What Is the Extent of Satan's Power?

[Garland-Green]

By Don Stewart

It is very important to understand who our adversary the Devil is, and what he is able to do. We must be careful not to attribute to him abilities and honors that belong to God and Him alone. The Bible says the following about the limitations of the Devil.

Continue reading: link

Other resources:

Does Satan have to get God's permission before he can attack us?

Encouraging verse:

1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  

[Lady Vizsla]

It's easiest for him to manipulate people who do not have a close relationship with God/Jesus. People who dabble in the occult/witchcraft are more open to being spiritually affected but I think non-believers/non-Christians are manipulated even when they don't realize it. We're all tempted though and we all fight a spiritual battle regardless of our spiritual standing.  

[cristobela]

edit: nevermind on #10 & about Satan not using
Job's name ever, but I stand by everything else.

Out of the 14 points made in the "What Is the Extent of Satan's Power?" article on the Blue Letter Bible website—and of what the GotQuestions article didn't end up covering—there was still some unsound reasoning in a couple of other points: #8, #10.

arrow 8. Cannot Mention Believer's Name Without Permission

We also discover that Satan cannot even mention the name of Job until God allows him to do so.

And the Lord said unto Satan, have you considered My servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil. He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved Me against him, to destroy him without cause (Job 2:3).

Did I miss something in Job 1-2? Scripture is silent on any indication that Satan didn't want to mention Job's name or couldn't mention Job's name without getting permission first, or that he even tried to refer to Job by name and couldn't until God gave him permission—or that he ever did mention Job's name.x So, where is he getting such an idea? That Satan can't even mention a believer's name until God gives them permission? The verse he offered doesn't provide any evidence. "Erroneous paraphrase" is an understatement.

I know Satan is not liked—understandably so, because he misleads the whole earth, especially those who haven't come to love the truth (as defined by God in His Word)—but that's no reason to mischaracterize what he can or cannot do (and what God has revealed that Satan can or cannot do). When does Satan call anyone by their name, with or without permission? Those are the verses to use to address the issue (if they exist). Not Job 2:3.

?

edit: Dec. 10, 2016 - Job 1:9 documents Satan using Job's name when talking with God, but nothing suggests because of permission by God, nor that he didn't do so prior because of lack of permission. God brought up the subject of Job first, ergo why Satan responds about Job.  

[cristobela]

Aha! idea Now I know why point #10 was bothering my Biblical-correctness radar (edit: the Holy Spirit saying something is not right), though I couldn't articulate it before. The way Don Stewart argued about created beings—and their inability to know thoughts—is too generalized. And he changed the meaning of 1 Kings 8:39 with his paraphrase.

10. Cannot Read Our Thoughts

Because he is a created being, Satan cannot read our thoughts. He is not all-knowing like the LORD. It is God alone that knows everything - including our thoughts.


• Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28).
  
  
• then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts You know - according to all their ways, for only You know what is in every human heart - (1 Kings 8:39)


The LORD knows our thoughts (Psalm 94:11).

Jesus, who is the LORD, also knew people's thoughts.


• But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? (Matthew 9:4)


The lack of being able to know our thoughts is another limitation in the character of Satan.

The bolded and underlined above is my emphasis.

Notice that the verses at no point say that spirits cannot know the thoughts of other spirits. And what about when that created being, that spirit, is inside of the other person? Consider this:

• 1 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV)
  
  11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Intention of Paul saying this: we can now know God's thoughts because He indwells us with His Holy Spirit. Spirit to spirit communication. The lesser cannot know the greater's thoughts, until the greater spirit indwells them, but can't the greater already know the lesser's already without his spirit coming into them? We are lower than the angels. All that the verses Stewart provided, above, in his article, go on to prove is that God is the only one who knows EVERY thought of EVERY human heart.

But how do those verses negate, or eliminate all possibility, that demons (whom are spirits) cannot know the thoughts of another spirit (even a human spirit's)?

How much more when the spirit possesses a human being? Do they—these spirits who are created beings—not know the thoughts of that human spirit's heart? Their spirit is in there with the human's spirit. Why wouldn't they? So being a created being is not what limits the ability to see into another's heart / know the thoughts of another's heart. It's whether you are a spirit and have access into the human being (and thus their spirit) and/or are not impeded by the material realm.

And say that Satan is not possessing the Christian. He most definitely can still send certain thoughts into your heart.

• Acts 5:3 (NIV)
  
  3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?

Ananias' example is great because this takes place after the Holy Spirit had been poured out onto the believers. Satan can still affect the thoughts of your heart even if he doesn't possess you in the way that he possessed Judas:

• John 13:27 (NIV)
  
  27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
  
  So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
  

Possessed or not, spirits are not impeded by the material realm. They can send thoughts into you. And even if they can't know the thoughts of every human heart like God can, nothing Stewart provided says they can't know the thoughts of some human spirits. And they can send thoughts into all of our hearts, whether we accept them or not is another matter.

disclaimer: by going through all this, I'm not trying to assign to Satan powers that he does not have, but be honest to what God reveals in His Word about what Satan can or cannot do (and what other spirits can or cannot do).