Quotes About Satan
"Lucifer and his followers know the habits, weaknesses, and vulnerable spots of everyone and take advantage of them to lead us to spiritual destruction."
Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 218-19
"If we are wise, we will know our special weaknesses, our spiritual Achilles' heels, and fortify ourselves against temptations in those areas.
"But our weaknesses are not the only areas where we are vulnerable. Satan can also attack us where we think we are strong—in the very areas where we are proud of our strengths. He will approach us through the greatest talents and spiritual gifts we possess.
If we are not wary, Satan can cause our spiritual down-fall by corrupting us through our strengths as well as by exploiting our weaknesses."
"Satan is cunning. I will never forget what Brother Thomas E. McKay said in an address from this pulpit: 'We do not lose our faith from a blowout just by slow leaks.'"
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen, Assistant to the Council of the Twelve, April Conference, 1958
"I am reminded of the story about the president of the ocean liner company who decided he would take a voyage on one of his ships. As the vessel was making its way away from the port it had to journey near dangerous channels.
He thought he would go and talk to the pilot. He found him to be an older man, agile and alert. As he stood by the man at the wheel and engaged him in conversation, the president asked him questions about his occupation.
One of the questions was, 'I suppose you know all the dangerous places in this channel.'
'No,' was the reply.
'You don't! Then why on earth are you in charge of that wheel?'
'I know where the dangerous places aren't.'
You might take a tip from this pilot. You don't have to know where the dangerous places are so much as where they are not, so that you can travel in those safe channels.
There are many experiences in life that you don't need, either because they are in the dangerous channels or so close to them that you could easily fall in. Don't ever be tempted to 'live it up' in the worldly sense."
Harold B. Lee—Do It Yourself Destiny, p. 68
"If I were Satan and wanted to destroy a society, I think I too would stage a full-blown blitz on women."
Sister Patricia Holland - "Many Things . . .One Thing," "A Heritage of Faith: Talks Selected from the BYU Women's Conferences"
Is that not exactly what he has done? Hasn't he tried to discourage and distract us in every conceivable way? Doesn't he try to block our understanding of how spiritually sensitive our natures are, how anxious and willing the Lord is to speak to us, and how vital we are to the plan and purposes of the Lord? Satan wants us neutralized, because he knows that the influence of a righteous woman can span generations.
Sister Sheri Dew, BYU Women's Conference - 1998
"Isaiah prophesied of our time on this very subject when he said, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20.) Satan offers a strange mixture of just enough good to disguise the evil along his downward path to destruction, as described by Nephi,..."
Durrel A. Woolsey "A Strategy for War" General Conference, October 1995
"It is interesting that Satan, who voted for 'no opposition', has become the main source of it!"
Mary Ellen Edmunds - LDS Speaker's Sourcebook, Aspen Books 1991, page 407
"Satan wants us to feel unequal to our worldly tasks. If we turn to God, He will lead us through our darkest hours."
Marvin J. Ashton (Ensign, November 1980, page 60)
"There are two influences ever present in the world. One is constructive and elevating and comes from our Heavenly Father; and the other is destructive and debasing and comes from Lucifer. We have our agency and make our own choice in life subject to these unseen powers.
There is a division line well defined that separates the Lord's territory from Lucifer's. If we live on the Lord's side of the line, Lucifer cannot come there to influence us, but if we cross the line into his territory, we are in his power.
By keeping the commandments of the Lord we are safe on His side of the line, but if we disobey His teachings we voluntarily cross into the zone of temptation and invite the destruction that is ever present there. Knowing this, how anxious we should always be to live on the Lord's side of the line."
George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, May 1935, p. 278
"The devil is a shrewd fighter, and we must be aware of his tactics. He tempts us with the transitory pleasures of the world so that we will not focus our minds and efforts on the things that bring eternal joy."
M. Russell Ballard
"The destructive forces of Satan are becoming increasingly more effective in their relentless pursuit of the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere.
Many of the very elite in the army of the Lord quite innocently have been led into habits that are gaining a stranglehold on them.
I fear that there are members who are far less effective and far less satisfied with themselves than they could be or would be if they weren't so afflicted. Many of you may be victims and not even realize it."
H. Burke Peterson - "Clean Thoughts, Pure Lives" - Sept. 1984 Ensign
"The Lord votes for you—Satan votes against you——YOU cast the deciding vote!"
"Have we really comprehended how the devil operates? Lehi's vision of the great and spacious building, for example, tells us graphically that the one main weapon used by the wicked is mocking and derision...When you know your opponent's play book, it's a lot easier to plan your defense."
BYU Today, September 1988, p. 22
"I think we will witness increasing evidence of Satan's power as the kingdom of God grows stronger. I believe Satan's ever-expanding efforts are some proof of the truthfulness of this work.
In the future the opposition will be both more subtle and more open. It will be masked in greater sophistication and cunning, but it will also be more blatant.
We will need greater spirituality to perceive all of the forms of evil and greater strength to resist it. But the disappointments and setbacks to the work of God will be temporary, for the work will go forward (see D&C 65:2).
James E. Faust, "The Great Imitator," General Conference, Oct. 1987; see Ensign, Nov. 1987, 33
"In the sentence of life the Devil may be a comma but DO NOT LET him be the PERIOD!"
"The subject of prayer deserves the consideration not only of Latter-day Saints but also of the whole nation, for a belief in God and prayer has been almost universally professed in the United States. One of our greatest needs today is to turn to God in true prayer, that we may conquer Satan and escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work."
Marion G. Romney - "Conference Report," October 1944, p. 53-54
"By cleverly steering people away from the reality of immortality and accountability, he uses endless variations in the same, basic, recurring theme: 'Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die' .
Hence each new generation not only acts out the drama but does so with a prideful provincialism—as if there were nothing to be learned from the past. Moreover, if the permissive generation still prefers to believe at all in a God, they will believe in a permissive God."
Neal A. Maxwell "Sermons Not Spoken," [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985], p. 14
"So, my advice to you is to do all within your power to become a man or woman of Christ. Don't be misled by the miserable voices that sing Satan's deadly lullabies. Don't heed the scoffings of the fools who equate a balanced life with the life of a hypocrite."
"Satan had two conditions [to his plan]: the first was the denial of agency, and the second, that he would have the honor. In other words, something had to be in it for him. And thus he became the father of lies and selfishness.
Taking up one's cross and following the Savior means overcoming selfishness; it is a commitment to serve others. Selfishness is one of the baser human traits, which must be subdued and overcome. We torture our souls when we focus on getting rather than giving."
James E. Faust, "What's in It for Me?" Ensign, Nov. 2002, 19
"We need not become paralyzed with fear of Satan's power. He can have no power over us unless we permit it. He is really a coward, and if we stand firm, he will retreat. The Apostle James counseled: 'Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.' (James 4:7.) And Nephi states that 'he hath no power over the hearts' of people who are righteous. (1 Ne. 22:26.)"
James E. Faust, "Serving the Lord and Resisting the Devil," Ensign, Sept. 1995, p. 6
Give Satan an inch and he'll be a ruler.
"We live in a critical time in the world's history. Satan and his forces are busy. His temptations are relentless, deceiving many, sometimes even the very elect.
He would lead us to believe that gospel standards which we know to be good—virtue, honesty, morality, courtesy, industry, cleanliness of mind and body—are no longer important. Let me reaffirm that the Lord's eternal values are still true.
The ways of the world may have changed, but the commandments of our Heavenly Father, given for our welfare, are still in force, and true joy comes only from doing his will."
Barbara W. Winder, Ensign, Nov. 1987
“The wicked heap scorn when they have no other weapons to use—and too often the righteous run for cover—especially if the mocker can run fast or jump high or sing well or has high-profile degrees or a great deal of money, even if each or all have nothing to do with the subject at hand.”
L. Aldin Porter - BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 117
There are ways to protect ourselves. Bruce Hafen asked the following question:
“Have we really comprehended how the devil operates? Lehi’s vision of the great and spacious building, for example, tells us graphically that the one main weapon used by the wicked is mocking and derision....When you know your opponent’s play book, it’s a lot easier to plan your defense.”
BYU Today, Sept. 1988, p. 22 - Quoted in Speeches 1994-95, p. 116
“Our moral environment is far more polluted than our physical environment. It seems as though good and evil are being homogenized out of existence by a generation largely led by ‘foolish and blind guides’ (Hel. 13:29). What was once whispered in shame is now electronically shouted from the housetops as the famous and the foolish appear on television to parade their sins, like so many medals, before laughing, applauding audiences.
Every aspect of modern communication seems to have been appropriated by Satan to legitimize the everlastingly illegitimate. It is imperative that Latter-day Saints view these times from a gospel perspective and follow the counsel of our prophet by taking warning from the teachings—and the fate—of an earlier generation of Americans, the Nephites.”
Rodney Turner, 4th Annual Book of Mormon Symposium—BYU. Quoted in Speeches 1994-95, p. 115