The Savior taught, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin (Jn 8:34). When a man hardens his heart and sins, Satan wraps him gently and quietly in his chains of hell (Alma 12:10-11) Satan waits in anxious anticipation for any opportunity to bind us with his great chain. Moses saw Satan, and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced. These chains both pull the individual down into the eternal gulf and they remain tightly bound to the individual in hell, or spirit prison, the remainder were reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day (Moses 7:57).
Carlos E. Asay
“Shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound indicates the need to overcome bad habits, even the seemingly little habits that grow into strong ’chains of hell.’” (Ensign, May 1992, p. 41 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 83)
Marvin J. Ashton
“Who among us hasn’t felt the chains of bad habits? These habits may have impeded our progress, may have made us forget who we are, may have destroyed our self-image, may have put our family life in jeopardy, and may have hindered our ability to serve our fellowmen and our God. So many of us tend to say. ’This is the way I am. I can’t change….‘Lehi warned his sons to ’shake off the chains’ because he knew that chains restrict our mobility, growth, and happiness. They cause us to become confused and less able to be guided by God’s Spirit…Samuel Johnson wisely shared, ‘The chains of habit are too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken’ (International Dictionary of Thoughts, p. 348)….Living a life of righteousness is a chainbreaker. Many of us today are shackled by the restrictive chains of poor habits. We are bound by inferior self-images created by misconduct and indifference. We are chained by an unwillingness to change for the better….Shaking off restrictive chains requires action….It requires commitment, self-discipline, and work. Chains weigh heavily on troubled hearts and souls. They relegate us to lives of no purpose or light. They cause us to become confused and lose the spirit….These chains cannot be broken by those who live in lust and self-deceit. They can only be broken by people who are willing to change. We must face up to the hard reality of life that damaging chains are broken only by people of courage and commitment who are willing to struggle and weather the pain….To change or break some of our chains even in a small way means to give up some behavior of habits that have been very important to us in the past….Even if our present way of life is painful and self-destructive, some of us…become comfortable with it. Those who are committed to improvement break chains by having the courage to try.” (Ensign, Nov. 1985, pp. 13-5 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 83-4)