SOUL WINNING FOR CHRIST

Whenever we talk of Soul Winning, we must first of all seek to understand what soul-winning means or involves, so we do not talk at cross-purposes, and then ask the questions: Why do we need to win a Soul? Or how do we win a soul? It is only against this background that we can talk about God’s “plan” and “purpose” for winning souls.

We might begin our discussion by asking, what is soul and why do we need to win a soul?

So, what is a soul? We can say it is figure of speech in what a part (Soul) is used to represent the whole, man or human being. “He is a ‘soul’ or what a miserable “soul” So when we talk about a soul we are referring to a man or woman, to a human being. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines soul as the spiritual part man or a person’s moral or emotional nature or sense of identity. But theologically speaking, the soul is the second part of a tripartite man (Spirit, soul and body) which is responsible for decision making, reasoning, making choices and judgment. It is the seat of intellect as well as emotions. That is why it is said that when a man dies, it is his soul that God judges because it is the soul that is responsible for all the decisions or choice a man makes, right or wrong. If, for instance, a man takes to armed robbery or a woman goes into prostitution as a profession, or a way of living, it is in the soul that such decisions are taken. Hence, it is said also that when a man dies, the Spirit goes back to dust from where it came while soul goes for judgment for all his doings in life or earth. It is in the soul that the decision to obey or disobey the laws of God or indeed whether to accept Jesus or to serve the devil is made. That is why God does not interfere or meddle with the operations of the soul. The decision or the choices a man makes (in the soul) pure and wholly his own. So, if he rejects God his Creator, and refuses to follow Christ, and instead opts to serve Satan, as far as God is concerned, he is spiritually dead. What does that mean, to be spiritually dead? He may still be physically alive eating and drinking, walking about the streets and committing all sorts of atrocities and merrily living in Sin but as far as God is concerned he is dead, that is, he is spiritually separated from God. He has nothing whatsoever to do with him. That is why the Scripture say “A soul that

sinneth, it shall die.” ‘This is what happened to Adam and Eve. After that Sin of disobedience, God drove them from his Holy Garden and from thence, they were cut off, that is, God no more fellowship, no more visitation and no spiritual rapport.

          This is what its means when a soul is “lost”, he is cut off spiritually. And since God is a spirit, he wants all to worship him “in spirit and in truth” Hence, it is a tragic thing to be cut off from God. And when we talk about saving a ‘lost’ soul, we are talking about saving him from being permanently cut off or separated from God because the consequence is tragic, it is eternal hell-fire.

          All this was contrary to God’s intention for creating man which was primarily to worship him and then to fellowship with him.

          God’s first act after the Sin of Adam and Eve and even before the banishment from the Garden gave us the first glimpse of God’s love for man which showed he was going to do something about the couple’s sin. When Adam and Eve’s eyes were open and saw they were naked, they hid themselves among trees of Garden God then sewed coats of animal skins to cover their nakedness.

          Throughout the Old Testament we see that God tried to return man’s heart to its original state of holiness and perfection. This was why He destroyed by flood the first world He created saving only eight persons, that is, Noah and his family. His purpose was that on the root of Noah, man might yet be transformed. Noah had been a preacher of holiness but the world he lived in was impervious to his holiness message. Right from the time of Adam cut off from God’s authority and supervision, man and his world had quickly degenerated into a life of corruption, violence and strife (Gen6:11-13). Thus, God’s destruction of the first world by flood and saving Noah and his family could be seen as all part of His attempt to save man or transform him. We can actually connect this to the Garden of Eden when God killed an animal and clothed Adam and Eve with the Skin. In other words, God had known even before creation that man might one day need to be saved from himself. And with the covering of animal skin, in Eden, it was established that sin, not only has consequences but also that the form redemption would take: that the shedding of blood was necessary for the remission of sin. But it was in the saving of Noah and his family that the first act of salvation was actually performed.

          Throughout the Old Testament, atonement for sins of the Children of Israel was carried out according to God’s instructions as meticulously spelt out in the book of Leviticus. The sins of Israel were generally confessed on or the Scape-goat (or sin-goat) and let loose into the wilderness while in the Holy Priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial animal on the Mercy Seat. Thus, the Old Testament introduced God’s plan for man’s redemption but it was in the New Testament that its fulfillment was realized. The Old Testament with its ritual animal blood-shedding was a shadow of the substance that was to come in the New Testament with the coming of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. The Mercy Seat of the Old Testament was a for shadowing of Jesus Christ.

          Thus, we say the doctrine of Salvation reached its fulfillment in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s redemptive mission on earth was to show man the way back to God, it was to save man, not only Israel as the exiles had thought during their captivity in Babylon but the whole world, from sin and the wrath of God (Matt 1:21, John 12: 47 and Romans 5:9).

          During Christ’s earthly ministry, salvation was brought by His presence and the power of faith (Luke 19:9-10). Now, our salvation is based on him.

          Infact, in Noah, the preacher of holiness, we have a foretaste of today’s soul-winning enterprises. Before the flood, God had sent an angel to Noah and declared his purpose to build an ark. While building The ark, Noah continued to preach against the evils of man and to warn that god, would send flood to destroy the wicked but they did not believe him. They laughed and scoffed at him and his message of imminent danger and the wrath of god and ridiculed him just as many unbelievers do today when they hear Christians breaching about Jesus and the message of repentance and salvation. The people Noah preached to thought he was just a deluded man or fanatic for God. The same thing is happening today.

Jesus Christ at the end of his earthly ministry instructed his disciples and others who were saved to reach out to those who are yet lost so as to bring them to the father through him so that they can avoid or escape what prophets Joel (Joel 2: 1-11) and Amos (Amos 9:11-15) refer to as “the day of the lord” which essentially is the day of god’s judgment against sinners and unbelievers. Every believer has that responsibility to reach out to the lost, to win a soul back to God.

The message the soul winner is this to give to the lost and unbelievers is simple and straight forward. John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus came to this world to show us the way to the father. He died the cross of Calvary, was buried but rose up again so, Jesus is alive, he ascended to heaven waiting to receive to himself all those who believe in him. So, the message of the soul-winner is: Jesus......more to come on soul winning