Psst...wanna know a secret?

Who am I? I can break your heart, shatter your reputation, ruin your career, destroy your family, I am cruel and malicious, unstoppable, gathering strength as I age, the more I am quoted, the more I am believed, I flourish in every level of society, my victims are powerless, they cannot protect themselves from me.... I am nobody's friend, the more you seek me out the more elusive I become. Once set on my trail of destruction I can change history, topple governments, ruin marriages, I spawn grief and thrive on pain and misery, cause grown men and women to take their own lives..... who am I? I am gossip!  My twin is slander.

 Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.”

There is a certain deliciousness in hearing a tasty piece of gossip, knowing something about someone else's business or life; knowing a "fact" that few others know, and then repeating said "fact". Gossip is like apple pie smothered in ice-cream, or waffles and strawberries and whipped-cream... yummy..... Gossip is the main reason that talk shows or tabloid newspapers, certain "women's" magazines exist. We all know gossip when we hear it, or read about it. Worse still, we all know gossip when we repeat it. We are usually well aware of the corrosive effects of gossip, and often we are well aware of that effect because we have experienced it ourselves.

[My] brethren, do not speak evil about or accuse one another. He that maligns a brother or judges his brother is maligning and criticizing the Law and judging the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a practicer of the Law but a censor and judge [of it].  James 4:11 Amplified Bible 

Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “ ‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD". Leviticus 19:16 

You shall not go up and down as a dispenser of gossip and scandal among your people, nor shall you [secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and] endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.  Leviticus 19:16 Amplified Bible. 

The Biblical Greek word for “gossip” (psithuristes, Romans 1:29) literally means “a whisperer” — a person who whispers behind your back with the intention of hurting you. The Biblical scholar Frederic Godet described a gossiper as someone who pours out his poison by whispering in our ears. With the invention of the telephone, no longer did we even have to whisper behind people’s backs. We just badmouthed them over the phone without their knowing. So-called social media has compounded  the problem a 1000-fold. 

Where does gossip come from? 

The Bible is VERY CLEAR on gossip's origin...

And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a] world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man's nature), being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna). James 3:6 Amplified Bible

Gossip is a major armament in the dark lord's arsenal of weapons of war against the Saints.

In Luke 6:45 Jesus tells us, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” 

 

 The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 Amplified Bible  

Traditional teaching tells us that there are seven deadly sins.... while not explicitly listed in Scripture, they are generally classified as-  pride, greed, wrath, (anger) envy, gluttony and sloth (laziness). There is one fatal sin not on that list that is surely more deadly than all... Gossip. 

All the sins of the tongue are deadly. Profanity, insults, lying negativism, complaints, and criticism are all harmful. Gossip is a particularly deadly sin. Gossip has destroyed more people, tarnished more reputations, wrecked more relationships, broken more friendships, and split more churches than any sin I’m aware of. Gossip is quickly told, quickly heard, and quickly spread. Worst of all, gossip is readily believed. People will confess to theft, adultery, many other sins, even murder. But few will ever confess to gossip. In the arsenal of spiritual weapons arrayed against the saints, gossip is the "nuclear option".

 

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. Psalm 34:13 NIV. 

 

Part two of "Psst.... wanna know a secret?" follows.