The Whisper Virus

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that is excited to pull out its Pumpkin Spice Study Bible. It’s that time of the year again.

“A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.”

~ Proverbs 16:18

I just returned from speaking in Michigan. The conference messages are being cleaned up, and they’ll post on the CHRIST IS ALL podcast soon. Subscribe if you haven’t already. It’s on all podcast platforms. Many attendees were blessed by the talks – praise God – and I trust you will find them equally meaningful.

Last month, I was talking to a co-laborer in the Lord’s work – a person I’ve co-authored with – and they told me about an individual from their past who worked overtime to try and destroy their reputation.

The obsessed individual maligned my friend through gossip, slander, and false rumor – what the Bible calls “whispers.”

That conversation provoked this article. I call it the “whisper virus.”

It spreads so easily, this whisper virus. Christians catch it from others, then pass it on without blinking.

Share the private struggles of others (alleged or real), magnify their flaws, turn molehills into mountains behind someone’s back, or worse, spread false information and bogus accusations against people you don’t personally know.

All because it feels good for a moment.

The smug buzz of self-righteousness, the quick hit of being an insider with the skinny. It signals that a person belongs to the tribe of “let’s pile on with judgment and condemnation” cloaked in the quaint garb of “venting” or “processing” or self-appointed “warning.”

But here’s the thing – when the well is poisoned with lies, the poison spreads. It infects communities, families, God’s servants, and children. And it injures God’s kingdom.

Negativity multiplication compounds with every backstab. Before long, the well is toxic, undrinkable for anyone. But at some point, the boomerang effect kicks in and those who succumb to the whisper virus end up reaping what they’ve sown.

We’re then shocked when the very behaviors we indulge – namely gossip and slander — come back to haunt us. We thought we were the exception. But then someone does the same thing to us.

Those who whisper about others virtually always don’t know the people they are gossiping about, so why do so many people who profess to follow Jesus unthinkingly accept such pronouncements as gospel truth?

If someone you like or respect is being talked about negatively, and you’re concerned, the solution is simple.

Approach the person being whispered about directly and ask questions instead of rehearsing accusations.

You would want the same treatment if the table was turned (see Matthew 7:12).

No murmuring, no whispers, no social media drivebys. Go to them directly and inquire, thinking the best.

Someone once said that gossip is when you share or discuss something negative about another person to an individual (or group) who cannot fix the problem.

Every time we choose gossip, we vote against the very change we say we want. We also choose against love.

Jesus made this plain when He said treat others the same way you want to be treated for this fulfills all 613 laws in the Hebrew Scriptures.

We also choose against God because He condemns the whisper virus in both Testaments.

The United Testimony of Scripture

Proverbs 16:28 – “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”

Proverbs 10:12 – “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”

Romans 1:29-30 – “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers…”

2 Corinthians 12:20 – “For I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.”

Psalm 41:7 – “All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.”

1 Corinthians 13:7 – “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Romans 14:4 – “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.”

1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Matthew 7:1-2 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Even though the whisper virus has been denounced countless times by Scripture and godly people, many Christians continue to digitally amplify this horrific virus, encouraging others to be its next host.

Here’s a memo that many never seemed to have gotten:

Just because someone alleges an accusation on social media and says it with confidence doesn’t mean it’s true.

Too many Christians today operate with suspicion as their default setting, prepared to assume the worst about others – which is a violation of love (“love thinks no evil” – 1 Corinthians 13:5).

C.S. Lewis on Suspicion

Lewis famously said, “Suspicion often creates what it suspects.”

The gullible will respond to a slanderous accusation about another person with, “Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s horrible.”

The wise, godly, self-aware, and Spirit-led will immediately doubt the accusation and go directly to the person being accused to inquire with a non-judgmental spirit, following Matthew 7:12.

Regarding gullibility, this past August, a baseless rumor that Donald Trump had died went viral, sparking massive social media activity. The rumor provoked approximately 158,000 posts on X, including the phrase “TRUMP IS DEAD” and 42,000 posts stating “TRUMP DIED” by the morning of August 30, 2025.

A large number of people participated in sharing and spreading the false rumor, which rapidly trended and caused widespread confusion before being debunked by officials and Trump’s subsequent public appearance.

The point here is that people – including Christians – are highly credulous and will believe any rumor they read online without questioning it. And worse, without going directly to the individual being rumored about.

Nor will they ever think to the investigate the individual who started the rumor, which often reveals volumes (“consider the source”). We have not so learned Christ to act this way (Matthew 7:12).

The opportunity is clear: Will you hit the mute button and reset your mind by thinking the best of others as love demands? Or will you ingest the disease and share the poison while you sleepwalk off a cliff?

Related:

Have You Heard? (The Most Ignored Sin)

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