In the D&C there's a revelation about how to tell if an otherworldly messager is from God or from Satan:

"Doctrine & Covenants, Section 129:
1 There are two kinds of beings in heaven, namely: Angels, who are resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bones—
2 For instance, Jesus said: Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
3 Secondly: the spirits of just men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory.
4 When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you.
5 If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand.
6 If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear—
7 Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message.
8 If it be the devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him.
9 These are three grand keys whereby you may know whether any administration is from God."

Did Joseph Smith ever claim that he tried this test? When the angel with the flaming sword came to force him to practice polygamy, did Joe ask to shake his hand? Did Joe ever claim to detect any evil angels by using this method? If not, why would God bother giving a revelation that not even the prophet was going to follow?

Now, supposing an angel of the devil read this so he knows the secret, and he just stands still?

That damn clever devil

I couldn't believe they still have that stupidity in their scriptures. Really! You'd think they'd be having the young women and scouts memorize that instead of all those useless mottos.

If a mormon ever comes to my door again i'm going to shake hands with them. I'll then pause and tell them I couldn't feel their hand and ask them to shake my hand again. I'll then get very bold and say "Get thee hence Satan!" That should do the job.

Thanks for the info. I could never remember all of this and, anyway, I knew I'd be so scared that I would forget it all anyway. Why would a spirit appear to me, anyway. I'm female. I hated these scary Mormon lessons, and so did my kids. Mormonism gave us all nightmares. I used to wonder, when I was 6 years old, before the brainwashing finally kicked in, why JS never mentioned shaking the hand of Moroni, or was it Mormon, or was it God, or an angel, or Christ and God together, or was it his hat....

JS was an angel of the devil. Same with Breedum Young and most profits after them.
Maeve - when you shake hands, what to do if they don't know the secret hand shakes? Assume they don't have internet services and haven't seen the handshakes like the rest of us have.
BTW - what do you think TSCC will do now that everyone and their dog knows the secret handshakes and penalties? Will they get some new ones for someone to hack into and show all of us again? How awful the internet must be from TSCC's perspective......Don't you fell like bawling your eyeballs out? NOT!

LOL! This one never made any sense to me at all! Even in my most believingest days this one just seemed weird to me. (Kind of like the endowment.)

Always assumed that I was missing something and that someday it would all make sense to me. I guess in a way, it does all make sense now...although, not in the way that I had imagined back at that time.

Did you notice that in the temple movie Adam shakes hands with Peter, James, and John. I always wondered how that worked with this scripture.