Anyone who has
been hurt by false witnesses, or had their reputation damaged by slander, has
reason to thank God for his requirements for handling accusations of sin in the
Church. God has determined that such things must be resolved on the testimony
of a plurality of witnesses. God’s word speaks of this in the negative by telling
us that no one can be declared guilty of anything on the testimony of only one
witness.[2] And,
it speaks of this in the positive by telling us that everything must be settled
with a minimum of two or three witnesses.[3]
When we think
of what it means to be a “witness”, we must also see this in the positive and
the negative. Positively speaking, a witness is someone who has witnessed
something for themselves. Negatively speaking, a witness is not someone who
simply believes something to be true about someone else. Neither does it refer
to someone who sees a certain thing happen, and then adds his or her own
interpretations to that certain thing.
I have seen
and heard too many cases where people believe that, if they can band together
enough people against someone, and convince them all to believe certain things
about that person, that this makes them the two or three witnesses required by
Scripture to prove someone guilty of sin. If they can get at least two or three
people to hold to the same story, it must be true.
This is
exactly what the religious leaders did with Jesus. They gathered together as
many false witnesses as they could find, but, even in their hypocrisy, they
still required that there had to be two witnesses with the same story before they
could proceed. After dismissing many false witnesses because they all told
different stories, we are told that, “At last two came forward…” and
gave the same report.[4] Now they could go ahead with their judgment against Jesus, not
because what the witnesses said was true, but because they finally had two
false witnesses who told the same story!
The sad thing
is that, while people gather their collections of opinions together in the
belief that their agreement with each other makes them witnesses, others can
verifiably witness that those people are gossiping, slandering, sinfully
judging, falsely accusing, and sometimes lying about the person they are
attacking. Many of these stories are about the next pastor who “has to go”
because a handful of important “witnesses” agreed that it should be so. They
never realize that they are maintaining their defiant hold on condemning the person
based on things going on in their heads, not things they have witnessed.
In fact, one man
of faith, Nehemiah, gave this response to such things as recorded right in the
sacred text of Scripture. When he was presented with all kinds of nonsense and
lies about his work, he replied: “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them
out of your own mind.”[5] Or, as another translation puts it, “Nothing
like what you are saying is
happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”[6]
Nehemiah’s
example should encourage many people who have felt the bullets of false
accusation whizzing by their heads. This is what he prayed to God: “For they all wanted to frighten us,
thinking, ‘Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.’ But
now, O God, strengthen my hands.”[7] Whether church-accusers consciously think that they want God’s work
to stop, or they have fallen into the devil’s trap so that they are now
hindering the work of God according to the red dragon’s plans,[8] Nehemiah sets the example of people turning to God for strength,
and continuing the work of the kingdom of heaven.
While
there will always be people who believe that a majority vote, or three people
in agreement, is equal with God’s will, those who would live by the whole
counsel of God must be sure that we never respond to stories about people except
in the way Scripture teaches. We must also be sure that we do not waver from
our devotion to Christ and his kingdom no matter how many false witnesses come
against us.
Remember
that, our Savior turned the work of the false witnesses into the great good of
Salvation for all who would believe in him. The same Savior will also work for
good all our experiences at the hands of false witnesses. God is the only judge
we will stand before. Let us live so as to please him.
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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