Measure

I served a mission. That should tell you my priesthood level. Now, are you saying that detecting posession of evil spirits is only done through the gift of discernment? It should be added that not all have this gift. If this is the case, is this descernment given to members and non-members alike? How can someone without this gift tell the difference between one who has it and one who doesn't?

Ok, then, but my question is not how to dispell evil spirits, but rather, how to diagnose the problem. The only answer I've been given in this thread so far is that "Only mormon authorities can tell if a person is posessed by an evil spirit." If that is the case, then 1000+ years of evil spirit detection was all bunk. If, however, diagnosis can be done without a mormon authority, we come back to my question. What criteria do we use to diagnose "evil spirit infection"? How can we tell the difference between posession by an evil spirit, and say, an active imagination?

In all my years of church, I've never had a lesson that taught us how do diagnose a person that is posessed by evil spirits. Have you?

Let's run with this, though. Only mormon authorities can decide who is posessed by evil spirits. So for the last 1000 years or so before the church was restored, nobody had the authority to detect evil spirits? So every time they did, they were wrong?

I also stated I am not a believer in the church any longer. I can look at the church from a third-person perspective.

I've already answered that once, in this thread.

That's not really an answer, rather you're directing me to your chosen source to find an answer myself. As I read it, You're saying that evil spirits can only be detected by mormon authorities?

As I read the responses on this thread, I see lots of interest in what accountability is, what God might do to sort things out, ect... But no interest in exploring how you would determine whether a child is posessed? I think it's an important question, that needs an answer before you explore what to do about it. A doctor doesn't prescribe a cure before checking all the symptoms of the patient, lest something that at first glance seems to be one issue turns out to be another. So I guess my question is, what are the symptoms of being posessed by evil spirits?

I have never encountered a child I considered possessed by evil spirits, which is the purpose of the post. Yes, I am a member of the LDS church, although, I no longer believe. I hope that I am not being disrespectful by participating on this forum.

Straight to the CK! But now I'm wondering, what happens if your child is possessed by evil spirits AND dies at the age of seven?

So, how can you tell if a child, above or below the age of accountability, is possessed by evil spirits? Who can make the diagnosis? What is the correct treatment for the condition? Does that treatment need to be applied once or multiple times? Just asking because I've been in the church most of my life and I've never run into a possessed-by-evil-spirits situation.