Does Satan Give Psychics Real Power?  🔗 **Source:** [Does Satan Give Psychics Real Power?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ#transcript) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: [christian-apologetics, new-apostolic-reformation, psychic-claims, cold-reading, spiritual-warfare, skepticism] > author: Holly Pivec > source: Holly Pivec (YouTube) > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ > date created: 2026-06-17 14:10 > --- > # 🏷️ Title: Does Satan Give Psychics Real Power? (A Magician's Perspective) > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > - [📝 Summary](#-summary) > - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) > - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) > - [📚 References](#-references) > - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) > - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) > - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) > - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) > - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) > - [❓ Questions](#-questions) > - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) > - [💡 Implications](#-implications) > - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) > - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) > - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) > - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) > - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) > - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) > ### 🔗 References > - [Holly Pivec — channel](https://www.youtube.com/@hollypivec) > - [Leviticus 19:31 / Deuteronomy 18:9–14](https://www.biblegateway.com) (Old Testament prohibitions on mediums/spiritists discussed) > - [Acts 16:16–18](https://www.biblegateway.com) (the slave girl "with a spirit of divination") > - [James Randi Educational Foundation — $1,000,000 paranormal challenge](https://web.archive.org/web/20150326144746/http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html) (model for the prize-test the guest describes) > ## 📝 Summary > - **What happened.** Holly Pivec interviews a Christian magician (an illusionist who debunks the paranormal) about whether Satan or demons give psychics, mediums, and self-described prophets genuinely supernatural information. The guest is responding to authors Pivec quotes — Joanna Michaelsson and Neil T. Anderson — who argue Scripture's condemnation of occultism presupposes that occult power is *real*, not mere fraud. > - **Why it matters.** It sits at a live fault line in evangelical thought, especially around the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR): if prophets and psychics relay information that "couldn't be known naturally," does that prove a supernatural (demonic) source? The guest argues no — most such cases reduce to ordinary techniques (cold reading, statistical guessing) and to memory distortion in how stories are retold. > - **Key stakeholders.** Former NAR participants who believe they prophesied real hidden knowledge; psychics and mediums; Christian apologists debating the metaphysics of the occult; and skeptics/magicians who test paranormal claims under controlled conditions. > - **Risks and tradeoffs.** The guest avoids two extremes — credulity (attributing every uncanny hit to Satan) and total naturalism (denying that God or Satan act at all). He affirms demons and angels exist but refuses to "go beyond the biblical teaching" about what they demonstrably do. > - **Bottom line.** "I can't argue your experience, but I can argue your interpretation of your experience." The guest grants that people had real experiences while disputing the supernatural *explanation*, citing cold reading, lucky guesses, exaggerated retellings, and failed controlled tests. > ## 📖 Main Content > - **The prompt.** Pivec reads two quotes she attributes to occult-affirming Christian authors: Joanna Michaelsson — "the condemnation was not issued against mere frauds and windbags … the Bible has always recognized the reality of phenomena produced by occultism" — and Neil T. Anderson, who says the mediums God warned against "were not con artists but people who … become channels of knowledge from Satan." She asks whether Satan or demons can implant accurate thoughts in psychics' or prophets' minds. > - **Cold reading vs. hot reading.** The guest distinguishes *hot reading* (using secretly obtained advance information) from *cold reading* (inferring from probabilities, body language, and high-base-rate statements). He claims to have guessed a dog's name correctly and to have used demographic generalizations ("95% of women experience this"). He cites a list from Bill Gothard's "Basic Youth Conflicts" institute as material he repurposed for cold reading. > - **Memory distortion.** People's stories "get … out of shape." His illustration: he produced at most two doves in his act, yet a woman years later recalled "all those doves." He argues uncanny anecdotes inflate over time. > - **Limits of Satan's role.** He rejects the Benny Hinn-style claim that Satan appears to tempt directly — "All I have to do is get on the internet and I'm tempted." He locates most spiritual struggle in "the world and the flesh," doubts that Satan literally "puts thoughts in my mind," and treats "doctrines of demons" as false teaching rather than telepathy. > - **The controlled-test argument.** The strongest epistemic move: he describes "Andre," who offered $25,000 for any supernatural feat demonstrated under controlled conditions (his own spoon, hand-checking, a controlled setting). The astral-projection test in Russia: a box over the subject's head, a sentence on a blackboard behind him; the subject "read" *God is love* but Andre had written *Billy is a boy*. He catalogs the recurring excuses ("I can't read in my astral body," "God would take the ability away if I took the money") and counters by offering to donate the prize to charity. > - **Scriptural exegesis.** On the demon-possessed slave girl in Acts who brought her masters "much gain by fortunetelling," he argues the text affirms she was demonized but *does not* say she could read minds — paralleling today's paid "California Psychics," who make money without proven ability. His thesis: people read more into the biblical text than is there. He affirms God can heal and that demons and angels are real, while declining to specify powers Scripture doesn't attribute to them. > ### 🗒️ Notes > #### ⏱️ [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=0) The authors Pivec quotes > - Pivec reads Michaelsson and Anderson, who argue Scripture's occult prohibitions presuppose real occult power. > - Quote: Anderson — mediums "were not con artists but people who … become channels of knowledge from Satan." > #### ⏱️ [00:01:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=66) The ex-NAR prophecy testimony > - Pivec relays people who say they prophesied accurate, un-knowable information and insist it wasn't hot reading. > - Sets up the core question: can demons implant thoughts in psychics or "prophets"? > #### ⏱️ [00:01:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=99) Cold reading defined > - The guest's first move: ask *what specifically* was said. "It may not have been hot reading, but it could have been … cold reading." > - Example: guessing a dog's name; reading body language as the conversation unfolds. > #### ⏱️ [00:02:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=166) Statistical base rates and the Gothard list > - "95% of women experience this. 75% of men…" — high-base-rate statements feel personal. > - Repurposed a Bill Gothard "Basic Youth" list as cold-reading material. > #### ⏱️ [00:03:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=200) Memory distortion / the doves > - Stories get "bent out of shape." Produced at most two doves; recalled decades later as "all those doves." > #### ⏱️ [00:04:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=265) What Satan can and can't do > - Rejects needing Satan to be tempted ("turn my TV on"). Doubts Satan "puts thoughts in my mind." > - "Doctrines of demons" = false teaching, not telepathy. > #### ⏱️ [00:05:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=334) Experience vs. interpretation > - Key line: "I can't argue your experience, but I can argue your interpretation of your experience." > - The bent-spoon anecdote: whose spoon? 30-year-old memory. > #### ⏱️ [00:06:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t=366) The controlled test and the prize > - Andre's $25,000 offer; "my spoon," "check their hands," "controlled situation." > - Astral-projection test in Russia: subject said "God is love"; the board read "Billy is a boy." > #### ⏱️ [00:07:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMVh4zSHgxQ&t= I just pulled up some of from your book some of the examples of ar authors arguing for psychic power who you quote um you have Joanna Michaelelsson here um there's a she says the condemnation was not issued against mere frauds and windbags she's talking about scriptures condemnation of uh psychic psychics uh she says the condemnation was not issued against mere frauds and windbags incidentally the Bible has always recognized the reality of phenomena produced by occultism Then you quote uh Neil T. Anderson saying the mediums and spiritists that God warned against in Leviticus and Deuteronomy were not con artists but people who possessed and passed on knowledge which didn't come through natural channels of perception. These people have opened themselves up to the spirit world and become channels of knowledge from Satan. So I wanted to ask you about that. I uh I've have conversations with people all the time where they will tell me um you know they think that prophets uh people maybe even now they they believe they were false prophets but that these false prophets actually gave them information that they could not have otherwise known. I I've spoken with people who said, you know, I used to be a part of the new apostolic reformation movement and I would prophesy to people and I would prophesy things about people that I I know I wasn't hot readading because I was, you know, they were the ones doing it, the person talking to me. They said I wasn't hot readading. I literally would have information put in my head about people um that I could not have known and it was very accurate information. So, do you think that demons can Satan or demons can um implant thoughts in the heads of of people, whether they're psychics, whether they claim to be prophets? >> See, I'm I'm a person who would say, "Oh, if someone told me that, I would say, what did you what did you know about them? What did you tell them that that you said you couldn't possibly know? What did you And it may not have been hot reading, but it could have been what we call cold reading. And cold reading is where you just say something. I I've told people the name of their dog. I just took a guess and I got it right and they're like and then as you talk to people they their body language or other things or so so these people who don't think who say well I just I did it. But I know somehow I did it. You know, there's there's that whole thing of like what maybe it's intuition or there's just things that are true about people. Um, you know, most like I have a list of things like, you know, 95% of women experience this. 75% of men are experiencing this. You and those are things that um can be used. I remember years ago there was a Bill Gothard's uh basic youth institute something like that you uh basic youth institute or whatever it was that he was promoting and in there there was a a list of things about people and I got that list and I said this is perfect for cold reading for me to use as I'm talking to people uh because there's certain things that are just true and so they may believe that they were you know that this was coming to them somehow. But I would want to know specifics because stories get so thrown out of shape, bad of shape. Like I'll produce I used to produce doves in my magic act. I used to produce a dove. The most I ever produced was two doves. But people would say come to me later like I had one lady say to me a few years ago and this and I did this year they did this in the 70s and she came to me about six years ago. She all those doves that you used to make appear. I just don't understand how you could do that with all those doves. Well, probably in the show she saw I did one dove. And I deal with that again in the book how we get these things been out of shape. You know, we forget, we add to it. Um but so with these people, I don't I don't think what what can Satan do and what can he do? I know that I don't have to be like where Benny Hinn said Satan appeared in my bedroom one night, okay? And and he tempted me or this that and the other thing. All I have to do is get on the internet and I'm tempted. All I have to do is turn my TV on and I can be tempted. I don't need Satan to be tempted. I think, you know, Satan, you know, Satan works through the world and the flesh. And so I think most of our problems are are our flesh. We it's spiritual warfare, the spirit against the flesh. That's where I think they are. I don't necessarily think that Satan is putting thoughts in my mind. I'm I'm uh I'm really not a I don't really buy into that that he puts thoughts in my mind. I know that, you know, there's doctrines of demons out there. I know that and it could be false teaching. That's doctrine of demons. So, I just I just think that, you know, people who think they really did that, there's another uh there's another explanation to it. See, here's one of the things I say, too. I can't argue your experience, but I can argue your interpretation of your experience. I think that makes a lot of sense. I can't argue your experience because I wasn't there. But I can argue your interpretation of your experience. So I know I went back and forth with somebody who told me he saw somebody hold a spoon in their hand and that spoon went right over. Now this was 30 years ago. They told me that that spoon went right over. And I said, "Are you sure that that and so the questions would be whose spoon was that?" See, I'm not going to buy into that unless I give them this my spoon. That's one thing I want to do. I'll give them my spoon. I'm going to check their hands. I'm going to put them in a controlled situation. And that's what Andre did. He offered $25,000 to anyone who could perform in a controlled setting who who'd be able to perform a um a supernatural effect whether that especially like with Jesus turning water to wine or levitating. But we were talking too about you know uh spoons that would bend or astral projection where people claimed that they could go out of their body, their spirit would go out of their body and they could go to another dimension, another planet. And so Andre had a very simple thing to do and he did it in Russia because the guy claimed he could astral project. He put a box uh top sides back only could see forward. put a box over its guy's head, had a blackboard behind him, and on that blackboard on the other opposite side, Andre wrote a sentence. And he told the fellow, "Now go out in your astral body, go behind the blackboard, read it, come back and tell us what I wrote." And so he did it with a fellow in Russia. The fellow came back in his body supposedly. Andre said, "What did you write?" He said, "God is love." Well, that was a great guess, but Andre wrote, "Billy is a boy." You'll come up to other people who claim they can do astral projection and they'll say, "Well, when I'm in my astral body, I can't read, so I'm not able to do that." You know, and then you'll get the people who you say, "We'll give you $25,000 if you do that." And they'll say, "If I did that and I accepted the $25,000, God would take this ability away from me." And so my response was, "Well, you know what? There's a lot of charities out there that God would love. why don't you do it and we'll give your charity $25,000. So, there's always excuse upon excuse. And so, some people say, "Charity, you're so cynical on everything like this. You'll never Well, you know, I've done the research. I've interviewed people. I've looked at medical reports. All these kind of things. And um I it's it's been weighed and found wanting in my experience. But yes, God can heal. Satan's our adversary. He's our foe. There are demons. There are angels. I don't know completely how they act. But I don't want to go beyond the biblical teaching. The biblical teaching demonization that we know that the woman or the man was, you know, he had strength. Um he he seemed to be out of his mind or whatever. Um it doesn't say he could levitate. It doesn't say he could read minds. the demonpossessed girl in the book of Acts, it says she made her uh masters much gain by fortunetelling. Well, you know what? Right now, you can go on TV and the radio and now there's a new thing out again, California Psychics. You can pay $20 for like 10 minutes and the best psychics, they're they're tested. The best psychics will tell you your future and about your future and give you a reading. They make a lot of money. It doesn't mean that they had any ability. And that's what I say about the demon-possessed girl in the book of Acts. Yes, she was demonized. She was demonpossessed. The Bible says that. But the Bible doesn't say she could read minds. See, so this is this is uh people interpreting it incorrectly or reading more into the passage than I believe is really there. [music] >> [music], Does Satan Give Psychics Real Power?, Holly Pivec, 01kvbbmz2nn8hpkkbk85yhan50.