Articles from Divine Love Ministries:

The power of speech is one of the greatest powers ever given to human beings by our creator. It is by his words that God created the world and everything in it. He said, "Let it be and it came to be" "let us make man in our own image and likeness - you and I became the end product of that word. As the product of God's word, we cannot grow in our relationship with God unless we are mindful of what we think and say for anyone can know the stuff we are made of based on the words that come out of our lips. The apostle James 3:2 says, "If any man offends not in words, the same is a perfect man." And one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of speech and all who nourish this gift have the power in them to speak words that permeate the depth of the human spirit.

Good and Evil - the gift of speech is a great and noble gift. It could build and destroy kingdoms, empires, nations, families and relationships. The apostle of practical Christianity, James 1:26 says "If a man who does not control his tongue imagines that he is devout, he is self deceived; his worship is pointless."  It is often said that." The tongue is an organ that can make evil attractive. By the tongue, men can make the worse appear the better reason. By the tongue, men can excuse and justify their wicked ways. By the tongue, men can persuade others into sin. By the tongue, men can give others broken hearts and sleepless nights."

Shakespeare said, "Who steals my purse steals trash; But he who filches from me my good name. Robs me of that, which enriches him. He makes me poor indeed and miserable forever."

Taming the Tongue - the tongue may be one of the small parts of the body, yet it has all the power to control and shape the entire person. James 3:3-5 says "once we put a bit into the horse's mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under control. Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, the man at helm can steer them anywhere he likes by controlling a tiny rudder.  So is the tongue only a tiny part of the body, but it can proudly claim that it does great things."

The Difficulty of Controlling the Tongue -James 3:5-8 goes on to remind us how difficult it may become to tame this small part of the human body, "consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no human being can tame the tongue."

This is why James 3:2 says "for all fall short in many respects, if anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also."

The commandments - in the commandments we see what human relationship should look life. It is in the commandments that we see how to please God and be pleasing to God. It is not about either God or Us. but it's all about both God and Us.

The 8^th commandment says - "You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor." This commandment calls for a positive use of the power or gift of speech to praise God and to build a healthy community of love, peace and justice. It forbids the abuse of the gift of speech. We could abuse this gift through - lying, gossip, destroying another's reputation, unjust criticism, insults, divulging secrets, judge or condemn another without evidence, revealing the sins of another, perjury, withholding to speak the truth in the face of injustice (unjust silence), etc.

Proper use of the tongue - Good Name: it is morally wholesome to keep the good name of others even if they are our enemies, for they are entitle to it by the mere virtue of the fact. Proverbs 22:1 says "a good name is more desirable than great riches and high esteem than gold and silver." The Catholic morality has this to say "it is a serious matter to take away the good esteem of another because amongst man's temporal possessions nothing is more precious than his good name, if he lack this he is prevented from doing many good things. Therefore, it is said: Take care of your good name, for this will be a more lasting possession of yours than a thousand valuable and precious treasures"  (Aquinas, T. ST 2.2q 7.3a 2).

While it is true that some people may end up destroying their own reputations by their wrong choices, it is also true that some people's  reputation is intentionally destroyed by evil minded people. However, no matter what others may say, you are still the best destroyer of your own reputations. You can never go wrong keeping your good reputation safe.

Detraction - we sin by detraction whenever we reveal the hidden faults of others without necessity. No one likes to makes his personal faults public and we would not expect others to do the same. However, out of pride or to put someone down we often try to publicize his/her weaknesses so that he may not appear superior to us. However, this is different from talking about issues that have been made public either by the press or by court decision, in which case talking about such issues may not be classified as detraction. Detraction occurs when we reveal others secret faults without sufficient reason.

Justice may demand that a hidden fault of another be revealed when by so doing harm may be averted, wrongs corrected, punished or avoided. In this case, there is a necessary reason to do so. Example, one is duty bound to report his brother who is not doing his homework or not doing well in school. This is to help him to improve in his studies.

Slander -this happens whenever we reveal someone's fault with the intention of harming or injuring his/her good name. It is a defamation of character since the sole aim is to make another's fault to be known to others. In slander, a person's fault is often exaggerated to make it look worse than it is.

Calumny - the sin of calumny occurs whenever we maliciously impute on others, faults which they did not actually commit or to exaggerate a person's  fault. Ps 8:3 - the poison of the asp is under their lips. In the story of Susana, we see a good example of calumny. If the God-fearing man called Daniel were not there to intervene on behalf of Susanna, she would have been buried alive or stoned to death. Another example is the story of Potiphar's wife whose wicked heart enticed to falsely accuse the chaste and innocent Joseph. We see the sin of calumny in us and in others. We need the grace of God to overcome such tendencies in us by maintaining a positive mindset so that we can not only count our blessings but also see abundance of blessings in others (Mtt 7:1-5) (see onyeocha A).

You may send us your prayer request or share with us your testimonies as the Lord answers you. It is God’s wish that all may know his works  and so praise him. You are welcome to contact us at: Phone. (818)322 3346; email: contact@divineloveministries.com, or write us at: P.O. Box 2403, North Hills. Ca.  91393.USA.