Lookahead: A couple of days ago, I came across a seasonal photo on the website of a well-known e-store which was linked to their holiday portal. On the surface, it was a humorous plug for Halloween costumes. But the photograph ironically captured the quintessential dichotomy between good and evil–and also encapsulated predominant Western philosophical thought and perception of…this dichotomy…the existence of the supernatural…and the role of the enemy of our souls. It featured a heartily laughing millenial gen mother dressed up like a beautiful angel, side hugging her cute red-headed pre-tween daughter…who was grimacing and snarling in…a devil’s outfit. The first thought that came into my mind was, “hmmmm Not really a laughing matter.” I feel certain that the good angels are definitely not laughing about the fallen angels, or side hugging them. They have seen the face of pure evil, up front and personal. But I may be somewhat lonely here with my beliefs.
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? James 4:11-12
In the last post we discussed how, if a brother spoke evil or judged another brother, that amounted to negating God’s law. We focused in on the judge word (which actually could include judging with evil or good intentions). Now we’re going to revisit “speaking evil.”
Again from Post Unpacking #31….The Greek word for “speak evil” is: katalaleite, καταλαλεῖτε, to speak against; per Motorera, to bad-mouth, defame, speak against, speak evil of, be a traducer, i.e., to slander, to talk loudly, to blab
This Bible Hub/Motorera definition seems to focus more on bad intent: traducer – someone who speaks badly of or tells lies about (someone else) so as to damage their reputation.
So a brother could actually be spilling-the-beans on someone/their sins, or outright lying. But equally teacherous, the brother could be expressing partial truth without the benefit of the full context. In slandering and traducing, there’s that additional component of twisting the truth–always with the intent of damaging someone’s credibility.
How do we feel about traducers? Basically our trust in them is nil.
Case in point: One fearless U.S. presidential candidate, who expresses a willingness to debate anyone, is always saying, “That’s not true–I never said/meant that. You’re ignoring context” during interviews. Then the news commentator hammers him with a video clip or reads an excerpt from the candidate’s book. But has the interviewer cherry picked the quote and lifted it completely out of context? A totally made-up example would be excerpting the highlighted clause from the following sentence:
“Factoring in that all these people are suffering from PTSD and mental health issues as a result of their patriotic service in various theaters of war,
this group of people who are claiming that they were kidnapped by little green men during the last full moon, deserve deep respect and an influential voice in our country.” 😦
The irony is that these jackhammer newscasters are frequently the ones whose credibility has suffered instead of the candidate’s–because this is viewed as a traduction tactic of twisting the truth. So I come away still unsure about who I’ll vote for in the election, but I have just used the TV remote to vote for a different interviewer.
How do we feel about people who, in general, set themselves up as judge and jury? Basically our trust is nil.
Recently a commentator at the news desk sarcastically judged/critiqued how each candidate had done in a debate, predicting who he thought would drop out of the playing field first. He was then sent out on the floor with a mic–to interview the candidates whom he just bashed. Suddenly he became the modicum of good behavior as he avoided eye contact. I found myself agreeing with the e-article follow-up that quipped along the lines of, “not only a couple of candidates, but two news moderators, were losers in the debate.” 🙂
There is, in fact, one popular podcast in which the host actually judges judgmental interview videos about candidates and government officials on a split-screen. In one case, the host joined ranks with a man-in-the-street interviewer who probed passers-by about one particular government official. The podcast host dissolved in laughter when the interviewees spoke negatively about the official–especially when the official’s public speaking blunders popped up on a video inset/overlay as proof. The interview remarks, as well as the host’s reaction, were so glibly humorous that I dissolved in laughter myself, forgetting how the official would feel if they happened upon the podcast. In hindsight, I imagine that the official would say of the judges, “They have no clue who I am or what I’m doing. They’re just cataloging all the miscomm.” 😦
If these social media judges are turning/changing public opinion because of a personal agenda, and hurting targeted subjects and viewers in the process, not good. And speaking evil includes not only what the would-be judge says selectively, but also what he selectively does not say.
Once again, this is how the world works. Now returning to James–he is addressing judgment in the community of believers. Obviously slander and traduction have no place in the church. But taking things a step further, if they do take place in the church, do we have the right to judge our slandering/traducing brothers?
I really don’t think so. 😦 I still think we should leave the judging to God. What about if they have the potential to hurt us or the flock? I believe that God will give us specific knowledge about how He has already judged them. He may judge them to be wolves who have gotten in among the flock or merely error-prone baby believers or perhaps long-term believers whose spiritual development was sadly arrested. This abililty that God has given us is called discernment. (1 John 4:1, 1 Corin 12:10, Hebrews 4:12, etc.) God gives us discernment to protect, not only ourselves, but the Body–and also so that we will know how to pray IAW Ephesians 6:12-18. This visibility into how God has judged is essentially a download that provides insight into the true nature of a person, from the supernatural perspective. This can be a valuable offensive weapon in our supernatural arsenal. The key to discernment is that for someone to avail themselves of this gift, the person must be totally plugged in and yielded to the Holy Spirit. If they are open loop, then they too have the potential to hurt the flock–and will be judged accordingly–by God. So ultimately it comes down to a “judgment call” ( 🙂 ) about whether we want to be judged by the One Who is able to save and to destroy, or NOT? James 4:12b Jesus Himself said Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt 10:28
A couple of days ago, I came across a seasonal photo on the website of a well-known e-store which was linked to their holiday portal. On the surface, it was a humorous plug for Halloween costumes. But the photograph ironically captured the quintessential dichotomy between good and evil–and also encapsulated predominant Western philosophical thought and perception of…this dichotomy…the existence of the supernatural…and the role of the enemy of our souls.
It featured a heartily laughing millenial gen mother dressed up like a beautiful angel, side hugging her cute red-headed pre-tween daughter…who was grimacing and snarling in…a devil’s outfit. The first thought that came into my mind was, “hmmmm Not really a laughing matter.” I feel certain that the good angels are definitely not laughing about the fallen angels, or side hugging them. They have seen the face of pure evil, up front and personal. But I may be somewhat lonely here with my beliefs.
Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” An additional two out of ten Christians (19%) said they “agree somewhat” with that perspective. A minority of Christians indicated that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement: one-quarter (26%) disagreed strongly and about one-tenth (9%) disagreed somewhat. The remaining 8% were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan.1
So a majority of Christians may actually laugh at the idea of a real-life satan who is the evil adversary of all Christians (my view: while they’re laughing, he’s also laughing, not with but at them). On that basis, the idea of dressing up (supposedly) like him on holidays is probably considered harmless.
This Christian majority may simply be unaware of how Jesus feels about our adversary–and how He has handled him like the wild, human-hating, consummately evil beast that he is. Why has He handled him that way over the ages? Because (1) Jesus knows that the adversary is the real-life embodiment of evil, and (2) because Jesus knows that He Himself has 100% authority over satan–despite what Internet ads may imply, Jesus is not on a lateral with the adversary. The latter is a defeated foe who is forever under Jesus’ feet. The adversary was drop kicked out of heaven when he committed the ultimate sin of pridefully thinking that he could dare to approach God’s hierarchical level. And when Jesus was risen, He…disarmed principalities and powers (and) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Collosians 2:15 He (God) raised Him (Jesus) from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:21-22
Today, since the Greater One lives in us (1 John 4:4) , the adversary does not have to be placated or imitated or side hugged by us. 🙂
Having said that, the Seven Sons of Sceva were soundly trounced because they underestimated the enemy. If we try to go in there in our own strength, without the indwelling Holy Spirit + the Name and Authority of Jesus, we are cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Acts 19:13-16
On the flip side, should we live in a state of trembling that God will judge us for buying Halloween costumes? No way! Basically, we just need to give Him the reverence He is due while, of course, never forgetting that 3:16 sums it up:
John 3:16—
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
“perish” is
apóllymi (from apó, “away from,” which intensifies ollymi, “to destroy”) – properly, fully destroy, cutting off entirely
1 John 3:16—
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And of course, always remembering the segue verse, 1 John 3:8–
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
“destroy” is
apóllymi (from apó, “away from,” which intensifies ollymi, “to destroy”) – properly, fully destroy, cutting off entirely
Although God has the power to destroy us, He has done everything He could possibly do to assure our salvation.
++++++++++++
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