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THE SCIENCE OF THE ORIGINATOR OF SCIENCE
"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its
ground."
-- Unknown--
Modified notes from a live presentation of the Book:
Wierwille, Victor P. Power for Abundant Living. New Knoxville, OH, U.S.A.:
American Christian Press, 1971. ISBN:0910068011. 368 pages. [Part IV The
New Birth. Chapter 16. Body, Soul, Spirit - Formed, Made, Created, pp.
229-247.]
Segment 31: Battle Of The Senses; Begin Body, Soul,
Spirit
The subject we are going to be moving into now is one of the great subjects
in the Word of God which I'm going to endeavor to unfold and make living and
real for you. It is the section that deals with the battle of the senses
versus revelation faith in the light of the new birth.
In other words we are going to be dealing with the battle that rages between
the senses and revelation faith and in its relationship to the new birth.
You see, the study that we are now getting into on the new birth and the
battle of the senses versus revelation faith is the whole crux of
Christianity. If you get this clear and if you understand what this is all about
then everything else will fall into proper order and sequence. But if you do not
understand the battle of the senses versus revelation faith or the new
birth then nothing will jell, nothing will fit consistently. It will not cohere
and work with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision.
There are very few people in the Church who have ever understood or been able
to explain the new birth and to make it fit with both life and with the Word of
God, very few.
Now, I cannot explain the new birth to you. The new birth is the miracle of
all miracles. I cannot explain it, that's right. But I believe that by God's
mercy and grace, I can take you into the Word and that this Word of God with the
power of God in it, and your understanding of it, that it, will explain itself
to you, so that you will understand it.
You see, if you are going to explain something you have to be bigger than
that which you can explain or that which you do explain. This is why when I hear
the arguments that people give for the existence of God--all of us have been
educated along these lines where they've given us these arguments for the
existence of God like the cosmological and the teological, all of those--they
prove absolutely nothing.
Because if I'm going to prove God Almighty I've got to be bigger than that
which I can prove. I'd have to be bigger than God. Like I tell my people,
"old Henry could explain the Ford. The Ford never explained Henry."
So, now we'll get into the depth of this thing because to get to the
greatness of God's Word we will have to realize some of these fundamental and
foundational truths regarding this new birth and the battle that rages between
the senses and faith.
Now, this natural man, and when I speak of the natural man I speak of the man
of body and soul. The man who is not born again of God's spirit. He is a
wonderful man. He's maybe a good hearted man. He may be a wonderful benefactor,
loving and everything else. I'm talking about the natural man and I'm speaking
accurately Biblically. And I'm using my words semantically in the right way
according to the Word of God.
The natural man, this man of body and soul is limited to the information
gathered via the five senses. The five senses are the only media, the only
avenues, the only channels of learning that the natural man has. Everything that
ever comes to the human mind of the natural man has to come over one or the
other of these five senses. He either sees it, he hears it, he smells it, he
tastes it or he touches it. These are the five senses. Everything that this man
ever learns he learns by a combination of one or the other of those five
senses.
You see, to learn anything, (now this is a foundational truth and listen
carefully) to learn anything we must have a center for learning which is outside
of the individual seeking. Man needs a point of contact which is outside of the
man for learning. Truth needs a center of reference which is not the man
seeking.
You see, if we are going to learn anything we can only learn from an outside
source. We either have to see it, hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it. So to
learn anything and this law of learning is dynamically important that you
realize that every person who learns, learns practically the same way through
one or the other or a combination of those five senses.
Take for instance the learning process of a baby. If a baby could be born and
live without any of the five senses, now this I know is scientifically and
medically impossible. There is no record of any child ever having been born
alive without one or the other of those senses. But just to teach, listen. If it
could be born without one of the five senses, without any of those five senses
that child could never learn. It couldn't learn a thing.
The reason a child can learn is because a child has the five senses and it
has a center of reference outside of the child. The baby is born for instance,
and lo and behold, right after it is born, they give it to its mother. The
mother immediately begins talking to the baby and says, "my, aren't you just
the cutest thing." And it's redder than a beet. And she'll talk to that
little baby just like as if that baby is already graduating from high school or
from college.
Well, what is the mother to that baby? That mother is a point of reference. A
center of reference for learning outside of the baby. Pretty soon father comes
in and when father comes in they allow him to hold the baby. He's scarred to
death because it's so tiny he's afraid he'll break it in two. But he looks at it
and he says, "my goodness, looks just like me" or "like your
mother!"
The father becomes a center of reference. It has sisters and brothers, all of
these are centers of reference for learning which are outside of the baby.
The child grows up, a few years old, gets out to play in the streets and
alleys, and everyplace else with the rest of the children. Lo and behold, all of
those children are centers of reference for learning for that baby, that child.
It comes home one night and at the supper table, or just before supper he uses a
word which ordinarily is not used in your home and you scratch your head
wondering where did he pick that up. Well, he learned it from someone. He
learned it from someone.
Now this child goes to school, to kindergarten for instance. Every teacher is
a center of reference for learning. All the children are. All the books that
this child has read to it or that it will begin to read as it gets older.
It goes through grade school. It goes through high school. And then let's say
this young man starts out for college. In college all the professors, all the
students, all the reading, all of this is a center of reference for
learning.
You see how the learning process operates. Put it in the field of philosophy.
This is a field of course many people know, I am dynamically interested in, and
whether I'm qualified or not in the field, someone else could judge. But I do
have a major in both philosophy and history and I've been deeply concerned about
the philosophical field.
But why is it that one person follows Plato and another person follows
Aristotle someone else follows Socrates, somebody else will follow Freud or
Hazel or Nietzsche, why? Very simple. Let's say that I am a student of
philosophy and I study all these different men. They are all lodged up here what
they have said. Now I have a hodge-podge of different opinions,
viewpoints up here.
All of these men are centers of reference for learning but in areas they vary
and differ. So here I am with confusion. Now in my mind I begin to catalogue. I
separate out that which appeals to me or that which I feel is right or truth
philosophically.
And let's say after a period of time by the process of elimination I come to
the place that I believe that Aristotle had the greatest amount of philosophical
accuracy. And I say "well as for me from now on I am going to follow
Aristotle." Then what do I become philosophically? An Aristotelian.
Or if I should decide that Plato is the most accurate of them all, then I
become what they call in philosophical circles a Platonist. Or a Freudian.
Do you see how this all came about? All because the natural man has to have a
center of reference for learning which is outside of the individual seeking. He
has to have a point of contact. But we not only need a point, most of us have
had multiple points, thousands upon thousands.
"What about the religious field?" Alright, here's a young child. Dad
and mother belong to a certain denomination so this child is brought up in that
denomination. And when the child, let's say is nine or ten or eleven years old,
it visits with another boyfriend or girlfriend and goes to their Sunday school
and church. And there that morning it's a different denomination. He hears it
from a different viewpoint and it contradicts what he's been taught in his own
church. Now he has two opinions in his mind. Two things lodged up there.
Then let's say later on he goes to another church of another denomination.
And speaking about the same passage of scripture he now hears a third viewpoint.
These are all centers of reference outside of the individual seeking.
Then let's say he goes to college. And let's say in his particular church he
was taught that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and that
this theory of evolution is only a theory. It has never been a proven fact. As a
matter of fact it's is totally unproven and unscientific. Today we've proven
this.
But, he goes to college and his professor in biology or some other course
teaches him that man evolved by the process of evolution, the Darwin theory.
Which contradicts what the accuracy of the Word says. Now, the boy has it up
here, now he has to make a decision! And you know what decision he will end up
making most of the time? He will agree with that decision which most of the
students propound. Why do the students propound this theory? Because of what the
professor taught. The professor taught him, he believed what he taught.
Now he teaches his students. That's how we get all the theories like the
theory of evolution from the college professor into the high school professor
into the grade school teacher. Because they were all educated by this man
carried on down the line.
So, here I am in the religious field. And I go on to college, then I go on to
seminary, let's say. And I study under all these men, every one of the men I
study under, every theologian I read is a center of reference for learning
outside of the individual seeking. They are all lodged up here in my mind.
And I have up here a tremendous amount of confusion. Oh, I won't admit this
to anybody. But everybody that's ever passed through it knows it. Because he's
never quite sure of any one thing. Because here's a great professor who said one
thing and an equally great professor, on the other hand, said something which
absolutely contradicted what this professor said. So I have this in my mind. I'm
confused but I won't admit this because I want everybody to think that I'm not
confused that I'm the man that has all the answers, you know. But I'm really
confused.
So, through the process of elimination again in my mind, and in cataloging
these things. Let's say that I come to the conclusion that in my way of
thinking, in my pattern of life, and in what I believe is true, Martin Luther
had the greatest curb on truth and the accuracy, and I then in turn become what
we call a Lutheran. That's right. On the other hand let's say that I would
conclude that John Calvin had the greatest accuracy then I turn out to be a
Calvinist. Or I turn out to be a Barthian or a Bullinger or something else
because I have by the process of elimination in cataloging things in my mind, I
have come to the conclusion that these men had the greatest truth. This is how
we got men and denominations where we speak of them as Lutheran or as Baptists
or as Methodists or as Calvinists.
All through the understanding of how the senses operate in the natural man.
And how the five senses seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, that
all of those five senses account for the information that comes to the human
mind. And this is why we believe what we believe.
Now, knowing logically that we have to have a center of reference, every
person, and I put it in the singular because this is truth. We have to have at
least one center for learning which is outside of the individual. But most of us
have had multiple centers; we are confused in a multiple way.
This knowing how the law of learning operates and how this thing works, I
came to the conclusion many years ago that for me this Word of God, this
Bible--not the King James version, but THE Word of God which was given
when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit--that this Word
of God is my only source for truth outside of the individual seeking.
This is my primary and sole rule for faith and practice. This is why the law
of learning, operating the way it does, and our knowledge of this, I have to
have some center of reference. For years I read around the Word of God; two,
three theological works a week, every week. Because I just love to read and so I
read and read and read. Well, these men were all centers of reference for
learning and all I got was a hodge-podge of personal conviction but it
was basically confusion. Because, equally great men regarding the same verse of
scripture would contradict each other.
So, when I began to understand the operation of the senses in relationship to
learning, I finally came to the conclusion that instead of staying in confusion
with all of men's opinions a lifetime, I was willing to come to one point, one
center of reference for truth which was outside of the individual seeking, and
that was THE Word of God! And I've staked my life on the accuracy and the
integrity of God's Word. If this Word is wrong, then I'm going to be wrong in
what I teach. But I'm willing to take that "chance" as you would call it.
As John Paul Jones or someone said "he's willing to go down with the
ship." I'm willing to go down with the ship.
If the Word of God is wrong I'm going to be wrong in everything that I've
taught you in this class on "Power for Abundant Living". And everything
we are dealing with now, I could be wrong on, but if the Word of God is right,
then the law of learning substantiates the truth that we're presenting and that
is that this becomes our sole reference, our primary, our only rule of faith and
practice outside of the individual seeking. We have to have something to turn to
because you must learn, you must learn from something which is outside of you.
Man needs a point of contact which is outside of him.
This is why I believe that the Word takes the place of the absent Christ. The
holy spirit takes the place of Christ in us through His Word. I believe that the
Bible gives the truth regarding man's origin, regarding man's fall, regarding
the destiny of man. I believe that the Bible gives the truth regarding man's
redemption, his dominion, authority and power over all of God's creation. I
think the Bible gives the truth regarding the future destiny of man. I think it
gives the truth regarding the origin and purpose of the Israelite nation. I
think the Bible gives the truth regarding God and His family. I think the Bible
gives the truth regarding Jesus Christ, his coming, his death, his resurrection,
his ascension, his giving of the holy spirit, his return. I believe that the
Bible gives the truth regarding the new heaven and the new earth that God is
going to come to establish. I think it gives the truth regarding the new
creation, the resurrection, and many other unknown matters.
I believe that the Bible gives the truth, not facts. Facts come from the
Latin word, in part from factum which means "to do" or "to make".
Anything man does, anything man makes is a fact. But I believe that the Word of
God is truth. Truth is that which eternally is the same yesterday, today and
forever. And I believe that the Word of God is truth.
And I believe that this revelation, this revelation in the Word of God is an
absolute necessity for this senses man if this senses man is going to be an
educated, if he is going to be a complete man. Without the accurate knowledge of
that which is written in God's Word the best of natural men will never be
complete. They will never arrive at the place that they know that they know that
they know, that they know and that they are completely satisfied. Because this
revelation, this revelation in the Word of God must be known by the natural man
if he is going to be a complete man.
Now, I'd like for you to turn to Isaiah chapter 43. I want to read you a
verse of scripture, or read it with you, that is singularly and dynamically
important and few people really stay put on it. Listen, verse 7 of Isaiah
43:
Isaiah 43:7:
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created
him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made
him.
So, I say to my class "are those three words "I created him, I
formed him, I made him", are those three words--"created,
formed and made" synonymous?" And you know what most of the
people say in my class? "Yes". And you know what I say?
"NO!"
Why? Well, I've just taught you that the Word means what it says and it says
what it means. It is of no private interpretation. When God said "formed"
what does He mean? Formed. When He says "made" what does He mean?
Made. When He says "created" what does He mean?
Created.
Had He meant formed all the way through, you know what the Word would say?
Formed at all three places. Why does it say? "I created man, I formed man,
I made man"! Because that's what He means. Now, it's up to us then to
find out what does it mean when He created, made and formed man.
Take another verse of scripture in Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23:
I Thessalonians 5:23:
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God [now
listen] your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Are those three words "your whole spirit, soul and body"
synonymous? I know what you'll say, "no they are not." Well you are
surely right. No more so than formed, made or created are
synonymous. Body, soul and spirit are not synonymous.
Body means body. Soul means soul. Spirit
means spirit.
Now, it is up to us to go to the Word and let the Word speak as to what it is
that is formed, made or created. What is body,
soul and spirit?
"In the beginning", in the beginning! When was this? In the beginning!
How many years ago? I do not know, nor anybody else. Later on, when I read
Genesis with you, I'll be back to this, but as you know, it says in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth."
It's in the beginning [Somebody once said "this was a place where the
first ball game was mentioned--in the big-inning"] So, we are back here in
the beginning. In the beginning, whenever that was, man was formed,
made and created. He was a three-fold being. The body of
man was formed. The soul of man was made. And the
spirit within man was created. This is "in the beginning." This is
why Isaiah speaks of it as formed, made and created. This
is why Thessalonians speaks of it as body, soul and spirit.
The body of man was formed. The soul of man was
made. And the spirit within man was created. This is "in
the beginning."
Now we turn to Genesis to chapter 2 and verse 7. We will be going into
Genesis time and time again now to see the great accuracy of God's Word and how
it answers every question.
Genesis 2:7a:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
ground,...
There is the word "formed." "Formed" man of the dust of the
ground, and this word "formed" means "to fashion." He
formed man's body. He formed it of the dust of the ground and the Hebrew
word for formed is the word yatsar. It is this word in the Hebrew.
The word for formed is the word yatsar. It means "to fashion
out of something", "to fashion out of something that is already in
existence." This is the meaning of the word "formed." Formed
is "to fashion", "to mold", "to give it a form." And it
says this is what He formed of the dust of the ground.
Segment 32: Soul--Nephesh Chai
According to Genesis 2:7 the Lord God in the beginning formed man of
the dust of the ground. He formed his body. Had God wanted man to look
differently than he looks, He could have formed him in some other way.
Because other animals were formed differently. And therefore the Lord God gave
man a form.
And I tell you to this day any place you go in the world you have very little
difficulty in distinguishing between a man and a monkey. Have you? I'm sure you
don't even though a man may act like a monkey half of the time, it doesn't make
him a monkey; or maybe a man acts like a jackass, that doesn't make him a
jackass. You have no difficulty distinguishing between the form of a jackass and
the form of a man. Why? Because in the beginning the Lord God formed the
body of man.
The [Heb.] word "man" is the word adam. The word adam means
red. And because He formed it of the dust of the ground; the same basic
chemical elements that are in the dust of the ground are in that part of man
which God formed when He formed the body.
It's the body that is made up of dust. He formed man of the dust of
the ground. The word yatsar is this word "formed." Which means
"to fashion out of something which is already created." Had it not been
in existence, God could not have used this to form or to fashion.
This is why in Genesis chapter 3 in verse 19 it says:
Genesis 3:19:
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.
What is this verse talking about? It's talking about the body. The body was
taken out of the dust, formed of the dust. The same elements that make up the
dust of the earth, the ground of the earth, are the same elements chemically
that make up the physical human body. The flesh part that which you see here,
this part is made up, formed like this.
You can go, for instance, in the most interior part of Africa and you can
look at a pygmy and you can tell that that pygmy has a form--a form that puts
the pygmy in the category of mankind. Have no difficulty with this.
The Lord formed the body. And He said, "dust thou art
and unto dust shalt thou return." What's He talking about? He's
talking about the body. He's talking about the body because of the law that's
involved. Everything must ultimately go back to its original state.
Here's a desk. This desk looks solid but it really is not solid it is just a
compaction of molecules more or less, everything else that's involved. You
cannot destroy this desk. You may burn it. You can do other things to it but you
can't destroy it. You can only change its form because nothing is ever lost.
Nothing is ever destroyed. It all has to go back to its original from whence it
came.
So, here you have for instance where it said, "the
Lord God formed the body of man." He formed the body. He made
it look like this, gave it curves, as I tell my class many times. Had God wanted
you to look like this. He'd have had you looking like that, but He gave it those
pretty little curves.
He formed the body. Now, this body is formed of the same elements that
are in the ground; the dust, the dirt, the ground. Every man's body to this day
is made up of the same stuff, and ultimately, finally, that which is of the dust
must return to dust again. That's what He's talking about.
It reminds me of a story of a boy who had been to Sunday school. And coming
home at noon he was eating dinner with his mother and father and he propounded a
question which was quite interesting. He said, "mother in Sunday school this
morning they were teaching about Genesis and how we are all made of dust. And is
this true?" And mother said, "why? Sure Johnny, it's true." And he
said, "well, you know, there is something going on in this house and I can't
quite figure it out." And she said, "what do you mean Johnny?"
"Well", he said, "I looked up under the bed this morning and there is
dust under there, so somebody is either coming or going. "For dust thou
art and dust thou shalt return"."
Let's look in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 20 where it says:
Ecclesiastes 3:20:
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again.
What is it speaking of? The body. Now, this body of man as it was
formed-- the word "formed" is the word yatsar:
fashioned of the dust of the ground.
Now, the next thing is the word "soul." Man is body and
soul and spirit. Now, the second great truth from God's Word that
we must rightly divide and understand is the word "soul." The word
"soul" in the Hebrew is the word nephesh. It was made, and
the word "made" is the word asah. It was made.
In order to understand this word "made" you must realize a great
truth. And that is that there is a substance required, of which the thing made
consists. Now, the soul in man is that which makes you you; that which
makes the man the man. That which make you the individual, the person; that
which makes you "you", is your soul.
Now, the soul is "the spirit of man." It is also called "the life of
man", which is common to all mankind. In Genesis chapter 2 again back to verse
7. The first part of the verse we've covered. Now we will go on.
Genesis 2:7:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [that's his
body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living soul [a living soul!].
That's it. The body was formed but God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. "Breathed into his nostrils" is the
figure condescensio. He put life into it. He breathed into his nostrils
the "breath of life." Those words "breath of life" are dynamically important because God
imparted life. He made man a living soul which is the spirit of man.
The reason the soul is sometimes referred to as spirit in the Bible is
because the soul is life and all life is spirit. This is why it's referred to as
the spirit of man; the life of man.
The soul is nothing more and nothing less than that which gives you life. Has
nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or not a Christian. As long as
you have breath life, as long as you have breath life you have a soul.
Breath life is [example of the inhaling of air and its exhaling]. As long
as you can do that, you have a soul.
Now, the confusion between the soul and the spirit has caused no end of
difficulty for people. They say the soul is immortal for instance or they talk
about transmigration of the soul, the immortality of the soul. Why? These are
all erroneous usages semantically of words that are used with a mathematical
exactness and scientific precision in the Word of God.
The soul has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or not. That's
right. With the exception that if you did not have a soul you wouldn't have any
life left. You would have no breath life. The soul is that which makes you
"you". The man who is not a Christian, if he is alive he has a soul.
Nephesh is the Hebrew word for "soul." Chai is the Hebrew
word for a soul that is alive. Because a man could be a dead soul, a dead
body, as it is called a dead person in the Bible. But if he is a living person,
he is a nephesh chai; a living soul who has breath life.
Understand? He has breath life.
Now, to get to the truth of this we look at Luke chapter 12, the depth of it
in Luke chapter 12 and in verse 19. Listen to this:
Luke 12:19:
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many
years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Here's a man who has such good crops. He had to build bigger and better
barns. And then, in this verse 19 he says "I will say to
my soul,..." Well, who is he talking to? To himself, to himself!
"I will say to my soul--Soul, you've got a lot
of goods laid up; take it easy, eat, drink and be merry. Sure, live it up!"
Who is he talking to? He is talking to himself, to his soul. You see, the
soul is that which makes you "you." Have you ever talked things over with
yourself? Sure you have. The reason you can talk things over with yourself is
because you have a soul. You are alive. You have breath life. If you did not
have an alive soul, if you were not an alive soul, you couldn't talk things over
with yourself. After all, it's the most intelligent conversation you ever hold.
Isn't it with yourself? You never have any arguments or anything else. It is the
soul that makes you alive.
Look at 1 Peter, Hebrews, James, I Peter listen to this in chapter 3 and in
verse 20.
1 Peter 3:20:
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight
souls were saved by water.
It is talking about the flood and eight souls were saved by water.
Were they Christian? No, a thousand times no! Christ had not yet come. It was
Noah, his wife, their three sons and their three wives. That meant all eight
people, eight souls, eight alive people were saved by water. That is what the
word "soul" means. Has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or
not.
Look at Acts chapter 27, verse 37, we're getting closer here. Listen to
this:
Acts 27:37:
And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen
souls.
"Two hundred threescore and sixteen souls"
they were on board ship. The record in Acts is talking about when Paul and Luke,
who was with him, were aboard ship being sent toward Rome. All the rest on board
ship were what we would call pagan Romans or Romans who were not believers, not
Christians. But they all were alive people, and on board ship the only two who
were Christian, that we know of, were Paul and Luke, the only two.
We were all aboard ship "two hundred
threescore." Threescore is how much? Sixty and sixteen, two hundred
and seventy six souls, souls meaning alive people. That's all it means.
It has nothing to do with the fact that you are Christian or not Christian, but
that you are alive. The soul is that which makes you "you." It is your
life. It is the life of man. That's right. Look at Acts 7 and verse 14:
Acts 7:14:
Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred,
threescore and fifteen souls.
Three score is sixty and fifteen, seventy-five. Joseph calling Jacob. Jacob
was in Israel and he called him to Egypt. Why? Because of the famine and Jacob
came down; brought his whole family, everybody all together there were
seventy-five souls. Were they Christian? No, long before the time of the
coming of Christ or the day of Pentecost.
But they were alive people! Seventy-five alive people went to Egypt. That's
what it's talking about.
Now it says in Ezekiel chapter 18 and in verse 4:
Ezekiel 18:4:
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall
die.
What's it talking about? The alive person who sins is going to die. That's
all it is talking about. Also, "all souls are
mine," all alive people are mine. This soul life is the life
that man possesses. It is conscious life. It is breath life. It is soul
life.
Look at Genesis chapter 1 and I want to read verse 30 with you. But let me
ask you a question. Does old Betsy the cow have a soul? What about
Rover the dog? Well? If old Betsy didn't have a soul old
Betsymoo-moo" or something
(that's something you wear I believe). But, how about Rover? If old
Rover didn't have a soul he couldn't bite you if you were a mailman.
That's right. couldn't go which ever way she goes "
The soul of the cow is that which makes the cow the cow. The soul of old
Rover the dog is that which makes the dog the dog. Animals have a
soul. This is why if you are going to be logical; all Eastern religions
teach that the soul is spirit and that the spirit is soul. That's right. And
they teach that there is a special heaven. They teach that there is a heaven for
all animals and this is logical. Because if the soul is spirit and this is what
is going back to God, then old Betsy the cow has a soul; where does this
soul have to go? Back to God. Old Rover the dog; where's he have to go?
He's got to go back to God. He has a soul. That's why they have a dog heaven, a
cow heaven, a mule heaven, a heaven for all the animals. And that's logical,
that's right.
The Protestant people who talk about the soul when it dies going back to God,
they just don't know what they are talking about. The Eastern religions are
logical if they are right. If the soul is that spirit of God that goes back to
God, then the Eastern religions are right that they have a heaven for everything
that is alive.
The Protestant church has been way off in left field in this particular
thing. The Protestants teach that the soul is spirit and it goes back to God,
but they deny that a cow having soul has to go back up to God. But by the same
logic, if the soul came from God, it must ultimately go back to God, just like
the spirit and just like the body of man. The body of man must ultimately go
back to what it is "dust thou art unto dust shalt
thou". What? "Return!"
So, if the soul came from God, the soul must go back to God. And old
Betsy the cow has to go back to God. And old Rover the dog, and
old Baa-Baa Black Sheep, all of these have to go back to God. IF what
they teach is true.
But it isn't true! Because the soul is that which makes you "you." It is that
which gives the breath life, breath life. Listen again at this in verse 30:
Genesis 1:30:
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every
thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life,...
The word "life" in Genesis 1:30, that word "life" is the word
soul! [which was asah] It is this word "soul" nephesh
chai, everything that's in life. Well, that verse says exactly that. The
beast has a living, a living soul. Look at chapter 1 of Genesis and I'll
give you a few more.
Genesis 1:20a:
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life,...
The word "life" is the word "soul" in verse 20. Moving
creatures that have life, soul. You see, if they have a
soul they have movement, they have breath life. All of these
things are involved. In verse 21:
Genesis 1:21a:
And God created great whales, and every living
creature...
The word "creature" is the word "soul"! In verse 24 of chapter
1:
Genesis 1:24a:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living
creature...
The word "creature" is again the word "soul." Verse 30 I
already gave you. So, these are some of the places in Genesis chapter one where
the word "soul" is used regarding creatures as well as man.
You see, the soul then is that which gives it life, life. This
is why the Bible refers to a living man, a man that is moving as nephesh
chai. In other words, the word nephesh in the Hebrew is the word
"soul." ChaiNephesh
chai is always used as living life in the Word of God in opposition to dead
nephesh, dead soul or a soul that perishes. An alive soul is always
chai nephesh while a dead person is always just referred to in the Bible
as nephesh. means "moving life," "moving soul."
Now, God made the beasts, every beast wherein there is a soul, a
life. The question I want to now propound and answer is where, "W H E R
E" with all capital letters, WHERE is the soul life within man? Where is
this life? Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter 17, and you
ought to mark this, not only in your Bible but in your mind.
Leviticus 17:11a:
For the life of the flesh [for the life of the flesh!] is in
the blood...
"The life of the flesh is in the
blood"! How is life passed on? It is passed on from the blood,
from one generation to another. "The life of the flesh is in the blood." This
soul life is in the blood and it's passed on through the sperm as it
impregnates the egg. That's how this soul life is passed on.
Later on I'm going to show you from God's Word that the word "created"
is only used three times in the book of Genesis. And that God did not have to
create soul life for man because what soul life is, God had already
created before He got to man. So, when He got to man, all He had to do
was put this breath life, this soul life, in him.
Now, what happens to the soul? Well very simple, as the body goes back to
dust, so the soul is passed on from me to my progeny and if I have no
off-spring, if I have no children, then when I die my soul is gone. There is a
phrase that man uses which is just so accurate it just shocks you. It says,
"he took his last breath." Have you ever heard that? Ever heard that
phrase? "He took his last breath," that's literally accurate from God's
Word. When man takes his last breath that's the last of it. [The last inhaling
and exhaling.] That's it. When I take that last breath, that's the end of it.
Right.
Now, when I take that last breath, I'm dead. Sure, I know the chemical death,
the biological death. I know of cellular death. I know all of this that's
involved because it's all written in Genesis in the Old Testament, all of these
accurate things are in there. But in essence, in the least common denominator,
when man takes his last breath, that's the last of it, that's why it's called
the last breath. It's his soul life. His soul life is gone, then he is a dead
person. And the Bible speaks of him as a dead soul. This is why in Genesis
chapter 2 to verse 7:
Genesis 2:7:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [He formed the body
of man], and breathed into his nostrils [the figure of speech
'condescencio'] the breath of life; and man became a living
soul.
It doesn't mean God stretched Himself out on top of man and went and blew a
little bit in his nostrils. No, no, no it's a figure 'condescensio.' He
breathed into his nostrils "the breath of
life," "the breath of life"! And
when man takes his last breath, that's the end of the breath of life. And the
soul means nothing more and nothing less. Nothing immortal about the soul,
that's right, no more so than there is anything immortal about dust. Dust is
dust. Man's body is made of dust and it goes back to dust. When man takes his
last breath. That's it.
This is why we must understand that the body was formed, the
soul was made in man. And then, we have one more great truth to
consider and that is the spirit of God in man. How then did man have
body, soul and spirit? And, it is that spirit part
of man that we are so deeply concerned about and that we are going to be
studying with a minute accuracy. To go to the second part: http://fdocc.ucoz.com/index//0-105
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