In our daily interactions with others, our words hold immense power. They can build bridges, foster relationships and spread positivity. However, words can also destroy, hurt, and create rifts. Among the most damaging uses of words is slander, which involves making false and malicious statements about others. Slander not only hurts the person being targeted but also undermines the integrity of the speaker and damages the fabric of relationships, communities and Churches.
What is Slandering & Roots of Slandering
What is Slandering ? Speaking ill of another person in his absence is called slander or backbiting. The act of Slandering does not help anyone. God hates this practice. He commanded by Law Leviticus 19:16 '“ ‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “ ‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord .
Slandering endangers the other person’s life with a sense of negativity / false accusations or promotes wicked behaviour leading to Sin.
In other words, God hates backbiting. We may justify ourselves saying, “After all, I am telling the truth only.” Imagine God revealing our inner life sins to others, how would you feel ? thats how slandering is..
The Root of this character “Slander” - comes from Satan
Revelation 12:10 'Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. ‘
Here Satan is called 'the accuser of our brethren (Brothers and Sisters)’ .
Satan accuses us before God day and night saying, "See how Your child is behaving there! See how Your child is talking there!" The Devil watches our private life carefully and thereby gets plenty of material to accuse us before God.
Satan is called the serpent of old and the devil. The word 'devil' in Greek is 'diabolos' from which we get the English word 'diabolical'. But the word 'diabolos' in Greek actually means 'a slanderer' or 'a backbiter', and is used in 1 Timothy 3:11 In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
What that means is that women must not be little devils, who slander others, speaking evil about them behind their backs.
Slandering is not limited to women alone, Of course, men should not be slanderers either as we live in the last days for the Lord to come and judge us, It says in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 'But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. '
Other way to simplify whats written in 2 Timothy 3:4 "in the last days, difficult times will come, for men….will be little devils (diabolos)." Further in Titus 2:3 'Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. '
So both men and women are warned against becoming "devils" who slander others!
A slanderer gets Satan's name, just as a Christian gets Christ's name.
Satan accused Job before God saying that Job served God only because God had blessed him, read Job 1-2 to understand how Satan accused Job and his character.
God hates the back biters (e.g., Mariam & Aaron life example )
We read about a incident in Numbers on Mariam / Aaron and Moses where there is backbiting happening and how Lord had dealt this and defended for Moses
Numbers 12:1-2 'Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. '
God chose Moses to lead the Israelites to His Promised Land, with Aaron serving as his assistant and spokesperson.
Miriam was Aaron’s Sister - Miriam is one of ten women in Scripture who were called prophetesses Exodus 15:20
If you’re in a place of leadership expect criticism, even from members of your own family. Thats what happened here, Moses was in leadership, he was criticised by Miriam and Aaron.
Miriam and Aaron were envious of Moses' leadership, but they use an occasion – his marriage – to criticise him
The complaint against Moses was two fold
The first part was registered to degrade Moses, by suggesting that he had committed a questionable act: Numbers 12:1 'Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. It was probably after the death of his first wife, Zipporah, that Moses had married this Cushite woman, who was either one of the foreigners saved out of Egypt with the Israelites, or a daughter of the Cushites dwelling in Arabia..
The second part of the complaint was registered to upgrade Miriam and Aaron by suggesting that Moses was not sole spokesman for God Numbers 12:2 (a) “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”
What did Miriam and Aaron do ? - they approved each other when they colluded to talk against Moses. Both (Miriam and Aaron) of them were prophets, they knew the God’s law. They slandered / did back biting against Moses. Both of them lost the spiritual sensitivity
What a interesting thing to note on how God deals and defends his righteous people - Numbers 12:2 (b) “And the Lord heard this”
God hears on their backbiting, its not Moses who hears this words. When Lord hears he fights for the righteous, we know Moses spoke to God face to face.
How did God deal with the backbiting
God calls the three (Moses, Aaron and Miriam) and separates the two (Aaron and Miriam)
Numbers 12:4-5 'At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,
God defends for Moses to Aaron and Mariam - On why he chose to speak to Moses alone and not to any other prophet
Numbers 12:6-8 'he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord , reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord . Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” '
God justified why Moses was chosen
Moses was faithful in all of God’s work (Numbers 12:6 he is faithful in all my house)
Moses was humble than any one in face of earth - Numbers 12:3 'Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. '
God justified how he treated other prophets vs how he treated Moses.
God’s Anger burnt out against this Sin of Slander or Backbiting
Numbers 12:9-10 'The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous —it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, '
Anger of the lord burnt against both. Mariam became leprous after the anger of Lord burnt.
Moses cried to God to heal her and she was confined for 7 days outside the camp, this delayed their entire journey to God’s plan - Numbers 12:13-15 'So Moses cried out to the Lord , “Please, God, heal her!” The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. '
Slander is a Sin it gives a foothold for Satan
If a believer cultivates any known sins he gives a foothold for Satan Ephesians 4:27 'and do not give the devil a foothold. ' The idea of foothold or opportunity is giving a chance to Satan to enter and make way for bigger sins.
Unwholesome Talk or filthy talk
Ephesians 4:29 'Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. '
What is unwholesome talk ? Its talks that ill about someone when they are not around, gossiping on something on other persons personal lives. Talking with a motive to slander them or their name. When we talk on this, some partial truth turns to become a lie and lie turns to hurt the other person when he hears, in turn creating bitterness, anger and rage against each other. This is what unwholesome talk produces.
Another kind of unwholesome talk is - Some times we tend to speak of low comedy or low humour jokes which aggravates anger, malice and bitterness, next time when you watch that kind of comedy in social media or when you are party to that, review that to see if that behaviour is there..
Unwholesome talks comes when we are not occupied enough / We are having too much idle time and not busy, this leading to busybodies ~ gossip ~ unwholesome talk. Check if that causes this idle time and seek God to rid of that 2 Thessalonians 3:11 'We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. '
Our tongue is the source of this “unwholesome talk” no one has the power to control that except God, as it corrupts the body, slowly giving room to Satan to taint our heart James 3:6,9-10 'The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. '
Slander / Back biting
Ephesians 4:31 'Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ‘
Paul advices the older women of the church “not malicious talkers but temperate” He speaks of this in 1 Timothy 3:11 'In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. ‘
When Believers share in Gossip and slander they are doing devils work for him and giving a foothold for him and doing his work.
Slander can hurt a person up close as a sword does hurt someone or like an arrow pierced in a wound. The damage done by Slander is deadly.
Many great godly leaders are slandered by their enemies (every evangelical leaders are slandered in social media by some person)
When professed believers who pretend to do Lord’s work by doing slander in exposing saints work, Satan must be rejoicing seeing Christians slandering at each other.
Slandering habit is not limited to Godly who walk with god alone, it can happen to any one. Satan targets the believer who walks with God to separate them from God using this sin.
When you and I slander against people instead of praying for them and seeking to cover the sin, we are working for the devil.
Any sin we refuse to acknowledge and confess will give Satan a foothold for further attacks.
Lovelessness is the root cause of backbiting. Love rejoices not in evil - 1 Corinthians 13:6 'Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. '
We don’t realise that it is God who first hears what we speak , when we slander against anyone, we saw the same in example of Moses / Mariam & Aaron case.
Backbiting grieves the Holy Spirit because it is against His nature - Ephesians 4:29-31 'Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ‘
Those who find pleasure in slandering hardly make any progress in their spiritual life.
Backbiting hinders the growth of the Church also, Paul writes on this to Corinth church 2 Corinthians 12:20-21 'For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.'
In the final days of the Antichrist, the sin of slander can become exceedingly dangerous. The spirit of the Antichrist will influence those who engage in slander, leading them to blaspheme and speak against God. Do not take this sin lightly; it is a grave offense that can turn people away from God. God despises slander. Revelation 13:6 'It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ‘
How to Deal with Slander ?
When you are tempted or urged to backbite, ask yourself these questions:
Is it true?
Is it necessary?
Is it kind?
When a backbiter comes to you, ask him these questions:
Will it do me any good?
Will it do you any good?
Will it do that person any good?
If you are backbitten or slandered against ?
Don’t defend!
Don’t offend!
But bless!
Pray for them!
Amen