Frankly Answered Questions - FAQs

Can Satan read minds or put thoughts in your mind?

Q: I would like you to answer the following question or direct me to the Bible, or course, if this specific question is answered clearly.

I am currently leading a bible study on Revelation and we discussed Satan last week. My statement to the class was that Satan can put thoughts into your mind. Now, I'm not so sure about that statement. 

I have searched and searched and am not sure about the following: Can Satan put thoughts into your mind or does he just use things such as: what you have heard from others, areas of your life that you have given into that are now a weakness, things that you have seen before, etc.?

This has turned into a very puzzling question. I know that Jesus was tempted by Satan, but Satan was literally standing before Jesus.

A: The short answer is that I have been asked this question a number of times and to the best of my knowledge Scripture does not explicitly address the issue. If you would like a longer reflection on the subject continue to read on.

Your question is related to the question, "Can the devil read your mind?" or, more broadly, "Can mental communication happen between Satan and a human being?"

My experience, (which really means nothing because it is only experience, not revelation from God) - my experience seems to be that demonic thoughts are sometimes projected into my mind. I know that I am a sinner and I have a tremendous amount of wicked thoughts that come from my own heart. But there are times when I think, "Where are these thoughts coming from? They seem out of character even for my depraved heart." One of the tactics that was very helpful to me in overcoming addiction was to rebuke these evil thoughts and ask God to put pure thoughts into my mind. I would often receive an immediate silencing of these voices and then could deal with the temptation without the added stress of "alien input." But I am the first to say that I could be completely misinterpreting my experience.

Perhaps these thoughts actually come from my own heart and I'm just more sinful than I want to acknowledge. Satan has had 6,000 plus years of viewing human beings. He is an expert in observational intelligence. Maybe Satan puts thoughts in our mind the same way other people do. How many times has another person introduced a destructive or ungodly thought into your mind - not by mental telepathy, but more normal means? I remember reading about the Mapplethorpe exhibit of purported 'art' in my local newspaper when it was at the height of its shocking infamy -and I've never been able to rid myself of the images created by what I read. Though we are not even to speak of what things the wicked do in private (Ephesians 5:12), our culture now parades these very things before us as a matter of public discourse, law, and entertainment. So it is easy for me to understand how Satan can manipulate my thinking by outward means. Other people certainly do.

But let's lay aside experience and talk about the Bible. To the best of my knowledge there is no direct statement in the Scriptures such as "the devil can read your mind" or "the devil can put thoughts in your mind." There is also no example in the Bible that I am aware of such as "Satan knew David's thoughts and so he...".

Since Satan is an angel it would help us if we had a clear statement about angels reading minds or communicating through mental telepathy, but again I am at a loss to know where this is in the Bible.

We could perhaps answer the question in the affirmative by looking at the power of demons. Demons and Satan are separate individuals, but I would guess that whatever powers demons have, Satan would also have. There are examples of people who are forced to speak by demons (Mark 1:23-24,34; 5:9; Acts 16:17). Are these demons controlling the person's mouth by direct thought manipulation? Perhaps. But these are examples of people who are seriously demonized, where demons have taken up residence "inside" the person. Would this be true for a normal individual? Probably not. Would it be true for a Christian? I certainly don't think so.

I think Job is a relevant example illustrating the likelihood of a negative answer to the question. God knew Job's mind (because God is omniscient), but Satan knows only what he sees of Job and what he believes Job's response will be to trouble. Satan evidently believed that if he could abuse Job, Job's faith would crumble (Job 1:11; 2:4-5). He clearly didn't know Job's mind and God did (Job 2:10). On this example, we'd conclude that Satan cannot read minds. Of course, this is just a kind of logical assumption from one example and I'm always hesitant about establishing a doctrine based on assumption or single illustration.

It's worth mentioning -at the same time- that Scripture ascribes omniscience (which would have to be closely related to mind-reading, right?) solely to God. There are a number of examples of God knowing a person's thoughts (Psalm 139:4) and Jesus knowing thoughts (Mark 2:6-8). There is never anything like this said of Satan. So in spite of what we have read or seen in science fiction, mind reading and thought communication is probably the privilege of God alone.

How we apply conclusions is often as important as the conclusions we reach. I knew someone who believed that Satan could NOT read your mind, so he became paranoid about what he would say. It became a secrecy game between him and Satan. He even stopped voicing his prayers (since this would tell Satan about his weaknesses and his strategies). He "thought" his prayers to God, rather than spoke them. This may seem to be a sensible application, but we must always check our applications (not just our conclusions) against the Bible. Of course, we see nothing of this in the Bible. Believers in Jesus Christ don't need to live in fear or try to keep information from Satan.

I assume that if this were a vital question, that our Father would have given more revelation on the subject. Apparently, it is not a central issue for spiritual warfare or resisting Satan. Whether he knows our thoughts or doesn't know them, whether he puts thoughts into our minds or thoughts come by other means, we can still resist Satan by being alert (1 Peter 5:8-9), giving him no foothold (Ephesians 4:27), talking to God (Matthew 26:41), trusting our Father for power (1 John 5:4), etc.