February 23, 2001

Monica,

Have you ever pondered the cultural trait of the Jewish people to answer questions with questions. I believe that way back in their ancestry, when the River of Life was flowing fluently through Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, the wisdom to not make negative confessions flowed in them. Therefore, they cautiously answered questions with questions. How can you make a negative confession when you are asking a question?

You will find it again and again as you read the Old Testament. I have never kept a reference list of examples of this tendency, so I will not try to give you very many. But as you read the Old Testament next time, notice this tendency, and remember that Jesus himself said we will give an account for every idle word we utter.

Jehu is an example I remember in 2 Kings 9:18-19. When asked by a messenger of his enemy whether he came in peace, he could have said, "No, I am here to kill King Joram." But in typical Jewish tradition, he said, "What do you have to do with peace?" Finally, in verse 22, King Joram himself came out and said, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?" Jehu said, "How can there be peace as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"

Even the Shunammite woman had the wisdom to keep her mouth shut about her son’s death when he had already died. Most people would call for the coroner. She did not even tell Elisha that the son he had given her by prophecy was dead. She just said, " Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes?"

I would have to search around in the Old Testament to come up with more examples, but I know that I have noticed this carefulness with words many places. Our old people are losing brain cells much faster than natural aging because they have been taught to start confessing a loss of memory by the time they are forty. How many times have I heard people say, "I must be getting old; I keep forgetting things." I’m telling you such statements are more responsible for the dysfunctioning brains in our elderly than any disease or natural loss of brain cells.

How many times have I heard parents telling each other how bad their children are, how their children fight with each other, how messy their children are, etc.? Children have to be trained and disciplined, but the parents’ speech needs to be guarded. They certainly will have to give account for the negative blabber they spoke to other parents in an effort to get pity for themselves. "Oh, my son is so messy. All I get done is pick up after him. O poor pitiful me!" Death! They are speaking death on their kids. The mouth has the power of life and death. There are only two kinds of words: There are words that produce life and words that produce death. What people think are "just idle words" are actually words in full gear.

Believe what you say; say what you believe; and make sure you believe truth. If God says I am righteous, I believe and say the same. If God says I have eternal life, I believe and say I have eternal life. If God says, Jesus’ body was broken that my body may be whole, that I am healed by his wounds; I believe and say my body is whole and that I have been healed by his wounds. No matter if someone tells me I am sinful, dying of pneumonia, and going to hell. Sorry! What the Word says is truth; everything else is a lie. Physical seeing cannot be the basis of truth.

Love,

Dad

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