What does satan know about us?
By Elizabeth Prata
This was a question asked of me on my The End Time facebook page.
Good question. What DOES satan know about us?
Resource: Answers in Genesis, Who is Satan?
First of all let’s remind ourselves who satan is. Satan is actually a title. It means Adversary. He seems to have been a high angel, maybe the highest. Until sin was found in his heart and he decided he wanted to usurp God from His throne. Satan chose to sin. This is recounted in Isaiah 14:12-14. Then satan convinced a third of the angelic host to side with him, and there was rebellion in heaven. Unholy angels, fallen angels, are now called demons in common vernacular.
Satan (probably originally named Lucifer) and his minions fell from God’s favor and became enemies of God, and by proxy of the Israelites then of the Christians. Anything holy, good, or God-like- satan hates.
When God created the first man and woman, satan came down and messed with them, and convinced them to oppose God by disobeying and doubting His word. And we have been off and running ever since.
God is allowing satan and his evil ones latitude to do their worst, as part of God’s plan for humankind. Eventually, they all will be thrown in the Lake of Fire and punished forever for their rebellion.
Satan is known also as the Devil, Evil One, The Serpent, The Dragon,
There are two ways to interpret the question, what does he know about us humans, what does he know about each saint individually?
Satan cannot read our mind, whether we are saved nor not saved. Only God has the ability to know our thoughts and our heart (1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:24). Satan cannot know our internal thoughts of each individual.
Resource:
–Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached about Good Angels here.
–LLoyd-Jones’ companion sermon about the unholy angels is lost but the transcript is here: fallen-angels-sermon-transcription-lloyd-jones
Collectively though, satan has been observing humankind for thousands of years. He is wily and subtle. He knows what our desires are in general. He tempted Eve with them, (Genesis 3:1-5) and he even tempted Jesus with them! (Matthew 4). Those desires are listed in 1 John 2:16; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
As he observes us (or more likely, his minions, most of us do not rate personal interference by satan himself), he simply sees what we press toward, what we say, how we act ,and melds our temptations to what he or his demons observe in us.
I am not a fan of CS Lewis EXCEPT for his book The Screwtape Letters, which is an accurate and somewhat chilling recounting of a temptation of a Christian man from the perspective of an older demon educating his nephew demon on how to get the man away from Jesus.
Also it must be said, our own sin nature bedevils us more than demons haunting us. Mainly, satan and his demons leave us to our own devices, which if we do not kill that sin crouching at the door (Genesis 4:7), will have us- as the cartoon shows-
I am reading a Puritan Paperback called The Wiles of Satan. It’s by William Spurstowe. A Puritan Paperback is an updated language and a shortened version of the original. It has lots of scripture references and details how satan operates. I recommend it.
The author fleshed out the concepts and the one about speediness… eye opening. Satan does press us to do it, do it now! If we resist, and resist for a long time, then satan capitalizes on the frailty of our flesh and wearying us so that after a while of resisting it suddenly seems easier just to do the sin than spend the energy opposing his temptation. Man, we really ARE helpless sheep ripe for the slaughter!
But God! He made a way for us to oppose our sin nature, the world, and the devil. If we confess with our mouth and beleive on Jesus, then he will save us and send the Holy Spirit to indwell us and be the Helper to resist. Most ous aren’t Job, where the devil personally provoked and hurt him. But demons are around, you can sometimes see them in the behavior of a false teacher (like Kenneth Copeland, as Justin Peters has said). The Bible tells us they do tempt us. So let’s not give them anything to tempt us with. The more we pursue holiness, the more the devil and his army will flee from us.
Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
FURTHER READING
Grace to You: Can satan hear our thoughts?
The End Time: Angels part 1
Podcast Haunted Cosmos (if you’re into the weird and strange)
