9/26 The Wickedness Of False Reports

Exodus 23:1

“Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”

It is important that before we ever say something about someone that we verify that it is true. God commands in this verse that we are not to raise a false report about anyone. In fact, God says that if we raise a false report about someone, we are no different than a wicked person who is a false witness in a trial case. A false witness in a trial case tries to put someone in jail because they hate them and this is how bad God feels that it is for us to raise a false report against another person.

How careful we must be in saying things about other people. If we do not know something is true, it would be best that we never pass it along to anyone else. This is why we should never go off of hearsay about a person. When you go off of hearsay about a person you have no idea whether the report is true or not. You are only going off of another person's word.

Before you say something about anyone, verify the information firsthand so that you will not be guilty of spreading a false report. I would rather never say anything about a person than to spread something and find out later that I was wrong. Like my mother used to say to me, "If you have nothing good to say about a person, then don't say anything at all." This would be a good rule of thumb to use when it comes to giving a report on a person.

If a person comes for advice about another person, if you don't know that person, then don't give any advice concerning that person. Protect your name by only giving what you know as a true report because you have verified it personally. I guess we could use the rule of thumb that reporters are supposed to use when giving a report about someone; only give a report on someone when you can verify the information by two credible witnesses. Unless you have two credible witnesses I would advise you to keep your mouth shut. It can be mighty embarrassing to have to cover a report that was false. Not only is this embarrassing, it is wicked. Let’s be careful about spreading false reports.