A DANGEROUS DAME
By Herbert Lockyer, D.D.
W HO personalized rumor, making it feminine by entitling it “ Dame Rumor” ? If the inference was that the carrying of rumors is more or less associated with the women, the imputation is not true, for men are just as guilty in such matters. Rumor-mon- gering is no respecter of persons. All may be guilty of this character-destroy ing activity. What, exactly, is a rumor? The dic tionary describes it as an uproar or a flying popular report, or a story or re port current without any known au thority for its truth. In the Bible, “ rumor” is used in various ways. The Assyrians were forced back to their own land by a rumor or report they heard (2 Ki. 19:7; Isa. 37:7). By the rumor from the Lord (Jer. 49:14) we can understand tidings from the Lord. Jere miah also uses the word to describe evil tiding (51:46). Ezekiel speaks of “ ru mor upon rumor” (7:26), one dread report following another. Luke tells us that “rumor of Jesus went forth throughout all Judea” (7:17), suggest ing how quickly the news of His mir acle-working power traveled. Predicting the end-time period, Jesus declared that there would be “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6). Rumors there are aplenty these days. What we have in mind by a “ rumor” is Webster’s last definition. “ A story (or report) current without any known au thority for its truth.” With all such stories or reports we must shun their repetition. Even when we are convinced of their verity, we should carefully weigh the advisability of assisting “ Dame Rumor.” Rumors of a wrong sort have a way of traveling fastest. D. L. Moody once stated that a lie is able to run around the town before truth can get its boots on. Why do we talk about an “ idle” rumor? Who ever heard of a rumor’s being idle? It is the fastest moving, and most overworked thing in the world. Rumors fly when we sleep. They work the round of the clock, never take a vacation, do big business when other businesses are slack. Factories may be forced to close down, but rumors always move along the assembly line. Money may be scarce, but rumors are always plentiful. They never know a depression. By rumors, then, we understand many reports that come to us of which we have no credible confirmation. All the proof we have is, “ So and so told me.” Too often we repeat what we heard without due investigation and in repe tition and thus slay many an innocent Page Ten
character. Alas, too often there is little protection against irresponsible rumors! In tense times like these, when both nations and men are exposed to fright ening reports, an ill-founded rumor can touch off a chain of tragic events. To speed the flight of an unconfirmed report is a despicable thing, and an act a Christian should shun, even as he would the devil. To repeat, even inno cently, an unverified rumor is a perni cious practice. Not only so, but when “we repeat any report about any person or any public problem without knowing what we say is so, we become partly responsible for the consequences.” Unconfirmed rumors, if repeated, be come the most destructive force this side of hell. The tragedy is that once they pass from us to others, they can never be recalled. Like a pebble thrown into a pond, an irresponsible rumor cre ates ever-expanding circles. Idle rumor! What a misnomer! Why, rumors may cause people to shuttle be tween panic and despair; result in wars; ruin innocent characters; lead friend to forsake friend; crush careers; wreck marriages; break up homes! Reports repeated by people who only know that “ someone” said it was so, may be the very emissaries of Satan. Here is a case in point that can be vouched for: once a Christian received a wholly untrue report about another Christian. Instead of verifying what he heard by asking the one being talked about, he went to this one and the other with the false rumor, until ultimately the one talked about found himself greatly handicapped in his witness. How sad it is when the devil succeeds in using believers to do his dirty work! We know that under the law a person is reckoned innocent until he is proved guilty. Rumors, however, can nullify justice, seeing they can persuade public opinion to accuse a man even without the customary evidence of guilt. Even if a man can acquit himself by conclusive evidence, rumor still finds him guilty in the minds of many. Once a woman continually gossiped about her pastor. As a result, his min istry was being attacked and his testi mony questioned. This pastor went to this gossip and asked, “Will you get a bag of feathers?” She did wondering at its meaning. She was then told by the pastor to let the feathers loose in the wind. Of course, they went in all direc tions. Then the pastor who had been injured by false statements bade her, “ Go, pick up all the feathers.” “ Oh, that
would be impossible!” exclaimed the woman. “Neither can you bring back your idle gossip and unkind remarks which have injured me,” said he. The tragedy of circulated, irrespon sible rumors is that the damage they cause is hard to repair. Impressions, created by false accusations are not easily erased after they have reached the ears of others. Of course, when the rumor-monger discovers he was wrong, he may apologize for hurt feelings, but apologies can never recall the false rumor. Being sorry will not cancel the mischief caused. An unqualified denial will never obliterate the damage done. Loose talk cannot be recalled. Read very carefully what James has to say about the power of the tongue in James. When what we are tempted to repeat, touches the character or affects the future of another, what extreme caution we should exhibit, even in casual con versation. It is not in vain that the Bible has a good deal to say about tale bearing. Before your lips convey a story, look over these verses in God’s Word, remembering that the talebearer de scribed is a whisperer or slanderer. To His people of old, God said, “ Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people” (Lev. 19:16). “ A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter” Prov. 11:13). Think of this warning—“ The words of a talebearer are as wounds, but they go down into the innermost parts of the belly” (Prov. 18:8; 26:22). Again, “ Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceas- eth” (Prov. 26:20). There was once an old savage custom of cutting out the tongues of people who talked too loosely. When we see how disaster can follow in the train of a rumor, we wonder whether we could not invent some less drastic method of dealing with rumor - carriers. There ought to be some kind of a law to deal with those who let their tongues wag in a destructive way. Purveyors of loose talk deserve to be dealt with firmly. One must be careful even about repeating the truth. There are three gates through which we must pass anything we hear before repeating a story: Is it true? Is it neces sary? Is it kind? First, Is it true? Be sure you leave no stone unturned to find out whether a report is true. It will never do to say, “ I heard someone say it.” You must find out its correctness or falsity. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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