“SICKNESSES OF THE MOUTH & AUTO-FORWARD—JAMES 3 FUN”

For me as an ardent practicing and devout etymologist I exhaust myself on studying words in multiple languages to get real meaning and intention as it adds efficacy to my argument as our education has dumbed down deeper meanings of the words.  I have a young lady in my church and we would just discuss her Spanish vocabulary, verb conjugation, and it was fun for me.  For example “when” is “cuando;” “you tell” is “cuentas;” “how many” is “cuantos;” “you count” is “cuenta;” “stories” is “cuentos;”…so if we say, “When you tell stories, count how many stories you tell.”  Okay.  “Cuando cuentas cuentos cuenta cuantos cuentos cuentas.”  It is even more problematic in Russian, Latin, and Hebrew.  Regardless, it is my hobby.    

Today’s “word police” are in full effect.  According to the easily triggered, anxiety-filled society, I can no longer use the words, “retarded,” “midget,” “homeless,” and the list goes on—and Orwell called it in “1984.”  We can be censured AND censored, cancelled, hunted, harassed, all simply because we use the English language as defined in Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.  Now, we find that language is considered “violence.”  I can’t imagine sitting in a fighting position with a fellow Marine in a firefight and I am yelling commands and have a young Marine tell me he is being “triggered” because of my “patriarchal, toxic masculinity, and loud, abrasive tone?                                                At that point in time, the ONLY “trigger” I care about is the one he is pulling to get the enemy off of our butts.  Interestingly, even the Uniform Code of Military Justice under Articles 134, 89, and 91 cover “indecent language,” and if this were ever enforced, every General I know should receive Non-Judicial Punishment for taking the Lord’s name in vain, and often times FAR worse.

I bailed on my contract with local pest control here in Quincy because the phone girl told me I can’t use the word “retarded” when I mentioned the new guy was quite retarded in his work and he kept beating on my door for an explanation.  Good job on overly harassing a combat veteran with documented PTSD and TBI and having your organization’s phone girl counsel me on “words” like a cheap coffee drive through barista. Pound sand.  She probably thinks the word “irregardless” is actually a word.  Keep answering the phone.  Done with local pest control…Terminix is my go to!

Since this society has redefined abortion as healthcare, then I can redefine ICE as a travel agency.  If illegal muslim immigration into our Western Culture society without assimilation is beneficial, I can refer to our current events in Iran as a WAY overdue fireworks display.  And I guess if no one is illegal on stolen land, then I can just break into anyone’s doctor or lawyer’s house on Maine street claiming to be a refugee from the south side of Quincy.  If the progressive can change language, then so can I.

We have reached a critical point in our society where words, feelings and emotions have become some crazy far-fetched absolute truth and if I challenge that from the pulpit or in my life suddenly people feel attacked.  I put this on the clergy.  I learned long ago to either be tactically and technically proficient or to be political and politically correct (cow-tow to society).  I chose the first as it was an outward gift to teach, train, educate, and keep my Marines alive.  The latter was completely selfish for one’s own advancement.

The clergy preaches love and compassion until someone disagrees with them on a point of Biblical order and constraint.  People simply dismiss you and walk away for a more tolerant voice.  When feelings become the authority over Biblical Truth, then comes the great falling away.  For the weak, disagreement becomes harm and danger, being challenged in their spirit becomes an attack, and the clergy (as well as politics) develops a culture that can’t handle disagreement without the desire to destroy the other person.

The language police are destroying our once great Constitutional Republic.  We have defined words yet we can’t define what a woman is.  Probably because for 50 plus years we haven’t been able to define what a baby is, in or out of the womb.  We can’t seem to define marriage, thus it isn’t protected in the courts for both sides, always leaning toward the side of the woman that they can’t define.  They can’t define the unborn child therefore won’t protect them.  John Locke wrote: “He who defines the words defines the world.”  Language will always shape the way we think and how we see the world.   

Now, consider this scenario.  Have you ever sat in a restaurant, deli, or even street corner and listen to how people speak?  The grammar is horrible, the vulgarity rampant, and of course the thing that makes me physically wince is to hear God’s and Jesus’ name taken in vain.  It pains me.  The problem is that we have dumbed down education, we have lost a sense of propriety and shame, and we have somehow shifted the narrative that so-called intellectuals and experts have twisted the use of vulgarity into a personal brilliance.  In fact, and contrary to this idiotic perspective, there are so many other words or phrases one could use the expand their vocabulary and paint an extraordinary word picture that could suffice with so much more grandeur.  Let me walk you through some “mouth conditions.”

                                                First, we have the “gossiping mouth.”  This one is alive and well in society, social media, and yes, especially in the church.  We are more than happy to share the “truth” of someone else’s story all for the sake of keeping everyone “informed” on the matter.  I have learned that everything I know, ESPECIALLY as a pastor is on a need-to-know basis and not for me to share morally or ethically.  Proverbs 16:28 tells us: “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”  Proverbs 20:19 tells us: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.”  Certainly, NOT a good thing if you espouse any form of wisdom.

                                                Many have a complaining mouth, whining victims, screeching progressive liberals in the streets blocking traffic…yes, we see it every day, even scrolling through reels on social media, these complaining mouths jump right into our faces.  I truly believe that complaining has become so normalized that we don’t even hear ourselves when we do it.  Philippians 2:14-15 tells us: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”  These Scriptures speak for themselves.

                                                What about the flattering mouth problem?  Saying what someone wants to hear to gain favor with them that does not come from an honest place is called lying.  The clergy does this every Sunday—tickle their ears, make them feel good enough to put money in the basket, keep the congregation numbers up—all from a position of dishonesty behind the pulpit.  Proverbs 29:5 says: “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet,” and  Psalm 12:2-3 tells us: “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.  May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts.”

                                                The lying mouth crushes all loyalty, faith, dignity, and integrity in a person.  A lie can span the spectrum from little lies, convenient omissions, exaggerations, half-truths, to fully committed lies.  We tend to call them “harmless” when they make life easier, but in reality we are digging a hole that eventually we can never get out of once it is so deep.  Ephesians 4:25 tells us: “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”   Proverbs 12:22 tells us: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”

                                                I catch myself with a “reckless mouth” with my sardonic wit and often times have to come back with an “I was just kidding” or “I just tell it like it is” statements to backtrack my reckless mouth.  I have found that words can indeed leave people bleeding.  Being truthful does not give us permission to be careless.  Proverbs 12:18 tells me: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing,”  and 15:1 says: “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  I’m certainly have NOT perfected that—I’m a work in progress.

                                                The cursing mouth is somehow ranked higher than the other “mouth problems” when they all are equally wrong.  When we bless God and then use our same mouths to curse someone, made in God’s image, or an incident, that God allowed to happen, is just simply wrong.

James 3:9-10 tells us: “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”

                                                Often times I don’t consider the “boastful mouth,” or what I like to refer to as the “high school reunion mouth.”  There are people who always feel the need to share all that they have done and accomplished.  Sometimes, pride doesn’t look arrogant, it just refuses to allow anything to go unnoticed.  I quite enjoy pretending to be the dumbest guy in the room and listen to people talk on and on and on.  Proverbs 27:2 tells us: “   James 4:16 says: “

                                                Lastly, we have an “unrestrained mouth.”  There are people who have zero filter, essentially no rudder on the ship and no steering wheel in the truck.  Every private thought is shared, especially on social media, and every argument seems to need their contribution.  Sometimes there is absolute wisdom in silence.  Proverbs 10:19 tells us: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent,” and 17:27-28 says: “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.  Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

                                                I use my words and speak up all of the time because God has commanded me to do so.  I am responsible for complicity in not speaking out to crimes against God.  I am very precise in my words and parse them accurately.  Words define the direction of our nation, our governments, our education system, and down to our families.  “Retarded” means “slow,” but because of our education system, we are not taught words, definitions, and sway to the trends of some teenager on social media with a nose ring. 

                                                We have lost our attention to detail and post random junk rather than thoughtful commentary—I have to guard myself from that in ensuring I am using my “big boy words” versus emotional rants.  At the end of the day, Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  I use my accurate language, based on intellect and high level education, as best as I can, understanding the etymology of words, the colloquialisms and history of literature, and all done with a complete exegesis.  Sadly, we have dumbed down our nation with a crumbling public school curriculum that values everything else over standards of basic education reducing our future.  Stupid people have even more stupid children and the cycle will continue.