“Their Signs Yea, Their Secret Signs, and Their Secret Words”

Bryan Richards

Lucifer knows nothing more than what he has seen the Father do. Therefore, when Satan established his kingdom, it was patterned after the old one where he used to live. This imitation act encompasses all of what he has done, including the establishment of secret combinations. Indeed, the Gadianton robbers are Satan's "temple recommend holders." He substitutes secret combinations for sacred covenants, sinister oaths for solemn promises, secret signs for sacred signs, and secret words for holy phrases. To these wicked men, he has administered his sinister covenants, secret oaths, signs and words 'that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant' of wickedness.

James E. Talmage

"Satan from the first has been a great imitator; he is an experienced strategist. Never has the Lord set his hand to do a specific thing for the good of his people upon the earth, of outstanding feature, but that Satan has attempted to imitate it in some degree." (Conference Report, Apr. 1931, p. 27)

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