"Whosoever toucheth the dead body (nephesh) of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself...shall be cut off" --Numbers 19:13.

To the average person, the word "soul" carries the meaning of an undying, immaterial essence that continues in conscious existence after death. This conception is accepted without thought or examination.

As soon as we start to look into the question, however, we begin to make very interesting discoveries. We find, first of all, that the BIBLE meaning of soul is ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT from this, and immediately the question arises:

How can the commonly accepted religious conception of soul be entirely different from the soul of the Bible, seeing that the beliefs of Christendom are supposed to be based upon the Bible?

The Scriptures themselves give the answer. They tell us that the Truth is hidden from all except those few whose minds and hearts please God [2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 13:11-15; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; 1st Cor. 2:14; Isa. 55:8; Matt. 7:13-14; 20:16; 22:14; Matt. 24:12-13; Luke 13:23-24; 18:8; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21].

Divine truth is not a common thing to be probed by every curious scholar [1 Cor. 1:17-29; 2:1-16; 3:18-20].

Unless a man sets his heart to seek God and sets his life to conform to God's will, he can no more find the truth of the Scriptures [Deut. 4:29; 1 Chron. 28:9; 2 Chron. 15:2; 31:21; Prov. 28:5; Isa. 55:6; Jer. 29:13; Amos 5:14; Matt. 6:33; 7:7; Luke 11:9; 12:31; 13:24; Acts 17:27; Heb. 11:6; Rom. 12:1-2] than the men of Sodom could find the door of Lot's house [Gen. 19:11].

God has said that He will send a strong delusion upon all those who receive not the LOVE of the Truth, that they should believe a lie (2 Thess. 2:10-11).