“You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor” Dt 5:20

I learned the Ten Commandments when I was very young. The image of Moses angrily demolishing the tablets when he discovered Israel had grievously sinned against the Lord—worshiping the golden calf while Moses lingered upon the mountain—left a deep, restraining impression on me.

The Commandments written by the very Finger of God were daunting: Thou shalt not murder, steal, commit adultery. But I didn’t understand how the command not to bear false witness against my neighbor could be put into the same category with these “weighty” sin. Time and many life experiences, and most notably this US presidential election cycle, have taught me just how ignorant I was!

Several years ago I was shocked by a revelation of just how chilling breaking the ninth commandment can be. False rumors were being spread about one of my closest ministry partners. His work, that was impacting tens of thousands of people, nearly ground to a halt as a result. The risk, expense, and effort to advocate for his protection and then recovery was an intense battle. He had even contemplated giving up, but by the grace of God he was restored and the Lord proved Himself a Redeemer to him through it all. Looking back, I can see how these attempts to destroy him only made him stronger.

This week I read these clearly prophetic verses from Proverbs:

“There is a generation rising that uses their words like swords
to cut and slash those who are different.
They devour the poor, the needy, and the afflicted
from off the face of the earth” v. 30:14 TPT

By the Spirit, Solomon may have been given a peek into our present. For there has very likely never been a time in the history of the world when this proverb was more true than it is today. Social media has been weaponized (often abetted by traditional media) to “cut and slash” people’s reputations to pieces. Often people’s worlds are turned upside down overnight when they are shamed and cancelled by the mobs who fight in Twitter’s trenches, who type FaceBook posts like grenades to destroy the careers of “those who are different”, resulting in countless lives being torched upon the hungry ash-heaps of our fractured generation. We must be vigilant. The force of this evil is an out-of-the-bottle genie in our day. To be ignorant or passive as it carnivorously lurks for prey is to be vulnerable.

The unleashing of these tools of destruction should not only warn us to defend ourselves from becoming targets of aggressive word-bombs. Some have unwittingly joined the mob. How, you ask? By crossing precariously over onto the side of those who are “devouring” the weak. Beloved, it is not only the progenitor of these cruel, virtual takedowns whose hands are bloodied. The one who carelessly forwards lies, rumors, slander—fake news—in the form of emails, posts, or tweets is also liable before God. This commandment is not directed only to those who initiate false testimonies against another; it implicates those who pass them along as well. Jesus spoke ominously that we would be held to account for every “idle word” (Mt 12:36). The days when this sin was confined to the habitat of gossiping ladies at quilting clubs are long spent. The fake news that now floods and pollutes our airwaves have dire consequences right now, during the perverse days in which we live, and for the Day when all their murderous effects will be “laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13).

If Moses came down from the Mount of God in 2020, the commandment that would most vehemently incite his fury may not be the prohibition against graven images, but the dissemination of baseless and scandalous tales being spread to destroy our neighbors.

“May the words of my mouth and
the texts of my fingers
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and My Redeemer.”
PS 19:14