“Damaged Souls”

The history of the world has been a history of a loving God who created humanity. On the other hand, there is a Satan or adversary whose focus has been to corrupt such humanity.  God is the Creator, and He has never given up on his creation. God could have made us robots and make things easier, but he gave us a free will. That free surely complicated everything; however, nothing takes God by surprise! God went forward with a very complex plan of redemption. God continues, even today, to navigated against evil forces who are constantly attempting to destroy his divine plan. 

We see a demonic progression of corruption starting in Genesis 3 as the devil deceived Eve. We were not supposed to die; death was supposed to be unemployed. However, the fall of Adam and Eve produced spiritual death and, limits on our lifespan. Things got even worse in Genesis 6:1-4; here we see fallen angels having sex with humans and the devasted consequences of that union.

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. ³ Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” ⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (ESV)

Genesis 6 could not do anymore damage to the spirit of man; we were spiritually dead already and, our bodies were already destined to death also. But the attack on Genesis 6 was an attack against the human soul. Genesis 6:5 tells us, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  (ESV)

The word “Thought” is the Hebrew word, maḥ^ašāḇāh, meaning “A purpose, thought or the inventions that spring from such thoughts. It denotes the thoughts of the mind, either belonging to people (1 Chr. 28:9; Ps. 94:11); or God (Jer. 29:11; Mic. 4:12); the plans or intentions that arise from these thoughts (Prov. 15:22; 19:21); the schemes of a wicked heart (Lam. 3:60); skillful inventions coming from the mind of an artist (Ex. 31:4; 2 Chr. 26:15).”^[1]

Whatever gets a hold of the soul of a man, gets a hold of his mind, his way of thinking and decision-making. Whomever gets a hold of our souls gets a hold of us. The Bible tells in Genesis 6:5 that “…every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” This is the characteristic of a Godless person; this is a soul sold out for evil. This is the characteristic given to the Nephilim, a hybrid between fallen angels and women.

God’s creation are not hybrids, they are still God’s creation; they are not evil continually, but God’s people have not been immune to the attacks of the devil. Satan continues to use doctrines of demons to spread his anti-Christ message^[2], also food and drugs to alter our souls.  All of us, from the Old Testament to the New stand in need of the restoration of our souls. David said it this way, “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3 (ESV) Paul said it this way, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Our souls are damaged from the influences of this world; our hope is in Christ and Christ alone. God blessed his chosen people with the gift of repentance, with a way out from the iniquity of this world. The hybrids, on the other hand are not bless with the gift of repentance; they are condemned without hope. 

The work of shaping our character, whether evil or Godly, is taking place in our souls. It is there that we make our decision to be disciples of our Lord or to follow the world. God has given us a mandate to make disciples and he has called people for such work. Hebrews 13:17 tells us, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” (KJV) Who has your soul? Whomever does, has you!

To be continued…

^[1] Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 599.

^[2] First Timothy 4:1