The Secrets and Mysteries of the Soul

By Edir Macedo

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unipro
• Release date: Jul 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9786589769613

Book preview

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,