Another issue Keith has always had with his hearing has been direction. Even when he can hear something, he is not certain which direction it came from. 90% of the time he is wrong. We have expected the implant to improve this, and it has, but not completely. He is wrong only half the time now. This morning he asked where the pounding was coming from and while he was close—he said north—it was actually west northwest, in fact, close to due west. We assume this will improve just as everything else has.
He is not the only one with this problem. When a new Christian comes with a question about something they "heard," usually on television or a podcast, I always cringe. Their zeal, which is commendable, often puts them on a seesaw, up with elation and then down again when they find out their new source is anything but scripture-based. If the first thing all of us learned to do was to ask, "Where did this come from?" we might not find ourselves in such a bipolar state of mind.
Learn to ask yourself first, "Did this come with scripture to back it up?" If not, then chuck it immediately. Anyone who cannot give you a scripture-based reason, a "thus saith the Lord" as we used to say in the old days, should probably be ignored on general principle. But suppose they give you a scripture. Ask yourself if it contradicts any other scripture whose meaning you are certain of. The Bible does not contradict itself. If that person has interpreted it in such a way that two Bible principles are opposed to one another, they absolutely must be misusing scripture, perhaps out of ignorance, but perhaps not. As much as we hate to believe such things, it is possible that this person is deliberately misleading you for the sake of his own agenda.
A lot of decent people have been misled by men who were out for no good but their own. Some have lost their livelihoods; some have lost their lives; many have lost their souls. Hon Meng Chen, Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Jim Jones and others you may not have heard of hoodwinked their believers into signing over their possessions, committing adultery in some cases, and ultimately facing death in any number of ways. They all started small, with a group who believed a doctrine found nowhere but in their leader's megalomaniacal mind. "I would never believe such a thing," I am sure they all thought several years before the fact, but ultimately, they failed to check things out.
Keith's hearing is improving as he gains more experience with the implant, but his spiritual hearing has never been bad. Yours can be just as good as his. Don't be like the millions who believe a lie simply because they want to.
And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2Thess 2:8-12.
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