MOSES 4:1–6
HOW LUCIFER BECAME THE DEVIL
Moses 4:1 . “That Satan, Whom Thou Hast Commanded”
This phrase refers to a previous confrontation Moses had with Satan (see Moses 1:12–22 ). Moses had commanded Satan, in the name of Jesus Christ, to depart.
Moses 4:1 . The Council in Heaven
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “In the former [premortal] life we were spirits. In order that we should advance and eventually gain the goal of perfection, it was made known that we would receive tabernacles of flesh and bones and have to pass through mortality where we would be tried and proved to see if we, by trial, would prepare ourselves for exaltation.” He further stated that when our Heavenly Father presented His plan to His children in a council in heaven, “the thought of passing through mortality and partaking of all the vicissitudes [hardships] of earth life in which they would gain experiences through suffering, pain, sorrow, temptation and affliction, as well as the pleasures of life in this mundane existence, and then, if faithful, passing on through the resurrection to eternal life in the kingdom of God, to be like him, filled them with the spirit of rejoicing, and they ‘shouted for joy’ [ Job 38:1–7 ]” ( Doctrines of Salvation, 1:57–58).
Moses 4:1–2 . The Plan of Our Father in Heaven
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Elder Neal A. Maxwell said that it is “extremely important to get straight what happened in that premortal council. It was not an unstructured meeting, nor was it a discussion between plans, nor an idea-producing session, as to how to formulate the plan for salvation and carry it out. Our Father’s plan was known , and the actual question put was whom the Father should send to carry out the plan” ( Deposition of a Disciple [1976], 11; see also John 7:16–18 ).
Moses 4:1–4 . Satan and His Opposition to Heavenly Father’s Plan
In the premortal existence, Satan was called “Lucifer,” which means “the Shining One” or “Lightbringer.” He was a “son of the morning” (see Isaiah 14:12 ; D&C 76:25–27 ) and had potential to do much good. But Lucifer sought to obtain the throne, honor, power, and glory of Heavenly Father (see D&C 29:36 ; 76:28 ; Moses 4:1 ). To do so, he proposed to “redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost” ( Moses 4:1 ). However, his proposal was based on compulsion and would therefore eliminate the agency of Heavenly Father’s children and the need for a Savior to suffer and redeem them.
Moses 4:3 . The Agency of Man
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: “Satan’s method of assuring ‘that one soul shall not be lost’ ( Moses 4:1 ) would be to ‘destroy the agency of man’ ( Moses 4:3 ). Under his plan, Satan would have been our master, and he would have ‘[led us] captive at his will’ ( Moses 4:4 ). Without the power of choice, we would have been mere robots or puppets in his hands” (“Free Agency and Freedom,” in The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. [1989], 4).
Moses 4:4 . Satan’s Desires
President Joseph F. Smith taught: “Let it not be forgotten that the evil one has great power in the earth, and that by every possible means he seeks to darken the minds of men and then offers them falsehood and deception in the guise of truth. Satan is a skillful imitator, and as genuine gospel truth is given the world in ever-increasing abundance, so he spreads the counterfeit coin of false doctrine. Beware of his spurious currency, it will purchase for you nothing but disappointment, misery and spiritual death” (“Witchcraft,” Juvenile Instructor, 15 Sept. 1902, 562).
President Brigham Young said: “Every person who desires and strives to be a Saint is closely watched by fallen spirits that came here when Lucifur [sic] fell, and by the spirits of wicked persons who have been here in tabernacles and departed from them. . . . Those spirits are never idle; they are watching every person who wishes to do right, and are continually prompting them to do wrong” (in Journal of Discourses, 7:239).
Moses 4:6 . Satan Does Not Know the Mind of God
Elder James E. Talmage explained that Satan actually “furthered the purposes of the Creator by tempting Eve; yet his design was to thwart the Lord’s plan. We are definitely told that ‘he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.’ [ Moses 4:6 .] Yet his diabolical effort, far from being the initiatory step toward destruction, contributed to the plan of man’s eternal progression” ( The Articles of Faith, 69).