Can Satan Read Our Minds? Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare From Hank Hanegraaf, RC Sproul, and The Apostle Paul. Can Satan Read Our Minds? Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare From Hank Hanegraaf, RC Sproul, and The Apostle Paul. References: Extract #1: From Hank Hanegraaf: What is the power of Satan? How powerful is he? How smart is he? Can he influence Christians and others? Can he affect us physically? H.H.: Satan can’t directly affect us physically, but he is incredibly brilliant. The vastness of his intellect exceeds that of anyone who’s ever lived, from Solomon to Socrates. So we shouldn’t suppose that, unaided from above, we’d ever be a match for such a malevolent being. He knows us intimately and has an accumulation of knowledge. Thus, in the battle for the mind he is an incredibly formidable foe. L.S.: So the threat is not a physical one as much as it is this kind of mind-to-mind communication, the ability of Satan to influence our thoughts, our fantasies, the direction that we decide to go in our lives? H.H.: Right He can’t read our minds, but he can influence our thoughts. Yet, in the final analysis we are still morally responsible for the decisions we make. Satan can tempt us to sin, but there must be an inner response to the outer suggestion for sin to occur. L.S.: So we don’t lose our responsibility. We can’t say, “The Devil made me do it and, therefore, I’m absolved of any responsibility.” H.H.: The Devil cannot control us against our wills. The quintessential example of overestimating the power and province of the Evil One is to suppose that he can possess or control us against our wills. Extract #2: From Hank Hanegraaf: While we would greatly overestimate Satan's power by supposing he can interact directly with us in a physical way, an equal and opposite error would be to suppose he does not have access to our minds. While Satan cannot read our minds he can influence our thoughts...Far from silly or stupid, however, Satan appears as a cosmopolitan angel of enlightenment. He know fully well without our spiritual armor we are but pawns in devil's game. In the final analysis, the whole of Scripture informs us that spiritual warfare is the battle for the mind. Extract #3: From RC Sproul: I am not certain by any means, nor do I have an exhaustive knowledge of the powers of Satan. I know that Satan has more power that one would normally find in human beings. At the same time, I know that Satan is not divine; he is not God, does not have divine powers or attributes. His is creature with the limitations that are found normally with creatureliness. His is an angel. Can Satan be in more than one place at a time? I would be inclined to say no...he is a creature and creatures by definition are limited spatially and temporally. So Satan cannot be at more that one place at a time...Satan focused his assaults upon Jesus in the New Testament - He knew what Jesus was thinking because of what Jesus said. But other than that, I don't see any reason to believe that he could read your mind or read mine. Again, that may not be necessarily a divine power (reading minds). He may be able to do it, but I have no reason to believe he can. Extract #4: From The Apostle Paul Our Defense - The Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
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