CONCERNING DEMONS
INQUIRER
Well, then how does Satan implant thoughts while having our thoughts be coherent? My guess is that he inspires people to think of certain words, phrases, etc. at certain times. That means that the thoughts that Satan implants are our thoughts, only he uses his powers to direct them. In this way, he gives the impression that he is able to read minds, when he really can't. Does this make sense?
MY ANSWER
No does not make sense to me. He has been around from the beginning of mankind, so he has learnt very well how to read situations and implant wrong ideas and whatever you want to call it. It is written he is a roaring lion walking about seeking to devour. He probably leaves the masses of people to demons, while he goes after the more prominent with influence, the top dogs as we say, of the world. He just reads the situation they are in, waits for the right situations, and then pounces with evil, wrong, wicked, deceptive, vain glory ideas into their mind. The demons would do the same with individual people. And of course we still have demon possession with ex number of people.
INQUIRER
Scientists have been able to tell what words people were thinking by reading neuronal firing patterns. This does not mean that they were able to tell, word for word, what these people were thinking, but certainly if scientists can tell what people are thinking to some extent, then so can Satan. He and his demons have been around for longer than humans have. They probably have developed ways of knowing what we are thinking that are ahead of ours. Based upon this, do you believe that it is reasonable to conclude that they have a limited ability to read minds, but not in the same way as God?
MY ANSWER
It maybe possible to some extent; the bottom line is we are just not told. So of course cannot be dogmatic either way. What we can know from Scripture is Satan and the demons can read the situation we are in and so then try to get us to do the wrong.
If science ever gets to the point where it can tell us our thoughts quickly and fully correctly, then I'd have to say there is a very good possibility God has allowed Satan and the demons to do the same.
REVEIWER
What doesn't make sense? Satan and his demons can implant thoughts, so it only makes sense that he can direct our thoughts to think of certain ideas, and even certain words or phrases. In that book you uploaded by Ralph Woodrow, a woman would have the urge to kill her children. This may have been a result of supernatural inspiration, to get her mind on a certain idea. This is different from Satan inserting a sentence like, "Kill your children!" Satan directed her thoughts, so they were her thoughts, only inspired by an outside being.
MY ANSWER
Obviously Satan/demon does not come to you and say, "Well how you doing, I'm a demon come to tell you that as you are low in money you should rob this bank or hold up this store." Your last sentence I believe is correct in the main. You can pretty well know it's a demon when it's something you'd never normally do; you'd never normally hold up a store even if in a physical situation of being down and out; you'd go to charity organizations for food and drink; a demon can come along a say to you, "Look there's only a young girl attending this store, nobody around, so stick your fingers in your pocket and make out you have a gun, and get the money in the cash-till." You even think it's your thoughts, but you know better; you know it's demonic; you answer accordingly as Jesus did after 40 fasting days in the wilderness and Satan came to tempt Him.
REVIEWER
In the example with the other author, he said that the possessed man was able to read the minds of the unbelieving Christians. I think that Satan may have been able to give the impression that he was able to read minds because he put certain ideas into their minds, so of course the possessed man was able to "read" their thoughts. There is no proof that this situation actually occurred, so I can only guess if the author is telling the truth. However, I can imagine such a scenario happening.
MY ANSWER
Well I guess you could have a two-way demonic twist, where two demons are making out before people, that one is a Christian with power to read minds, while the other is inserting things into the mind of the unbelieving...... there are many ways the demons can work to deceive people, to think well this person must be of God so what they teach must be correct, while in fact what they teach is not correct. It's like this guy calling me one day and first asking if I believed in the gifts of the Spirit, I said I did; next was, "Well I can speak in tongues, so I have the Spirit of God and I do not observe the Sabbath day." It is circular reasoning. What he thought he had, he thought was from God, so with that idea, it did not matter about observing the Sabbath. What he never thought about was is my so-called gift of tongues from God or from Satan. I did not tell him, his mind was already made up, he was under the deception of Satan the Devil, and his circular reasoning was exactly what Satan wanted to deceive him.
REVIEWER
I think Satan can rather easily direct our thoughts towards certain ideas, words, and phrases. However, I think that Satan has a harder time inserting long sentences and paragraphs into peoples' minds that are more or less exactly as he wants them to be.
MY ANSWER
Well he did a pretty good sentence, even quoting Scripture with Jesus in the wilderness, so it depends on what you mean by "inserting long sentences and paragraphs." Your argument is left for "interpretation."
REVIEWER
I remember reading about the Islamic prophet "Muhammad." He was answering questions, and one person asked him a certain question that apparently Satan wanted to answer in an exact manner. I read that "Muhammad" seemed to lose control of his body, as if he was possessed, and he began to sweat. After awhile, he was alright, and seemed happy that the question was asked. Islamic apologists try to say that maybe he was so shocked at Gabriel appearing to him that he appeared possessed. Anyway, the point is that there seems to be different levels of inspiration. Some don't require that a person lose control of his body, while the more long, complex inspiration does.
MY ANSWER
Oh yes for sure there are different levels and ways of deception from Satan and the demons, just as there are different levels of "possession" by demons....one demon, two demons, a group of demons, in a person. And it would seem demons have varying abilities among themselves, some specializing in this, others specializing in that...... the deceptions in the world are hundreds upon hundreds; the demonic world has deceptions for anyone; they work with a person's education, mind-set, favorite this or that, mind leading towards ... whatever; the Satanic world can work with whatever humans have or do or think; in other words they are adaptive to any and all things mankind IS.
The writers of the NT were well aware the Satanic world was a busy one; out there working their many deceptions in hundreds of different ways. Paul admonished people to put on the whole armor of God to withstand the battle Christians face from the Satanic world - Eph. 6: 10-18. We are to stand against "the wiles of the Devil" - so we know it is plural..... many many "wiles" - cunning, crafty, shrewdness, trickery, deviousness, guile, foxiness, deceit, dexterity, finesse, subtlety, expertness, talent, slyness, ingenious, chicanery, [from my Readers Digest Family Word Finder].
SO THERE ARE MANY WAYS THE DEMONIC WORLD WORK - BUT HAVING THE AMOR OF GOD, WHICH IS FROM HEAD TO TOE WITH THE SHIELD OF FAITH IN FRONT OF US, WE CAN MARCH FORWARD TO DEFEAT THE GREAT ENEMY SATAN THE DEVIL.
I SELDOM THINK ABOUT HIM OR THE DEMONS, I MOVE FORWARD WITH CONFIDENCE KNOWING WITH GOD'S ARMOR SATAN AND THE DEMONS ARE POWERLESS OVER ME. AND I ALSO REMEMBER WE HAVE ANGELS WORKING FOR US, OFTEN PROTECTING US. YES WE HAVE TO BE CIRCUMSPECT IN OUR LIVES, AND IN THE HABIT OF SAYING A QUICK PRAYER IN SOME SITUATIONS WE FIND OURSELVES. LIVING THIS WAY WE HAVE VICTORY..... SO I'VE SAID I SELDOM GIVE MUCH THOUGHT TO THE DEVIL AND HIS WORKERS.
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