Yesterday I read online about a British missionary couple who pled guilty to sedition charges in Gambia, a predominantly Muslim nation in West Africa. They were sentenced to one year of hard labor and also fined US$8,600.
The missionaries had sent out an e-mail to supporters that contained some language which they may have considered comical, but which was considered incendiary by the Gambian government. The language appeared to suggest engaging in hostilities against Muslims. Someone read the inflammatory e-mail and forwarded it to Gambian authorities, who then decided to prosecute the missionary couple.
Watch your words, be they spoken, written, or e-mailed. Words that might be considered humorous or comical in one culture may have incendiary repercussions in another culture. An e-mail that may contain a message or humor only intended for your supporters may wind up in someone else's hands, and with troublesome consequences.
Proverbs 25:11 (NIV) says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." A word unaptly spoken - or e-mailed - may cost you your freedom. Take care with your words. And your e-mails.
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