Evil concupiscence or thoughts cast in by the devil?

[No Other Name]

Yes. That is what I am asking.

Jesus told the Pharisees, "John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The idea is that when we are tempted (or when we sin), we are tempted by our own sinful nature, but in this life, we have our sinful nature from “our father the devil.”

In other words, we are, "drawn away of our own lust, and enticed,” but ultimately drawn away of Satan’s lust through our inherited Adamic nature. This is an easier concept for me to grasp than some sort of mental telepathy whereby Satan and his minions interject thoughts into our heads.

Mental telepathy is not required to inject thoughts into our heads. Your personalized Google account injects thoughts into your head by the algorithm having been formed long term by your searches and websites etc. Same with all social media accounts. If a minion of the devil wants to entice a pastor using a seemingly random Facebook shorts featuring a girl provocatively dressed, that is still up to God whether he will be allowed at that time or not.

On any day in one scenario as given, we are tempted by

a) the flesh (internally as a default setting from the fall or indwelling sin in the case of a believer),
b) the world (Facebook algorithms and willing participants including the engineers and the models etc etc)
c) and the devil (a guidance into particular enticing of us known by them deeper than "our algorithm" stored in Silicon Valley servers),

and yet, over it all, God has decreed - freely and unchangeably - what will happen from all eternity on that day in that scenario but not so as to be the author of the sin nor have fellowship in the sin; neither violate our will nor to subtract from our liberty and contingency.

 

[En Kristo]

Mental telepathy is not required to inject thoughts into our heads. Your personalized Google account injects thoughts into your head by the algorithm having been formed long term by your searches and websites etc. Same with all social media accounts. If a minion of the devil wants to entice a pastor using a seemingly random Facebook shorts featuring a girl provocatively dressed, that is still up to God whether he will be allowed at that time or not.

On any day in one scenario as given, we are tempted by

a) the flesh (internally as a default setting from the fall or indwelling sin in the case of a believer),
b) the world (Facebook algorithms and willing participants including the engineers and the models etc etc)
c) and the devil (a guidance into particular enticing of us known by them),

and yet, over it all, God has decreed - freely and unchangeably - what will happen from all eternity on that day in that scenario but not so as to be the author of the sin nor have fellowship in the sin; neither violate our will nor to subtract from our liberty and contingency.

That is my point. Satan’s tools vis a vis our thoughts are external, not internal. He can tempt by telling lies or by deceiving, but ultimately, "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire."