The Latent Power of the Soul [Paperback]

Watchman Nee (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 093500825X | ISBN-13: 978-0935008258 | Publication Date: January 1, 1980 | Edition: No edition stated, assumed 1st printing.

The greatest advantage in knowing the difference between spirit and soul, claims Watchman Nee, is in perceiving the latent power of the earth-bound soul and in understanding its falsification of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 86 pages
• Publisher: Christian Literature Crusade; No edition stated, assumed 1st printing. edition (January 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093500825X
• ISBN-13: 978-0935008258
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Watchman Nee (1903-1972) is remembered for his leadership of an indigenous church movement in China, as well as for his books, which continue to enrich Christians throughout the world. Beginning in the 1930s, Nee helped establish local churches in China that were independent of foreign missionary organizations and were used to bring many into the Kingdom of God. From these roots sprang many of the house churches that continued to meet after Western missionaries were forced to leave the country during the Cultural Revolution. Arrested in 1952 and found guilty of a large number of false charges, Watchman Nee was imprisoned until his death in 1972.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book sat on my shelf for years!, March 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Latent Power of the Soul (Paperback)

Recently, I was compelled to get that book off the shelf and read it. I can't say for certain, but it felt like a dream had said, "Read the Latent Power of the Soul." Whatever the inspiration, I did read it, and wished it had been sooner! I cannot understand why anyone would feel this book was controversial. It helped me to understand about dividing the spirit and soul in Hebrews, a Biblical concept I had never heard expounded in years of churchgoing in various denominations. "New wine" of the spirit cannot abide in the "old bottles" of the soul. As we let go the "old, outer man" and allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in the inner holiness of our Temple, our soul takes its rightful place as the sanctuary, with our body being the outer court--all necessary, but in that order. Too many of us are ruled by the cravings of the flesh, when it should be in submission. This book helps make it simple, if not easy. I know now why I was led to buy this book in the first place!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Take With a Grain of Salt, January 22, 2005

By 

Brian Bomar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Latent Power of the Soul (Paperback)

I will say that the conclusion of this book, the end result, is very great. It is a call to be weary of using different types of hype - loud energetic music, emotional appeals, and stirring testimonies in order to create a soulish effect. He concludes (and I agree) that much of the work of the Holy Spirit can be counterfeited by our own efforts, man-made if you will. The only problem is that they do not give life, only the Holy Spirit can. So, these "spiritual booster shots" have to be given more and more, with increasing energy, in order to prop up people who are still dead in trespasses - or at best spiritual babes. I would recommend reading it just for this sake.

Now, some of his presuppositions I cannot necessarily agree with. He makes an assumption that Adam has supernatural powers in his soul, and at the fall, never lost them, they were just supressed. And, he states that the power is still available, and Satan takes men submitted to him and shows them how to unlock this in order to bring about the final end days deception. I cannot defintely agree, or disagree, with the way he comes to the conclusions. My understanding (with limited study) has been that these powers are released through demonic spirits, not man's "latent power of the soul".

So, I do recommend reading this - it is a short book, and has some profound insight. Just use it as a word of caution to not produce God's results with your own flesh (lights, energetic music, motivational speaking), and trust in God's power.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Nee's shorter books, but still enlightening, October 14, 2006

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Latent Power of the Soul (Paperback)

Man is tripartite - spirit, soul, and body. Prior to the fall of man, there was the spirit, linking man with the Divine, which was the highest; the body, connecting man with the material, the lowest; intermediate stood the soul, partaker of the nature of the others, the bond that united them and through which they could act on each other. Nee speculates that since it is written "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1.26), that image and likeness would be repetitive if it merely meant physical attributes. He was already like Him in outward appearance, but he was ordained by God to become like Him morally, so that man could have dominion over the earth, as he was originally instructed by God.

When Adam fell in the garden of Eden this moral likeness along with its power was immobilized. He had not lost this power altogether, only it was now buried within him. Man had become flesh, and his flesh now enclosed tightly this marvelous power within it. Generation has succeeded generation with the result that this primordial ability of Adam has become a "latent" force in his descendants. As a result, Satan attempts to break open this fleshly shell and to release the power dormant in man's soul in order to gain control over man - so that man can be deceived into thinking he is as God. Many do not understand this strategy, accepting these powers as being of God. For example, I've actually heard several people say that John Edwards, who allegedly communicates with the dead, has a God-given gift!

Nee gives the example of Buddhist monks that, through ascetic practices, eventually attain to the elimination of all food. He mentions that some monks of high degree can even pierce the unknown past and predict the future and perform many other wonders by Buddhist magic. Nee explains that the engaging in all of these different kinds of abstinences and ascetic practices flows from one single governing principle: the Buddhist is attempting to break all physical and material bonds so as to get his soul power released from its subservience to the flesh.

Whether it is in China or in Western nations, all of these practices of breathing, ascetic exercise, hypnosis, prediction, and psychic communications are but the release and manifestation of the latent power of the soul. Satan makes use of man's soul force to manifest his strength. Man's soul power is Satan's working instrument, through which he works out his evil end.

God, though, never works with man's soul power, for it is unusable to Him. When we are born again, we are born of the Holy Spirit. God works by the Holy Spirit and our renewed spirit. Since the fall, God has forbidden man to again use his original power of the soul. It is for this reason that Jesus often declares how we need to lose our soul life, that is, our soul power. God wishes us today not to use this soul power at all, but instead depend on Him. This is Nee's warning and admonition to Christians about brilliant displays of psychic ability - to flee from them.

This book is very short, but the warning need not be long. To make a long book out of the subject would simply feed man's curiousity about the subject, which is what Nee is trying to warn against in the first place. Note that this very short work is included in "The Complete Works of Watchman Nee", so the reader may find that purchasing that product is a better total value.