2 Corinthians 13:1
“This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
The verse above would solve most rumors and disagreements among individuals if its wisdom was followed. Paul said, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” Paul understood the frustration of being falsely accused. He not only understood the frustration, but he had also felt the punishment from those who didn’t do their job to find out the whole story before they came to a conclusion.
Many Christians have shown themselves a fool because they believed the evil gossip without doing their homework. Even if those who acted rashly upon the gossip came around, the people they influenced during their rash actions many times never come back. How many times have you watched a story that the news media told and believed what they said only to find out later they lied because they had an agenda behind it? The verse above gives several steps to follow if you want to avoid being the next victim who believes the salacious and evil lies of those who are bent on destroying truth.
First, one “witness” doesn’t make an accusation fact. You will notice that Paul said, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses.” In other words, you are not even to believe a report off the word of one person. I wonder how many times a person’s character has been maligned because one “witness” said something was true. Just because someone says they witnessed something doesn’t make it true. This is why you must never believe a report of one “witness.” That person who you believe to be a witness could be an adversary who cloaks themselves as a witness. Always remember that those who want to destroy others will tell enough truth about a person to make their lies believable, but the truth sown in lies doesn’t make the lies true.
Second, every word must be validated before indictment. The verse above is teaching that the witnesses words were not enough to make something true. God said that “every word” should be established. Just because someone may have said something doesn’t mean the tenor of what you think they said is true. You had better take their whole life and know the whole story before you come to a conclusion. Many preachers have been branded a heretic off one statement because an accuser took a statement out of context. The context of what a person says in important to establishing their word. Let me encourage you to take “every word” a person has said before you accuse them by one word. Many times you will find you can understand what a person is saying when you take every word they have said into context. Likewise, if you take every work a person has done, you might find the accusations about the one work to be untrue. Don’t be guilty of accusing people off one word; take every word into account.
Third, let the accused give their account before validating the “witnesses.” Paul told these people that he was coming to them to show his proof. It is evil to attack an individual without once talking to them to see if the accusations are true. You are no better than the evil media who publishes lies to make a dollar if you say something as fact about an individual without talking to them. My friend, you could save yourself a lot of embarrassment by personally talking to the individual before jumping on the bandwagon of accusation.