Soul and Soulish Activities

You cannot find the word "soulish" in any English translation of the Bible or in any English dictionary. I use this word to describe the activities in the soul realm. The closest Greek word equivalent to the non-existent English word "soulish" is "psuchikos" meaning "natural", "earthly" or "sensual".

Paul in his discourse about the resurrection of the dead wrote:

"The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:42 and 44, NKJV, emphasis added).

The phrase "natural body" translated from Greek means "earthly body", "sensual body" or "soulish body". So, every person on earth (Christian or non-christian) has a soulish body and we all live in this soulish body.

As we have seen in my previous postings the full personality of a man consists of his spirit, soul and body. We are created to have our spirit led by the Holy Spirit, to direct or dictate our soul, and our soul to direct our body. Someone has said, God created our spirit as king, our soul as servant and the body as slave. But, the original God ordained functions of man's personality were changed after the Fall. The spirit died, his soul became the king and his body became the servant and subjected to corruption.

The whole process of salvation puts them in the right order again. But, as we have seen earlier (refer to my posting "The Saving of Souls") our salvation is not complete. Full salavation comes at the resurrection when our soulish or earthly body shall be transformed into a spiritual body. The spiritual body will be directly controled by the our spirit without having to go through the our soul realm (mind and reasoning). Some one has said, at the present age the soul realm is the "bottle neck" of our spirit. Therefore, we still have to deal with our soul life all through our Christian walk. We have to live in this condition.

Activities of the Spirit and Soul

All Christian activites involve the spirit and soul working together with the five senses of the body as channels to act out these activities. But there are differences in activities. Soul activities are activities belong to the soul realm but dictated (controled) by the Holy Spirit. Soulish activities are activities dictated by the rebellious soul of the Christian.

It is interesting to identify some common activities in the Christian life so that we can place these activities in their proper realm. We need to bear in mind that all these activities are good as long as the Christian is truly led by the the Spirit of God and everything works in perfect harmony.

Here are some examples:

Worship

As I have pointed out earlier, worship is an activity of the recreated spirit of man led by the Spirit of God. The natural man simply cannot worship or praise God. In fact, no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is praise. When to praise God is a decision of the will of the Christian. He chooses when and how to praise God. He praises God in his understanding and intellect.

Mary greeted Elizabeth at the house of Zacharias said:

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior ..." (Luke 1:46 and 47, NIV, emphasis added).

Mary's spirit rejoices (a form of worship) in God, but her soul glorifies (a form of praise) God.

The corresponding activity in the body is bowing, lifting up of hands, clapping or dancing.

2 Sam. 6:14 says, "king David danced before the Lord" after he brought back the Ark of God to the City of David. He danced because his spirit rejoiced with gladness. David was led by the Spirit of God to dance.

Revelation

Revelation comes by the Spirit of God.

Paul prayed, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17, NKJV, emphasis added).

Notice that wisdom and revelation are part of the Spirit of God and we can only receive them in the spirit realm. We know God by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. In other words, our spirit-to-Spirit relationship with God gives us the knowledge of Him.

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is doctrine, theology or theological teaching. I am not saying doctrine and theology are wrong and not good. They are good and needed if they are entirely Bible based and Christ centered. But, they are in the realm of the soul, intellect and reasoning and must be distinguished from spiritual revelation which comes directly from the Spirit of God. No one gets to know God by theology alone.

In my opinion, the average contemporary local Church has a lot of theology but very little revelation. It seems some preachers are frightened of revelation and think it is far more reliable to depend on theology or teaching materials of renowned Christian writers.

Preachers should emulate Paul:

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:4 and 5, NIV, emphasis).

You cannot find Pual refering to any man-certered doctrine, rules and regulations in any of his epistles. Our faith should rest on the revelation and power of God.

In fact he said, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Col. 2:8, emphasis added).

In other words, philosophy and basic principles of the world have no place in the Body of Christ, in preaching or in any Church activity!

Joy

As we have seen from the example of Mary's Prayer (or Song), joy comes from the Spirit of God. The truth is that joy depends entirely on God. Since God never changes (Mal. 3:6) we need not be without joy at any moment of time.

In fact, the Psalmist said, "To God my exceeding joy" (Ps. 43:4).

Think about it; if God is your joy and if you are without joy, then you are either without God or cut off from God. Either way you cannot call yourself a true Christian or a true disciple of Christ!

Furthermore, Christians are instructed by Paul to "Rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16).

The last Chapter of Habakkuk gives us a clear picture of what Biblical Joy is.

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17 and 18, emphasis added).

In the midst of all those calamities Habakkuk chose to rejoice in the Lord. Joy is a decision of the will.

The corresponding activity in the soul realm is happiness. The main difference is, happiness depends entirely on situation or circumstances. It depends on the way people are treating you. It depends on your financial situation and other experiences in life. It is never constant but fluctuates. No one is able to feel happy all the time.

The corresponding activity in the body is how we perceive the situation by our five senses. It is always pleasurable to be joyful or to feel happy.

The Rebellious Soul

Our soul is opened to Satan's prompting and deception.

James said we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires (things of the soul) and enticed by Satan (James 1:14).

The soul of a born again, spirit baptized Christian can become soulish if he fails to walk in the Spirit and turns away from God in self-willed rebellion. The result is, in some measure he lost his fervent love towards God. He is no longer the same spiritual person he used to be. He is on the verge of "backsliding". He is not a lost soul, but his soul life becomes soulish. Satan somehow has a foothold on him. He becomes a soulish person if he is no longer led by the Spirit of God. The soulish nature in him produces soulish substitutes of true spiritual activities.

Soulish Substitutes of Spiritual Activities

I have to say that the following comments are entirely subjective. It is my personal evaluation from personal observation and experiences. My readers need not agree with me.

Here are some examples:

Worship

In true spiritual worship the believer gives himself unreservedly to God. He is God focused.

The soulish substitute of worship is entertainment which is self focused. In entertainment the "worshiper" says bless me and give me a good time. His main reason of going to a Church service is to "get blessed" by participating in soulish singing of soulish songs with deafening soulish music. The leaders of their Church know most of the churchgoers have itching ears and could not endure sound doctrine and so they simply give them what they want. Soulish preachers are invited to "preach" man-pleasing compromising "sermons" (1 Tim. 4:3 and 4). Everyone is happy (of the soul) and tells others to come and "get blessed". It is not surprising that these Churches always have large congregations of churchgoers.

Discernment

In true spiritual discernment the believer is led by the Holy Spirit to assess a situation or a another person's conduct or attitude in certain circumstances. We have to be very careful here. Christians who do not understand much about spiritual discernment might think you are judging others. One of the most common misunderstood verses of the Bible taken out of context is Mattew 7:1. Many Christians including Pastors and Church leaders think they have no right to judge at all. Matters pertaining to "Discernment and Judging" is so confusing and at the same time so important that I intend (God helping me) to have a posting on this topic soon.

The soulish substitute is criticism. When Christians are walking in the soulish realm they could not understand things of the Spirit for these are foolishness to them (1 Cor. 2:14). It is a natural tendency to criticize things that seem foolish to them.

Compassion

The show of compassion comes from the realm of the Spirit.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus shows compassion to the lame, the blind, the sick and the demon possessed. He heals and delivers them. In other words, He does something to change the situation.

When Jesus was in the company of Mary and Martha at the death of Lazarus, Jesus wept. But His weeping was the result of His "troubled" Spirit and His showing of compassion towards Lazarus' sisters. The Bible says, "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33, NKJV). Jesus was never soulish.

It is true that a Christian cannot heal another person's sickness; but he can certainly pray for that person, shares the Gospel to him and ministers to his needs.

The soulish substitute is sympathy or show of pity. A "self-pity" person is always seeking sympthy. Self-pity is a result of self-love. This person is walking in the soulish realm. He desires friends to say "Poor you, I feel sorry for you". This person might feel good for a while but there is little or nothing done by his friends to change the situation.

Job was surrounded by friends who were sympathetic toward him.

Conviction

Conviction of sin is the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). Conviction usually leads to repentance.

The soulish substitute is guilt or condemnation. God never makes people feel guilty but Satan does. Satan is called "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev. 12:10). The last thing that Satan wants is repentance of God's people. He is the thief to come to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10). He does not want God to forgive you through repentance.

No Christian has the right to condemn another Christian.

Paul said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, ... (Romans 8:1).

Revelation

All spiritual truth and prophecies are the work of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says prophecy "never came by the will of man" (2 Peter 1:21) and "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). In other words, no one knows any spiritual truth unless he receives it by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is written by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

The soulish substitute is manipulation.

A situation might arise at the end of a Christian meeting when the invited preacher says, "God tells me that the gentleman sitting at the back row will give RM5000 to this ministry at the end of the meeting. God will certainly bless him even more abundantly if he gives more!"

It could well be a genuine revelation of the Holy Spirit. But, if it is not , then this is maniputlation or witchcraft in disquise!

In His "Sermon on the mount" Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matt. 7:15). He said further that "Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (verse 20).

Christians need spiritual discernment to understand what are true spiritual activities and what are soulish substitutes of the real things!

The Church of Jesus Christ needs the Spirit of discernmet in the Last Days!