I want to deal specifically with one of the Ten Commandments today. No, I'm not going to talk about the Sabbath. I'm not going to talk about the need to not take Yahweh's name in vain.
We're going to look at one of the commandments dealing with loving our fellow man, and that is the commandment that says, "Do not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Most of us think, "Well, we don't really have a problem in that." We speak the truth to the best of our abilities, and we even try to avoid the white lies. But there's a little bit different angle to that, and we're going to discuss that today, because I feel there's a real need for righteous judgment in the body of Messiah.
It's one of the weightier matters of the Torah, according to Matthew 23:23.
Matthew 23:23 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier [matters] of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
So one of the weightier matters of the law is judgment. Since righteous judgment is a weightier matter, it's important that we seek to understand righteous judgment and walk in that. We don't want to be among those who Yahushua would need to say to us, "These you ought to have done and not to leave the others undone."
Notice He did say not to leave the others undone. So we should even pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin. These are the smallest little herbs.
We want to make sure we're walking in these weightier matters. Today we live in a society of instant everything--everything from instant meals or like right now, instant communication, instant news, instant information. We even microwave ovens, and in a matter of minutes, have a hot meal--which we don't use, but it's possible.
With this is this tendency, even among brethren, to be a little bit too instant in our judgments. What I find, it's just an impression I have, that when a believer says something and quickly judges another person with their mouth and discern, there's a tendency on the other people to kind of marvel at the person, that he can so quickly discern something.
A lot of times, people have what they think is discerning of spirits. I get this impression sometimes that maybe some believers seek to receive this praise of men and how quickly they can discern spirits, or how they can judge, or condemn, or bear witness of another person's evils and catch them and expose them.
But there's a danger in this, and the danger is that we find ourselves bearing false witness against our neighbor. It's a very important commandment and an important matter and important enough to be included in the Ten Commandments.
A lot of us, when we look at this scripture, we've just been told it means don't lie. Why do we have to reword what's written? Why do we have to change it? What it literally says is "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
Exodus 20:16 - "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
That's what it literally says, so why do we have to reword it and change it to make it say something a little different? Why do we have to change that? It's written perfectly. What does it mean to bear false witness?
We find an example here in Deuteronomy 19:16-21:
Deuteronomy 19:16 - "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
Deuteronomy 19:17 - "then both men in the controversy shall stand before YAHWEH, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
Deuteronomy 19:18 - "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, [if] the witness [is] a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,
Deuteronomy 19:19 - "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
Deuteronomy 19:20 - "And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.
Deuteronomy 19:21 - "Your eye shall not pity: life [shall be] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
To be a false witness against our neighbor basically means to falsely accuse someone else of wrongdoing. Yes, it would be a lie to do that, but the more defined meaning of this commandment has to do with falsely accusing other people.
In the law of Yahweh, we see false witnesses are dealt with very harshly. We see that if a person was found to be bearing false witness against another person, they would be given the punishment the other person would have received if the witness was true.
It's a very, very serious matter unto Yahweh. With this kind of law on the books in ancient Israel, it's easier to understand why Yahweh could say, "By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every matter would be established."
If anyone rose up as a false witness, and they testified falsely against their neighbor, then they would have been given the punishment that they thought to give to their neighbor. They would be literally risking their own life by the words they spoke.
With such a thing facing them, I'm sure they would be very careful about what they said about the other person. You look at today's court systems, and witnesses come forward, and it's almost a joke, because what happens is you get these conflicting witnesses that come forward, and people are left to figure out who's lying.
Whoever is found to be lying really doesn't get much of a punishment, if anything at all. They call it perjury. They try to scare you. They make you swear on the Bible. They do different things. I don't know if they make you swear on the Bible. They make you take an oath. I think they used to have a Bible. I don't think they do anymore.
They try to scare you a little bit, but the reality is if you were not to tell the truth, they wouldn't do anything to you most of the time. It's a very shaky justice system.
Who can really figure out who's lying? That's a very hard thing to do sometimes. The judges were required, when there was a false witness, to make diligent inquisition, meaning they are to be very careful and search diligently before making a judgment, because they don't want to be bearing false witness either.
We see this in other instances. I'm going to read from the New King James, Deuteronomy 13:12-15.
12. "If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Yahweh your Elohim gives you to dwell in, saying,
13. `Certain corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other elohim,''whom you have not known,'
14. "then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination was committed among you,
15. "you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock, with the edge of the sword."
We see here that they were to enquire, to search out, to ask diligently. They were to make a diligent inquisition to find out what the real truth was.
Also, again, in Deuteronomy 17:2-5:
2. "If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of Yahweh your Elohim, in transgressing His covenant,
3. "who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,
4. "and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel,
5. "then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones.
We see the way Yahweh wanted the people to determine and discern judgment. He wanted them to make diligent inquiry. While it's true that the context of these cases would be basically a court of law, it's also true that judgment begins at the household of Yahweh.
1Peter 4:17 - For the time [has come] for judgment to begin at the house of Elohim; and if [it begins] with us first, what will [be] the end of those who do not obey the gospel of Elohim?
In another place, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?"
The principles of judgment are the same, whether we are a judge in ancient Israel or we are a person who is in the body of the Messiah and living in the 21st century.
Yahweh's will concerning judgment of matters is consistent throughout all of scripture. We see in the Torah that a diligent inquiry must be made before making any sort of judgment or being a witness against another person.
If this is not done and a false witness speaks, because adequate inquiry was not done, there are very serious consequences. It is a very grievous thing in the eyes of Yahweh, and He is not pleased when we bear false witness.
So often, brothers and sisters, I have seen so often where people are very quick to judge the character of another person with hardly any inquiry at all, just snap judgments.
Many times I've seen very quick, very snap judgments and accusations about another person, what they're doing or have done, when in reality the other person did not do anything at all.
They really didn't do anything, but they are being accused wrongly. Many times I've seen one person assassinate the reputation and character of another person based on suspicions and phony spiritual discernment, when in reality there is an unclean spirit that is bringing these things to their mind.
What's more, these accusations are often done privately and without the other person's knowledge. What I want to say, and I'm going to have to be free and have to be blunt here, is that anyone who practices this thing called bearing false witness is actually imitating the devil.
In fact, the Greek word from which we get the term "devil" is diablos, and diablos means accuser. That's the meaning of the word. For instance, Luke 16:1-2:
1. And He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
That word translated "accusation" is the same Greek word as devil, diablo.
Luke 16:2 - "So he called him and said to him, `What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'
That word translated "accusation" is diablo, from where we get the word devil. Letting the context of these verses here offer us this definition of diablo, meaning accusation, we see that it's a very serious thing if we start to develop the characteristics of Yahweh's enemy. That's what Satan does on a regular basis. He accuses, and he inspires men to falsely accuse.
When he speaks lies, that's often what his lie is. It's a false accusation against another person to try to cause trouble and try to cause harm.
Revelation 12:10 - Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our Elohim, and the power of His Messiah have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our Elohim day and night, has been cast down.
Revelation 12:11 - "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Who is this accuser of the brethren who is being cast down? We read the previous verse:
Revelation 12:9 - So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The accuser of our brethren, that is Satan, the devil. The devil, the accuser, is very active in accusing the brethren before Yahweh day and night, trying to get Yahweh to turn against us. Often, he will do the same and his agents will do the same between brethren. He will divide the brothers and sisters in Yahweh and deceive a person into thinking another person is doing evil.
What's the result? Divide and then conquer. We're much stronger when we're together. Diablos in the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament that predates the New Testament writings, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Satan, meaning adversary, is diablos.
From the very beginning, a predominant characteristic of the adversary, Satan, is the role of an accuser. We see this starting in Genesis 3.
Genesis 3:1 - Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which YAHWEH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, "Has Elohim indeed said, `You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
Genesis 3:2 - And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
Genesis 3:3 - "but of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, Elohim has said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
Genesis 3:4 - Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
Genesis 3:5 - "For Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil."
We see the serpent was more cunning, more subtle, the King James has, in his ways, and he actually had a very subtle accusation toward Yahweh. The accusation was that Elohim is actually weak. He's not as strong and powerful as He's portraying Himself. That was the accusation.
He suggests that the reason why Elohim did not want Eve to eat from the tree was because Elohim wanted to keep her from being like He is. The subtle implication would be that Eve could be just like Elohim and not be under His authority anymore. From the very beginning, a subtle accusation.
Consider also the exchange between Satan and Yahweh in the book of Job.
Job 1:8 - Then YAHWEH said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that [there is] none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears Elohim and shuns evil?"
Job 1:9 - So Satan answered YAHWEH and said, "Does Job fear Elohim for nothing?
Job 1:10 - "Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
Job 1:11 - "But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
There's an example, an accusation from the accuser, the adversary, stating that Job only served Yahweh because Yahweh blessed him and protected him. He implied this accusation toward Yahweh that the only reason people serve Him is if He gives them what they want. Subtle accuser.
After Job did not curse Yahweh, as the enemy had predicted falsely, then the following happened in Job 2:3-5:
Job 2:3 - Then YAHWEH said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that [there is] none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears Elohim and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause."
Job 2:4 - So Satan answered YAHWEH and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
Job 2:5 - "But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
The adversary, once again, makes an accusation against the people of Yahweh; in this instance, Job. He predicts that Job would curse Yahweh to His face, if Yahweh allowed something bad to happen to him personally, his bone and his flesh.
We see some consistency here in the spirit of the adversary. It is a spirit of false accusations. If we continue reading the book of Job, you'll see the same spirit later influenced Job's three friends to accuse Job of wrongdoing.
They continuously tried to say that Yahweh was punishing him for his sins. But this was not the reason for the afflictions, as we saw in the beginning of the book of Job.
What happened was Eliphaz, in Job 4:12-19, a spirit, literally a spirit appeared to Eliphaz.
Job 4:12 - "Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it.
Job 4:13 - In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
Job 4:14 - Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.
Job 4:15 - Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.
Job 4:16 - It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form [was] before my eyes; [There was] silence; Then I heard a voice [saying]:
Job 4:17 - `Can a mortal be more righteous than Elohim? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Job 4:18 - If He puts no trust in His servants, [If] He charges His angels with error,
Job 4:19 - How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, [Who] are crushed before a moth?
I believe what we see here is a spirit came forward, and it wasn't a spirit from Yahweh. It was a spirit, an accusation toward Job, trying to get Job's friend, Eliphaz, turned against him, because Job did not believe he did something wrong to cause this; and, actually, Job was right.
Yahweh bragged on Job and how righteous he was. He refuse evil, and he chose righteousness.
We have this subtle accusation here saying Yahweh is punishing Job for wrongdoing. If we continue reading the book of Job, we find all three of his friends were continuously accusing him of one thing after another. They accused him of hypocrisy.
I actually went through the book of Job one time and just made notes. These are the things his friends accused him of.
They accused him of hypocrisy, wickedness, being more wicked than demons, foolishness, sin, despising chastening, vain talk, not fearing Yahweh, turning against Yahweh, trusting in riches, not knowing Elohim, haughtiness, robbery, oppressing and forsaking the poor, limiting Elohim, rejecting Elohim, and being greatly wicked without end.
Those are the things that Job's friends said about Job. But what did Yahweh say about Job?
Job 2:3 - Then YAHWEH said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that [there is] none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears Elohim and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause."
And so we need to be careful that we don't have these unclean spirits depositing things in our hearts against our brethren, against another person, even an unbeliever. In fact, Yahweh later rebuked his three friends.
Job 42:7 - And so it was, after YAHWEH had spoken these words to Job, that YAHWEH said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has].
Yahweh was displeased with Job's three friends, because they did not speak of him that which was right. It's very important, brethren, that we are not influenced by this same spirit any way, shape, or form. We don't want to be like the adversary and his minions.
Instead, we need to be like Yahushua. We know that Yahushua came to this earth where He was often accused falsely, but He never falsely accused anyone. He was smitten, spit upon, mocked, and tortured to death.
Mark 15:19 - Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him.
Mark 15:20 - And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.
That's the thing they did to Him, all because they falsely accused Him. With all the things that they did to Him, you would think that Yahushua had every reason in the world to accuse these people to the Father and to seek their destruction. You would think that He would certainly find some kind of accusation--not a false one, but a true one--against these people who were crucifying Him.
But as He is hanging there on the tree, Yahushua the Messiah, being wise, understanding, discerning and full of compassion, He spoke these words.
Luke 23:33 - And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Luke 23:34 - Then Yahushua said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots.
Brethren, we must seek the wisdom, the understanding, and the truth of Yahweh, no matter what this other person may do to us. We need to be discerning, understanding the truth of His Word, the truth of what's really going on, before we set out to accuse another person.
If Yahushua had lacked Yahweh's wisdom, it would have been very easy for Him to judge their motives as being purely evil and purely wrong, but He understood that they simply did not know what they were doing.
Even though they were doing something wrong, and they were doing something terribly wrong to Yahushua, Yahushua was very discerning, and He understood where mercy comes in. Yahushua prayed that Yahweh would forgive them, because they were ignorantly doing evil to Him.
It's too often the case, brethren, that when a person does wrong and really deserves mercy, or even when they haven't done wrong, a whispering accusation is spoken in the ears of another person, and that's often the worst thing about it.
It's one thing to accuse a person falsely against them directly, but it's another thing to do so privately to another person, spoken in their ears.
Psalms 101:5 - Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.
You notice here that pride is associated with slander. He has a haughty look, a proud heart, and that's why he goes over and slanders his neighbor in secret.
That's a lot of times what happens. It's a major reason behind slander. If you can speak evil of another person and make judgments about them, whether it's real or imagined, some reason, you distance yourself from that kind of sin that the person is actually committing or not committing.
By accusing another person, you yourself are being made to seem distant from committing the same kind of sin and made to seem above the other person. People do this. They will accuse another person, put them down to lift themselves up. They do so with secret slander.
False accusers are also among the traits of those kinds of people that we're going to find in the last days.
2Timothy 3:1 - But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2Timothy 3:2 - For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Timothy 3:3 - unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
A slanderer is a false accuser. We certainly do not want to have any of these characteristics, including being a false accuser and slanderer. These are characteristics of evil men in the last days, and I'm sure most of us believe we're in the last days.
We need to be sure we don't get caught up in these characteristics. Today, entire ministries are based on false or unproven accusations. Yes, ministries.
There are numerous ministries on the internet and elsewhere which will claim to promote cutting edge information which, in reality, is often nothing more than gossip, on the latest conspiracy of this government or that government, this world leader planning to do this, that world leader planning to do that.
In reality, those who make these claims don't really have any proof at all. Have they made diligent inquiry, as the Torah commands? No.
I remember I was told that George Bush would not ever leave office, that he would never give up power, and that he would create marshal law so that he would stay in power. He was falsely accused. It wasn't true.
They said the same thing about Bill Clinton, I remember, when he left office. It wasn't true. It was a false accusation.
Ministries are promoting this kind of thing. I've seen this over and over and over. It should not be. So what we have is a bunch of could be's, maybes, possibilities, and a lot of times no diligent inquiry is ever made, and sometimes diligent inquiry is not really even possible.
Myself, I am just as skeptical about conspiracy theories in ministries and things like that as I am the mainstream news media. I'm skeptical of both of them. I don't think either entity does a whole lot of diligent inquiry.
The reality is we don't really know what goes on in the White House every day. We don't know what Barak Obama, what's really going on in his heart. We don't know. We can't say 100% one way or the other. Some will claim one evil thing about him, some another, but do we really know? Can we really prove the things that we are saying?
Are we sitting in, in their meetings? Are we present when Barak Obama meets with his chiefs of staff? Are we sitting there listening?
We just need to be very diligent that we do not bear any false witness against anyone, even the President of the United States or the leader of any country that we're in the government of--although we're not really in the government of them. We have another government that we're looking to, and it's not of this world.
We've got to be very careful that we don't bear false witness against anyone, and we should never circulate any kind of false report. What we need to be sure we are not doing is gossiping. We need to cleave to sound doctrine and focus on truth, and let the truths in Yahweh's Word be our meditation.
What happens, if we're going out there, and we're saying George Bush will not leave office, some unbeliever is going to go, "Oh, really? Wow." What if he believes you, and it comes down to it, you didn't speak the truth? You falsely accused him. It didn't happen.
Is that man going to rely on you for other truth, things that really are true from the scriptures, things you can prove from the Word of Yahweh? Is he going to rely on you? I think he's going to hold you and your beliefs and the things that you say, he's not going to believe them.
We need to be making sure that every word that comes out of our mouth is the truth. Everything, everything that we say needs to be the truth.
Whether we're speaking about another person or whether we are proclaiming the words of Yahweh, either way it needs to be truth.
I'm not saying we should not sound the alarm if provable things, undoubtedly, 100% provable things are taking place. But there are entire ministries devoted to the latest rumor, the latest unprovable thing that ends up being a lie nobody can really prove one way or the other.
We need to not listen to them. We need to not repeat the things that they say. We need to focus on the truth. We need to forsake the gossip and cleave to sound doctrine. Focus on truth, and let the truths of Yahweh's Word be our meditation.
We know the scripture teaches the whole world is going to follow after the beast. There is a conspiracy, brethren. There is a conspiracy. Satan wants to rule the world.
How, why, when, where, through what means that will take place is anyone's guess. Who would have thought of the internet even 20 years ago? What role will that play in predicted prophecy being fulfilled? We don't really know for sure. We need to let the words that we speak be 100% truth.
We know Yahweh always tells the truth. Let's return to sound doctrine and let the truth of Yahweh's Word speak. One of the requirements of women who are elders is that they are not false accusers.
Titus 2:1 - But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:
Titus 2:2 - that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;
Titus 2:3 - the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things --
Titus 2:4 - that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
Titus 2:5 - [to be] discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of Elohim may not be blasphemed.
One of the most common places of false accusations is in the home. A child could be falsely accused. A spouse could be falsely accused. Children could falsely accuse their parents. I think every one of us have been guilty of these things at one time or another, including me.
I misjudged things, and I made a false accusation. When that happens, we need to change. We need to repent, because righteous judgment begins at the household of Yahweh. It's our own personal households where we are probably tested on this area the most.
Are we going to exercise righteous judgment? We need to not be false accusers. It's the enemies and adversaries of Yahweh that are false accusers.
Yahushua encountered some who made a number of attempts to accuse Him on multiple occasions.
Matthew 12:10 - And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.
Why did they ask that question? So that they might accuse Him.
Matthew 27:12 - And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.
Luke 11:53 - And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail [Him] vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things,
Luke 11:54 - lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.
The goal was to accuse. That was the goal, to find something to accuse Him. In the end, it was the false accusation of blasphemy that caused Him to be sentenced to death.
Brethren, it's so important that we do not falsely accuse. False accusation is what brought Yahushua to be sentenced to death.
Matthew 26:64 - Yahushua said to him, "[It is as] you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Matthew 26:65 - Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
Matthew 26:66 - "What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death."
Was He deserving of death? No. Was He speaking blasphemy? No. Never underestimate the power of a false accusation. They bore false witness against Him. Yahushua rightly said that they had neglected the weightier matters of the law, righteous judgment.
The apostles were also accused, especially Paul, who was doing a lot of damage to Yahweh's enemies.
Acts 24:5 - "For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
Acts 24:6 - "He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.
Acts 24:7 - "But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took [him] out of our hands,
Acts 24:8 - "commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him."
Acts 24:9 - And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so.
A lot of people are accusing Paul to this day of different things that are not true. It is the enemies of Yahweh that spend their time falsely accusing the brethren, so they can bring them down. It surely should not be that brethren are falsely accusing brethren. Why would we want to join Satan's side of the battle?
Do we realize what we're doing when we are falsely accusing another person, especially a person who is a believer in Yahweh? What we are doing is we're creating division among ourselves. A kingdom divided will not stand and neither will a brethren divided. Neither will Yahweh's people stand.
It is the enemies of Yahweh that spend their time accusing the brethren. Brethren don't need to be accusing the brethren. We get enough accusation as it is.
We don't need to be spending our time finding the latest thing to accuse various world leaders of being guilty of. What do we need to be doing? We need to be spending time on our knees praying for these leaders and praying for each other.
Jeremiah 29:7 - And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to YAHWEH for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
1Timothy 2:1 - Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, [and] giving of thanks be made for all men,
1Timothy 2:2 - for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
You can be sure, brethren, that we are going to be falsely accused by the world. It goes with the territory of being a believer in Yahweh. But Kepha wrote that we are to just live our lives in such a way that our works, our lives actually bring shame to the ones who falsely accuse us.
1Peter 3:15 - But sanctify YAHWEH Elohim in your hearts, and always [be] ready to [give] a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
1Peter 3:16 - having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Messiah may be ashamed.
1Peter 3:17 - For [it is] better, if it is the will of Elohim, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1Peter 2:11 - Beloved, I beg [you] as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
1Peter 2:12 - having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by [your] good works which they observe, glorify Elohim in the day of visitation.
1Timothy 5:14 - Therefore I desire that [the] younger [widows] marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Don't even give him an opportunity.
1Timothy 5:15 - For some have already turned aside after Satan.
Paul, when writing to Titus, he's talking about the necessity of a leader being without fault in Titus 1:5.
Titus 1:5 - For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you --
Titus 1:6 - if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.
Titus 1:7 - For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of Elohim, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,
Titus 1:8 - but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,
Titus 1:9 - holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
Titus 1:10 - For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
Titus 1:11 - whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
Titus 1:12 - One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans [are] always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."
Titus 1:13 - This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
Titus 1:14 - not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
Titus 1:15 - To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
Looking through these verses, I think it's noteworthy that unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Even their mind, their conscience is defiled.
It's so true, because it's often the one whose mind is so focused on evil and wrong that is so quick to accuse others of doing evil and wrong.
We should not be among the false accusers. It's we who have to deal with false accusers. Then we surely should not be like them. So when someone falsely accuses us, rather than responding with a false accusation of our own, we should simply live out our lives in such a way our conduct reproves those who accuse us.
If they seek to trap us in our words, and accuse us, and take our words out of context, and slander us, then our conduct can prove to anyone the things that they say are simply not true.
Daniel 6:3 - Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit [was] in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.
Daniel 6:4 - So the governors and satraps sought to find [some] charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he [was] faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.
Daniel was a good example. They couldn't find any wrongdoing. They tried; they were not able to find any wrongdoing, except this:
Daniel 6:5 - Then these men said, "We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find [it] against him concerning the law of his Elohim."
We know the rest of the story, how they went on and caused this rule to come forward where men were being required to bow before the idols, and Daniel would not do it.
What ended up happening with these men is they got trapped in their own net that they had spread for Daniel.
If we are falsely accused, we have a reason to rejoice, not a reason to be discouraged. The fact that we're falsely accused, that's not something we should necessarily find discouraging, or upsetting, or angry.
In fact, if we're falsely accused, we should consider ourselves to be blessed.
Matthew 5:11 - "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
If we are doing something for Yahweh, and they speak against us because we are servants of Yahweh, they say some kind of evil thing about us, just because of who we are, who we serve, we're blessed, because that means we're like Yahushua, because it was for the reason that He was faithful to Yahweh, His Father, that the people of His day, many of them, brought up false accusations against Him.
If this happens to us, we have a reason to rejoice. We have a reason to consider ourselves blessed. Can we see that? Do we see the battle lines that are drawn?
A lot of people that are involved in spiritual warfare, I don't know what it is, but people that are involved in spiritual warfare are some of the worst when it comes to falsely accusing and phony spiritual discernment. I guess because they're spending so much time focusing on the enemy, rather than on Yahweh, that the enemy is doing things to them they don't even realize.
It's the adversary that's seeking to bring reproach upon the innocent. He did so with Yahushua. We can expect the enemy to do it to us, too. I don't mean to say everyone involved in spiritual warfare is a false accuser.
Please don't get me wrong. There are some who engage in that and do a blessed ministry in that. It's just a perception, something I've noticed, because I'll see an accusation happening, and I'll know for a fact the thing the thing that they're saying is not true, and it'll happen again, and it'll happen again, and it'll happen again.
I'm not the one that's on the other end of it. It's somebody else, or some other brother, or some other sister. They don't have knowledge of the thing that I have knowledge of, because they didn't do diligent inquiry.
If they would have asked, they would have known. I'm not talking about one instance--multiple times. I'm not saying these things in any way--I'm not bitter at anybody over anything. It's just it's something that troubles me, because it's so common, and we need to be the example to the world of righteous judgment, Yahweh's people.
A lot of times, the judges in the courts, they do more work in their diligent inquiry than some believers will do, and they're sometimes more righteous judges in the regular courts of law today, than I see amongst the believers.
They follow principles that are right. If someone has done something wrong before, that has nothing to do with whether they've done it again, as one example. Just because they did it one other time doesn't mean they're doing it a second time. You can't go by that.
You've got to look at each instance individually. You have to look at each instance and not let the thing they did last time have anything to do with whether it happened a second time. The second time has to be a separate instance in and of itself.
That's just one example. There's many things like that. The enemy is trying to get in between us and bring reproach among the innocent among us. He did that with Yahushua; we can expect it to be done to us, too.
Matthew 10:24 - "A disciple is not above [his] teacher, nor a servant above his master.
Matthew 10:25 - "It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more [will they call] those of his household!
If they call the Master of the house Beelzebub, what do you think we're going to be called. If we're of His household, we're going to be accused of equal things or maybe even worse.
Don't get upset by that, but rejoice to the extent that we are partakers of the Messiah's sufferings, and rejoice to the extent that we know that we're blessed when these things happen.
If someone accuses us because we are keeping the commandments of Yahweh, or they're trying to find some accusation against us because of who we serve, we should rejoice.
That's what they did to Yahushua. That's what they did to His disciples in the first century, and we can expect the same. I want to offer a little word of caution here at the same time. I don't want to get too out of balance here. I do believe it's very important that we understand that accusing, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.
Just the mere fact of us accusing somebody is not inherently evil, in and of itself. It's a necessary part of judging right and wrong. It's just that we need to be very sure that we are on the right side of Yahweh's judgment when we choose to accuse.
Proverbs 17:15 - He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike [are] an abomination to YAHWEH.
Whether you justify a wicked man or you condemn a just man, both are abominations. Do we see how important it is to get it right? Because if we fall on either side, to where we are wrongly judging, it's an abomination to Yahweh. We can just keep our mouth shut, and we'll be safe.
The less we open our mouth, the better off we are. If you don't say anything, then maybe that's the best thing. Be slow to speak, and you're a whole lot better off.
Let's flee from the abominations, and let's embrace the wisdom and understanding of Yahweh. Let's seek to abide in the holy hill of Yahweh.
Psalms 15:1 - <> YAHWEH, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
Psalms 15:2 - He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;
Psalms 15:3 - He [who] does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
Let's be sure we are refraining from evil speaking. Let's be sure we are not taking up reproaches against our fellow man. Let's embrace mercy. Let's embrace truth in everything that we say or do.
James 4:11 - Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
James 4:12 - There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?
James 5:9 - Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
Whenever you're feeling compelled to grumble against another person, always remember the door. Remember the door. Don't forget the door. The judge is standing at the door.
Ephesians 4:31 -
Ephesians 4:32 -
A lot of times, false accusations between two persons is the fruits of the roots. Bitterness. When two people are at odds with each other over something, false accusations are often flying back and forth. Why? Because each person believes the other person is one of poor character and suspicions of wrongdoing are much more frequent.
A person can be doing something totally innocent, but the one who has bitterness toward that person who's doing something innocent thinks they're doing something evil and wrong just because they've been defiled by bitterness.
Everything the other person does is seen through those lenses of bitterness. They believe this other person is doing this wrong thing, when in reality they're not. It's just their perception, because they're bitter toward them, and they think the other person is an evil, evil, awful person.
We can't let a person's track record necessarily go into our judgments of a present time. What are they doing right now? That's the question.
Arguments between two people who are bitter toward each other often just consist of they hear unclean spirits whisper things in their ears, and they repeat them to each other, and they argue back and forth.
That's all it is. The devil is having a heyday. These things ought not be so. We have to be a true witness in every matter and not let the defiling work of bitterness cloud and defile our judgment.
Don't just say something because you think it. It needs to go through this filter of truth. It doesn't matter what that person did to me. Is this really true, or am I just saying this to get back at them?
Am I just saying it to hurt them? Am I just saying it to harm them and to make a third party over here who's listening in think wrongly of the other person, so they don't think wrongly of me?
They put me down, so I'm going to put them down. Evil for evil, reviling for reviling? These things ought not be so. On the contrary, blessing.
Hebrews 12:14 - Pursue peace with all [people], and holiness, without which no one will see YAHWEH:
Hebrews 12:15 - looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of Elohim; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Are we defiled in any way in our hearts? If our brother sins against us, we should be reading and following Matthew 18:15-17, rather than slandering them wherever we go. Matthew 18:15-17 is probably one of the most disobeyed of Yahushua's commandments among believers.
Matthew 18:15 - "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
When you do that between you and him alone, you're not slandering. You're just telling him only. A lot of times people say, "Well, I'm going to seek counsel." "Oh, we need to pray for so-and-so." And in so doing, they disobey Yahushua's command here. Go to him, you and him alone. If he doesn't hear you:
Matthew 18:16 - "But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that `by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'
Matthew 18:17 - "And if he refuses to hear them, tell [it] to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
If we follow these steps, we may find out that we just totally misunderstood something about what they'd done, and we were actually wrong. We had thought they sinned against us, but we misunderstood something, or we didn't know another piece of information that would have cleared the whole thing up. That's probably one reason why we should go to them personally first.
A lot of times, we go to them personally, and they're like, "Oh, well, no, I didn't mean that. That's not what I was saying. No, I think you misunderstood what I was doing. I was doing this over here. In fact, I can prove it to you, because so-and-so over here. Hey, remember when I did this? Remember when I did that? What was the reason why I did that?"
And they'd say, "Well, this is the reason why." I'm just giving potential scenarios. I'm not even thinking of anything that ever happened to me. I'm just saying, a lot of times we save ourselves a lot of trouble and prevent division just by following Yahushua's directives here. It's when we stray from these words that division creeps in.
Another reason we should go to them personally is because they might actually admit they did wrong and apologize. May Yahweh give us humbleness and righteous judgment.
If we hear an accusation, a report of evil about anyone, I don't care who they are, if you hear a report that somebody has done some evil thing they should not be doing, you hear about it...
Whether it's an accusation against a brother or a sister, or a leader of a congregation, or a friend, or a neighbor, or a President, or whoever, a Congressman, or the Mayor, or the guy down the street, no matter who they are...
If we hear an accusation, a report of evil, something they've done that was wrong, we hear about it, and we're not sure whether it's true--it's just what somebody said--we have not done diligent inquiry, then you need to be very, very sure that you don't repeat what you hear.
Exodus 23:1 - "You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Forwarding lists on the internet, emails, very common breeding ground for these things, false reports. They'll get spread. One person will get it. "Oh, wow, look at this." Hit the forward button and not even do any diligent inquiry at all. "Well, it might be true. I'll hit the send button and circulate this false report." And not check it out. Don't do that.
Yahweh says not to. Find out whether it's true, if you can. Sometimes you can't. And if you can't, it's not worth sending. Don't pass it along. That's how gossip gets spread. That's how people get hurt who are being spoken of.
Just because everybody else is doing something and accusing and so on doesn't make the accusation true.
Exodus 23:2 - "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert [justice].
Just because everybody else thinks that person is an evil person doesn't make it true. They're all hearing from everybody else. Now there's peer pressure for you to believe that person is wrong in what they're doing.
We can't go by that. We can't go by the majority. The majority thought Yahushua had sinned, too. The majority said, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" The majority was wrong. They got caught up in that.
They'd heard He'd blasphemed. "Well, He needs to be hung on a tree." Because they heard about it. They didn't inquire, find out what really happened, what was said. Said, "He'll be siting on the clouds of heaven at the right hand of Yahweh."
Well, that's written right there in Psalm 110 He'd be sitting at the right hand of Yahweh. What's wrong with that? That's not blasphemy. That's what the Messiah is supposed to be doing.
Exodus 23:7 - "Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.
We need to seek the truth of the matter, or we're going to be found guilty of spreading a false report. In fact, we ought to seek Yahweh's will and love the person enough to tell them, "Hey, all these people are saying this about you. Is it true? I'm making diligent inquiry. I don't want to think wrong of you."
It's when we think evil of another, and we don't really know for sure--we're never the same after that. We always wonder. You always look at that person, "Oh, I wonder if they really did that."
We are wise to not assume that the thing is true. Assume it's not true. We're wiser still to not condemn them, especially if we have our own things to overcome, even if it is true. If they did something wrong, if it's true, be careful. Are we doing things wrong? Don't condemn.
Matthew 7:1 - "Judge not, that you be not judged.
Matthew 7:2 - "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 7:3 - "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:4 - "Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank [is] in your own eye?
Matthew 7:5 - "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
So often, a person will think or say evil about another person, but they themselves are guilty of the same or even worse things. They're knocking everyone over with a huge timber in their eye while they accuse the other person to make themselves feel better.
The minute we judge another person's salvation, because they don't understand, the lack of understanding in some area, we're endangering ourself, because Yahweh knows if we might be ignorant in some other thing.
There's a tendency I find in some circles that someone who's come into the knowledge of the Sabbath or something important that's in the scriptures, and all of a sudden, now they're in a different class, and all these other people who don't keep Sabbath, they're all unbelievers now.
Were you an unbeliever when you didn't know about Sabbath? It's all about where we understand at the present time and what we do with it. It's what we do know that matters. It's not where we're at. It's where we're going and where we want to go.
I'm not going to condemn another person because they don't understand. What if I don't understand something? I'm endangering myself, so I'm not going to accuse them of being an unbeliever simply because they don't understand.
In fact, let Yahweh worry about that part. We just try to do the best we can on our part. We need to be wise. We need to be understanding and be merciful, just as Yahushua, who is also merciful.
Matthew 5:7 - Blessed [are] the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Boy, do we ever need mercy. If you need mercy, brother, if you need mercy, sister, be merciful. I'm going to need lots of mercy on judgment day. If we're not sure if they did wrong, make a diligent inquiry. It's better off not to accuse another person of wrongdoing in our minds or with our tongue, unless we're 100% sure, and we'd better be sure.
We take it to that person directly, rather than whisper it to somebody else. What good is it going to do to tell somebody else? Go to that person directly.
It doesn't help the sinner to tell somebody else about the person's sin. Do what you would want have done to you. It would be an act of love to tell the person who did the wrong.
Leviticus 19:17 - `You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
Leviticus 19:18 - `You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I [am] YAHWEH.
Right there in the Torah, the second most important command in the scriptures, loving your neighbor as yourself. Right there next to it, don't take vengeance, don't bear grudges. Rebuke them, tell them they're doing wrong if they're doing wrong.
If you're not sure, inquire, find out. If it's bothering you, and you think you need to tell them, let Yahweh lead you. If you feel Yahweh is telling you to talk to them about it, that's the best thing to do. Telling other people is not the answer. Hiding it from the person is not necessarily the answer.
Going to the person is the way of righteousness and mercy, uprightness, but it needs to be done in the right way.
James 5:19 - Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
James 5:20 - let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Galatians 6:1 - Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who [are] spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
You ever think about that? You ever notice sometimes that you start thinking, "Oh, man, that person, I don't understand why they keep doing that. That's terrible what they're doing over there." It's just gnawing at you, and then sometimes later, maybe five years, ten years, you find yourself doing the same thing and having the same struggle.
We've got to be meek in our hearts and meek in our correction of others, because Yahweh may say, "Well, let's see how you do in the same situation, Mr. Proud Man. You think you don't understand how that person could do such a terrible thing. You would never do that, right? Well, let's find out. Let's see how well you do, Mr. Proud Man."
We don't need that, do we? We don't need Yahweh testing us that way. Let's just be meek and come to the person in gentleness and meekness and love. Love is really what it's all about, because you care about the person, not so you can walk over and appear and seem so far above and patronize the person. "Here, let me show you."
We don't need that. We just need to bear one another's burdens, because we care about the person, and we want them to be pleasing to Yahweh and want them to be an overcomer. We want to build up the body of Messiah. We want to tell them, so that they won't continue in that.
Yahweh help us. You may find out, hey, you didn't have correct information anyway. You were totally wrong in your judgment. Always listen to them. They may come to you and say, "Wait a minute. I didn't do that." You need to listen to them, because you might be wrong.
Proverbs 18:17 - The first [one] to plead his cause [seems] right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him.
2Timothy 2:24 - And a servant of YAHWEH must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
2Timothy 2:25 - in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if Elohim perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
2Timothy 2:26 - and [that] they may come to their senses [and escape] the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to [do] his will.
James 3:13 - Who [is] wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct [that] his works [are done] in the meekness of wisdom.
Meekness of wisdom. Knowledge puffs up; love edifies. May Yahweh form all of us into a wise, meek, understanding people. When we are meek, we're not so quick to wrongly judge another person. We're not so quick to judge another person, then we ourselves are spared from judgment.
Brethren, I'm sure that we are all going to need all the mercy we can get on the day of judgment. I know I'll be willing to take all the mercy I can get.
Let's cease from snap judgments, from instant judgments based on false pretenses, based on phony spiritual discernments, based on false witnesses and evil thoughts, and bitterness.
Let's cease from false accusations based on suspicions and spiritual pride, lest we find ourselves imitating the father of lies. Let's cease from falsely accusing a person based on past experiences with other people.
Every person is different. Just because one Christian treated you that way doesn't mean the next guy is going to, even if he seems to be doing some of the same things doesn't mean he's going to do the same things.
Instead, let's forever seek to intercede and plead the cause of the falsely accused. Let's forever seek to pray for the person who does do us wrong, after diligent inquiry is made. Let's forever seek to make sure we do make diligent inquiry before we accuse or even think wrongly of another person.
Let's forever seek to imitate the one who is the truth--the way, the truth, and the life--and let's forever seek to seek the truth in everything, not just in the scriptures and what the truth is in His Word, but the truth about each other. Let's resist every false thought about each other and the one who would inspire them, the enemy.
May Yahweh bless you. May Yahweh have mercy on us all.
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