Sunday, 12 April 2009

AWAKE TO POWER!

A book by Edward Laughlan, featuring the apostle Paul:



CHAPTER THREE


BODY SOUL AND SPIRIT – MADE FORMED AND CREATED

Brethren, the subject of death must be clarified, for it has been twisted beyond recognition by those who claim to be shepherds but are in truth wolves in disguise. They have had free rein to corrupt this teaching, subverting the truth to spread confusion among you. Let that confusion come to an end now!

The writings of old make this subject plain, yet their clarity has been mocked and trampled upon. And what do these so-called teachers say? They claim that the New Testament contradicts the Old—yet in the same breath insist that the two must fit together perfectly. How can both be true? What a contradiction of words! Foolishness! Do you not see how you tear apart the very fabric of Scripture? You twist it to suit the ears of the people, bending it to fit the moment. O foolish man, will you never cease?

What you teach is the doctrine of the Pharisees, brought forth from Babylon itself! It grieves me deeply to see how far you have fallen. Not only do you spread these lies, but you defend them vehemently—so much so that I wonder whether any of you can even hear the truth anymore! Has your heart grown so hard?

Yet I will not waver in the work entrusted to me. Whether you turn from your wickedness and believe, or whether you cling to your error, I will proclaim the truth. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear! This witness, rejected in ancient times, is now given again.

Consider this carefully:

If the soul (psuchē) is truly immortal, as you teach, then why does the Old Testament never once use the words immortal or incorruptible in reference to man? Would our Creator have hidden such a truth from us? Indeed, the doctrine you proclaim in your churches regarding death is the opposite of what is recorded by the Father!

Natural man is a being of body and soul. The soul is breath-lifenephesh in Hebrew—a word that appears 754 times in the Old Testament. Adam was formed, made, and created—a three-part being of body, breath-life, and holy spirit. But when he rebelled, he lost that holy spirit and was left a mere natural man, possessing only body and breath-life.

The natural man learns only through his five senses—hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing, and touching. He has nothing of holy spirit within him, apart from the spiritual spark that gave him life and sustains his breath. As it is written in Leviticus, the life of the flesh is in the blood—and when the body dies, this life perishes with it. The Holy Scriptures teach this plainly!

This spiritual spark of life is in all living things—from the smallest seed to the greatest beast—without it, nothing can live! It is but a spark of divine power, yet you have been led astray to believe that man’s breath-life is immortal—that it retains form, consciousness, and awareness even after death! You say it is tormented in Hell or welcomed into Paradise. But I ask you: if man's breath-life is immortal, then so must be the breath-life of animals as well!

Hear the words of the Preacher, Ecclesiastes 3:19: "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath (nephesh), so that a man has no pre-eminence above a beast: for all is vanity."

And again, in Psalms 49, the psalmist, recognizing the need for redemption, declares that just as beasts perish, so too does man—until the Father redeems him! Nowhere is it written that the soul ascends to Paradise or descends to Hell. This teaching is not of God, but of men!

Consider also Psalms 146:4: "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his Earth; in that very day, his thoughts perish."

Who among you still clings to the lie that the soul remains conscious after death? Do you not see that both man and beast have been given the same breath-life? And yet, you teach that only man remains alive after death?

The prophet Isaiah declared: "For 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."

And did I myself not write to the Thessalonians, saying that man is body, soul, and spirit? But this speaks only of those who are born again! I have told you before, and I say again: Yahweh speaks with precision. He does not waste a single word! The natural man is but body and soul—formed and made. He has nothing of the created spirit within him!

Adam, before the fall, was body, soul, and spirit. He was the first of men to bear the full image of God, endowed with holy spirit, which gave him direct communion with the Father. But after his rebellion, that spirit departed, and all who came after him were left natural men—body and soul alone! Yet, for those who walked in obedience before the Most High, Yahweh placed His spirit upon them, allowing them to perform signs, wonders, and miracles by His power. But understand this, brethren—what they had was temporary! The spirit could be taken from them, as it was from Saul, as it was from those who forsook the Living God. But you—you who believe today—have something far greater!

The spirit is now placed within you! This spirit cannot be removed; it is an incorruptible seed, an eternal deposit of the Father’s power within us! It is our seal of redemption, our guarantee of resurrection!

Now consider, brethren! Yahweh, who is the Inventor of all things, who has set the foundations of the heavens and the earth, who has formed man from the dust—does He not also know how to use language? Shall the Creator of speech Himself be corrected by mortal men who twist His words to fit their own understanding? Woe to those who mishandle the sacred text! Woe to those who force the Word to conform to their own doctrines! If unbelievers, who have no love for the truth, can grasp the rules of language, how much more should we, the sons of the Most High, handle His Word with precision and reverence?

You say that ‘formed,’ ‘made,’ and ‘created’ all mean the same thing. I tell you, you do not understand the Word! If you fail to discern the difference, you fail to understand the very nature of man! You fail to grasp why man is in need of a Saviour!

Hear now the truth! Genesis 2:7 declares: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground..."

The word ‘formed’ in Hebrew is ‘yatsar,’ meaning to fashion from something already in existence. Adam—Red Earth—was shaped from the ground, just as a potter molds clay. Then, it is written:

"And [He] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (nephesh)."

This ‘breath of life’ was not unique to man—it was the same nephesh that Yahweh first gave to the animals! This is not opinion, but Scripture! The Almighty Himself makes no distinction between the breath-life of man and the breath-life of beasts! If a difference existed, would not Yahweh have made it clear?

Now consider this further: The word ‘made’ (asah) means ‘to do’ or ‘to make.’ The part of man that was ‘made’ is his breath-life (nephesh). And where was this breath-life first created?

Genesis 1:21: "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind..."

The breath-life of the great whales was created (bara) from nothing, but the same breath-life in man was made (asah)—formed from that which already existed!

Brethren, understand what this means! The soul-life in man is not unique—it was adjusted to suit mankind, but it is the same breath-life given to the animals. This is why the natural man perishes as the beasts do!

But we, brethren, are not natural men! We have been born again! We are not merely formed and made, but we are created anew in Messiah! He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!

Even Solomon himself, in all his wisdom, spoke of the breath-life as the spirit of man and beast alike. Yet this he did only because it is that which animates the body, the spark that gives life to all flesh! As it is written in Leviticus 17:11:

"For the life of the flesh is in the blood..."

Brethren, this is an immutable truth! Even your own science confirms it today—the air you breathe delivers oxygen to the blood, and the blood sustains the body! When the breath ceases, so too does the life of the flesh. This is nephesh! This is not an eternal, conscious entity but merely the animating force given by Yahweh to all living things!

Why then do you persist in confusing soul with spirit? Has Yahweh confused them? Never! Why then do you? If the Almighty Himself makes a distinction, so must you! You must stand firm against every false doctrine that has crept in among you! Did I not already command you in my letter to Timothy?

"Preach the Word! Be instant, in season, out of season! Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine! For the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears!"

That time is now! Your brothers and sisters are being led astray by wolves, by men teaching doctrines of devils! They speak smooth words, but their teaching is poison!

Hear now the truth! The word ‘soul’ (nephesh) is never used in Scripture to describe a disembodied spirit-entity. It is always used in reference to a living or dead body! But you have been led astray by a corruption of language!

I know how this confusion has come upon you—it is through the Greek word ‘psuchē,’ from which you take your word ‘psyche.’ And herein lies the deception!

The Greeks, in their vanity, refused the truth! They delighted in the false idea that breath-life was more than a mere spark of life. They loved the notion that it was an eternal, conscious entity that continued beyond the grave! So, rather than using the correct Greek word for nephesh—‘animos’ (which means breath, air, or life)—they chose instead ‘psuchē,’ a word carrying an entirely different meaning!

This corruption did not stop there! When the Latin tongue took from the Greek, they too should have used the proper word, ‘anima’—a word that rightly reflects breath and life. Instead, they followed the Greeks into error and used ‘solus,’ giving birth to the English word ‘soul!’

Do you see, brethren, how deep the deception runs? This error, crafted and spread by the enemy himself, has wormed its way into your doctrines and blinded you from the truth! And now, many stand and teach as if it were from Yahweh, when in truth it is from the pits of Sheol!

Cast off these corruptions! Return to the Word as it was given! The soul is not an eternal spirit—it is the life of the flesh, the breath that departs at death! To believe otherwise is to believe the lies of Babylon!

How strange it is, then, that you claim animals do not possess soul-life as man does! Do you not see, even now, that the very word ‘soul’ has come from nephesh? It is undeniable, as plain as the written Word itself!

Yet you persist in this error, clinging to the falsehoods handed down from Babylon! This idea of an immortal soul is nowhere to be found in the Holy Scriptures—it is the work of the adversary, planted like tares among the wheat to choke out the truth!

Has it not been written? Yahweh Himself first used nephesh to describe the life-force within animals, before ever applying it to man! Have I not also shown you how the word nephesh became animos and anima, from which you derive the very word animal?

You fight against the very Creator Himself with your absurd doctrines! You wrest the Scriptures to your own destruction, speaking things which cannot be argued from the truth of the Word!

Let the record speak! In Genesis 1:20, it is written:

"And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath (nephesh) soul life.’"

In Genesis 1:21: "And God created great whales, and every living creature (nephesh) that moveth..."

And again, in Genesis 1:24: "And God said, ‘Let the Earth bring forth the living creature (nephesh) after his kind...’"

What more evidence do you need, O foolish man? The Creator formed the animals first and then man from the dust of the Earth, giving them both the same nephesh, making no distinction!

Yet you, in your blindness, have made a distinction where Yahweh has made none! You have taught a doctrine that cannot be backed by Scripture, and yet you defend it as though it were the Word of the Lord! Repent, therefore, and let the Word speak for itself!

Now, brethren, we must address the word ‘created.’ In the Hebrew tongue, this is the word ‘bara’, which means to bring something into existence that never existed before! It is to get something out of nothing, a work that only Yahweh Himself can perform! This, then, is the most vital part of man, the part that was uniquely and divinely brought forth—his spirit!

This is the holy spirit itself, that which is eternal! This is the direct line between man and the Creator, for Yahweh Himself is Spirit! And does not the Father require His family to be spirit as well?

Has it not been written? Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them."

Created! Not merely made or formed, but created! That is, this refers to the spirit part of man, that which set him apart from the animals and made him in the likeness of God!

When Adam was made, Yahweh placed holy spirit upon him like a mantle, an overcoat that could be removed! Likewise, the prophets who walked with the Creator had this spirit placed upon them, granting them the power to perform miracles and to speak the words of Yahweh with authority!

Do you not see, brethren? Adam could not have been given holy spirit within him as we now receive it, for he lived under a different administration! He had access to the Tree of Life, dwelling in the very presence of Yahweh’s provision!

Now mark this well—when Adam sinned, if he had possessed holy spirit within him as we do, it could not have been removed! He would have become an unredeemable fallen being, no different from Lucifer! And for that same reason, Yahweh cast them out from the Garden, away from the Tree of Life!

Do you not understand? Had they eaten of the Tree of Life in their fallen state, the Father’s plan of redemption would have been eternally ruined! Man’s history would have ended with Adam and Eve, with no hope, no future, and no Savior to redeem mankind!

But Yahweh, in His infinite wisdom, forewarned Adam! He declared: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!"

And did Adam not die that very day? Yes! For the instant he rebelled, he lost his holy spirit connection to his Maker! He forfeited the most essential part of his being! It was that spirit that gave him direct communion with Yahweh! It was that spirit that empowered him, shielding him from the adversary, and that would have perpetuated his life forever!

Now consider this: Before his transgression, Satan had no power over Adam! The adversary could not whisper lies into his mind, nor corrupt him by unseen influence! The only way Satan could communicate with Adam and Eve was to take on a physical form and speak audibly!

Had Adam remained steadfast in the wisdom of his Maker, he could have shaken off the adversary with ease! But in forsaking the truth, he became vulnerable! Thus, the first man was reduced to mere flesh and blood, left only with his natural senses, his spirit removed!

And so, brethren, Adam’s time clock was set in motion. His body, now void of the life-giving spirit, began its descent toward death. Just as Yahweh had warned, Adam would surely die!

Now after Adam’s fall, if any man was to walk in the power of holy spirit as Adam once did, Yahweh Himself would have to place it upon him – as He did with His prophets! No longer did man possess the spirit within, for the moment Adam rebelled, he lost the most vital part of his being!

But more than this—he gained something in return! Something extremely dangerous and negative:

He received a direct line to Yahweh’s Adversary, Satan himself! The knowledge of good and evil was no longer something external to him—it flowed through his very being! The deceiver now had access to his thoughts, whispering corruption into his heart. And from that moment forward, all men and women born of Adam were likewise born with this connection! They entered the world dead in trespasses and sins!

Brethren, do you not understand? The very breath of life that animates us, the spark that flows in our blood, carries with it a spiritual link to the adversary! There was only one exception!

Yahweh’s only begotten Son, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach!

For He alone was born with sinless blood! He did not receive the inherited corruption of Adam! He was as Adam had been before the fall! Had it not already been written? “The life of the flesh is in the blood.”

And so, brethren, the Redeemer’s blood was pure! He alone could have lived forever!

Consider this mystery: Yahweh breathed the breath of life into Adam, for there was no life before him. But for all who have come after, newborns do not require this breath from Yahweh—for it has been passed down through the generations from Adam!

Yet this same inherited breath—this same life force—was tainted! It was corrupted by Adam’s fall!

And so, I wrote to the Hebrews:

Hebrews 2:14: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers (fully), of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Brethren, mark this well! The part Yeshua “took” was from the egg of His mother Mary. This was the part that made up His physical body. But the created part, the divinely created sperm, was given by Yahweh, ensuring that His blood was untainted!

Pure blood! Pure breath life! The second Adam!

Sin affects both the blood and the breath life! This is why the adversary has power over natural man! This is why he has access to their minds, their hearts, their very thoughts! But Yahweh’s only begotten Son could not inherit Adam’s corruption! It was impossible!

And what a humiliation this was for Lucifer! The serpent, in all his cunning, in all his might, in all his rebellion, was undone by the weakness of a child! Do you not see it? Yahweh’s power was revealed not in strength, but in vulnerability! Lucifer could not touch the infant Redeemer!

The adversary was powerless against the child! The Almighty declared in the greatest possible way:

"You are weak! You shall grovel in the dust!"

Yahweh did not need to descend from His throne to crush His enemy. He did it through His only begotten Son, born as a child on this earth!

Now, having clarified body, soul, and spirit—having distinguished between made, formed, and created—I trust you now see the truth of the Word more clearly! Brethren, our breath life is not an eternal entity! It does not drift off to Paradise, nor does it descend into Hell! Death is nothing more than sleep! It is unconscious, void, without thought or movement! Have I not already told you? The words "immortal" and "incorruptible" are never associated with breath life!

Where then do you find them? Not in reference to mortal man, but in the New Testament, speaking of our future—our spirit bodies yet to come, our incorruptible crowns yet to be given! The evidence against the immortality of the soul is overwhelming! Consider the words of Jude:

Jude 10: "But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally, as brute beasts."

Natural man is without understanding! And did I not declare to you plainly in my letter to the Corinthians?

1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned."

Do you not see it? Natural man is cut off from God! He has no direct internal communication with the Creator! Why? Because there is no eternal spirit dwelling within him! Only when a man is born again—when he is given the spirit of God within him—can he begin to grasp the things of the Almighty!

Surely, you need no further clarification, brethren!

Those who teach that all men have spirit… those who proclaim that the soul lives on after death… are teaching doctrines that are not from the Word! Did not our Master, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach, say it Himself?

"Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God!"

Natural Birth - Spirit Birth

A man in his natural state is flesh and blood only. His soul life? Nothing!

And yet, some still resist the truth! Have you not read?

"The Word of Yahweh is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit!"

There is a distinction! A clear separation! Brethren, soul life is breath life! Nothing more!


Taken from AWAKE TO POWER! By Edward Laughlan and featuring the apostle Paul.





Wakeup call to the Redeemed of God!

An excellent source of sane, on the Word teachings of the TRUE Gospel of Yeshua Messiah and what the redeemed of God should be hearing, can be found by checking out the following post. You need to understand clearly, the difference between "everlasting life" and "eternal life" - your understanding is most probably very wrong! Indeed - "There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth"... but NOT by unbelievers!! The resurrection of unbelievers comes AFTER the initial 1000 year plus reign of God's only begotten Son, Yeshua: 

http://this-present-crisis.blogspot.com/2010/05/gospel-of-yeshua-messiah-grove-bible.html





No comments: