The Secrets and Mysteries of the Soul E-Book

Edir Macedo

• Herausgeber: Unipro
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 168

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

No matter how energetic, healthy, enthusiastic, and full of dreams a person may be, they know that life in this world is short. What no one knows is how close they are to their last breath. To understand the real meaning of life and existence, many people continually search for explanations in theories, ideologies, philosophies and even in things and people, which takes them further and further away from the answers they seek. The truth, however, is closer than they think. With clear and detailed explanations based on the Word of God, The Secrets and Mysteries of the Soul talks about the greatest foolishness of humanity, the pain of the soul, what to seek first, and how to guarantee peace for all eternity among other things. It's an amazing book that reveals the greatest desire of the Author of life for humanity since the Creation.

Leseprobe

Copyright © 2022 by Unipro Editora

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations in this book, except those marked otherwise, are from the New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editorial coordination: Sandra Gouvêa

Copy-editing: Evelyn Higginbotham

Art direction: Paulo Junior

Layout design: Alison Leite

Cover design: Willian Souza

Typesetting: Paulo Junior

Translation: Sandra Gouvêa

Editorial assistance: Talita Valentin

eBook version: Ricardo Rodrigues

M141s

The secrets and mysteries of the soul / Edir Macedo. – 1. Ed. – Sao Paulo : Unipro Editora, 2022.

Original title: Segredos e mistérios da alma

ISBN 978-65-89769-61-3

1. Soul. 2. Salvation. I. Title.

DDC 230

Rua João Boemer, 296 – São Paulo / SP

CEP: 03018-000 – Brasil

[phone]

unipro.com.br

[email protected]

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

What is man?

The source of desire

Soul, heart, life

The weaknesses of the soul

The soul’s dream

Where will your soul spend eternity?

The image of God

The highest level of perfection

Chapter 2

The affections of the heart

You don’t know it

A source of contamination

Why were we given a heart?

The cleansing of the heart

The heart and forgiveness

When the body is sick because of the soul

Chapter 3

The joy of God over a soul

Surrendering our soul

What to seek first?

The price of salvation

Chapter 4

Gaining the whole world and losing your soul

The greatest foolishness of humanity

Which is greater, the body or the soul?

Wisdom and the soul

Beware that you do not forget

Fool!

Denying yourself

Watch and pray

The second death

Chapter 5

hell

Why did God create hell?

Lies about hell

Lucifer’s sin

Chapter 6

The greatest of all warnings

Put an end to the pain in your soul

Rescuing our souls

Spiritual blindness

The new birth redeems the soul

The soul and the Holy Spirit

The gifts and the fruit of the Holy Spirit

Chapter 7

Our war will come to an end

All packed and ready for eternity

Separated for a short while

Look to Heaven

I don’t want to fail

Introduction

In our everyday life, the soul usually comes last, while the body comes first. Beauty, strength, comfort, financial stability, and peace are what occupy most people’s minds.

Through this book, I want to help you understand the importance of your soul and that this life on earth is not the best life there is. You need to know about an incomparable life that’s waiting for those who are saved in eternity. You also need to be aware that our greatest wealth isn’t found on the outside, but on the inside—our soul.

And when it comes to a person’s soul, no wife, husband, children, possessions, or reputation deserves you putting your salvation at risk.

Most people think that eternity is far away and that they’ll have time to think about it later, but life is uncertain. It’s a fragile and finite breath. Nobody knows how close they are to their last breath.

Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.

Psalm 39:5-6

What is 80, 90 or 100 years compared to eternity, where there are no calendars or clocks?

The same God who asks us what our life is, answers that it’s nothing but vapour. So why should we ignore the future and think that we’ve got our life under control?

The fact that tomorrow is uncertain should be our greatest incentive to take care of our souls today.

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James 4:14

We need to understand that we were created as spiritual beings, which means that life in our physical body is fleeting. With all the energy, health, enthusiasm, and dreams we have, our life here is short. The Bible doesn’t compare our lives to a strong, massive rock, but in fact to a wildflower, which blooms in the morning and withers at noon. The wind blows on it, and it’s gone.

As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Psalm 103:15-16

Life can only be lived to the fullest in eternity. The Most High considers our soul to be so special that He wants us to be with Him forever. And for us not to lose our way to the Kingdom of Heaven, the true home for our soul, He sent His Spirit to guide us.

It would be crazy to reject such a great offer of salvation just to live for our own pleasures, to forget about God and idolise our physical bodies, titles, possessions, and plans instead of caring about the eternal destiny of our soul. Death is certain for everyone. Whether they’re famous or unknown, good or bad, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, sick or healthy, young or old, everyone will die for sure.

On the other hand, the final destiny of each life is uncertain. That’s because eternity is a choice that needs to be made while we’re alive. God’s not the one who makes this choice, but it’s each of us who decides whether we believe and surrender our lives (our soul) to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We didn’t choose to come into the world, but we do have the right to choose where we spend eternity.

Chapter 1

What is man?

According to the Bible, man is composed of both the physical and the spiritual, having been created as a trinity: spirit, soul, and body. (Just like God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.)

The Scriptures reveal that human beings are divided into three parts and that God wants to sanctify each one of them.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Humans are different from animals because we are the only ones who form a trinity (spirit, soul, and body), given by God when He completed His creation.

Adam’s body was moulded out of the dust of the ground, and the Almighty breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. Only he received that touch. No one else.

The Spirit of God has made me; and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Job 33:4

The breath of the Most High is what caused man to have His image and likeness (see Genesis 1:26-27). Although man has a physical component, he’s also endowed with a spiritual part, just as God is.

All living beings may have the breath of life, but only human beings have the privilege of being a trinity like the Most High.

Now, let’s take a look at the differences between the spirit, the soul, and the body:

1) From our spirit comes intelligence and the ability to interact with the spiritual world.

In our spirit is where wisdom, talent, and intelligence dwell. A person who is skilled in maths, art, or singing, for example, has borrowed that talent from God. The Most High distributes His talents to human beings diversely and fairly. People may have different abilities from each other, but they’re all divinely equipped with an intellect. As human beings, our awareness of good and evil comes through our spirits—the moral capacity to do what’s right and the ability to think, assess, evaluate, and learn to make decisions.

Another basic function of the spirit enables us to communicate with God. There’s no doubt that our spirit holds a very noble place in our human constitution.

Because the Most High is SPIRIT, He communicates with our human spirit. It means that God speaks from Spirit to spirit, as the Scriptures say, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit [not with our soul] that we are children of God” (see Romans 8:16).

Note that one is the spirit of man, and the other is the Spirit of God.

The human spirit is what hears and is convicted by the Word of God to repent and use faith. It’s through our spirit that we develop a spiritual awareness of God and His thoughts.

It’s our spirit that sets us apart from all the rest of God’s creation.

When we seek the Lord, it’s essential to know that He is Spirit and that any worship we offer Him can only be accepted if it’s done in spirit and truth. In other words, the Most High is not pleased with worship based on human emotions and feelings. That is why the Lord Jesus said:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:24

God’s original plan when He created man, was for our human soul to be continually led by our spirit. But when Adam fell, he gave his soul over to the bondage of sin, and his flesh took over.

2) Our soul is the immaterial substance that dwells inside our human body.

Our soul (or heart) is the essence of human life. It’s the hub of feelings and emotional reactions from our five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste).

Through my eyes, my soul sees, and guided by my spirit (intelligence), it tells me right from wrong. Through my ears, my soul receives information and makes decisions. Through my nose, my soul smells and makes decisions. The same is true of touch and taste.

Our inner life—our emotions, desires, feelings, and curiosities about the outside world—are all cultivated in our soul. It’s also in the soul that we develop an awareness of ourselves and others.

Unlike our body, which is fragile and mortal, our soul is immortal. Within it, dwells the eternality of human life.

While animals act by instinct, man is subject to the consciousness of the human spirit. The Most High has endowed man with a robust free will to choose his own “destiny”: whether he walks in communion and submission to the Most High God, or he doesn’t.

The human spirit guides a person’s soul, which in turn uses their body. Just as an engineer creates a robot with a microchip (intelligence) to control it, the Creator made human beings with intelligence to guide the soul within their body.

The soul sees through the eyes of the body, speaks with the mouth of the body, and hears with the ears of the body. When our body is injured, it’s our soul that feels pain. And when the body takes a painkiller, it’s our soul that feels relieved. When a person dies, their soul leaves their body, and no matter what is done to that body, they no longer feel anything. A body without a soul decays, rots, and returns to dust.

It’s the soul that feels any pain that stems from physical and emotional causes.

3) Our body allows us to have contact with the outside world, makes us aware of who we are and has the genetic characteristics of our parents.

Through the body, human beings can do many things such as communicate, work, move around, and have fun. And in our pursuit of pleasure, comfort, and security, we invest in our bodies twenty-four hours a day: healthy diets, proper sleep, rest, sports, leisure, etc. In one way or another, our bodies are the centre of attention. Unfortunately, most people live their entire lives focusing on their body, as if it were eternal. They don’t care about the immaterial being that keeps their bodies going: their soul.

Although our body (the physical matter) is seen, touched, appreciated, praised, idolised, and worshipped, few pay attention to the living being who keeps our body alive on Earth.

Because of this, people suffer horribly for the bad choices they constantly make. In their urges to satisfy their passions and all the desires of their body, human beings end up becoming slaves to sin and evil. And once someone becomes a slave of Satan, he can’t avoid the pain, anguish, and emptiness of his completely confused and lost soul.

In his greatest pain and misery, King David cried out, “Lord, be merciful to me;heal my soul, for I have sinned against You” (Psalm 41:4).

Sin is an offence against God. Transgression gives unclean spirits the right to take possession of the bodies of those who hate God’s righteousness and impose their disorder and unrighteousness on those people’s lives.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Romans 6:6

A person’s body (their old nature) only stops being used as an instrument of sin when they get baptised in water (are buried) and start living in newness of life. But if they’re baptised in water and don’t turn away from sin, their baptism is invalid and has no practical effect on their life.

Therefore we were buried with Him [Jesus] through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.

Romans 6:4-5

When baptism in water is valid, baptism in the Holy Spirit occurs naturally. After all, how can a person stay away from sin without the Holy Spirit inside of them? It’s impossible!

When a person becomes the dwelling place of the Most High, they become consecrated to Him as His temple (see 1 Corinthians 3:16), and so they should use their body with dignity, respect, and honour to God.

A body is the physical or visible part of a human being. It’s like a garment or covering for the soul, which is where the essence of each person’s life is.

Our soul is the part that lives between two worlds: the flesh and the spirit. If our soul is led by the Holy Spirit, it lies down in the green pastures of God’s presence. But if it’s led by itself or by the devil, it will go to hell. When Satan speaks to a person, his demonic mind speaks to their human spirit. Those who listen to this voice will be harmed without a doubt.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Romans 8:6

The Bible says that a person’s body returns to the earth, where it came from, and the spirit returns to the Most High, who gave it.

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

But what about the soul? The destiny of a soul is determined by each person when they either accept or reject their opportunities to be saved.

The source of desire

Our soul is symbolised by the heart and according to the Bible the heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

It’s the source of a person’s innermost desires, habits, feelings, and emotions.

Our heart is so deceitful, that it lies and hides its evil nature in such a way that we don’t even realise what’s going on inside of us. Only God—in His infinite omniscience and discernment—can reveal the plans of the heart and help a person not to fall into its traps.

While the world advises people to follow the voice of their hearts, the Bible says that not only is our heart deceitful, but that it’s wicked.

The heart coerces whoever follows it to make lots of mistakes, such as marrying the wrong person, treating others unfairly, committing crimes, lying, etc. This is why the Lord Jesus warns us that all evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, and blasphemy come from the heart (see Matthew 15:19).

The heart cannot be trusted to guide a person in making decisions. The only one who is able to safely direct our steps is the Word of God. Since the soul is equivalent to the heart, we can say that our heart needs to be saved from itself. It needs to be transformed. Without that, a person will have constant problems. Our heart is not the way, the truth, and the life—the Lord Jesus is (see John 14:6). We need no other Teacher nor Guide other than His Holy Spirit.

Instead of being our leader, our heart should bow to the Most High and follow His commandments.

That’s why it’s so important to keep our heart from desires that go against God’s teachings and protect it from the influence of sin, as the Scriptures command.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23

If our heart is not led by the Spirit of God and constantly watched, it will become a source of selfishness, idolatry, anxiety, lust, pride, and every kind of sin.

Anyone who chooses to make their heart their leader and shepherd is doomed to deceive and be deceived by others. Don’t base your decisions and actions on what you feel or don’t feel, but on what the Word of God says. Whoever wants to enjoy the fullness of life until their last breath must protect their heart from everything that goes against their faith.

To live by faith is to obey God and submit the desires of our soul (heart) to the Holy Spirit.

Soul, heart, life

Although our soul is not physical, it’s as real as God Himself. Our soul is a supernatural being and only the Bible can enlighten its secrets and mysteries. Only the Scripture provides explanations for its misfortunes, emptiness, and depression. In their quest to solve the dramas of the soul, people turn to scientific, religious, moralistic, and simplistic discussions and don’t even consider that the Creator of the soul is the only one who can deal with and fix the soul’s issues.

Without a soul, there is no life or heart. Biblically speaking, the soul, heart, and life all refer to the same thing: our spiritual and eternal being.

Although the human body is considered the most important creature in this world, in God’s eyes, it’s just an instrument of the soul. Living a long life here on Earth can’t guarantee a good eternal life. That can only happen when our soul (heart) submits to our human spirit, which in turn submits to the Spirit of God.

Until that happens, there can be no happiness and no abundant life.

In order to teach us how to deal with the problems that constantly affect our hearts, the Creator says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

We need to be on the alert to the feelings of the heart because if it gets attached to anyone or anything in this world, we will be doomed to suffering and pain.

Maybe your heart is attached to your children, spouse, family, reputation, money, etc. Or perhaps your heart is burdened with worries about material achievements, the fear of loss, and anxiety about the future.

There are people whose souls have been strangled by bad experiences, so they carry inner pain, sadness, hatred, and feelings of revenge. These bad feelings are what ruin the lives of so many, and though they pray, God’s blessings are held back from reaching them.

After all, how can God fill a heart that’s overflowing with the filth of this world?

Maybe you’re one of these people who have been holding all their problems, needs, guilt, hidden sins, forbidden desires, and worries inside their hearts. Who knows?

How can the Lord change this situation?