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We have seen that, when God created Adam, Adam had a certain kind of supernatural and miraculous power. Later on, this miraculous power fell as a result of Adam's fall. Those who are ignorant think that after Adam's fall, all the miraculous power was lost. But the facts of modern psychology prove that Adam's initial power was not lost; rather, it was hidden in his soul. During the past five or six thousand years, some people, though not many, have been able to demonstrate this kind of power, even those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus. In the past century, however, more people have been able to demonstrate this kind of power. In the previous message I mentioned many examples and cited much evidence. This evidence is enough to prove that Adam's initial power was only hidden within his flesh and not lost. Today I would like to talk about the relationship of the soul's latent power to Christians. If we do not understand this relationship, we will not know its danger and how to be on the alert. I would ask us to pay special attention to the following four matters.
We call this power the soul's power. The facts discovered in today's psychology prove that all the miraculous power is still within man. Since Mesmer's discoveries in 1778, many forms of the latent power within man, whether they are manifested in psychology, in Christian Science, or in other sciences, have been discovered, and we know that they are just the power latent within man's soul. Even in Buddhism and Taoism, various inventions including breathing, asceticism, meditating, and numerous miracles prove that the latent power inherited from Adam is still within man's soul. We should remember that this power was in man before man's fall. After man's fall, this power still remains; the only difference is that it has become a latent power.
Satan knew that within man's soul there was a great power which could do many things. He did not want God to rule over this power in man; instead, he wanted to rule over man himself and utilize this power to do many things. In the garden of Eden, his purpose in tempting Adam and Eve was to have the authority to rule over this power.
In the past I have talked about the spiritual meanings of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The meaning of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is independence; it is to act independently. The meaning of the tree of life is to depend on God. The tree of life reveals that Adam's original life was only a human life; Adam still needed to depend on God and receive God's life in order to live. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the other hand, means that man does not need to depend on God; he can act, live, and bring forth fruit by himself. I mention this matter again because I want us to see the very cause of Adam and Eve's fall. If we see this, we will know what we now need to do. If we utilized and manifested the latent power in Adam, we also could perform many works of wonders. But we have to ask whether it is all right to have this kind of manifestation.
Satan is fully aware that this strange power is latent within man. Therefore, he tried to tempt man to become independent and lose his trust in God. The fall in the garden of Eden was nothing less than the separation of man from God, and man taking action independent from God. By tempting man to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Satan caused man to not depend on God and instead do things on his own. He caused man to depend on his own ability to accomplish things. If we know the story of the fall in Eden, we will understand Satan's purpose. He desires to gain man's soul. When man failed, all his capabilities and miraculous power fell into Satan's hands.
As soon as man fell, God concealed all the power of man within man's flesh and put him under the rule of the flesh. When Adam fell, much of this power fell with him and became bound and latent within the flesh. It became a latent, unseen, and seemingly nonexistent power. After man's fall, everything belonging to the soul, everything psychological, was ruled and bound by the flesh, that is, by everything physical. All psychological powers are ruled by the physical power. Satan's purpose is to engage himself in the release of man's soulish power; he wants to break man's outer shell of the flesh and free man's soul from the bondage of his flesh, so that this latent power can be made manifest. This is the meaning of Revelation 18:13, where man's soul has been made a commodity. Man's soul has become one item of merchandise in the enemy's business. The enemy is particularly keen to gain man's psychological power as his merchandise.
In the end time, especially today, Satan's aim is to carry out what he intended to do originally in the garden of Eden. Although the enemy tried to control man's soul in the garden of Eden, he did not fully succeed. After man's fall, his entire being was under the control of the flesh. The power of man's soul also came under the control of the flesh. In other words, man's psychological power is now under the control of his physical power. The enemy could not do anything; he did not succeed in his plan. Throughout the past several thousand years Satan has been exercising his power to cause man to manifest his latent power. He has found some here and there, now and then, and has used them to manifest the power of the soul. Throughout the years, these people have been considered as religious leaders with the ability to work miracles. But during the past century, since the discovery of psychology by Mesmer, there have continued to be more discoveries of psychological phenomena. There is only one reason for these discoveries: the enemy wants to accomplish the work which he began but left unfinished. In this end time, the enemy's unique goal is to manifest all of man's latent power. This is the unique goal that he has been laboring on for thousands of years. This is why, in addition to buying gold, silver, cattle, horses, and precious stones, he also buys the souls of men as his merchandise. The souls of men are the very merchandise that the enemy has tried his best to obtain.
What are the advantages to Satan in causing men to manifest the latent power of the soul? There are many advantages to him: (1) He will be able to fulfill the original promise he made to man: "Ye shall be as gods" (Gen. 3:5). He wants man to regard himself as god and believe that there is no god besides man, through the many wonders that man can perform in himself. (2) He wants to confuse God's miracles. He wants man to believe that the miracles in the Bible are just psychological effects, in order to lower God's miracles to the same level as works of wonders. He wants man to think that he can do what the Lord Jesus did. (3) He wants to confuse the works of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works within man through his spirit. But Satan produces many phenomena in man that are similar to the results of the Spirit's working, such as giving man false repentance, false salvation, false regeneration, false revival, false happiness, and other experiences that are not from the Holy Spirit. (4) He wants to make man his instrument, through which he will complete his final resistance against God's plan in the last age. The Holy Spirit is God's power in performing miracles, but man's soul is Satan's power in working wonders. The last three and a half years, the great tribulation, will be a period in which Satan utilizes man's soul to do many great wonders.
I will conclude by saying: (1) Miraculous powers were in Adam initially. (2) Satan's goal is to rule over such power. (3) In the end time, Satan will use all his means to manifest this power. (4) Satan's purpose is to accomplish his desired yet uncompleted tasks.
How can we be on the alert? We should discern what is God's work and what is the enemy's work, what is the work of the Holy Spirit and what is the work of the evil spirit. All of the works done by the Holy Spirit are done through man's spirit; all of the works done by the enemy are done through man's soul. The Holy Spirit inspires man's spirit, while the enemy moves man's soul. This is the basic difference between the work of God and the work of the enemy. God's work originates from man's spirit, while the enemy's work originates from man's soul. Our human spirit was deadened because of the fall, and fellowship with God was broken. When we believed in the Lord Jesus and were saved, we were regenerated. What does being saved and regenerated mean? Salvation and regeneration are not just terms. They are real changes which occur physically, or we can say that they are actual changes which occur organically. Human beings have a spirit and a soul from the beginning. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, God puts His life into our spirit, and He revives our spirit. The human spirit is substantive; therefore, the new spirit put into us by God must be substantive. John 3:6 tells us that in regeneration, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The book of Ezekiel also tell us that God will put a new spirit within us (36:26). Therefore, we are regenerated because we receive a new spirit. The Lord Jesus said, "The flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (John. 6:63). Therefore, all our living and working should be in the realm of the spirit; when God uses us, He is also working in our spirit and through our spirit. Ephesians 5:18 says, "Be filled in spirit." Not only should we be filled with the Holy Spirit, but we should be filled with the Holy Spirit in our spirit. God fills up our spirit with the Holy Spirit.
I have discussed these matters in detail in the book The Spiritual Man. I just want to clearly point out to you once again that the Holy Spirit works in our spirit; the evil spirit works in our soul. The human spirit is the place where the Holy Spirit is working, while Satan can only work in the soul and through the power of the soul. Satan cannot do any work in the human spirit. He can only work in the soul, and the result of his work is also limited to the soul. The enemy is continuing to do what he has been doing for the past five to six thousand years, and he will continue to do the same in the future. Why is Satan as seemingly omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent as God? There is no other reason except that he is using the power of man's soul. We can say that just as the Holy Spirit is the power of God, the human soul is the power of Satan. I feel sorry that many people are ignorant of the fact that the practices of asceticism, concentrated breathing, sitting, meditation by Buddhists and Taoists, the hypnotism from the West, and the many wonders discovered through psychology are only the demonstration of the latent power in man's soul. They do not realize how mighty the power in the soul is.
Brothers and sisters, let us not think that these are some minor problems or topics for scholars' research and that it does not make any difference whether we study these things or not. Actually, these things have much to do with us.
The latent power of the soul, according to the Bible and even in psychology, can be classified into two categories. We admit that we cannot separate the two categories too clearly, nor definitively categorize the contents of each category. But we can say that within the latent power of the soul, one category seems to be ordinary while the other seems to be miraculous; one category seems to be natural while the other seems to be supernatural; one category seems to be humanly comprehensible while the other seems to be beyond human comprehension.
The definition of the mind in psychology is broader than the Bible's definition. In psychology the mind includes two parts: the conscious and the subconscious. The subconscious part in psychology is the miraculous power of the soul. The mind in psychology is equal to the soul in the Bible, one part of which is conscious and the other part is subconscious. Although consciousness and subconsciousness are clearly distinguished by psychologists, in reality it is very difficult to distinguish them. Generally, psychologists group those ordinary manifestations of the soul into the category of consciousness and the uncommon and miraculous manifestations into the category of subconsciousness. We often group the ordinary and common manifestations of the soul within the scope of the soul. However, even the powerful, seemingly miraculous, and strange manifestations of the soul are also within the realm of the soul. These latter manifestations tend toward the realm of subconsciousness. Since everyone's latent power is different, some manifested phenomena lean more toward one realm while others lean more toward the other.
All those who serve the Lord should pay attention to this matter; otherwise, they will be carried away by this kind of miraculous power when they are leading others to the Lord. Let me reiterate the difference between the soul and the spirit. The soul of Adam belongs to the old creation, while the spirit regenerated by God belongs to the new creation. All of God's works are done through man's spirit, because this is the regenerated life of man and the new creation. All of Satan's works are done through man's soul, which is the fallen soul from Adam. Satan can only use the old creation; he cannot use the new creation because the regenerated life cannot sin.
How does Satan, through man's soul, utilize this latent power? Buddhism, Taoism, psychologists, and spiritualists in Christianity are all his working tools. We have given many examples regarding this. Today I would like to illustrate with some further spiritual examples to show how the enemy uses man's soul, so that we can discern what comes from God and what comes from the enemy. In addition, we will also know how God uses man's spirit and how Satan uses man's soul.
All prayers in the Bible are meaningful and purposeful. When the Lord Jesus taught us how to pray, the first sentence was, "Our Father who is in the heavens" (Matt. 6:9b). The Lord instructed us to pray to the Father in heaven; but we often pray to the God in our room rather than to the Father in heaven. Our prayers should only be offered to the Father in heaven and should ascend to the heavenly Father. We should not care for our good feeling or bad feeling or any feeling at all. God only wants us to offer our prayers to heaven by faith. If we just pray to the God in the room, I am afraid that we will have many strange feelings, miraculous experiences, and strange visions from the God. All of these will be given to us by Satan. And what we receive from Satan belongs to either the consciousness or the subconsciousness.
You may not pray to the God in your room, but it is also very dangerous if you direct your prayer toward the person for whom you are praying. For example, you have a friend who is more than two thousand miles away. You pray for him, asking God to either revive him with the Word or cause him to believe in the Lord. However, your prayer is not directed toward God in the heavens; you are only exercising and concentrating your soul to project your expectations and desires as a force toward your friend. Your thoughts, intentions, desires and all you have are all piled upon your friend. Your prayer is like a bow which shoots your thoughts, intentions, and desires as arrows directly toward your friend. He is pressed by your force; consequently, whatever you asked will be fulfilled upon him. You may think that your prayer is answered. But let me say, the prayer toward your friend is not answered by God because your prayer was not toward God. Someone said to me, "My prayer was answered because I piled prayers upon him." I responded, "Yes, you prayed toward him, not toward God. Therefore, your prayer was answered, but it was not answered by God." If you pray in this way, even though you know nothing about hypnotism, you will be following the principle of hypnotism because you will release the power in your soul to accomplish this matter.
I would like to read a letter written by a believer. He wrote, "Recently I have been attacked severely by the enemy. I vomited blood; my heart rate was erratic; I was suffocating and exhausted. My whole body seemed to be collapsing. While I was praying, God revealed that I should pray against the many prayers that were toward me which were made through soulish power. I then asked God to protect and cover me with the blood of the Lord Jesus. I also believed that God's power would be manifested in my body. When I began to pray in this way, wonderfully, my heart began to beat normally, the vomiting of blood stopped, my breathing became smooth, and the strength of my body was recovered. I was recovered fully as a normal person. God showed me that day that I suffered from vomiting blood, an erratic heart rate, suffocation, and exhaustion because a group of deceived believers (those who prayed for me) had prayed me into the sickness. Later I helped two of them to be saved and delivered. It is sad that the rest of them are still in that foolish pit."
Why did this happen? It happened because some people did not pray toward God in heaven; instead, they were casting, besieging, and piling their prayers upon the person for whom they were praying. In doing so, it seemed that they were praying, but secretly they were exercising their soulish power to oppress that person. Suppose you exercise your soul-power to pray for someone to be a certain way, saying, "Even if he is not punished, he should at least be disciplined." Your prayer out of your soul-power will be projected to that person, and he will become sick. This is a law, a law of the soul. A person will burn his finger if he puts it into fire; it is a law. Therefore, when you pray, you should not say that if someone does not behave a certain way, certain things should happen to him. If you pray in this way, all of that person's painful suffering will come from you. If you intend to give yourself to prayer, your prayer should be toward God and should not be toward any person. I also had this kind of experience. Several years ago I suffered from a sickness for over a year. This was also due to the prayers of five or six persons who piled their prayers upon me. The more they prayed, the weaker I became. Later on when I found this out, I resisted this kind of prayer by asking God not to accomplish what they had prayed toward me. After that I got well.
If an experienced Christian in the Lord is present at a revival meeting, he will know whether the preacher is using his soul-power or the power of the Spirit. Once I met a friend who told me that a certain person's preaching was quite powerful. I then responded that I had not met that person and dared not to judge. Later I wrote down several words in a notebook and gave it to my friend, asking, "Full of power, but what kind of power was it?" His experiences in the Lord were not as deep as his wife's, and he could not understand the question. He turned around to ask his wife. After she looked at the notebook, she smiled and said, "Indeed, this is a problem. What kind of power is it?" One brother once said to us that whether or not a person has power does not depend on how loud he can pound on the table. Therefore, in our meeting, we should discern whether one's power comes from his soul or from his spirit.
We can consider this matter from two sides: (1) from the preacher himself, and (2) from the audience. Suppose a preacher depends on his past experiences and thinks that just because someone repented and confessed his sins because he preached a certain way in the past, he should preach the same way, expecting someone to repent and confess again. Or suppose he tries to tell stories about the repentance and confession of others with the hope that this will stir up his audience. If this is his intention, we can be sure that he is working by his soul-power.
On the contrary, it would be wonderful if preachers could have attitudes like the leaders in the Welsh Revival, who asked God to subdue them, bind the power in their soul, restrain their self, and refuse anything that would come out of themselves. If this is the motive and the pursuit of a preacher, his soul-power can be rejected. The preacher will be able to discern the difference between these two kinds of power and realize how different they are. He will then be able to tell which of his works are done by his soul-power and which are done by God's power.
There are three aspects to the work of the Holy Spirit: (1) The Holy Spirit regenerates us; (2) the Holy Spirit dwells within us so that we can bring forth the fruit of the Spirit; and (3) the Holy Spirit comes upon us so that we have power to testify. The power of the Holy Spirit is always mentioned in the Bible with reference to working and witnessing. This is the work of the Holy Spirit upon us; it is not the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Therefore, the power of the Holy Spirit is for work, whereas the indwelling of the Spirit is for fruit-bearing. According to the original text, whenever the Spirit is mentioned in the Bible with reference to power, it always says that the Spirit "comes upon" us, while whenever the Spirit is mentioned with respect to fruit-bearing, it says that He "dwells within" us. What does come upon mean? It means that the power given to us by the Spirit is outside of us. We cannot sense it by ourselves and cannot have any assurance of it at all. If anyone asked us in a meeting, "Are you sure about today's meeting? Do you have the assurance that someone will be saved?", we would definitely respond, "I do not have any assurance and do not sense anything." The reason is that this power is outside of us. The power of the Spirit is the power outside of us and cannot be laid hold of by us. How about the power of the soul? With the power of the soul, one has the assurance; he knows that his message will cause someone to weep and make someone repent and confess. What does it mean to be "dynamic"? It merely means to have the power of the soul.
Once I felt powerless. Although people told me that I could get by, I still felt powerless. So I went to see an older and more experienced sister (Miss Barber). I asked her, "You have great power. But why do I not have any power?" She knew me very well and often helped me in the Word. Looking at me seriously, she said, "Do you want the power that you can feel or the kind you cannot feel? Which one do you want?" As soon as I heard her, I understood. I said, "I do not want the kind that I can feel." She then said, "Remember, there is no need for the person to feel the power coming from the Spirit. Man's responsibility is just to obey God. The power of the Spirit is never to be felt by the person himself." (Of course, the sense in the spirit is a different matter.) Therefore, our duty is to ask God to bind the power of our soul, our own strength. We must submit to God entirely. Everything else is left for God to do and is none of our business. If we exercise the strength of our soul to serve, we can feel it; this is just like the hypnotists who know they will have a certain result if they do certain things. They know what they should do first, what to do next, and what to do as the third step. The danger of many preachers on the platform is that they do not realize that they are actually exercising their own soulish power. They think they have the power; but, in fact, they are working by the power of their soul. They are only gaining people by their psychic strength.
Some people say that preachers should pay attention to psychology. This is wrong. Although we know clearly that we can gain people by applying psychological methods, we ought to avoid these methods and not exercise the psychic power. While I was working in Shantung, one professor spoke to another professor: "All these preachers are working with emotions." It so happened that on that same afternoon I was giving a message to the believers on the undependability and futility of the emotion. That professor who was told that preachers worked with emotions was in the audience. He heard my word and said, "It is too bad that the other professor who claimed that preachers work with emotions is not here. Otherwise, he could have heard that emotions are undependable." Please bear in mind that all work by the emotion is not dependable and shall pass away. In a meeting, if the Holy Spirit is working, men have no need to exert their own strength and no need to do anything by themselves. If a preacher is working by his soulish power, he will have to exert much strength. In addition, he will need to resort to other methods such as weeping, shouting, jumping, emotional appeals, repetitive singing of a chorus, or telling moving stories. I do not mean that hymns and stories cannot be used in a meeting. But they must be used only within proper limits. The only reason for preachers to perform is to cause the audience to be moved and stirred up.
We all know that even though certain people are not necessarily more handsome or eloquent than others, they have particular attractions which attract people to themselves. In reality, they only possess more attractiveness than others. People often tell me, "You have great influence on someone, why don't you draw him over?" I respond, "This is of no use, because it is only natural and not spiritual." Many people misunderstand Christianity and think that it is a kind of psychic function or something within the psychic realm. This is only because we believers have made the same mistake first. If we cannot attract our parents and children with the so-called power from God, any greater attraction that we have would be useless and not attract others. Even if we can draw others by our attraction, it will still amount to nothing.
What is the peak of Christianity? It is a complete union with God and the entire loss of self. Currently, psychology also claims that man is able to unite with the unseen "heart" and be lost within it. Apparently, this claim is the same as that in Christianity, but in reality they are totally different. Dr. Frank Buchman, who is presently popular, belongs to this school of psychology. The books from his school have been translated into Chinese and published by the Literary Promotion Society. One of his teachings is meditation. He teaches that meditation is all that man needs to communicate with God. He does not suggest that people read the Bible in the morning. Instead, he suggests that they just meditate and pray. He also claims that the first thought after people pray is a thought from God and that people should act and behave that day according to this thought. Little do they realize that this kind of meditating on God is just another type of silent cultivation, quiet meditation, and mind-contemplation. What result do they have from their meditation? They claim that meditation will make a person peaceful and joyful. It is true that if one meditates on anything for an hour, he will have a so-called peace and joy. Even if one meditates on some nonexistent matter for an hour, he will still have peace and joy. Many people's meditation is only a kind of psychic function. But Christianity is entirely different. We have no need to meditate on God because we have God's life. We can know God in our intuition. Whether or not we sense God in our feeling, we have the leading of the intuition within which teaches us to know God. In addition, we have God's word in the Bible which tells us so. Whatever God's Word says, we believe. We have faith and do not need to care about our feeling. This is what makes us different from psychology.
In addition, we have seen works of wonders. Personally, I do not object to these works. I have witnessed several people healed by God immediately. Today, we are not against those who say they can heal illness. We are only against the cases where wrong principles are applied in healing. Someone asked me, "Are you against speaking in tongues?" I replied, "I am not against speaking in tongues, but I am against all tongues spoken by the wrong means." Concerning strange dreams and visions, we are also not against them. I myself have once seen great lights. These things are recorded in the Bible and we accept them. But I am against all the strange dreams and visions obtained through improper methods. For example, the healing mentioned in the Bible is accompanied by the laying on of hands and the applying of ointment. However, if someone lays his hand on another person's head, and, at the same time, forcibly massages that person's back and neck with the other hand, and asks, "How do you feel?", the person receiving the massage would certainly feel heat around his neck. This is low-class hypnotism and is despised even by the hypnotists. We know that behind our head there is the spinal cord with nerves extending from the brain all the way down our spine. Although the one who performs the massage does not know that this is a kind of hypnotism, actually he is employing hypnotism. The person who is massaged may feel a stream of heat flowing as electrical currents all the way to his shoulder and back and may feel that he is healed. Actually, this is only a manifestation of the latent power within man's soul. Even if the person is healed, I would not admit that this healing is from God.
Let us go on to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Recently in Shantung I also shared about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and asked others to pray for it. But I do not agree with the practice of shutting many people together into a small room to fast, pray, and sing choruses for days and nights. Some fast for days, and their physical strength is exhausted. The room is small, and the air is stagnant. In this kind of environment, they repeatedly sing short choruses. If someone does this, his mind will be numbed after a while, his will will become passive, and his mouth will automatically utter a kind of confused and nonsensical voice or language. In this way, his latent power will be exposed.
In meetings where people pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, sometimes they shout only one word, "Hallelujah," repeatedly. After hundreds and thousands of times of repeated shouting, their heads will be dizzy, and their minds will become numb. Then it will be easy for them to discover a kind of strange vision. This is not the baptism of the Spirit; it is only a baptism of the soul. What they have received is not the power of the Holy Spirit but the power of the soul; it is just the manifestation of the latent power. Therefore, the power they receive is only acquired through human training and is not from God. This is not the right way to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. However, these ones force others to follow them. They act according to their past experiences, not according to God's teaching.
Some may ask after hearing this, "According to what you say, are there no real works of wonders at all?" Yes, there are. If any work of wonder comes from God, we thank God for it. But we have to exercise the proper discernment. If something does not come from God, it must be from the latent power of man's soul. When I was in Shantung, I heard that a woman who was mentally disordered and paralyzed for many years was completely healed. If her healing indeed came from God, I would thank God for it. But the healing she received was through the kind of laying on of hands mentioned above.
Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, denied that there was death, sickness, or pain. Yet she died. But the Church of Christ, Scientist, that she founded still exists and seems to have become more prosperous. Today they tell others that a patient only needs to believe he has no illness and he will not feel pain, and that a dying person only needs to believe he will not die, and he will not die. As a result of this, many receive healing. Actually, the Church of Christ, Scientist, has nothing to do with Christianity or with science. It is only a relief of man's physical bondage and a strengthening of man's psychic power. It merely tries to develop the latent power of the soul in an effort to overcome the weakness of the physical body.
Through the development of the latent power of the soul, more and more works of wonders are happening. Among them there are some which are very supernatural and miraculous. However, all of these are just the manifestation of the latent power of the soul. Though I am not a prophet, I have studied the prophetic books. I know that in the future there will be more manifestations of the latent power of the soul, because the enemy will lay hold of the power of man's soul at the end of the ages to accomplish his work. If he succeeds in laying hold of it, he will advance to do more and more works of wonder.
There are two groups of people who lean toward different extremes. One group says that miraculous things no longer exist; they do not listen to anything about any miracles such as divine healing. On the other hand, there is the other group of people who pay attention only to the miraculous things; they do not care where these miracles come from, whether they are from God or the enemy. We should be careful not to lean toward either extreme. Whenever we see or hear of any works of wonders, we should ask, "Was this done by God or by the enemy? Was this done by the Holy Spirit of God, or was this done by the psychic law of man?"
Today we should exercise our faculties, such as our mind, emotion, and will, to work. We should not try to release the latent power that lies dormant within us. The mind, emotion, and will are man's original psychological organs; man has to use them. If man does not use these organs, the evil spirit will use them instead. However, if we try laboriously to invoke the latent power behind these abilities, the evil spirit will give us many false miracles. Working by the principle of the soul and psychology will result in falsehood. Only the work which is done through the power of the Holy Spirit is genuine. The Holy Spirit works according to a law, because Romans 8:2 speaks of "the law of the Spirit of life." Thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit is a fact, and the law of the Spirit is also a fact. Only the works of wonders done through the law of the Spirit are from God.
It is extremely difficult for the Moslems to believe in the Lord Jesus. Comparatively speaking, there are very few Moslems who believe in the Lord (I do not mean none). When Moslems pray, how do they pray? They must go to their mosques to pray three times a day. They claim that the accomplishment of a certain matter only requires thousands and tens of thousands to pray for it in one accord. There is a huge mosque in Mecca, the most famous place among all the Moslems. It can accommodate one hundred thousand people. At one time there were one hundred thousand Moslems praying within the mosque. After their prayer another one hundred thousand who were waiting outside went in to pray. What did they pray for? There was one sentence which they shouted in one accord: "We want the recovery of Turkey; we want to be free from the dominion of the white race." When hundreds of thousands prayed inside and outside the mosque, the psychological power gained the victory. Consequently, Turkey was freed from the dominion of the white race and was restored. It is a pity that the prayers of many believers are not answered by God, but by the projection of the latent power of their soul. Their purpose is accomplished in the same way that the Moslems accomplished theirs.
Consider again the power in Hinduism. In Hinduism, some can walk on fire without being scorched. This is a fact. When they walk on fire, it is not for just a few steps, but for quite a long distance. Every step they tread is on red-hot iron; yet, they are not hurt. In Hinduism, some can also sleep on a bed of many pointed nails but without being hurt. Beginners cannot bear it and feel the pain. These are also related to the development of the power of the soul. Many wonders performed by believers are done with the same power as those in Hinduism.
Christians often feel that they are being oppressed by a certain power during a meeting or feel bored and troubled while praying and reading the Word. This is because Satan is oppressing and attacking us through the soul's power. Not only do we feel this way, all experienced Christians all over the world feel the same way; they feel that in this age, the attacks from Satan are particularly severe. Those with deep experiences in the Lord can sense that the atmosphere of the whole world is saturated with the soul's power. Therefore, we should hide ourselves under the precious blood of the Lord and be protected by it.
While listening to a message in a huge church meeting hall, one can discern right away if the soul's power is moving there. One can also feel right away if something is trying to stir someone up. The preacher may say, "Today, some have repented and are saved." But we have to watch the result of those who claim that they have repented and are saved. Among them, there is the mixture of an improper power. If the power is from God and the Holy Spirit, one will feel extremely clear and relaxed. If the power is from the enemy or the soul, it will be developed by the fact that there is a great crowd. This is where the difference lies. I hope we will all have the discernment and not be deceived.
The time is near. Satan is trying his best to stir up the latent power by means which are commonly used by religionists, scientists, and even Christians. The fact lies clearly before us. May we pray to the Lord to give us the light so that we can have the true discernment! Amen.
