Dark Souls

“Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness." 

(Luke 11: 35 nkjv)

I was talking to my sister today and we both talked of people who are evil to the core, like mass murderers, or demon possessed people, or the criminally insane. Suddenly an idea popped into my mind that rather than saying "evil people" we could also call such people "dark souls." These are the opposite of good people, or "souls of light." The above text divides people in this manner, calling believers in Christ "children (rather "sons") of the day" and "sons of the light."

The bible connects darkness with evil. It also teaches that a person without God and salvation is in darkness and darkness is in him. So Paul writes to the early Christians:

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." (Eph. 5: 8 nkjv)

An unsaved man is darkness itself, the darkness surrounding him is also pervasive within him. A saved man, however, is "light in the Lord," he being in the light and the light being in him. When in darkness he was a son of the night, a son of the darkness, but when saved he became a "son" or "child" of the light, a son or child of the day, as the text in the above image also says. All outside of Christ, and in sin and moral depravity, are dark souls. Of course, some are far darker than others. Jesus said:

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6: 22-23 nkjv)

Good vision in moral and spiritual things illuminates a man in his heart, mind, soul, and spirit. Men either have a "good eye" or an "evil eye." This "good eye" in scripture involves having "singleness of the eyes." Some translations say "if your eye is single" rather than "if your eye is good." Several new testament texts speak of "singleness of heart" (Acts. 2: 46; Eph. 6: 5; Col. 3: 22). By the word "single" or "singleness" is meant good, sound, or healthy. When used of the eyes, it denotes good vision. In both the physical realm and the moral or spiritual realm, good vision is most important. A good eye keeps a man out of being in the dark and this is true when it comes to both physical eyes and the eyes of the soul or mind. So Paul speaks to the Ephesians about "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." (Eph. 1: 18)

Darkness, morally or spiritually speaking, involves ignorance and evil behavior. Light, likewise, involves knowledge and good behavior. So, to be "full of darkness" denotes great evil and great ignorance. To be "full of light" denotes great good and great knowledge. When we survey the state of people today, we see how they are truly in the dark and are darkness itself, or dark souls. It has been that way since the fall of man. Said Jesus:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3: 19 nkjv)

Depraved and lost souls love the moral darkness of sin and theological error. They resist living godly and believing divine truth. This love of darkness is a love of evil deeds and shows that they are under God's condemnation. The only way to be delivered from such damning darkness is to believe in Christ who is the Light of the world. Said Jesus: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." (John 12: 46 nkjv) So, when a person believes in Christ and receives him God does something wonderful in that person. Wrote Paul:

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Cor. 4: 6 nkjv)

When a person is delivered from moral and spiritual darkness, he has been illuminated or enlightened, so that he no longer is in darkness, and the darkness in him is dispelled by the light. He then goes from being a child of the night or child of darkness to being a child of light and of the day. This light that enlightens a person and dispels his darkness is "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Whoever does not have this saving knowledge is without light and is still in darkness and the darkness is still in him. Wrote Paul again: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." (Col. 1: 13 nkjv) Every child of light was once a child of darkness until saved by the Lord. When the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saul the persecutor, and made him Paul the apostle, he said to him:

"I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, ‘to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’" (Acts 26: 17-18 nkjv)

Here the darkness is connected with the "power of Satan." Salvation involves being enlightened and turned to the light, to Christ, and to his word, and that being done a believer is no longer under condemnation, but is justified, and is no longer under the power of Satan or darkness, but is forgiven and sanctified by his faith. 

Dark souls. We see them all around us today. And, how great is the darkness we see? It is said that it is darkest before dawn. That being so, the superlative darkness we see today is but a sign that the day of the Lord is about to come.