How Does The Church Deal With Bad Spirits?

[Blackmarch]

I’m just curious what Mormon religious leaders (bishops and the like) and/or missionaries think about bad spirits, or maybe even ghosts? I’m not 100% sure weather “ghosts” exist (although I have experienced some VERY creepy things). But I KNOW there are evil spirits.

So if a home is having trouble with unpleasant spirits, what does the church do? Do they perform blessings in the home, or on a person? Do they take any kind of action against it? Or do they prefer people just ignore it to smother it out? I really don’t hear a whole lot about this with LDS, so I was just curious.

That’s pretty much the majority of my question. But for those who are interested in ghost stories, below, I will post the more specific reasons for wanting answers to this question, via my own personal experiences.

Most of these things happened in my grandmother’s house, as it usually does. There are always lots of problems there, these stories are very common occurrences:

Incident #1 (1999)-- I was staying at my grandma’s house one summer (on my mom‘s side), when I was 18. Several of her grandchildren live with her, because their parents were in jail. Grandma told me she was going to go pick up the kids from school. I said “ok”. I sat there waiting alone in the large, old, 2-story, 4-bedroom house. I was on the couch in the living room, watching TV. My only company was the family dog Cody (a large, brown pit bull mix), who was laying at my feet. Suddenly, I heard a loud thump coming from upstairs. I muted the TV, and listened. Then I heard distinct, heavy footsteps walking down the upstairs hallway (which is just above the living room). Cody heard it too-- he jolted upright and looked toward the top of the stairs. I heard one of the bedroom doors creek… So I thought somebody might be up there. I was kinda scared, but I ventured upstairs to check. I searched the rooms (closets, under the beds), checked all the window locks, etc. NOTHING. All was secure. So I went back downstairs and resumed my seat on the couch, Cody once again sitting at my feet. But this time, he wouldn’t relax… He was tense, sitting upright, and staring at the top of the stairs. Then he started growling, low and rumbly. He made his way toward the stairs very slowly, his back hairs raised. When he reached the bottom step, he paused, barking and snarling viciously! Again, I muted the TV and yelled out “HELLO??” ….. Then I heard BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! All the upstairs bedroom doors had slammed shut hard, one after the other. I completely freaked! Cody whimpered and ran over to me, and hid behind me. So I grabbed his collar and ran out of the house, probably faster than I‘ve ever run before. I sat on the curb outside the driveway, and didn’t go back in until grandma got back with the kids. It wasn’t the first time something like that happened, and to this day, I refuse to be alone in that house. I didn't tell grandma about it though, because she thinks spiritual stuff is just rediculous. Which is why nobody has ever been called in to bless the house, she probably wouldn't go for it.

Incident #2 (1999)-- This happened a few months before the above incident. My cousin Nichole and I were at my grandma’s house. Grandma had taken the younger kids to Marine World, so me and Nichole were alone. We were in the back yard, by the pool. Nichole was practicing tricks on her skateboard, on the cement. I was relaxing on the white wicker patio furniture. Suddenly we heard a very loud, low, male voice yell out, “NICHOLE!” from the window at the top of the staircase. We both turned to look and we saw a very tall, very thin man standing in the window. He wore a black coat with a white under shirt. He had black hair and a mustache. Nichole and I looked at each other and I said, “Did you see that??” She said yes, and described the same thing I saw. We looked back up again, but there was nothing there. Now, keep in mind, this man’s head was way up at the top of the window, and it’s a LONG window! A person would have to be nearly 8 feet tall for their head to be that far up the window. We both ran inside, to see if someone was there. We checked around, but there was nobody. It really freaked us out.

Incident #3 (1995)-- This happened when I was 14 years old. It was mid-August. Me and my 3 cousins (all a few years younger than me) were helping out with cleaning grandma’s house. I was not an active member at this time, and none of my cousins had ever been to church, much less read any bible. Our grandma asked us to sort through some of the junk in the old chest in the back closet, and throw out anything that was broken or useless. So there we were, going through a few old items, when we ran across an old Ouija board. It was still in the cardboard box, along with the curser. We took it out and decided to play around with it. We sat in a circle around it, gently resting our fingers on the curser. I didn’t actually touch it, because I didn’t want to be accused of moving it. We had this silly little “concentrating” moment, and then we asked it if there were any spirits in the room, and the curser pointed to “yes”. So we asked a few more questions:

Are you someone we used to know?-- No.

Did you pass away recently?-- No.

Are there any messages you have for loved ones? -- No.

Have you ever been alive on earth before?-- No.

Are you an older spirit?-- Yes.

Are you an angel, or a messenger of god?-- No.

Where are you from? -- G-E-H-E-N-N-A

I wrote the letters down on a piece of paper, and since none of us had ever heard of such a place before, we assumed it was either a silly nonsense word, or one of us must have been messing around. At the time, my dad and I lived in the same town. After I went home, I told my dad what we did, and he looked at me like he was disappointed. He went to bible college, and he is very religious (a baptized member, but not active). He knows a lot about the bible, and is very spiritual and liberal-minded. But he does not approve of stuff like that. Right away, he told me “You shouldn’t be playing around with those things.” Well, I told my dad about all the questions we asked and the responses. Then I told him about the name of the supposed location we were given… He looked at me kind of puzzled and asked, “Wait a minute… How was it spelled?” I showed him the piece of paper I wrote it down on. He looked at me like he was concerned. I shrugged and said, “What??”. He stood up, walked over to the end table, opened the drawer and pulled out our Bible. He flipped to the “concordance” as he called it, and looked around for a minute. Then he walked over and laid the book in my lap, pointing to the word “Gehenna”. Basically, one of its definitions was another name for ‘hell’. I looked at dad kinda freaked out, and he told me, “Like I said, you shouldn’t be playing around with those things. Don‘t do that again.” And I haven’t.

I’m just saying, I think something is up in that house. If people get out of there, they are peaceful, happy, friendly…. But when they go in that house, they fight and yell constantly, and say the meanest things. Even get physical.

Well if its the person that has a spirit, they can bless the person and command the spirit to leave in the name of Christ. The residents could probably ask for a blessing as well.

Same with the house.

An interesting story I heard from a returned missionary was about a Mom and her daughter that he and his companion taught and eventually baptised... The daughter was hearing voices in her head all the time, but found out that when she attended the LDS church meeting on sunday that they stopped.

My take on ouija boards is that they can invite spirits.. and since that is not how you communicate with god or get his spirit or his messengers, the only ones you are going to get are the ones who aren't God's. And Ive had enough aquantences who have claimed to have experiences with ouija boards to the point that I don't think that they are random or don't work.

"I’m just saying, I think something is up in that house. If people get out of there, they are peaceful, happy, friendly…. But when they go in that house, they fight and yell constantly, and say the meanest things. Even get physical."

there may well be an evil spirit there, however the owners of the house pretty much need to ask for a blessing on it.

One thing that the residents that live there may want to check or try- are there things that will drive the holy spirit out (like inappropriate media?), try to do spiritual things more often (Pray, study scriptures, sing hymns).

Edited February 9, 2010 by Blackmarch

[Blackmarch]

I would agree that sometimes that will work but not always. It depends on serveral factors how "easy" it is to have a spirit leave your home.

Sometimes the homes with the most faith are the hardest to get "evil" spirits out of. I'm not saying it can't be done but it can be harder. One moment of doubt can take it two steps back in the removing process. Other times a simple request to leave is all it takes.

It may or may not work if one does not have the authority- there is no promise, nor authority to be recognised, or heeded.

however if people are living rightioiusly it will be harder for an evil spirit to stand them, where as depending on what an individual is doing.. may invite evil spirit(s). (Which I personally have a poor idea what may do so, beyond a direct invite)

[heatwaveo8]

As a general rule of thumb, nearly everyone who has evil spirits come into their home are people who deserve it, because of their choices. As a missionary, sometimes it was a scary thing. There are two particular experiences I remember pretty clearly, one of which was practicing witchcraft in their home, and the other of which was a preacher whose mission was to destroy the missionary work going on in Utah. The preacher's stance, tone of voice, and the appearance of his eyes were in a way that I had never before seen in my life, and I could tell that a bad spirit was in him. I never had a time where I felt prompted to cast the spirits away or to perform an exercism, though, because they were so stuck in their ways that the spirits would have returned later.

Edited February 18, 2010 by heatwaveo8

[CrimsonKairos]

Last year, Brother Merrill who taught a Book of Mormon class at BYU told a story of demonic possession that was fairly intense. He knew the Seventy who was involved. Here is the nutshell version.

- The Seventy (singular, as in, one person) flew in to Mission President's home for mission visit.

- One of the mission AP's woke up the Seventy during the night. Said the other AP was possessed and the mission president and he had tried to cast it out and couldn't.

- Seventy went upstairs, felt like his feet were lead, felt fear, then the scripture came to mind, "Perfect love casteth out all fear."

- Upstairs, the Mission President, his wife and the AP were trying to hold the possessed AP down into a chair over which he was floating in the air.

- Seventy went over, hugged the elder and said, "I love you. I love you!" And apparently that was enough to cause the evil spirit to leave.

What's interesting is that the Mission President was most likely a very spiritual and worthy man, yet he couldn't cast this spirit out. It is still something I think about...priesthood authority and love combined = power.

[arieljhatch]

Evil canott exsist when good spirit is abundant; it can and does try; but when we excersise our power of prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, evil canott stay; sometimes things do get carried away in our minds too, i,ve had this happen before and it seems very,very, real; dont dwell on it; thats what satan wants you to do; keep yourself spiritual and you wont have a problem.:)

I think I slightly dis-agree with what you're saying. I suppose I got out of your comment evil only comes when you're being unrighteous.

I think we need to remember the more spiritual you are, the harder Satan will work on you.

I do agree, however, that we do often have the power to cast out Satan. We know from the scriptures, God will never allow more to happen to us than we can bear. I think that includes He will always provide a way for us to get rid of an evil spirit, whether it's getting rid of it ourselves, the ability to call someone with greater authority, etc.

And absolutely, I agree we should live as righteously as possible! But that one's a given. It can mean successfully helping others when they are past helping themselves, when influenced by an evil spirit.

Edited February 19, 2010 by arieljhatch

[arieljhatch]

As a general rule of thumb, nearly everyone who has evil spirits come into their home are people who deserve it, because of their choices. As a missionary, sometimes it was a scary thing. There are two particular experiences I remember pretty clearly, one of which was practicing witchcraft in their home, and the other of which was a preacher whose mission was to destroy the missionary work going on in Utah. The preacher's stance, tone of voice, and the appearance of his eyes were in a way that I had never before seen in my life, and I could tell that a bad spirit was in him. I never had a time where I felt prompted to cast the spirits away or to perform an exercism, though, because they were so stuck in their ways that the spirits would have returned later.

I hadn't read this yet when I made my last post. I'm basically just saying the same thing: I disagree.

I'm sure if one IS choosing evil practices, evil spirits could be present. I'm not trying to say you must have been wrong in your experiences.

But I've also heard there hasn't yet been an apostle who didn't deal with evil spirits when he was called.

I'm not trying to circulate gossip or speculation: I simply think your claim is false. Perhaps mainly because a person very close to me, when they were becoming more and more spiritual and before making one of the biggest, most righteous decisions of their life, was possessed and had to have their father and a brother cast it out.

They had things in their past that they weren't proud of, but they didn't have these struggles when they were making those wrong choices in the past. The struggle with the evil spirit came when they were growing more and more spiritually.

Edited February 19, 2010 by arieljhatch

[nrcross]

During my mission I had an experience with this. While I don't want to give details on the "dark" side of what was going on, my companion and I entered a home that had "evil spirits." Being a holders of the Priesthood authority given to all worthy adult males, my companion and I blessed the home. We did so by the authority we held and by the name of Jesus Christ. Ever since that prayer, those wonderful sisters never had a single problem with evil spirits, bad and scary feelings in the home or the like.

This is in direct harmony with church doctrine and church history. Christ expelled evil spirits with the Priesthood authority He held. His apostles and prophets did the same in the name of Jesus Christ. Such things have been done in the times of the restored church (LDS) but usually these things are kept quiet since evil things have a way of running the Spirit away, which can protect you from such events in the first place.

[heatwaveo8]

I hadn't read this yet when I made my last post. I'm basically just saying the same thing: I disagree.

I'm sure if one IS choosing evil practices, evil spirits could be present. I'm not trying to say you must have been wrong in your experiences.

But I've also heard there hasn't yet been an apostle who didn't deal with evil spirits when he was called.

I'm not trying to circulate gossip or speculation: I simply think your claim is false. Perhaps mainly because a person very close to me, when they were becoming more and more spiritual and before making one of the biggest, most righteous decisions of their life, was possessed and had to have their father and a brother cast it out.

They had things in their past that they weren't proud of, but they didn't have these struggles when they were making those wrong choices in the past. The struggle with the evil spirit came when they were growing more and more spiritually.

I think I was a little unclear on my last post, sorry about that. Let me clarify.

The Church's official teaching on this is that man has more power and glory than Satan's followers, and because of this, it is only when we allow them to enter our bodies that they can. I don't think an obedient person would allow an evil spirit to enter their body.

On the other hand, I believe that they are present in our homes and around us all the time. Otherwise we would never be tempted. And it's true that they tempt us more when we are more obedient, but that doesn't mean that they can enter our body.

People who have served in the line of authority over missionary work, including missionaries themselves, have much more familiarity with this, and when a person actually has first-hand interactions like the ones I've described to you and sees it with their own eyes and feels the evil powers they exert, it changes one's perspective on it forever.

Edited February 20, 2010 by heatwaveo8

[cassiebea]

I know what it feels like to have the spirit of Jesus Christ in my presence. I have also felt the exact opposite. I have had many occasions where I have felt that there were evil spirits trying to influence me or another member of my family. I have seen people in my life who have actually felt like they were wrestling with them physically while sleeping. I think that Satan would want us to believe that they don't exist because if we don't believe they are there, then we won't recognize there presence and pro-actively do something to make them go away.

I find that they come more frequently when I am on a good path in my life. I think this is either because they are angry that I am making good choices or because I recognize them more because of the choices I am making in my life.

The wonderful thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ and about having a testimony of Jesus Christ is that, while they are real, they are not to be feared. The power that God and his Son yield is so much greater than Satan could ever even dream of yielding. When considered in this context it makes the evil spirits seem very sad and pathetic.

In every situation where I have recognized their presence I put my arm to the square and cast them out. I teach my children from a very young age to recognize their presence and they all know what to do if they feel that feeling. It is actually pretty amazing to see a three year old raise her arm to the square and say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Satan, GO AWAY!" That is what I teach them. I have literally seen a 3 year old call upon Jesus Christ and through her sweet command change the entire spirit in a room.

I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lives! That his power is so amazing and all powerful that through HIM a child can command the evil spirits to depart. I know they are real, but I do not fear them. I am not naive enough to think that if we cast them out that that is enough. They will always try to come back. They are relentless, they do not give up. I think that doing the primary basics of reading your scriptures daily, saying daily prayer and constantly seeking to live according to the will of Heavenly Father will go a long way toward protecting you from their influence.

In situations where there influence is more entrenched (I had a family member who had spirits that were quite attached after drug abuse) will need more than just casting them out. In that situation he received a priesthood blessing and his room where he lived was blessed. It took several times to get the spirits to go away. That in combination with him making changes in his life were eventually enough to make them go away.

I hope that helps someone

Angela

Scriptures 4 Kids