GOD’S SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS WITHIN
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,…after the tradition of men…and not after Christ” (COLOSSIANS 2:8).
When I was a young Christian I had my Bible and a hymnbook and a few other books, including Andrew Murray and Thomas a’ Kempis and I got myself educated as well as I could by reading books. I read the philosophy of all the great minds—and many of those men did not believe in God, you know—and they did not believe in Christ.

I remember reading White’s Warfare of Science with Christianity, and if any man can read that and still say he is saved, he isn’t saved by his reading; he is saved by the Holy Ghost within him telling him that he is saved! Do you know what I would do after I would read a chapter or two and find arguments that I could not possibly defeat? I would get down on my knees and with tears I would thank God with joy that no matter what the books said, “I know Thee, my Saviour and my Lord!”

I didn’t have it in my head—I had it in my heart! There is a great difference, you see.

If we have it only in our heads, then philosophy may be of some help to us; but if we have it in our hearts, there is not much philosophy can do except stand aside reverently, hat in hand, and say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

In short, if you have to be reasoned into Christianity, some wise fellow can reason you out of it, as well!

A. W. Tozer