"Discerning the Times in the Light of the Word"
"Discerning the Times in the Light of the
Word"
This excerpt is from chapter six
of the book |
 |
What You Think and What You Say —
Does Satan Know Your Thoughts?
I the Lord search the heart. . .
—Jeremiah 17:10a
Though some Christian teachers allude to such, we find no clear scriptural principle to back up the idea that Satan has the ability to read minds. We believe this is a strategic point for us to understand about the enemy. Notice that the Scripture above from Jeremiah 17 (and many others) does point exclusively to God Himself as possessing the ability to search the heart and examine the thoughts of man. We find no evidence that any other being - Satan included - has any such access. As Proverbs 24:12 teaches us, it is God that knows the heart and thoughts of man. It is He that renders unto each of us accordingly. Can the Devil do likewise?
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
—Proverbs 24:11–12
It is important also to see that God’s Word deplores and even mocks the whole idea of foreknowledge through divination by humans in His constant condemnation of occult practices. (See Deuteronomy 18:9-12 for example.) Why should we believe then that Satan could do it? True, he lives in the spirit realm and does have access to understanding, some of which we do not totally comprehend yet. Still, as we have pointed out, his power is indeed narrow, his ability to predict is at best limited to guessing and he is certainly not omniscient. Most importantly, God forbids us to dabble in Satan’s roulette wheel of occult deceptions, and for good reason.
The Bible indicates that not only is mind reading unreliable at best, but many times the results are tragic as well. Perhaps most sobering is Revelation 21:8, which tells us that witches, psychics, diviners, and the like, are destined to an eternity in the lake of fire unless they repent and come to Christ. The occult is serious business in God’s sight and sadly, it is robbing people of millions of dollars in the world today, besides stealing them blind spiritually. From the booths manned by New Agers at your local county fair, to the Internet and of course late night television, knowing the future is big, BIG business today. But do they really know the future, let alone the present circumstances of those inquiring about love interests, money or other important issues? (More on this later.)
Life experience makes an argument against the idea of demonic thought reading as well. Though her life was undoubtedly captivated by some of Satan’s most potent demonic workers, now deceased astrological guru Jeane Dixon’s prophetic success rate was only about fifty percent. We should note that even this figure is a very questionable percentage considering how nebulous some of her predictions were. Though her psychic abilities brought her great fortune and notoriety and seemed stunning to the unredeemed world, her works were nothing more than demonic manipulation to those who know the Bible. Though she did correctly predict some things and also claimed to have predicted numerous other events, she fell far short of being a true prophetess. (Once again, we will speak about this indepth later in the book.) Remember, in Old Testament days under Jewish law, if a prophet missed it just once, he or she was taken to the gates of the city and stoned to death! This illustrates God’s disdain for those who claim to speak for Him yet speak from their flesh or by another spirit instead. Thankfully, in these New Testament times, God is completely forgiving of all who have dabbled in witchcraft and sorcery IF they come to Jesus and ask His forgiveness, surrendering their lives to Him.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2002, Eric Barger and David Benoit
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