But for people who believe in Satan (or "Lucifer" or The Devil or the Antichrist or the Adversary - whatever he is called), the question of how to identify Satan's work becomes important, and, for the sake of discussion, we will assume that Satan exists, and that we can learn what we need to know about him from scripture.

Christian (and Mormon) believers in Satan rely on numerous scriptures that describe the devil's great ability to trick and deceive:

He can appear as an angel of light. 2 Cor 11:14 (see also D&C 128:20, 129:8)

He will seem to be like God. 2 Thess 2:4

He will not be exposed as the devil until the end of time. 2 Thess 2:8

His followers will seem (and claim) to be apostles of Christ. 2 Cor 11:13-14, Matt 24:4-5, 24:23-26, Mark 13:21-22

His followers will be able to do miracles and wonders. Matt 24:24, Mark 13:22

He will tempt with the promise of dominion and power. Matt 4:8-9, Luke 4:5-7

He will be able to deceive even the "elect" (i.e., the righteous and the saved). Matt 24:24, Mark 13:22

He (and his followers?) believe that they will be like God. Isaiah 14:13-14

The devil's followers are whoever sins (the righteous - the followers of God - do not sin). 1 John 3:6-9

Feelings are the imaginations of the heart (and are deceptive; thus they may come from Satan) Jer 17:9 (also 3:17, 7:24, 9:14, 11:8, 16:12)

Every man thinks that he is right (implicitly, this includes even those who are deceived; thus, even though you may think you are right, you may still be deceived). Prov 21:2

Those who think they are standing (i.e. correct) will fall. 1 Cor 10:12

The devil's false prophets lie; true prophets of God do not. Deut 13:1-3, 18:20-22, Isa 9:15, Jer 5:31, 14:14, 1 John 2:21, many other passages

The devil's doctrines will include much more than faith, repentance and baptism. 3 Nephi 11:31-40, D&C 10:67-68

But sometimes the devil will tell a truth (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:33-34, 41, Gen 2:4-5)

Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith

ibid.

Many believers, assuming of course that their beliefs are from God, simply assume that anything which contradicts their own cherished beliefs must be from Satan. But, after reviewing the scriptural passages above, one can see that such a naive assurance does not give enough credit to the power of Satan or his subtlety.

Assuming, then, that Satan is as powerful and as clever as described in scripture, let us try to imagine what Satan would do to capture the most souls of mankind, since that is supposed to be his goal.

Those who are already wicked - thieves, liars, murderers, adulterers, abusers of the helpless, oppressors of the poor, etc. - are already in Satan's camp. Satan does not have to do anything more to capture those souls - he can simply allow them to follow their own wicked desires.

But what about the righteous, the people who are basically good, kind, loving, and who abhor wickedness? How could Satan best tempt such people? Many believers naively think that Satan's best tactic would be to tempt them to steal, to fornicate, to curse God, and to commit other evils. Although a very few good people might fall for that, it would not catch very many souls. Satan is surely much too wise to place all his efforts into tempting good people to be bad. Anyone who thinks that is Satan's best tactic is very naive indeed.

No, Satan, being very clever, and knowing that good people tend to be good, will catch more souls by appearing to be the "angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14), by preaching goodness and by giving people bits of truth and light. He will make his "gospel" look very righteous, at least much of it. His representatives will not be evil-looking men with sneering faces and bone-chilling laughter like characters from a horror movie, but rather they will be people who look very righteous, clean-cut. smiling, speaking words of peace and love. Satan's message will claim to be from God, and may even sound like it came from God. It will say all the things that a lover of God might want to hear.

"But wait!" you object. "Satan does not want people to be good! Why would his representatives then be teaching people to be good, and to love God?"

Satan will teach people just enough righteousness to make them feel that they are being righteous. Just enough truth that they will assume that everything they are being taught is just as true. And then Satan will very slyly and surreptitiously slip in his own lies and evil teachings.

For example:

He will teach people not to kill. But then he will teach some exceptions: it is not a sin to kill someone who teaches something you have been taught is false.

He will teach people not to steal. But then he will teach that if something belongs to an enemy of your religion, you may "consecrate" it to your church by taking it.

He will teach people not to commit adultery. But then he will say that as long as a man will "marry" other women, it is not really adultery, and, in fact, is more righteous than being married just to the first wife.

He will teach you to seek knowledge and to love truth. But then he will tell you that what you are hearing from him is the test of all truth, and anything that contradicts it is evil and false.

He will teach you to love your parents, your spouse and your children. But then he will teach you not to love them if they believe something different from what he says.

He will teach you that lying is wrong. But then he will tell you that it is all right to deceive a little bit, if it will help you spread "the truth" (what he has taught you) and convince others to believe it.

He will teach you that God loves everyone, and that you should also love everyone. But then he will tell you that you are really better than other (non-believing) people, and you should feel sorry for them. And you should try to convert them, because if you don't, he will "cast them out."

He will tell you that God will forgive your weaknesses and mistakes. But then he will tell you that you will be forgiven only if you obey him to the letter. And especially only if you pay a lot of money to his representatives.

(If you are familiar with Mormon teachings and history, you will recognize many of these items.)

So, how can one determine whether representatives of a church (or a prophet, or a religion) are from Satan?

The only tool that only Satan uses and that God does not use is the lie (according to Scripture):

No lie is of the truth. 1 John 2:21

God cannot lie. Titus 1:2; Enos 1:6,, Ether 3:12

All liars will be punished in the lake of fire and brimstone (that is, they belong with Satan). Rev 21:8

Satan is the father of all lies. 2 Nephi 2:18, Moses 4:4, John 8:44

If anyone teaches other than "by the spirit of truth" he is not of God. D&C 50:17-18

It is "contrary to the order of heaven" for a servant of God to deceive. D&C 129:7

And that makes perfect sense. It is almost a tautology to say that the Truth cannot be a Lie.

Of course there are many religious assertions that are impossible to verify, to check whether they are true or false. How can we verify a claim that Grandmother is now heaven because of her faith? How can we verify that God does not want us to drink coffee, or that being baptized cleanses us of our sins? We cannot. Those are unverifiable assertions. They may be true, and they may be false.

But in Mormonism there are many claims and assertions made by the church and its prophets and its missionaries which CAN be verified. If any of those assertions are lies, then the church is not of God. And, if you believe in Satan, you would be justified in concluding that Mormonism is really Satan's church, not God's.

What Mormon claims can be tested as to their truth? The list could be quite long, but here is a start (NONE of these Mormon claims are true - they ALL have been proven false):

The Book of Mormon is a history of precolumbian peoples of America.

The Book of Abraham was written by Abraham.

Joseph Smith's account of his "first vision" is historically accurate.

Mormon doctrine is consistent, and not self-contradictory.

The president of the Mormon church cannot lead the church astray, and no president ever has.

Mankind originated in Missouri about six thousand years ago (at Adam-ondi-Ahman).

Noah's ark and the Great Flood (covering the whole earth) are historical facts.

Whenever a Mormon prophet makes a prophecy, it will come to pass.

The Mormon church is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.

Conclusion

And, of course, a servant of Satan will tell you that HE is from God, but his critics are from Satan. So just check the facts, and see who is lying.

Side note on the belief in Satan and the name "Lucifer":

The idea that the devil's name is "Lucifer" is of even later origin, and is based on a mistranslation.

The name Lucifer appears in Mormon scripture at 2 Nephi 24:12, copied from Isaiah 14:12, as translated in the KJV: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The problem is a reliance by the King James translaters on Jerome's Latin version from the 4th century A.D (!).

The only place the word "Lucifer" occurs in the entire Bible is in the King James Version at this passage. Other more modern translations do not have "Lucifer" there (or anywhere at all), but translate the word correctly as "day-star," "star of the morning" or "morning star."

This passage, when read in context, is addressed to the king of Babylon, who was very proud and haughty and surrounded in worldly glory, but who was to be destroyed. "Lucifer" is used in Jerome's Latin (and, following Jerome, in the King James Version) to translate the Hebrew word 'helel', which means "morning star" (i.e., the planet Venus). The Hebrew root 'h-l-l' means "shine" or "boast," so it is probably a taunting pun in the original Isaiah, written in Hebrew. There were two Greek names for the planet, both similar: either 'heos-phoros' meaning "dawn-bringer," or 'phos-phoros' meaning "light-bringer." In the Septuagint (Greek) translation of this passage, probably made in the first or second century B.C., the Hebrew 'helel' was translated with the Greek word 'heos-phoros.' When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he used the Septuagint as his source and simply translated the Greek word for Venus into the Latin name of that planet, which is an exact translation of the Greek 'phos-phoros': luci-fer, from the Latin roots 'luc-' "light" and 'fer-' "bring, bear, carry."

It was not until well into the Christian era that the idea arose that "Lucifer" was a name, and that the verse applied to Satan and not to the king of Babylon. It is probably influenced by the (erroneous) assumption that Luke 10:18 (saying that Satan fell as lightning from heaven) is a reference to the Isaiah passage.

Oddly, the only other place in the Bible where the term "morning star" ('phosphoros') is used is at 2 Peter 1:19, where it refers to Jesus!

Revelations 2:28 and 22:16 also refer to the "morning star," meaning Jesus, but use a different Greek phrase made up of the Greek words for "morning" and "star." One verse promises the "morning star" as a reward to the faithful; the latter verse is Jesus' saying "I Jesus ... am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

This error is compounded in Mormon theology, with Lucifer appearing as a character in the endowment ceremony in the Mormon temple.