Character Assassination


thomas bannach and gregory v johnson bragged that it dosn't matter what U say about anyone.. so long as U get away with it..








dean tripp said that thomas bannach "really did not" have the character to be a manager.. and that he was dishonest and deceite full with he worked for him.




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II. The Penalty For Character Assassination. One of the ways we understand the severity of an offence is by the penalty imposed for the transgression. By including character assassination in the ten commandments, God put it on a par with murder, adultery and stealing. God gave a specific and a general penalty for character assassination.

1. The specific penalty is to be equal to the charge a malicious witness makes in a court of law.


"If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.


The judges must make a thorough investigation,

and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother.





You must purge the evil from among you." (Deuteronomy 19:16­19 NIV)

If the penalty for charge you brought against me was a three year jail sentence, if I was found to be innocent, then you would spend the three years in jail. If we did that today, it would put an end to frivolous lawsuits.

2. The general penalty is loss of fellowship with God. The writer of Psalm 15 asks God the following question. "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? (Psalm 15:1) Dwelling is God's presence, enjoying the blessing of God was important to King David.

God identifies for King David those who will enjoy the God's blessing. "He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman." (Ps 15:1­3 NIV) If you insist on slandering the character of other people you'll lose the goodness and love that comes from dwelling in God's presence.








Character Assassination-Bloodless Murder




This will give you a clear understanding of the evil of character assassination and why God imposes still penalties on those who engage in this cowardly act.

This is the last day that our airways will be filled with election lies, half-truths, scare tactics-character assassination.


I have a special dislike for one ad that says, "A vote for Mr. Politician will be a vote to dismantle health care, education and all things Canadian." You can hear desperation in some of the adds.


Many of these ads are a direct violation of the ninth commandment which says,


"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." (Exodus. 20:16)

When was the last time that you were slandered?


Can you remember when someone spread a vicious lie about you?


Do you remember how powerless you felt?


Can you recall the anger that welled up with-in you, that urge to get even.

Do you remember how you wanted to buy a full page ad in the local paper that would proclaim you innocence.

Do you remember how some friends believed the lie and turned their backs on you.

Perhaps you can recollect how the lie was wrapped in a half-truth.

Your enemy took part of a sentence that you spoke and put a twist on it that you never intended it to have. That twist cast you in a negative light.

Welcome to the world of bloodless murder.

This morning my message will give you a clear understanding of what constitutes character assassination.

Second, we'll look at the penalties God imposes for character assassination.
Third, a positive word about how we break the destructive habit of character assassination.

I. Character Assassination Is The Cold Blooded Destruction Of Our Most Valuable Personal Asset You character is one of your most prized possession.

Character is what defines you as a person. There was a day when a dollar bill was worth a certain amount of gold. For every dollar that was printed, there was gold to give value to the printed money.

Character is the gold that backs up the paper money which is personality, which is your public image.

I can develop a positive mental attitude and read books on human and public relations which will lubricate the processes of human interaction. But that doesn't mean that I have character.

Character grows like rings on a tree, slowly and deliberately.

Character is what I am when no one is looking. It is what I think about in the still darkness of the night. Character is the most important ingredient I can bring to any relationship. Character is the gold of my life. When you mis-represent and slander me, you are stealing my gold.

Sometimes in the public eye that gold is never replaced.

I know a married Christian man whom I'll call Mike. About eight years ago Mike seduced a Christian woman. I also heard that Mike's wife accused him of sexually molesting his children.

Every time I see Mike in the store, I think about his adultery and about the molesting accusation against him. When I see him I say to myself, "There goes the man whose wife reportedly accused him of molesting his little children."

There are some things we never forget. Only Heaven will erase them from our minds. Character assassination does lasting, long-term damage.

I am told that Mike confessed his adultery and is a healed person.

The other accusation is still out there floating around.

Let's assume that it's not true. Every time I see that man I think of that accusation and I look at him and say to myself, "Could Mike have done what was alleged against him?" Because of that accusation I would never leave young children alone with Mike.

An accusation has robbed Mike of gold in his character account.

Many of you have shared with me details of your past. You are likely asking yourself, "Does Eugene always think of me in light of what I confessed to him?"

When you confess something, you freely acknowledge what you were. Paul said to the Ephesian believers, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8 NIV)

Paul is saying, "Our relationship is based on the new reality of what we are today in Jesus Christ. The old reality has passed away, the new reality is what counts. I take delight in your new reality and praise God for the new character He is building in your lives.

Character assassination is the act of painting a false picture of a person and presenting it as that person's reality.

God declares that to be an abominable act of cowardice. It was an abuse of free speech that angered God.

One practice God hated was when rich people would falsely accuse poor people and gain an unjust conviction against them. One day Sonia discovered $20.00 missing from her purse. Through a process of elimination, we narrowed the list of suspects to a young boy whom I'll call Jerry.

The more we thought about the reasons why Jerry was guilty, the more we convinced ourselves that Jerry was the culprit. One day Sonia said to me, "When Jerry looked at me today he sure looked guilty." I responded, "Yea, I noticed Jerry slinking around me. Guilt was oozing from him.

Guess what! We found the $20.00. Jerry was innocent, yet we were positive of his guilt. In Jesus' day Jerry may have been a poor man and we may have been rich people. Suppose someone had robbed and killed our friend and in our minds it seemed like Jerry was the killer.

With our influence we could get him convicted and in our minds we could justify skipping the due process of law.


God says, "You shall not lie about another person, do not bring false accusations against him, do not deny him justice."


"Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty." (Exodus 23:6­7 NIV)

Charging a person on speculation is character assassination.

We are also guilty of character assassination when we plant seeds of doubt about a person's integrity.

We do this by asking questions with a malicious inflection.

"Are you sure that's what he meant?"

"Where do you think he was between 7:00 and 11:00?"

"I'm not saying he did it, but if I know him he sure is capable of doing it."


"If you were the Mayor and your friend bid on the project, why of course you would give your friend the inside track."

"If he wasn't power hungry, why would he run for the office?" "If you knew what I knew" Or, "Not her, she's the last person that I would trust."

We assassinate character by putting our own interpretation on the words the another person speaks.

Sometimes speakers choose poor illustrations and in-accurate word pictures.


A critic could take those sloppy expressions and broadcast across North America a charge of heresy against the speaker. One phone call to the speaker would clarify what he meant. Words and phrases mean different things to different people.

It's sad that church people are just as guilty of character assassination as unchurched people.


Paul said to the Corinthians,

"I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder."


(2 Corinthians 12:20)