12) EVIL SPIRITS: Who/what are evil spirits? Where did they come from? Are they organized? Where do they dwell and what is their purpose?

Prophetic Statements

Joseph Smith

#1:

A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God. ¹

#2:

Salvation is nothing more nor less than to triumph over all our enemies and put them under our feet. And when we have power to put all enemies under our feet in this world, and a knowledge to triumph over all evil spirits in the world to come, then we are saved, as in the case of Jesus, who was to reign until He had put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy was death. ²

Brigham Young

#1:

The spirits that were cast out of heaven, which you know are recorded to have been one-third part, were thrust down to this earth, and have been here all the time, with Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, at their head. ³

#2:

There are myriads of disembodied evil spirits—those who have long ago laid down their bodies here and in the regions round about, among and around us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and are trying to destroy us and to tempt us to evil. They will try every possible means they are masters of to draw us aside from the path of righteousness. ⁴

#3:

The spirits of devils have been deprived of bodies, and that constitutes their curse . . . That is the situation of the spirits that were sent to the earth, when the revolt took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, was cast out. Where did he go? He came here, and one-third part of the spirits in heaven came with him. Do you suppose that one-third part of all beings that existed in eternity came with him? No, but one-third part of the spirits that were begotten and organized and brought forth to become tenants of fleshly bodies to dwell upon this earth. They forsook Jesus Christ, the rightful heir, and joined with Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and came to this earth; they got here first. As soon as Mother Eve made her appearance in the garden of Eden, the Devil was on hand. ⁵

#4:

The Devil’s forces are particularly marshaled against us. ⁶

#5:

The children of men give heed to the deceiving spirits that are abroad, and that is the cause of the ten thousand errors, wrongs, sins and divisions which are in the world, and for this reason the multitude are unable to distinguish between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger. ⁷

#6:

Who are the evildoers? Those who have had the light presented to them, and rejected it. ⁸

Scripture

Ephesians 6:12

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.

1. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:588
2. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pg 297
3. Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 68
4. Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 72
5. Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 68
6. (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 69)
7. (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 72)
8. (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 71)