Heard Through the Grapevine

 

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord.” Romans 12:19

A few years back gossip wrecked my ministry.  As a pastor, my reputation was rooted in confidentiality, honesty, and moral integrity and all these dissipated when well-intended folks spread rumors rooted “appearance of evil.”

I learned as a young man that things are not always as they appear.  I tell folks not to believe everything they hear and only half of what they see.

Those that knew the truth tried to squelch the rumors, but juicy gossip attracts more attention than the truth.  The hardest thing has been to forgive the perpetrators and ignore the gossipmongers.  The “country boy” in me wants to even things, but my faith says wait on the Lord.  I know that the Lord will judge accordingly.

The Lord has blessed my faith with a renewed ministry, a more compassionate heart, and better understanding of forgiveness.

Hold to the truth.  God knows the truth and repays.

The Great Deceiver

 

In the Garden of Eden came the first lie

The Deceiver said, surely you will not die

The woman decided to give it a try

To the Garden of Eden, she said goodbye

 

A lie has the tendency to grow

Further and further from the original it will go

Where it comes to rest, we may never know

It creates havoc and a really big show

 

The lie a reputation will ruin

People accused of that not doing

Juicy gossip with mouths chewing

Imaginations in the mind brewing

 

Lies believed before the truth a way of life

Partial truths are malicious, deceptive, and anti-life

Lies are colored causing trouble and strife

Simple and selfish is the black lie creating lowlife

 

Fibs are lies of trivial matter especially from a child

Jocose lies are told in jest, a tall tale that is wild

Grey lies are hard to clarify, ambiguous and begild

Whites lies avoid hurting someone and acceptably mild

 

Exaggerations are lies with fundamental truths within

Half-truths can be the whole truth with a deceiving end

Told big enough and long enough a lie will be the trend

Just remember the Great Deceiver is where lies begin

Bobby E. Hopper

"If You Can't Spell, How Do You Use A Dictionary?"

I want to squash a vicious rumor that has slowly circulating about me.  As with any rumor, it is hard to locate the source.  Rumors and gossip have a tendency to be bigger and better than reality.  Rumor has it that your Director of Missions is very intelligent or as some say, smart.  Well, It ain’t so.

Truth is you do not know what I do not know.  In the words of the great communicator and master of wit, Will Rogers, “It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so.”

My father-in-law once asked me why I was going to school, referring to seminary, for so long.  I responded by saying that when I was a young man, I thought I was pretty smart.  That was until I started classes at the University of Montevallo.  Once I started into the wonderful world of academia, I realized I did not know anything.  I told paw-in-law that the more I went to school the dumber I got.  Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.”

I know that I cannot spell.  I rely heavily on the dictionary, the thesaurus, and the spell check.  That reminds me of my friend Lamar from the university who talked really slow, but could spell anything.  He asked me how I spelled correctly.  I said, “I use the dictionary.”  With all of his Chilton County wit he asked, I might add very slowly, “How do you use a dictionary if you don’t know how to spell the word?”  I called Lamar a “Smart Aleck!”  What’s funny is I had to use Roget’s Thesaurus to look up “aleck” while writing this article because spell check could not understand what I was trying to say.

The thing is I appear to be more intelligent than I am.  I enjoy being with intellectual thinkers, theologians, and people of wisdom.  I listen more than I speak and act as if I know what they are discussing.  If I listen long enough, a familiar topic will pop up and I will chime into the conversation.  I remember one time in church they were talking about Communion.  I sat among these church folks and I was clueless.  I had visions of something from a hippie commune or something.  I kept my mouth shut long enough to realize they were talking about the Lord’s Supper.

I like what Christian motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference.”  He also says, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”  Confucius says, “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”

In Seminary, my friends would ask, “How in the world are you an English minor and cannot spell?”  I replied, “Very limited vocabulary.”  During lectures, I was continually asking my friends how to spell theological words and terms.  I remember the professor talking about “exegesis.”  I was clueless to what exegesis was and spelled it Xahjesus.  Hermeneutics was another one.  I spelled it hermahnudecks and was clueless to what it was.  Regardless of what Lamar says, I am glad I had a dictionary at home to look up these words.

I had a pastor friend call and ask me what I knew about “such and such ism” that was the new hot topic in scholarly thought.  Having no clue, I said, “I don’t know, what do you think?”  After a while, I figured out what he was referring and I told him my take on the subject.   Jewish scholar Mivchar Peninim says, “A wise man’s question is half the answer.”

It is always good to ask someone how to act and what to wear when attending special events.  Admitting that you do not know something is a very important step in the road to knowing something.  To know that you do not know is true knowledge.  Knowing when to say I don’t know is very librating.  I like Yogi Berra philosophy that says, “If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.”

It reminds me of a statement from a sermon on Esther.  The preacher said, "It is important knowing what you do not know.  Esther was not afraid to ask for help when meeting the king." 

When the turn came for Esther (the girl Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her (Esther 2:15 NIV).

Preception Is Reality

As Labor Day Weekend approaches I am reminded of the years I spent negotiating contracts and the importance of our economy and industrial relationships of employee and employer.  Relationships are important.   We forget that the Bible is a book of relationships.  It instructs us on our relationship to God and to our neighbor.  If we do not have a good relationship with our neighbor we cannot have a good one with God.

In 1994, I had a personal friend, and co-worker, who police arrested for assault. 

The arrest came while he walked the picket line as Local 50537 United Paper Workers International Union negotiated a contract with Blue Circle Cement.  My friend had no idea what was taking place.  One of the replacement workers identified my friend for Norred Security Systems and the Shelby County police as the man who assaulted him at a Calera filling station.  My friend had no idea what they were talking about and for a moment resisted arrest.  He protested that on the night of the alleged incident that he was at home watching Monday Night Football with his son-in-law. 

With the aid of modern technology and sophisticated surveillance equipment, Norred Security and the replacement worker made a positive identification.  My friend was handcuffed, finger printed, and put into a cell for the first time in his life.  He was embarrassed, humiliated, and devastated.

He called me.  I knew him, worked with him, prayed with him, and witnessed along with him.  He said that he was at home with his son-in-law watching the game.  His concern was as a Christian his testimony was destroyed.  The men of the plant rallied around him with full support.  The objective of Norred was to destroy the credibility of the striking employees. 

It did not take long to find the truth.  Another striking employee had had words with the replacement worker and they exchanged blows.  The common dress for most of us on the picket line was blue jeans, tee shirts, and baseball caps.  My friend and the employee who actually hit the replacement worker had beards, were the same build, and the same height.  In negotiations we tried to get Blue Circle, Norred, and the Shelby County police to admit their error.  They were relentless.  During the hearings, my friend’s key witness, his son in law, was accidentally killed in a car accident. 

Finally, someone revealed to the company who the real culprit was.  The company never apologized; neither did the local police nor Norred.  The company maintained that Norred was at fault.  My friend won the case and a settlement from Norred.  The thing he wanted most he never regained.  His name and reputation were destroyed by the false arrest. 

Several years later I had the opportunity to preach at his deacon ordination.  He mentioned that he still felt the humiliated.

The Book of James has some strong words for gossip.  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? (James 4:11-12 KJV)  

Most of us do not have criminal intentions when we gossip, but it can be very malicious.  Gossip can cause more harm in five minutes than can be repaired in years, not to mention one’s emotional stability. 

Many find delight in spicy gossip.  It is our duty to obey the law of God, not to judge it.  Scripture calls it the worst of sins, because it is a breach of the Royal Law and it is an infringement of the rights of God. The sin of character assassination should not be condoned.  We must learn to improve human relationships and to get along better with people.  This Labor Day, remember we are co-labors together.