Chapter 23 TESTING BY FIRE

As introduced in the previous chapter, the baptism of the Holy Spirit purifies the person’s nephesh with fire. This fire, however, is not the only type of fire that will touch the human soul.
Ultimately, the substance of each and every person’s life will be put to fire. The quality of each person will be judged by the flames.

For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people ISAIAH 66:16 NIV

“Everyone will be tested with fire.” MARK 9:49 NLT

There are many different sources of fire, each with different characteristics. The first type of fire, and in contrast with the fire of the Holy Spirit, is the fire that a person brings to bear on themselves. This fire will not bring new life. It will not bring cleansing or purification but is a forerunner for judgment. This is the fire of consequence, and the only good that may come from it is correction.

For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, And kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke. ISAIAH 9:18 NKJV

Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. ISAIAH 5:24 NIV

The fire of consequence comes in many forms.

Envy and lust bring the fires of correction, but these burn without flame. They are like rot that eats a person from the inside out. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. PROVERBS 14:30 NIV

And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. ROMANS 1:27 NLT

Anger creates a smoldering heat, and prolonged anger dries out the nephesh.

For a fire is kindled in My anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell DEUTERONOMY 32:22 NKJV

Anger paves the way for fire, but it is the words that a person speaks that provide the spark of ignition.

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. JAMES 3:5-6 CEV

A scoundrel plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire. PROVERBS 16:27 NIV

A person can, in the NAPOX, look entirely together, respectable and upright. But in the SUPOX no such deception is possible. The smoke of the fire smoldering in their nephesh follows them wherever they go.

“But I promise you that if you are angry with someone, you will have to stand trial. If you call someone a fool, you will be taken to court. And if you say that someone is worthless, you will be in danger of the fires of hell.” MATTHEW 5:22 CEV

Ill-gotten wealth also acts something like acid, burning a person's nephesh but without flame. The final effect, tinder-dry ash, is the same as if it had been burnt by fire.

Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days. You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has surely heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops. JAMES 5:3-4 CEV

The glowing crimson and soot-black fires of consequence look nothing like that of the Holy Spirit, nor is the outcome the same. Though fire from the Holy Spirit is similar in that it consumes the impure, it stands alone in the life that it brings in the aftermath. The purging fire of the Holy Spirit is a required precursor and catalyst for new life. Only the Holy Spirit's flame brings cleansing, only the fire of God makes a person pure.

He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. MALACHI 3:3 NLT

I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” ZECHARIAH 13:9 NLT

After the searing flames have passed there comes new life. Like a forest after fire, that in place of what was diseased and rotting brings forth healthy young trees and flowers, the human nephesh, once cleansed, can be born anew, growing in perfect purity within the Holy Spirit’s envelop of protection.

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. EZEKIEL 11:19-20 NIV

Excerpt From: Geoffrey Young. “Guardian Universe: The Gospel in Unexpected Terms.”
Chapter 24 THE HUMAN HEART