ChosenRebel's Blog

Bearing Our Throat for Execution

The endless flow of click bait, gossip, rumor, speculation and, lets be honest, just plain nonsense, that inhabits the internet and infects our newsfeeds is designed to have each of us bare our throats so the “enemy” (who Jesus told us to love) can slit our throats while we slit the throats of others. It is a MMA cage designed to pit various parts of the culture against one another. It is a cesspool of hate making the whole culture stink.

And the word of God has something to say about it.

^{29 “}Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”   (Eph. 4:29)

“But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;”    (1 Tim. 4:7)

“For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;” (2 Cor. 12:20)

“being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,” (Rom. 1:29)

“Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip:
      liars pay close attention to slander”  (Prov. 17:4)

Honestly, I think half the internet would disappear if Christians read and applied my friend Matthew C. Mitchell’s book,

Resisting Gossip: Winning the War of the Wagging Tongue
(Christian Literature Crusade, 2013).

Update on June 1, 2024:

Matt and the publishers should start thinking about a 15th anniversary update edition to celebrate the books value. Add in the discussion questions, tell us how the intervening years have deepened or adjusted your thinking. Surely you have heard how some churches have been revolutionized by the book. Tell some of their stories. My two cents.