Captivity of the Devil

The Lord described what happened to Lucifer when he was cast down from heaven with this description: "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" (Moses 4:4).  For some reason, the Lord saw fit in his wisdom to allow the devil to have some power or control over us in mortality, but only if we choose to let him.  That the devil has indeed been given this ability to take others "captive" is affirmed in many other scriptures.  The apostle Paul wrote of those who are in the “snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).  The Savior also warned the Nephites of this possibility: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil, and ye be led away captive by him" (3 Nephi 18:15).  If we don't pray and watch and hearken to the voice of the Lord, the devil will have power to take us spiritually captive—there is an urgency for us to safeguard ourselves against his spiritual chains.  This was the spirit of the Lord's injunction to the Prophet Joseph: "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” (D&C 10:5).

               Nephi and Lehi both wrote of the captivity of the devil.  In his vision of the last days Nephi saw a representation of hell and commented, “For behold, this is according to the captivity of the devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him."  He also wrote of how those who harden their hearts

being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil” (1 Nephi 14:3-4, 7).  When we harden our hearts and work wickedness we are letting the devil gain captivity over us in the sense that we let him have sway over our hearts.  We let him have control over our emotions so that we do not see others for who they really are but rather through the lenses of our own selfishness.  We become captive to our negative emotions, but when we choose to soften our hearts and forgive and repent, we have this promise from the Savior: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).  We are free from the controlling, negative feelings that the devil fills us with.  Lehi laid out the choice before us: "And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi 2:27).  We can choose to follow our great Mediator without fearing the adversary, for as the Prophet Joseph wrote, "All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not.... The devil has no power over us only as we permit him; the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power."