The Phenomena Described
The medical term is tinnitus. I experienced this when I was in my early twenties. I remember going to the college doctor at Western Illinois University for treatment. She blasted my ear with water. It felt like a firehose blasting into my eardrum. That blasting lasted a long, long time. I do not remember how long. But it was too long. I had pain for weeks. The cure was worse than the loud ringing. Yet, the ringing continued.
The loud ringing continued for me. For about a year, I do not remember if it was left ear ringing or right ear ringing, probably both. I remember it was loud ringing and high-pitched ringing, and the ringing sensation was continuous.
I was both spiritual and religious. I had just become a Christian, and was studying Scripture, and (I believe) led by God’s Holy Spirit. But I do not recall attaching any spiritual significance to the strange ringing in my ears.
However, I have learned that some people attach spiritual meaning to this ringing sensation. For instance, Sarah Thompson writes[1] that:
- Right Ear Ringing: Indicates that God is calling you to a certain duty or purpose. It can be a gentle reminder to listen for God’s voice and be receptive to His guidance (Exod 3:4). Remember that every detail in our lives has a purpose, and even seemingly mundane occurrences like ears ringing can carry deeper messages. Take a moment to reflect and tune in to what God may be speaking to you through this experience.
- Left Ear Ringing: Suggests the acceptance and remembrance of God’s words. It calls you to obey and live according to His Word, becoming a channel through which God reaches out to people.
Sarah Thompson, and others like her, teach that there is spiritual significance to ear ringing. That right ear ringing has a different meaning than left ear ringing. These teachers tell us we should tune in to our tinnitus. Because the high-pitched ringing, the buzzing sound, the loud or soft ringing the sound of bells in your ear, each sound can be a different divine communication. They may be messages from a guardian angel. Or they might be messages that warn of danger or one that helps us on our spiritual journey.
The spiritual interpretations connected to loud noises, sudden ringing, inner ear, right side, left ear ringing, are numerous. The significance of ears in general, in connection to divine guidance, messages, spiritual awareness, and the voice of God are unlimited. Sarah Thompson refers specifically to God and quotes Scripture. God’s providence does control every little thing. Her statement that every detail in our lives has purpose rings true: God may have a purpose in our tinnitus. Yet is that purpose what she, and others like her, claim it is?
Medical Perspectives on “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”
I am not a medical doctor. The closest I get to being that is my brother works for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is an artist. Yet I know, there are many possible medical reasons for diverse types of ear ringing.
As a symptom of disease, physicians have connected ear ringing to age-related hearing loss, earwax blockage, ear infections, diabetes, and several other medical issues. The complete list of medical conditions connected to ringing in the ears is extensive.[2]
Common Online Perspectives on “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”
There is a particular group of people who emphasize the importance of the “Spiritual Ringing of the Ears,” it is the “Spiritual not Religious Group.”
One meme I saw said spirituality was inclusive, but religion was exclusive. Yet, while I agree that religion can be exclusive, spirituality is hardly inclusive when those who call themselves “spiritual, but not religious” are excluding and opposing the “religious” by that very statement.
Those who put themselves on the spiritual side of this equation believe you can find “your own truth,” meaning that truth is not absolute but different for every individual.
For such people, ringing in the ears is interpreted to be a sign of spiritual awakening. Those who advance such teachings speak of guides, or guardian angels who are speaking through left-ear or right-ear ringing.
Sarah Thompson’s article on the Inner Hunches website connected different ear-ringing experiences to Scripture references such as Exod 3:4, Exod 19:16, 1 Sam 3:1-10, Acts 9:2-4, and Rev 1:10-11.
Such writers try to make a connection with sounds mentioned in these Scripture references to interpretations of ear ringing as communications from the Universe, guardian angels, or a higher realm.
Warnings from your heart, inner self, or spirit guides: one online video called them “your team,” meaning we each have a team of Guardian Angels, spirit guides, energy, positive or negative energy.
Short, loud, high-pitched ringing is thought to be angels trying to communicate by the “spiritual”. Yet also to numerology, not Biblical numerology but something like seeing 11:11 repeatedly.
In the view of many who rely on tinnitus signals, low-pitched ringing in your left means you must take action! Thes actions may include ending a poor relationships, reducing clutter, or dependence on devices (like smartphones or computers). However, one teacher will tell you something different from another. But that is okay in their view, because “each person has their own truth.” “Anything can be correct.”
According to some in the spiritual realm, there is a third eye that each of us may be able to invoke or wake up. Third-eye opening means you are open to or aware of the spiritual realm or advancing on a spiritual journey. Left ear or right ear ringing could mean your third eye is near opening. Or maybe it means nothing. .
On the website angelicalbalance.com, there is an article[4] in which we are told, among other things, that “in the Christian religion, it is believed that people feel pressure in their ears when witches have blocked them. Once this happens, bad luck and loss of money will be frequent.” This is not something taught in the Bible.
For such people, the movie Avatar, seeing 11:11 everywhere, hearing angels singing in your dreams, left ear ringing, and right ear ringing are as much divine revelation as the Bible is Divine revelation.
At the John the Baptist Church website,[5] one can explore the spiritual significance of dreaming. Dreams about “chicken feet” or “sinks” or “skeletons” or “smelling cigarette smoke” and a lot of other things. There uou can also read about interpreting ear-ringing. You will see Bible verses twisted into references to ear-ringing on that page as well. God did not intend for his words to be twisted, he intended for them to be studied and understood.
A Biblical Perspective on “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”
As mentioned earlier, some authors have referenced passages of Scripture in their articles on spiritual ringing in the ears. None of these say anything about tinnitus, but because I respect that they refer to the Bible, I will use the same verses they do, but in their biblical context, starting with Exodus 3:4.
What Does Exodus 3:4 Say about “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”?
Exodus 3:4 says nothing about tinnitus, ringing, buzzing, bells, or ringing in the ears. In that verse, God is speaking audibly, calling Moses by name, “So God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’” (Exod 3:4 NKJV)
Ten verses later, God introduces Himself as “I Am” in Exodus 3:14: “And God says to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He says, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.” Theologically, such a statement is a reference to God’s aseity.
Dr. R. C. Sproul gives us a good definition of aseity:
The ultimate difference between God and other beings lies in the fact that creatures are derived, conditional, and dependent. However, God is not dependent. He has the power of being in and of Himself; he does not derive it from something else. This attribute is called God’s aseity, from the Latin “a se”, meaning “from oneself.”[6]
As God was speaking to Moses from the burning bush, he was speaking as the True and Living God: “But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King” (Jer 10:10 NKJV).
Today’s politically correct god is not “True” and “Living” or real. If God is true, living and real, as the Bible says, he is not different for each person. Only false gods or goddesses can be whatever a person wanted their god or goddess to be. I am real myself, and if someone says I am nine feet tall with green skin, they would be wrong. Because I am real, I have defined characteristics. Today we have people talking about worshiping spaghetti monster gods. This is not because they really believe such things, but because they believe nothing, and they desire to portray religion as fantasy. If I argue with a Muslim or Jehovah’s Witness, I am arguing about the characteristics of a real God.
When I argue with a spiritual-not-religious, I am arguing with someone who believes “belief” can be helpful, but it is the “belief” itself, and not the truth or falsehood of the belief. The Bible is the Word of God. True Christian belief sees the Bible as absolute truth.
If God is what God’s Word says he is, he cannot be everything to everybody. God being real, means he must be a particular something. The Westminster Shorter Catechism sums up some of the things the Bible says about God:
God is a Spirit, (John 4:24) infinite, (1 Kings 8:27) eternal, (Psalm 90:2) and unchangeable, (James 1:17) in his being, (Exod 3:14) wisdom, (Proverbs 3:19) power, (Psalm 147:5) holiness, (Rev 4:8) justice, (Deuteronomy 32:4) goodness, and truth (Exod 34:6–7).[7]
There are different beliefs about God, but if God is real, he cannot be all of them. Even though different beliefs are held by different Christian traditions or affected by different cultures or spiritual traditions, they do not change the fact that God is real. God cannot be everything to everyone.
When God identifies himself in Scripture, he gives us details. Jesus Christ says of Scripture, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39 NKJV).
The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ is God. John’s Gospel communicates that Jesus is God’s Son. John’s Gospel equates Jesus to the “I AM” of Exod 3:14. He, his Father, and the Holy Spirit, Three Persons, are One God.
For us, who are God’s people, God as the “I AM” is wonderful!
C.H. Mackintosh said it well:
When God would teach mankind His Name,
He called Himself the Great “I AM” and
Left a blank ______________ believers may,
Supply those things for which they pray![8]
Consider Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the Book of John: such as “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35); “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11), and “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). These statements tell us what Jesus, as God’s Son, will be to (and for) us who are God’s people.
On the bottom of the “SPIRITUAL VS. RELIGIOUS” meme presented earlier, it is said that there are about 4,000 to 10,000 religious and/or spiritual practices in this world. The idea communicated is that these competing spiritualities and/or religions are all equal. Is that true?
Do all ways, including clicking your heels together and reciting “There’s no place like home” really get you to Kansas?
“We have the truth and we need not be afraid to say so.”
J.C. Ryle
Jesus made a very exclusive claim. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NKJV).
Jesus also said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17 NKJV).
What Does Exodus 19:16 Say about “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”?
The second verse mentioned by some online writers, Exodus 19:16, comes before God’s giving of the Law in Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments. This is definitely not a mysterious voice, or left or right ear ringing or buzzing, but content that God’s people are called to obey.
“Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled” (Exod 19:16 NKJV).
The sound of a trumpet from Heaven, thunderings, lightning, “very loud,” were external sounds! They were fearful sounds, the people trembled. After God gave the law, the Ten Commandments; we read: “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. Then they say to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses says to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.’ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was” (Exod 20:18–21 NKJV).
The Voice of the Lord, described in Exodus, is not right ear ringing or left ear ringing. It is God speaking, laying down a law we are to obey! It is important that we see this because people are always trying to rid themselves of God’s law. The left ear ringing, right ear ringing spiritual-not-religious people are replacing God’s law with inaudible sounds, guardian angels and spiritual guides that could be demonic (see 2 Cor 11:14-15). Even if we are replacing God’s law with our own inner voice, we have lost something, something right, beautiful, and glorious.
God’s law is perfect: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7 NKJV).
Even professing Christians can sinfully avoid God’s law when they make grace a license to sin.
A quote attributed to Bible commentator Matthew Henry says wisely: “We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, but not from the command of it.”
Our now in heaven elder at Word of Life Church, Dr. Ralph Gross, told us that before he became a Christian, he would walk home from school. He would avoid a church, distancing himself from it by going to the other side of the street while passing it.
Replacing God’s law with tinnitus, spiritual ear ringing or “inner hunches” seems to me another way of veering away from God’s Law.
What Does 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Say about “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”?
Some online authors have also mentioned 1 Samuel 3:1-10, a message to Samuel who would become a faithful priest. God tells Samuel about judgment that would come upon Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas because of their wicked lives. Another prophet already told Eli: “Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them” (1 Sam 2:34 NKJV).
The judgment against sexual sin, disdain for God’s law and misuse of the priesthood, was a moral judgment. It differs vastly from the amoral teaching about ringing in the ear that encourages following urges and hunches. The voice of the Lord was speaking to Samuel, not right ear ringing or left ear ringing, or high-pitched ringing, or a buzzing sound. Samuel heard God speak about frightening judgment. The teaching we find about left ear ringing, right ear ringing, spiritual experiences and spiritual messages ignore God’s moral judgment altogether. It promises “peace” through breathing exercises, breaking off relationships, nature walks, and oneness with the universe, but Scripture plainly states:
“‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked’” (Isa 48:22 NKJV).
“‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked’” (Isa 57:21 NKJV).
I remember a movie scene, after a person commits murder. He is trying to wash blood off his hands. By the bathroom sink, he washes and washes. You watch blood run down the drain. Eventually, there is no more blood, only running water, yet the guilty soul keeps washing and washing because the stain and guilt of his sin runs deep and cannot be cleansed by water.
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”
Robert Lowry
What Does Acts 9:2-4 Say About “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”?
The fourth passage, Acts 9:2-4, is a direct, Jesus-from-heaven confrontation with Saul about his persecution of the church.
Paul, as Saul, before his Acts 9 conversion, oversaw the murder of Stephen. He was persecuting Christ’s church. Because of these and other sins, Paul calls himself the chief of sinners: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim 1:15 NKJV).
The Bible tells us also, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jer 17:9 NKJV).
Yet the “spiritual but not religious” write things such as: “Within each of us lies a compass of intuition, ready to steer us towards the paths that resonate with our true selves. Trust its whispers, for they hold the key to wiser choices and a life aligned with authenticity.”[9]
The heart being deceitful means that our so-called “compass of intuition” lies to us and is unreliable. Scripture tells us we need guidance outside of ourselves: “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 NKJV).
What Does Revelation 1:10-11 Say About “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears”?
The last passage of Scripture some authors reference is Revelation 1:10-11. They reference these verses because they are arguing for a connection to angels or spiritual beings. What they do not do is identify the actual Persons mentioned in these verses:
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea’” (Rev 1:10–11 NKJV).
John’s reference to a Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and the loud voice who speaks to John is our Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot jump from these to nonspecific spirit guides or angels.
Conclusion
In conclusion, tuning into your tinnitus is vastly different from knowing God or Scripture.
When I was in high school, my senior class took a field trip to Fairfield, Iowa to the headquarters of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the teacher of TM transcendental meditation. We learned there to empty our minds, so we might tune in to the universe, to our inner intuition.
Just a couple of years later, as a Christian, at Western Illinois University, I found the book, CM Christian Meditation by Edmund Clowney. He taught that meditation was meditation on the content of the Bible. It was not an emptying of the mind but an enriching of it.
In his book, Dr. Clowney wrote, “The oneness with the absolute that the Maharishi pictures as the goal of human destiny is really the opposite of Christian Fellowship with the living God. It is not the experience of knowing God but the delusion of being God.”[10]
This seems to me to be very much still the case today in 2024 with the spiritual not religious, tune-into-your-tinnitus group. Peace is sought but not found. Truth is something we make up for ourselves.
The Bible teaches us to seek and know God. Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3 NKJV).
Now, there is a certain attraction to doing and believing whatever you want, but that is not guidance, it is not truth in a real world, which was created by a real God. You can make up your own god or goddess, or be your own, but the Bible teaches there is only One Living and True God:
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens’” (Jer 10:10–11 NKJV).
Recommended Reading
CM Christian Meditation by Edmund Clowney
How Can I Practice Christian Meditation by Joel R. Beeke
You and Your Thoughts by Dr. Earl Radmacher
Footnotes
- Thompson, Sarah. “Spiritual Ringing in the Ears: Biblical References and Symbolic Meanings.” InnerHunches (blog), September 6, 2023. https://innerhunches.com/spiritual-ringing-in-the-ears-the-bible/ ↑
- Mayo Clinic. “Tinnitus – Symptoms and Causes – Mayo Clinic,” November 30, 2022. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/symptoms-causes/syc-20350156. ↑
- Nissinen, A. (2024, April 20). Spiritual vs Religious: Which One Is Better? – Happiness On Demand. Happiness On Demand. https://happyondemand.com/spiritual-vs-religious-which-one-is-better ↑
- Silva, Jorge. “9 Spiritual Meanings of Ear Pain (Pressure): Right and Left.” Angelical Balance, September 28, 2023. https://www.angelicalbalance.com/spirituality/spiritual-meaning-of-ear-pressure/. ↑
- John Baptist Church. “Experiences – John Baptist Church,” n.d. https://johnbaptistchurch.org/biblical-meaning-experiences. ↑
- R. C. Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Reformation Trust Pub, 2014), (p. 62) ↑
- The Westminster shorter catechism: with Scripture proofs ↑
- C.H. Mackintosh, from author’s personal collection of quotations ↑
- InnerHunches. ‘Nurturing Inner Hunches’, October 29, 2023. https://innerhunches.com/. ↑
- Clowney, Edmund P. Christian Meditation (Regent College Publishing, 2002), 9.
