Again in mission work, the appeal to the senses and emotions of the soul accounts for the large percentage of converts who do not stand, and for the fleeting influence of much evangelistic work—as well as in many instances the excessive exhaustion of the worker, and oft-times his eventual "breakdown." A correspondent writes: "Is it not the exercise of the soulish, or natural man—the glow, feeling, emotion, and energy, in speaking to others publicly or privately-that causes nerve exhaustion? And is it not possible for the Spirit to quicken the truth without the strain, or wear and tear of the body? Or to tell out God’s truth with no ‘excitement,’ and for God to breathe out His power in the words you speak, not through you so much as through your testimony, after it leaves your lips, and enters into the minds of others? It does seem as if more work could be done, and with far less fatigue, if my surmise be true."

A man may have naturally a "fiery" soul, and by that fiery soul sway and move the soul-emotions of others. But their faith then stands in the influence, or wisdom, of the man they have listened to, and not in the power of God. We can now see what Dr. Andrew Murray means when he says that the greatest danger which the Church or individual has to dread is the "inordinate activity of the soul, with its power of mind and will. " The old Quakers used to call this "creaturely activity," and it is manifestly the energy of the creature being used in the service of God rather than the creature seeking in spirit to cooperate with the Holy Spirit given to him as the Gift of the Risen Son of God.

We find the intellectual man, with his spirit yet unquickened, dealing with the eternal destinies of immortal souls. And we find the strong willed man exercising his will, and dominant personality, over the consciences and lives of others! Schemes, therefore, to reach men and bring them to God by smoking concerts, musical attractions, lectures on popular subjects, etc.., are but the outcome of various types of "soul" in men who desire to help others. Such men may be regenerated, but "governed by soul," and not knowing the Spirit of God dwelling in the spirit to energize them by His indwelling power and use them as messengers of God in the salvation of men.

But there is another section of the Christian Church—and a much smaller company who, knowing the Spirit of God indwelling them, are "soulish" in a much lesser degree. These are they who have a mixture of "soul and spirit" in their religious experiences. They are not satisfied unless they feel the presence of God continually with them, in the realm of their self-consciousness. Consequently, although the Holy Spirit dwells in them, they often fall into the realm of the soulish life because they do not understand the spirit life and the actions of the human spirit in co-action with God.

The "soul" not only comprises the intellect and the emotions, but from the Scriptures it can be seen that the soul is the seat of the personality in its affections, power of joy or grief, etc. Thus it is written: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful. . ." (Matthew 26:38); "My soul doth magnify the Lord" (Luke 1:46); "Now is my soul troubled . . ." (John 12:27); "In patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19); "Vexed his righteous soul" (2 Peter 2:8); "Beguiling unstable souls" (2 Peter 2:14). It is therefore clear that the idiosyncrasies of the individual exist in the soul, as well as in the physical disposition of the body. And this shape of the soul, if we may use the expression, in its capacity for joy, love, grief, patience, etc., may be filled with a spiritual joy, from the Spirit-life of the Second Adam, poured out into the vessel of the soul; or filled with a soulish—or sensuous—joy, moving into the vessel of the soul from the lower life of the first Adam. In the latter case the believer, although indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is "soulish" to the degree to which the animal soul-life has play in the realm of these various capacities of the soul. He may cling to a soulish joy and live in the realm of his feelings or in the seat of his self-consciousness and not in the spirit, the place of the God-consciousness. If so, he will be among those believers who are always seeking for spiritual "experiences" in the sense-consciousness, instead of in the purity of the God-conscious realm alone—the regenerated human spirit.

At this point let us see how the spirits of evil work upon the soulish life in all its phases.

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, from-the-soul, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." (James 3:14-16)

In the ASV, as we have seen, the text runs, "This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual [i.e., natural—the literal Greek is "pertaining to the soul"], devilish [margin of ASV: demoniacal]." This passage we have already referred to, but we quote it again as showing conclusively the relationship of the forces of evil to the animal soul-life. We have here no reference to the "works of the flesh" but to man’s intellectual department— i.e., the soul, and the words of the text show that evil spirits work upon the soulish part of the man as certainly as they do upon his, fleshly nature.

It is startling to see the truth put so bluntly and to know that all bitter feelings of envy and rivalry in connection with the gaining or possession of knowledge are instigated by evil spirits, working upon the soulish life, and have their origin—as Fausset writes—in hell.

This is not very well understood by many true children of God. They may acknowledge satanic influence in the matter of gross sin and the manifestation of the "works of the flesh," but not in the realm of what they consider the highest part of the civilization of today. Back of this lies the unwillingness to recognize statements of the Word of God concerning the Fall and the utter sinking of the entire first creation into corruption and death so that even the "imagination" of the "thoughts of his heart"—i.e., mental conceptions—was seen by God to be "evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).  And back of this total corruption again lies the poison of the Serpent, who obtained entrance through the avenue of the desire for wisdom.

In the progress of the renewal of the redeemed man, it is to the interest of the forces of evil that any element of the fallen life, whether, fleshly or soulish, should be kept active, for as the believer becomes "spiritual" he more and more is united in actual spirit-union with the Lord of Glory. Hence more and more he escapes the power of evil spirits and becomes equipped to recognize them and war against them. But it must first be recognized clearly that the Fall was the result of believing the lie of Satan, the fallen archangel; and that when Satan succeeded, there entered the race of fallen man a poison which runs through every element of his being. This gives Satan power of access to every part of his tripartite nature, i.e. (a) the fallen spirit, dead to God, is open to the hellish dark world of spirits ruled over by the Prince of Darkness; (b) the soul, including the intellect, imagination, thought, will and affections, is governed by the life of the first Adam, which is fallen and corrupt; and (c) body and soul is therefore open in every department to the power of the Poisoner. Consequently, the Apostle John declares with blunt language that "the whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19, ASV).

The fallen man not only has to be redeemed by the lifeblood of the Son of God, but he has to be actually translated out of the power of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s Son—every department of his being, beginning with his spirit, ACTUALLY RENEWED stage by stage by deliverance from the power of sin and the animal soul-life. If the first creation was "fearfully and wonderfully made," then in truth the re-creation of the creature—utterly sunk into the animal soul and the animal flesh, and lifted again into the realm of spirit to have spirit-dominion over soul and body—is a wondrous work, which only the Triune God could accomplish. The Father gave the Son, the Son gave His life, and the Holy Spirit is giving Himself with patience and love to work out the will of the Trinity.

That the Prince of Darkness resists every step of the man’s deliverance out of his thralldom is easy to understand, and it is necessary that we should know clearly the elements in the fallen creation which are open to his power. That he fully controls the unregenerate man is clearly shown in Ephesians 2:23, where the apostle says that the "children of wrath" doing "the desires of the flesh, and of the thoughts" (i.e., soulish life), are wholly dominated by him. Then, when the spirit of the man has been quickened into life, and he has been delivered from the power of sin, the soulish life and elements in the physical body are still open to evil powers. For example—

1. First in the soulish life, the soulish wisdom becomes "demoniacal" when evil spirits use it to accomplish their plans, e.g., the enemy can arouse a mental prejudice, or preconceived idea—unknown to the man—and use it at a critical moment to frustrate the work of the Spirit of God. This working of the enemy through the mind of a believer, when the heart and spirit may be true to God, is a most serious fact in the Church of God today, for through the various "ideas" of good men, the Spirit of God is sometimes hindered even more than through the unbelief and hatred of the world. Again, in the realm of the emotional soul-life, the adversary can so rouse the life of nature that the deep work of the Spirit of God is quenched or checked, and His voice unheard.

2. In the physical body, the adversary can work upon the nervous system, and use the animal magnetism which is inherent in every human frame, as well as many other elements open to the powers of evil, in addition to "the works of the flesh" and what is generally called sin.

These elements are in the very make-up of the human vessel. On the part of the believer there should be a keen seeking of light from God on his complex being, that he may understand himself, and know how to act and walk in humble dependence upon the Risen Lord for protection from the evil one—a protection which can only operate as the man looks to the blood of Jesus, and in implicit obedience to the written Word keeps himself open to all truth which will give him light upon any possible ground he may have given to the spirits of evil to attack or gain admittance to mind or body.

For the powers of darkness are keenly clever in working alongside of or simulating "natural" conditions, either in temperament or disturbance of the bodily functions or frame, and they watch for some physical or mental ailment to serve as the cover or as an "excuse" for their workings.