Satan’s Tactics Exposed, January 6

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Isaiah 14:12^L.

Rejecting with disdain the arguments and entreaties of the loyal angels, he [Satan] denounced them as deluded slaves.... He would never again acknowledge the supremacy of Christ. He had determined to claim the honor that should have been given him, and take command of all who would become his followers; and he promised those who would enter his ranks a new and better government, under which all would enjoy freedom. Great numbers of the angels signified their purpose to accept him as their leader....

Still the loyal angels urged him and his sympathizers to submit to God, and they set before them the inevitable result should they refuse: He who had created them could overthrow their power and signally punish their rebellious daring....

Many were disposed to heed this counsel, to repent of their disaffection, and seek to be again received into favor with the Father and His Son. But Lucifer had another deception ready. The mighty revolter now declared that the angels who had united with him had gone too far to return; that he was acquainted with the divine law, and knew that God would not forgive.... The only course remaining for him and his followers, he said, was to assert their liberty, and gain by force the rights that had not been willingly accorded them.

So far as Satan himself was concerned, it was true that he had now gone too far to return. But not so with those who had been blinded by his deceptions.... But pride, love for their leader, and the desire for unrestricted freedom were permitted to bear sway, and the pleadings of divine love and mercy were finally rejected....

God could employ only such means as were consistent with truth and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not—flattery and deceit.... God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his claims, to show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.

Even when he was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 40-42.