Loose Lips Bare Fools

By Doug Cook  2017

I recognize the title is somewhat direct, and may be offensive to some but has anyone, referring to themselves as a believer in Christ, genuinely loved the Lord Jesus enough to embark on an in depth study about what He has to say about our conversations?  If you have, are you actually putting into practice what was revealed or are you busy establishing justification for not obeying every word that comes from the mouth of God?  I would like to take the opportunity to point out several scriptures that give reference to the way we are to conduct our repartee not only within the body of Christ but also to the worldly people the Lord places in our paths.

1Corinthians 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.  And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

It has been my experience through several decades of interaction with the body of believers that “Knowledge puffeth up” is one of the truest expressions ever presented in the Word of God.  Once anyone gains any knowledge about a subject our egos flare to new heights and dreadfully few can resist the temptation to enlighten everyone else on how much we assume we know, especially about biblical issues.  It brings to mind my teenage years at home when I thought I knew so much more than my dad, yet when I reached my thirties I understood how smart he was and what an ignorant teenager I had been and how I knew nothing then as I thought I knew.  Believers journey through the same experience as we gain knowledge about our heavenly Father.  We undergo the same “teenage Christian” phase knowing “nothing yet as he ought to know.”  The quandary is that very… VERY… few believers (including most pastors) ever grow out of this stage so they spend their whole lives puffed up in constant banter trying to impress and correct others with their limited knowledge of God, and then divide the body of Christ into denominations with others that have “like-minded” misinterpretations.

      Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

For a believer, our puffed up (prideful) support of our incomplete knowledge (most always supported by a factious denomination) is a perilous place to be in our relationship to the Lord.  As God warns in this verse, we could end up being destroyed and burning in the lake of fire for eternity.  A “haughty spirit” by Webster’s definition is: “having a high opinion of one’s self (or one’s own sect), with some contempt for others; lofty and arrogant; supercilious.”  How many “church members” do you imagine fit this portrayal?  A hint:  Look for those whose conversation consistently includes “me,” “myself” and “I.”  How many denominational “Christians” sincerely believe their sect is the only ones that have the truth and all the others “have false doctrines?”  These archetype “Christians” are blind to the fact they are the embodiment of a “haughty spirit” and in submission to their own inflated ego, not the Spirit of God.  Unfortunately, within the body of Christ it would be a greater challenge to find one of the remnant that doesn’t have haughty spirits or yoked to any faction.  If this prideful spirit is not repented of, it may result in “destruction, a fall” from their salvation.

James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

If those calling themselves believers would actually obey God and spend more time listening and learning and a whole lot less time mumbling about things we “knoweth nothing yet as we ought to know,” there would be untold additional mature saints in the body of Christ and lot less factious denominations carving Jesus into multitudes of unholy pieces.   

What does God say about talking?

James 3:5-10 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things (pride). Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

1Corinthians 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

1Timothy 2:11-12 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.

Proverbs 10:31-32  The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.   The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

Proverbs 13:3 He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous studieth (ponder, meditates) to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Proverbs 17:27-28 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.  Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

Proverbs 18:6-8 A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.  A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.  The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.

Proverbs 24:7 Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Proverbs 29:20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.  Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.  For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.  When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.  Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.  Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?  For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

Ecclesiastes 10:11-14 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.   The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.  The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.  A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

The bible says a matter is established in the mouth of two or three witnesses, but on the subject of talking there are numerous witnesses in the Word of God.  Throughout the bible, the Lord tells us we need to ponder what we are thinking about saying before speaking and keep our mouths closed as much as possible.  In fact God calls those that produce few words wise and those that foam at the mouth fools.  The bible went so far as to say even fools that keep their mouth shut will be considered wise.  He calls our tongues “an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”  We use them to bless God on the weekend church service, and then use them to curse men during the week.  This is hypocrisy at its finest.

Gods’ Holy Word is plain.  We are to keep our conversation to a minimum.  We need to use great discernment before we ever speak a word.  Why? God created the world by speaking it into existence.  Our words also have the authority to create good or evil.  “… He shall have whatsoever he saith.” (Mark 11:23) And just because we are visiting with someone doesn’t mean someone needs to be talking all the time.  Also, the old statement “speak when you’re spoken to” does not apply either.  Jesus is our example, and when Pilot spoke to Jesus before his crucifixion and asked him several questions, He remained silent and only responded once with one sentence.  There is great wisdom in few words and all believers should be practicing this type of exchange in their love for and obedience to the Lord.

As stated by Larry Meguiar, “We are to walk in love and love is more concerned on the things of others than our own thing.  The self-centered motor mouth individual HAS NO LOVE, regardless of what they make you think through illusion.  Giving such ANY of our time to occupy, rule over, our mind, is our OWN foolishness.”

And for the ladies who endeavor to get in sixty thousand words a day on average, it is a much more difficult task to dramatically decrease the output, yet is still required by God.  The Word even goes a step further with women and says they should be silent in the church meetings, which means no talking at all.  With the exception of a couple of sects that establish silence as a rule for women in their fellowships, we hardly ever see this commandment being followed in the church at large.  In fact, what befuddles me most is how women referring to themselves as “pastor” of a church can operate in that position and still obey the commands of God to be silent in the church and not usurp authority over a man???  Another sign that the judgment hand of God is upon the Church. (Isaiah 3)

Ephesians 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

God is not against some humor now and then (Ecclesiastes 3:4), but there are a lot of people in their efforts to ignore their own shortcomings that try to be funny so they crack jokes all the time trying to get a laugh out of everyone; there are even pastors that tell a joke before they begin their sermons every week all under the pretext of “laughter is good for you.”  Oh really!  Ecclesiastes 7:3 says, “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”  I question which bible they got their much laughter doctrine from?  My King James Bible calls this “foolish talking and jesting,” and it says this is not a convenient type of conversation either, placing this type of constant expression under the “foolish” category as well.

Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

One thing I have grown to utterly despise among “Christians” is the talking and gossip about other individuals so called “sins” or “false doctrines” in the body of Christ.  This is a rampant problem throughout ALL sects of Christianity.  The bible says we are to cover (hide) one another’s transgressions.  Instead, most all in the church “repeateth a matter.”  There is a direct correlation concerning the number of fools that talk too much and the number of Christians repeating matters.  I’ve even personally witnessed a leader (bishop) of a factious denomination “repeateth a matter” to his whole sect as soon as he became aware of something he presupposed was “sin” in someone’s life.  God calls this type elder that “separateth very friends” a fool.  Rejecting the command to be slow to speak inevitably results in rejecting other commands like covering another’s transgressions.  Unless these fools repent, they are headed for destruction just like Proverbs says.

One of the amazing things I have discovered about the nature of these non-stop talebearers that gossip about concerns they don’t like in other people is that, for the most part, they themselves employ the same obsession.  The British have a saying that describes that condition in our human ego that shows up in our “pride of life.”  The saying is “potter envies potter.”  On the surface it means that a potter’s worst critic is another potter because they both practice the same art.  A preacher’s worst censor is another preacher.  An engineer’s worst detractor is another engineer.  A procrastinator’s worst critic is another procrastinator, etc, etc.  In a philosophical sense the phrase means the things that we don’t like about someone else is more than likely the exact same thing we are practicing ourselves.  It also makes it very easy for us to recognize this character flaw in others because we are most familiar with the habit in ourselves, but our inflated egos are unable to engage our own failure in addressing the issue, so we lash out at others seeking to redirect the blame.  The foolish gossips that spread tales of others shortcomings most always speak of the same flaws present in their own characters yet are unable to admit they themselves are betrothed to the same inclination.  When gossips judge another’s flaw when they themselves are just as guilty, they inadvertently display their own folly to the world, which is probably why God calls them fools.

Romans 2:1-3 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.  But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

In application to the body of Christ, when a person from one sect judges another sect by saying “they have false doctrines,” their own tower of Babel they built has false doctrines as well, but they can’t see them because they have blinders on their eyes and therefore can’t fathom the fact they are just as flawed, if not more so, in their own doctrinal errors. The condemnation falls right back on themselves because “thou art inexcusable, O man.”  Denominationalists envy denominationalists.  God calls this foolishness.  I have attend to many a puffed up believer that was frustrated because other Christians wouldn’t listen to them when they tried to point out discrepancies in others knowledge of Jesus, yet they themselves would not listen when I, in response to their objections of others, highlighted some of their own like-minded shortcomings in obeying the commands of Jesus.  On a couple of occasions I’ve seen ads in a public newspaper where pastors/leaders specifically named another person of having false doctrines, yet these leaders were actually the ones with the false doctrines.  In their egocentric arrogance and pride they exposed their absolute ignorance of biblical truth to the masses who read that paper.  And do they pause to think that they “shalt escape the judgment of God?”  Like the supercilious bishop I spoke of earlier that pompously revealed his complete ignorance of, or abject refusal to obey, the Matthew 18 commanded process to cover someone’s sin.  This is also foolishness and leaves a bad taste for those on the outside observing how we in the Body of Christ supposedly “love one another.”  What we unconsciously display is the way we “shove one another.”

Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

When we see something that we don’t think is right about someone else, instead of murmuring and complaining about them we should repent of those issues in ourselves, fall to our knees and beg God to cleanse our own hearts from those iniquities before He institutes His judgment on us.  When we experience how difficult it is to obtain deliverance from enslavement to our own shortcomings, we will robotically inherit more patience, clarity and compassion for others suffering from the same bondage.

      Ecclesiastes 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Brothers and sisters, we have thoroughly exhausted the “time to speak.”  It’s “time to keep silent” for a while and embark on the rare concept of earnestly listening to someone else, above all God.  In the Church of Jesus Christ we are all supposed to be concerned about focusing on others welfare, not ourselves.  (Phil. 2:3-4)  If we really cared about others, like most believers claim they do, we would shut our mouths and listen to them, devoid of interruptions, even if it’s something we have heard a dozen times before.  God says we need to be slow to speak and quick to listen.  And authentic listening is hopeless with an open mouth.  At what point does the “keeping silence” part of this scripture commence in the body of Christ?

      Proverbs 23:9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

And for all those fools (presently getting disturbed with this messenger) in all the church factions that are puffed up, constantly chattering and know nothing of the Word of God like they ought to know, the bible says you will despise the wisdom of this exposition even though a lot of it is directly quoted from the Holy Bible.  Therefore, in obedience to the Lord, I am not engaging the fools (Speak not in the ears of a fool) but the body of Christ as a whole to help wise believers discern the deceived from the righteous in these times of judgment.  Just because someone (including elders) is constantly talking about Jesus does not make them right, wise or holy.  It doesn’t even mean their salvation is intact, because if they truly loved Jesus they would obey Him by keeping their lips sealed and waiting on the Holy Spirit who may, or may not, give them permission to speak a few words in season!  It has been my experience over the decades that the more I take up my cross and die to my flesh, the nearer I get to God.  And the closer I get the more He wants me to listen and the less He wants me to speak.  I’m gradually getting to the point of realizing it is not, nor has ever been, all about me.

      Matthew 5:22 … but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

And yes, I’m very much aware of this verse and the warning it gives about calling someone a fool.  However, it’s not me deciding to call them fools; The Word of God has placed this label on them.  I’m merely utilizing the biblical language He uses.

Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The silent are the ones obeying God, and they are the ones headed down the narrow way!  Do you want to know the ones filled with wisdom dwelling amongst the believers in the ecclesia?  Look for those who employ words very sparingly, then be silent and sincerely listen to the wisdom the Lord says proceeds from their lips!

Your servant in Christ.