• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

If God Does Miracles, What Does Satan Do?

kamalktk

kamalktk

Antediluvian
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
7,215
Is there some specific term for the supernatural things Satan does? I'd think it's not "satanic miracle".
 
Curses?
 
He makes stickers come off in layers leaving the glue behind.
He makes the plastic wrapper of microwave meals come off in slivers insteads of one whole piece.
He puts something in the way of the TV box (or moves it slightly) so that it can't receive the signal from the remote.
He drinks the last of the milk after you started brewing your drink.
He leaves 3 or 4 sheets of toilet paper on the roll but makes it look like enough for one more visit.
He parks his little car between two larger cars, hiding it from you when you're looking for a parking space.
He makes the ring pull snap off the can.

I would go on but I think he's listening...
 
kamalktk said:
Is there some specific term for the supernatural things Satan does? I'd think it's not "satanic miracle".
Click to expand...

No, there's no term exclusively denoting supernatural or extraordinary actions by Satan (as opposed to any other figure in the Abrahamic canons).

In the more modern Biblical translations Satan's extraordinary acts are most often distinguished not by different terminology but by negative characterizations of 'miracle' (or synonyms). For example, the enumeration of Satan's capabilities in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 includes such variant phrasings as:

- counterfeit power and signs and miracles
- false signs and wonders
- every kind of power, sign, and false wonder(s)
- every power, and in signs, and in wonders of falsehood
- all power and signs and lying wonders ('lying wonders' seems quite popular nowadays ... )
- every kind of power, including miraculous signs, lying wonders
- all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders
- great power and signs and lying miracles

(SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/2_thessalonians/2-9.htm)

In other words, miraculous acts are ascribed to Satan, but qualified as being somehow false or illegitimate (by comparison with God's / Jesus' miraculous acts).

It's all very murky - mainly because the concept of Satan isn't clearly defined in the biblical texts, and there's good reason to question whether the Devil we know(?) today is the Satan they described back then.

The word apparently originated as a common noun ('satan'; not capitalized) to mean 'adversary', 'accuser', or 'one who resists', and referred to a role (as in a story) rather than a specific character or entity. The older editions of the Old Testament texts contain multiple references to 'satan' (i.e., 'an accuser'; 'an adversary'), but provide little or no basis for equating these references to a single persistent malevolent entity.

For example, the 'satan' (not Satan) originally appearing in Job (the book) and bedeviling Job (the man) was pretty clearly described as an angel who challenged God as to whether Job's faith and allegiance would survive adversity. God gave the angel permission to test Job to the extreme, but there's no mention of God equipping (or needing to equip) the angel with any powers before he could carry out the task.

In other Old Testament appearances the satan isn't necessarily operating supernaturally, relying instead on (e.g.) deception, trickery, and / or verbal cunning.

The notion of Satan (proper name) as a specific longstanding evil entity is something that progressively coalesces as the Bible proceeds, reaching full fruition only in the New Testament. A shift toward this revisionist concept seems to correlate with the Second Temple Period (after the Israelites had returned from Babylon, where they were exposed to Zoroastrian dualism and its emphasis on a clear-cut and persistent evil force / influence / entity).

By the time you get to Revelations Satan is a supernatural super-villain and lord of all that is unholy. It is this later, culminating view of Satan as the ultimate Evil One which subsequent Christian translations / editions retro-projected onto the earlier Old Testament appearances.

The related notion of this culminating Satan character originating as an angel cast out of heaven is a back-story that arose and proliferated even later.
 
Last edited:
Ringo said:
He makes stickers come off in layers leaving the glue behind.
He makes the plastic wrapper of microwave meals come off in slivers insteads of one whole piece.
He puts something in the way of the TV box (or moves it slightly) so that it can't receive the signal from the remote.
He drinks the last of the milk after you started brewing your drink.
He leaves 3 or 4 sheets of toilet paper on the roll but makes it look like enough for one more visit.
He parks his little car between two larger cars, hiding it from you when you're looking for a parking space.
He makes the ring pull snap off the can. ...
Click to expand...


That's not Satan - that's Murphy! :evil:
 
He cant be that unpopular quit a few places named after him,
there's a Hobbs La near here it's a bit out in't sticks I use it
as a cut through now n then a dark brooding place but nothing
ever noticed there and I always wounder how it got it's name
never seen another vehicle on it though it's in good repair.
 
graylien said:
This reminds me, I recently read an article about a Satanic life drawing class. Whenever I read anything about Satanists they always seem a bit up themselves. I reckon Satan himself would be insufferably smug.
Click to expand...

The models're a bit coy, aren't they? Paper stars stuck onto nipples, Sunday newspaper-style. I approve of the dreadlocked pubes though.
 
escargot1 said:
The models're a bit coy, aren't they? Paper stars stuck onto nipples, Sunday newspaper-style. I approve of the dreadlocked pubes though.
Click to expand...
Satanists can be a bit self-consciously 'evil' - 'look at me, I'm evil - mwuhahaha!' :twisted:
 
graylien said:
This reminds me, I recently read an article about a Satanic life drawing class. Whenever I read anything about Satanists they always seem a bit up themselves. I reckon Satan himself would be insufferably smug.
Click to expand...
I saw him once or twice in dreams. One I vividly recall showed him as a gorgeous Adonis-like prince lounging seductively amidst luxuriant splendour. He wanted me to do something I didn't want to do and I stood firm against temptation. Then he got mad. His skin turned bright pink and started to emit vapour. His countenance became enraged. At that point I was 'removed' from the encounter by agent or agents unseen, and was out of danger.

Haven't thought of that in years. Dreamt it during years of deep struggle in my early 20s.
 
skinny said:
I saw him once or twice in dreams. One I vividly recall showed him as a gorgeous Adonis-like prince lounging seductively amidst luxuriant splendour. He wanted me to do something I didn't want to do and I stood firm against temptation. Then he got mad. His skin turned bright pink and started to emit vapour. His countenance became enraged. At that point I was 'removed' from the encounter by agent or agents unseen, and was out of danger.

Haven't thought of that in years. Dreamt it during years of deep struggle in my early 20s.
Click to expand...
I experienced delusions of vividly hearing a demon and seeing shadow demons standing around my bed a couple of hospital stays ago .. I even called the police to tell them the ward was being attacked and staff had to cancel the police. I'm 99% convinced it was all caused by the meds I was being given although I did close my eyes and say The Lord's Prayer to make them disappear .... and that worked ! .. I wasn't especially relegious or even an atheist at the time but I must confess to praying more often since then .. a lot of people will think that's bonkers because I used to be one of those people so I get it and am not trying to convert anyone to Christianity, it could be the inner power of faith instead that we all can draw on whether it's Allah, God, Buddha, Shiva whoever .... it's not important to me. Weirdly, the next stay at the hospital had me thinking I could hear a massive choir singing "Oh Gloria, Hosana" at only one certain large public hall eating area ... it was incredibly beautiful, almost certainly my mind playing tricks on me again but I enjoyed that one so I started going there just to hear it :).

I love Escargot's post about 'demons' inside us, it doesn't suggest the demons are imaginary or not and if demons exist then angles must also exist, either that or its all just human psychological cravings for stability which is just as likely.
 
Last edited:
kamalktk said:
Is there some specific term for the supernatural things Satan does? I'd think it's not "satanic miracle".
Click to expand...
He must, supernaturally, be finding large amounts of work thereafter to be done by idle hands.

Or perhaps these days he tracks people via Facebook. You know, massive tracking teams, constant shifts of them, searching.

As a form of (well) work. You know...for idle hands.
 
Last edited:
Ermintrude said:
He must, supernaturally, be finding large amounts of work thereafter to be done by idle hands.

Or perhaps these days he tracks people via Facebook. You know, massive tracking teams, constant shifts of them, searching.

As a form of (well) work. You know...for idle hands.
Click to expand...
You've been listening to The Smiths again, haven't you ? ..
 
Swifty said:
You've been listening to The Smiths again, haven't you ? .
Click to expand...
Actually, no, not for ages. Probably should, soon....

weapons-of-mass-distraction.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top