roast? I will take the moment to explain the smell the roast 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:35.840 that is the Germanic equivalent do you smell a rat? 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:40.080 So when we think of slander, it is important to recognize again, 00:35:40.080 --> 00:35:43.440 this ties into what I said earlier about the scope of what 00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:45.520 it means to slander. 00:35:45.520 --> 00:35:48.160 It's not that you can't speak the truth. 00:35:48.160 --> 00:35:53.600 It's that private matters must sometimes be permitted to remain private. 00:35:53.600 --> 00:35:56.960 Just because you know them does not mean you are entitled to 00:35:56.960 --> 00:35:58.960 spread them abroad. 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:01.520 A great deal of this is practical. 00:36:01.520 --> 00:36:05.840 Yes, there is the moral aspect obviously and God will severely punish 00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:09.200 the violation of this not just because it's his commandment, but this 00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:11.680 is something that God particularly detests. 00:36:11.680 --> 00:36:15.280 It is listed in several places in scripture as something that God 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:18.640 That God abhors, he hates this. 00:36:18.640 --> 00:36:22.720 But it is also a matter of simply living in a Christian 00:36:22.720 --> 00:36:28.480 society. You cannot live with other people if everyone is constantly slandering 00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:31.200 and backbiting, which is another way you can translate some of the 00:36:31.200 --> 00:36:33.040 terms in what I just read. 00:36:33.040 --> 00:36:36.240 Traduce is a great English word that we really should use more 00:36:36.240 --> 00:36:42.560 often. But you cannot live in a society with other Christians if 00:36:42.560 --> 00:36:47.920 you don't let some things slide, if you don't fail to remember 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:53.520 something. This is an aspect of living in a fallen society in 00:36:53.520 --> 00:36:55.840 which we do in fact live. 00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:59.920 We are not perfect, our fellow Christians are not perfect. 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:04.240 One of the ways that I have often highlighted the difference between 00:37:04.240 --> 00:37:07.920 what we can interpret here as the best construction, the Lutherans in 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:12.640 the audience will be very familiar with that term, the difference between 00:37:12.640 --> 00:37:18.560 the appropriate application of best construction and the inappropriate expansion of it 00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:22.720 would be the difference between a politician and your neighbor who borrows 00:37:22.720 --> 00:37:25.520 a power tool of some kind. 00:37:25.520 --> 00:37:30.640 A politician who goes on TV and starts making promises, you are 00:37:30.640 --> 00:37:31.920 permitted to assess those. 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:35.920 You are permitted to assess the truthfulness, the history, the reputation, the 00:37:35.920 --> 00:37:38.240 character, all of these things about that politician. 00:37:38.240 --> 00:37:41.120 That is a public office, he is standing up and saying these 00:37:41.120 --> 00:37:42.080 things publicly. 00:37:42.080 --> 00:37:43.520 It is a different matter. 00:37:43.520 --> 00:37:45.840 He's not really your neighbor. 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:48.480 Unless you happen to be someone who lives where he literally is 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:51.120 your neighbor, but then it's a different matter. 00:37:51.120 --> 00:37:55.440 Your actual neighbor, the man who lives next door to you, if 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:59.920 he borrows your chainsaw or whatever tool it happens to be, whichever 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:03.680 one your neighbor borrows from you, and he doesn't return it, best 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:09.120 construction, which you should do, is to say he forgot. 00:38:09.120 --> 00:38:11.520 Not that he kept it and he wanted to steal it or 00:38:11.520 --> 00:38:14.640 he's trying to keep it Keep your tool longer than you permitted 00:38:14.640 --> 00:38:16.880 him to do it or whatever it happens to be. 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:18.080 No, he forgot. 00:38:18.080 --> 00:38:19.440 That's best construction. 00:38:19.440 --> 00:38:21.760 That is what you as a Christian should do because that is 00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:26.160 how we live with our neighbors as fellow Christians. 00:38:26.160 --> 00:38:28.720 That is what keeps things running, as it were. 00:38:28.720 --> 00:38:34.080 That is a practical consideration, but it is also a moral consideration. 00:38:34.080 --> 00:38:38.720 The overarching purpose of this episode, though, is the focus on the 00:38:38.720 --> 00:38:45.200 morality of what precisely slander is, what Christians should be doing in 00:38:45.200 --> 00:38:49.200 response to slander or not doing as is often the case, and 00:38:49.200 --> 00:38:53.040 to some degree how society should be structured, with regard to slander 00:38:53.040 --> 00:38:55.920 and the punishment of it, as Will was just mentioning, with how 00:38:55.920 --> 00:39:01.760 doxing should be punished, because it is in fact often attempted murder. 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:06.800 It is certainly murder, morally speaking, but it is even legally speaking 00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:09.840 it should very well be attempted murder and it should be punished 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:11.440 appropriately. 00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:15.680 I'm sure that as some of you were listening to that description 00:39:15.680 --> 00:39:20.080 from Luther's explanation of the Eighth Commandment, you were probably thinking, wasn't 00:39:20.160 --> 00:39:22.720 that what you guys are doing to pastors on the internet? 00:39:22.720 --> 00:39:26.160 Isn't that what you guys do to pastors on Stone Choir? 00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:28.480 The answer is no. 00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:32.160 If you read on in that explanation, which we'll link in the 00:39:32.160 --> 00:39:36.000 show notes, as well as once again, we're going to link the 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:40.880 Marquardt essay that we've mentioned numerous times in the past dealing with 00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:42.960 theological controversies. 00:39:43.600 --> 00:39:49.040 We speak publicly about men who are lying, who are slandering God, 00:39:49.040 --> 00:39:53.440 who are blaspheming God, in the name of God, in their pastoral 00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:58.320 office. Everything that a pastor does is per se public theologically. 00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:03.280 Pastors are not entitled to private theological opinions. 00:40:03.280 --> 00:40:08.160 If these guys were just random people who didn't matter, there'd be 00:40:08.160 --> 00:40:09.760 nothing for us to say. 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:12.560 And the only times that we've engaged with men who are not 00:40:12.560 --> 00:40:16.560 pastors they would otherwise fall under that category is when they first 00:40:16.560 --> 00:40:17.840 attack us. 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:21.600 The one thing that I will not do is permit this sort 00:40:21.600 --> 00:40:26.000 of slander to go on inside the church unrebuked. 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.800 It's not a question of turning the other cheek because it's a 00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:30.320 different context. 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:34.560 As I was saying in the intro, when someone hates us, it's 00:40:34.560 --> 00:40:35.520 God that they hate. 00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:37.040 It's not that we're God. 00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:40.320 It's that there's nothing that we're doing or saying here that is 00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:42.160 not consonant with scripture. 00:40:42.160 --> 00:40:44.080 And the fruits bear that out. 00:40:44.080 --> 00:40:48.640 The fruits of these podcasts bear out that we're doing God's work, 00:40:48.640 --> 00:40:52.000 or rather, God is doing work through what we say. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.800 That is what is hated, that is what is slandered. 00:40:54.800 --> 00:40:56.640 So the hatred of 00:40:57.600 --> 00:41:01.920 this, of what you're listening to, is hatred of God. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:07.120 The past the pastors who do that are entirely outside of the 00:41:07.120 --> 00:41:09.360 protections of the eighth commandment. 00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:13.120 Because not only is everything that we say about them true, everything 00:41:13.120 --> 00:41:16.560 that they do in their public conduct as pastors is per se 00:41:16.560 --> 00:41:23.600 public. They are as pastors slandering Christians in order to destroy reputations, 00:41:23.600 --> 00:41:26.800 in order to safeguard their destruction of souls. 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:30.000 This is a spiritual warfare that I was talking about earlier. 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.720 This is not just a clash of opinions or personalities. 00:41:34.720 --> 00:41:37.680 It's not that we just have different ideas about what the Bible 00:41:37.680 --> 00:41:41.520 says. There's good and there's evil, and everyone is on one side 00:41:41.520 --> 00:41:42.560 or the other. 00:41:42.560 --> 00:41:45.840 And I make a lot of people uncomfortable when I use this 00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:48.320 chalk that many call strident. 00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:50.720 It's not strident, it's a bright line. 00:41:50.720 --> 00:41:55.600 You don't find much mealy mouth stuff coming from God in the 00:41:55.600 --> 00:42:01.040 Bible. You do find God saying that he despises the lukewarm and 00:42:01.040 --> 00:42:04.560 he will spew them from his mouth, saying he would wish that 00:42:04.560 --> 00:42:06.320 you would be hot or cold. 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:11.360 It's the fence sitters and the splitters and the consensus seekers who 00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:14.720 don't want anyone to ever be angry, so they never say anything 00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:19.760 that could possibly condemn anyone who are actually a threat. 00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:22.320 When a man stands up and said, This is this is good 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:24.800 and this is evil, it draws a line. 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:26.800 And that is what terrifies these men. 00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:29.520 So when we speak, it's against that sort of man. 00:42:29.520 --> 00:42:32.240 It's against the demons who are operating them. 00:42:32.240 --> 00:42:35.280 And we will continue to do so because the eighth commandment is 00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:37.680 not remotely in view. 00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:40.800 Just to emphasize what Woe was saying here, I will go ahead 00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:44.960 and read it's one paragraph almost at the end of this section 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:46.960 of the large catechism on the eighth commandment. 00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:50.800 It is about the difference between secret sins and public sins. 00:42:50.800 --> 00:42:54.880 And this is the most salient point for what we do on 00:42:55.200 --> 00:43:01.040 this podcast, what others are doing on other podcasts or websites and 00:43:01.040 --> 00:43:05.520 rebuking public teachers and such this is paragraph two hundred and eighty 00:43:05.520 --> 00:43:07.600 four of the large catechism. 00:43:07.600 --> 00:43:11.280 All this has been said about secret sins, but where the sin 00:43:11.280 --> 00:43:15.200 is quite public, so that the judge and everybody know about it, 00:43:15.200 --> 00:43:18.960 you can without any sin shun the offender and let him go 00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:22.960 his own way, because he had brought himself into disgrace. 00:43:22.960 --> 00:43:26.720 You may also publicly testify about him, for when a matter is 00:43:26.720 --> 00:43:30.400 public in the daylight, there can be no slandering or false judging 00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:31.600 or testifying. 00:43:31.600 --> 00:43:34.640 It is like when we now rebuke the Pope with his doctrine, 00:43:34.640 --> 00:43:37.520 which is publicly set forth in books and proclaimed in all the 00:43:37.520 --> 00:43:42.640 world. Where the sin is public, the rebuke also must be public, 00:43:42.640 --> 00:43:46.160 that every one may learn to guard against it. 00:43:46.160 --> 00:43:50.160 And so what Luther is rightly noting here Is that there is 00:43:50.240 --> 00:43:54.160 in fact not just a sort of exception to the general rule, 00:43:54.160 --> 00:43:57.280 because it's not an exception, it's without the scope of the rule 00:43:57.440 --> 00:44:02.880 entirely. The point here is that there is a duty for Christian 00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:06.640 men, and particularly those who have been given the necessary gifts in 00:44:06.640 --> 00:44:11.840 order to teach, to rebuke false doctrine, to rebuke false teachers, because 00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:13.760 that is how you protect the sheep. 00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:17.920 If false teachers and false doctrine are not rebuked, they will continue 00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:21.920 to lead sheep astray, and so they must be rebuked. 00:44:21.920 --> 00:44:24.960 And doing that is not at all a violation of the eighth 00:44:24.960 --> 00:44:27.840 commandment. It has nothing to do with slander. 00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:32.480 In fact, it is the opposite of slander, because as I read 00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:36.480 in that previous section from the large catechism, one of the worst 00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:39.920 violations of this is those who teach falsely. 00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:44.560 It's bearing false witness, but it's bearing false witness against God. 00:44:44.560 --> 00:44:49.600 And so rebuking that is in fact the opposite of slander. 00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:53.840 Before we get into the rest of the scriptural citations, I just 00:44:53.840 --> 00:44:58.000 want to give to give two brief secular examples that illustrate that 00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:01.840 this is also just basic human wisdom. 00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:05.520 When we're talking about lies and how they spread versus the truth 00:45:05.600 --> 00:45:07.840 and how it spreads, we've all seen it. 00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:10.560 You know, we know the game of telephone. 00:45:10.560 --> 00:45:14.000 Here's a quote from Jonathan Swift. 00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:18.000 Few lies carry the inventor's mark, and the most prostitute enemy to 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:20.880 truth may spread a thousand with thousand without being known for the 00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:25.360 author. Besides, as the vilest writer has his readers, so the greatest 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:29.120 liar has his believers, and it often happens that if a lie 00:45:29.120 --> 00:45:32.240 be believed for only an hour, it has done its work, and 00:45:32.240 --> 00:45:35.360 there is no further occasion for it. 00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:39.280 Falsehood flies and truth comes limping after it, so that when men 00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:42.240 come to be undeceived it is too late, the jest is over, 00:45:42.240 --> 00:45:44.320 and the tale is at its effect. 00:45:44.320 --> 00:45:47.440 Like a man who has thought of a good reparte when the 00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:51.280 discourse is changed, or the company parted, or like a physician who 00:45:51.280 --> 00:45:56.320 has found an infallible medicine after the patient is dead. 00:45:56.320 --> 00:46:01.840 And another briefer quote from Charles Spurgeon If you want truth to 00:46:01.840 --> 00:46:04.880 go round the world, you must hire an express train to pull 00:46:04.880 --> 00:46:06.880 it. But if you want a lie to go round the world 00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:07.920 it will fly. 00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:10.320 It is as light as a feather and a breath will carry 00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:13.360 it. It is well said in the old proverb: a lie will 00:46:13.360 --> 00:46:17.920 go around the world while the truth is putting its boots on. 00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:20.720 The latter is one I think we're all familiar with, and that's 00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:22.960 exactly how these things play out. 00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:25.680 There's nothing juicier than gossip. 00:46:25.680 --> 00:46:31.760 We have a natural affinity for it as fallen sinful creatures. 00:46:31.760 --> 00:46:36.080 The idea that someone did something, you thought they were this good 00:46:36.080 --> 00:46:38.880 guy, and it turns out he's not as good as you thought 00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:39.600 he was. 00:46:39.600 --> 00:46:43.840 There's something that appeals to our baser nature where it just makes 00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:45.280 us light up inside. 00:46:45.280 --> 00:46:46.960 And that is pure wickedness. 00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:49.520 That is absolutely evil. 00:46:49.520 --> 00:46:53.600 When a Christian hears something bad about a man that he didn't 00:46:53.520 --> 00:46:55.440 know, he should be horrified. 00:46:55.440 --> 00:46:59.280 He shouldn't be horrified that he's hearing for the first time that 00:46:59.280 --> 00:47:01.840 this man isn't as good as he thought he was. 00:47:01.840 --> 00:47:06.560 The man who hears something slanderous about another man should be horrified 00:47:06.560 --> 00:47:08.320 that he's heard it at all. 00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:10.560 Because this is the root of slander. 00:47:10.560 --> 00:47:15.040 It is not simply that a man speaks and harm is done. 00:47:15.040 --> 00:47:19.360 The harm is done by the hearer receiving it and not rebuking 00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:22.800 it, not defending the good name of the man who's slandered, but 00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:24.080 by receiving it. 00:47:24.080 --> 00:47:26.720 That's what both of these quotes are talking about. 00:47:26.720 --> 00:47:30.960 When the falsehood goes forth, when the destruction of the revelation goes 00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:34.320 forth, the damage is then done in the hearing. 00:47:34.320 --> 00:47:38.160 And so the only way that you, as a hearer of slander, 00:47:38.160 --> 00:47:42.240 can be free from sin is if you immediately rebuke the person. 00:47:42.240 --> 00:47:44.080 You need to say, shut your mouth. 00:47:44.080 --> 00:47:45.520 I don't want to hear another word. 00:47:45.520 --> 00:47:48.400 If you have a problem with that person, you go speak to 00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:50.400 them. Don't tell me another word about it. 00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:53.200 And don't you tell anyone else about it either, because you are 00:47:53.200 --> 00:47:55.040 sinning against that man. 00:47:55.040 --> 00:47:57.200 That is the only Christian response. 00:47:57.440 --> 00:48:00.560 And I'll tell you this. 00:48:00.560 --> 00:48:06.320 Stone Choir is a fascinating microcosm of this in action because people 00:48:06.320 --> 00:48:10.000 who have it referred by you who are fans and listeners, you 00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:13.280 guys, if you just started listening without ever knowing who Corey or 00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:16.400 myself were, you just somebody, some friends said, Hey, you should check 00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:17.120 this podcast out. 00:48:17.120 --> 00:48:18.080 It's interesting. 00:48:18.080 --> 00:48:20.400 When you listen, you're like, okay, this is interesting. 00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:21.760 There's some good stuff here. 00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:24.320 You know, whatever, you like it, you dislike it. 00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:28.320 But you never would come to the conclusion from listening to us 00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:31.920 to our own words that you would come to if you had 00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:35.680 never listened to Stone Choir, but instead you had entertained the slander 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:40.080 that all these pastors and all these other so-called Christians pass around 00:48:40.080 --> 00:48:41.840 among themselves. 00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:46.000 What we see on Twitter and elsewhere is that anyone who has 00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:52.000 heard about us by reputation before listening has a very negative opinion. 00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:54.400 Whereas the people who've never heard anything and just listen, like, yeah, 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:54.800 that's great. 00:48:54.800 --> 00:48:55.120 I like it. 00:48:55.120 --> 00:48:56.080 Or that's okay. 00:48:56.080 --> 00:49:00.560 Like you would never have a stridently hateful view of us from 00:49:00.560 --> 00:49:02.320 listening to the podcast. 00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:04.480 That is the effect of slander. 00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:10.800 Anyone who hears the falsehoods and the mischaracterizations and the calumny, those 00:49:10.800 --> 00:49:13.760 are the people who are going to hate us. 00:49:14.080 --> 00:49:15.520 That's what slander does. 00:49:15.520 --> 00:49:18.800 It robs us of a reputation in the instant that someone learns 00:49:18.800 --> 00:49:19.280 about us. 00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:22.320 And again, when I say us and me and and I and 00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:25.120 we, I'm not trying to make this about us. 00:49:25.120 --> 00:49:28.320 It's simply a concrete example that you can all understand. 00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:30.800 You have your own lives and your own circumstances. 00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:32.400 You see this stuff playing out. 00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:33.440 We're not special. 00:49:33.440 --> 00:49:34.560 This isn't important. 00:49:34.560 --> 00:49:37.760 It's just a concrete example in the real world of exactly how 00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:38.640 it plays out. 00:49:38.640 --> 00:49:40.000 And it's very stark. 00:49:40.160 --> 00:49:43.200 You'll see that there people either love us or hate us. 00:49:43.200 --> 00:49:45.360 They're not many who are lukewarm. 00:49:45.360 --> 00:49:49.440 And part of the reason for that is in one sense is 00:49:49.440 --> 00:49:51.200 that this is a spiritual battle. 00:49:51.200 --> 00:49:53.840 But I think more broadly it's that most of the people who've 00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:57.840 never listened will never listen because they hate us, because they were 00:49:57.840 --> 00:49:59.040 told to hate us. 00:49:59.040 --> 00:50:00.560 That's what slander does. 00:50:00.560 --> 00:50:03.760 Someone who has no idea who I am or who Corey is, 00:50:03.760 --> 00:50:06.880 all they know is that somebody who says he's a Christian said, 00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:09.040 those guys are evil, don't go anywhere near him. 00:50:09.040 --> 00:50:11.680 Like, okay, fine. 00:50:11.680 --> 00:50:17.920 The trick is that within the church, when we're being faithful, that 00:50:18.080 --> 00:50:22.800 would also in some cases occur, and it wouldn't be slander. 00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:26.400 And this is a case where the truth or the falsehood of 00:50:26.400 --> 00:50:30.800 the claims are necessary to judge what is happening. 00:50:30.800 --> 00:50:34.160 If we were we were all the evil things that those people 00:50:34.160 --> 00:50:37.760 say, it would be permissible for them to warn another Christian and 00:50:37.840 --> 00:50:40.160 say, hey, don't go anywhere near that. 00:50:40.160 --> 00:50:41.520 We do that all the time. 00:50:41.520 --> 00:50:45.760 There are podcasts and speakers and teachers that people ask us our 00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:48.080 opinion and we say don't go anywhere near that. 00:50:48.080 --> 00:50:49.840 Those guys are a train wreck. 00:50:49.840 --> 00:50:53.440 Nothing good will come from you interacting with their content. 00:50:53.440 --> 00:50:55.520 That is a Christian thing to say. 00:50:55.600 --> 00:50:56.800 I want to make that explicit. 00:50:57.120 --> 00:50:59.760 It is not per se sinful to say don't go anywhere near 00:50:59.760 --> 00:51:01.520 those guys they're wicked. 00:51:01.520 --> 00:51:05.920 Christians warn each other about wickedness because not everyone knows, not everyone 00:51:05.920 --> 00:51:09.120 is up to speed, not everyone is equipped to understand or to 00:51:09.120 --> 00:51:13.840 discern. The problem is that when it's done in this particular case, 00:51:13.840 --> 00:51:15.040 it's falsehoods. 00:51:15.040 --> 00:51:19.440 It's absolute lies that are told specifically for the purpose of making 00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:22.320 sure that people don't hear what's being said because the fruits of 00:51:22.320 --> 00:51:24.880 what's being said is salutary. 00:51:24.960 --> 00:51:26.000 So that's the distinction. 00:51:26.080 --> 00:51:30.560 Some of this gets complicated because it can seem like we're trying 00:51:30.560 --> 00:51:33.120 to have it both ways or we're using double standards. 00:51:33.120 --> 00:51:36.560 So I want to acknowledge that if we were only dealing with 00:51:36.560 --> 00:51:38.880 Christians, we wouldn't have these problems. 00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:45.520 Inside the church, if only Christians were engaging, these problems wouldn't exist. 00:51:45.520 --> 00:51:48.880 It is only because you have some who are inside the church 00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:52.800 and some who are falsely inside the church, who are masquerading, but 00:51:52.800 --> 00:51:55.920 they are not of the church who are doing these things. 00:51:55.920 --> 00:52:00.480 And that's when it becomes slander, is when lies are told to 00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:06.160 destroy someone who's speaking sound doctrine and spreading it faithfully. 00:52:06.160 --> 00:52:08.240 That's a threat to Satan's kingdom. 00:52:08.240 --> 00:52:11.280 That's a threat to the world, which is why you will find 00:52:11.280 --> 00:52:14.880 pastors and some of these other people on social media lined up 00:52:14.880 --> 00:52:20.800 with MSMBC and the NFL and the WEF and all these other 00:52:20.800 --> 00:52:26.640 completely pagan, completely wicked organizations will have identical morality to people who 00:52:26.640 --> 00:52:28.000 say they're in the church. 00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.320 On the other side, you'll have a few Christians mostly on social 00:52:32.320 --> 00:52:37.520 media. When those battle lines are drawn like that, it is not 00:52:37.520 --> 00:52:41.440 that there's infighting in the church, it's that the church is being 00:52:41.440 --> 00:52:44.160 winnowed, that the That the sheep are going in one direction and 00:52:44.160 --> 00:52:47.520 the goats are going in another, and it looks catastrophic. 00:52:47.520 --> 00:52:49.280 It looks ugly. 00:52:49.280 --> 00:52:51.040 And it is ugly. 00:52:51.040 --> 00:52:54.880 But the root of the ugliness is not that Christians are being 00:52:54.880 --> 00:52:58.480 torn away from the church, is that those who are not Christian 00:52:58.480 --> 00:53:01.920 are willingly and openly apostatizing in real time. 00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:06.000 Which is why we do those recent episodes talking specifically about apostasy. 00:53:06.240 --> 00:53:08.480 That That's exactly what's happening. 00:53:08.480 --> 00:53:12.240 When someone reads the Bible and says, This is hateful, this is 00:53:12.240 --> 00:53:16.160 wicked, this is not my God, and they're wearing a collar, you 00:53:16.160 --> 00:53:17.760 need to believe them. 00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:21.040 And then everything that you see in the Bible that's talking about 00:53:21.040 --> 00:53:25.600 dealing with unbelievers, about those who are not brothers, is what applies 00:53:25.600 --> 00:53:26.240 to them. 00:53:26.240 --> 00:53:30.240 It is not Christian conduct that you're dealing with. 00:53:30.240 --> 00:53:34.240 It is unchristian conduct among those who are outside of the faith 00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:38.480 by their actions, by their words and their actions they testify that 00:53:38.480 --> 00:53:39.520 they're not Christian. 00:53:39.520 --> 00:53:44.400 And slander is one of the foremost fruits of an unbelieving heart. 00:53:44.720 --> 00:53:51.120 Because slander will always lash out against God's things. 00:53:51.120 --> 00:53:55.120 There will not be a case where slander well in a secular 00:53:55.120 --> 00:53:57.840 world and in our lives, you know, the gossip and stuff, generally 00:53:57.920 --> 00:53:58.800 it's pretty mundane. 00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:01.600 It's always tearing down, it's always corrosive. 00:54:01.600 --> 00:54:05.600 But in the church, the slander is usually either going to be 00:54:05.600 --> 00:54:09.680 sowing hypocrisy or sowing dissent or actually trying to cut people out 00:54:09.680 --> 00:54:11.120 who are doing good work. 00:54:11.120 --> 00:54:15.120 And so that's why that distinction needs to be made very clear. 00:54:15.520 --> 00:54:20.160 If you want to know exactly what God thinks about slander, all 00:54:20.160 --> 00:54:24.160 you need to do is read through the Psalter. 00:54:24.160 --> 00:54:29.520 Now there are many dozens of other places in scripture where you 00:54:29.520 --> 00:54:34.560 can find what God says about slander, what God thinks about this 00:54:34.560 --> 00:54:38.320 subject. But go read Psalm 101. 00:54:38.640 --> 00:54:43.440 If you want, a perfect encapsulation, in fact, in half of one 00:54:43.600 --> 00:54:48.400 verse five, of what God thinks about slander. 00:54:48.400 --> 00:54:50.480 Psalm 101 5 a. 00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:55.520 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly, I will destroy. 00:54:55.520 --> 00:54:58.000 That is what God thinks about slander. 00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:01.680 That is what God promises he will do to those who slander. 00:55:01.680 --> 00:55:04.160 And what do you think it means by secret slander? 00:55:04.160 --> 00:55:05.520 That's gossip. 00:55:05.520 --> 00:55:07.120 That's what's in view here. 00:55:07.120 --> 00:55:09.520 Now it's more expansive than that certainly. 00:55:09.520 --> 00:55:10.800 But this is gossip. 00:55:10.800 --> 00:55:13.200 Secret slander is gossip. 00:55:13.200 --> 00:55:17.520 And to make sure that the sense here is entirely clear. 00:55:17.520 --> 00:55:22.480 That word slander there is the first Greek verb I mentioned earlier, 00:55:22.480 --> 00:55:27.280 katalaleo, which means to speak ill of another. 00:55:27.280 --> 00:55:29.600 So know what is in view here In view here is not 00:55:29.600 --> 00:55:34.480 necessarily just a false statement about another, to remind you again to 00:55:34.480 --> 00:55:38.240 get that secular sense of the term from the civil courts out 00:55:38.240 --> 00:55:42.320 of your mind with regard to the theological sense of the term. 00:55:42.320 --> 00:55:44.640 This is the broader sense here. 00:55:44.640 --> 00:55:51.040 And God says, whoever slanders his neighbor secretly, I will destroy. 00:55:51.040 --> 00:55:55.120 It would be difficult to find stronger language and a stronger promise 00:55:55.120 --> 00:55:58.320 from God about most things in Scripture. 00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:00.080 This is incredibly blunt. 00:56:00.080 --> 00:56:03.760 This is very straightforward, you cannot possibly misinterpret this. 00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:07.760 It is very clear what God is saying you cannot do, you 00:56:07.760 --> 00:56:10.400 may not do, you must not do, and what He will do 00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:14.080 if you do not obey. 00:56:14.080 --> 00:56:18.400 Another good example of this would be from Proverbs six, where God 00:56:18.400 --> 00:56:21.760 says there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are 00:56:21.760 --> 00:56:27.040 an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that 00:56:27.040 --> 00:56:31.920 shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make 00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:36.560 haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, 00:56:36.560 --> 00:56:40.080 and one who sows discord among brothers. 00:56:40.080 --> 00:56:44.720 If you look carefully at this listing, you have slander listed three 00:56:44.720 --> 00:56:47.840 times. It's not listed once in this list of things that God 00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:50.240 hates that are an abomination to him. 00:56:50.240 --> 00:56:54.240 It is listed three times you have a lying tongue, you have 00:56:54.240 --> 00:56:57.600 a false witness who breathes out lies, and you have one who 00:56:57.600 --> 00:56:59.120 sows discord among brothers. 00:56:59.120 --> 00:57:00.720 Well how do you sow discord? 00:57:00.720 --> 00:57:04.160 You so discord with gossip and slander. 00:57:04.160 --> 00:57:08.000 So in a list of seven things that are an abomination to 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:11.760 God, three of them are slander. 00:57:11.760 --> 00:57:16.240 This is something that God takes extremely seriously, and it is something 00:57:16.240 --> 00:57:18.480 that we basically ignore in our culture. 00:57:18.480 --> 00:57:20.960 We just accept that gossip is part of our culture now. 00:57:20.960 --> 00:57:24.000 That's practically what people do as a form of socializing these days 00:57:24.080 --> 00:57:25.440 instead of anything else. 00:57:25.440 --> 00:57:29.440 We can't possibly discuss politics or religion or anything that actually matters, 00:57:29.440 --> 00:57:31.600 so we'll gossip, or talk about the weather. 00:57:31.600 --> 00:57:34.480 Quite frankly, if you have to choose between the two, talk about 00:57:34.480 --> 00:57:37.680 the clouds, it's a better option, at least then you're not sinning. 00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:44.000 But another great passage for this is what does Scripture say about 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:45.680 lies themselves? 00:57:45.680 --> 00:57:47.520 Whence do they come? 00:57:47.840 --> 00:57:49.920 Well, to read from John 8. 00:57:49.920 --> 00:57:53.760 If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came 00:57:53.760 --> 00:57:55.360 from God and I am here. 00:57:55.360 --> 00:57:58.560 I came not of my own accord, but He sent me. 00:57:58.560 --> 00:58:01.200 Why do you not understand what I say? 00:58:01.200 --> 00:58:03.920 It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 00:58:03.920 --> 00:58:07.280 You were of your father the devil, and your will is to 00:58:07.280 --> 00:58:09.200 do your father's desires. 00:58:09.200 --> 00:58:12.560 He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in 00:58:12.560 --> 00:58:15.760 the truth, because there is no truth in him. 00:58:15.760 --> 00:58:19.680 When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he 00:58:19.680 --> 00:58:22.160 is a liar and the father of lies. 00:58:22.160 --> 00:58:25.360 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 00:58:25.360 --> 00:58:27.760 Which one of you convicts me of sin? 00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:31.280 If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 00:58:31.280 --> 00:58:34.400 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. 00:58:34.400 --> 00:58:37.840 The reason why you do not hear them is that you are 00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:41.200 not of God. 00:58:41.200 --> 00:58:43.040 What is Christ saying here? 00:58:43.040 --> 00:58:47.840 He's saying, If you are a liar, if you are a slanderer, 00:58:47.840 --> 00:58:50.800 you are not of God. 00:58:50.800 --> 00:58:52.800 These are polar opposites. 00:58:52.800 --> 00:58:55.120 There's truth and there's lies. 00:58:55.120 --> 00:59:00.640 And slander is going under that umbrella category of lies. 00:59:00.640 --> 00:59:04.960 Christians should not be found slandering and gossiping. 00:59:04.960 --> 00:59:07.280 It is not something that Christians do. 00:59:07.280 --> 00:59:11.840 It is something that God speaks against in no uncertain terms, throughout 00:59:11.840 --> 00:59:15.600 Scripture, in many places. 00:59:15.600 --> 00:59:19.200 And here we have the words of Christ in John eight, that 00:59:19.200 --> 00:59:23.440 those who are liars, those who are slanderers, are children of the 00:59:23.440 --> 00:59:26.720 father of lies, which is to say they are children of Satan, 00:59:26.720 --> 00:59:30.880 because their father is the devil, and they are not of God. 00:59:31.440 --> 00:59:34.480 And don't forget that Satan itself literally means 00:59:35.520 --> 00:59:42.880 accuser. When Satan accuses, when Satan slanders, that's what Corey 00:59:42.880 --> 00:59:44.160 was just reading about. 00:59:44.160 --> 00:59:48.640 It is his native tongue to speak out. 00:59:48.720 --> 00:59:52.160 Slander, whether it's true or false. 00:59:52.160 --> 00:59:55.280 And again, there are some cases where it's complete fabrication. 00:59:55.280 --> 00:59:56.720 It's often the case. 00:59:56.720 --> 00:59:59.920 And when Satan is speaking, even when there's a little bit of 00:59:59.920 --> 01:00:04.080 truth mixed in, it's overwhelmingly to deceive. 01:00:04.080 --> 01:00:09.120 But much of the time the accusation itself is completely false. 01:00:09.120 --> 01:00:13.600 When you slander someone you are being satanic. 01:00:13.600 --> 01:00:15.120 Don't forget that. 01:00:15.120 --> 01:00:20.400 When you entertain slander against someone, you are being satanic because you 01:00:20.400 --> 01:00:24.080 hear the voice of Satan and you understand it fluently. 01:00:24.080 --> 01:00:27.440 You're influent in the language of the accuser. 01:00:27.440 --> 01:00:28.480 That's a bad thing. 01:00:29.440 --> 01:00:31.600 Christians shouldn't know better. 01:00:31.600 --> 01:00:34.480 And frankly, it's just been bred out of us at this point 01:00:34.480 --> 01:00:38.000 to not even recognize when it's being done. 01:00:38.000 --> 01:00:43.120 I hear stories all the time from within the church where it 01:00:43.120 --> 01:00:49.280 is so routine for pastors now to entertain slander against Christians that 01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:52.400 it would never occur to any of them to defend the good 01:00:52.320 --> 01:00:54.640 the good name of a Christian man. 01:00:54.640 --> 01:00:57.360 They hear it and they think, hmm, well that's that's interesting. 01:00:57.360 --> 01:00:58.400 That's too bad. 01:00:58.400 --> 01:00:59.520 They never rebuke. 01:00:59.520 --> 01:01:02.720 There's never any rebuke of the man who brings them slander. 01:01:02.720 --> 01:01:04.720 And these are supposed to be the shepherds. 01:01:04.720 --> 01:01:08.160 These are supposed to be the men who know better, who are 01:01:08.160 --> 01:01:11.760 the leaders by both example and by word. 01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:15.280 When we don't see that, we have to fix the problem ourselves. 01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:18.400 Which is why we're doing an entire episode on slander. 01:01:18.720 --> 01:01:22.080 Like we said at the beginning, this is rampant and it is 01:01:22.080 --> 01:01:24.560 destructive to the church. 01:01:24.560 --> 01:01:27.040 There are just a couple other proverbs I want to mention very 01:01:27.040 --> 01:01:31.760 quickly. In Proverbs ten God says The one who conceals hatred has 01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:34.800 lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. 01:01:35.920 --> 01:01:40.080 In Proverbs eleven, God says, with his mouth the godless man would 01:01:40.080 --> 01:01:44.320 destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. 01:01:44.640 --> 01:01:50.240 Proverbs sixteen says, A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates 01:01:50.240 --> 01:01:51.760 close friends. 01:01:51.760 --> 01:01:57.040 And Proverbs seventeen says, Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he 01:01:57.040 --> 01:02:00.160 who repeats a matter separates close friends. 01:02:00.160 --> 01:02:05.600 This is consistent with the Lutheran's explanation that Corey gave earlier. 01:02:05.600 --> 01:02:09.280 Sometimes you know something, and the Christian thing to do is to 01:02:09.280 --> 01:02:12.480 cover the offense, to say, you know what, it it didn't happen, 01:02:12.480 --> 01:02:14.560 I didn't hear, I'm gonna let it go. 01:02:14.560 --> 01:02:18.080 Because it's not your place to judge, because it's not your place 01:02:18.080 --> 01:02:20.080 to escalate a situation. 01:02:20.080 --> 01:02:25.040 There's some things that just as Luther aptly wrote, let your ear 01:02:25.040 --> 01:02:28.880 become a grave for whatever it is that you heard. 01:02:28.880 --> 01:02:32.800 Because when you repeat the matter, you separate close friends, and the 01:02:32.800 --> 01:02:36.480 previous verse says whisperers separate close friends. 01:02:36.480 --> 01:02:40.000 This This is not only social, but it's also especially inside the 01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.560 church. When these things go and they are propagated, it inevitably tears 01:02:44.560 --> 01:02:44.960 people apart. 01:02:44.960 --> 01:02:45.680 Because what do you get? 01:02:45.680 --> 01:02:46.800 You get clickishness. 01:02:46.800 --> 01:02:49.440 You get those who know the secret, and those who don't know 01:02:49.440 --> 01:02:53.760 the secret, and those about whom the secret is being spread. 01:02:53.760 --> 01:02:55.680 That is inherently destructive. 01:02:55.680 --> 01:02:56.960 Satan loves it. 01:02:56.960 --> 01:03:00.400 He's on a roll as soon as he gets this stuff happening. 01:03:00.400 --> 01:03:02.720 And I guarantee it's happening all our churches. 01:03:02.720 --> 01:03:06.080 Not necessarily to the same degree, but the behavior is always there 01:03:06.080 --> 01:03:08.960 because it's human nature and it's Satan's nature. 01:03:08.960 --> 01:03:11.760 The accuser is always going to be accusing. 01:03:11.760 --> 01:03:13.200 It's his go-to. 01:03:13.200 --> 01:03:16.240 It's literally his name. 01:03:16.240 --> 01:03:21.520 This demon, the archdemon, comes and accuses. 01:03:21.520 --> 01:03:23.360 That is what slander is. 01:03:23.360 --> 01:03:26.640 It's not letting something lie when it can be left alone. 01:03:26.640 --> 01:03:29.680 It's accusing and accusing and accusing. 01:03:29.680 --> 01:03:34.000 It's digging up past sins that are not relevant, that are forgiven, 01:03:34.000 --> 01:03:37.920 that have been absolved in the church, and saying, no, that's not 01:03:37.920 --> 01:03:39.200 actually forgiven. 01:03:39.200 --> 01:03:41.280 You did this six years ago. 01:03:41.280 --> 01:03:45.280 You're not forgiven because Jesus said you are, the pastor said you 01:03:45.280 --> 01:03:48.240 are, you confessed, but you're not forgiven. 01:03:48.240 --> 01:03:50.960 I am going to bring it before the world and attach your 01:03:50.960 --> 01:03:52.160 name to it. 01:03:52.160 --> 01:03:56.000 That is the essence of satanic behavior. 01:03:56.000 --> 01:04:00.960 Doxing and slandering and this sort of behavior is as demonic as 01:04:00.960 --> 01:04:03.440 anything can possibly get. 01:04:03.440 --> 01:04:06.400 Short of physical destruction. 01:04:06.400 --> 01:04:10.640 You know, you would have to go to the mutilation that occurs 01:04:10.640 --> 01:04:14.480 with some of the modern procedures I'm not even gonna describe in 01:04:14.480 --> 01:04:15.520 this episode. 01:04:15.520 --> 01:04:20.320 There are degrees worse than slander, but it requires actual destruction of 01:04:20.320 --> 01:04:21.360 human flesh to get there. 01:04:21.520 --> 01:04:23.120 That's how bad this is. 01:04:23.120 --> 01:04:27.280 And again, when someone is entertaining slander, they're guilty too. 01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:30.400 As I say at the beginning, if I kill you, you're dead, 01:04:30.400 --> 01:04:34.560 your family's sad, your community is upset for a time, but I'm 01:04:34.560 --> 01:04:35.840 the only sinner. 01:04:35.840 --> 01:04:40.880 If I instead email your pastor and email your wife or your 01:04:40.880 --> 01:04:45.680 kids or your brother or your worker your workplace, your boss, and 01:04:45.680 --> 01:04:48.640 make accusations against you. 01:04:48.640 --> 01:04:51.280 All those people are participants in my sin. 01:04:51.280 --> 01:04:54.160 All those people are turned against you. 01:04:54.160 --> 01:04:58.960 They're suddenly inflamed, their curiosity is piqued, they're riled up. 01:04:58.960 --> 01:05:02.560 They're like, oh no, is there someone inside the sheepfold here that 01:05:02.560 --> 01:05:04.080 I need to be wary of? 01:05:04.080 --> 01:05:05.440 And it's all lies. 01:05:05.440 --> 01:05:07.760 It's all done to destroy. 01:05:07.760 --> 01:05:12.000 In that case, that slander that is thrown over the transom like 01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:16.320 that in many ways has more destructive consequences than if I had 01:05:16.320 --> 01:05:17.360 simply killed you. 01:05:17.360 --> 01:05:21.120 Because if I try to kill your reputation, I necessarily have to 01:05:21.120 --> 01:05:25.840 employ everyone around you, your family, your pastor, your church, your community, 01:05:25.840 --> 01:05:29.280 your workplace, all have to be involved in the same sin, because 01:05:29.280 --> 01:05:31.120 they're the ones who destroy you. 01:05:31.120 --> 01:05:35.040 The man who spreads the slander initially, all he's doing is lighting 01:05:35.040 --> 01:05:35.840 the match. 01:05:35.840 --> 01:05:40.000 But the kindling is provided by the hearers, because the hearers believe 01:05:40.000 --> 01:05:42.560 it and they spread it. 01:05:42.560 --> 01:05:45.360 This is a unique sin in that regard. 01:05:45.360 --> 01:05:49.760 It's like yeast feeding on sugar to produce alcohol. 01:05:49.760 --> 01:05:54.320 There's a reproductive aspect to slander that isn't present. 01:05:54.320 --> 01:05:55.920 It's a chain reaction. 01:05:55.920 --> 01:05:58.880 You have a small input and then it percolates. 01:05:58.880 --> 01:06:03.600 It spreads throughout and you get exponential growth because one person tells 01:06:03.600 --> 01:06:08.000 two, two tell four, four tell eight, and pretty soon everybody knows. 01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:13.120 Everybody's guilty, you're the target, you're destroyed, and where do you go 01:06:13.120 --> 01:06:13.840 from there? 01:06:13.840 --> 01:06:18.320 Where's the restorative justice when lies are told about you, when slander 01:06:18.320 --> 01:06:19.280 is spread. 01:06:19.280 --> 01:06:20.640 It's not possible. 01:06:20.640 --> 01:06:23.680 You'll never get your good name back when someone does that. 01:06:23.680 --> 01:06:26.080 And so the reason that we're talking about this today is that 01:06:26.240 --> 01:06:30.960 even though most of you are not actively spreading most slander, you 01:06:30.960 --> 01:06:33.520 certainly hear it and you sit there quietly. 01:06:33.520 --> 01:06:34.160 I have. 01:06:34.160 --> 01:06:35.120 It's easy. 01:06:35.120 --> 01:06:38.000 You it's just like you just pr pretend it never happened. 01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:39.760 You just keep you go about your day. 01:06:39.760 --> 01:06:40.640 You don't say anything. 01:06:40.640 --> 01:06:42.240 You don't want to get involved. 01:06:42.240 --> 01:06:44.400 That is being a slander. 01:06:44.400 --> 01:06:48.480 You're receiving it, and even if you disbelieve it by not defending 01:06:48.480 --> 01:06:52.960 the person's good name, you are also blaspheming them. 01:06:52.960 --> 01:06:58.240 One of the other definitions of blasphemy is failure to speak good, 01:06:58.240 --> 01:07:02.480 to speak good slowly, to be to be reticent to defend a 01:07:02.480 --> 01:07:05.920 reputation for a man who has a good reputation. 01:07:05.920 --> 01:07:08.880 And again, this is about secret sins. 01:07:08.880 --> 01:07:11.920 This is about things that you whether they're true or they're false, 01:07:11.920 --> 01:07:13.840 you shouldn't be hearing about it. 01:07:13.840 --> 01:07:17.360 So when you hear about it and you don't respond in anger, 01:07:17.360 --> 01:07:20.560 in righteous anger and say, you need to shut your mouth. 01:07:20.560 --> 01:07:22.640 Don't say that to me or anyone else. 01:07:22.640 --> 01:07:24.640 That's the Christian response. 01:07:25.280 --> 01:07:30.640 if it became socially intolerable for us to spread slander, this problem 01:07:30.640 --> 01:07:34.560 would it wouldn't go away because Satan's never gonna give up, but 01:07:34.560 --> 01:07:36.560 it would certainly be tamped down. 01:07:36.560 --> 01:07:37.920 It wouldn't be so common. 01:07:37.920 --> 01:07:42.800 It used to be the gossip was perceived as the vocation of 01:07:42.800 --> 01:07:45.760 women. Yeah, you have sewing circles. 01:07:45.760 --> 01:07:49.200 It was the stereotype correctly that when a bunch of ladies get 01:07:49.200 --> 01:07:53.200 together, invariably they're gonna start gossiping about social stuff. 01:07:53.200 --> 01:07:57.360 Now, gossip is kind of a loaded word, because you know, when 01:07:57.360 --> 01:08:00.880 you're discussing community events or family events or whatever, much of that's 01:08:00.880 --> 01:08:03.440 permissible. That's a society. 01:08:03.440 --> 01:08:07.600 When it turns negative, when it turns destructive to reputation, that's when 01:08:07.600 --> 01:08:09.600 the gossip turns into slander. 01:08:09.600 --> 01:08:13.200 Because you're not just talking about events that are okay to talk 01:08:13.200 --> 01:08:16.880 about, you're talking about events that could potentially shape the course of 01:08:16.880 --> 01:08:22.640 someone's life simply because you heard something and you repeated it. 01:08:22.640 --> 01:08:26.320 Even if you didn't do anything else, you heard and you tolerated 01:08:26.400 --> 01:08:29.040 and you repeated, that's all it takes. 01:08:29.040 --> 01:08:30.960 That's the chain reaction. 01:08:30.960 --> 01:08:34.160 And so unique among all sins is how easy it is to 01:08:34.160 --> 01:08:38.080 participate in and how hard it is to undo the damage once 01:08:38.080 --> 01:08:39.120 it's done. 01:08:39.120 --> 01:08:42.880 And God warns us that in the church we're going to see 01:08:42.880 --> 01:08:46.480 this. If someone is being slandered for the sake of Christ, well, 01:08:46.480 --> 01:08:47.040 guess what? 01:08:47.040 --> 01:08:51.280 That was a prophecy that God promised to Christians. 01:08:51.280 --> 01:08:55.200 And the Beatitudes, Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecuted for 01:08:55.200 --> 01:08:58.000 righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 01:08:58.000 --> 01:09:02.160 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter 01:09:02.160 --> 01:09:05.280 all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 01:09:05.600 --> 01:09:09.280 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for 01:09:09.280 --> 01:09:13.280 so they persecuted the prophets who went before you. 01:09:13.280 --> 01:09:16.560 Now think about that, Jesus is talking to us, and he's saying 01:09:16.560 --> 01:09:21.200 that we are walking in the footsteps of the prophets, of Moses 01:09:21.520 --> 01:09:25.360 and Elijah and Jeremiah and Isaiah. 01:09:25.360 --> 01:09:26.880 That's a big deal. 01:09:26.880 --> 01:09:29.200 And that's not a big deal in the sense of, oh wow, 01:09:29.200 --> 01:09:30.400 aren't we great? 01:09:30.400 --> 01:09:32.960 It's that those guys, by and large, suffered. 01:09:33.360 --> 01:09:34.720 They had misery. 01:09:34.720 --> 01:09:36.880 They constantly had headaches. 01:09:36.880 --> 01:09:40.640 They were constantly accused and hated and persecuted. 01:09:40.640 --> 01:09:44.080 When someone is a prophet, it's virtually guaranteed that they're gonna have 01:09:44.080 --> 01:09:47.040 an absolutely miserable life and people are gonna try to kill them 01:09:47.120 --> 01:09:49.920 and eventually sometimes they succeed. 01:09:49.920 --> 01:09:52.960 It's never rewarding in this life. 01:09:52.960 --> 01:09:56.400 So when Jesus says to rejoice and be glad when you are 01:09:56.400 --> 01:09:59.920 hated and revived for my sake, he's saying that you're gonna be 01:09:59.920 --> 01:10:04.000 like those prophets who also bore my name and said what I 01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:06.400 told them to say for my sake. 01:10:06.400 --> 01:10:08.320 It's how God works in the world. 01:10:08.320 --> 01:10:12.000 He sends people with his word, and those who speak it faithfully 01:10:12.000 --> 01:10:14.160 are going to be reviled by the world. 01:10:14.160 --> 01:10:16.400 And the world includes the church. 01:10:16.400 --> 01:10:17.680 Today it does. 01:10:17.680 --> 01:10:18.800 It shouldn't. 01:10:18.800 --> 01:10:22.960 The world and the church should not have an intersecting set of 01:10:23.680 --> 01:10:27.600 people in the sense that the true church is outside of the 01:10:27.600 --> 01:10:31.680 world insofar as we are not subject to the prince of this 01:10:31.680 --> 01:10:35.360 world, we're subject to the king of the universe of God, but 01:10:35.360 --> 01:10:38.560 the prince of this world rules over the hearts and minds of 01:10:38.560 --> 01:10:42.560 all the people who want to participate in the global religion. 01:10:42.640 --> 01:10:43.680 Cause it's easy. 01:10:43.680 --> 01:10:47.120 If you participate in the global religion, no one's gonna dox you. 01:10:47.120 --> 01:10:49.600 No one is gonna ever give you a hard time. 01:10:49.600 --> 01:10:53.040 And that's a key part of the lesson here in all this. 01:10:53.280 --> 01:10:56.080 when slander, especially as it relates to 01:10:57.280 --> 01:11:00.960 big ticket stuff, about spreading the word of God publicly and then 01:11:00.960 --> 01:11:05.520 being reviled, as God promises we will receive when we say what 01:11:05.520 --> 01:11:08.160 he says faithfully. 01:11:08.160 --> 01:11:13.920 Satan uses slander and especially things like doxing as a warning to 01:11:13.920 --> 01:11:15.040 everybody else. 01:11:15.040 --> 01:11:19.360 Really? You think you're gonna go against my religion, my global religion? 01:11:19.360 --> 01:11:23.360 You think you're gonna say what God says in this environment? 01:11:23.360 --> 01:11:26.640 You're gonna say what the Bible says in this economy? 01:11:26.640 --> 01:11:27.520 Watch this. 01:11:27.520 --> 01:11:29.040 You are now unemployable. 01:11:29.040 --> 01:11:30.800 That's a lesson to everyone. 01:11:30.800 --> 01:11:33.120 And there are many who are listening who are not in a 01:11:33.120 --> 01:11:36.080 position to say the things that we're saying, which is why we're 01:11:36.000 --> 01:11:36.960 here doing it. 01:11:36.960 --> 01:11:41.520 We are happy to take the arrows to spread the word so 01:11:41.520 --> 01:11:44.880 that more men can have confident faith, and eventually we'll get to 01:11:44.880 --> 01:11:48.960 the point where the slander against Christianity won't matter. 01:11:48.960 --> 01:11:50.640 That's entirely feasible. 01:11:50.640 --> 01:11:54.080 If we became a Christian nation again, men who were slandered for 01:11:54.080 --> 01:12:00.160 the sake of Christ would have their reputations restored because Deuteronomy 19 01:12:00.160 --> 01:12:01.120 would be followed. 01:12:01.120 --> 01:12:05.600 And when someone came and falsely accused a Christian, the just prince 01:12:05.600 --> 01:12:06.480 would deal with them. 01:12:06.480 --> 01:12:08.320 As an example to others. 01:12:08.320 --> 01:12:11.040 Go back and read that passage in Deuteronomy 19. 01:12:11.040 --> 01:12:16.080 God is very clear that when He commands that crimes be punished, 01:12:16.080 --> 01:12:18.560 it is as a lesson to others. 01:12:18.560 --> 01:12:21.760 Because some people don't just respond with their hearts and say, okay, 01:12:21.760 --> 01:12:24.000 well Jesus said, Don't do this, so I'm not going to do 01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:26.960 it. But they will respond to the hangman. 01:12:26.960 --> 01:12:31.040 They'll respond when they see that someone paid with his life for 01:12:31.040 --> 01:12:33.680 wickedness. That's That's what makes them nervous. 01:12:33.680 --> 01:12:36.480 And the fact that Cory and I will talk like this has 01:12:36.480 --> 01:12:39.920 them terrified because they know that it would stop their wickedness. 01:12:39.920 --> 01:12:41.120 When nothing else will. 01:12:41.120 --> 01:12:44.320 There are certain men who will be evil until they draw their 01:12:44.320 --> 01:12:45.120 last breath. 01:12:45.120 --> 01:12:49.680 They have devoted their lives to serving the demons that inhabit them. 01:12:49.680 --> 01:12:51.840 They're not going to stop being evil. 01:12:51.840 --> 01:12:55.840 And so it's okay for us as Christians to know that and 01:12:55.840 --> 01:12:58.480 to say that when we encounter them, to point to them and 01:12:58.480 --> 01:13:00.160 say, that's the adversary. 01:13:00.160 --> 01:13:01.840 That's the accuser right there. 01:13:02.320 --> 01:13:06.320 Since I've already read a couple selections from the large catechism on 01:13:06.320 --> 01:13:10.320 the eighth commandment, I may as well go ahead and read the 01:13:10.320 --> 01:13:16.160 one about that second variety of violation of the eighth commandment that 01:13:16.160 --> 01:13:17.760 I listed earlier. 01:13:17.760 --> 01:13:21.280 This is the spiritual one, so next. 01:13:21.280 --> 01:13:25.280 This commandment extends very much further, if we are to apply it 01:13:25.280 --> 01:13:28.080 to spiritual jurisdiction or administration. 01:13:28.080 --> 01:13:31.760 Here it is a common occurrence that everyone bears false witness against 01:13:31.760 --> 01:13:32.800 his neighbor. 01:13:32.800 --> 01:13:36.720 For wherever there are godly preachers and Christians, they must bear the 01:13:36.720 --> 01:13:42.480 sentence before the world that calls them heretics, apostates, and indeed, instigators 01:13:42.560 --> 01:13:45.040 and desperately wicked unbelievers. 01:13:45.040 --> 01:13:49.600 Besides, God's word must suffer in the most shameful and hateful manner, 01:13:49.600 --> 01:13:55.840 being persecuted, blasphemed, contradicted, perverted, and falsely quoted and interpreted. 01:13:55.840 --> 01:13:59.120 But let this go, for this is the way of the blind 01:13:59.120 --> 01:14:03.600 world, which condemns and persecutes the truth in God's children, and yet 01:14:03.600 --> 01:14:06.640 considers it no sin. 01:14:06.640 --> 01:14:09.760 This is of course exactly what we see happening in the world 01:14:09.760 --> 01:14:15.520 today. Satan is not content simply to lead people astray. 01:14:15.520 --> 01:14:17.840 His goal is to destroy, to pervert 01:14:18.800 --> 01:14:21.920 everything that is good and beautiful and true. 01:14:21.920 --> 01:14:24.800 And that is of course why he will twist God's word. 01:14:24.800 --> 01:14:29.120 Again, as we have mentioned previously, and as you have undoubtedly read 01:14:29.280 --> 01:14:34.640 in Scripture, heard in sermons, when Satan comes to Christ to attempt 01:14:34.640 --> 01:14:38.320 to tempt him in the desert, he does it by twisting God's 01:14:38.320 --> 01:14:43.760 word. There is no good thing that Satan will not attempt to 01:14:43.760 --> 01:14:47.360 destroy, to pervert, to use toward his ends. 01:14:47.360 --> 01:14:50.240 And slander is one of his best methods. 01:14:50.240 --> 01:14:53.760 He is the father of lies because lying is effective. 01:14:53.760 --> 01:14:54.960 Slander is effective. 01:14:55.280 --> 01:14:59.120 And as Wo mentioned, slander is one of those things that it 01:14:59.120 --> 01:15:02.160 is destructive in the speaking of the thing. 01:15:05.520 --> 01:15:09.200 And at risk of belaboring the point, although I would say Not 01:15:09.200 --> 01:15:12.240 really so because God felt it necessary to go over it in 01:15:12.240 --> 01:15:15.200 this much depth. 01:15:15.200 --> 01:15:18.000 As an aside, I would recommend that you go and read all 01:15:18.000 --> 01:15:19.120 of Proverbs. 01:15:19.120 --> 01:15:21.440 It'll take you maybe two hours. 01:15:21.440 --> 01:15:24.000 That can be the reading assignment for this week since we've taken 01:15:24.000 --> 01:15:25.760 to giving reading assignments. 01:15:25.760 --> 01:15:29.760 But to return to Proverbs seventeen for a minute. 01:15:29.760 --> 01:15:31.120 Verse four. 01:15:31.120 --> 01:15:35.760 An evildoer listens to wicked lips and a liar gives ear to 01:15:35.760 --> 01:15:38.480 a mischievous tongue. 01:15:38.480 --> 01:15:42.880 Think about what that verse is saying for a minute. 01:15:42.880 --> 01:15:47.600 That verse is, yes, of course, condemning slander, because that would be 01:15:47.600 --> 01:15:52.720 the mischievous tongue or the wicked lips, those are slanderers, descriptions of 01:15:52.720 --> 01:15:54.320 a slanderer. 01:15:54.320 --> 01:15:59.920 But it says an evildoer listens to a slanderer, and the liar 01:16:00.080 --> 01:16:03.760 gives ear to a mischievous tongue. 01:16:03.760 --> 01:16:08.240 The person who listens to a slanderer and does not rebuke him, 01:16:08.240 --> 01:16:09.920 becomes himself a sinner. 01:16:09.920 --> 01:16:14.800 He participates in the evil of that slanderer. 01:16:14.960 --> 01:16:18.720 Part of the reason for that is, as we have said already, 01:16:18.720 --> 01:16:22.960 the slander is harmful in the speaking of it. 01:16:22.960 --> 01:16:24.960 That is part of the harm. 01:16:24.960 --> 01:16:28.400 Once you have heard that thing about your neighbor that you should 01:16:28.400 --> 01:16:32.800 not have heard, that that other man should not have spoken, the 01:16:32.800 --> 01:16:36.320 harm to your neighbor has increased because now you know that. 01:16:36.320 --> 01:16:39.440 Perhaps you'll forget it over time, but for a period of time 01:16:40.240 --> 01:16:44.320 you know this thing, whether it's true or false, you know this 01:16:44.320 --> 01:16:48.640 accusation, this slander against your neighbor that you should never have heard, 01:16:48.640 --> 01:16:51.840 and so it is incumbent on you as a Christian to rebuke 01:16:51.840 --> 01:16:56.800 those wicked lips and that mischievous tongue, because otherwise you become the 01:16:56.800 --> 01:17:00.720 evildoer who listened, and you become the liar who gave an ear 01:17:00.720 --> 01:17:02.240 to a slanderer. 01:17:03.040 --> 01:17:05.200 And this is throughout Proverbs. 01:17:05.200 --> 01:17:08.800 Woe went over a number of them, but another one, Proverbs nineteen. 01:17:08.800 --> 01:17:12.720 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out 01:17:12.720 --> 01:17:14.400 lies will perish. 01:17:15.120 --> 01:17:19.280 twenty five eighteen nineteen A man who bears false witness against his 01:17:19.280 --> 01:17:22.320 neighbor, is like a war club or a sword, or a sharp 01:17:22.320 --> 01:17:26.080 arrow, trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble, is like 01:17:26.080 --> 01:17:29.680 a bad tooth or a foot that slips. 01:17:29.680 --> 01:17:34.400 This is all throughout Scripture, and it is something that Christians today 01:17:34.560 --> 01:17:36.960 are simply not addressing. 01:17:36.960 --> 01:17:41.120 Because it has become ingrained in our culture, it has become practically 01:17:41.120 --> 01:17:44.080 one of the past times of our culture. 01:17:44.560 --> 01:17:48.720 People go out and they gossip in the negative sense of slander 01:17:48.880 --> 01:17:50.720 about their neighbors. 01:17:50.720 --> 01:17:53.920 People hear slander, and never rebuke anyone for it. 01:17:54.160 --> 01:17:57.360 Woe said, pastors hear slander And do not rebuke the men who 01:17:57.360 --> 01:18:00.400 do so, and pastors certainly should know better. 01:18:00.400 --> 01:18:03.600 Because Scripture is incredibly clear about this. 01:18:03.600 --> 01:18:07.680 It is not just a matter of not slandering your neighbor. 01:18:07.680 --> 01:18:12.080 And we could also get into the inverse of what it means 01:18:12.320 --> 01:18:17.520 not to bear false witness, because the commandments, in short, not only 01:18:17.520 --> 01:18:22.320 prohibit bad behavior, but in the prohibition of bad behavior, give you 01:18:22.320 --> 01:18:24.560 opportunity for good works. 01:18:24.800 --> 01:18:27.280 So in essence to do the opposite of the thing that is 01:18:27.280 --> 01:18:32.480 prohibited. And so not to murder also entails as good works to 01:18:32.480 --> 01:18:36.400 aid your neighbour, not to bear false witness also entails to speak 01:18:36.400 --> 01:18:37.840 well of your neighbour. 01:18:39.280 --> 01:18:42.720 But God is very clear that the scope of this is not 01:18:42.720 --> 01:18:46.800 just not to slander your neighbor, it is to rebuke those who 01:18:46.800 --> 01:18:50.320 slander, it is to attempt not to hear these things, it is 01:18:50.320 --> 01:18:53.680 to set up your society in such a way that those who 01:18:53.680 --> 01:18:57.840 would engage in slander are punished, so that this cancer does not 01:18:57.840 --> 01:19:04.400 spread throughout your society and destroy men and ultimately your society itself. 01:19:04.400 --> 01:19:07.840 Because where everyone is a slanderer, or where no one rebukes the 01:19:07.840 --> 01:19:12.400 slanderer, and so he is free to spread his malice throughout society, 01:19:12.400 --> 01:19:15.280 there can be no Christian culture. 01:19:15.280 --> 01:19:19.280 And you cannot live with your neighbor as a Christian neighbor, because 01:19:19.280 --> 01:19:22.720 it becomes every man against every other man, and every man out 01:19:22.720 --> 01:19:23.840 for himself. 01:19:23.840 --> 01:19:26.160 And that's not a society, that's a war 01:19:27.440 --> 01:19:31.360 That is the result, that is the level of seriousness of this 01:19:31.360 --> 01:19:35.840 issue. This is something that we should be addressing in our daily 01:19:35.840 --> 01:19:40.800 lives and practically daily, because we are exposed to slander, and I 01:19:40.800 --> 01:19:43.680 would hope that many of the listeners are not engaging in it, 01:19:43.680 --> 01:19:46.880 at least not actively, as it were, but we are exposed to 01:19:46.880 --> 01:19:48.400 it daily. 01:19:48.400 --> 01:19:52.240 And it is incumbent on us, lest we become that evildoer who 01:19:52.240 --> 01:19:55.440 listens, to rebuke those who slander. 01:19:56.080 --> 01:19:58.560 That is our Christian duty. 01:19:58.960 --> 01:20:02.880 Jesus gives us context for all this in John sixteen when he 01:20:02.880 --> 01:20:06.240 says, I have said all these things to keep you from falling 01:20:06.240 --> 01:20:09.040 away. They will put you out of the synagogues. 01:20:09.040 --> 01:20:12.800 Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he 01:20:12.800 --> 01:20:14.880 is offering service to God. 01:20:14.880 --> 01:20:17.360 And they will do these things because they have not known the 01:20:17.360 --> 01:20:18.560 Father nor me. 01:20:18.560 --> 01:20:21.280 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour 01:20:21.280 --> 01:20:25.120 comes you may remember what I told them to you. 01:20:25.120 --> 01:20:31.760 Now obviously this was being spoken as Jesus was alive bodily before 01:20:31.760 --> 01:20:35.600 his crucifixion to the disciples. 01:20:35.840 --> 01:20:40.160 it was certainly true up through the end of the Second Temple. 01:20:40.160 --> 01:20:42.240 But it is equally true today. 01:20:42.240 --> 01:20:46.320 These words that were spoken among them also apply to us. 01:20:46.320 --> 01:20:47.680 And we should remember that. 01:20:47.680 --> 01:20:52.080 We should remember that when bad things happen, not to fall away. 01:20:52.720 --> 01:20:55.600 that's one of the key things we try to get across in 01:20:55.600 --> 01:20:56.720 so many episodes. 01:20:56.720 --> 01:20:58.080 Yeah, things are bad. 01:20:58.080 --> 01:20:59.280 That's good news. 01:20:59.280 --> 01:21:02.960 That means that you understand that they're bad. 01:21:02.960 --> 01:21:07.760 It means you understand that the the moral war that's being waged 01:21:07.760 --> 01:21:11.200 in the world actually has a top and a bottom. 01:21:11.200 --> 01:21:15.120 It has a god and it has an anti god, an antichrist 01:21:15.360 --> 01:21:16.960 who are waging war. 01:21:16.960 --> 01:21:18.800 Now, they're not equals. 01:21:19.200 --> 01:21:20.480 it's a joke. 01:21:20.480 --> 01:21:24.560 Satan rages futile, but he rages nevertheless. 01:21:24.560 --> 01:21:28.400 And while we are subject to his whims for a time, we 01:21:28.400 --> 01:21:31.600 suffer. And God warns us about it so that we're not gonna 01:21:31.600 --> 01:21:33.920 be knocked out of the park. 01:21:34.640 --> 01:21:38.080 if these things were happening and God hadn't said anything, it would 01:21:38.080 --> 01:21:42.160 be harder to be doxxed and slandered and hated and driven from 01:21:42.160 --> 01:21:46.960 churches. Would be a little more disconcerting if God had not described 01:21:46.960 --> 01:21:50.400 that these are the very things that will happen if you're faithful 01:21:50.400 --> 01:21:52.880 to me. 01:21:52.880 --> 01:21:58.560 In Matthew fifteen Jesus says to the Pharisees, You hypocrites, well did 01:21:58.560 --> 01:22:02.400 Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, This people honors me with 01:22:02.400 --> 01:22:05.680 their lips, but their heart is far from me, in vain do 01:22:05.680 --> 01:22:10.880 they worship me, teaching his doctrines the commandments of men. 01:22:10.880 --> 01:22:13.440 And he called the people to him and said to them, Hear 01:22:13.440 --> 01:22:16.640 and understand, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles 01:22:16.640 --> 01:22:19.520 a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a 01:22:19.520 --> 01:22:22.640 person. Then the disciples came to him and said, Do you know 01:22:22.640 --> 01:22:25.600 that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? 01:22:26.320 --> 01:22:30.080 Sorry, I'm laughing, but just the idea that the Pharisees being offended 01:22:30.080 --> 01:22:36.160 is cause for concern really uh causes my ears to burn today. 01:22:36.160 --> 01:22:40.320 Jesus answered, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will 01:22:40.320 --> 01:22:42.000 be rooted up, let them alone. 01:22:42.000 --> 01:22:45.440 They are blind guides, and if the blind lead the blind, both 01:22:45.440 --> 01:22:46.800 will fall into a pit. 01:22:46.800 --> 01:22:49.760 But Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. 01:22:49.760 --> 01:22:53.040 And he said, Are you also still without understanding? 01:22:53.040 --> 01:22:55.600 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into 01:22:55.600 --> 01:22:58.480 the stomach and is expelled? 01:22:58.480 --> 01:23:01.520 But whatever comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and 01:23:01.520 --> 01:23:05.280 this defiles a person, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, 01:23:05.280 --> 01:23:10.560 murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 01:23:10.560 --> 01:23:14.240 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands 01:23:14.240 --> 01:23:17.040 does not defile anyone. 01:23:17.040 --> 01:23:21.440 So Jesus ends that list of damnable things with false witness 01:23:22.320 --> 01:23:23.680 and slander. 01:23:23.680 --> 01:23:30.640 And incidentally he's separating that which is both criminally negligent because it 01:23:30.640 --> 01:23:34.240 is false in the courts, and then all types of slander, whether 01:23:34.240 --> 01:23:38.880 true or false, because destroying a man's reputation falls under the proverbs 01:23:38.880 --> 01:23:40.720 in the psalm that we read earlier. 01:23:40.720 --> 01:23:44.560 It's both things that are true and things that are false that 01:23:44.560 --> 01:23:46.400 God calls slander. 01:23:46.400 --> 01:23:50.400 And he puts them in the same breath with murder, adultery, sexual 01:23:50.400 --> 01:23:53.760 immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 01:23:53.760 --> 01:23:55.120 That's the Ten Commandments right there. 01:23:55.120 --> 01:23:58.000 He's go he's reiterating a couple of them, but that's that's the 01:23:58.000 --> 01:24:01.120 law, that's God's eternal will. 01:24:01.280 --> 01:24:04.160 As we move ahead to 1 Timothy, we're going to get into 01:24:04.160 --> 01:24:09.520 a couple other descriptions of later in the church when the established 01:24:09.520 --> 01:24:13.120 church is being addressed, what God says. 01:24:13.120 --> 01:24:16.640 Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their masters 01:24:16.640 --> 01:24:19.520 as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and 01:24:19.520 --> 01:24:21.680 the teaching may not be reviled. 01:24:21.680 --> 01:24:25.680 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground 01:24:25.680 --> 01:24:29.200 that they are brothers, rather they must serve all the better since 01:24:29.200 --> 01:24:34.000 those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. 01:24:34.000 --> 01:24:39.280 Incidentally, yet another passage that says that slavery is entirely morally illicit. 01:24:39.280 --> 01:24:43.120 You can be a brother in Christ and own another human being. 01:24:43.120 --> 01:24:44.640 Cope and sieve. 01:24:44.640 --> 01:24:46.480 If you hate that, you hate God. 01:24:46.480 --> 01:24:47.840 Did a whole episode about that. 01:24:47.840 --> 01:24:51.360 You can go back and listen if that makes you burn. 01:24:51.360 --> 01:24:54.160 Paul continues, teach and urge these things. 01:24:54.400 --> 01:24:57.760 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the 01:24:57.760 --> 01:25:01.200 sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords 01:25:01.200 --> 01:25:05.200 with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. 01:25:05.200 --> 01:25:09.520 He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words 01:25:09.760 --> 01:25:15.920 which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people 01:25:16.080 --> 01:25:20.000 who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that 01:25:20.000 --> 01:25:22.640 godliness is a means of gain. 01:25:22.640 --> 01:25:26.080 That's an incredibly dense passage just in terms of how much of 01:25:26.080 --> 01:25:29.440 the modern church is thrown under the bus here. 01:25:29.440 --> 01:25:32.240 Everyone who condemns slavery is damned by this. 01:25:32.240 --> 01:25:36.320 Everyone who spreads the prosperity gospel, who imagines that godliness is a 01:25:36.320 --> 01:25:39.920 means of gain, damned, according to this. 01:25:39.920 --> 01:25:42.560 And God says this is a different doctrine that does not agree 01:25:42.560 --> 01:25:44.080 with the sound words of Jesus Christ. 01:25:44.480 --> 01:25:46.480 These are the words of Jesus Christ. 01:25:46.480 --> 01:25:48.720 Everything else is outside of it. 01:25:48.720 --> 01:25:55.760 And when slanders and evil suspicions and dissension is spread inside the 01:25:55.760 --> 01:26:01.680 church, it's to do what the accuser wants us to be doing. 01:26:01.680 --> 01:26:04.160 And sometimes we fall for it. 01:26:04.160 --> 01:26:05.280 We're all sinners. 01:26:05.280 --> 01:26:06.720 We're all capable of these things. 01:26:06.720 --> 01:26:08.800 We all sometimes participate. 01:26:08.800 --> 01:26:13.120 And again, slander is an easy one because you don't know what's 01:26:13.120 --> 01:26:17.760 happening unless you are armored against it, unless you're actually conscious of 01:26:17.760 --> 01:26:21.840 what's going on and what the consequences are, about what God says 01:26:21.840 --> 01:26:24.320 about it, how much he hates it, and how easy it is 01:26:24.320 --> 01:26:25.200 to do it. 01:26:25.200 --> 01:26:28.080 Once you become aware of it, it's very easy because as soon 01:26:28.080 --> 01:26:32.080 as you hear someone about another man and you're like, well, that's 01:26:32.080 --> 01:26:34.960 bad for him, that's the end of it. 01:26:34.960 --> 01:26:41.680 Now, we've talked elsewhere about the separate case of public sin. 01:26:41.680 --> 01:26:45.440 If you know some pastor is running around saying things that are 01:26:45.440 --> 01:26:48.160 evil, there is a time and a place for that to be 01:26:48.160 --> 01:26:51.200 rebuked. Not everywhere, and not all the time. 01:26:51.200 --> 01:26:56.240 That person doesn't become the object of universal and eternal scorn. 01:26:56.240 --> 01:27:00.640 But when discussions about the state of the church arise, absolutely that's 01:27:00.640 --> 01:27:01.520 part of it. 01:27:01.520 --> 01:27:04.160 And other times it's not a party to it at all. 01:27:04.160 --> 01:27:07.680 There are other conversations where that thing shouldn't be brought up because 01:27:07.680 --> 01:27:09.440 it's not relevant. 01:27:09.440 --> 01:27:13.920 So fair game may be the wrong term, but I think that 01:27:13.920 --> 01:27:16.320 the the notion is apt. 01:27:16.320 --> 01:27:19.680 There's a time and a place for certain things, and there are 01:27:19.680 --> 01:27:22.160 certain things that never have a time and a place. 01:27:22.480 --> 01:27:27.040 And it's only by us actually thinking about these things rigorously that 01:27:27.040 --> 01:27:30.640 we can clean up our hearts and minds so that, as in 01:27:30.640 --> 01:27:34.240 the proverb that Corey just read a minute ago, our ears don't 01:27:34.160 --> 01:27:37.040 make us liars when we hear slander. 01:27:37.040 --> 01:27:38.640 That's what that passage said. 01:27:38.640 --> 01:27:40.480 Your ears will make you a liar. 01:27:40.400 --> 01:27:44.160 before your tongue does anything, even if your tongue never does anything, 01:27:44.160 --> 01:27:49.040 if your ears entertain slander about another, you have become a liar. 01:27:49.760 --> 01:27:49.920 We 01:27:49.920 --> 01:27:53.360 have brought up a passage from James III a number of times 01:27:54.160 --> 01:27:55.520 in this podcast. 01:27:55.520 --> 01:28:00.880 It is particularly relevant, particularly for those who would consider teaching in 01:28:00.880 --> 01:28:04.560 the church, because it of course is about the stricter judgment. 01:28:04.560 --> 01:28:05.760 But if you read on 01:28:06.640 --> 01:28:10.640 in that chapter of James, it goes on to say quite a 01:28:10.640 --> 01:28:14.560 bit about the tongue, which is to say it speaks about slander 01:28:15.440 --> 01:28:19.040 and about the possibility of destruction that is inherent in what you 01:28:19.040 --> 01:28:22.800 can do in the tongue, and so I'll read now from James 01:28:22.800 --> 01:28:28.640 three. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you 01:28:28.640 --> 01:28:32.560 know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for 01:28:32.560 --> 01:28:35.920 we all stumble in many ways, and if any one does not 01:28:35.920 --> 01:28:39.440 stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also 01:28:39.440 --> 01:28:41.440 to bridle his whole body. 01:28:41.440 --> 01:28:44.560 If we put bits into the mouths of horses, so that they 01:28:44.560 --> 01:28:46.800 obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 01:28:47.760 --> 01:28:51.200 Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are 01:28:51.200 --> 01:28:55.680 driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder, 01:28:55.680 --> 01:28:58.400 wherever the will of the pilot directs. 01:28:58.400 --> 01:29:02.320 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of 01:29:02.320 --> 01:29:03.520 great things. 01:29:03.520 --> 01:29:07.440 How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire, 01:29:07.440 --> 01:29:11.200 and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. 01:29:11.200 --> 01:29:16.000 The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting 01:29:16.000 --> 01:29:19.840 on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by 01:29:19.840 --> 01:29:24.160 hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea 01:29:24.160 --> 01:29:28.240 creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. 01:29:28.240 --> 01:29:31.200 But no human being can tame the tongue. 01:29:31.200 --> 01:29:34.640 It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 01:29:34.640 --> 01:29:37.760 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we 01:29:37.760 --> 01:29:40.880 curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 01:29:40.880 --> 01:29:44.000 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. 01:29:44.000 --> 01:29:47.360 My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 01:29:47.360 --> 01:29:51.360 Does a spring pour forth, from the same opening both fresh and 01:29:51.360 --> 01:29:52.480 salt water? 01:29:52.480 --> 01:29:56.560 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce 01:29:56.560 --> 01:30:00.880 figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water 01:30:03.600 --> 01:30:07.440 And so this should make you think of the words of Christ 01:30:07.520 --> 01:30:11.440 that it is out of the fullness of the heart that one 01:30:11.440 --> 01:30:15.760 speaks. It is evil that comes out of the mouth, not what 01:30:15.760 --> 01:30:19.440 goes into the mouth that contaminates a man, that makes a man 01:30:19.440 --> 01:30:22.160 wicked. And that is what we see here. 01:30:22.160 --> 01:30:27.040 If you use the tongue, if you use your ability to speak, 01:30:27.040 --> 01:30:30.000 for both good and evil. 01:30:30.000 --> 01:30:33.280 That is a mixing of the things of God and the things 01:30:33.280 --> 01:30:34.480 of Satan. 01:30:34.480 --> 01:30:38.640 And if you remember what the term holy means, there is no 01:30:38.640 --> 01:30:40.640 mixing of good and evil. 01:30:40.640 --> 01:30:45.520 A thing that is tainted by wickedness is no longer holy. 01:30:45.520 --> 01:30:50.320 We as Christians should not be engaged in slander, we should not 01:30:50.320 --> 01:30:53.760 be using the tongue both for the service of Satan to speak 01:30:53.760 --> 01:30:59.200 ill of our neighbor and for the worship of God. 01:30:59.200 --> 01:31:03.920 And the tongue, as this passage from James three notes, the tongue 01:31:03.920 --> 01:31:07.040 is a small part of the body, and yet think of the 01:31:07.040 --> 01:31:11.200 wickedness that you can accomplish simply with speech. 01:31:11.200 --> 01:31:14.240 Of course this is a function of the nature of speech and 01:31:14.240 --> 01:31:18.800 the fact that it is communication, but the point stands. 01:31:18.800 --> 01:31:23.200 If you can master your tongue, if you can master the things 01:31:23.200 --> 01:31:27.200 that you say, the things that you permit to pass your lips, 01:31:27.200 --> 01:31:31.360 then you have in a very real way mastered your body. 01:31:31.360 --> 01:31:35.280 It will be easier to master the rest of the flesh if 01:31:35.280 --> 01:31:39.840 you can manage to master the tongue. 01:31:39.840 --> 01:31:42.960 We should not be giving our tongues free reign. 01:31:42.960 --> 01:31:45.360 This is not a matter of indifference. 01:31:45.360 --> 01:31:49.760 Really nothing with concern to the body is a matter of indifference, 01:31:49.760 --> 01:31:53.200 in the strict sense of the term, and yes, of course, the 01:31:53.200 --> 01:31:56.560 style of clothing you wear is, after a fashion, a matter of 01:31:56.560 --> 01:32:02.160 indifference, but not entirely, because the modesty does play into that. 01:32:02.160 --> 01:32:05.280 But the body is not a matter of indifference, as we have 01:32:05.280 --> 01:32:09.760 said before, the flesh is real. 01:32:09.760 --> 01:32:14.160 You are your flesh, because you are a gestalt, you are more 01:32:14.160 --> 01:32:18.480 than just a soul, you're not a spirit operating a meat suit, 01:32:18.480 --> 01:32:21.040 as some are wont to say. 01:32:21.040 --> 01:32:24.080 And so you must keep the body under control. 01:32:24.080 --> 01:32:29.520 That of course means not overeating, means to be in decent shape 01:32:29.600 --> 01:32:32.880 to exercise, get some sunlight, various things like that. 01:32:32.880 --> 01:32:36.560 You must keep the body under control and maintain it as is 01:32:36.560 --> 01:32:40.160 appropriate. It is a gift given you from God, and you should 01:32:40.160 --> 01:32:42.400 take care of it accordingly. 01:32:42.400 --> 01:32:45.760 But there is also the matter of self-control, self-control of course being 01:32:45.760 --> 01:32:48.400 one of the fruits of the Spirit. 01:32:48.400 --> 01:32:51.920 And self-control starts with the tongue. 01:32:52.080 --> 01:32:56.160 It starts with the things that you permit yourself to send out 01:32:56.160 --> 01:32:57.120 into the world. 01:32:57.120 --> 01:33:01.440 Now, to some degree, you will never have perfect control over your 01:33:01.440 --> 01:33:06.000 thoughts. That's just a fact of living in this fallen world. 01:33:06.000 --> 01:33:08.560 You will have temptations, things will arise. 01:33:08.560 --> 01:33:11.680 You can suppress them, you can put them down, you can set 01:33:11.680 --> 01:33:16.800 them aside, and that is part of the process of sanctification. 01:33:16.800 --> 01:33:21.440 But you can most certainly preclude yourself from speaking evil of your 01:33:21.440 --> 01:33:25.680 neighbor. You can stop yourself from actually speaking the slander. 01:33:25.680 --> 01:33:29.280 It may be that you can't stop yourself from thinking it. 01:33:29.280 --> 01:33:30.560 That is still sin. 01:33:30.560 --> 01:33:32.480 You still need to repent of that. 01:33:32.480 --> 01:33:36.160 One of the reasons that we pray for forgiveness for all of 01:33:36.160 --> 01:33:39.360 our sins in the Lord's Prayer. 01:33:39.360 --> 01:33:42.720 But it is a bigger issue when you permit that wickedness to 01:33:42.720 --> 01:33:45.600 pass your lips to pass out into the world because then what 01:33:45.600 --> 01:33:48.880 you have done is in service of Satan, and you have also 01:33:48.880 --> 01:33:52.240 harmed those who hear those words. 01:33:52.240 --> 01:33:56.800 And so control the tongue, bridle the tongue, keep it under control. 01:33:56.800 --> 01:34:00.720 This is part of taming the flesh, this is part of mortification. 01:34:00.720 --> 01:34:04.000 You have to keep your body under control. 01:34:04.000 --> 01:34:08.240 Because that exercise of self control is an exercise of one of 01:34:08.240 --> 01:34:11.440 the fruits given you by God, one of the fruits of the 01:34:11.440 --> 01:34:15.680 Spirit. It is part of sanctification, it is part of the Christian 01:34:15.680 --> 01:34:19.760 life, and again it is how we live with our neighbors as 01:34:19.760 --> 01:34:25.920 fellow Christians, by stopping ourselves from harming our neighbor. 01:34:25.920 --> 01:34:27.520 It is a difficult task. 01:34:27.520 --> 01:34:29.120 Scripture is very clear about that. 01:34:29.120 --> 01:34:32.000 It is a very difficult task to tame the tongue. 01:34:32.000 --> 01:34:34.160 It verges on the impossible. 01:34:34.160 --> 01:34:38.000 And yet it is something that we as Christians must work toward 01:34:38.000 --> 01:34:40.320 in this life. 01:34:40.320 --> 01:34:45.040 If we had a society in which slander, again, was viewed as 01:34:45.040 --> 01:34:48.720 something vile, and there were times historically when this was the case 01:34:49.120 --> 01:34:50.640 in certain societies. 01:34:50.640 --> 01:34:54.400 Some societies were worse than ours when it comes to slander, in 01:34:54.400 --> 01:34:58.400 the sense of gossip particularly, some were much better. 01:34:58.400 --> 01:35:02.720 If we could get back to a position where where when someone 01:35:02.960 --> 01:35:09.200 thinks about speaking slander, he stops himself because he fears rebuke. 01:35:09.200 --> 01:35:11.520 That's actually good enough. 01:35:11.520 --> 01:35:12.800 In a practical sense. 01:35:12.800 --> 01:35:16.800 No morally it's not perfect, but in a practical sense, that starts 01:35:16.800 --> 01:35:18.400 to build up society. 01:35:18.400 --> 01:35:25.280 That's repositioning, rebuilding those guardrails that helps keep our neighbor Christian, that 01:35:25.280 --> 01:35:30.160 helps keep our society Christian, that helps build up this proper behavior 01:35:30.160 --> 01:35:33.040 between and among those of the faith. 01:35:33.040 --> 01:35:37.120 Those of the household of faith should be helping each other to 01:35:37.120 --> 01:35:39.120 maintain Christian behavior. 01:35:39.120 --> 01:35:39.840 And part of that 01:35:40.880 --> 01:35:45.200 is that moral duty to rebuke those who slander. 01:35:45.680 --> 01:35:49.920 To wrap up, I want to go into the manner in which 01:35:49.920 --> 01:35:57.680 Christ was brought to his crucifixion because we focus 01:35:57.680 --> 01:36:01.200 on the the fact that the Jews were chasing him around for 01:36:01.200 --> 01:36:05.360 years trying to kill him and we focus on what happened with 01:36:05.360 --> 01:36:11.040 Pilate and the crucifixion itself, but we don't necessarily pay a lot 01:36:11.040 --> 01:36:15.280 of attention to what led up to those charges. 01:36:15.280 --> 01:36:16.560 And so just one 01:36:18.000 --> 01:36:20.960 Just one of many examples of passages that say basically the same 01:36:20.960 --> 01:36:22.800 thing is for Matthew twelve. 01:36:22.800 --> 01:36:26.800 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy 01:36:26.800 --> 01:36:31.280 him. This was the running theme of Jesus' entire ministry. 01:36:31.280 --> 01:36:34.480 As soon as he showed up, as we mentioned, I think last 01:36:34.480 --> 01:36:39.920 week, when John the Baptist was baptizing him, the Pharisees and the 01:36:39.920 --> 01:36:43.040 Sadducees were approaching, and he rebuked them. 01:36:43.040 --> 01:36:46.480 He said they that they knew to flee, that from the very 01:36:46.480 --> 01:36:52.560 moment that Jesus appeared, Satan's children appeared right at his heels, nipping 01:36:52.560 --> 01:36:57.840 at his heels, making false accusations again against him, continuously trying to 01:36:58.400 --> 01:37:02.800 establish grounds by which they could stone him themselves or have him 01:37:02.800 --> 01:37:08.480 executed. And he continuously had to slip away because the crowds were 01:37:08.640 --> 01:37:10.320 in some cases violent. 01:37:10.320 --> 01:37:12.320 They're preparing to kill him. 01:37:12.320 --> 01:37:14.320 This was Jesus' entire ministry. 01:37:14.320 --> 01:37:15.680 This is God we're talking about. 01:37:15.680 --> 01:37:19.280 Speaking the truth elicited that response. 01:37:19.280 --> 01:37:23.200 I think maybe we don't take seriously what was actually going on 01:37:23.200 --> 01:37:27.760 there The same words that we read today in Scripture, when they 01:37:27.760 --> 01:37:32.880 were spoken among those people, many were filled with the immediate desire 01:37:32.880 --> 01:37:35.680 to murder him on the spot. 01:37:35.680 --> 01:37:39.600 And failing having the ability to actually murder him on the spot, 01:37:39.600 --> 01:37:41.920 at least and get away with it, because they didn't want to 01:37:41.920 --> 01:37:44.160 face any consequences temporally. 01:37:44.160 --> 01:37:45.280 What did they do? 01:37:45.280 --> 01:37:49.360 They slandered and they plotted continuously, in secret 01:37:50.320 --> 01:37:55.200 In Luke 22, we get to the the moment of Jesus betrayal. 01:37:55.200 --> 01:37:57.440 I'm going to read the beginning and the end of Luke 22, 01:37:57.440 --> 01:38:01.680 skipping a little bit, to focus on the passages about Judas. 01:38:01.680 --> 01:38:04.240 And I'm also going to read from Matthew twenty six the parallel 01:38:04.320 --> 01:38:06.640 passage Passage. 01:38:06.640 --> 01:38:08.240 Luke twenty two. 01:38:08.240 --> 01:38:11.760 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was a member of 01:38:11.760 --> 01:38:12.560 the twelve. 01:38:12.560 --> 01:38:16.080 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how 01:38:16.080 --> 01:38:19.760 he might betray him to them, and they were glad and agreed 01:38:19.760 --> 01:38:23.200 to give him money, so he consented and sought an opportunity to 01:38:23.200 --> 01:38:26.800 betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. 01:38:26.800 --> 01:38:29.440 While he was still speaking there came a crowd, and a man 01:38:29.440 --> 01:38:32.400 called Judas, one of the twelve was leading them. 01:38:32.400 --> 01:38:35.200 He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to 01:38:35.200 --> 01:38:39.200 him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? 01:38:39.440 --> 01:38:43.600 And the parallel passage from Matthew 26, telling the same event. 01:38:43.600 --> 01:38:47.120 While he was still speaking, Judas came one of the twelve, and 01:38:47.120 --> 01:38:50.560 with him a great crowd, with swords and clubs, from the chief 01:38:50.560 --> 01:38:52.480 priests and the elders of the people. 01:38:52.480 --> 01:38:55.680 Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, The one I 01:38:55.840 --> 01:38:58.800 will kiss is the man, seize him, and he came up to 01:38:58.800 --> 01:39:02.560 Jesus at once and said, Greetings, rabbi, and he kissed him. 01:39:02.560 --> 01:39:05.360 Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you came to do. 01:39:05.360 --> 01:39:10.560 Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 01:39:10.560 --> 01:39:13.920 As I was reading this passage it struck me how 01:39:14.880 --> 01:39:18.720 functionally fruitless Judas betrayal actually was. 01:39:18.720 --> 01:39:22.240 It was obviously a betrayal because God says it was, but what 01:39:22.240 --> 01:39:23.520 did he accomplish? 01:39:23.520 --> 01:39:25.840 There were no new accusations. 01:39:25.840 --> 01:39:31.600 Literally nothing had changed on this night than from any of the 01:39:31.600 --> 01:39:35.120 prior days where the Pharisees were trying to murder him, where the 01:39:35.120 --> 01:39:38.080 Jews who had followed him around for three years were trying to 01:39:38.080 --> 01:39:42.560 murder him, the only thing that changed was that this was now 01:39:42.560 --> 01:39:43.440 the moment. 01:39:43.440 --> 01:39:47.120 This was the night when Christ prophesied he would be betrayed and 01:39:47.120 --> 01:39:51.520 handed over, and he prophesied that they would betray him. 01:39:51.520 --> 01:39:52.800 God permitted it. 01:39:52.800 --> 01:39:56.080 The only thing that changed was that God finally permitted this to 01:39:56.080 --> 01:40:00.880 happen because the time was ripe in the so Judas doxing Jesus 01:40:00.960 --> 01:40:02.560 was what that was. 01:40:02.560 --> 01:40:05.040 Judas doxed Jesus with a kiss. 01:40:05.040 --> 01:40:08.640 He said, This man right here, this is the one to kill. 01:40:08.640 --> 01:40:12.080 And then they hauled Jesus off, and then Judas went away. 01:40:12.080 --> 01:40:15.840 And And then he realized his betrayal in the depth of his 01:40:15.840 --> 01:40:19.280 sin, but rather than repenting and saying, I have done the most 01:40:19.280 --> 01:40:24.000 wicked thing in history, he could have fallen on God's mercy. 01:40:24.000 --> 01:40:26.800 He knew, he heard God's mercy for years. 01:40:27.360 --> 01:40:29.440 He learned at Jesus' feet. 01:40:29.440 --> 01:40:33.520 He instead did not repent, he despaired, and he took his own 01:40:33.520 --> 01:40:41.760 life. He chose to remain in this the worst sin of all. 01:40:41.760 --> 01:40:45.120 But what he did functionally was just to dox him and say, 01:40:45.120 --> 01:40:46.320 here, this guy, get him. 01:40:46.480 --> 01:40:49.520 he wasn't an accuser in the sense that he brought new charges. 01:40:49.520 --> 01:40:54.400 He didn't it wasn't like Judas leaked screenshots from a DM and 01:40:54.400 --> 01:40:56.240 said, Here you here you go, Pharisees. 01:40:56.240 --> 01:40:58.480 Now you have the secret stuff that you can use to really 01:40:58.480 --> 01:40:59.360 get this guy. 01:40:59.360 --> 01:41:01.120 No, there was nothing new. 01:41:01.120 --> 01:41:03.680 It was just the God said, Okay, I can let you do 01:41:03.680 --> 01:41:04.080 it now. 01:41:04.080 --> 01:41:07.360 And so it was set into motion. 01:41:07.360 --> 01:41:11.120 And what we read in Mark fourteen, I'm mixing and matching all 01:41:11.120 --> 01:41:16.000 the gospels here, after this, and they led Jesus to the high 01:41:16.000 --> 01:41:19.200 priest, and all the chief priests and the elders of the scribes 01:41:19.200 --> 01:41:22.400 came together, and Peter had followed him at a distance right into 01:41:22.400 --> 01:41:25.120 the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the 01:41:25.120 --> 01:41:27.040 guards and warming himself at the fire. 01:41:27.040 --> 01:41:30.720 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against 01:41:30.720 --> 01:41:33.680 Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 01:41:33.680 --> 01:41:37.680 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not 01:41:37.680 --> 01:41:41.440 agree, and some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 01:41:41.440 --> 01:41:44.720 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made 01:41:44.720 --> 01:41:47.600 with hands, and in three days I will build another not made 01:41:47.600 --> 01:41:48.400 with hands. 01:41:48.400 --> 01:41:51.040 Yet even about this testimony they did not agree. 01:41:51.040 --> 01:41:53.600 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, 01:41:53.600 --> 01:41:55.040 Have you no answer to make? 01:41:55.040 --> 01:41:57.360 Was it that these men testify against you? 01:41:57.360 --> 01:41:59.680 But he remained silent and made no answer. 01:41:59.680 --> 01:42:02.720 Again the high priest asked him, Are you the Christ, the Son 01:42:02.720 --> 01:42:03.680 of the Blessed? 01:42:03.680 --> 01:42:06.800 And Jesus said, I am, and you will see the Son of 01:42:06.800 --> 01:42:09.600 Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the 01:42:09.600 --> 01:42:10.640 clouds of heaven. 01:42:10.640 --> 01:42:14.160 And the high priest tore his garments and said, What further witnesses 01:42:14.160 --> 01:42:14.880 do we need? 01:42:14.880 --> 01:42:17.600 You have heard his blasphemy, what is your decision? 01:42:17.600 --> 01:42:21.120 And they all condemned him as servant deserving death. 01:42:21.920 --> 01:42:26.720 This passage describes false witness over and over and over again. 01:42:26.720 --> 01:42:29.680 They had all these people who were coming to testify so they 01:42:29.680 --> 01:42:32.800 could gin up charges to murder Christ, and they couldn't get their 01:42:32.800 --> 01:42:33.760 act together. 01:42:33.760 --> 01:42:35.600 This is the same thing we see today. 01:42:35.600 --> 01:42:39.520 When false accusations are laid against men who are Christians today, they're 01:42:39.520 --> 01:42:41.680 incoherent. They don't line up. 01:42:41.680 --> 01:42:44.480 The same men who bring a charge one day will say the 01:42:44.480 --> 01:42:47.280 opposite the next day, and yet they all can they consider all 01:42:47.280 --> 01:42:48.240 of it to be damning. 01:42:48.240 --> 01:42:50.320 Why? Because they're accusers. 01:42:50.320 --> 01:42:51.680 Satan is an accuser. 01:42:51.680 --> 01:42:56.800 All he needs is a continued lobbing accusations, slander. 01:42:56.800 --> 01:43:00.240 As long as he continues to fill the air with slander, hatred 01:43:00.800 --> 01:43:03.760 is the only thing that he will permit to rule in men's 01:43:03.760 --> 01:43:07.120 hearts. Jesus just sat there and took it. 01:43:07.120 --> 01:43:11.200 And when they finally gave up trying to make up accusations because 01:43:11.280 --> 01:43:14.400 it all fell apart, even their false witness was pointless. 01:43:15.040 --> 01:43:17.600 He finally said, I am the son of man. 01:43:17.600 --> 01:43:19.680 Which was what they'd been looking for the whole time. 01:43:19.680 --> 01:43:24.720 Remember from the beginning of his ministry, any time anyone said you 01:43:24.720 --> 01:43:28.240 are the Son of God, he agreed, and then he said, Keep 01:43:28.240 --> 01:43:31.600 it secret, because the time was not yet ripe for that to 01:43:31.600 --> 01:43:32.960 be revealed to the world. 01:43:32.960 --> 01:43:36.080 Because when that was revealed, he knew that it would trigger their 01:43:36.080 --> 01:43:38.720 murder. Why would it trigger the murder of God? 01:43:38.720 --> 01:43:41.360 Because the Jews hated God. 01:43:41.360 --> 01:43:46.800 Evil hates God, and necessarily must seek God's destruction in all places 01:43:46.800 --> 01:43:51.280 and all times, including his servants, including his messengers, wherever his word 01:43:51.280 --> 01:43:54.480 is found, you're gonna find the same behavior. 01:43:54.480 --> 01:43:59.040 This is a pattern that repeats in scripture, it repeats throughout time, 01:43:59.040 --> 01:44:00.480 and it repeats today. 01:44:00.480 --> 01:44:04.800 Satan has a playbook, he loves this stuff because it always works. 01:44:04.800 --> 01:44:10.320 So So just keep in mind that the thing that nailed Christ 01:44:10.320 --> 01:44:13.520 to the cross was false witness. 01:44:13.520 --> 01:44:17.280 It was slander against him for men who lied and lied and 01:44:17.280 --> 01:44:21.200 lied. And even though all their lies were incoherent and disagreed, it 01:44:21.200 --> 01:44:22.480 didn't matter. 01:44:22.480 --> 01:44:25.920 Because when the truth of God was told, that was sufficient for 01:44:25.920 --> 01:44:28.400 them to murder him, which is what he promised. 01:44:28.400 --> 01:44:31.680 He promised it of himself and he promises it to us too. 01:44:31.680 --> 01:44:34.800 When we say what God says, we're going to receive the same 01:44:34.800 --> 01:44:36.080 kind of treatment. 01:44:36.080 --> 01:44:39.600 If you're not being treated like this, you're not saying enough. 01:44:39.600 --> 01:44:42.640 That's a hard thing to hear because some people are not in 01:44:42.640 --> 01:44:44.720 a position to be able to do that. 01:44:44.720 --> 01:44:47.840 And I'm not condemning a man who's not sticking his head up 01:44:47.840 --> 01:44:51.120 above the line of fire to get it shot off. 01:44:51.120 --> 01:44:52.880 We're all gonna have our time. 01:44:52.880 --> 01:44:57.040 And when men are able to do it before you, have their 01:44:57.040 --> 01:45:01.600 back, don't participate in slander against them, because the false witness that 01:45:01.600 --> 01:45:05.280 you bear against someone who's a messenger of God will be held 01:45:05.280 --> 01:45:05.920 against 01:45:05.920 --> 01:45:06.560 you. 01:45:06.960 --> 01:45:11.520 We've mentioned a number of times on this show that one of 01:45:11.520 --> 01:45:16.480 the purposes of Stone Choir is the and then what of the 01:45:16.480 --> 01:45:18.080 Christian life. 01:45:18.080 --> 01:45:21.760 Which is to say it's how to live a Christian life. 01:45:21.760 --> 01:45:26.320 We've gone over topics in episodes that have to deal with the 01:45:26.320 --> 01:45:30.240 core of what it means to be and to become a Christian. 01:45:30.240 --> 01:45:33.200 And so we've gone over the sacraments, for instance. 01:45:33.200 --> 01:45:40.400 So there's repent, believe the gospel, be baptized, attend the divine service, 01:45:40.400 --> 01:45:43.840 receive the body and blood of Christ. 01:45:43.840 --> 01:45:45.600 And then what? 01:45:45.600 --> 01:45:47.440 A lot of this show is about that. 01:45:47.440 --> 01:45:51.680 It's how do you live in this world as a Christian, what 01:45:51.680 --> 01:45:53.920 does it mean to behave as a Christian? 01:45:53.920 --> 01:45:57.040 What are we required to do by Scripture? 01:45:57.040 --> 01:46:01.120 It's one of the uses of the law, of course. 01:46:01.120 --> 01:46:05.520 But in addition to that, in particular in this episode, I would 01:46:05.520 --> 01:46:08.960 like to offer you something even beyond the and then what, and 01:46:08.960 --> 01:46:11.600 that is the and now what. 01:46:14.640 --> 01:46:19.120 The answer to then, in this episode, is how a Christian is 01:46:19.120 --> 01:46:23.600 supposed to view slander, what you are supposed to do and what 01:46:23.600 --> 01:46:26.080 you are not supposed to do. 01:46:26.080 --> 01:46:30.560 The scope of slander in the theological context as opposed to the 01:46:30.560 --> 01:46:36.240 civil context again, to remind you again that it is broader than 01:46:36.240 --> 01:46:38.160 the civil context. 01:46:38.160 --> 01:46:40.480 And we've gone over that and we will link materials in the 01:46:40.480 --> 01:46:44.880 show notes for you to read, including the section from the large 01:46:45.040 --> 01:46:49.920 catechism, much of which I already read in the episode. 01:46:49.920 --> 01:46:52.800 But the and now what is important what do you 01:46:53.680 --> 01:46:56.400 do with this information? 01:46:56.400 --> 01:46:59.840 What do you do now that you have been told this is 01:46:59.840 --> 01:47:01.680 what slander is? 01:47:01.680 --> 01:47:05.280 This is what scripture tells you to do, this is what scripture 01:47:05.280 --> 01:47:06.960 tells you not to do. 01:47:06.960 --> 01:47:10.800 Well, how do I do this in my daily life? 01:47:11.040 --> 01:47:16.320 The issue of slander itself issuing from you, of course, is relatively 01:47:16.320 --> 01:47:19.120 straightforward. Don't slander your neighbor. 01:47:19.600 --> 01:47:20.960 This is easy. 01:47:20.960 --> 01:47:24.800 It's very difficult to do, but it's easy to understand. 01:47:24.800 --> 01:47:27.760 Do not speak ill of your neighbor. 01:47:27.760 --> 01:47:31.600 That's the real core sense to take away from the episode and 01:47:31.600 --> 01:47:35.520 from what we've said about what slander is it is to speak 01:47:35.520 --> 01:47:37.680 ill of another. 01:47:37.680 --> 01:47:40.480 And so do not slander your neighbor. 01:47:40.480 --> 01:47:44.480 That's simply a restatement of the eighth commandment. 01:47:44.480 --> 01:47:46.960 But what else do you need to do? 01:47:46.960 --> 01:47:51.040 What should you do now that you know the scope of slander? 01:47:51.040 --> 01:47:54.080 What is demanded of a Christian in this life by God in 01:47:54.080 --> 01:47:57.040 his word? 01:47:57.040 --> 01:48:00.080 One of the I guess we could call it an action item 01:48:00.160 --> 01:48:02.560 if we were so inclined, but one thing that you can do, 01:48:02.560 --> 01:48:06.000 something you can put into practice in your own life, is to 01:48:06.000 --> 01:48:08.480 rebuke those who slander. 01:48:08.480 --> 01:48:10.880 We've mentioned this already a couple times in this episode 01:48:11.760 --> 01:48:16.400 But if someone starts to tell you gossip about someone else, if 01:48:16.400 --> 01:48:20.800 someone starts to speak ill of his neighbor, your neighbor, tell him 01:48:20.800 --> 01:48:24.400 to stop, rebuke him, tell him if he is a Christian, that 01:48:24.400 --> 01:48:26.800 is impermissible for a Christian to do. 01:48:26.800 --> 01:48:28.960 You are violating the eighth commandment. 01:48:28.960 --> 01:48:30.560 You are slandering your neighbor. 01:48:30.560 --> 01:48:32.320 You are bearing false witness. 01:48:32.320 --> 01:48:33.840 You need to stop and repent. 01:48:33.840 --> 01:48:36.960 If you have a problem with your neighbor, go to him. 01:48:36.960 --> 01:48:39.120 Don't tell me about it. 01:48:39.120 --> 01:48:43.200 Don't involve me in your wickedness, as we heard in Proverbs. 01:48:43.200 --> 01:48:46.240 Do not make me a sinner along with you. 01:48:46.240 --> 01:48:49.200 I do not want to participate in your sin. 01:48:49.200 --> 01:48:51.760 Stop slandering your neighbor. 01:48:52.560 --> 01:48:55.600 And so, yes, one of the things you can do, you can 01:48:55.600 --> 01:49:00.720 implement this immediately in your life, is to rebuke those who engage 01:49:00.720 --> 01:49:02.080 in slander. 01:49:02.080 --> 01:49:04.400 Is that going to be uncomfortable in many cases? 01:49:04.400 --> 01:49:05.680 Yes, of course. 01:49:05.920 --> 01:49:09.360 Because it has become something that is alien to our culture because 01:49:09.360 --> 01:49:13.280 our culture has strayed so far from God and his word. 01:49:13.280 --> 01:49:17.760 But this is how we start to rebuild a Christian society. 01:49:17.760 --> 01:49:22.080 This is how we start to drag society kicking and screaming back 01:49:22.080 --> 01:49:27.920 to proper behavior, back to its Christian foundations where it should be. 01:49:27.920 --> 01:49:30.880 And so what you can do in your life is simply rebuke 01:49:30.880 --> 01:49:33.360 those who engage in slander. 01:49:33.360 --> 01:49:36.400 And it's not just a matter of you can do this, you 01:49:36.400 --> 01:49:37.840 need to do this. 01:49:37.840 --> 01:49:41.200 You are required by Scripture to do this. 01:49:41.200 --> 01:49:45.040 Because again, what God says in His Word is that if you 01:49:45.040 --> 01:49:50.000 do not rebuke the slanderer, if you just listen, you are a 01:49:50.000 --> 01:49:52.800 participant in that sin. 01:49:52.800 --> 01:49:57.280 You become a sinner along with the slanderer because you have participated 01:49:57.280 --> 01:49:59.280 in his wickedness. 01:49:59.280 --> 01:50:02.960 This is not one of those cases where you can simply wash 01:50:02.960 --> 01:50:06.480 your hands, stand back, and not be a sinner because you didn't 01:50:06.400 --> 01:50:09.200 participate in the wickedness. 01:50:09.200 --> 01:50:13.520 God gives you an affirmative duty here, and that duty is to 01:50:13.520 --> 01:50:15.840 rebuke the one who slanders. 01:50:15.840 --> 01:50:19.280 And as a Christian that is not an optional matter. 01:50:19.280 --> 01:50:23.200 We should view this as an opportunity for good works. 01:50:23.200 --> 01:50:26.080 We should view this as a good thing, we should welcome this, 01:50:26.080 --> 01:50:29.680 because God has given us something to do not only to better 01:50:29.680 --> 01:50:34.560 our society, to protect our neighbor, but also to serve God by 01:50:34.560 --> 01:50:36.320 doing what He commands. 01:50:36.320 --> 01:50:40.880 This is an opportunity for good works, and we engage in it. 01:50:40.880 --> 01:50:46.560 We are exposed to this opportunity practically daily living in this society. 01:50:46.560 --> 01:50:53.040 And so yes, there is the and now what for this episode. 01:50:53.040 --> 01:50:57.920 Go out and rebuke those you hear engaging in slander, because it 01:50:57.920 --> 01:51:00.320 is your Christian duty to do so. 01:51:00.640 --> 01:51:00.960 I 01:51:00.960 --> 01:51:04.480 want to leave you all with the words of 1 Peter 3 01:51:04.720 --> 01:51:08.960 as an exhortation not only to do what Corey just said, but 01:51:08.960 --> 01:51:13.840 also to take heart as you face the difficulties in doing that. 01:51:13.840 --> 01:51:16.800 We know that the things that we faced are certainly not unique. 01:51:16.800 --> 01:51:20.000 We're certainly not the first, even in our community, to face these 01:51:20.000 --> 01:51:23.360 things. Many of you who are listening have shared your stories about 01:51:23.360 --> 01:51:27.680 the persecution you have faced in your churches, in your employers, in 01:51:27.680 --> 01:51:29.120 your communities. 01:51:29.120 --> 01:51:31.360 This is the norm today. 01:51:31.360 --> 01:51:33.760 It is rapidly expanding. 01:51:33.760 --> 01:51:37.920 And so as we've said, there's much in Scripture that encourages us. 01:51:37.920 --> 01:51:39.200 You will face this. 01:51:39.200 --> 01:51:40.160 God knows. 01:51:40.160 --> 01:51:43.040 And if God knows what's going to happen and he calls you 01:51:43.040 --> 01:51:46.160 his, you don't need to worry that he's not going to take 01:51:46.160 --> 01:51:47.760 care of you. 01:51:47.760 --> 01:51:49.840 So we end with this. 01:51:49.840 --> 01:51:52.320 Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for 01:51:52.320 --> 01:51:53.680 what is good? 01:51:53.680 --> 01:51:56.960 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be 01:51:56.960 --> 01:52:00.240 blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your 01:52:00.240 --> 01:52:03.840 hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make 01:52:03.840 --> 01:52:06.880 a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the 01:52:06.880 --> 01:52:08.400 hope that is in you. 01:52:08.400 --> 01:52:12.400 Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so 01:52:12.400 --> 01:52:15.920 that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in 01:52:15.920 --> 01:52:18.720 Christ may be put to shame to shame, for it is better 01:52:18.720 --> 01:52:22.320 to suffer for doing good if that should be God's will than 01:52:22.320 --> 01:52:23.920 for doing evil.