Blog of Page’s

Christians often try to give the devil powers he doesn’t really have. For instance some Christians believe the devil can be everywhere at once. Only God is able to do that. He cannot read our minds and he cannot put thoughts in our heads. All Christians need to understand that only God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Satan is none of these.

None of us wants to believe that we are really capable of thinking some of the things that we do, which is possibly why we would rather believe Satan is able to put thoughts in our minds. Our sinful nature is truly that bad, God said, “”Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” (Genesis) Every inclination we have is evil, every one. So yes we are capable of thinking those things. God also said “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) The word deceitful is translated from a Greek word that means “crooked, deceitful, polluted.” The words “desperately sick” are translated from a Greek word that means “desperately wicked, incurable, sick, woeful.” What kind of thoughts can a mind that is deceitfully polluted and incurably sick think of? One can not even imagine.

God said in Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” He doesn’t say Satan, all the angels and I. He says “I” search the mind. Solomon prayed in 1 Kings 8 and said (speaking to God) “for you alone know the hearts of all men”. What could be more clear than this.

Not understanding these things has led some Christians to believe that Satan can read our thoughts and interject or insert thoughts directly into our minds. Some Christians believe there are spirits inside us that cause us to think evil thoughts. I recently heard about a spirit of pride and a spirit of suicide. This is called “demonic oppression.”

Born again, repentant believers of the Risen Christ are free from demonic oppression when we are saved. The blood of Jesus redeemed us. We are sanctified, set apart. We are children of God. I’m not saying there is instant translation. We all know it’s a renewing process. Our spirits are regenerated and we are renewed. (Colossians 3:10 2 Corinthians 4:16 Ephesians 4:23) Our sinful thoughts are our own; but the Spirit of God will renew us to repentance. Satan did not put those thoughts in our heads, we did. We may not want to believe we succumb to Satan’s influence, which is outside of our mind, but we do. Carefully read what James wrote, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” Look at how sin happens, it forms in what we desire. Read it again and notice it says “..by his own evil desire”. Not something placed in our mind, it’s our own desire. Desire conceives sin, which if left unchecked gives death. So unrepentant sin will lead to death. Now read what Peter wrote, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Think of the scenes from the Wild Kingdom we’ve seen where the lion is chasing a herd and the weakest in the herd falls behind and is then picked off by the lion. This is what Satan does; the weakest are those who are unrepentant.
1. We have desires, which are sinful.
2. Satan puts what we desire in front of us or call it enticement. (Sex, drugs, more money, etc.)
3. We sin by making the choice to follow our desire, and committing what we have desired. (Take the drugs, have sex, do anything to have more money)
4. We choose to continue the sinful behavior, leading an unrepentant life.
5. We can then be, devoured by Satan and suffer spiritual and maybe physical death.

Read part 3 for the solution to the pollution.