When told recently of someone in the congregation who had "given in to temptation", the person relating the incident said: "Satan waited until just the right moment to tempt Br. Weak."
I began thinking about the correlation between temptation, free will, and what JWs teach about wicked spirit creatures' abilities (or lack thereof).
JWs teach that wicked spirit forces CAN affect the material world-- move objects, speak in audible voice, create visions, possess living creatures (humans included); yet they also teach that they cannot read or manipulate our thoughts.
As in the case mentioned above, when someone is "seduced" into immorality, Satan is charged with having tempted that person at that moment in time. Since no wicked spirit can read (and therefore influence) a particular person's mind at a single point in time, the only JW-worthy explanation is that the non-JW who acted as the "temptress" must have been literally posessed by a wicked spirit at that point in time. It would mean the temptress had free will removed for a time and that her body was literally not under her own control-- she was literally turned into a demon surrogate during the encounter.
I've never seen anything in WTS literature that directly makes the claim that those who are tempted by Satan into immorality are being tempted by someone under demon possession-- but that's the only explanation that seems to back the claim that Satan can "strike" with this temptation at a specific weak moment in time.
(Aside: Satan tempted Jesus only through vision-- not by using anything material or with any person.)
Thoughts?
R_O