Loss of identity...

Mark 8:35-36

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Maybe you’re wondering how one could lose their soul, lose their identity?  Scripture gives the account in Luke 16:19-31 of the Rich Man and Lazarus.  We know Lazarus, by name, as he was “identified.”  But we don’t know the name of the Rich Man, as he no longer has an identity—is no longer recognizable. 

But yet, he continues to exist in the torments of Hell, even to this day.  If we could see him, he would look like a worm.  We again, know this scripture gives an account to us of those that are cast into Hell. 

Mark 9:48-49

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

A worm (picture a maggot, and you’ll get the idea)—that’s the natural, unavoidable consequence of the degenerative  process of sin not dealt with in a person’s life.  

Case in point: Satan, previously known as Lucifer.  At the onset, Lucifer was as good as a created being could get; in fact the best one could get.   But, then he sinned and from then on, he is known as a snake, a serpent, destined to become a worm in the due process of time and eternity. 

Ezekiel 28: 13-14

Thou [Satan, the serpent] hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering [when he was known as Lucifer], the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth [official title of Lucifer before sin was found in him]; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

We have God’s word on it!