Shalom!

Matthew 15:11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." 12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 So Yeshua said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

...the metzora is a person who has deliberately and persistently wandered so far off of the Holy One's assigned pathway of life, and is therefore so absorbed with death and things associated with death (i.e. the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) that he or she is simply too toxic for association. ...a metzora is someone who has refused to humble himself or herself and become a source of blessing to the world, and is therefore temporarily under the Holy One's tempered Hand of discipline. In order to help the person understand toxicity and negativity he has been dishing out, the Holy One allows him to experience that toxicity and negativity as operates in his flesh.

 

But...it is only words, some say. No Beloved. Words can encourage - or they can condemn. Words can inspire - or they can arouse doubt, fear and despair. Words can motivate - or they can paralyze. Words can edify - or they can destroy. Words can guide one to safety - or they can push one off a cliff. Words can heal - or they can pierce the heart like a javelin.

 

Look at the Holy One - He used words to create the Universe. But look at the serpent - he used words to corrupt the heart of man and bring death to the world.

 

Never underestimate the power of your words - for the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven, or for the expansion of the domain of darkness.

 

The Holy One is good, and He is kind. His primary attributes, as He Himself described them, are mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, and forgiving of iniquity, transgression, and sin. Genesis 34:6-7.

 

His Thoughts and His Words are always consistent with these attributes. He is always looking for and calling forth with Empowering Words the essential good He has created - and ever sees - in everything. ...He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that He can work all things together for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His Purpose (i.e. the purpose of redemption).

 

All the Holy One's thoughts - and hence all His Words - are therefore redemptive in nature. Even when He must, for the sake of love, use His Words for discipline or chastisement He always does so as a precursor to even greater levels of blessing.

 

...negative words come from unenlightened, unsurrendered minds. Negative words come from hearts that have refused to receive and be changed by the Holy One's mercy, His graciousness, His longsuffering, His goodness, His truth, and His forgiveness of sin, iniquity and rebellion. Negative words thus testify that their speaker has rejected the Holy One's thoughts and ways and chosen instead the way of the serpent - the way of cynicism, disputation, accusation, criticism and self-righteousness judgment.

 

Negative thoughts and words testify that someone has been keeping company with the ultimate tamei (unclean) creature - the serpent - and has embraced his tumah (uncleanness).

 

Unfortunately, whenever a person starts down this path, if they do not heed the Holy One's gentle admonishment that 'sin lies at your door, and its desire is for you, but you can rule over it!' (Genesis 4:7), but consistently allow negative thought and attitudes to attach themselves to his soul, a destructive process is set in motion. Like weeds in a garden, the negative thoughts and attitudes one does not reject, begins to reproduce. They sprout, take root and start to take over. In short order the infestation manifests in negative speech. Then come the cynical rollings of the eyes, the impatient chuckles of derision, and the disapproving frowns which accompany and reinforce negative speech. In this manner, men and women who are called to be a light to the world, a blessing to all families of the earth, and ambassadors of the Most Merciful, Gracious, Longsuffering, Kind, and Forgiving King in the Universe become...well, they become something else - something malignant - something ugly and destructive and sickening.

 

Oh Beloved - every time we allow that to happen we thereby dishonor not only our neighbor (which is murder), and ourselves (which is false witness), but the Holy One (which is blasphemy).

 

When we speak or express attitudes non-verbally in a manner which is negative concerning a fellow human being, we take the road of the Serpent. What we are really spewing is the putrid flesh of the fruit with which that tamei creature and his minions are obsessed - i.e. the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the Garden of Eden, as you will recall, the Serpent spoke evil of the Holy One....the poison seed the serpent spouted was received by Chava (Eve), and she made her mind a womb where that poison seed could grow and receive sustenance, and from which it could bring forth its evil fruit. The words - and negative vibrations - festered in Chava's mind, driving a wedge of separation between herself and the Holy One, first of all, and, eventually, between herself and Adam. (end of quotes from Bullock. For this entire teaching go here - Metzora - Bullock)

 

Shabbat Shalom!