SET ON FIRE BY HELL

If anger and self-righteousness got together and had a baby, it would be named Gossip.

Over and over, from Old Testament to New, the Bible condemns gossip in the harshest tones.

For my money, you can't top James's take on the evils of the tongue for simplicity and directness. He drops a major truth bomb in Chapter 3:

"6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 

10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 

11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 

12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

Holy cow! He basically says that if out of one side of your mouth you praise God, but out of the other side you are cursing other people, one side is lying.

And it's the side claiming devotion to God! 

If you are in the habit of gossiping, it is time to grow up and get real about your faith. Don't convince yourself that it is no big deal. God HATES gossip and running other people down. It is inspired by Hell itself; there is nothing of God in it.