WHO IS SATAN, CAN HE READ OUR THOUGHTS AND DOES HE REALLY EXIST ?
PART 2
Sakkie Parsons
In this the second writing to you about – Who is satan, can he read our minds and does he really exist, I want to share with you about:
Can satan, so to speak, read our minds?
The Word does not give us a direct answer, but I still believe that we get an answer to this question from the Word.
You will remember, as I showed you in the previous writing, satan was a cherub.
EZE 28:14
14“You were the anointed cherub who covers and protects,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire [sparkling jewels]. [Ex 24:10]
The satan was a cherub and apart from satan being full of evil and being cast out of Heaven, he has not, so to speak, changed.
Our Lord is Almighty, Omniscient and Omnipresent. He know exactly what is going on in and around you right now while you are reading this writing, and He know exactly what is going on right now in and around me, and every other living being.
This is because our Lord is the Almighty, Omniscient and Omnipresent GOD. The satan who was created as a cherub by our Lord, because of his original cherub status, is not omnipotent, omniscient and certainly not even omnipresent.
For example, if he was omnipotent, and how ridiculous it sounds just to mention it, he would be equal to our Lord.
If he were omniscient, he would not have undertaken such a futile and fruitless enterprise as trying to usurp our Lord’s place in Heaven. So limited is he in his thinking, that then, to use an expression of one of my aunts: “Can you retell it!”, he did not learn from his incredible blunder and then, can you retell it, one day thought that it was possible to tempt God, who became man.
You can read it in Matthew 4:1-11.
I will say more about the events in Matthew 4:1-11 in my next writing in this series.
I said he is not omnipresent either, but unfortunately satan has at his disposal a, so to speak, countless number of demons that he can use in the unbelievers’ lives as he wishes.
Because he is not omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, he cannot see in your and my thoughts what we think, but he and his demons, after thousands of years of studying man, have a very, very good knowledge of what to infer from our body language and what we say, and how we say it, etc.
It is very unfortunate to have to say this, but satan, to put it this way, reads most of us like a book. Here’s how it works:
Satan and his demons know what evil arrows they shoot at us, but they do not know which arrows hit or whether the arrow hit, until we show them by word or deed whether they hit or not.
Therefore, part of the armour that our Lord give us to stand against evil is:
EFE 6:16 16Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
We read:
Ephesians 6:10-18 The Armor of God
10In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might.
11Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.
13Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].
14So stand firm and hold your ground, HAVING TIGHTENED THE WIDE BAND OF TRUTH (personal integrity, moral courage) AROUND YOUR WAIST and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (an upright heart),
15and having strapped on YOUR FEET THE GOSPEL OF PEACE IN PREPARATION [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news].
16Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
18With all prayer and petition pray [with specific requests] at all times [on every occasion and in every season] in the Spirit, and with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition [interceding in prayer] for all God’s people.
In my next and last writing in this short series, I share with you about this amazing trend, that there are now people who claim to be followers of Jesus, who wonder if there is a satan, and I show you why I say that to me it is blasphemy to claim that there is no satan.
For now, I share with you again the advice that the Word give us to stand against satan:
EFE 6:13
13Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].
JAMES 4:7
7So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.
In my next writing, part 3 in this series, I will share with you about the existence of satan.
Sakkie