There are millions of human beings and there is no way that Satan can interact/tempt all of us in a one-on-one relationship. So how does Satan perform his evil works? I know that I am a sinner and have sin inherently in me but I don't see how Satan personally has had anything to do with me sinning. It all seems to stem from my own evil nature. Thoughts?
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Welcome to the site! This is an interesting question, but this site isn't intended to be a discussion/opinion forum. I made that mistake myself when I first started using this site. As a new visitor, I'd recommend checking out the following two posts, which are meant to help newcomers "learn the ropes": help page and How we are different than other sites?– David StrattonJan 1, 2014 at 3:44
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I think this question has potential, but could use some tweaking to make it fit the format and guidelines here. For suggestions, see Tips for editing a question to make it suitable for re-opening– David StrattonJan 1, 2014 at 3:46
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1Who says Satan is not omnipresent?– MawiaJan 1, 2014 at 4:57
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@ Mawai my Bible says so: Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.– BYEJan 1, 2014 at 10:56
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1I don't know of anyone who believes that Satan IS omnipresent, nor that he himself tempts every person. There are other demons that tempt, but we are also drawn away by our own desires.– NarnianJan 2, 2014 at 14:19
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2 Answers
Satan is most assuredly not omnipresent, Satan was and is an Angel (although he be a fallen Angel) and you must remember two things.
Satan (Lucifer) has no more power or ability than any of the other Angels.
When Lucifer was ejected from Heaven one third of the Angels were ejected with him:
Revelation 12:9 KJV
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:4 KJV
Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.
These fallen angels are also Devils
Luke 8:30 KJV
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
Some of these devils assist Satan in his efforts to tempt man away from God. The reason that they are so successful in their efforts to tempt us is because Satan has disguised Sin as a pleasant and desirable thing to have, and unfortunately having the knowledge of good and evil did nothing for our ability to see sin in its true character. Illicit sex would surely not be as tempting if it was seen ahead of time that it can lead to AIDS, or the many other STD's.
For some reason Satan has been able to disguise sin so completely that man will fall into his traps over and over.
Just consider the undesirable effects caused by not observing the 10 commandments.
It appears that man has been just as blinded to true beauty as when God destroyed the World in Noah's time.
Genesis 6:5 KJV
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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2You might consider tweaking your statement "Satan (Lucifer) has no more power or ability than any of the other Angels." There is at least a little biblical support for Satan having been, in his unfallen state, perhaps the mightiest (not to mention the most beautiful) angel God had created (see Ezekiel 28:13-15 ff.). While his "power and ability" since his downfall have tanked in the direction of good but have perhaps increased in the direction of malevolence. In Jude, when Michael the archangel disputed with the devil regarding Moses' body, he said respectfully, "The Lord rebuke you!" (v.9). Jan 1, 2014 at 2:50
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Yes I agree that Satan is not omnipresent. My question was a little vague. But how does a non-omnipresent being like Satan who can't be everywhere at once tempt and affect the lives of millions of humans? So many people, so little time…:0)– user9323Jan 1, 2014 at 2:52
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@ user 9323 He doesn't he has a multitude of fallen angels in his employ, and they help to tempt us remember Satan is no more capable than they are.– BYEJan 1, 2014 at 9:52
In the last 2000 years of the humankind history, all the time existed people which took the wisdom of God from New Testament and studied in practice very seriously. So seriously, as which they dedicated entire life to understand and practice His Words. Some of they went and lived in the deserts to be more focused on some teachings, other stayed and lived in the middle of crowds with people and practiced others.
In the recordings of Holy Tradition of Orthodoxy can be observed as general rule when Satan interacted in a one-on-one relationship with a human. The ascetics life is the most often exposed to direct encounters with devils. An Orthodox ascet doesn't questioning if devil exist. It knows that for sure by his belief. Seeing a devil is very powerful experience which give to a human a different consciousness and understanding. In almost all the cases these experiences pushes the person to become very fast a true seeker. And when a true seeker person finds the Gospels describing how Jesus cast out the devils from human souls he become a Jesus follower, a saved man and sometimes a holy man during his life on Earth which has disastrous consequences for Satan's Kingdom.
In Orthodoxy, Life of the Saints is abundant about these. We can understand practically why Satan has no interest to show himself to atheist community. Their critical minds will not resist to remain limited the set of knowledge guided by the atheistic principles. Similar happens when the person is deceived with a wrong believe.
There is another reason why one to one experience with devil is rare. In order to preserve free will of a human, God will not allow interference of the spiritual world which transcends expectation of a person, beyond the power of endurance. The same happens with temptations from devil: a human cannot be tempted by the devils beyond his powers. In human crowds these experience are very rare observable, sometimes misinterpreted as epileptic activity. We can observe that angels or devils have free will like humans, but there is a limit in this freedom and a order in the created worlds.
Maybe at the end of times, Satan will appear at a daylight to everybody when human mind will be so perverted that will not be able to recognize him, rather confounding him with the Mesia (as JW expects, by example). But first Hollywood industry must exercise children minds with movies about zombies, vampires and lots of monsters, and then the science community must detect 'somehow' extraterestial life activity after then.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. (Colosians)
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive (Matthew 24)
