Assumicide — Duane Troyer

Grace be with you, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been really blessed with what's been shared, and to be here again. Kind of all week long I've been, I had intentions and was planning to ask somebody or appoint somebody to have a main message today.

And for various reasons I didn't get around to it. And by the time last night came around I felt kind of bad to put somebody on the spot, short notice. And so I did prepare some thoughts I'd like to share.

It's probably just a real short message. Of course sometimes I think so, and it's not so short. Short, but I think important, and I really kind of marvel at how much I think it fits into what was shared already.

I don't know, I guess when those things happen I tend to think the Lord's trying to get our attention about something. Let's pray. Oh God, thank you for this day. Thank you for your love, your mercies, your goodness.

And thank you for the amazing salvation that you've granted to us, and the ability that we can be your sons and daughters. Thank you Lord. Help us to be faithful, to walk in your ways. We pray that you would always give us ears that can hear, hearts that can understand, the ability to discern, and to love righteousness, to hate iniquity, to cleave to that which is good, and to put away that which is evil.

Refusing Hasty Conclusions

And so we pray that you would help us today, and for the rest of our lives, that we might walk in these ways. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There's a proverb that Solomon wrote, I suppose Solomon wrote it anyway, Proverbs 18. 13, where he says, He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.

And I just, have we not all done that? Have we not all, are we not all likely to, are we not all guilty of drawing a wrong conclusion based on a tiny scrap of information that we have, a tiny scrap of evidence, and we add our own thoughts into this thing, and our own speculations and assumptions, and we build up this great thing based off of this tiny little scrap of evidence.

And we've never bothered to hear out the matter, we've never bothered to spend much time communicating, to finding out if indeed it is so, or done what Brother Lloyd did here, and been willing to come around to the other brother and try to see something from his vantage point, or his perspective.

You know, why, we see this little thing happen and we wonder like, why did that person look at me? Or why didn't he look at me? Why did he laugh? Why didn't he laugh? Why didn't he respond? And off of those little things, imagination takes over and we, the next thing we know we've built a case on a piece of scrap.

We humans, amongst us, we have this, we have a really powerful nation among us. This nation has exceedingly great power to do both good or evil. It has enormous power to build up, to innovate, to explore, and to create, and it has equally the same amount of power to tear down, to demolish, to destroy, and to devastate.

That nation is called imagination. It starts with a tiny scrap of evidence and our curiosity is aroused and our imagination starts spinning and we add some of our own speculations and we rush into judgment only to make a fool of ourselves.

Oh brethren, we must be more careful. The prophet Zechariah says, let none of you imagine evil in his heart against his neighbor for this thing I hate. You know, there's these, like God hates all sin, but sometimes there's just these specific things in scripture that it's written like these particular things, like these six things does the Lord hate and the seventh is an abomination.

Or then he goes, like in Malachi, he says God hates divorce or the putting away. Like I think maybe there's a specific reason why certain things just are, it's written there like, and this would be one of them.

Somebody that imagines evil in his heart against his neighbor for this thing the Lord says I hate. It happens between husband and wife. It happens between parents and children. It happens between neighbors.

It happens between fellow workers. It happens in the world and yes, it happens in the church. Relationships. That thing, that thing all of us have such a deep desire for, for a deep relationship with people.

That thing can so easily get destroyed by this. You know, a relationship, maybe it's first slightly hurt by a misunderstanding and then it intensifies from imagined speculations and then it keeps bleeding from a lack of communication and suffers infection from the gall of bitterness and it finally rots and decays to its death.

All starting with a little scrap. All starting with a little something. Remember that story that Brother Leroy wrote, read a couple years ago, Leo Tolstoy's story about a spark neglected will burn the house.

These, these little things when we start adding our own, you know, why does he do this? Why does he do this? Why does he do this? And all of a sudden we've got a house on fire that just started with a neglected little thought, a neglected spark.

We must cast down these evil imaginations and take our thoughts captain and with genuine love communicate. Communication can often take that scrap of evidence that had the potential to grow into this huge mountain and cast it out for what it is.

Scrap. Communication will not always bring unity. For one thing, Christ does not always intend there to be unity. Christ came to bring unity but he came to bring division. He came to bring peace and he came to bring a sword.

Christ does not want us to be at unity with everything. But honest communication can establish unity where God wants unity and it can establish division where God wants division. Whereas imaginations and assumptions are likely to establish unity where God wants division and division where God wants unity.

The Altar of Witness in Joshua 22

There's a story in the Old Testament that really just shows exactly what it is that I'm trying to say and it's in Joshua chapter 22. I think I'll read the whole chapter. Again, probably most of you are familiar enough with the children of Israel story.

You kind of know what's going on here. There was this time when the children of Israel were on their way through the wilderness to the way of Canaan. They were just on the first side of Jordan yet. What they were supposed to do is go over Jordan and conquer the land of Canaan.

But on that side of Jordan, the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh took a liking to that land. It was good for cattle. It was very suitable to them. They said, we would be happy to have our inheritance on this side of Jordan.

It was already kind of like, why are you wanting that? It's not quite what God had meant. But they communicated and they said, okay, here's the deal. If you are willing to go with us over Canaan, if you're willing to help us drive out the Canaanites, get everybody else established there, then okay.

You can peacefully come back and this can be your inheritance. And that's what they did. They said, we're willing to do that. We won't establish our homes here until we've helped you drive out Canaan and it's conquered.

Now here in chapter 22, by this time they've driven out most of the Canaanites and the certain territories were already given to different tribes. And this is what Joshua says. Then Joshua called together the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh and said to them, you have heard everything the servant of the Lord Moses commanded you and have obeyed my voice and everything I commanded you.

You have not left your brethren these many days for until this day you have kept the commandments of the Lord your God. Now then the Lord our God gave our brethren rest and he said to them, now therefore return and depart to your homes and to the land of your inheritance which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan.

But be very careful to do the commandments of the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to adhere to him and to serve him with all your mind and with all your soul.

So Joshua blessed them and sent them forth and they went to their homes. Now to the half tribe of Manasseh Moses gave a possession in Bashan and the other half Joshua gave a possession among his brethren on the other side of the Jordan toward the sea.

Indeed when Joshua sent them forth to their homes he blessed them and they departed with much wealth to their homes and with a great quantity of cattle, silver, gold and iron and with great quantity of clothing and they divided the spoils of the enemy with their brethren.

So the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh went forth from the children of Israel to Shiloh in the land of Canaan to go to the land of Gilead to the land of their possession which they obtained through the ordinance of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

Then they came to Gilgal at the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan and the children of Gad and the children of Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar great to see.

Now the children of Israel heard them saying, Behold the children of Gad and the children of Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the borders of the land of Canaan at Gilead by the Jordan on the opposite side of the children of Israel.

So all the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go up to war against them. Here's this little bit, something that they saw the children of Israel from their side of the Jordan looked over and they saw Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh build an altar and immediately they started speculating what this meant.

They're already rebelling, this can't be. They started getting a whole army together to go fight them. Fortunately, there was at least enough wisdom there to before they go and spill a bunch of people's blood, somebody went to communicate with them.

Verse 13, then the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the high priest, the children of Reuben, to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead.

And ten rulers with him, one ruler each from the paternal house of all the tribes of Israel and they were the rulers of the paternal houses, the heads of a thousand of Israel. They came to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and spoke to them saying, Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, what trespass have you committed against God of Israel, turning away this day from the Lord, building an altar for yourselves and becoming rebels against the Lord?

Is Peor's sin too little for you? For we have not been cleansed from it to this day and there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord. Will you turn away from the Lord today? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow there shall be wrath upon all Israel.

Now if the land of your possession is too small for you, cross over to the land of the Lord's possession where the tabernacle of the Lord dwells and take possessions among us. But do not become rebels against God and do not rebel against the Lord by building yourselves an altar.

Besides the altar of the Lord our God, behold, did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in regard to the accursed thing and bring wrath upon the congregation of Israel? But he was only one man and he alone died in his sin.

Here they came, Phinehas and Eleazar and these other heads of the tribes, they came and they heaped this accusation against them. What mean you by this thing? You're going to bring a plague on all of us.

When he says here, is the sin of Peor not bad enough? We read back in Numbers how I think the children of Israel I think maybe took some wives from Moab and they enticed them to worship idols and this thing broke out as a plague.

Everybody in Egypt was suffering from it. And to put an end to that, one of these Phinehas or Eleazar or maybe both, one of them probably, took a spear and went after Zimri or one of them and went into the tent where he and this Moabite woman was and he speared them both and the plague was stopped.

I kind of think in that spirit is how they came here, right? That time there was something that had to be done and they had to spear this thing down for the plague to be stopped and this looked like a rebellion from these men and in that spirit they were going up there like, we are going to stop this thing again.

And so they came and they heaped these accusations on Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Continue reading in verse 21. Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the captains of the thousands of Israel saying, God, even God, is the Lord our God.

Even God the Lord himself knows and Israel himself shall know that if we transgressed against the Lord in rebellion, may he not deliver us in this. If we have built ourselves an altar so as to depart from the Lord our God and to offer upon it a sacrifice of whole burnt offerings or a sacrifice of peace offerings, then the Lord will require it.

But we have done this thing as a matter of reverence saying, lest hereafter your children may say to our children, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? The Lord made the Jordan a border between us and you and there is no portion of the Lord for you.

Thus your sons shall alienate our sons so they should not worship the Lord. So we told them to build this altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you and between our generations after us that we do service to the Lord before him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and with our peace offerings.

So your children shall not say to our children hereafter, there is no portion of the Lord for you. Therefore we said, if ever it shall come to pass that they should speak to us and our generations hereafter, they shall say, come and see the likeness of the Lord's altar which our father made, not for the sake of burnt offerings or for sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you and between our children.

May we not therefore turn away from the Lord in these days and revolt from the Lord to build ourselves an altar for burnt offerings and peace offerings and for sacrifices of peace besides the altar of the Lord which is before his tabernacle.

Now when Phinehas the priest and the rulers of the congregation of Israel who were with him heard the words spoken by the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, it pleased them.

Then Phinehas the priest said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, Today we know that the Lord is with us because you have not transgressed grievously against the Lord and because you have delivered the children of Israel out of the Lord's hand.

After this Phinehas the priest and the rulers returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan to the children of Israel and reported to them these words and it pleased the children of Israel and they spoke to the children of Israel and blessed the God of the children of Israel.

So they spoke no more about going up against them in battle in order to utterly destroy the land where the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh dwelt. Then Joshua named the altar of the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh and said it is a witness in their midst that the Lord is their God.

Just a little bit of communication cleared it all up. They had stood on one side of Jordan the Israelites had stood on one side of Jordan and it looked like plenty of evidence that this is a rebellion but they never heard their motives they never heard their intentions they never had spoken anything with them about what's going on but rather built up a great army to go put an end to this thing.

But with a little bit of communication they recognized this is in fact the very opposite of a rebellion. This is them recognizing that we are a part of Israel let us build an altar here as a witness that we have a part in the same God where the real altar sits by the tabernacle where we actually sacrifice.

And of course when the rest of Israel heard that it was pleasing to them. And so we just need to be careful. We just need to be real careful. And I kind of feel like I guess I kind of feel like this is something we all are so prone to do.

The Meaning of Assumicide

I just want I guess in short I feel like this subject or this message is hitting me as directly or more directly as anyone else. But I just know how easy it is for us to do these things. There's this kind of assuming I came across a new word recently.

There's a word for this. It's a sumicide. It's making false assumptions about others in order to portray them in the worst possible light. You know how there's these words there's these category of words suicide, homicide, genocide, pesticide, fungicide like all these words.

There's a whole list of them but one thing they all have in common they all end in side and that side comes from a Latin word that means kill. All of them have something to do with killing, destroying, exterminating.

Suicide is the killing of oneself. Homicide is the killing of another human. Genocide is the killing of a whole race or group or culture or something like that. Insecticide, the killing of insects. Fungicide, the killing of funguses so forth and so on.

A sumicide, it's how we end up murdering others in our heart. It's when assumptions lead us to consequences that lead to the destruction of others and eventually to ourselves. It's so much better to honestly try to see things from another's perspective.

It doesn't mean the other is right but it's like the old Indian saying that says never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins. We might just find that from their vantage point their explanation isn't as absurd as we thought.

Just the other day the email that Peter Hoover sent out on Sunlit Kingdom had a whole bunch of pictures of stars and galaxies and Milky Ways and there was this one picture of the constellation of Orion which is kind of one of my favorite constellations.

In the winter, you can barely see it here in the summer I think here on the northern hemisphere but in the winter it's kind of there in the southern sky. It's this huge constellation. It takes a bit of imagination to see it.

But Orion, it talks about it in the book of Job like he's this hunter. He's got this part of the stars and the stars are his belt and his sword and he holds a dead creature that he slew. But in this picture that Orion sent he's upside down.

And Peter Hoover says, what's wrong? He says, nothing wrong. That's how Orion looks from Australia. When you stand on the southern hemisphere he looks completely different than when you look on the northern hemisphere.

And sometimes it just depends. Just exactly what Lloyd pointed out here with that little paper. Sometimes rather than being so sure that the other is so wrong and so absurd we need to be willing to come around and try to see things from that vantage point.

Love as the Remedy for Misunderstanding

One thing that I have found out in life I feel like there's not that many things that I've figured out in life yet. But one thing that I think I have figured out is that misunderstandings happen. It is a consequence of human interactions.

Misunderstandings will happen. They are not the problem. They are not the problem. The problem is when there is a lack of love to work through them. That's why Peter said, above all things have fervent love for one another for love covers a multitude of sins.

Patience and Gentleness in Correcting Others

Let me just close with a passage in Timothy yet. 2nd Timothy, chapter 2. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will.

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged. May the Lord add his blessing.

Just open it up for anybody that wants to add some more or share corrections.

I kept thinking about your reference to that Tolstoy story. Tolstoy story. And how that when the man's neighbor who had become his enemy went to set his barn on fire. He was in this opportunity. He was there right when it started.

But rather than... And he lamented afterwards. He was like, oh I could have just... He caught the guy starting the fire and then ran after him to try to catch him. He wanted there to be accountability and judgment come upon this guy who had started the fire.

And then the fire got bigger and caused great destruction. He lamented afterwards like, oh if I had just... I could have so easily reached up with a tool or something and pulled down that hay that had gotten started on fire and stopped the whole thing.

But rather he was in pursuit of getting this other guy in trouble or caught or whatever he wanted to do. I guess I thought like there can... It's one thing that you know this is suicide can can be likened to starting fires but then the thing about a fire is you don't you don't have to go around starting them but if we're not actively I think exercising the love that that helps put them out just neglect of this fire.

If we recognize that... Once you recognize a fire has been started I think in love we need to be putting forth effort to put it out. If we neglected it, fires grow. Especially especially if we're in pursuit of you know the wrong thing justice or getting somebody condemned or something like that.

Rather recognize the destruction that can come and just and focus on that. Trying to put fires out.

Amen brother Dwayne and thanks buddy for those. I'm opening up for anyone. I should write down some suicides that you know James says be how does he say it? Swift to hear slow to speak slow to anger and I'll just give four examples maybe someone can give 44 but the Old and New Testament.

Philip come to Nathaniel. Hey I found a Messiah. What did he say? Anything good come out of you know Nazareth? Naaman when he was seeking to be cured from his leprosy and he comes to Elisha and first the imagination he he told him to you know jump in the river seven times and he he got in his chariot and was enraged.

You know first first thoughts right? Hannah when she went before Eli Eli sees her moving her lips. What did he say? I need another drunken lady. What is this you know this this lady how can she desecrate the the temple and Joab when Abner went to David to make friends to bring unity and Joab heard about it.

What did Joab think? He's a spy. He's going to kill you don't you you're you're nuts. You're going to get killed. The first impressions that that we make and I've made more than.

Perhaps most people not just because my age because I just I a lot of times I prejudge things like that but but Amen. The Lord be magnified. Yeah I appreciate both messages and it's something that I've actually been thinking about myself the last few days and just just thinking about how we can encourage one another to be one and then and how it reaches how it reaches with ourselves and with our families and wives and brothers and sisters in the faith.

And it it's so far reaching. And I really appreciate all the encouragement. It's almost like better than what I what I could I could have done in in sharing and but yeah I would just like to this is a real this is a like Dwayne said misunderstandings happen accidents happen.

But how to deal with them is is what if we learn to deal with them or forgive or have love or in whatever way if it's like an accident we have to we have to humble ourselves to to whatever level that God has taken us.

And if it's misunderstandings okay so misunderstandings happen. But then sometimes when there's not love they happen even when they shouldn't happen. It would seem like this realized would have saved themselves a lot of energy and time and and fury and in their zeal maybe not to let happen again what had happened.

And if they send somebody to find out why. Anyways it's just an example like was shared. And then I just this morning it was a verse I don't know if I ever I don't remember reading this verse in Proverbs 18 1 just for I think Lloyd mentioned about it's not good to be alone to be scattered around to be alone.

And this says the one who lives alone is self-indulgent showing contempt for all who have sound judgment. And it's it's it's amazingly true it seems to happen over and over that when somebody lives alone for a number of years fighting through battles standing their ground being strong and then when when when they meet with others it's just really difficult to have unity.

And I was just thinking about the song when we sang the song about unity there's a there's a price behind unity and it is one's self has to give up. And then I was trying to think if there's is there a unity that we can walk together with.

And I think there is like we can be unified in walking the ways of Christ and walk shoulder to shoulder with one goal one mind. So what's so hard about this unity. Why is it so hard. Why is it so difficult to give up to a different idea or different maybe in a war I'm pretty sure the people out in the front sometimes see some bad mistakes their superiors made and but there's really no choice but to follow directions and they have to maybe wade through a deep mud that could have easily been avoided.

But and they could by rebelling or by not being able to work together they could could destroy the army. I think it's so true in in the spiritual life as well. Just praise God for what we share today praise the Lord.

Evil Surmisings and the Cost of Division

There is a a word in the scriptures for this suicide thing. It's called evil surmisings. It's in the King James when you're using your mind to cause this kind of of death it looks like the two messages kind of tie in together.

It's it's very very nice when it works that way. I was thinking about this thing that I learned about the French fishermen that found out that if they when they came back from from fishing they if every man would pull their own boat into to the shore it would be a lot more work.

But if they tied every single boat together and everybody pulled the same rope it would be a lot less effort. Sometimes we we want to do this. I'll do it myself. You do it yourself. And I wonder if it was that kind of surmising or a suicide that caused Paul and Barnabas to divide over over Mark not not being allowed or being allowed to be with them.

Some people think it was a good thing that happened because they both went opposite directions and they both kept on preaching and so they were able to cover more territories. Or maybe they should have stuck together in one and talk better and see the opposing view of the other and walk in his shoes a little bit and try to understand so what I I try to think I've learned a lot about cults and sects and different denominations and I try to to put myself into their into their shoes and understand why would they come to this conclusion.

Why did they understand it differently than I did. So that way I can be more merciful and gracious to them. And when we don't do that we let like the little spark that was unattended and caused that big fire it's the little fox that that causes harm to to the vineyard and sometimes we just the hunters like to shoot the biggest ones I'm gonna tackle this big one that little one not a big deal then the whole vineyard of the Lord is destroyed.

It's it's sad if we're not able to to focus on those things too and and not let our zeal be without you know without knowledge and and end up being a homicide in our hearts because we know that no homicide homicide person will will have any part in the kingdom of God and that's a very dangerous little fox that that if it's left unattended will cause great damage.

So I appreciate that that story about the little spark. Because I guess I have a lot of little sparks in my life that need to be quenched before they turn into a great fire like James said especially with the tongue it can cause a great fire and destroy a great forest.

May the Lord have mercy and help us to do what is right.