“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nHe can bring a thought to your mind, but he can’t force your will.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
I don’t disagree that Satan can encourage a person to think about sinful things. That is, after all, what temptation was all about. What I took the questioner to mean, which was later confirmed by the response, was whether Satan can force a person to think about sinful things. It is that which I argued cannot be. Your example of I Chronicles 21:1 illustrates this. Satan provoked David to number Israel. But also in II Samuel 24:1 we learn that the Lord moved David to say that Israel should be numbered. Yet, the one held responsible for numbering Israel was David because it was his word (II Samuel 24:4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Yes, Satan can put thoughts in a man’s mind. \u00a0Look at the Scripture. \u00a0I disagree with what you answered to “Can Satan put bad thoughts into your head?“ “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel” (I Chronicles 21:1). ” But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[235],"class_list":["post-24599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-satan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17050,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-disagree-with-the-idea-that-satan-cant-put-thoughts-directly-into-someones-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":0},"title":"I disagree with the idea that Satan can’t put thoughts directly into someone’s head","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I disagree with\u00a0the idea that Satan can't put thoughts directly into someone's head. What about: John 13:2 \"And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,\" John 13:26-27 \"Jesus answered, \"It is he to whom I shall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-satan-put-bad-thoughts-into-your-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":1},"title":"Can Satan put bad thoughts into your head?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering why certain thoughts are coming to my mind. Is it possible that Satan could put thoughts into a person's mind to try to get them to sin, doubt, or think bad thoughts about God and the Holy Spirit? I've read different articles saying that it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9186,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-satan-hear-our-internal-prayers\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":2},"title":"Can Satan hear our internal prayers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who can hear our silent prayers -- those prayers that are thought in our minds but not verbalized? Isn't God the only one who can read our minds and hearts? Satan cannot hear our thoughts, can he? Answer: In dedicating the temple, Solomon prayed, \"whatever prayer, whatever supplication is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13470,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-overcome-my-evil-thoughts-even-though-i-am-christian-already\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":3},"title":"How can I overcome my evil thoughts even though I am Christian already?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I overcome my evil thoughts even though I am Christian already? Answer: I've always been amazed at how many people think that Satan gives up and goes away just because a person has become a Christian. Satan isn't going to stop tempting you with sin (evil thoughts),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7812,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-god-referred-to-as-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":4},"title":"Is God referred to as Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is God referred to as Satan in II Samuel 24:1 and I Chronicles 21:1? Also, is Satan referred to as angel in Numbers 22:22, 32? Please help me explain these verses. Answer: \"Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-satan-bound-before-jesus-came-to-this-world-or-later\/","url_meta":{"origin":24599,"position":5},"title":"When was Satan bound, before Jesus came to this world or later?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house\" (Mark 3:27). From this verse, we learn that Satan is currently bound by Christ and that his power is limited. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}