What happens to the human spirit after the fall?
After the fall, the human spirit died—not physically, for Adam lived 939 more years—but that part created for fellowship with God became dormant and dead, like a run-down battery. It remains dead until outside energy comes in and regenerates it.
Les teaches that Adam was created with body, soul, and spirit, and it was by the spirit that he had fellowship and communion with his Creator. When Adam sinned, the death God warned of was not physical; Adam did not die physically for 939 years, but his spirit—the part with which he fellowshipped with God—died. Les says he doesn't like to say it completely disappeared, but like a tree in winter it was dormant. He compares it to a car battery that has run down: it is still there, but dead and dormant, and it will remain dead until some outside energy comes in and regenerates it. At the same time, Adam's personality became a sin nature, the old Adam, with only one bent: rebellion against everything God instructed, taught, or admonished. Les points out that this rebellion has been evident all the way back through human history, as Satan says the opposite of what God says.