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Revelation 18:11-13 says, "And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargo anymore: cargo of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls...and cattle and sheep, and cargo of horses and chariots and slaves and souls of men." The merchandise mentioned here began with gold and silver and ended with the souls of men. Gold, silver, horses, and chariots are merchandise and can be bought and sold. Slaves can also be bought and sold. This means that the human body can be bought and sold. In addition to these things, the souls of men can also be bought and sold as merchandise.
First Corinthians 15:45 says, "So also it is written, `The first man, Adam, became a living soul'; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit." The proper translations of the words soul and spirit were clearly explained in the appendix of The Spiritual Man.
First Corinthians 15:46 says, "But the spiritual is not first but the soulish, then the spiritual."
Genesis 2:7 says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." When God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, he became a living soul.
During the past two years, I was deeply burdened to convey this profound message. But this message is very hard and very deep. It is hard for both the speaker to speak it as well as for the listener to understand it. Therefore, when I was writing The Spiritual Man, I did not include this message, "The Soul," in chapter three. I feel, however, that I should speak on this topic. After I read some books and magazines, contacted some unbelievers, and observed the present condition and trend of society and the church, I sensed how precious is the truth that we know. Considering the situation today, I cannot help but feel that I should pass on what we have received because, if I do not do this, I am hiding the light under the bushel.
Today I want to talk about the relationship between spiritual warfare and the last generation. This is the subject which I was reluctant to put into the book, The Spiritual Man. In that book we explained clearly the difference between the spirit, the soul, and the body. Some of you may not have read this book. Therefore, I would like to repeat this briefly.
Genesis 2:7 says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." This is man's body. "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." The "breath of life" is the spirit God gave man, and this is Adam's spirit. We can see that man's body was made of dust and man's spirit was given by God. After God breathed into Adam the breath of life, man became a living soul. Actually, the spirit, soul, and body are three separate things. It is incorrect to say that man has only the soul and the body. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, "And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete." The spirit is given by God, the soul is a living soul, and the body is formed by God. According to the world's common understanding, the soul is our personality. When the spirit is joined to the body, there is a living soul. The main feature of the angels is that they are spirits; the main feature of the animals such as the beasts is that they are flesh. Human beings have a spirit and body; but our main feature is neither the spirit nor the body, but the soul. We have a living soul. This is why the Bible calls man a soul after the creation. For example, in mentioning Jacob's household of seventy people that went down to Egypt, Genesis 46:27 says, "All the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten." In other places, when the Bible relates to us the number of people saved, it says that these are the number of souls saved. The soul stands for the human personality; it is that which distinguishes us as man.
What are the functions of the spirit, soul, and body? In chapter one of The Spiritual Man, we explained this matter. I was very glad one day to find a book called The Spirit of Christ written by Andrew Murray. In its appendix was an explanation of the spirit, the soul, and the body in exactly the same way. Therefore, today I would like to read Andrew Murray's word:
In the history of man's creation we read, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground": thus was his body made "and breathed into his nostrils the breath" or spirit "of life": thus his spirit came from God; "and man became a living soul." The Spirit quickening the body made man a living soul, a living person with the consciousness of himself. [We know that only man has the consciousness of himself; wood and stone have no self consciousness.] The soul was the meeting-place, the point of union between body and spirit. Through the body, man, the living soul, stood related to the external world of sense, could influence it, or be influenced by it. Through the spirit he stood related to the spiritual world and the Spirit of God, whence he had his origin; could be the recipient and the minister of its life and power. Standing thus midway between two worlds, belonging to both, the soul had the power of determining itself, of choosing or refusing the objects by which it was surrounded, and to which it stood related.
In the constitution of these three parts of man's nature, the spirit, as linking him with the Divine, was the highest; the body, connecting him with the sensible and animal, the lowest; intermediate stood the soul, partaker of the nature of the others, the bond that united them and through which they could act on each other. Its work, as the central power, was to maintain them in their due relation; to keep the body, as the lowest, in subjection to the spirit. (The Spirit of Christ. Fort Washington, Pa., Christian Literature Crusade, 1963. Note C: The Place of the Indwelling, pp. 227-228.)
I quote this to show you that not only do we differentiate in this way; even Andrew Murray clearly differentiated the spirit, soul, and body.
What is the spirit? Whatever causes us to sense God and have a relationship with God is the spirit. What is the soul? Anything that causes us to contact the self and have self-awareness is the soul. What is the body? Anything that causes us to contact the world is the body. The notes in the Scofield Reference Bible say the same thing: the spirit gives us God-consciousness, the soul gives us self-consciousness, and the body gives us world-consciousness. Beasts and horses are not conscious of God because they do not have a spirit; they are only conscious of themselves. The body causes us to feel and see the physical world, to feel hot or cold, etc. I think we are all familiar with this, and there is no need for me to speak too much on it.
The above covers the functions of the spirit, soul, and body. Now I come to the biggest question, which was also mentioned in the book The Spiritual Man. Many people think that they should pay attention to the matter of the spirit, soul, and body simply because it is related to their spiritual life. However, this matter is not only related to our spiritual life but to our spiritual work and warfare as well. They think that Adam was more or less the same as we are now, even before he fell. They think that we are quite similar to each other because Adam was a man and we are men. They think that Adam was incapable of doing what we are incapable of doing. Whatever Adam was incapable of doing, we are also incapable of doing. They do not realize, however, that what Adam was capable of doing, we are incapable of doing. I am afraid that we still do not know what Adam's abilities were. If we read the Bible carefully, we will see what Adam was really like before his fall.
Genesis 1:27-28 says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." God said that man would have dominion over all the earth. Friends, do you know the size of the earth? Have you ever thought about this? What do you mean when you ask a servant to manage two houses? It means that the servant has the ability to manage them; that is why the master commits the management to the servant. It would not be possible for all the houses in this Wen-teh Lane to be managed by one servant because a servant cannot do what is beyond his ability. Even a demanding master will only ask a servant to do a little more than the servant is capable of doing. Let me ask you — would God ask Adam to manage what he could not manage? If Adam could manage the whole earth, his ability must not have been the same as ours today. He had the strength, ability, and capacity to do it. Everything inside and outside of Adam was a fresh ability he received from the Creator. Although we cannot say that Adam's power was billions of times more than ours, it had to have been at least millions of times more than ours in order for him to do what was assigned to him. Otherwise, he surely could not have done what was assigned to him. But for us, even managing an area as little as Wen-teh Lane, and sweeping it three times a day, totally exhausts us, and we find it hard to straighten our backs after sweeping. How could we possibly rule the earth? Adam not only had dominion over the whole earth, but also had dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and the cattle. Having dominion does not mean just sitting there. It means to dominate and manage. From this point, therefore, we see that Adam must have had extraordinary abilities which were superior to ours today. We may think that this is something new; actually, this is the teaching in the Bible. Before Adam's fall, he had the ability to do many things without getting tired. After his fall, God said to him that in the sweat of his face he would eat bread. From this we know that Adam worked without sweat before his fall. This ability is the fresh ability that emanates from God's creation.
Genesis 2:19 says, "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." Friends, is not this something new? If we look into an encyclopedia and read all the names under the dog family, we would say, "I do not know them all. I cannot remember all these names." But Adam could name all the birds and beasts. We should realize how much intelligence he had. If some of us with less intelligence were to study zoology, we would not succeed because we cannot even remember all the names. However, Adam not only remembered the zoological names, he invented them. Now we can begin to see how full and perfect Adam's intellectual power was. Do we even know how many millions of different animals there are? Yet Adam could name them one by one!
Genesis 2:15 says, "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." Let us put the matter of having dominion over the whole earth aside and consider what God told Adam to do. God told him to dress and keep the garden of Eden. Dressing is more organized than managing. How big was the garden of Eden? Genesis 2:10-14 mentions four rivers: Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates, which went out of Eden and covered four regions. Can we imagine the size of the garden? We do not know how many times larger it was than Hon-kou Park or Chiao-Feng Park in Shanghai. In order to dress four regions covered by four rivers, how much ability did Adam need? Not only did he have to dress them, but he had to keep them as well. Keeping is guarding the garden from the enemy. Therefore, Adam must have had extraordinary ability in those days. He must have been a person with supernatural abilities. All these abilities were in Adam's soul. Adam's abilities must have been unimaginable. According to our eyes, Adam's abilities must have been supernatural and miraculous; but to Adam himself, these abilities were merely human abilities, not miracles. They were natural abilities to him, not supernatural abilities.
Did Adam ever exhaust all of his abilities? According to what I see from Genesis, Adam did not exhaust his abilities. After Adam was freshly created by God, and before he could even demonstrate all of his abilities, he fell. When the enemy seduced Eve with some bait, what did Satan promise her? The bait used by the enemy was the ability to know good and evil like God by taking in the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan's promise was to be like God. He told Eve that even though she had these abilities, there was still a big gap between her and God. He told her that once she ate the fruit, she would have God's authority, wisdom, and strength. On that day Eve was tempted and failed.
We are not trying to be curious; we are merely trying to see what God had given Adam. Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." The Hebrew word image means man's outside appearance; it can be translated "appearance." In its literal meaning the word likeness is not much different from the word image, and appears to be repetitious. However, likeness in Hebrew means not only the physical likeness but also moral and spiritual likeness. It is not a physical word, but a metaphysical word, a spiritual word. I am not that good with the Hebrew language and can only consult the Hebrew dictionary. One Western lady, Mrs. ______, was very good in Hebrew. She said likeness in Hebrew means "to make someone like something." This interpretation does not sound like a good sentence; what it actually means is "to become alike." In other words, it means to become like God. God created man in order that man would become like Him. God's purpose was that Adam would be like Him. The devil said, "You may be like God." God said, "You need to become like Me." This is God's purpose. Before his fall, there was a potential ability inside of Adam to be like God. Within him, there was a latent power that made it possible for him to be like God. His outside appearance looked like God, but morally He wants whatever is metaphysical to be like Him as well. (I use the word morally to mean everything beyond the physical realm, and not just good human behavior.) From this we can see the great loss that man incurred from the fall. Many people may have never thought about the immensity of this loss.
Adam was a soul. His spirit and body were both joined to his soul. Therefore, the astonishing abilities mentioned above were all included in Adam's soul. The power that came from Adam's living soul, which was a product of his spirit and body, was unimaginable and supernatural according to today's eyes. When he fell, these abilities, which were different from ours, were lost. However, this does not mean that they are gone. Rather, these abilities, though present inside man, became dormant and unusable. By Genesis 6, after man's fall, he had become flesh. The flesh surrounded man's whole being and subdued him. Man was originally a living soul. But, through the fall, he became flesh. Man's soul was originally under the spirit's control; it is now under the flesh's control. Therefore, God said that He would no longer strive with man because he had become flesh. In its original language, the Bible calls man the flesh. When God talked about men, God no longer called them men, but flesh. In God's eyes, all of them had become just pieces of flesh. Therefore, the Bible says that all flesh was corrupt (v. 12) and that God would not pour His Spirit upon man's flesh anymore (Exo. 30:32). In another place, it says that no flesh can be justified by the works of law (Rom. 3:20). From that point on, all men were subjected under the flesh.
Why should I mention this here? I mention this because all the things in Revelation 18 will take place in the last age. I also mentioned at the beginning the souls of men. The souls of men will become a commodity that can be bought and sold in Babylon. Why will the souls of men become a commodity that can be sold and bought? It is because Satan and Antichrist want the souls of men to be the instruments for their activities in the last age. Adam fell in the garden of Eden, and his power also fell. Adam did not lose his power through the fall; the power was merely buried within him. When Adam became flesh, the flesh locked up all the wonderful powers inside him. This went on generation after generation. The original power which Adam had, became a latent power that was inherited by his descendants. This became a kind of latent power. Man did not lose this power; this power was merely bound up inside man's flesh. Today everyone in the world still has Adam's power. But it is concealed inside and cannot be expressed freely. All this power is in a man's soul, in the same way that it was in Adam's soul. Because the soul is surrounded by the flesh, the power is also surrounded by the flesh. Satan's work today is to stir up man's soul and develop the latent power within his soul, so that he can deceive people and cause people to believe that this soulish power is spiritual power. The reason I mention this is to show you the special relationship between man's soul and Satan's work in this last age.
We have seen that Adam had a special or supernatural power. Actually, this power was not anything extraordinary. But to us today, it seems special and supernatural. Later, when Adam fell, the power fell with him as well. Before his fall, Adam could very spontaneously exercise this power. It was in Adam's soul. When Adam fell, the power was concealed by the shell of the flesh. In the beginning, when Adam's soul possessed this power, the body was his helper. When the soul fell, this power was suppressed and surrounded by the shell of the flesh. What Satan is trying to do now is break the shell of the flesh and develop the power within man's soul. In this way he will control man's soul. Many people do not understand this and think that this power is from God. As a result, they are deceived.
Not only Christians, but Babylonians, Arabians, Buddhists, Taoists, and Hindus, all try their best to release everything concealed in the soul which we inherited from Adam. No matter what religion, no matter how different the practices, methods, and procedures, there is a common principle behind these practices: they all try to overcome the outward flesh and freely release the soulish power from every kind of bondage. Some practices aim at destroying the obstructions of the body. Others try to combine the body and the soul. Still others train and strengthen the soul to overcome the body. Despite all of these differences, the principle is the same. If you do not know this, you will be deceived. I do not know how some know of the marvelous power that is dormant within the flesh, and I do not know how some discovered that this power was bound up in the flesh and that it will turn them into a so-called "super being" or "buddha" once it is released and its miraculous power is manifested. Perhaps they were told by the devil or the evil spirits. Although their theories are somewhat different, the principle behind their teachings is the same: to release the soulish power by some special means. They may not use the term "the soulish power," but the fact is there. For example, Taoists, Buddhists, and some Christian sects, such as the Charismatics and Christian Scientists (this one has branches in Shanghai and Tientsin), have special and supernatural power to perform seemingly miraculous things. Some claim that they can heal diseases, and some even predict the future.
For example, in Taoism there are cultivation techniques and breathing exercises. These are some of the simpler exercises. Then there is meditation. They all have one principle in common, to put the body in subjection to the soul for the purpose of releasing the power of the soul. This is why many miraculous things happen in Taoism. Many of these things are facts, and we cannot discredit them as mere superstition. Buddhism was originally atheistic and Sakyamuni was an atheist. This is the common conclusion of many Buddhist researchers and critics. Sakyamuni believed in reincarnation as well as a nirvana beyond reincarnation. He believed that when a man frees himself of everything, he will transcend over all to become a buddha. Today I am not teaching Buddhism. My purpose is to explain why there are many miraculous things in Buddhism and how these miraculous things come about. The Buddhists speak of escape from the world. Their monks abstain from marriage. They prohibit killing and the eating of meat. They meditate, and they practice asceticism. In the end, some even abstain from food altogether. Many senior monks can tell the past and predict the future. They perform many miracles through Buddhist practices. In moments of inspiration, they can predict the future. Behind all of these things is one principle. Buddhists try by every kind of abstinence and asceticism to break the biological and physical bondage, so that the soulish power may be released. Even the simplest kind of meditation is a way to break the bondage of the flesh and develop the power of the soul. Several friends of my father belonged to the Common Improvement Club. These people have rules of meditation, etc. They say that when they reach a certain level, they see a certain amount of light. The higher the level they achieve, the brighter the light they see. I believe all these are true reports. What they have experienced is the release from the bondage of the body and the acquisition of the power Adam had before the fall. This is not surprising at all.
The popular modern-day Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded by Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. She denied the existence of sickness, pain, sin, and death (but she has already died), saying that man should not have any disease. If a man becomes sick, all he needs to do is say, "I am not sick," and he will not be sick. This means that if he believes that he is not sick, he will not be sick. The same is true with respect to sin. If a man believes that he has no sin, there is no sin. They believe that when a man trains his will, thought, and emotion to the point that he can deny the existence of these things and proclaim them as false and deceiving, he will indeed find that they do not exist. When they started to preach this, many people and many doctors were against it. They thought that if this were true, all of the doctors would be out of a job. When they investigated those who were supposedly healed in the Church of Christ, Scientist, they found that many were indeed healed. They could not overturn the facts, and more and more people believed and joined them. Even some famous scientists and doctors have believed. They have believers not only in England and the U.S., but also in China, where they have set up branch organizations. This should not be at all surprising because Adam did have great and immense power in his soul. As long as a man can release this soulish power from his flesh, he will experience these things.
We need to see the power of the soul from the scientific perspective. There have been unprecedented developments in the field of psychology in modern times. What is psychology? Psychology is the study of the soul. The words psychology and psychiatry in every nation come from the two Greek words psyche and logos. Psyche becomes psycho and logos becomes logy. Psyche is the word used for soul in the Bible. Therefore, a man's psyche or his psychology is his soul, and psychology and psychiatry are but the study of the soul. Modern-day scientific research on psychology is a study of what is taking place in the soul. It is limited only to the soul and has nothing to do with the spirit. Modern parapsychology began with Franz Anton Mesmer. His first discovery was made in 1778 and is now known as mesmerism. Since Mesmer's days, his students surpassed him and discovered much more. Many discoveries were too miraculous to believe. His method was to develop the latent power within man. For example, the so-called clairvoyance, or seeing or sensing of something happening thousands of miles away, was taught by Mesmer's students.
One book said that "mesmerism is the rock from which all mental sciences...were hewn." Before Mesmer, the study of psychology was not considered an independent science; it was only a part, and a minor part, of natural science. Later, because of the discoveries, it became a system all by itself.
I would like you to pay attention, not to study psychology, but to know the miraculous things discovered by psychology. These discoveries are but the development of part of the latent power of the soul that was hidden in Adam's soul after his fall. What is a latent power? You have to realize that God did not take back Adam's miraculous power after the fall; this power fell together with Adam. This is the reason why the devil can particularly utilize this power. This power was locked up in the body and has been restricted. The power is there, but it cannot be released. This is why we call it the latent power.
The phenomena of our human life, such as the ability to speak and think, are quite remarkable; but within us there is still another latent power which is not developed and which is concealed. If this power was released, it would demonstrate far more remarkable phenomena than that which we see today. The supernatural things discovered by the psychologists did not come because they had the power to communicate with spirits, but because they released the existing latent power of the soul through some means. Ever since psychologists discovered the key to unlock the great potential in man's psyche, they have discovered numerous things which psychiatric power can perform.
Mesmer had a student who discovered clairvoyance through mesmerism-style hypnosis in 1784. Clairvoyance enables a person to see something that normal people cannot see with their physical eyes. One of his students also discovered telepathy, through which they were able to know through their mental power what was in other peoples' minds. These phenomena were discovered by Mesmer's students. Soon after this, hypnotism, neurology, and psychometry were discovered. Hypnotism first puts someone to sleep, then the hypnotists give suggestions to the one being hypnotized, and the hypnotized one thinks, speaks, or acts according to the suggestions. Not only can a man be hypnotized, but some animals can also be hypnotized. Psychiatry is a method of healing illness through hypnotism; it is a method of removing illness through man's own psyche. Psychometry is the independent action of man's psyche apart from his body. The psychometric senses of the one who practices it enable him to know everything of the past. Besides these, there were other discoveries as well.
Another technique was called statuvolism, in which the subject controls his own will and throws it out of his body to any distance he pleases. He can eat, drink, and feel outside his own body and can do everything that a man can do within his own body. This kind of knowledge became more and more developed. By 1847 it became more advanced. Once a man came out of a hypnotic state and discovered what he called pathetism, in which a man can release his own power and withdraw himself from the consciousness of pain, as well as cure diseases. Later this became a special branch of study as well.
At first, men did not believe or agree with these discoveries. But since many miraculous things happened and were true, these things became established as a special branch of science. Many miraculous things were considered as natural phenomena. Of course, to us, they are indeed natural, for they are but the development of the latent power concealed through the fall of Adam. If you exercise your will enough, you can manifest yourself outside of your body also.
Psychologists say that there is great power locked up within man, that within him, there is self-regulating power, creative power, constructive power, faith power, interest-arousing power, and even rejuvenating power (the power to regain youth). These are powers that can be developed by man. One psychology book even said that "human beings are God, and God is locked up inside of us. We can be God when we release the very God within us." These words sound exactly like Satan's speaking.
Whether in China, Europe, or the United States, and whether it is breathing exercises, asceticism, meditations, hypnosis, predictions, telepathy, or pathetism, they all cultivate the inward power and its expressions. I think you all have heard of many miraculous things done through hypnotism. In China there are many fortune-tellers who have done many things that we are all familiar with. Every day they can only see a few clients. Their skill comes from much cultivation and exercise. Their fortune-tellings are surprisingly accurate. Some other techniques developed by Taoism and Buddhism also perform miraculous things. Although there are many counterfeits, there are also many true supernatural manifestations. There is no other explanation except that these people have either stumbled upon a way, or are instructed by evil spirits, to release the power to perform extraordinary acts through certain exercises. Ordinary men do not know that this power is within them. Those with some scientific knowledge know that this power is within them, but they do not know where it lies. We, who have been taught by God, know that this power is the latent power within man's soul. The power became fallen when Adam fell and is now locked up in the flesh. This power is fallen, and God has ordained that man should no longer use this power. However, Satan likes to develop this latent power and make man realize the many riches within him. Satan makes man think that he is God and thus fulfills his promise that man "shall be as gods" (Gen. 3:5). Consequently, man worships himself, and indirectly Satan, and loses his position before God. Therefore, Satan is behind all study of psychology. He is trying his best to utilize the latent power of the soul to fulfill his purpose. All those who try to develop their soulish power cannot avoid being utilized by and being close to the evil spirits.
Mr. Pember indicated, from another point of view, that once men can do this they can communicate with the devil. He was very knowledgeable in this aspect and had many such experiences. He said that there are two methods by which men can communicate with the devil. The first is to stir up the latent power, and the second is to be possessed by the demons. Today we will pay special attention to the first way which is to stir up the latent power. Mr. Pember said that very few people can stir up their latent power. Many people cannot do this because this requires the soul to be in control of the body and be freed from the control of the body. This is exactly what we have said. We have studied the Buddhists' contemplation, meditation, etc.; the Taoists' practice of body-relaxation, meditation, breathing exercise, etc.; the hypnotists' cogitation, mind-concentration, etc.; the "silent sitting" of the Common Improvement Club; and other kinds of breathing, meditation, intoning, silence, mind- concentrating, thought-denial, and hundreds of other similar activities. Although their knowledge and religious beliefs are different, the principle is the same. What they are doing is nothing but bringing men's disordered minds, wavering emotions, and feeble wills to an empty state and, at the same time, subduing the outward flesh. In this way, it becomes possible to release the latent power of the soul. The reason the latent power of the soul is not manifested in everyone is that not everyone can break down the barriers of his flesh or bring his psychological condition to a completely void state. People today are simply developing the inner latent power.
When I was in Singapore a few years ago, I met an Indian friend who was doing a great deal of work there. He said that he had a Hindu friend who could reveal the secrets of others and that this friend was right every time. One day he invited his Hindu friend home to try him out. His friend was able to name everything stored in the drawer. Later he asked his Hindu friend to wait outside while he wrapped a very important thing in cloth and paper and put it into a box. Then he put the box into the drawer and locked the drawer. When his friend came back, he was able to accurately say what was inside the drawer. This is the function of the soulish power; it can see through all kinds of physical obstacles.
Mrs. Penn-Lewis published the following in the Overcomer magazine:
I once met a man in North India, who had access to the highest circles of society in Simla, the summer seat of the Government of India, who told me one evening of his connection with the Mahatmas in India and in other countries of Asia. He said that he knew of great political events weeks and months before they came to pass. "I do not depend for news on telegrams and newspapers. They only record past events; we know events before they take place," he said. How can a man in London know the events happening in India, and vice-versa? It was explained to me that it was through "soul-force" being projected by men who knew the secret of the Mahatmas. (Overcomer magazine for 1921-23, quoted in Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis's Soul and Spirit. Poole, Dorset, England, Overcomer Literature Trust, 1968, pp. 55-56.)
Mr. Pember also said that many Buddhists could see other people's minds, subdue evil spirits, perform works through soulish power, accelerate the growth of plants, quench fires, and subdue wild beasts. They could speak to others outside of themselves and even touch others. They could exhibit their spiritual bodies in an exact likeness of that of the flesh, and even create the likeness of physical objects, as if creating something out of nothing. However, a monk with this kind of ability must go through long periods of training.
Friends, all of the miraculous things in religion and science are manifestations of a person's latent power and are utilized by the evil spirits. They have one common principle, which is to break down the barriers of the flesh and release the soulish power. We (Christianity) are different from them because all our miracles are done by God through the Holy Spirit. However, Satan is utilizing soulish power to express his supernatural abilities and make man as God. The power of the soul is now a tool of Satan's work. Satan works through this. Everything of God is void of soulish power. When we were regenerated, we were born of the Holy Spirit. Everything of God is done through the Holy Spirit and our regenerated spirit. God will never use soulish power. Ever since Adam's fall, God has prohibited man from using the power he had before. This is why the Lord Jesus often said that we should lose the soul-life, the power of the soul. I have spoken before on the salvation of the soul, but I have never mentioned what I am mentioning here. God wants us to totally abandon our soulish power. We cannot say that the works of wonders that others perform are all counterfeits; I admit that many of them are real. However, these phenomena all come from the latent power of the soul after Adam's fall. We Christians must be very careful in this last age. We must not purposely or unconsciously stir up the latent power of the soul.
Now let us come back to the verses we just read. We have seen that Satan and his followers, the evil spirits, will buy and sell men's soulish power in the last generation. This means that the whole world will be filled up with the latent power of the soul. One correspondent of the Overcomer magazine said, "The forces of psyche (soul) are arrayed against the forces of pneuma (spirit)" (op. cit., p. 55). All those who have spiritual discernment and perception can feel that this is true. The power of the soul is coming toward us like a turbulent tide. Satan is utilizing science (psychology, psychiatry), religions, and some ignorant churches (which inordinately pursue supernatural manifestations and manipulate supernatural gifts in an unscriptural way) to saturate this world with the power of darkness. This is simply Satan's preparation for the manifestation of Antichrist at the end of the world. A truly spiritual person (one who rejects soulish power) will feel that the opposing evil spirits around him are much more intense than before and that darkness is everywhere. He will feel that it is hard to press on. However, this is the necessary process through which God prepares His overcomers for the rapture.
I have mentioned all the above things to show you what soulish power can do and what it really is. Prior to the Lord's coming back, similar things will increase, perhaps a hundred times more than before. Satan will perform many unprecedented works of wonder through the power of the soul and deceive God's chosen people. We are getting closer and closer to the time of the great apostate. Mrs. Penn-Lewis said:
The momentum is increasing rapidly, the hand of the Arch-enemy of God and man is on the helm, and the world is rushing to the dark hour, when, for a brief period, Satan will actually be the "god of this age", ruling through a superman whose "parousia" (appearance) cannot long be delayed (op. cit., p. 69).
What is the power of the soul? Any believer who receives the teachings of the Lord and the enlightening of God's Spirit knows that this power is the power of Hades. It is spreading out into all the nations of the world to deceive them, making the world an extremely dangerous place.
Satan is now utilizing the power of the soul to replace the gospel of God and the power of the gospel. He is blinding the eyes of men's hearts and causing religious people to believe in his bloodless religion through the wonder of the soulish power. The fact that today several billion people believe in Buddhism and Taoism is a good example of this. Satan is using psycho-scientific discoveries to cause people to doubt the value of all the supernatural things in Christianity and think that these are the same as the miracles other religions perform; but they are simply psychological, latent powers. On the one hand, Satan is using these things to replace Christ's redemption. Hypnotism is pioneering the way to try to reform men's bad habits and evil nature. On the other hand, Satan is busy in the church, performing many miracles which issue from him and leading God's children astray.
As God's children we must know the difference between the spirit and soul. Only then will we be protected. If there is no deep work of the cross applied to the Adamic life, and if there is no real life union with the resurrected Lord through the Holy Spirit, we will unconsciously develop our soulish power. Mrs. Penn-Lewis said:
"Soul-force" versus "Spirit-force" is the battleground today. The Body of Christ is by the energy of the Holy Spirit within her, advancing heavenward. The atmosphere of the world is thickening with psychic currents behind which are massed the aerial foes. The only safety for the child of God is an experimental knowledge of the life in union with Christ wherein he dwells with Christ in God, above the poisonous air in which the prince of the power of the air carries on his work. The Blood of Christ is for cleansing. The Cross of Christ is for identification in death. The Power of the Risen Ascended Lord by the Holy Ghost, continually declared, laid hold of and wielded, will alone bring the members of the Body through in victory to join the Ascended Head (op. cit., p. 70).
Today my desire is to let us know the source of the soulish power and its function. We will speak on the rest of the subject next time. May God show us that where this soulish power is, there are the evil spirits. We should reject whatever is from the self and accept only what is from the Holy Spirit. In this last age may we particularly refuse the latent power of the soul, so that we will not fall into Satan's hands. The soulish power, through the fall of Adam, has come under Satan's authority and has become the tool for his work. For this reason we should be particularly careful, or we will be deceived by Satan.
