clbent04

Lol. Hey if I can be in Facilities, you can be 1st counselor.

Thanks for sharing. That is a crazy experience. A very wise member in the church once taught me that when you cast out evil, always do so by adding something to the effect of, "and I place you under lock and key until after the Millennial Reign." That way, the same evil spirits can't come back to harass you. With the Priesthood power we have the power to bind and loose things spiritual here on earth. When the apostles “bound” something, or forbade it on earth, they were carrying out the will of God in the matter. When they “loosed” something, or allowed it on earth, they were likewise fulfilling God’s eternal plan.

Couldn't help but check. It was like a burglar had just broken into my home. We check on her occasionally anyway to make sure the blanket is still covering her, so doing one extra check isn't a big deal.

Now that was a freaky movie. Lol. I've never been more disturbed by a movie than The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

I believe you. Especially after experiencing my experience. What's crazier about your experience is you weren't even coming out of a dream. You were completely awake. With my experience a lot of people would say, oh, you were just half-asleep. Harder to refute your experience.

That's exactly what I think. Just as any positive spiritual experience can be rationalized by others as insignificant and not spiritual at all, the same can be said of encounters with evil spirits. Rationalizations that explain away all things spiritually are readily accepted by many.

I've had sleep paralysis one other time in my life. Many of the events in that first episode were similar to my episode last night. As you described, I saw a shadowy figure, but when I saw it, it moved in a non-human like way. I remember being in a state of shock upon seeing that figure move the way it did. And I remember the room having a similar ominous presence for the duration I was paralyzed and saw the shadowy figure moving about. I do have sleep apnea which is said to contribute to sleep paralysis. On top of that, I had to get up multiple times last night because our 2-year old kept screaming and crying for no apparent reason throughout the night (she pretty much always sleeps like a rock 10-hours straight). Lack of sleep is also said to cause sleep paralysis. Satan's presence, or his followers' presence, does reinforce not only the existence of spiritual evil, but God's existence. I don't know when or how or why evil spirits choose to make their presence known to others, but usually it seems to center around attacking those with righteous desires or taking advantage of the more feeble of spirits among us (at least from what I've read from accounts from other members within the church).

I've had my own skepticism when I've read other people's accounts similar to mine. There's a need to be cautious with what to believe. It's hard to understand what it's like without experiencing it yourself. It's good to know there are others out there like yourself who have also experienced encounters with both bad and good spirits. It really helps you comprehend even if just at a glimpse the kind of peril someone like Joseph Smith experienced while first attempting to pray in the Sacred Grove.

It is unnerving to realize you're temporarily paralyzed, but what has me convinced my experience was something more than that was before I realized I was paralyzed I immediately sensed a negative presence upon waking up. So I couldn't have been stimulated to imagine a negative presence from being in a state of paralysis since I didn't realize I was paralyzed until after.

1/8/19 - My wife and I feel asleep in separate bedrooms so it was just me sleeping in our master bedroom. I woke up around 3:40am. I was alone in the room except that when I woke up I immediately sensed an evil spirit. It was a negative feeling, and it was as if I could feel its presence in the air. The air all around me felt disturbed with a buzzing, not an audible buzzing but more of a 6th-sense, spiritual buzzing. I kept my eyes closed out of fear of seeing something I didn’t want to see. I had one of these encounters before and what I saw the first time was pretty freaky. This time I was laying down with my left arm behind my head and my body slightly positioned on its left side where I was mostly laying on my back but slightly on my side as well facing towards the edge of the bed. With my eyes still closed, a few seconds later I noticed I couldn’t move. The spirit was somehow holding me in that position. I wasn’t in any pain, but I did feel bound by some force. I was still too unnerved to open my eyes because I felt this presence strongest right in front of me at the edge of the bed between the bed and the closet. I laid there immobile for maybe a minute, and I thought I could wait this out, but then the idea came to me to try and grab whatever was in front of me with my left hand that was behind my head. I attempted to do so but as much as I tried moving my arm the more I realized how much I was being held motionless by this presence. Even trying to lift my head slightly to remove my arm from behind me was impossible. I exerted every effort I had several times but found it to be futile. I then thought I had had enough at that point and was going to cast this evil presence out in the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. I tried to speak, but I could barely utter anything. I was only able to utter fragmented words that probably wouldn’t have been intelligible to anyone listening. I then tried a second time but not with much more success. Finally the third time I was able to somewhat break free from this grasp over me. I managed to sit up in bed, raised my right hand to the square, and spoke, “In the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, I command all evil spirits to depart and I place you under lock and key until after the Millennial Reign." As soon as I finished saying this a third time in a clear manner, I felt the presence completely leave, and I regained full control of my faculties. Worried other evil presences might be in other parts of the house, I went to check on our 2-year old daughter, and then went to check on my wife. Our daughter was fine, and when I checked on my wife I actually nudged her awake to make sure she was okay. She was unintentionally startled more than I intended (she was having a bad dream), but when she came to she said she was fine after regaining some of her senses. I went back to bed wondering what would have invited such a spirit. I rededicated myself to God a week ago to live more closely to Him, so I was thinking maybe that was it. If anything this experience brings me closer to God as the very real spiritual battle between good and evil was unfolded so clearly before me (I was going to say before my eyes, but I had them shut the entire time lol). All these events I described were so real I'm convinced it's not just a case a sleep paralysis unrelated to anything spiritual. I'm sure a lot of people would dismiss this encounter as nothing more than an event of sleep paralysis as explained by the medical community, but not me. It was much more real for me. I felt a palpable, negative force all around me. From the many other similar encounters I have read this morning, it seems Satan and his followers are still busy as they ever have been. I believe these other encounters I'm reading when they attribute this negative presence to something more than just hallucinating upon waking up.

What I mostly found on other websites were what seemed like support groups for people trying to recover from being LDS, not to be confused with being on LSD. I make that clarification because I couldn’t believe the way some people described themselves as if they were recovering addicts from the church. Whenever I came across those stories, I always tried reading in between the lines to decipher what these people really meant. I thought they must know inside their hearts somewhere the church is true, but yet they post these “recovering addict” posts as a way to rationalize their walking away from the church. I suppose some people may feel geneuinely duped by the Chuch, but I think more often than not people rationalize their way out of the church. Either that, or they never were truly converted to the gospel to begin with. A seed that doesn’t take root can easily be blown by the wind.

That’s my opinion as well. Haven’t seen anything out there comparable

I'm curious how effective this forum is in terms of helping non-members convert to the gospel and helping inactive members become reactivated. This forum helped me become reactivated simply by helping me rediscover my passion to discuss gospel themed topics. For the more senior members, or anyone really, how many success stories have you seen pass through this website?

Hahaha. Nice @anatess2

Agree. Nothing we receive is earned. We live by God’s grace alone.

This is what happens when you trigger the @The Folk Prophet. You better just bend over and let him bite you cause you're gonna get it one way or another.

The power of the Priesthood has been monumental in my life. Through it, I discovered the truthfulness of the gospel. Priesthood blessings opened up eyes to the power of God entrusted to men here on earth. And it really is a live, active, powerful, Heavenly force. I truly believe the worthy and most faithful Priesthood holders among us can move mountains if it is God's will. Honestly. I believe that 100 percent in my heart after experiencing the incredibly powerful Priesthood blessings of comfort I once received as a young man in need. That said, before I had the testimony I do now of the Priesthood, as a 19-year old I was somewhat skeptic if the Stake Patriarch's words were inspired in regards to warning me to avoid materialism. But even then, I took that part of the blessing seriously. It just made me think is all considering how the events unfolded shortly before receiving that blessing. Few things I respect more in this life than a worthy, Melchizedek Priesthood holder.

I can see the reasoning behind waiting till they were 55, but as of right now we have it set at age 25 for the trust to be accessible to our daughter. And granted there’s a monthly withdrawl limit set in place. We’d like her to have some of her trust to draw upon early on to help her get on her feet. We want her to value money but not stress about it.

I think that’s an excellent test. The hardest thing for me to give up wouldn’t be the extras. It would be the basic comforts and necessities of life. Access to a hot shower, money to buy food, my own bed to sleep in. That would be a huge test of faith for me. It’s reassuring to know I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from, or where I’m going to sleep tonight. When Jesus called upon traveling ministers to further the work, many times they had to solely rely on faith to survive. Granted, I’m thinking of apostles of old like Paul who lived the faith on an entirely different level. Modern-day apostles and full-time missionaries don’t have to rely on faith alone to survive the same way. I don’t think I would have a problem selling my possessions so long as I still had a place to sleep and food to eat. But I probably would struggle if it was taken to the next level.

We have a sizable trust in place right now for our daughter, along with some life insurance policies on both me and my wife. I worry if we contribute too much to the trust and our daughter found out how much is in there, she might rely on it too much rather than develop her own talents and work ethic. My wife and I have talked about this quite a bit as to exactly what age we want to allow her to start drawing on the trust, and what the monthly withdrawl limits should be.

No way, Jose.

What percentage of your income or threshold would you use as a "significant" amount given to those less fortunate?

Thanks. I do think how much you save is a factor in materialism, i.e., if you're willing to buy unnecessary luxuries at the expense of not saving you might be leaning closer to materialism.

She's doing great, thanks for asking. Still high energy, but she's increasingly doing better sitting for long periods of time. I just got to make sure I have the right activities to keep her active mind busy. My issue now is I got to help my wife get motivated to go back to church. It's been just my daughter and I who have been back to church so far. I took such a long break from church, it's been somewhat detrimental to my wife's development in the gospel. She converted when we were dating, we attended church together for 4 years, but then I took my 4-year sabbatical from church, and she in turn stopped attending as well. I never stopped attending as a matter of not believing in the church (more so just not believing in myself), but unfortunately partly due to that period of inactivity my wife has become somewhat skeptical of religion in general. I shared my testimony with her last night while laying in bed stating why I believe in the church, and I felt the Holy Spirit present, but it may take some patience and work to help get us back where we once were.