"The forces of psuche (soul) arrayed against the forces of
pneuma (spirit)," is the expressive sentence used by a correspondent in
India, to describe the conflict in the unseen realm in these solemn days. This
is his description of the real issues in India at the present time, but to
those able to distinguish between " soul and spirit " the words just
as vividly depict what is taking place in Great Britain as well as in the East.
The situation is undoubtedly changing. The Church of Christ in her advance in
the things of God is meeting with new phases of testings, in which all she has
hitherto known seems inadequate to meet her need. Fresh light from God the Holy
Spirit is therefore an imperative necessity, and this He is giving as new
situations arise.
" The forces of psuche arrayed against the forces of pneuma
! " What does this " soul-force " mean ? Our correspondent
writes at length as follows:
" The forces of the pit have gone forth to deceive the whole
world (Revelation 12:. 7-I2). The consequence is that great upheavals are
taking place in the political world. It becomes us to take account of these
happenings, as they vitally affect the Church of Christ.
" I once met a man in North India, who had access to the
highest circles of society in Simla, the summer seat of the Government of
India, who told me one evening of his connection with the Mahatmas in India and
in other countries of Asia. He said that he knew of great political events
weeks and months before they came to pass. ` I do not depend for news on
telegrams and newspapers. They only record past events, we know events before
they take place,' he said. How can a man in London know the events happening in
India and vice versa ?
" It was explained to me that it was through ` soul-force'
being projected by men who knew the secret of the Mahatmas. What is soul force?
To the believer taught of the Spirit of God, in the light of the Word of God,
it is the power of the pit projected upon the nations of the world to deceive
them, so as to bring about catastrophic changes.
" ` Soul-force' is a word whose charm and magic is only
known in the East. It is the power believed to have been exercised by holy men,
known as Mahatmas, who were the spiritual leaders in India in centuries gone
by, and who are credited with supernatural powers as much today as in ages
past. It is said to have power, not only to energize, but also to control the
will of the people.
" To illustrate the power of this word in the Indian mind,
it is sufficient to point to the revision of the Treaty of Sevres, under which
all that was lost to Turkey has to be restored. A greater triumph of one
Eastern nation over all Western nations put together, cannot be imagined. The
explanation given, and believed in by millions in India, is expressed in the
word ' soul force '.
" This ` soul-force ' is believed to be cultivated by
prayer, fasting, and religious meditation. The Mohammedans point with pride to
their gatherings for prayer in their Mosques. Consider the mass of Mohammed's
at prayer in the great Jumna Mosque of Delhi, where an hundred thousand
followers of Mahomet assemble inside the Mosque, with a still larger crowd
engaged in prayer outside. It is here where ` soul-force ' is generated ! In
the Mosques of India, which count by thousands upon thousands, where devout
Mohammed's meet three times for prayer every day. It is here that the hidden
springs of Islam lie. Every Mohammedan believes that the secret of world-power
is in prayer, and what he believes, he practices. They ` pray', and lo (they believe) the council of European
nations is set aside. What a lesson to Christendom !
" And how is soul-force cultivated amongst the vast Hindu population
of India? If the gatherings of Mahomedans for prayer are large, those of
Hindus, who meet for devotional exercise at their great festivals, are ten
times larger. The Hindus point with pride to their sacred places of pilgrimage,
where they assemble by hundreds of thousands. At the great Magh Festival at
Allahabad, millions of Hindus assemble every seven years.
" Prayer-an exercise of devotion which unites Hindu and
Mohammedan into one common action, to generate ' soul-force ' in order that it
may be projected upon Western nations, to undermine their power and prestige in
the East. It is the greatest revolt known in history ! ... "
There is a passage in Pember's " Earth's Earliest Ages
" which throws light upon this matter. He writes, that the man who would
generate " soul-force " must " so bring his body under the
control of his own soul, that he can project his soul and spirit, and, while
living on this earth, act as if he were a dis-embodied spirit ". The
" man who attains to this power is called an ` adept' and ... can
consciously see the minds of others. He can act by his ` soul-force ' on
external spirits.... He can subdue ferocious wild beasts and send his soul to a
distance ", and he can " exhibit to his distant friends his spiritual
body in the likeness of that of the flesh ". We read that the "
development of these faculties . . . can only be compassed by a long . . .
training, the object of which is to break down the body to a complete subjection,
and to produce apathy in regard to all the pleasures, pains and emotions of
this life...."
The whole tenor of Indian religious life undoubtedly develops
these soul-powers, for what can be the effect of intense " prayer "
fixed on a given object by a hundred thousand men, who know not the Gospel of
Christ, but the " projecting " of soul-forces, directed by the god of
this world, upon the object desired.
" Soul force " verses " spirit force ". What
does this mean in England? Just this. That the same development of psychic
power is taking place knowingly, and unknowingly, all round us, bringing into
action forces which are at the disposal of the invisible powers of evil. "
The forces of psuche arrayed against the forces of pneuma." What are the "
forces of psuche " but the " natural man " drawing out of his
nature latent powers which are not of the Spirit of God. And the forces of
"pneuma ", what are they? The power of God Himself as " Spirit
" brought into action through the spiritual man, born of the Spirit,
walking after the Spirit, and praying to God on the ground of the Blood of
Calvary. (See Revelation 8:3-5, as an example.)
How this ignorant bringing into action of psychic force can
affect spiritual believers has come to me in a recent letter. The writer says:
" I have just come through a terrible onslaught of the enemy. Hemorrhage,
heart affection, panting and exhaustion. My whole body in a state of collapse.
It suddenly burst upon me while at prayer to pray against all psychic power
exercised upon me by (psychic) 'prayer'. By faith in the power of the Blood of
Christ, I cut myself off from it, and the result was remarkable. Instantly my
breathing became normal, the hemorrhage stopped, exhaustion vanished, all pain
fled, and life came back into my body. I have been refreshed and invigorated
ever since. God let me know in confirmation of this deliverance, that my
condition was the effect of a group of deceived souls who are in opposition to
me ` praying' about me ! God has used me to the deliverance of two of them, but
the rest are in an awful pit...."
This is not the only instance which has come to my knowledge
within the last few months of the fresh dangers coming upon spiritual
believers, through the deepening tribulation conditions which are coming to
pass throughout the whole inhabited earth. Through these other instances it
appears that this generation of soul-force under the guise of prayer, is most
likely to take place in those who have had great supernatural experiences, and
have in some way opened themselves to evil spirits. These souls seem, in some
way, to get what might be called a fanatical spirit of insistence that other
believers should come into the same experience that they have had and if they
in any way refuse to seek these experiences or appear to these souls to be a
block in the path of others obtaining these supernatural manifestations, they
direct, as they think, " prayer " upon them, that they should be
punished by God with judgment, or that they should be compelled to yield to what
these souls call " the truth ".
But this is very much like the disciples who said to the Lord,
when they came to a village where they would not receive Him, " Lord, wilt
Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them ? "
And the Lord replied, " Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of
". God never uses compulsion to force any soul into receiving Him, even
for their own benefit. God the Holy Ghost recognizes the human responsibility
of a man's own choice, whether God shall save him or not.
So we would earnestly warn God's servants-truly God's
servants-who seem to be concerned about others who will not seek their own
particular line of " blessing " -and pray them to commit these other
believers to God, and not to lay themselves open to the danger of generating
soul-force by directing, what might be called evil prayers upon them. In any
case it behoves all who give themselves to intense prayer, to carefully avoid
praying for others what they think is the " will of God " for them,
and above all things, never to direct " prayer " upon others, but
upward toward God, thus leaving those for whom they pray free from the possible
danger of soul-force working upon them through the aerial currents of the hour.
As an example of this a minister writes " We have recently had a
Convention in this town and one of the 'speakers' was 'out' to enforce his own
supernatural experience on others-his own particular line of ' blessing'. I was
the subject of much ' prayer' on this line, and I have since seriously felt the
effect ... This concentrating the mind (i.e., soul-force) in prayer on
something that one wants is fraught with evil...."
Let us remember that true Spirit-born prayer has its origination
in the spirit, and that it is not the mind concentrating upon something the
person desires under the cover of " prayer " language.