3 Scriptures Satan LOVES to Quote

Right before Jesus began His mortal ministry He was tempted by Satan. We read about this event in Matthew 4:1-11. I want to highlight something from verse 6: “And [Satan] saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”

This verse gives us a very important insight into Satan’s tactics. Tactics that he thought/hoped would even work on Jesus Christ. Satan will quote scripture. I believe that not only will Satan quote scripture, but I would argue that he finds it so effective that Satan LOVES to quote scripture! Here are just 3 examples of how Satan quotes scriptures and twists them in an attempt to deceive even the elect.

1st: Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged”

The MOST frequently quoted, and most beloved, scripture by Lucifer is the commandment by Christ found in Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” One reason he loves this verse so much is because it can effectively be used to deflect nearly all accountability for the use of our agency. If ANYONE speaks out against an action we are doing, even if they are a prophet or apostle, reply “Why are you judging me??”

No better example of this tactic is found than in Mosiah chapter 11. When Abinadi, the prophet cries repentance to the people of King Noah in verses 27-8 the king replies to the calls to repent with “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction? I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him.” Satan wants us to think that anytime anyone teaches truth, anytime anyone proclaims repentance, they are in fact “judging us.” He uses this verse to teach it.

Debunking Satan’s Narrative on Judging

When it comes to Satan’s narrative on judging and his love of Matthew 7:1, we need but look to the footnote to see the JST that changes everything: “Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged; but judge righteous judgment.” We see a complete 180 on this verse when we view the inspired corrections made by the Prophet Joseph Smith, not only does it debunk the idea that we are never to judge anyone on anything, but it actually contains a command that we DO in fact judge others and “judge righteous judgment.“

So what is righteous judgment? It is not passing final judgment on anyone. It is judging what they’ve done, not where they will go. We are commanded to judge others’ actions, where those actions will lead, and even judge another person. But we must NEVER unrighteously pass final judgment on where they will go. Of this truth Dallin H. Oaks taught, “We must, of course, make judgments every day in the exercise of our moral agency, but we must be careful that our judgments of people are intermediate and not final. Thus, our Savior’s teachings contain many commandments we cannot keep without making intermediate judgments of people: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matt. 7:6); “Beware of false prophets. … Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15–16); and “Go ye out from among the wicked” (D&C 38:42).” (Ensign Aug. 1999)

2nd: 3 Nephi 11:29 “The spirit of contention is … of the devil”

Satan loves contention, but the next best thing he loves is neutralized Saints. Because Jesus Christ so thoroughly denounced contention in the Book of Mormon, and because of recent conference talks repeating Christ, Satan cannot use contention as a tool for his work with the Saints. Instead, he uses the FEAR of being labeled “contentious” to neutralize many Saints. Anytime someone attempts to confront Satan and his work, he accuses them of being contentious. Standing for the unborn? Contentious. Engaging in politics? Contentious. Speaking up against the LGBTQ+ Agenda? You guessed it, contentious! We even see this pattern in the scriptures! Returning to the example from Mosiah 11, one of the accusations against Abanadi was that he did “raise contentions.”

By weaponizing the fear of being labeled contentious, Satan has in many ways castrated the Priesthood of God and neutralized the leaven that the membership of the Church is meant to be (Matthew 13:33). We are so afraid of offending the devil, and being labeled contentious that we fail to keep our covenants and stand up for truth. In the Nov. 1995 First Presidency Message James E. Faust denounced this state, he quotes Marion G. Romney to describe the growing plight “There are those among us who are trying to serve the Lord without offending the devil.” This simply does not work. President Faust concludes his message with the plea “May we dedicate our lives to serving the Lord and not worry about offending the devil” (This First Presidency Message is timely and worth listening to! It addresses many relevant issues we face today, such as same-sex marriage, and abortion).

Debunking Satan’s Narrative on Contention

Satan gets away with the weaponization of being labeled contentious because members of the Church fail to understand this simple truth taught by Dieter F. Utchdrof: “Conflict is inevitable; contention is a choice.” (Liahona Aug. 2022) Satan wants us to believe that CONFLICT IS CONTENTION and that anytime you stand up and speak out causing conflict you are in fact creating contention and not following Christ. When in reality, we cannot follow Christ without creating conflict. The only way to avoid conflict is to abandon Christ. Thus Satan neutralizes the leaven of the Church.

Take for example this teaching by Hugh B. Brown to the Priesthood of the Church: “Now, brethren, we [the bearers of the Holy Priesthood] who are assembled tonight here and in 320 other places should form a great bulwark against communism and its attendant evils. The efficiency of our opposition to them depends upon the way we honor our priesthood and place ourselves in a position to seek and obtain God’s help in fighting evil.” (GC: Apr.1962 pp. 89)

Can we be that bulwark if we avoid conflict? If we fear Satan’s accusation that by ‘fighting evil’ we are being contentious? No! We can only be that bulwark if we are willing to endure slanderous labels and shy not away from the reality, that in following Christ “Conflict is inevitable.” (For more on this topic see “Why Satan Loves a Latter-day Saint Who Tries to Avoid Conflict“)

3rd: Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers”

Satan wants war. In fact, despite losing the War in Heaven he still continues to rage on in fighting it. Not out of hope he can win, but in hopes of causing more casualties. Despite his love of war, Satan knows that the Saints have heard an awful lot about Peace and the need to be Peacemakers. So, he has twisted the meanings of the word. Satan tries to teach that Peace is the absence of conflict. He teaches that we get rid of conflict through compromise and tolerance. Think of that! While Satan is actively waging a war against us, he is trying to convince members that to be a peacemaker we need to compromise and tolerate him.

Many Latter-day Saints have bought into his false notion of being a peacemaker. We see this as they either have compromised for causes against Christ (LGBTQ/Abortion), or sit things out so as not to be contentious. But this is where he becomes nefarious. Those who passively sit things out rarely remain a ‘sophisticated neutral’ as Elder Maxwell puts it, for long. They view their neutrality as being a peacemaker, and thus someone NOT sitting down and shutting up in the War in Heaven is now the enemy of peace. They start to shame fellow Saints for fighting against Satan. For engaging in the defense of the unborn or the Consitution. They quickly turn from their neutrality or secret discipleship into antagonists. As Howard W. Hunter warned, “Secret disciples of Christ are almost in the same category as those who are antagonistic.” (GC: Oct. 1960 “Secretly a Disciple“)

Within the Church, this false idea of peace being the absence of conflict brought about by compromise and tolerance has caused many members to start abridging the gospel. I’ve sat in meetings where a local leader urged us to avoid talking about the Family Proclamation to avoid the conflict it produces! Satan wants the Saints to compromise with him, to tolerate his continuation of the War in Heaven! Or at a minimum to sit on the sidelines all in the notion of being a “Peacemaker.” (For more on this topic see: “Why We Cannot Be Peacemakers If We Are Avoiding Conflict“)

Debunking Satan’s Narrative on Peacemakers

To combat Satan’s false narrative of peace we need to realize that the Peace the Savior speaks of is NOT worldly peace. He declared: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27. So what is Christ’s peace? It is the removing of the friction between us and God, it is the subduing of the natural man. It is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). Christ is the Prince of Peace and the author of Peace. Therefore, the Peace we are commanded to be makers of is the Peace that comes as a byproduct of discipleship. The call to be a peacemaker is a call to proclaim the gospel. Not to capitulate with the devil.

Of this truth, John A. Widtsoe masterfully discoursed: “The Latter-day Saints, from the beginning of our history, have taught that the good things of life, above all, peace, can come only through acceptance of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the Prince of Peace. He is the Prince of Peace. It is only as the men and women of the world, all children of God, accept the gospel of the Son of God that peace shall come to rule and reign and be established upon earth. That has been our message from the beginning of the restoration of the gospel in this day. We still proclaim without hesitation, that there is only one way to peace, one way to the perfect human happiness, the way of the gospel, paved with the principles that constitute the gospel.

We make a further claim, brethren and sisters. It is a claim that often makes us hesitant in stating it, because it is so vast in its meaning, in its implications. We claim that this people, this Church, organized by God’s own voice in this generation, possesses the only system of truth containing all of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, by that token, there can be no full peace, no complete happiness upon earth, until the men and women of the world accept the great latter-day message. We stand humbly before this claim, I know, but it is our claim. The Lord has said so… there lies my obligation. It is my divine obligation somehow, through my feeble efforts and through yours, and through all the members of the Church, to teach all the world the truth of the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” GC: Oct. 1946

4th BONUS: D&C 98:10 “Honest men and wise men should be sought [for public office]”

Because it is election season, I wanted to highlight a bonus verse that is almost universally misunderstood and misused by the members of the Church D&C 98:9-10 reads: “Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.”

Many Latter-day Saints read this verse and think it is a character test. That this verse means that they are to vote for those who never lie, are wise, and are good. With this false idea being believed one of two things happens:

1st: Satan then whispers in their ear that “both of them are liars.” or “They are both bad.” They then feel like they cannot vote or engage in politics at all without violating D&C 98:10 Thus Satan leads many Saints to ignore the prophetic counsel every election season to be informed and vote.

2nd: They use this verse as a litmus test of the character of political candidates. But in reality, they are just labeling their opposition as dishonest. Oftentimes due to false information from the media. And then saying this verse says that no Latter-day Saint could vote for their opponent. I’ve even seen some use arbitrary definitions of what “good” or “wise” means in this verse to exclude a party or a candidate too.

The grand irony is that while telling others “D&C 98:10 excludes Latter-day Saints from voting for X candidate” they often ignore the lies of their political candidate or the areas where their party differs from what Christ teaches and the gospel compels us to support. They want to make Jesus into a socialist or a MAGA Republican. After all, we all wanna believe that Jesus is on our side. But we should be more concerned if we are on Jesus’ side. (See “Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat, so stop trying to make him one!“)

Debunking Satan’s Narrative on D&C 98:9-10

The clearest explanation of D&C 98:10 came from a talk by President Marion G. Romney. He originally gave it as a devotional at BYU in March 1966. The Prophet asked him to repeat it at General Conference a few weeks later. The talk is entitled “Socialism and the United Order Compared.” In this talk, he quotes the verses leading up to D&C 98:10, not just verse 10. Within the context of the preceding verses (4-8) telling the Saints to befriend the constitutional law of the land, Marion G. Romney taught:

“Right at this point, almost as if he were warning us against what is happening today, the Lord said: ‘Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.’ Then, that we might know with certainty what we should do about it, he concluded: “Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold’ In its context this instruction, according to my interpretation, can only mean that we should seek diligently for and support men to represent us in government who are ‘wise’ enough to understand freedom—as provided for in the Constitution and as implemented in the United Order—and who are honest enough and good enough to fight to preserve it.” (GC: Apr. 1966)

This prophetic clarification of D&C 98:9-10 changes from an abrtary character test, to a test of good governance. It shifts it away from personal attacks to policy. Satan does NOT want this. He wants us to elect ‘nice guys’ who want to be ‘peacemakers’ by compromising and avoiding conflict. He wants weak men/women who will not interfere with his continuation of the War in Heaven. Marion G. Romney destroys Satan’s craft by teaching us that the wickedness we are warned about is wickedness in governance not necessarily in their personal life. After all, Ether 10:9-12 details the story of Morianton who “did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself.” Of course, it would be ideal to have both good governance and righteous character! But this litmus test is misapplied when it ignores governance and focuses solely on character.

Returning to the prophetic clarification of D&C 98:10, it provides a litmus test we can easily use on policy proposals. We can look at the policies being proposed and see how they line up with the gospel and the constitutional law of the land. “Does X candidate propose censorship in violation of the freedom of speech guaranteed in the 1st amendment?” or “Does X candidate support the federal government forcing the states to allow something, such as abortion, in violation of the 10th amendment?” or “Does X candidate support the preservation of the separation of powers and the checks and balances found in the Supreme Court?” Within prophetic clarification of D&C 98:9-10, we find a valid litmus test and framework that will focus on actual policies rather than devolving into petty personal attacks.

Therefore What?

Satan is at war with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. He has been since before the foundations of the earth were laid. We are at war. Satan hopes for defections, but will gladly accept merely neutralizing us. He does this by quoting scriptures in an attempt to deceive even the elect. In the words of Ezra Taft Benson “The war in heaven is raging on earth today. Are you being neutralized in the battle?” (GC: Apr. 1965). Are you buying into Satan’s lies regarding the need to never judge, avoid conflict, and compromise with and tolerate evil?

But more than just not being neutralized, the Lord has declared that to receive Celestial Glory we must be valiant in the fight for Christ. So I ask, are you valiant in learning how to judge righteously? Are you valiant in standing for truth even if it creates conflict? For the unborn? For the Family Proclamation? Are you valiant in seeking to proclaim the gospel and thus be a peacemaker in a time of War in Heaven? And finally, are you valiant in your defense of our Constitutional Form of Government with the freedoms guaranteed and the checks and balances we have? (And before you criticize this last one, remember, that David O. McKay taught: “Next to being one in worshiping God there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States” (GC: Oct. 1939, and repeated by Ezra Taft Benson, GC: Oct. 1967).

If you don’t like your answers, I recommend recommitment to the gospel truths and starting today to change them.