PRÉCIS ON THE TERRIFYING POWER OF THE TONGUE: BEING POLITE VS. TELLING THE TRUTH IN THE AGE OF ANTICHRIST

SCRIPTURE. “For we all stumble and sin in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says [never saying the wrong thing], he is a perfect man [fully developed in character, without serious flaws], able to bridle his whole body and rein in his entire nature [taming his human faults and weaknesses].” – JAMES 3:2, AMP

KEY TERM: “BRIDLE.” ‘Chalinagógeó’ [χαλιναγωγῆσαι]: “To be a bit-leader as in, to curb, control or restrain.” NOTE: “Strong’s Greek (5468) pictures a deliberate act of ‘Putting a bridle on’ something that would otherwise run free. Used only twice in the New Testament, it focuses on the believer’s obligation to restrain the tongue—an organ, small in size, yet immense in spiritual consequence.”

QUOTATIONS

• WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. “My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.” ― The Taming of the Shrew, 1592

• THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. “Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of restraining it. I will pour it out on the children in the street and on the gathering of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with the very old. And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.” – 6:11-13, AMPC

COMMENTARY. “What we say and what we don’t say are both important. To control our speech, we must not only say the right words at the right time but also reign in our desire to say what we want. EXAMPLES: Of the Sins of an Untamed Tongue include: Gossiping; Insulting; Belittling; Bragging; Manipulating; Teaching Falsehood; Exaggerating; Complaining; Flattering; and Lying. Pause before you speak to ask yourself: ‘Is what I want to say True? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?’”– RONALD A. BEERS, General Editor, Life Application Study Bible, p. 2844, 2022; edited

DK’S TAKE. Here I first confess this: While I believe I am often in compliance with much of these standards, there is one where I often fail: Kindness. Or what we generally consider “Kindness” to be.

I turn, necessarily, to an unorthodox commentary from the Left again, since I am often unable to find Orthodoxy, ironically enough, among ‘conservative’ American Christians. Thus we have here a hard-hitting essay by the EDITOR of Rebel Christianity titled, “Being Polite is NOT One of the Ten Commandments, and It Never Will Be” (2023; edited).

Listen to the words of a Christian writer that none of us have likely ever heard preached in our ever so timid churches these days. Brace yourselves, beloved.

“Many Christians, particularly in wealthy First-World countries, seem to think that Christianity is about saying please and thank you, being submissive toward authority figures, doing what you’re told, and never causing too much of a fuss.

It makes me wonder what Bible they’re reading. The one I have talks about a God-King who flips over tables and hurls insults at wealth-hoarding, self-righteous hypocrites. Jesus even uses tough love with his disciples, referring to Peter as ‘Satan’ when His closest follower is in danger of going astray (Matthew 16:23) …

Jesus warns not to throw your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6) and Paul chastises those who suffer fools gladly (2 Corinthians 11:19). When dealing with those who are willing to learn, one should always use compassion, patience and understanding. But every Shepherd knows that Sheep and Goats can’t be treated the same way. Goats are headstrong and will cause nothing but destruction if left unchecked. The very least you can do is publicly scold them for their evil ways, so they are forced to confront their own actions and can serve as an example to others.

When dealing with bigots, reactionaries, and defenders of the Capitalist status quo, the question of Politeness should be left up to personal discretion. The Wealthy and their enablers are [generally] Enemies of God, and Liberal Politeness is a tool designed to disempower the meek and vulnerable. The lives of the poor are worth more than the social comfort of the rich.

You don’t owe Politeness to your Oppressor, and you do them no kindness by tacitly endorsing their demonic lifestyle.

‘Righteous Anger’ always has been recognized as a Christian Virtue, provided that it guided by the pursuit of Justice and Love of the oppressed. As the Abolitionist minister Henry Ward Beecher said: “A man who does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good. And a man that does not know how to be shaken to his heart’s core with indignation over things evil is either a fungus or a wicked man.”

CONSEQUENCES. Because the primarily White Evangelical Church has for generations now taught its members to ‘Be polite at every possible turn,’ we have sown to the wind and inherited the following Whirlwind. In the words of C.S. LEWIS, from The Abolition of Man (1943):

“It still remains true that no justification of Virtue will enable a man to be virtuous. Without the aid of trained emotions, the intellect is powerless against the animal organism. I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite skeptical about Ethics, but bred to believe that ‘a gentleman does not cheat,’ than against an irreproachable moral philosopher who had been brought up among sharpers [swindlers] …

And all the time—such is the Tragi-Comedy of our situation—We continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive,’ or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity.’ In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. ‘We make “Men Without Chests” and expect of them Virtue and Enterprise. We laugh at Honour and are shocked to find Traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the Geldings be fruitful.”

CODA. And that, beloved, is why I resort to sources outside of the deeply Americanized Gospel that has led to the very Rise of Antichrist in our midst – by our own corruptions! Give me the Gentile Roman Centurion or the Good Samaritan anytime to discuss Virtue and Vice, rather than our insidious and deeply compromised Church Leaders.

That is where we have been led, beloved, by those entrusted by God to lead us. Because we did not speak, as my Hispanic ancestors would say it: “¡Nunca más!”