Propagating A Lie

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1Jn. 4:1 KJV)."


This is one Bible verse we hear quoted often. How often do we heed its advice? Someone tells us a tidbit of information. We take it, spin it our way, then tell it to someone else. Could this verse also be telling us to verify what we hear as truth before we pass it on?


Propagating A Lie
We live in a culture that defines conservative Christianity as right-wing fanaticism. We assist in strengthening this definition when we take a piece of information and spread it without verifying the truth.


We are bound as Christians to not only speak the truth, but to also verify knowledge we possess or obtain as truth. Our credibility as witnesses is damaged when what we speak is proven to be untrue. How can we expect to reach the lost when our witness has no credibility?


We are propagating a lie when we spread information which can be proven untrue. We must verify truth to speak truth. Let us not place our faith in every spirit or piece of information before testing it for truth.


Babbling For the Gospel
"But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness (2Ti. 2:16 AMP)."


Without verification for truth, the words we so easily pass on could be interpreted as empty, useless babbling. We should make a point to heed this advice given to Timothy by the Apostle Paul. If we can't verify what we hear as truth, we should avoid it.


The last statement of this advice given by Paul is precisely what I'm talking about. We damage our credibility as Christian witnesses when we propagate unverified information. The result can only be leading people more and more into ungodliness.


Something to think about and pray about for today. God bless...