Do you suppose these devils are around us without trying to do something? ... I say ... we have got a mighty warfare to wage with these spirits. We cannot escape it. What will they do to you? They will try to make us do anything and everything that is not right. (The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 238-40.)
“For Satan Desireth to Have You”
Compare Luke 22:31. The Savior’s statement here must be taken as literal. This desire of Satan’s is the very reason why Jesus, like all of the prophets, constantly commands us to “pray always.” In the premortal world Lucifer sought to destroy agency and thwart the Father’s plan of salvation. His destructive designs continue now on earth.
President Wilford Woodruff taught: “[Lucifer] has great influence over the children of men; he labors continually to destroy the works of God in heaven, and he had to be cast out. He is here, mighty among the children of men. There is a vast number of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on earth.
They do not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they enter the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are not to be seen with the sight of the eye. But there are many evil spirits among us, and they labor to overthrow the church and kingdom of God....”