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WHEN
ALL MEN SPEAK WELL OF YOU
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false
prophets. Luke 6:26
It
is interesting how, in spite of all the warnings in Scripture
against gossip, slander, and tale bearing, just how much
stock we tend to place in people's opinions. It is said
that where there is smoke there is fire. However, the smoke
may be no more than dust and hot air.
As Mark Twain observed: "A lie can travel halfway
across the world while truth is still getting its boots
on!"
The great Baptist preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, warned: "Believe
not half you hear; repeat not half you believe. When you
hear an evil report, halve it, then quarter it, and say
nothing about the rest of it."
The great Reformer, John Calvin, declared: "No greater
injury can be inflicted upon men than to ruin their reputation."
Thomas Brooks taught: "Of all the members in the
body, there is none so serviceable to Satan as the tongue."
C. H. Spurgeon wrote: "The more prominent you are
in Christ's service, the more certain are you to be the
butt of calumny. I have long ago said farewell to my character.
I lost it in the early days of my ministry by being a little
more zealous than suited a slumbering age. And I have never
been able to regain it except in the sight of Him who judges
all the earth, and in the hearts of those who love me for
my work's sake."
John Calvin wrote: "There is nothing more slippery
or loose than the tongue."
The Scriptures command us "to slander no-one,
to be peaceable and considerate and to show true humility
toward all men." Titus 3:2
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling
and slander, along with every form of malice."
Ephesians 4:31
Yet gossip remains prevalent within the church, and the
arrogance, bitterness, jealousy and malice that so often
accompany it generally remains unchallenged.
King David wrote: "Whoever slanders his neighbour
in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty
eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure."
Psalm 101:5
Today, however, it is more common to publish the slanders
than to silence or rebuke them.
Few seem to consider that whoever gossips to you will gossip
of you.
The teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ are very clear. "In
everything do to others what you would have them do to you.
For this sums up the Law and the prophets."
Matthew 7:12
When we pray we are to say: "Forgive us our debts
as we have also forgiven our debtors…. For if you forgive
men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins,
your Father will not forgive your sins." Matthew
6:12-15
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because
of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward
in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
who were before you." Matthew 5:11-12
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they
exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil
because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap
for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that
is how their fathers treated the prophets…Woe to you
when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers
treated the false prophets." Luke 6:22-26
Why then do we continue to place such value upon people's
opinions? After all, mass murdering tyrants like Joseph
Stalin and Mao Tse Tung have been "Man of the Year"
of Time Magazine .
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men,
or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I was still
trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Galatians 1:10
Our Lord Jesus Christ warned us: "Many will turn
away from the faith and will betray and hate each other."
Matthew 24:10
Even one of Jesus' hand picked disciples, Judas, who was
trusted as the treasurer of "The Twelve" took
money from the high priests to betray our Lord Jesus Christ
into their hands (Luke 22:8; John 13:21).
When Moses sent out twelve scouts to explore the land, ten
returned with a negative and defeatist report and "made
the whole community grumble" to the point of
even wanting to stone Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:36).
Only Joshua and Caleb, of the twelve, came back with a good
report. The Lord severely judged the ten complainers and
mightily blessed the faithful Joshua and Caleb (Numbers
16:38)
Criticising
Calvin
The great French Reformer, John Calvin, transformed
Geneva through his preaching, teaching, writings and Academy.
Under John Calvin's ministry, Geneva became the intellectual
centre and hub of the Reformation, a place of religious
freedom and refuge for Protestants fleeing persecution.
Geneva also became a sending base for evangelists, pastors
and missionaries who established literally thousands of
Reformed churches throughout Europe and further afield.
Yet historians have noted that: "No good man has
ever had a worse press; no Christian theologian is so often
scorned; so regularly attacked."
Throughout his life Calvin faced major opposition, often
from fellow Protestants and other theologians: "whose
objections to Calvin were incessant and, usually, unpleasant."
Even today, there are those who maintain that John Calvin
was a vicious tyrant who oppressed the people under an unbearable
dictatorship. And that he had people executed for disagreeing
with him.
Yet, the facts are: Calvin never ruled Geneva. The city
was not a totalitarian society, but a republic with elections
and dissent. Calvin held no civil office, he could neither
arrest nor punish any citizen, nor could he appoint or dismiss
any official. (To argue that his eloquence and logic constituted
tyranny, is to invent a new standard.)
History records that refugees from all over Europe flooded
to Geneva to find the freedom there that they were not able
to enjoy in their home countries. Under Calvin, Geneva developed
into Europe's greatest concentration of printers and publishing
firms. It became the epicentre of the movement for freedom
world wide. Yet Calvin continues to be slandered by ignorant
and prejudiced people.
Libel
Against Luther
Similarly, the great German Reformer, Martin Luther,
continues to be slandered to this day. Whole websites are
dedicated to depicting Luther as an anti-Semite who laid
the foundations for the holocaust!
The accusation that Martin Luther was an anti-Semite, responsible
for massacres, reveals an ignorance of history. Luther was
pro-Christ and he was zealous in evangelism. For decades
he lovingly and patiently reached out to the Jewish people
in his area with the Gospel. In 1523, Luther accused Catholics
of being unfair to Jews in treating them "as if
they were dogs". Luther was outraged and declared
that such mistreatment made it even more difficult for Jews
to convert to Christ.
Luther wrote "I would request and advise that one
deal gently with the Jews…if we really want to help
them, we must be guided in our dealings with them, not by
papal law, but by the Law of Christian love. We must receive
them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us,
hear our Christian teaching and witness our Christian life.
If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After
all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either."
Fifteen years later, however, the persistent rejection of
Christ and repeated blasphemies of those Jewish people in
his community, provoked Luther to write: "On the
Jews and their Lies." In this pamphlet, Luther
wrote against the "madness and blindness that blasphemes
Christ" in the Rabbinic teachings. Luther declared
that he could not "have any fellowship or patience
with obstinate blasphemers and those who defame our dear
Saviour." These blasphemies included describing
our Lord Jesus Christ as "the bastard son"
of "that whore Mary", and even worse. Blasphemy
was a civil crime. Luther taught that to tolerate such blasphemy
was to share in the guilt for it. Therefore, he proposed
measures of "sharp mercy" which included
confiscating all Jewish literature which was blasphemous
and prohibiting Rabbis to teach such blasphemy.
However, to quote these reactions of Luther without explaining
their local context of opposing the repeated blasphemies
of Jewish individuals in his community and then to project
guilt for the continent-wide, anti-Christian holocaust of
World War II upon the great 16th Century Reformer is ludicrous.
How can any Christian Reformer of the 16th Century be blamed
for the evils perpetrated by humanists (who clearly rejected
his teachings) nearly 400 years after his death!
Hitler was a disciple of Nietzsche (the philosopher who
declared: "God is dead") - not Luther. Luther
was not an anti-Semite. His arguments against Jewish individuals
were theological, not biological or cultural. He was speaking
out against blasphemy and heresy, not opposing an entire
race or nation of people.
It is most disturbing that such a humble and God fearing
man, who, against all odds, gave to the church and the world
the Bible, freely available in the common tongue; who introduced
congregational singing; championed justification by God's
Grace, received by faith, on the basis of the finished work
of Christ; who stood for sola Scriptura - that Scripture
alone is the ultimate authority; and who was so wonderfully
used of the Lord to bring about the greatest Biblical Reformation
and birth of freedom that the world had ever known, could
be the target of such vicious slander.
The Scriptures implore us: "Brothers, do not
slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother
or judges him speaks against the Law and judges it."
James 4:11
Malice
and a Contentious Spirit
There is a disturbing tendency throughout the church, seen
regularly in homes where they have "roast pastor
for Sunday lunch", to set ourselves up continually
as judges of those who are better than us. Many have the
gift of criticism and a ministry of discouragement. Few
recognise how seriously their casual criticism, of what
are often trivial matters, erodes and undermines the ministries
of those called of God to service.
"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and
all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind."
1 Peter 2:1
As the Scripture so plainly shows us, slander of every kind
is inseparable from malice, deceit, hypocrisy and envy.
(The middle letter of pride is "I", the middle
letter of lie is "I", the middle letter of sin
is "I", so too the middle letter of Lucifer is
"I".) Self centred pride is often at the root
of our desire to slander great men and women of the past,
and to drag down others whom God has raised up.
Jonathan Edwards, one of America's greatest theologians,
and a man most closely associated with the Great Evangelical
Awakening, was actually dismissed by his own church for
applying Biblical discipline. The elders of his church would
not accept his position that unbelievers should not be allowed
to participate in The Lord's Supper. In his farewell message,
Edwards declared: "…avoid contention. A contentious
people will be a miserable people…heat of spirit, evil
speaking and things of the like…directly contrary to
the spirit of Christianity…watch against a contentious
spirit…"
Condemning
Carey
The father of modern missions, William Carey, and
his co-worker, John Marshman, had to endure vicious and
unjust criticisms from young new missionaries who came "to
help" at the mission base in Serampore, India.
Many of these new volunteers actually split from the Serampore
mission and spent an inordinate amount of time slandering
William Carey and his co-workers (the controversy lasted
thirteen years). So much so that the Baptist Missionary
Society in England actually turned against William Carey
for a time.
Writing of this, Carey said: "the evil they have
done is, I fear, irreparable; and certainly the whole might
have been prevented by a little frank conversation with
either of us; and a hundredth part of that self- denial
which I found necessary to exercise for the first few years
of the mission would have prevented this awful rupture…but
now we are traduced and the church rent by the very men
who came to be our helpers…judge for yourselves whether
it is comely that a man who has laboriously and disinterestedly
served the mission so many years should be arraigned and
condemned without a hearing by a few men who have just arrived,
one of whom had not been a month in the country before he
joined the senseless outcry."
Slandering
Samuel Marsden
On a recent speaking tour to Australia, a couple of people
commented on my including Samuel Marsden in The
Greatest Century of Missions. They frankly admitted
that they had never before heard anything good about Samuel
Marsden, but only that he was a vicious "hanging
judge" and "religious hypocrite".
In fact, Samuel Marsden was a pioneer missionary and founding
father of Australia and New Zealand. He was a man who upheld
justice impartially, and who diligently preached the Gospel.
Throughout his life he remained a humble and generous Christian
who laid the foundations for the Christian Church in Australia
and New Zealand. Although he came to Australia as a chaplain
to the convict colony of New South Wales, the Governor compelled
him to also be the magistrate. Combining both demanding
vocations in one person involved Marsden in one controversy
after another. Samuel tried his utmost to provide for the
prisoners, to establish a school for orphans, and to right
the wrongs suffered by Aborigines.
His attempts to uphold principles of justice placed his
life in danger and he endured many threats to his life.
On one occasion, he travelled to England to call the attention
of the government to the unacceptable conditions and to
secure intervention. He presented these grievances to King
George III himself.
Samuel Marsden had a great missionary vision which also
extended to bringing the Gospel of Christ to the cannibals
of New Zealand. Despite vicious disputes between some of
the missionaries answerable to him, and relentless criticism,
Samuel Marsden conducted the first public worship service
in New Zealand, interceded between two warring tribes, and
introduced education, standards of justice, and law and
order to the country.
It was his sad experience to continually be a victim of
malicious and unfounded charges throughout his time in Australia.
His fearless denunciation of sin made him numerous enemies,
but the Lord vindicated Samuel Marsden. Within 31 years
of his first service in New Zealand, 98% of the Maoris had
embraced Christianity.
Harrassing
Hudson Taylor
In 1865, Hudson Taylor prayed for 24 "willing,
skilful labourers" for his new China Inland Mission.
Willing and skilful they may have been, but four of these
new recruits also brought dissension and controversy. Soon
these dissidents had poisoned the fellowship with their
increasing bitterness and resentment. After two years of
backbiting and disruption, Hudson Taylor had to dismiss
the ringleader, Louis Nicole, from the mission. Other troublemakers
left with him.
More unrelenting slander and lies undermined the work of
the China Inland Mission. One of the accusations against
Hudson Taylor was that he was "too familiar with
the young ladies." Hudson and Maria Taylor kissed
some of the girls on the forehead before they went off to
bed. The ladies themselves denied any inappropriate behaviour,
but still the complaint reached London, and for a time led
to a fall in support for the mission.
As Hudson Taylor wrote: "If the Spirit of God works
mightily, we may be sure that the spirit of evil will also
be active." The China Inland Mission was engulfed
in opposition, dissension, controversy, fire and death from
the beginning. Their mission house in Yangchow was attacked
and set on fire. Furious persecution engulfed them. Storms
of criticism and controversy erupted. However, in spite
of constant controversies, the number of CIM missionaries
grew, in time becoming the largest mission organisation
in the world. By the end of Hudson's long life, the very
mission organisations that had belittled and ridiculed his
methods had begun adopting many of them.
Presumed
Guilty
On his Zambezi expedition, pioneer missionary explorer David
Livingstone was afflicted by interpersonal conflicts amongst
his team leading to everyone abandoning him in the field,
even his own brother Charles. By the time he returned to
England seven years later, Livingstone found that his disgruntled
ex-co-workers had so spread an ill report against him, that
no-one even came out to welcome him back. He was ostracised.
Presumed guilty without even a chance to defend himself.
From
Outcasts to Textbooks
The greatest Baptist preacher of all time, Charles Spurgeon,
was actually the target of vicious and slanderous attacks
by the Baptist Union of his day. Now his books are textbooks
of Baptist colleges and his statue stands outside the Baptist
Union headquarters.
George Whitefield, one of the greatest evangelists of all
time and a key figure in the Great Evangelical Awakening,
was actually excluded from the Church of England that he
had served so faithfully. Today the Church of England in
South Africa has named its college after George Whitefield.
A
Price of Success
Dr James Kennedy in his book, Delighting God, writes "if
you rise just a little bit above the common herd, if you
achieve just a modicum more success than your neighbours,
most surely those barbs of criticism are going to be shot
your way.
"To avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be
nothing." "There is no defence against reproach
- except obscurity."
Delighting God quotes one wise old man "if I tried
to read, much less answer all the criticisms made of me,
and all the attacks levelled against me, this office would
have to be closed to all other business. I do the best I
know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing
this, down to the very end. If the end brings me out all
wrong, ten angels swearing I had been right would make no
difference. If the end brings me out alright, then what
is said against me now will not amount to anything."
An
Opportunity to Glorify God
There is no doubt that adversity builds character. A faith
that can't be tested, can't be trusted. Smooth seas do not
make skilful sailors.
But unjustified criticism is still better than flattery
- and less dangerous! We can always benefit - even from
the most unbalanced criticism. What man means for evil,
God can use for good. (Genesis 50:20)
"And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose." Romans 8:28
Such
trials should drive us to prayer, humble us and deepen our
devotional life as we search the Scriptures and ask: "What
is God saying to me through this?"
It can also enable us to empathise with and comfort others
who suffer such injustices.
Christians suffering unjust criticism should find opportunities
to glorify God and to witness for Christ. Ultimately, God's
opinion and approval is the only One that counts. It is
He whom we should continually be seeking to please.
And one thing that Christ requires is that we forgive those
who sin against us - unconditionally, wholeheartedly. We
who have been forgiven much should love much. "Blessed
are you when men hate you and when they exclude you, and
revile you and cast out your name as evil, for the sake
of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy.
For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner
their fathers did to the prophets…Woe to you when all
men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false
prophets." Luke 6:22-26
It’s
Not The Critic That Counts
As United States President Theodore Roosevelt wrote:
"It is not the critic that counts
nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled;
nor where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions
and spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement
and;
who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid
souls
who know neither victory nor defeat!"
A
Test of Character
Everything in life is a test of character. Extreme situations
expose and bring out the best, or the worst, in people.
A person's character is accurately measured by their reaction
to unfairness or bad treatment. The measure of a person's
character can be seen by the size of those things which
upset him. The true flavour of a tea bag is only tasted
after it has been placed in hot water, and so it is with
ourselves. Our reputation is what men think we are. Our
character is what God knows we are. And this is only revealed
under extreme crisis situations.
So, when troubles and tribulations come, when you are insulted,
excluded, reviled and mistreated, do what our Lord Jesus
commanded; "rejoice in that day and leap for
joy!"
On the other hand; "Woe to you when all men speak
well of you…" Luke 6:26
Dr
Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship, P O Box 74, Newlands, 7725, Cape Town,
South Africa
E-mail: admin@frontline.org.za
This
article is taken from the book Character
Assassins by Peter Hammond and Brian Abshire
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