Believing a Bad Report / December 2005

The people that God delivered out of Egypt were looking for the promised land. They hoped for it. They prayed for it. They were oppressed while in Egypt and needed deliverance. But when they were delivered out of Egypt and the moment came to go into the promised land, they rejected the promise in one day and accused the Lord of hating them! How could such a turn around take place? How could they leave Egypt, cross the Red Sea, eat manna, hear the voice of God at the mountain, receive God’s laws, build a tabernacle, follow the pillar, and yet when the time came to receive the promised land, they flatly rejected it? How could such a thing happen?

It is easy. They heard a bad report.

Despite Moses and the efforts of Joshua and Caleb, the people believed the bad report from the other 10 spies. Here is the Torah story given in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Thus they told him, and said, "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan." Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us." So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

Numbers 13:25-33

The people believed the bad report. As a result, they were very discouraged.

Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! "And why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt."

Numbers 14:1-4

Not only were they discouraged but they were willing to give up the promised land and to actually return to Egypt.

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us— a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them." But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? "I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they." But Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Thy strength Thou didst bring up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of this people, for Thou, O Lord, art seen eye to eye, while Thy cloud stands over them; and Thou dost go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

Numbers 14:5-14

It is one thing to be discouraged at a bad report. It is another to take action against the Lord, to actually rebel against the Lord. This is what brings God’s judgment upon us in midst of following the Lord.

"How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses shall fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me.

Numbers 14:27-29

Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey— I will bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.

Numbers 14:31

Moses recounted these events to the children of that generation, explaining how the bad report produced rebellion in the hearts of the people, skewing their spiritual judgment to their harm and that of others.

Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; and you grumbled in your tents and said, "Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt," saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."

Deuteronomy 1:26-29

The bad report made their hearts melt. What an interesting word picture to explain the effect of the bad report.

Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked, nor fear them. 'The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

Deuteronomy 1:29

Moses explained the promise of God in an effort to encourage their hearts, but they would not listen nor be encouraged. So, the Lord took action against that generation.

Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,

Deuteronomy 1:34-35

Since the people had used the preservation and protection of their children to be their stated reason for rebellion (when in their hearts they were really afraid and cowards) God spoke directly of their children in the matter.

Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

Deuteronomy 1:39

The problem with bad reports is that they more times than not are an overstatement of the problem or concern. Instead of addressing the issues and factors, they jump to summary conclusions and ignore mitigating elements that affect the conclusions. There is usually a lot of energy behind action and that energy comes from fear. The fear of loss is the basis of all fears. One of the strongest examples is the fear of life; however, fear can still be great based on much lesser things than the loss of life.

Let’s review the facts. God was with the people. God had promised the land. If there were enemies in the land opposed to the people then it is God’s problem to remove them, so He could fulfill His promise of the land. But the fear of the spies and later the people was greater than any facts.

We are like grasshoppers standing by them easily appears to be an "overstatement" of the problem. The word picture used by the spies had a clear intention and purpose. We are so small that we will be stepped on and smashed. Obviously, the spies had concluded that God was not able to give them the promised land. The land is already taken by their "gigantic" enemies.

Do you see how the report of the land was slanted, twisted, and used for another purpose? Had they shared about the good land? Yes. But, they added, slanted, and left out key facts to produce a new conclusion. The report was based in fear and it led to a bad conclusion – a conclusion that would stir many people to reject the leadership of Moses and the direction God was leading.

People, for the most part, feed off of bad reports. It is a sad but true fact. From the world’s standpoint, a news report gets more attention if it is bad news. An earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado, a hurricane and a flood makes the best news reports, especially if people (a large number) were hurt. Disaster and human destruction speak of great loss. I have heard it explained this way. No one looks away when two trains crash into each other. Everyone wants to watch.

Why do people want to hear a bad report more than "good news?" What is it about harm, destruction, and a fall that is so compelling for people? I think the answer is found in the basic conflict we all find ourselves in as mortals. The Scripture says that our enemy is like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He has one purpose: to destroy and to kill. Bad reports are part and parcel of the disruptive world we live in.

There is something mesmerizing and compelling about something that is going wrong. It seems to have the power of lust and temptation. Whether it is the train wreck or a house burning to the ground, it has our attention. Our eyes want to take it all in. However, most of us have no sense of a bad report being a kind of lust or a temptation. We actually convince ourselves that there is something right and noble about sharing or receiving a bad report. The truth is that a bad report is one of the most destructive things we personally experience.

Did you know that if sheep are in a flock close together, that a wolf in their midst can walk from one sheep to the next, killing them, and the rest of the sheep will not run away? For some reason, sheep are not afraid of a wolf inside of the flock, despite what he is doing. They feel safe because other sheep are around them. Did you know that our greatest enemies are referred to as wolves in sheep’s clothing?

Why do we abandon the principles of truth and in particular that truth is established by the evidence of two or three? Yet, we will listen and give weight to a single bad report. More importantly, we actually believe the bad report. By believe, I mean we will act on that report. We will carry it on to another. We will adjust our relationship. We will alter our plans, etc. There is obviously something very compelling in a bad report that brings out the worst in us. This is the very reason that gossip works so well.

Like the picture of the wolf in the flock, brethren will tolerate another believer speaking harm against another member of the flock, even killing them. More over, we will do nothing about that destruction and harm, justifying ourselves that it not about us, it is not our business.

Some people think that quoting a person directly is all the evidence they need to determine the truth. "Well, so in so, said this…," is the evidence many times given but it is received as the absolute truth.

Do you know that Satan quoted from God? So does that make Satan telling the truth? Don’t we know what Satan’s motive is and does it not immediately make anything he says suspect? Don’t we know that any statement made by him is for the purpose of leveraging us away from that which is good and right? It is the leveraging, the bias of the person reporting that should be balanced with whatever has been said.

How many times have we heard of the story of a specific quotation given, only to discover that it was a partial statement and did not reflect the final conclusion of the matter? Just because you heard someone say one thing does not prove that it is his real position. It turns out that motivation and the reason behind something play a pivotal role in determining whether something is good or bad, whether it is the truth. Do we ever ask the person passing on the bad report what their motivations are? It is obvious to us now that the spies were afraid. This biased their report. We were like grasshopper beside them. Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to factor their bias into their report before believing it? We now see the wisdom of that, but can brethren apply that same wisdom in their relationships of today? Apparently not. There are few among us with such wisdom.

There is the underlying motive that pays for the postage of bad reports. Most people who deliver bad reports do it for self serving motives – or, worse yet, contrived and hypothetical motives. People listen to a person who delivers a bad report, even people who would normally never listen to them. How many times have we heard a person challenged with putting out a bad report, self justify it with they were trying to prevent someone else from being harmed? " I am warning others about this."

This is a favorite motive for many spiritual brethren. They justify their dispersal of bad reports by trying to "save" others. We are not talking about the loss of life here. The spies were afraid that the enemy would kill them and in the end, kill their wives and children. They thought they were saving others from the enemy. In the same manner of the spies, many brethren actually do greater harm than the harm they were trying to save others from.

Passing on rumors, offering conjecture, and poo-pooing are what we are talking about here. "Poo-pooing" is not a word either, but it describes the activity correctly. A bad report is not truth (not as defined in the Scriptures). There is a world of difference between reporting facts and passing on a bad report. Bad reports are a mix of some facts and laced with personal fears and misjudgments. There is a specific Hebrew expression that defines this activity. It is called LaShon Hara (the evil tongue).

The Apostle James spoke of the tongue and its power to do good or harm.

Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

James 3:4-6

With it [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

James 3:9-10

Most people would never vandalize another persons property, but they will not hesitate to smear the other person and vandalize their name. Some people justify the passing on of a bad report because they have no personal agenda against the person. That doesn’t justify passing on a bad report. It just means that the person passing on the bad report is totally thoughtless and a mindless relay.

The difference between a liar and a person who passes on a bad report is knowledge. A liar knows what is true and what is not. A person passing on a bad report is just stupid; he knows neither the truth nor what is false.

Some people justify listening to bad reports as an endeavor to "be aware" of what is being said and happening. They say that they don’t believe the report. The problem with that is that they now have the knowledge of it and half of it will be mixed with other reports in the future. Good people know you have to know the whole truth. The problem with listening to bad reports is they are almost always half-truths.

If we were really pursuing the whole truth of the matter, then every person sharing a bad report, especially about another person, would say something like this first.

"By the way, I have some information to share with you about your friend John. This particular information will make John look terrible and cause you to rethink your entire relationship with him. It is derogatory in nature and not praise worthy in the slightest. I’m passing it on to you completely unsubstantiated and unconfirmed because it is highly fascinating and very harmful to John. Would you like to hear about it?"

A perverse man spreads strife, and a slanderer separates intimate friends.

Proverbs 16:28

The Scripture says we are not to even hear an accusation being said of another except with the evidence of two or three witnesses (unless it has been proven to be the truth). This is of particular emphases when dealing with the bad report of leaders.

Leaders make mistakes and do incorrect things all the time. But this Scriptural safeguard is intended to stop the harm done by bad reports. The fact is that listening and receiving a bad report does harm by its dissemination alone. It harms the reputation and trustworthiness of the leader, regardless of whether it was true or not. A bad report by itself is like shooting a gun in the general direction of someone. It is like throwing a lit torch in the direction of someone’s property. The bullet and fire don’t care. They will harm anyone and anything that gets too close.

How would you feel about living in a neighborhood where your next door neighbor randomly shot off his gun in the direction of your house? How do you feel about a brother who shoots off his mouth in your direction in the same random manner and says, "I wasn’t aiming or trying to hurt you?"

When a person speaks a bad report about another believer, he disbelieves God in two ways. He denies that God is able to judge all men correctly, and secondly, that God is unable to hear his words and his heart as he speaks the bad report.

The sages of Israel say that a bad report about a specific person harms three people: first, the person it is about; second, the person who heard it; and third, the person who said it.

When you put it in that kind of context, it makes you think before you listen. By the way, there are some people in this world who live for this kind of information and the conflict it stirs up. They actually relish the harm done. You have met them before. They are ones who say they had no idea that the information would harm anyone. This is an example of how bad reports are part of lying. Liars love to pass on bad reports. It gives credibility to their other lies.

He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who spreads slander is a fool.

Proverbs 10:18

It is actually better to only speak good of yourself than to speak bad of others. In that way, people will know you are just egotistical of yourself instead of being a slanderer of others.

The truth is that bad reports have the same shape as gossip, scandal, secrets exposed, slander, and backbiting. They are all like a pizza pie. Some pizzas are made with different ingredients, but they are all the right shape for sliding under the door or under the table to another person.

He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a gossip.

Proverbs 20:19

By definition, a gossip is a person who repeats rumors and offers idle talk about another person. It generally is about personal private matters. Gossips love bad reports. The badder the better. "Badder" is not really a word but it works here. Backbiters speak maliciously (to the harm) about another person (who is not present). The only thing they ever speak of is a bad report.

Bad reports are not encouraging; they are discouraging. Bad reports are biased and never fully tell the whole story. They are overstated fears of others. They are the tools of gossip and slander. They slaughter and destroy people. Bad reports are bad for everyone.

The next time you hear a bad report remember what happened to our ancestors. The spies who gave the bad report and the people who believed the bad report died in the wilderness. They did not make it to the promised land. My mother used to say and maybe yours said the same thing, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all." Focus on the "Good News" and leave bad reports to the world and to those not going to the promised land.

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