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Can Satan Mimic The Holy Spirit

I have been a member of the Church my whole life. Until I was near 30 though I didn't have a firm Testimony of the Atonement or the restoration of the Church. Through the Holy Spirit I have gained a firm Testimony of both.

As I explain to others not of my faith my testimony or "witness" I received of the Atonement they are accepting. However, when I tell them I received the same "witness" of Joseph Smith, then they say that is of the devil... and that that Satan has deceived me.

They tell me that Satan has the power to mimic the Holy Spirit and that is what has happened to me. When I ask why or how they weren't deceived and how they were able to tell they can 't really tell me.

How can this be? If Satan is allowed to deceive man by mimicking the Holy Spirit, how can anyone know what is right or wrong.

Spirit Holy Mimic Satan Can

Hi!

This caught my attention because my husband and I were discussing this earlier today. I hope you don't mind me sharing a couple things we talked about and also something a missionary taught me years ago--while I was active but hearing things from others--it was great advice to me.

The missionary told me that once the Spirit has confirmed truth to you--it's your witness. Questioning something is not a bad thing--BUT! (always a but! ) You should NEVER Question something the spirit has told you but rather the things that PEOPLE are telling you. After that, any doctrinal issues I have had concerns with, I have applied that advice and have been saved a lot of confusion.

As for why or when they supposedly were told that Joseph Smith was not a prophet -- we have to realize that there are not only 2 voices in our heads but THREE! The spirit-The advesary and our own. I think this is the factor more often than we realize. If we have a belief or idea and latch onto it, that can be powerful. (In this instance, the Atonement) So it seems it could work the other way as well. If we DON'T believe in an idea (Joseph Smith, LDS Church, etc.) then we can deceive ourselves, in my opinion. They are not looking to believe something rather trying to disprove it.

Another thought we had was, that Satan is the Father of Lies and The Great Deceiver....He can try and imitate and manipulate thoughts and ideas that make it seem like what we are doing is okay (They seem to have the thought that they are saving you from being deceived rather than actually just being ANTI).

If we already have those thoughts on our own I believe Satan can manipulate possible thoughts BUT I do not think he has the power to bear TRUTH. It seems then, if a person is asking for a testimony of TRUTH (Atonement) the spirit of God would testify it to them--which it did in both you and your friends cases.

IT WAS TRUTH--But you both approached the subject of Joseph Smith differently. You prayed for a testimony of TRUTH and received it later in life. They prayed to know that Joseph Smith and all that comes with him is deceitful and a product of Satan. They too were answered, in my opinion, but not from the source of truth, rather the deceiver himself. He can feed those feelings and KEEP feeding them--where if you felt the Holy Spirit testify to you once and then again--it seems that they are the ones who are ignorant (not in a mean way) of how truth is testified.

Sorry to ramble on...

Can Satan Mimic The Holy Spirit Studies Doctrine Mormon

Hello there,

First of all, let's re-iterate what we do know. Satan can appear like unto an angel of light as it is stated in Doctrine and Covenants 128:20 "...The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of light!..." and in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:9 "...yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light,..." and also when Korihor was deceived, Alma 30:53 "But behold the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people for they have all gone astray after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say. ..."

So from these scriptures we see that the devil can appear like an angel and as in the last example, we see that the devil will teach one that there is no God. I think that he will also say anything else to make you not believe in God, Jesus Christ as well as the testimony of any of the prophets nor will he want you to believe in the scriptures.

Another thing we know is that the devil does not want you to pray. 2 Nephi 32:8 "...for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray."

What do we know about praying for an answer and whether or not we receive an answer? In Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9 "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong;..."

So you want an answer, you study it out, you ponder on it, you finally go to God in prayer and if it is true, right, then you will feel that it is right. However, if what you want an answer to is not right, then you will forget the question, you will feel nothing one way or the other and eventually forget what you were pondering and seeking for in answer through prayer.

What else do we know? God and Christ can not lie. So by reading the previous scripture, we take it for what it is worth and know those words are true, because God and Christ can not lie.

I don't know if this helps. As I ponder over this, I think the question you are asking is "Can Satan deceive man by mimicking the Holy Spirit?" I do know that Satan can appear like an angel of light. He will not want you to pray, in fact he will press upon you to not pray.

Can he mimic the Holy Spirit? I don't believe he can. In the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 276, it states, "The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove." In this regards, the devil, Satan can not mimic the Holy Ghost being manifested in the form of a dove.

So all in all, Satan lies, he does not want you to pray, he can appear like an angel of light and prayer is the means to receiving answers from God, if what you are praying for, about is not right, you will receive a stupor of thought meaning you will not receive a definite answer one way or the other, but rather you will forget what you were praying about. The Holy Ghost in one form can appear in the form of a dove and Satan can not appear in the form of a dove whatsoever.

I don't know if there is anything else I am missing. If there is, maybe someone else more informed and more knowledgeable will be able to help you out with this.

tatanga

Spirit Holy Mimic Satan Can

When I say mimic, it is relation to the Holy Spirit bearing witness to you the Jesus is the Christ.... the Redeemer of mankind.

The feelings one has in regards to receiving such a witness, as far as I know, only comes form the Holy Spirit. When I received a witness of Christ as my Savior and that Joseph Smith was a prophet they accompanied the very same feelings and experience. However, like I mentioned before, people say that Satan was responsible for my witness of Joseph being a prophet.

How can that be? If Satan can make me feel the same way the Holy Spirit can, then we may all (everyone that ever lived) be deceived. There would really be no way to know what is right or wrong except through divine intervention.

Not the physical attributes of an angel... but the still soft warmth of the Holy Spirit as He opens up gospel truths to your understanding.... that is the "mimic" I am referring to.

Spirit Holy Mimic Satan Can

Hello,

These people you are referring to, I am guessing you mean they are not members of the Church. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Have you discussed this with your bishop or branch president? Since he is your immediate spiritual leader, he has access to the spirit to help you resolve this confusion.

I think that you are placing too much weight on the words of people who do not want to believe in Joseph Smith and in latter-day prophets. The way I am reading your confusion and your wavering is too much belief and too much trust in the arm of flesh of the "well-intentioned" words of these people who are not members of the Church, who want to say they believe in Christ, but feel that it is not necessary to follow a prophet today.

So the way I see it, is you need to go to Father in Heaven once again and ask Him if the testimony you have that Joseph Smith is a prophet is right or wrong. If you are still unsure, go to your bishop, (or branch president) and ask for his counsel and guidance, if need be, ask for a priesthood blessing as well.

Like I mentioned before, Satan does not want you to pray. Satan will cause confusion so that you will begin to doubt and disbelieve. So you need to stop and ask yourself, "Am I placing too much weight on the words of people not of the Church of Jesus Christ as I know it to be true to make me doubt and believe that Satan can mimic the holy spirit or not?"

In my opinion, because those "well-intentioned" people wanted to keep you from following false prophets, they told you something that they can not give you a complete answer to but only leaves you in a doubtful and confused state of mind.

So you need to ask "Who wants me to live in a doubting and confused state of belief?" I think as you search out the answer to this question, you will come to know where those "well-intentioned" statements came from and hopefully you will be able to place your faith and hope and belief once again on the strait and narrow path on which you have been on before. I do hope you can get your faith and belief back on course.

Take care my brother in the gospel,
Tatanga

Edited: seekintruth on 16th May, 2008 - 8:34am

Can Satan Mimic The Holy Spirit

Question: Can Satan mimic the Holy Ghost?

Short Answer: No he cannot.

Long Answer: (All is my opinion - Sorry for not taking the time to clean it up some. This is an except from an article I wrote called "By there fruits you shall know them. The point is that fruits are not actions, situations or results... This excerpt addresses your quesstion as to whether Satan could mimic the Holy Ghost. I will extend the question to be "If Satan did mimic the Holy Ghost, would he be able to convince people to do evil? My answer follows:)

The problem is discerning the fruits by which we will know the good from the bad. Now, having illustrated the confusion that we now face, I refer to Mormon who makes this interesting statement:

"For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night" - Moro. 7:15

Although this scripture says the way to judge is plain, it seems that this plain and simple truth has eluded us throughout history and even today. What are the real fruits by which we can know good from evil?

Let's look at a few of the fruits the scriptures point out, to get some ideas;

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." - Gal. 5:22-23

"And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy;" - Ne. 8:10-12

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." - Heb. 12:11

In all these scriptures, the fruits are NOT actions, situations or beliefs. The fruits are feelings or states of being. The fruit is within the person and relates to what they are experiencing. If we looked at these fruits while judging a person, we would say, is the person loving, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, patient, and joyful. Because these feelings are good and invite and entice those who feel them to do good, they come from God. Mormon explains why this is so,

"Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift. For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water; neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water; wherefore, a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ; and if he follow Christ he cannot be a servant of the devil. Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." - Moro. 7:10-13

I can almost hear some saying that those feelings do not invite and entice us to do good and love God. In fact, I have heard some say that the devil has a counterfeit for all of those feelings. For example they may say that the devil can make you feel peace and love. If the devil could make you feel love or peace for example, then would it not invite you to do good? All the laws and teachings of the prophets are summed up in two points. Love God and love your neighbor, (Matt. 22:36-40). It is impossible to love and not fulfill all the laws of God because they are based on Love, (Rom. 13: 8, 10, Gal. 5: 14, James 2: 8). So if the devil can help us to Love, then he would be doing good, which he cannot do. Along with Love, Peace, longsuffering, patience and other good feelings, which help us to treat others with love, come from God and are of no use to the devil. God's goodness unites people with love in harmony and peace. Christ explained this when he taught, "if you are not one, you are not mine".
This was illustrated when the apostles were disturbed by a man who was casting out devils. This man was not associated with Christ or the same group as the apostles, so the apostles, being disturbed, forbade him from continuing to cast out devils. When Christ heard this he responded, "Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." - Luke 9:49-50, Mark 9:38-41.
Just as these good fruits come from God, all negative feelings come from the devil and produce evil including separation, pride, selfishness, disunity, and war.
Below is a simple comparison of both good and bad fruits in no particular order:

Good Fruit:

Love
Gratitude
Joy
Excitement
Hope
Faith
Satisfaction
Patience
Peace
Acceptance

Bad Fruit:

Annoyance
Worry
Criticism/Blame
Anger
Revenge
Hate
Resentment
Guilt
Unrest
Depression
Fear


We all know when we have negative feelings and when we have positive feelings. Some may be stronger than others, but all feelings are either negative or positive. We cannot be under the influence of the positive and the negative at the same time. The positive will always dispel the negative, (1 Jn. 4:18, Moro. 8: 16).
All good feelings come from God and are uplifting, encouraging and enabling. A person cannot experience these feelings without doing good because these feelings are the fruits of goodness. And, as the sweet fruits of the trees have seeds, so do the fruits of goodness contain the seeds of goodness. Just as an apple contains seeds that can be planted to produce another apple tree, so the fruits of goodness contain the seeds which can produce good trees. And, as an apple seed will never produce a cactus, neither can Love, peace or any other good fruit be planted in our hearts and produce hate, malice or other evil fruit.
Because these attributes are internal, they may be difficult to see in others. We also must remember that we are all still progressing toward the end goal and spend our time influenced by both sides of the spectrum at some point. So, to say a person is either good or bad would be incorrect as we all fluctuate between the two sides. We also experience degrees of each side. Sometimes we are full of intense love, and sometimes we are full of intense hate or rage. Other times we might be pleasantly satisfied and at peace or mildly discouraged and generally sad.
In relation to this topic, we must consider our philosophies and beliefs which determine how we view or perceive the world and the actions of those around us. For example is our belief schema is full of doctrines which separate, criticize and judge others such as racist notions, our hearts will be full of hate, distain and other negative feelings. We can then use this principle to determine if our current accepted beliefs are good and of God or not, as well as new teachings. And the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, (Moro. 7:15).

"Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." - D&C 8:2

Remember that 'the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness and temperance:" (Gal. 5:22-23) These are all positive emotions which are felt in our heart. When the Spirit is present, we will always feel it positively in our heart even if it is only simple peace. We are told in our minds both by comprehending the answer we are being given and mentally recognizing the feelings in our heart.

The Holy Ghost "dwells in our hearts" and will be accompanied by the positive feelings. That is the plain and simple way to know, EVERY TIME!

All good things invite and entice us to do good, and so to have these good feelings or fruits. This was explained very clearly by Alma as he spoke of trying the words of others which he compared to seeds"¦

"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves-It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness.
O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good.
And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst." - Alma 32:28-43

So, what is this fruit which is most precious and pure above all? Why it is the Love of God, (1Ne. 10:10-18, 1Ne. 11:8-25). By this fruit, ye shall know Him.

Can Satan Mimic Holy Spirit

There have been some great points brought up here and I hope that you are finding some ways to help you Bingo! I feel so strongly about NOT trusting in the Arm of the Flesh as already mentioned.

I hope you will be able to pray and find the still, small voice that bears truth to your spirit--something that is unmistakable when it happens (in my opinion). The Lord isn't about confusion and Satan is the master at trying to distract us however he can, especially with doubt and confusion. May the Lord bless you to find peace and your answers.

AlaskanLDS

Can Satan Mimic Holy Spirit Mormon Doctrine Studies

Well said and Amen, AlaskanLDS! I feel the same importance of following the Spirit and Trusting in the Spirit which dwells within us, and not trusting in the arm of flesh. I really like how you pointed us all back to that God Source.

Amonhi