"It Is Written . . . "

This is certainly a time of famine for the hearing of the Word of God. Even in places where Scripture is being quoted, it is not being applied with spiritual understanding, but with mere human reasoning. Some preachers might get further in using quotes from Dickens or Aesop's Fables to make their sermon points.

Having been raised Catholic and hearing a bit of an Epistle or the Gospels read briefly at Mass every Sunday, I knew first-hand what it was like to hear God's Word while not really hearing it. The bulk of Catholic practice and theology is based upon human reasoning.
The idea of Limbo, for instance, was conceived when their belief that one must be baptized in order to get into heaven clashed with their idea that babies are pure but have Original Sin. The Bible never taught any such thing, but Limbo sounded sensible to them and resolved the conflict.

The Catholic dogmas of their priesthood, transubstantiation, baptizing babies, confession, penance, the papacy, mariology -- and more -- came about with unspiritual human reasoning.

Before I was born-again, I could read the Bible and appreciate its wisdom and ponder on its deep thoughts, but the words did not penetrate my unregenerate spirit. Immediately upon my repentance and being filled with His Holy Spirit, the Bible came alive to me. The blinders had been removed. For the first few months of my new life in Christ I could not read the Word without tears welling up in my eyes. The Spirit breathed life into every passage and gave deep understanding -- even from the same passages I thought I already knew.

I'm studying the Book of Nehemiah and read about how the people responded after Jerusalem was restored and the people gathered to rededicate themselves to the LORD. When Ezra the priest read Scriptures aloud, they reacted thusly, "For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law."

Today, I see many using their own human understanding to figure out the Bible. High Church goers justify the use of vestments and ritual since, after all, these things were done historically in the past 1,800 years and there are parallels in the Old Testament. Or, die-hard post-tribbers saying, 'well, the early martyrs suffered persecution so why should we not suffer under the antichrist, we're no better than them. Or Dominionists reasoning that believers are going to rule with Christ, so we need to take all seven mountains for Jesus now since He does rule from heaven.

We will see more and more human reasoning coming from professing believers who will find ways to get along with other religions under the human desire for tolerance, peace, and emotional stimulation. 

Our reaction must always be - "it is written . . ."

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."
- Prov 3:5-6

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." - 1 Cor 2:12-14