The flesh is the source of Satan’s influence, which he constantly uses to control the soul of man. Sin thus took root in the flesh of the first man (Adam), and it is considered a poison that he carries within him. The flesh acts like a corrupted infiltrated agent whose mission is to open the door from within to the devil, granting him easy access.

As a result, the devil doesn’t need to make much effort concerning man, as he knows that to reach a person’s destiny, the flesh will do most of the work for him. We know that God created man according to the following order: Spirit-Soul-Body, while also enabling His creation to interact with everything around him.

Similarly, God endowed man with senses such as sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, integrated into the eyes, skin, tongue, taste buds, and nose, which play a fundamental role in interpreting external signals. Everything God creates is good; when God creates something, He does it with the intent of bringing good, not evil. That is why when Adam saw Eve through his eyes (sight), he joyfully and delightfully exclaimed:

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23).

These words from Adam express joy and amazement at what God had done; his eyes, through sight, had conveyed to his soul something beautiful, a perfection that filled his soul with joy and gladness. Why this joy? Simply because the sense of sight was pure, transmitting pleasant things to Adam’s soul, and as such, he had no knowledge of evil.

We understand this even more when we realize that the man and the woman were naked and felt no shame; they looked at each other day and night, held hands, spoke constantly, and their five pure senses sent signals of goodness and joy to their souls.

All of this shows that God placed the senses in man so that he could appreciate everything happening around him with the intent of doing good. Once sin entered, the flesh was corrupted, and so were the five senses. From that moment on, sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell no longer sent pure signals to man’s soul but rather signals that were tainted and stained with evil.

This is why, once sin was committed, Adam and Eve no longer saw each other in the same way; contaminated by sin, their sight sent distorted information, leading to the birth of the feeling of shame that man’s soul had never known. The flesh is the enemy of the spirit, and anything that opposes the spirit fights against faith. Through the senses, the flesh will do everything possible to prevent man from doing good. This is what Paul expresses by saying:

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18).

It is important to understand that within us resides a very powerful ally that constantly collaborates with Satan. We must not underestimate the desires of the flesh; it is capable of destroying anyone at any time. It uses everything within its power to enable the devil to completely destroy man.

It will use sight to introduce lust, hearing to introduce fear through bad news received by the ears, touch to make man feel pleasurable sensations that lead him to sin. The flesh is a dangerous enemy; no one should underestimate its effects on their life on earth. It is there to create breaches; it constantly works for the enemy’s camp, as its goal is the control of the soul…

This text is an excerpt from the book “The Faith That Never Fails: Living Tangible Faith“ written by Emmanuel MENIE.

We invite you to read the following article “THE INFLUENCE OF THE WORLD.”