Spiritual Deafness

       I hear only about half of what is said because of tinnitus - a ringing in the ears commencing when I was a child. I get only half the message when anyone speaks unless I watch their facial expressions and mouth movements. Many times I have responded foolishly because although the word was spoken, I did not hear. Of course, I heard some of it, but not enough for intelligent recourse. Sometimes I respond with foolishness because I heard something differently than what was spoken.
     Christians often half spiritual tinnitus. The Word is spoken but they either don't get the message, or get a garbled one. The source of my tinnitus was probably injury from a firecracker when I was about five-years old. Spiritual tinnitus is from injury as well; it is called original sin. That genetic malady was self-inflicted by our ancestors, and passes down from generation to generation. I can blame my difficulty in hearing on tinnitus, but even without that, my entire family hearing problem is genetic. Likely, your spiritual "hearing" problem is genetic as well.

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. (Ezek 12:2)

     In that passage, "son of man" is not Jesus; he is everyone, or sons of Adam. The "rebellious house" is the world. There is something in the atmosphere of the world which causes blindness and loss of hearing. By grace, God created Adams with eyes and ears for the purposes of seeing and hearing. The eyes are for seeing God, and the ears for hearing Him. That we can see the world and hear those within it, is incidental. Our entire purpose as a created being is to love and serve God; some forgetting that, and only fearing Him.
     Mankind all have spiritual tinnitus. Tinnitus is hearing sounds when no sound is present. It is always present, but most noticeable when everything is silent. I often busy myself so as not to hear the ringing in my ears. If not, then I would be nearly insane. Sometimes, I think that I prefer death to the incessant ringing. The same applies to my spiritual tinnitus; I don't like it either but must put up with it until I die!
      Iniquity is spiritual tinnitus. Iniquity is the nature of mankind to prefer sin to righteousness. Everyone has at birth a predisposition to hear only the spiritual noise, and not spiritual harmony with God. We all are sort of spiritually tone death to truth, and even when we know the truth, we can "hear" only iniquity; it drowns out everything.
     The first case of spiritual tinnitus was with Eve. It is presumed that Adam told her what God commanded, Don't eat of the Philosophy Tree (my words for the Tree of Knowledge). Because of spiritual tinnitus, Eve added, nor touch it (Gen 3:3). The Serpent had put that noise into her mind to deceive her!
     Think on that: It makes sense that eating of the tree might harm her, but just touching it; surely that would not harm. She valued the noise the Serpent had made with his rattles than what the Word had plainly said. This was the first instance of the "telephone game." Most have played that; to wit, the first person says something, and as it is repeated, the content changes, until the last person who repeats it, says something entirely different. Ironically, "voice" in the Greek is phone. God said the Word to Adam (Gen 2:16-18) before Eve was even created! Then with dominance, Eve repeated it to the Serpent, and after three transmissions, the message mutated. If evolution exists, but it does not, it would be toward disorder, not order!
     The point to this is that most hear and perceive the message wrongly. Often, I hear the message better because I'm forced to hear it by intense concentration. I hear things despite my hearing loss, and understand because of discernment. My tinnitus is a physical handicap overcome by discernment and effort.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14).

     The "natural man" is the "son of man" referred to in Ezekiel 12:2 above.  Paul explains why men are deaf to spiritual things: They are foolishness to natural ears because of spiritual tinnitus - iniquity. That silent "noise" the Serpent still spews is, you are gods, do as you please, and think as you will, a paraphrase of Genesis 3:5. That noise is generated so as not to hear the spiritual Voice saying, why did you not do My Will? (Gen 3:10-11).
     People even Christians, do not see or hear because they just don't want to! Doing our will has a higher amplitude than listening to God's will. Satan supplies the distortion to the Word, and one must listen intensely to make out the Voice.
     I am disheartened even with Christians. I sense it in many preachers as well. Preachers, as do I, study for hours each day to present the Word to whoever will listen (or read). The Word, we should know from John chapter one, is the "Voice" of God called Jesus. Scripture is Jesus still speaking to mankind. Why would God's Word be written down? So that mankind could "hear" Him forever. The "Man" Jesus is the Voice of God who could be seen and heard and now discerned by those with his Holy Ghost. That's one of the two reasons God came down into the world. (Christians should know the second reason!)
     Each day, Christians write and say stupid things:

• I need to learn to love myself.
• I just do the physical part of Yoga; I don't take it seriously.
• I believe in evolution because creation is a myth.
• Jesus was just a man with a good message.
• There is no Hell; just a Heaven.
• I've been good.
• This is too hard for God; I went for psychological counseling. (Yes, I actually heard that said!)
• I have low self-esteem (said by narcissistic people).
• God would not send anyone to Hell. (That is partially true because Satan does the sending, and sinners go willingly. That's what the Serpent implied to Eve.)
• Christians don't need to attend church.
• There is nothing wrong with using alcohol, marijuana, or whatever.
• I'm getting closer to God; I got a tattoo with the word "Jesus." (I really heard that one!)
• I'll enjoy the world until I'm old, then I'll ask God to forgive me (I actually thought that when I was young.)
• God will forgive me when I'm ready. 
• I will forgive but never forget.
• I don't hate anyone (knowing inside that we all have a hatred problem.)

     You, hopefully, get the point. Your system has been cheaply remanufactured. It is of low fidelity, and noise distortion is great. Your system has spiritual tinnitus, and Satan took a nearly perfect system with the potential for high fidelity and put distortion in the system.

     It is important to hear the truth. Why so? It will "make you free" (John 8:32). First off, as sin leads to more sin, truth leads to more truth. I have experienced both! Although, I still have tinnitus, the Lord's message comes through clearly. He gave me the gift of hearing and discernment. I hear the Word well despite the interference of worldly sounds. 

    For instance, when I was doing graduate studies in psychology, I read my Bible through, and tested psychological theories to Divine Truth, and heard what God said, despite the interference from the philosophy of the world. Thanks to the Word which I heard and understood clearly, I lost my infidelity. (Yes, at one time I trusted the words of men above the Word of God, but the Lord fixed my system!)

     Eve didn't have a reason for eating the forbidden fruit. She had one excuse; I listened to the Serpent (Gen 3:13). She implied that the Serpent had distorted the Voice which is the sound of the Word. Then God asked Adam for his reason. He too used an excuse: The woman gave it to me, but God quickly corrected him truth: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife..." (Gen 3:17). God rejected Adam's excuse and pointed out the true reason! One of my favorite sayings is my own: A multitude of excuses do not make one good reason. God thought that way too!

    God attenuated Eve then Adam. He insisted that they know the truth, and did an adjustment in their attitude. He cast them out into the world where tinnitus was greater to continually test their fidelity. The entire Book of Job is God allowing Satan's interference and truth maintaining Job's fidelity. He does that to all Christians. Indeed, life is a period of general tribulation. That tribulation is the spiritual tinnitus Satan always transmits as "prince of the power of the air" (Ephes 2:2). His power is resistance to God's will. He interrupts the truth to which our eyes and ears should respond, and like nearly deaf person me, we often hear what we want to hear, and oftentimes fail to hear God at all!

     There is nothing wrong with the Sender nor the Medium of transmission - Jesus's Holy Ghost. The problem is with the receiver - our flesh - which the Serpent still uses for his distortion. All he need do is offer a little pleasure, and our spiritual system loses fidelity. 

     Thinking that you don't  love yourself is distortion from the Philosophy Tree. What does the Tree of Life say: " For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it" (Ephes 5:29). Read that aloud. Now do you hear it? I wrote that to another Christian, and surely her mind "heard" the message, but she said, "I interpret it differently than you." 

     Satan distorted the message between her reading the truth, and not perceiving it. What distortion was that? She wanted to believe what she already thought. God's word interfered with her own distorted view. Like Eve, she allowed the Serpent to distort her "hearing" and she continued to believe the lie. Someday that excuse will not be accepted by God, and he will mercifully show her the real reason. She has spiritual tinnitus; she can't hear God's Voice for Satan's distortions.

     Hearing the Word is important. Why so? When everyone hears the Word of the Lord preached, the end of the world is near:

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:14)

    Some will stand before God and he will ask, Why did you sin?  A few will answer, I was deaf to your Word; I heard it but did not listen!  By grace, God just might cover that reason. On the other hand, most will say, The noise from the Serpent overwhelmed me, and I just did as I pleased. To them the Lord will say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat 7:23).
    In summary, the Word is important. On the other hand, actually listening to the Word and performing to the precepts of God is imperative. Words mean things. Every Word in the Bible is significant to God or it wouldn't be there, but even Christians can't get past the tinnitus which Satan creates. For instance, why is it wrong to pierce, cut, and tattoo? That is God's Word and is God's will, but why do even Christians fail to do God's will? It is because of spiritual noise: God doesn't care about what we do! You surely won't die or whatever. Of course, God is gracious; He may put up with those things but they still are not His will.
     Did you "hear" what I wrote? Did your mind perceive truth? Why not cut and tattoo ourselves? Because we are not gods, but we decorate ourselves as if we are! (Gen 3:5). I don't want to put the focus on things we do, but face it, things we do are a reflection of what is in our hearts. 
     Those whose minds are on God do not have their minds on themselves, with one exception - to do His will.