The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-Q, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 19." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1980. All Rights Reserved.
Question
Can, and does Satan read ones mind?
Answer
No, I don’t think Satan can read your mind. Because I do not think Satan is
omniscient. He's too dumb. He's fallen, and, sin curses the intellect, even an
angelic intellect. And, I don't think He was ever omniscient, anyway.
Omniscience belongs only to God. I don't think Satan can read your mind. But, I
do think Satan can pretty well peg what you are thinking by how you are acting
and how you are talking. And, he can pretty well analyze the pattern of your
living. And, he pretty well knows what affects you in what way and how you
respond and react to things. So, he can pretty well pinpoint your weaknesses,
but I do not think he can read your mind. There is nothing in scripture to
indicate that Satan can read your mind.
Question (continues)
The second part of the question then is, if not, how or why can one be in
prayer, like right here, and have a thought zing across your mind that is like
staggering, or a sin flash upon the screen of your mind. Now, I am a young
Christian. So, maybe, there are some other problems there, I don't know. This is
one that I have had happen here in the sanctuary and sometimes it frightens me.
It doesn’t happen frequently, but it has.
Answer
I think, all of us have had that happen. You know, you will be committed to
studying the scripture, or be committed to praying, or you would be committed to
speaking or teaching or witnessing or whatever, singing hymns, and all of a
sudden some totally ridiculous obtuse thought comes across your mind that has
nothing to do with anything. Sometimes, even when I am preaching, all of a
sudden, you don't even realize it, but you will start thinking about some dumb,
stupid, mundane...I remember when a guy gave me a bunch of stock. He said, “I
want you to have this. I cannot handle it. It messes up my Christian life, so he
gave it to me! Which is like removing the Ark of the covenant from the Gathites
to the Ekronites and taking the Bubonic Plague with it. So, he gives me this
stock. At the most ridiculous times, I would be thinking, I wonder how that
stock is doing? I finally sold it! And, I got $250 when I sold it. It was at the
bottom. But, anyway, it was nothing.
But, that's right. I think that happens to all of us, and I don't think it has anything to Satan reading our minds, and I don't think it necessarily has to do with Satanic intervention. It is just the nature of the flesh, that it has within it a propensity toward evil, and it will come up at the most inopportune times. Something triggers all those mechanisms in your brain.
For example, you will be having a normal conversation about the weather and
you will have all kinds of other thoughts. Now, some people can control the
conversation. Some people, when you talk to them, they interject all those
thoughts, and their conversations are very sporadic and very interesting,
sometimes. Have you ever talked to anybody like that? Where they go, bang, bang,
bang, bang, bang. And, there is a lot of stuff feeding into the computer. But, I
think, what you are saying really reflects the nature of man. First of all, your
brain is a jumble of all kinds of things and thoughts. I think, that the flesh,
very often, whatever that propensity is to sin, throws those at you, and, I
think, Satan can energize those things by something you see, something that
appeals to your eye. I don't think he can control what you think of or what you
remember internally. But, I think, there are, maybe, colors or shapes or forms
or people or all kinds of things that pass through and flick off other thoughts.
I think, he pretty well deals, and I am saying this in a general statement, I
hope it is true, he pretty well deals with external stimulus. Because, I don't
think that he can just invade your mind in the sense of total control. Now, it
may be that he has some resource to plant thoughts, but that is very difficult
to know how he does that if he doesn't do that by some external stimulus of some
kind.
Question (continues)
To digress a moment, if I gave you an example of when I first became a
Christian. It was a particular Saturday morning. I had just gotten up, and I had
a thought about someone that I had not seen in like ten years, 12 years, since
college. It wasn't exactly eerie, but it was prominent in my mind, and I
thought, boy, that's strange. I don't know why I should be thinking of that
person. There was no real reason to be thinking of that person. That person
called me that night. I had some problem with that, and that's why I am
wondering if you are bomb-barded with .....And, then, I also, felt then I
started to think, if this is happening, then I felt Satan’s presence. And, then,
I remembered the verse, get behind me, Satan, and that was comforting. But, I am
just curious.
Answer (continues)
Well, you know, we have all kind of experienced that deja vu kind of thing
or some of those kinds of coincidences or whatever, sometimes, God may plant a
thought in someone to pray about something. It is possible. I am not going to
deny that Satan can plant thoughts. But, I think, primarily, Satan works on
external stimulus. But, I am not going to say that he cannot plant a thought. If
we really wrestle against principalities and powers and so forth it says in
Ephesians 6. It may be within his capacity to plant thought. I think, Ananias
and Sapphira, "...why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit." If
we are living in sin, if we expose ourselves, there is a sense in which Satan
can come right inside and begin to dominate the influence. But, what I am really
saying is I don't think if you are going along in the flow of your Christian
life and so forth. I don't think Satan can just flood in with all kinds of
things. I think there is a certain protection that is built in when you are
walking in the Spirit, and some of those things that come up may be just your
brain and the flesh that is part of your natural makeup throwing those things at
you. But, that is a very difficult thing. That is why we say so very often, you
do not want to get involved in playing around with demons in their sphere,
because you really do not understand that sphere, and it is beyond us. So, we
avoid that.
Let me just see if I can clarify it now. We believe that Satan is not
omniscient. He does not know everything. I believe he is subject to the
revelation of God, and he is subject to objective observation within whatever
objective means within his sphere. He can perceive what is going on, but I don't
think there is anything in the Bible to indicate he is omniscient. He is
infinitely intelligent, tremendously intelligent. But, intelligence is a
capacity that is fed by revealed information. Do you know what I mean by that?
God is omniscient in the sense that He intrinsically knows everything, and it
does not have to be any information. But, Satan knows what he knows because God
has revealed that to him within the framework of his intelligence. So, I don't
think there is anything to indicate that Satan can read your mind. But, Satan
can influence your mind. But, I think, primarily, it is by external things that
may trigger thought patterns. But, it is also true that demons can come in and
Satan can come in. And if they can come into a believer, there is a sense in
which they must be able directly to affect the thinking process somehow, but
that is for one who is given over to Satan to some extent.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
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