How does he know?

I really don't like to write too much about the devil. I don't particularly like thinking about him. But he does exist, and it is important, as Elder Faust has pointed out, to know the enemy. And so I guess I'll write a little of what I was thinking this evening as I was reading. I'm in Helaman now, and so nearer the time when the Savior comes to the Promised Land, and it seems the waves of goodness and badness among the Nephites are slightly more frequent than usual. Maybe it just seems that way and isn't really, but that's kind of what it seemed to me. And so, it just made me wonder if the devil wasn't going to work extra hard because he knew the Savior was about to come to them. Now, that's possible. He does know a lot of things. But we also know that he doesn't know the mind of the Lord, and I would guess he doesn't have a very good picture of how the history of the world will be, though I don't know. I mean, it's questionable if he thought tempting Eve was really going to foil the Lord's plan. However, one thing we do know is that he knows us, the Spirit children of our Heavenly Father. He knows who was valiant in the pre-mortal existance, and who wasn't quite as valiant. So, when he sees some of the more valiant people walking the earth, you can bet that he's going to get to work a little harder than usual with some of the less-valiant who could follow him a little better, to bring down the more valiant. And since I think it's pretty safe to suppose that at all significant moments in the world's history such as His first and second coming, The Lord will be sending down some of His most valiant as well as some of his least valiant, you can see how Satan can have the inkling to work a bit harder. This would be a good reason why the scriptures warn us that even the very elect will be deceived in the last days. I suppose this is all to say, that it might not matter exactly how Satan reasons. To an extent, it's probably good to know, but if we learn nothing else, it's to be aware that he is trying, and he's trying pretty hard, particularly as the Second Coming approaches, just as it was going when the First Coming was arriving, so we need to be extra-cautious and avoid the roller coaster of our own pride lest we be on the wrong side when He comes.