With All Thy Soul
Matt 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
To be able to love with all our souls, we must understand what a soul is. There are many definitions of soul. I was taught while growing up that the soul is the body and spirit together. In some scriptures such as Hebrew 4:12, soul refers to the body. However, the word for soul in Greek is “psuche” which means breath of life. From this word are derived other words such as psyche and psychology, that which makes us distinct and individual beings. Although it can mean immortality and life after death, it has more to do with our individual personality. The soul in Greek and Hebrew have to do with the seat of our emotions and feelings and are closely related to the heart. The body, Greek “soma”, is the word for our corruptible flesh, that which is traditionally left behind in the grave.
In Matthew 10:28 (above), the Lord is drawing a distinction between body and soul. There are enemies that can destroy the body but cannot destroy soul. Here, Jesus is telling us that we need not fear those men who commonly kill the body and thus free our spirits to go to the spirit world. We need not fear them because they do not have power over us, neither body nor soul. As noted earlier, they can do no harm to us by any means. Yes, they have killed many, countless millions, but those who were killed are they who never discovered or found the strait gate. Those who have entered in at the strait gate, have discovered that they have overcome the world and thereby are not subject to death or harm by their enemies. They are in the world but not of the world. They are not subject to death of body nor soul as long as they remain on the side of Jesus Christ.
In this Matthew 10 scripture, the Lord is warning us to fear (be aware, be alert) them who are able to destroy both soul and body in hell. But, the question must be asked, how can our body be destroyed in hell if we leave our bodies behind? If our bodies are in the grave and have been decomposed, what body is left to destroy in hell? This warning is to those who know who Jesus is, who have a testimony of him and in spite of that, turn to the darkness while walking at noonday. They are subject to destruction of both body and soul if they remain unrepentant.
To avoid this horrible fate, we must love the Lord our God with all of our souls, that which makes us distinct individuals. In the chapter on discussing the two kinds of leaders that exist in the world and in the universe, there are those who feed their egos and have reached such a state of pride and arrogance that they only see what is in it for them. They believe the greatest of all exists to have all others serve them. They belong to a very small and exclusive club of the richest of the rich and the most powerful of the powerful. They cannot love neither Jesus Christ nor his father nor their fellow man because that means they must stop feeding their own egos, their unique individuality, their psyche. So, for them their soul exists to be worshipped by others and to obtain further power and glory.
I once heard a man describe an experience he had at a meeting of world leaders in which he brought his two teenage daughters to accompany him. The participants in the meeting were discussing how they might reduce the population of the world, to get rid of the surplus humanity who drained the resources of the world and added no value. Their goal was to reduce the population from 7 billion to 500 million. Of those 500 million, only a very few would be the leaders of the world, who would receive the highest power and honor. One of the leaders present in the room was Ted Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy. This man was invited to sit next to Ted Kennedy and as they became acquainted, Ted Kennedy said to him, “You will get to meet a lot of foxy ladies and they will all be available to you.” Just then, a beautiful young girl entered the room and Ted Kennedy said, “I want to sleep with that girl.” To which the man remarked, “No you won’t, she is my daughter.” To which Ted Kennedy replied, “That doesn’t matter to me.”
In referring to these world leaders, Jesus said,
What doth it profit a man if he should gain the whole world but lose his own soul.
Jesus is acknowledging that they have gained the whole world and they have been in possession of its wealth, resources, technology and power since the dawn of time, from generation to generation. Herein, is found their great power of seduction. It is not so much the wealth and power of the world, it is that they have been in control of it for so long. They hold up their power and wealth to the righteous and say, “See, you can have this too if you would but join us. We have had it for many generations. Jesus will not help you because if he were able to help you, he would not have let us prosper for so long. He would have prevented all of the wars, the disasters, the atrocities, the suffering of the innocent. We are proof that Jesus has no power, his power is a myth. Come follow us, worship us for we have the true power.”
It was this same group of elite that knew who Jesus was and in spite of that knowledge, crucified him. It was they who mocked him on the cross and said,
And they who passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou who destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross.
35 Likewise also, the chief priests mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
They continue to mock him today. They masquerade as Christians, many pretend to be church leaders, they draw near to him with their lips, but their hearts are from him and they teach for doctrine the commandments of men. Commandments of men not only refer to man-made religious commandments designed to keep people dependent, but also refer to all commandments of men including the millions of laws and regulations designed to penalize and oppress their victims. Ironically, the wolves in sheep’s clothing are absolutely and totally exempt and free from these man-made commandments and suffer none of the consequences in their violation.
They have come over to darkness and to the enemy of Christ because the enemy has seduced them into thinking that the promises of Christ are not real or achievable but the God of this world, Satan, can deliver on his promises and has done so over many ages.
These are they who seek the righteous, those who have been transformed and who have overcome the world through the blood of Christ, and seek to convert them to darkness, to limitless power in this world. It was to these converted Christians that Christ issued the warning to fear those who would destroy both body and soul.
To love the Lord our God with all of our soul means surrendering to him our unique identity, the individual self, by losing ourselves in him. He who will find his life will lose it and he who will lose his life shall find it. One of the great paradoxes of Jesus was that in order to find ourselves, we must strip ourselves of all pride, and I mean all pride, and cleanse the inner vessel. We must know our own nothingness and then we will be able to know our own unique identity. We will find ourselves but the self we find will be renewed, different, transformed. We will find our true selves, not the one who was blinded by the darkness of this world, but the true and eternal self, the child of the most high God.
Even when we have made this quantum leap to become one who has overcome the world, we are not out of the woods yet and must be ever vigilant, hence, the warning by Jesus to his disciples and to us that we would be constantly tempted to come over to the dark side with unspeakable riches and power. We would be enticed and distracted by all the things of this world.
The enemies of Christ, the anti-Christ, these rulers of darkness, are not easily discerned,. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Outwardly, they look like sheep. Their works are deceiving because they do many good works. They have unlimited wealth and use some of it for humanitarian purposes. They feed the poor, they build hospitals and they build schools. They promote peace and religion. They are the hypocrites to whom Jesus referred who were as whited sepulchers but inwardly were full of dead men’s bones. They literally are full of dead men’s bones having committed many murders across the ages to get gain and maintain power. Their good works profit them nothing because they did them not to serve Jesus Christ and his father, they did them to deceive the righteous and for their own power and glory.
Hence, the commandment by Jesus to love the Lord our God with all of our soul, surrendering ourselves completely to him helps us to distance ourselves from the temptations of the enemy, the adversary to all righteousness. In fact, when we have been sufficiently converted to the side of Jesus, we will not only be less subject to temptation, we will be able to help others who have been seduced by the workers of darkness. On this subject, the apostle James wrote in the book of James,
19. “ Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”
The word “hide” has also been translated as prevent. And whose sins are being hidden or prevented? I assert that the sins of both the one converted and the one doing the converting. Both profit there from by being further converted and further distancing oneself from darkness.
Certainly, this is the greatest of conversions, to convert one who was been taken over completely by darkness and their generations of success in this world. This is where the frontlines are drawn in the war between light and darkness. The battle for men’s souls. The powers of darkness rage when the servants of Jesus Christ seek to convert their soldiers and their victims to the light of Christ. But, the righteous need not fear for Christ has given his true disciples power over all enemies. The key to this power is the First and Second Great commandments.
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