Not sure where to post this....Wondering how perceptive Satan is?

[Petros2015]

will try to con people into thinking they have knowledge of future events, but in fact they do not

Really? I hadn't noticed.

 

[Richard.20.12]

Wow, you really nailed it! I also noticed that when I tell people things, it seems to get messed up somehow but the things I don't vocalize seem to go right on along smoothly! I never thought about WHY that happens! I just noticed the pattern. Sometimes I have deliberately said I won't tell anyone certain things till it's over and it goes smoothly. But when I tell it ahead of plan it doesn't work out and I end up feeling silly or embarrassed. Interesting!

I think Satan thrives when we feel out of control in our lives. Think of when people make poor decisions. Its so often when they're stressed, feeling like their life is in total disarray, so they either lash out at others or internalize their frustrations out of shame or embarrassment or make rash, impulsive decisions that they sorely regret later.

I also think Satan uses "busyness" so effectively in these times where everyone is clambering to get "a house like theirs", "cars like they have", thinking we can buy the glow they exhibit on their fake Instagram feed that conveniently edits out reality in their perfect, stylish and always smiling life with perfect family members that unendingly appreciate each other. If we go through life without much needed reflection on our past actions we never learn from our mistakes. When we pray and worship the Lord has the opportunity to open our eyes to the things that really need attention in our lives but that's because we opened the door to Him. And that rarely happens when people are stressed to the max with notifications on their phone that constantly interrupt their flow of thought. Contrast this with a few decades ago and you see a vastly different world. When we post our life to the world Satan has a golden opportunity to move us away from God. We need to never get far away from the fact that Satan is subtle. That was the first description we are given of him. Its got to be extremely important.

We don't have problem with the world and people. We have a problem with Satan. And the best way of dealing with Satan is moving closer to the Lord. It really is one or the other. I know I feel a whole lot better when I'm closer to the Lord.

Satan thrives on short term pleasure.

The Lord thrives on long term serenity, peace and joy.

Pick.

If you don't, Satan will pick for you and we all know how well that works! He has a rather poor track record, doesn't he?

 

[Richard.20.12]

I recall reading in the Patristic writings (the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, certain Athonite monks, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov) that because they can travel instantaneously, and are subtle pneumatic beings, demons have great knowledge and will try to con people into thinking they have knowledge of future events, but in fact they do not, and thus people are deceived into making very bad decisions by an apparently friendly neighborhood demon.

Only God, who is limited neither in love or knowledge, knows the future.

Well said!

 

[Richard.20.12]

Subtlety is an interesting tactic he chose. But when you think of it its incredibly powerful. Because with subtlety almost anything is possible if you have enough time. (Ironically evolution takes the exact same tactic.) Like a wedge gently levering itself into a crack, widening the spread a little at a time. We are far less likely to repel this force if we don't notice it overtly. We're far less likely to make stark, forthright decisions against it. We are far less likely to simply do anything against it. And that's why Satan takes the subtle approach. Because of its effectiveness. Because it works. The only way we notice it is with self reflection that is guided by prayer and Biblical study. Basically WE NEED HELP. Thankfully help is always close by no matter where we are. Where there's life there's hope. That's really a testament of prayer's ability to connect us with the Lord.

 

[RDKirk]

I do not have an absolute answer to your question but I can say that satan is not omnipresent like God and while satan has helpers I doubt they can pay attention to everything that everyone does so my thought would be that unless you are a high priority target your goals and plans are safe.

There may well be more demons than people.

Nor would it be necessary for a demon to be assigned one-to-one with humans anyway. Demons are not omnipresent, but they are fast. Have you ever watched one of those old-time plate spinner acts? The guy starts dinner plates spinning at the tops of poles. He first starts one plate spinning, then starts another, then another, then another. By that time, the first place is slowing down and about to fall off the pole, so he rushes back and spins that plate back up. He starts more and more plates spinning, and just runs back and forth keeping them all going.

Demons can easily do the same thing. They have billions of hours of experience in watching human behavior. They have far more than enough time watching your behavior, and they probably watched your parents and ancestors. They know what buttons to push, because they watched your buttons being installed. Demons are able to set people spinning and return as often as necessary to keep them spinning.

The only way out of that is through the Holy Spirit. We in ourselves can never catch a demon by surprise, but the Holy Spirit can. Only by carefully following the Holy Spirit can we ever make a demon say, "Didn't see that coming."

 

[RDKirk]

Subtlety is an interesting tactic he chose. But when you think of it its incredibly powerful. Because with subtlety almost anything is possible if you have enough time. (Ironically evolution takes the exact same tactic.) Like a wedge gently levering itself into a crack, widening the spread a little at a time. We are far less likely to repel this force if we don't notice it overtly. We're far less likely to make stark, forthright decisions against it. We are far less likely to simply do anything against it. And that's why Satan takes the subtle approach. Because of its effectiveness. Because it works. The only way we notice it is with self reflection that is guided by prayer and Biblical study. Basically WE NEED HELP. Thankfully help is always close by no matter where we are. Where there's life there's hope. That's really a testament of prayer's ability to connect us with the Lord.

Have you seen the video of a racoon breaking into a cage that contains food?

The racoon very carefully feels over the entire cage, tugging and pushing each part. When one part moves slightly, the racoon concentrates on that part, gently but persistently tugging, pulling, pushing. If the part moves a bit more in one direction, the racoon concentrates on pushing and pulling at that part a bit more. If the raccoon can't get any more movement there, it goes on to find another possibility on the cage.

 

[Richard.20.12]

There may well be more demons than people.

Nor would it be necessary for a demon to be assigned one-to-one with humans anyway. Demons are not omnipresent, but they are fast. Have you ever watched one of those old-time plate spinner acts? The guy starts dinner plates spinning at the tops of poles. He first starts one plate spinning, then starts another, then another, then another. By that time, the first place is slowing down and about to fall off the pole, so he rushes back and spins that plate back up. He starts more and more plates spinning, and just runs back and forth keeping them all going.

Demons can easily do the same thing. They have billions of hours of experience in watching human behavior. They have far more than enough time watching your behavior, and they probably watched your parents and ancestors. They know what buttons to push, because they watched your buttons being installed. Demons are able to set people spinning and return as often as necessary to keep them spinning.

The only way out of that is through the Holy Spirit. We in ourselves can never catch a demon by surprise, but the Holy Spirit can. Only by carefully following the Holy Spirit can we ever make a demon say, "Didn't see that coming."

Great points you make. They will make lots of their readers ponder their life a lot more.

I do wonder where the drive comes from that causes Satan and his demons to be so busy and active. They do seem highly motivated. Or are they doing this out of boredom? Or do they want more company in hell? What is their motivation?

 

[Richard.20.12]

Have you seen the video of a racoon breaking into a cage that contains food?

The racoon very carefully feels over the entire cage, tugging and pushing each part. When one part moves slightly, the racoon concentrates on that part, gently but persistently tugging, pulling, pushing. If the part moves a bit more in one direction, the racoon concentrates on pushing and pulling at that part a bit more. If the raccoon can't get any more movement there, it goes on to find another possibility on the cage.

Interesting analogy!

 

[Skye1300]

I think Satan thrives when we feel out of control in our lives. Think of when people make poor decisions. Its so often when they're stressed, feeling like their life is in total disarray, so they either lash out at others or internalize their frustrations out of shame or embarrassment or make rash, impulsive decisions that they sorely regret later.

I also think Satan uses "busyness" so effectively in these times where everyone is clambering to get "a house like theirs", "cars like they have", thinking we can buy the glow they exhibit on their fake Instagram feed that conveniently edits out reality in their perfect, stylish and always smiling life with perfect family members that unendingly appreciate each other. If we go through life without much needed reflection on our past actions we never learn from our mistakes. When we pray and worship the Lord has the opportunity to open our eyes to the things that really need attention in our lives but that's because we opened the door to Him. And that rarely happens when people are stressed to the max with notifications on their phone that constantly interrupt their flow of thought. Contrast this with a few decades ago and you see a vastly different world. When we post our life to the world Satan has a golden opportunity to move us away from God. We need to never get far away from the fact that Satan is subtle. That was the first description we are given of him. Its got to be extremely important.

We don't have problem with the world and people. We have a problem with Satan. And the best way of dealing with Satan is moving closer to the Lord. It really is one or the other. I know I feel a whole lot better when I'm closer to the Lord.

Satan thrives on short term pleasure.

The Lord thrives on long term serenity, peace and joy.

Pick.

If you don't, Satan will pick for you and we all know how well that works! He has a rather poor track record, doesn't he?

Amen!

 

[Skye1300]

Subtlety is an interesting tactic he chose. But when you think of it its incredibly powerful. Because with subtlety almost anything is possible if you have enough time. (Ironically evolution takes the exact same tactic.) Like a wedge gently levering itself into a crack, widening the spread a little at a time. We are far less likely to repel this force if we don't notice it overtly. We're far less likely to make stark, forthright decisions against it. We are far less likely to simply do anything against it. And that's why Satan takes the subtle approach. Because of its effectiveness. Because it works. The only way we notice it is with self reflection that is guided by prayer and Biblical study. Basically WE NEED HELP. Thankfully help is always close by no matter where we are. Where there's life there's hope. That's really a testament of prayer's ability to connect us with the Lord.

Exactly! That's why each generation gets a little bit worse. Each generation takes 1 step further from God. It becomes a new normal. If the changes happened all at once in one generation people would reject it.

 

[Skye1300]

Have you seen the video of a racoon breaking into a cage that contains food?

The racoon very carefully feels over the entire cage, tugging and pushing each part. When one part moves slightly, the racoon concentrates on that part, gently but persistently tugging, pulling, pushing. If the part moves a bit more in one direction, the racoon concentrates on pushing and pulling at that part a bit more. If the raccoon can't get any more movement there, it goes on to find another possibility on the cage.

Very interesting. Looking for weaknesses and opening wherever he can find it.

 

[Skye1300]

Great points you make. They will make lots of their readers ponder their life a lot more.

I do wonder where the drive comes from that causes Satan and his demons to be so busy and active. They do seem highly motivated. Or are they doing this out of boredom? Or do they want more company in hell? What is their motivation?

They want to take as many to hell with them as they can, but I think they also feed off of human misery and pain and suffering in some way. It gives them some kind of high or spiritual power. Like an energy token in a computer game. It gives them something, and they feed off of it somehow. I believe the more people the enemy can get to go against God's way, the more power the devil gets in the world. Leading up to him being able to move about in the flesh as in the antichrist in the last days. But he has to build that up through enough sin on the planet with each generation and we Christians are standing in his way with our insistence on wanting people to live as holy as possible. We keep trying to teach morality and trying to ban certain laws and things like that.

 

[Richard.20.12]

Exactly! That's why each generation gets a little bit worse. Each generation takes 1 step further from God. It becomes a new normal. If the changes happened all at once in one generation people would reject it.

The new normal.....how true.

 

[Petros2015]

Great points you make. They will make lots of their readers ponder their life a lot more.

I do wonder where the drive comes from that causes Satan and his demons to be so busy and active. They do seem highly motivated. Or are they doing this out of boredom? Or do they want more company in hell? What is their motivation?

Procreation.

 

[Richard.20.12]

Procreation.

Sorry - I don't get the connection.

 

[Petros2015]

Sorry - I don't get the connection.

God seeks children, so does Lucifer I imagine. Though I think the demons may be following a more parasitic model of reproduction. Like wasps using caterpillars for hosts. The caterpillar doesn't become a butterfly. When the eggs hatch, it dies and you have a new crop of wasps. Pure speculation on my part, but it does match a bit with what I see in the natural world around me.