As we journey through life, we regularly hear ‘Gossip,’ oh did you hear what they have just done, what they have just bought, they are dating… but then let us consider this, “In Life, we must always find out things straight from the horses’ mouth, and not from listening to some Jackass spreading the Gossip.” Anon. Exodus 20:16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Is what you have just heard, that which you have just spoken, wholesome and uplifting, encouraging, pointing them to Jesus, and Salvation, or is it just grubby and dirty Gossip?? Quote; “When parents, especially mothers, have a true sense of the important, responsible work which God has left for them to do, they will not be so much engaged in the business which concerns their neighbors, with which they have nothing to do. They will not go from house to house to engage in fashionable gossip, dwelling upon the faults, wrongs, and inconsistencies of their neighbors. They will feel so great a burden of care for their own children that they can find no time to take up a reproach against their neighbor. If a woman looks to God for strength and comfort and in His fear seeks to perform her daily duties, she will win the respect and confidence of her husband and see her children coming to maturity honorable men and women, having moral stamina to do right. But mothers who neglect present opportunities, and let their duties and burdens fall upon others, will find that their responsibility remains the same, and they will reap in bitterness what they have sown in carelessness and neglect. There is no chance work in this life; the harvest will be determined by the character of the seed sown. {AH 250}
Quote; “We think with horror of the cannibal who feasts on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim; but are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, of dissecting character? Let the children, and the youth as well, learn what God says about these things: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The spirit of gossip and talebearing is one of Satan’s special agencies to sow discord and strife, to separate friends, and to undermine the faith of many in the truthfulness of our positions. {AH 440}
Quote; “What a world of gossip would be prevented if every man would remember that those who tell him the faults of others will as freely publish his faults at a favorable opportunity. We should endeavor to think well of all men, especially our brethren, until compelled to think otherwise. We should not hastily credit evil reports. These are often the result of envy or misunderstanding, or they may proceed from exaggeration or a partial disclosure of facts. Jealousy and suspicion, once allowed a place, will sow themselves broadcast, like thistledown.”
Quote; “When these tea and coffee [and wine] users meet together for social entertainment, the effects of their pernicious habit are manifest. All partake freely of the favorite beverages, and as the stimulating influence is felt, their tongues are loosened, and they begin the wicked work of talking against others. Their words are not few, or well chosen. The tidbits of gossip are passed around, too often the poison of scandal as well. These thoughtless gossipers forget that they have a witness. An unseen Watcher is writing their words in the books of heaven. All these unkind criticisms, these exaggerated reports, these envious feelings, expressed under the excitement of the cup of tea, Jesus registers as against Himself. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” {CD 423}
What a hugely different way of living, here in this world, that we are now living in, if instead of ‘Gossiping,’ we gave a Testimony of what God has done, and is currently doing in my life, oh by the way, “How many people have you seen arguing while they are singing a song?’ How about singing the Doxology; “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen,” Luke 18:1 “And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” Luke 21:36 “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Quote; “As the children of Israel, journeying through the wilderness, they cheered their way by the music of sacred song, so God bids His children today to gladden their pilgrim life. There are few means more effective for fixing His words in the memory than repeating them in song. And such song has wonderful power. It has power to subdue rude and uncultivated natures; power to quicken thought and to awaken sympathy, to promote harmony of action, and to banish the gloom and foreboding that destroy courage and weaken effort. {Ed 167}
Quote; “The apostle sought to teach the believers how important it is to keep the mind from wandering to forbidden themes or from spending its energies on trifling subjects. Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind must not be left to dwell at random, upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest. The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within, and the soul will wander in darkness. “Gird up the loins of your mind,” Peter wrote, “be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; . . . not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” {AA 518}If you are singing, if you are praying, if you are rescuing the perishing, caring for the dying, cause Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save, then there will be absolutely no time to waste in Gossiping, or to linger anywhere near a Gossiper, Matthew 5:8 “Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
