Program Transcript
Episode 26: Soul Food
Heather M R Olsen

Welcome Friends.

I’m so glad you are here! 

You have many choices of podcasts to explore but chose to listen to Illumination today.

So thank you. 

This podcast isn’t for me, but it’s for each of you and the ones you love with whom you share it. 

Each episode is to motivate each of us to read the Bible, find its relevance, renew our relationship with the Living God and find ways to nourish our inner being.

Today, let’s just say you are feeding your souls as you listen to Soul Food.

This topic came to me in a dream recently. I wanted to tackle why faith is important as food for the soul. 

This, as all my topics, is no small feat, but one of eternal importance.

I dedicate this podcast to all the loved ones in my life who are struggling with relationship with the LORD and those renewing their faith daily. He loves you so much. 

So much that He sent His only son for you.

But let’s begin. 

If we were to discuss three entities of a human, we could say we have a body, mind and soul.

One physical and two non-physical.

An author I am reading right now is CS Lewis: Literature professor, British philosopher, former atheist, scholar, and lay theologian.

His Christian writings contain deep insight into the mind of unbelievers, as he was one for some time. 

Regarding the soul, C S Lewis wrote that, “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”

That quote hits on the temporary versus the eternal parts of life.

The body will slow down and die, only to decompose.

Yet, the soul goes on after our bodies fail. Our personalities, likes and dislikes, are parts that make up this soul, and once our bodies run out of time, our souls depart.

We are bouncing back and forth between the tangible and the intangible.

Let’s start with some tangible definitions.

The American Psychological Association recognizes the soul as, “the non-physical aspect of a human being, considered responsible for the functions of mind and individual personality and often thought to live on after the death of the physical body” (Dictionary.apa.org).

The APA dictionary continues to say that the soul is the “deepest center of a person’s identity and the seat of their most important moral, emotional, and aesthetic experiences” (Dictionary.apa.org).

In a Google AI overview:

“In anthropological thought, the concept of the ‘soul’ varies greatly across cultures and philosophical traditions. It is often viewed as a non-physical, perhaps immaterial, essence or animating principle of a living being, distinct from the body but potentially interacting with it. Some cultures believe the soul is immortal and continues to exist after death, while others see it as inseparable from the body or even ceasing to exist at death.”

A simpler definition from good old Merriam-Webster: 

1: the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life

2: the spiritual principle embodied in human beings, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe.

3: a person’s total self.

 5a: the moral and emotional nature of human beings

b: the quality that arouses emotion and sentiment

c: spiritual or moral force 

Three concrete definitions relating to this abstract entity.

Let’s unpack our body, mind, and soul.

Starting with the body.

We feed our finite bodies food. In current days we focus on a healthy gut. A healthy gut means a healthier life. The health-conscious eat whole foods rather than processed foods. All those red and yellow dyes that many of us ate as kids are avoided. We exercise, do yoga, stretch, strength train, all to keep our physical bodies in good shape. Physicians and health gurus walk us through best practices of good physical health.

Then our minds.

We also feed our minds: a new education, a good book, traveling, exploring, hiking, varied activities, new foods, new recipes. We seek doctors and therapists when our mental health needs help. All of this keeps our minds active, entertained, and are best practices for good mental health. 

But our souls.

We also must care for the third aspect or our beings—our souls. This is where we’re going to land today. Many in our spheres of influence take this facet for granted or, at worst, ignore it. Yet our souls long for feeding. This non-physical and survivable eternal entity that will indefinitely outlast our bodies. 

Importantly, our infinite God created these three entities in us: body, mind and soul.

God Himself existed before time and exists outside of time and space. 

Even God’s name YHVH means “I was, I am, I will be,” and “I am always,” an eternal being. 

He also put in human hearts a desire to know Him.

God has creatively revealed Himself through Creation and made Himself plain to humanity.

Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

God left clues within creation as well as in our hearts that He exists and humanity as a whole is searching for Him. 

Recently Karl and I visited both Peru and Egypt.

I learned by delving into their respective religions, that throughout the ages, humanity has tried to make sense of Who is in charge of this world. 

These two cultures, like most, are no exception. 

As I share notable religious practices about each culture, note similarities and mimics of biblical Truths.

In Peru, we hiked Machu Picchu.

(A silly aside: remember that one of Illumination’s goals is to instill a proper use of language and translation in the Bible.) 

Well, here is a funny translational issue. 

The name Machu Picchu means “old mountain” in the native language, Quechuan.  Did you hear Machu Picchu? 

If you pronounce the site like almost every English speaker as Machu Pichu, you are saying “old penis.” Machu Picchu. Machu Pichu. I can’t believe I said penis on a biblical podcast but there it is.

Language, translations, and pronunciations are important!! 

Most of you have seen photos of Machu Picchu. 

It is a religious Incan worship site, located between the highlands and tropical valleys in a large Peruvian rain forest. Its representation in religion shows the Incas’ love and worship of nature and pilgrims would come from long distances to visit and worship. 

The views are breathtaking with the cloud formations around the hills, new every moment. The rainforest is plush and green, and the air damp with humidity. It’s no wonder this place was a venerated site to visit. It is breathtaking.

Returning to the soul and thoughts about attempts to make sense of a Creator in the Incan faith, and find some examples of biblical truths.

Three was an important number in the Incan faith. 

There were three realms, hell, earth and heaven.

Animals represented in these realms respectively were the snake, puma and condor.

The snake interestingly represented the underworld. 

The puma was the present world, and the condor was the spirit transport to the heavens.

The Incas believed in three bodily chakras.  

Mental, spiritual, and physical.

They had one main god, but many nature deities. This one main god was the creator of the world. [named “Wiracocha.”]

Many entities in nature were worshiped.

Every mountain, a guardian protector.

The sun was worshiped, as well as the moon. 

A rainbow was a connection between the upper and lower worlds, the gateway or stairs to the heavens.

Water was also a deity because without water, there is no life.

Of course, the stars and milky way were important as well.

Incas also utilized a Tree of Life. 

This Tree of life, “is the Andean cross that mirrors the Three Worlds and the way to navigate between them.” [thank you Google.] It is represented by staircases or a ladder. Hence ladders are significant in the Incan faith and can be seen propped up on homes today.

This is one example of a peoplehood who were searching for a way to feed their souls. 

Biblical similarities:

• The important number 3.
• Hell, Earth, Heaven
• Serpent representing hell.
• Three bodily parts: Mental, spiritual, and physical.
• Creator god.
• Rainbow.
• Water is life.
• The Tree of Life.

In Egypt, similarly, the sun was worshiped, (entitled the sun god, Ra). In fact, one reason that the pyramids have 4 sides besides stability is that the sun always hits a side. Consequently, the pyramid is the symbolic shape of the sun god. 

Death was considered sleeping and the sun rays would come and bring power and energy to wake the dead.

There was a god [Khunam] who built humans out of clay. 

The entire life of a pharaoh of this time period was spent building their pyramid, a tomb. On earth life was short, and this tomb was a pathway to eternity which is forever so getting it just right was important. 

Of the mummies, the heart was kept in the body as the heart would be needed in the afterlife for the final judgment, a physical weighing if the heart was good or bad.

The kidneys were kept in a jar, preserved, and were the symbol of water, an element needed in the resurrection.

The Sphinx faces east. Like the door of the Jewish temple, and the tabernacle.

Ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and a final judgement.

They also had a Tree of Life, theirs representing the stages of life from infancy to old age.

There was a god of creation.

Pharoah would hold a stick or staff in hand as a sign of power—think of Moses.

The scarab, which looks like a large beetle, was a symbol of the resurrection. This scarab would travel from dark to light. From death to life. 

The Ba (soul) went to an afterlife instantly. 

Biblical similarities:

• Death considered sleeping.
• Afterlife.
• Final Judgment.
• Water is life.
• Resurrection.
• Heavens is plural.
• Door facing east.
• Travel from dark to light, death to life.
• The soul goes to the afterlife instantly.

2 civilizations, one ancient and the Incan, not so ancient beginning in 1438 and lasting 95 years, have some similar, yet flawed, thoughts about God and Nature.

Some atheists believe that this disproves a single Intelligent being. 

Rather, it all makes perfect sense.

The Enemy is the Father of lies.

Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom said about the enemy, that “If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy.”

Or over-stimulated.

If the Enemy can’t keep you from believing, he will create enough lies to entice you to a wrong belief.

CS Lewis has written that most faiths contain a “hint of truth,” that is getting something right. 

In fact, in his book, Mere Christianity, he asserts:

“If you are a Christian, you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist, you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist, I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian, I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right, and they are wrong. As in arithmetic—there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong: but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.”

The key is to choose wisely.

In Jesus-believing-faiths, we believe in one God who is the Creator of the Heavens and Earth, of humanity, and all that is on earth. He is good, all powerful, all knowing, everywhere all at once. God is depicted as a Father, but in reality, as he made man and woman in his image, and is represented by 2 other aspects: Jesus the Son who came to earth as fully God and fully human, and the Holy Spirit who is just that, spirit only and lives within all who believe in the saving work of Jesus the Messiah.

Romans 1:25 They exchanged truths about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever to be praised.

Consequently, 

Therefore, God gave them (us) over to their sinful desires of their hearts. Romans 1:24

We can repeatedly read that God gave and gives us over to our sinful desires until we return to Him. This is not just true of unbelievers seeking a Higher Power, but for all of us. When you and I are disobedient, God lets us go our way, until we return to Him.

But back to the soul.

This unique aspect of humanity cries out for God. 

Jesus recognized this in His visit to Earth in the first century.

He promised as recorded in  Matthew 11:28-29

To come to Him all of us who are weary and burdened, and He will give us rest. We are to take his yoke upon ourselves and learn from him, for Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, and we each will find rest for our souls.

We are all invited. 

Not just the educated, nor North Americans, nor, looking at Jesus’ time, the Jewish people, nor believers, nor you fill in the blank.

We are all invited.

Universally, all of our souls need this rest.

We are continually barraged. 

TV, News, FB, Insta, TikTok, X…

Are we healthy enough? Thin enough? In good enough shape? Is my gut health perfect? My hair free from gray? Do I have wrinkles? Cellulite?

Do I have enough friends? Do I have the right friends? Am I popular? Yes, even adults struggle with this even if we don’t admit it.

Do I make enough money? 

Is it enough? Enough. Enough.

Are we enough?

Try harder, make more, run more, eat less, connect more, see more, watch more.

Anxiety is rampant. 

Our inner beings, our souls, are devastated, crushed, confused, drained, tired.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Our souls need to learn how to enter rest with God. 

Know Him. Be still with Him.

Trust. Release. Give it to Him.

Reset Who God is to you.

Focus on His eternal attributes.

Read His Words in the Bible. One book at a time. One chapter at a time. Or just a verse at a time.

Memorize His Healing Words of Promise.

Rather than focus on what you want Him to do for you or for the world, shift your thinking and your heart. 

What HAS He done or is He doing in your life? In the world?

Let’s start with nature. 

Not a worship of the created but worship of the Creator as He has provided for each of us.

• The earth is just the perfect distance from the sun to provide light, warmth and life.
• There is just the perfect amount of gravity to hold us on earth, not to float away, or to be crushed by the enormity of it. 
• And crazily, this gravitational pull enabled by the moon causes the oceans’ tides, which circulate the waters for marine life.
• The moon stabilizes the earth’s tilt which controls the seasons.
• The moon illuminates the night. Most nights.
• There is the perfect blend of Nitrogen and O2 with other trace gases that humans and the animals breathe that also maintain life.
• “The moon, like the planets, especially Jupiter and Saturn, helps to protect Earth from damage caused by incoming asteroids, meteorites, and comets. “ [Institute for Creation Research]

Shall we keep going?

• We have 4 Seasons. Many countries experience them dramatically.
• The water cycle: precipitation, collection, evaporation, condensation, repeat. Rain, rivers, humidity, clouds.
• Growth of fruits and vegetables for food.
• Animals for meat.
• Human intelligence for medical research.
• Medical care.
• Pain control.
• Dogs for pets.

God is Good. 

God is Kind.

God’s nature is unchanging. Immutable.

God’s promises are steadfast. His promises to His people, to Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, David, to each of us through Jesus and his Word, are true and secure. 

God will never break His promises.

In that we have Hope.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. Hebrews 6:18

With this Hope we can Trust.

By putting our trust in Jesus, who is called the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Peter 1:8-10), we can begin to release the stresses of this world.

Lyrics Trust in You, Lauren Daigle 2015

When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust in You

This unshakeable trust takes control out of our hands and puts the control in the Almighty Hands of our Creator.

The eternal status of our souls is expressed by C S Lewis in that, “The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”

What door is this? 

Hopefully your door is reflected in Hebrews 11.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1-3

We can go on and read, 

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-10

Back to C S Lewis, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

Food for the Soul?

• Faith in the one True God.
• Hope in the promises given to us through the Bible. In God’s eternal promises.
• Trust in Jesus and his salvation work for each of us.
• Worship and thankfulness to God for what He has given each of us here on earth.
• “God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.” C S LEWIS
• Release and rest in Him. Take time for quiet.

Additional food for my soul. 

Time with trusted friends who feed me Truths and Love of God. 

Time with my kids who make me infinitely proud to be a mom.

Time with Karl, who challenges my brain and fills my heart.

For each of them I am eternally grateful. 

Literally eternally.

Psalm 84:2 ESV

² My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Shalom my friends. 

May the Peace of our Living God wash over you and in you and around you as food for your eternal, living soul.

**Heather!

©2025 Heather M R Olsen, Illumination: Hebrew Insights. All rights reserved.