Satan: point and counterpoint

Satan is a dark and fearsome creature; one whose greed and lust for power even in the pre-existence caused him to exercise his agency to defy the “Great Plan of the Eternal God” (GPEG) (Alma 34:9) and seek glory for himself. He has great power and subtlety. He can plant thoughts in our minds that seem harmless. Thoughts that lead to action and a small, seemingly harmless deviation from our eternal goals.


At our last family reunion, my brother Steve told me of a conversation he had with another employee of Deseret Book, a Bishop and a very wise man. This man said to Steve that Satan’s subtlety and cunning often leads us just a little off the straight and narrow path, but any deviation is unacceptable. As we vary just a little, Satan wins a small victory. It is then easier when he offers other temptations for us to stray just a little further, and conversely, harder for us to return. In the April 2008 General Conference, President Uchtdorf told us of a flight to Antarctica that varied its course by only a matter of 2 degrees. This variation caused the aircraft to strike a mountain that they would not have hit if they had stayed on course. All on board were killed. He said this:

“It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error—a matter of only a few degrees. Through years of serving the Lord and in countless interviews, I have learned that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in marriages, and families often comes down to an error of only a few degrees.”

Understanding the adversary, his power, and his ultimate fate can perhaps help us resist his whisperings and listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit instead. So I offer point and counterpoint concerning Satan.

POINT – Satan’s Power
Enoch’s vision of the future includes some of the most frightening verses in all the scriptures -- Moses 7:23-26:

And after that Zion was taken up into heaven, Enoch beheld, and lo, all the nations of the earth were before him; And there came generation upon generation; and Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of the Father, and of the Son of Man; and behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth. And he saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth. And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced

.“He looked up and laughed and his angels rejoiced!” It sends shivers down my spine to think that Satan has that kind of hold on the Earth today, but the earth is indeed wrapped in the chains of darkness.

Collectively, those who are being tried in mortality in this generation are failing the test. They are those to whom the scripture speaks “wo, wo.” But individually, we can cast off Satan’s chains and embrace The Father’s plan. We can resist the temptations the adversary offers and return to our Father-in-Heaven at the end of our mortal probation.

Perhaps almost as frightening is this quote from the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 76:28-29):

…we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ—Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about.

Almost as worrisome is this scripture from 2 Nephi 28:22-26:

And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.

COUNTERPOINT – Satan’s Ultimate Fate
Were it not for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the GPEG, we would indeed be “of all men most miserable” (1 Cor 15:19) but Isaiah provides great hope and comfort in chapter 61, verses 1 and 3, when he says:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Trees of righteousness! The planting of the Lord! What an inspiring vision. What a counterpoint to the adversary’s plots and evil plans; the chains with which he would bind us. By making ourselves trees of righteousness, we give ourselves the power to bind the adversary! By resisting the enticements he offers, we render him ineffective. His chains fall away and we have the freedom of which Christ spoke: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32.) We thwart Satan’s own plans to drag down the valiant spirits who won the right to mortality to his own miserable level. By exercising our agency for good, we move ourselves further along the return journey to exaltation. The Prophet Joseph assured us:

The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary. . . . God would not exert any compulsory means, and the devil could not. (Teachings, 187; emphasis added)

Wait a minute! All was voluntary? Our loving Father will not compel us? Satan cannot compel us? So when Flip Wilson used to say, “The devil made me do it!” was that in fact one of Satan’s many subtle sophistries? That litany was, and still is, a joking justification for bad behavior; an excuse for giving in to temptation, and implies that there really is no devil. The real truth is: “The adversary “flattereth” me and “whispereth in my ear” and I doeth it.”

 So Satan is wallowing in the evil and sickness of the great day of his power, but soon, the scriptures tell us, he will find himself of all men or spirits “most miserable.” D&C 188:110-115 tells us:

…and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years. And then he shall be loosed for a little season, that he may gather together his armies. And Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven. And the devil shall gather together his armies; even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies. And then cometh the battle of the great God; and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their own place, that they shall not have power over the saints any more at all. For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, even the Lamb.

After the final battle is fought, and after we have fought and won our personal battle with the adversary, after we have cast off Satan’s chains, and after we are cleansed with the blood of Christ so that when we stand before him spotless, both Jacob (quoting Isaiah) and Isaiah himself (2 Nephi 24:12-17, Isaiah 14:12-17) tell us that we will be able to look upon Satan as a fallen spirit, and we will be surprised that he held such power over the earth and its inhabitants:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and shall consider thee, and shall say: Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? And made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not the house of his prisoners?

May we resist Satan’s enticings. May we not be cut down to the ground, as Lucifer will be. May we instead ascend to the thrones and mansions our Father has reserved for us. May we all take advantage of the mercy of God the Father and Jesus Christ, who have power to bind Satan with Their own chains. They have full control over his actions and in the end, will cast him and his servants into “his own place” where he will not even rule.