Reg Christensen lives in the Midwest with his wife, Carol. They have seven children and seventeen grandchildren. Reg has fulfilled a variety of callings in the Church and he and Carol have been blessed with many service opportunities as Pathway missionaries and service volunteers at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, to mention a few. While living in Jerusalem, they served in the Bethlehem branch, Carol as the Relief Society president and Reg as the branch president. His happy times come from being with family and friends, reading, writing, woodworking, leathercrafting, exploring nature, and blessing lives with his handyman skills. He has published several books, including Unlocking Isaiah: Lessons and Insights that Draw Us to the Savior.
Enter Reg…
Satan is a real, unembodied being from the unseen realm. He would have us believe otherwise, that—like Tinker Bell and the tooth fairy—he does not exist. He would likely be pleased to have us think that he is just some fictional scary creature used by parents and preachers to try to frighten people into being good.
“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.” 2 Nephi 28:22
The scriptures are replete with references to the reality of Satan, and his followers. For example,
“The devil was before Adam, for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency; And they were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels.” Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-37
And,
“An angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son . . . And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning.” Doctrine and Covenants 76:25-26
President Marion G. Romney taught,
We must not be “deceived by the sophistries of men concerning the reality of Satan. There is a personal devil, and we had better believe it. He and a countless host of followers, seen and unseen, are exercising a controlling influence upon men and their affairs in our world today.”
Satan’s motive, in his state of rebellion, is to deprive as many of Heavenly Parents’ children as possible of their opportunity for eternal life. He seeks to destroy the plan of happiness for us.
“Wherefore because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him . . . I caused that he should be cast down. And he became, Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. . . wherefore he sought to destroy the world.” Moses 4:3-4, 6
How does Satan operate in his attempt to destroy us? What are his tactics? First, what are not his tactics. I have heard some say that he “forces” us to evil, but that power is not granted to him.
“The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was voluntary. Those who resisted the Spirit of God, would be liable to be led into temptation, and then the association of heaven would be withdrawn from those who refused to be made partakers of such great joy. God would not exert any compulsory means, and the devil could not; and such ideas as were entertained by many were absurd.”
How, then, does he tempt? He lies, persuades, lures, entices, flatters, lulls, pacifies, and rages, using whatever means and methods he can muster to blind us and lead us away from truth and from saving covenants and ordinances.
“At that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good. And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security . . . and leadeth them away carefully down to hell. And behold, others he flattereth away.” 2 Nephi 28:20-22
We may be deceived by the devil’s politeness. Shakespeare declared,
“The prince of darkness is a gentleman.”
Paul taught of Satan’s wonderous powers of deception,
“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14
C. S. Lewis wrote of the subtle, gradual patience Satan may employ with us:
“It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. . . . Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
Of our physical appetites, President Russell M. Nelson taught,
“These appetites are absolutely essential for the perpetuation of life. So, what does the adversary do? . . . He attacks us through our appetites. He tempts us to eat things we should not eat, to drink things we should not drink, and to love as we should not love!”
“We may be tempted to throw up our hands in despair and surrender to the awful power and extensive force of Satan in our lives. He would hope that we would. But we must not! Countless people have entered the battle with Satan and emerged victorious—and so can we. We must! There is no alternative. “Failure is not an option.”
So, what are we to do? How do we conquer Satan? I suggest that we Remember, Judge, and Live—Remember who we are, Judge righteous judgment, and Live according to our nobility.
Remember Who We Are
We are of divine nature—sons and daughters of Deity. President Brigham Young taught that sons and daughters of God
“Naturally love and admire righteousness, justice and truth more than they do evil . . . . We are the natural sons and daughters of our natural parents, and spiritually we are the natural children of the Father of light and natural heirs to his kingdom. . . . Man, the noblest work of God, was in his creation designed for an endless duration, for which the love of all good was incorporated in his nature. It was never designed that he should naturally do and love evil. When our first parents fell from their paradisiacal state, they were brought in contact with influences and powers of evil that are unnatural and stand in opposition to an endless life. So far as mankind yield to these influences, they are so far removed from a natural to an unnatural state—from life to death.”
In scripture we learn,
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man.” Mosiah 3:19.
From the prophet Moses we learn how our divine nature teaches us how to deal with Satan. Moses was told by the Lord,
“Thou art my son . . .Thou art in the similitude of mine only Begotten.” (Wow—to know that we are created in the image of Christ should certainly motivate us to remember who we are when temptation comes.) Moses was then shown a great vision of all of creation. Then “Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me,” to which Moses responded, “Who are thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory that I should worship thee?” Moses then, with renewed knowledge, power, and authority, declared, “Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.” Moses 1, 4, 6, 12-13, 20.
A divine son or daughter of Heavenly Parents need not have a moment’s audience with the devil. We may dismiss him without further thought or discussion.
Judge Righteous Judgment
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior commanded,
“Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgment.” Matthew 7:1-2, Joseph Smith Translation.
To avoid temptation and to conquer Satan, we must judge how the persuasions, influences, and actions of others impact our lives. We are to judge how sin may cause us harm, while leaving ultimate judgment of sinners to God.
As our moral environment has continued its tailspin into darkness, many have tried to sound the alarm and offer guidance. For example, the movie rating system is an attempt to warn of spiritual danger. However, as things have worsened, the assigned ratings have become less relevant and helpful. We need to assume righteous judgment for ourselves.
In my teaching, I have developed a mini-lesson to hopefully help teach principles and give guidance—not only for movies but with all distractions from our spirituality. I ask my students to imagine they are driving a car and are stopped at an intersection with a red traffic signal, and then I ask the question, “When the light changes to green, what do you do?” Their quick response is “Go!” We all seem to know that green means go. After a pause, I declare, “Wrong answer!” As they consider, they soon begin to suggest that before we would go, we should check right and left for danger—perhaps for distracted drivers who may not be paying attention to the traffic signal. I then point out the obvious—a traffic signal is not capable of stopping a vehicle, and we would do well not to trust our physical lives to such a mechanical or electronic device. My transitional principle is that we should not trust our spiritual lives to a faulty system such as the movie ratings; we would do better to apply the Lord’s rating system—“PC” and “PE” (PC = Persuade to Christ; PE = Persuade to Evil).
A wise and inspired prophet taught,
“The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ [PC], is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil [PE], and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil.” Moroni 7:16-17
To conquer Satan, we must learn to detect evil in all its forms and subtleties. In all our seeking for knowledge and wisdom, our most noble search is for the continual guidance of the Holy Ghost—for,
“By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” Moroni 10:5
Live According to our Nobility
Once we know the right thing to do, we need to do the right thing. To conquer Satan and continue our forward trek toward eternal life, we need to exercise the faith and courage to act on our knowledge and faith.
“The words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” 2 Nephi 32:3 “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22
If we are diligent in seeking after and following the guidance and promptings of the Holy Ghost in our lives, we will know when to turn off the television, hit the delete button, walk out of the movie theater (or not enter to begin with), disengage from a conversation, and run from evil as fast as we can. Joseph of Egypt is a most worthy role model of how we are to deal with temptation.
“Do not company with fornicators—not because you are too good for them but, as C. S. Lewis wrote, because you are not good enough. Remember that bad situations can wear down even good people. Joseph had both good sense and good legs in fleeing from Potiphar’s wife.”
Like Joseph, we need to remember our nobility and act accordingly.
Many people continue to debate whether the United States did the right thing in going to war against Iraq to depose the evil dictator Saddam Hussein, yet I have never heard anyone doubt his evil during the several decades of oppressing and torturing his people. I remember well the many images of him in the height of his terrible reign—an arrogant and pompous man surrounded by the pseudo-praise and adoration of his like-minded cronies. Those images were in total contrast to the same disheveled and disoriented dictator as his captors finally dragged him out of the hole in the ground where he had been hiding in the final moments before his capture. As the photos of his capture flashed around the world, my initial reaction was, “This guy?!? We allowed this weak and dark man to do so much evil for so long!?”
The images of Saddam’s capture drew my mind directly to the writings of the prophet Isaiah as he foretells the reactions of the righteous to Lucifer as he is finally stripped of his power and cast out of his reign of terror.
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. . . . Art thou become weak as we? . . . Thy pomp is brought down to the grave. . . . How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! . . . Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms? Isaiah 14:9-16
Yes, Satan is scary and is powerful, but as you follow our Savior, you gain greater strength and power—plus you have potential for eternal peace and joy. The good news about the ongoing battle with Satan is that we already know who wins—Christ does! And so will we if we follow Him and keep our covenants with Him. As we continue to strive to follow our Savior, we will be battered and bruised at times, but we can heal and can triumph over evil and gain eternal life.
“Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.” Doctrine and Covenants 10:5
