There is a force that feeds on the precious energy that is in each human soul. It can only ingest a soul that allows itself to be consumed. Sin weakens the soul, and makes it “edible” to that evil force.
Many souls allow themselves to be consumed by the desire for physical pleasure. That leads to a desire for more of the same, and, eventually, death. The greater the sin, the sooner death comes.
Other souls allow themselves to be consumed by needs for physical objects. Many will exchange their soul for power over their neighbors.
It helps many of us to re-define God as The Unprogrammed Programmer. Understanding that He, Who can program particles, compile them into systems that support His most complicated programs, beings with free will, has programmed each soul with the ability to be eternally happy with Him.
Ordering our lives to do what is best for our soul is the smartest thing we can do. Any who lead us from that goal wish to devour our soul. Many have thought it reasonable to conclude from Scripture that about half the souls will be saved.
II.
Many of us have dogs. Dogs were programmed to have a certain amount of free will. Some dogs are more obedient than others. Those are the dogs we prefer. We human programs were provided proximity to the dog programs so that we could see that just as we prefer obedient dogs, The Programmer prefers human beings who obey His commands. We should anchor our souls in obedience to those commands.
