Rumors, Gossip and your Testamony

It's that time of year again, when people start forwarding all sorts of emails with cute Christmas stories. Add these to the collection of emails I get from people telling me how this senator is corrupt, a representative is doing something underhanded, or that evils of some of the actions our current president is involved in, I find that I spend a lot of time reading emails, most of which are junk. Below part of a message I put together some time ago addressing this topic, and how forwarding unverified email just ruins your credibility. I thought I would share this today…

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Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
    -Exodus 23:1 (KJV)

When I first became a Christian, many of my friends started forwarding me things they thought were "cute" or "interesting" little Christian stories. As time went on, I started discovering that many of the stories being sent to me were fake. One example went like this:

I am sure that all of you heard about the sandstorm in Iraq Tuesday and Wednesday (the worst in 100 years some say) and the drenching rain that followed the next day. Our troops were bogged down and couldn't move effectively.

The media was already wondering if the troops were in a "quagmire" and dire predictions of gloom and doom came from the left wing media. What they didn't report was that yesterday, after the weather had cleared, the Marine group that was mired the worst looked out at the plain they were just about to cross. What did they see? Hundreds if not thousands of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines had been uncovered by the wind and then washed off by the rain. If they had proceeded as planned, many lives would have undoubtedly been lost.

As it was, they simply drove around them and let the demolition teams destroy them.

Praises be to His mighty name! Thank you God, for protecting our young men and women!

Cute story, except that it is a total lie, and only 15 minutes of searching uncovered this hoax (Urban Legends Reference Pages: Glurge Gallery (Sandstorm)).

Another email still roaming around warns people that they should check their computer for the file JDBGMGR.EXE. If this file is on their computer, it should be delete immediately as it is a virus. Unfortunately, this is not a virus. If you were a programmer who deleted this file, you could no longer debug javascripts. How open is the friend that deleted this program (based on your advice) going to be to the gospel after you have wrecked their computer? Why should they believe you?

Do we bring honor to our Lord when we circulate these little lies? Is this how to reach a spiritually lost and dying world? Spreading these lies ruins our testimony. Why should someone believe us about our walk with God when we are also willing to send them bogus stories of how someone drilled into hell? They question if we really know what we are talking about. God doesn't need us to fabricate something in order to make Him look good. When we pass these "lies" around, (and in the past I have been guilty of this also), do we not become guilty of telling lies, spreading false teachings, and even helping to create a false "god" of our own?

Before you forward that next message about how a little girl needs prayers for her brother, or that some organization will give you money if you forward this email", Or some cute (but totally untrue) story of how God did some action, take 15 minutes to see if what you are about to send is right. The testimony you save might just be your own.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
    -John 8:32 (KJV)