The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

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Spaced_Out
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by Spaced_Out »

BackBlast wrote: December 14th, 2017, 9:48 pm So.... scriptural mention of devils and possession is really a medical issue? And such narratives are misguided and they are really healing instead of dealing with unseen spiritual beings? You clearly have a very very different view of scriptural accounts than I do, and I hesitate to continue this discussion with such a difference.
“The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on this Earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”
The BoM has no references or example of a person being possessed or casting out devils or evil spirits, not a doctrine taught in the church or general conference. Yes the BoM does mention it as something that can occur but not one explanation or example . - it is not a doctrine we need to worry about.

Job was never possessed by an evil spirit he just received afflictions of the flesh and his children died as part of the temptation that he had to endure.

If Satan and his followers could possess people and cause medical issues why do they not posses all of the human race and and give everyone terminal cancer and make the entire plan of salvation null and void. It is clearly taught in the temple enmity is placed and they cant posses the bodies of mankind.

JohnnyL
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by JohnnyL »

Robin Hood wrote: December 13th, 2017, 11:16 am
JohnnyL wrote: December 13th, 2017, 10:29 am
Robin Hood wrote: December 13th, 2017, 10:05 am
JohnnyL wrote: December 13th, 2017, 9:47 am
Doesn't matter--it happens. Results talk. ;)
Perhaps you could give us an example of a therapist casting out an unclean spirit.
Some parts of the books can be read online, and some of the reviews have info, too:
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-depossess ... 915689081/

https://www.amazon.com/Unquiet-Dead-Psy ... 345460871/

https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Releaseme ... 92991516X/

https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Releasement ... 983753318/

https://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Captives ... 571741364/

https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Lost-Sou ... 001HZZ0KM/

https://www.amazon.com/Remarkable-Heali ... 571740791/

For more, search "spirit releasement therapy".
I didn't ask for a list of books containing the philosophies of men, I asked for an example.
No problem. I'm sure someone else who actually wants to know about it now has plenty of resources. :)
Last edited by JohnnyL on December 17th, 2017, 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

JohnnyL
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by JohnnyL »

MMbelieve wrote: December 14th, 2017, 10:53 am
Spaced_Out wrote: December 14th, 2017, 2:05 am
BackBlast wrote: December 13th, 2017, 11:59 pm .....devils who afflict individuals before they can be tempted or before they reach accountability. Pure souls, yet they suffer such affliction. In my experience there is purpose in the ways and methods these afflictions are allowed to assist in shaping people. Also that such affliction should not be used as a sign of sin - this will lead to poor judgment.
A person born with genetic weaknesses or a chronic disease has nothing to do with devils - devils cant alter our DNA or cause birth defects as the scriptures are clear there is enmity placed - those so called afflictions is nothing more than mortality - if a person is born with bad eye sight or hearing it is simply a birth defect there is no devil - there is no devil biting onto the person eyeball - the same with all other afflictions of the flesh.
One cant simply attribute these things to devils, they have no power over those before the age of accountability.

Those before the age of accountability can be greedy, throw temper tantrums like the so called terrible two's where children try to assert their own authority but have to learn that the world is bigger than them. These are simply lessons of mortality as we try to understand the sweet and bitter the good and bad and start to overcome the natural man. Devils and daemons have nothing to do with this it is a make up of our "spiritual development prior to coming to earth" and the weaknesses of the natural body.

The devil has nothing to do with our physical afflictions other than tempting us to make bad choices that may negatively affect our mortal body.
They do have the ability to affect people before the age of 8. I can attest to this truth. My brother was affected as a child to the point he was put on medications to remedy his abnormal physical symptoms. The meds did nothing and my mother was inspired to just take him off the medications. When he received the priesthood, the symptoms he suffered for may years completely stopped.

He would see spirits and be haunted by the devil to the point that he didn't know what was real or imagined anymore as it all was real to him. He was being attacked and was an innocent child.

Receiving the priesthood put a stop to all of it. There was no medical explanation for why his problems ceased.

Another example is when my son of 4 months was crying and crying one night because of an evil spirit in the home. My husband was up with him in the night and could sense this evil spirit as soon as he questioned to know what was wrong with our child. The evil spirit was revealed to him and he cast him out, as soon as he did that our son calmed down immediately and was fine. We had a pretty haunted apartment room and had many experiences there for which we did not bring in ourselves.
Lots of stories in early church about casting out devils, including, I believe, one of Joseph Smith and his son, who kept getting sick. When he prayed about it, he saw the spirit, won the turf war (the house they were in used to be a brothel) and cast it out.

JohnnyL
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by JohnnyL »

MMbelieve wrote: December 13th, 2017, 2:34 pm If we create a "nice place" for them to dwell then we attract them for sure. If we are always negative and diminishing ourselves and our worth, living in negativity and depression then I believe we attract those spirits that are like unto it and that causes us to remain in this depression thinking that we will never get out. There is some added depression to your own negative thoughts from these spirits that are hanging around.
Yeah. Happened to a friend.

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Robin Hood
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by Robin Hood »

JohnnyL wrote: December 17th, 2017, 5:51 pm
Robin Hood wrote: December 13th, 2017, 11:16 am
JohnnyL wrote: December 13th, 2017, 10:29 am
Robin Hood wrote: December 13th, 2017, 10:05 am

Perhaps you could give us an example of a therapist casting out an unclean spirit.
Some parts of the books can be read online, and some of the reviews have info, too:
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-depossess ... 915689081/

https://www.amazon.com/Unquiet-Dead-Psy ... 345460871/

https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Releaseme ... 92991516X/

https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Releasement ... 983753318/

https://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Captives ... 571741364/

https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Lost-Sou ... 001HZZ0KM/

https://www.amazon.com/Remarkable-Heali ... 571740791/

For more, search "spirit releasement therapy".
I didn't ask for a list of books containing the philosophies of men, I asked for an example.
No problem. I'm sure someone else who actually wants to know about it now has plenty of resources. :)
Just as I thought.
Word of advice: If you don't have anything of value to add to a discussion, don't pretend you have.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 14th, 2017, 1:19 pm The BOM does teach that no person can be heal or do miracles unless he is clean of all sin. Also many times it is not God’s will that we should be healed. Like the apostle Paul of old who had a thorn in the flesh – it was never taken from him.
As to spirits possessing children – yeah I don’t buy it and if in some mysterious way was possible it is only very temporary. Very very minor percentage of the world’s population even know about the PH yet one does not see children possessed by daemons in the world. If one looks deep enough there is always a medical reason.
Possession by a daemon has never happened to me or any family or extended member – it is not a common affliction.
Job in the old testament language is different than what we use today and JST also clarifies a lot of the issues about the temptations. As the story goes Satan had to ask permission from God to temp and try Job they way he was afflicted again not a common issue affecting mankind.
Much of the New testament casting out devils was simply resolving a medical problem that they did not have the technology to understand or resolve so it was considered an unclean spirit, and as it requires righteousness to be healed by the PH or for God to intervene it is to an extent that one has to overcome sin and cast out ‘devils’ mortal weakness prior to being healed.
You make many claims here such as "New testament casting out devils was simply resolving a medical problem" but you provide nothing to indicate this is anything other than your opinion.

Concerning Paul you might consider upon this observation by President Young:
But to return to this organization. We find a pure spirit inhabiting the tabernacle of the creature which is always prompting the individual to good, to virtue, to truth and holiness; all of which emanate from that source of purity from which this spirit came. And here the evil that came through transgression that is in this tabernacle, is warring with this pure spirit, it seeks to overcome it, and is striving with all its power to bring this spirit into subjection, into bondage to the law of sin. This is the warfare which Paul refers to when speaking of the “thorn in the flesh,” 2 Cor. 12:7 which is no more or less than the spirit contending against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit. (Philosophy of Man Upon The Earth—The Great and Grand Secret of Salvation—Are We One—Nature of Stewardship—Increase of Temples—Hear Ye, Mothers. Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at the Semi-Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Oct. 8, 1876.)
Or perhaps another one from President Faught might broaden your horizons:
I now speak of the absolute necessity of controlling all physical appetites. These might in one sense be called the “thorn in the flesh.”3 2 Cor. 12:7 (The Power of Self-Mastery, President James E. Faust)
While there are surely occasions where healing is to be withheld, in the manner in which it feels your observations originate, I believe you are defaulting to the excuse of priesthood holders who do not act in the power of the priesthood of God and so simply excuse themselves by stating that the Lord must have wanted the individual to suffer for their personal growth and developement. Elder Nelson's paying the price for priesthood power is exceptionally instructive concerning the power of the priesthood and how to acquire it properly.

Check your scriptures again for more clarity on healings and casting out demons:
Mormon 9:23-25
23 And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned;
24 And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;
25 And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth.
Here is another, one of many, that again gives perspective:

Doctrine and Covenants 24:13-19
13 Require not miracles, except I shall command you, except casting out devils, healing the sick, and against poisonous serpents, and against deadly poisons;
14 And these things ye shall not do, except it be required of you by them who desire it, that the scriptures might be fulfilled; for ye shall do according to that which is written.
15 And in whatsoever place ye shall enter, and they receive you not in my name, ye shall leave a cursing instead of a blessing, by casting off the dust of your feet against them as a testimony, and cleansing your feet by the wayside.
16 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall lay their hands upon you by violence, ye shall command to be smitten in my name; and, behold, I will smite them according to your words, in mine own due time.
17 And whosoever shall go to law with thee shall be cursed by the law.

Casting out demons is a sign of believers. Would one think that something spoken of so widely in scripture would be an event of exceptionally rare occurance? No it would seem it happens more than some seem willing to acknowledge.

There is so much more I can add to this but this should suffice for now.
Last edited by brlenox on December 18th, 2017, 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 13th, 2017, 4:21 am No true - don't give the evil spirits that much credit, it is our free agency and natural man that is our affliction.

If only the PH can cast out devils then one has to believe that all men and woman who do not have the PH are possessed and incapable of doing any good or overcoming sin, addiction without the PH. Total nonsense.

We are placed on earth where the war between good and evil continues, and it continues in each of us and we progress depending on which voice we listing to. No devil has power over a mortal without us allowing it to occur. The scriptures and teachings in the temple are sure. The biggest affliction of mankind is mortal weakness where we give into the natural man.

Mankind are capable of great sin of our own free will, sometimes our sins even make the devil cower. People give far to much power to evil spirits and constantly blame the devil - he made me do it. It is our own free agency.

Doctrine and Covenants 123:10
10 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.

You are making far too many strong assurtions for one so lacking in knowledge of these things. I can provide 10 examples from within church history that counter your observations. Have you researched any of this at all?

Is it perhaps a pattern that the first miracle Joseph Smith every performed in the exercise of his priesthood was the casting out of Satan, Or that before he could see God and the Son that he would suffer attack by Satan first. Perhaps the fact that When Christ completed his fast of forty days as he prepared to start his ministry, that he was first tempted by Satan and had to address those temptations.

Again so much more that can be said, but the bottom line is that opinions of these matters are inadequte if you have no supporting material.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 15th, 2017, 3:54 am
BackBlast wrote: December 14th, 2017, 9:48 pm So.... scriptural mention of devils and possession is really a medical issue? And such narratives are misguided and they are really healing instead of dealing with unseen spiritual beings? You clearly have a very very different view of scriptural accounts than I do, and I hesitate to continue this discussion with such a difference.
“The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on this Earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”
The BoM has no references or example of a person being possessed or casting out devils or evil spirits, not a doctrine taught in the church or general conference. Yes the BoM does mention it as something that can occur but not one explanation or example . - it is not a doctrine we need to worry about.

Job was never possessed by an evil spirit he just received afflictions of the flesh and his children died as part of the temptation that he had to endure.

If Satan and his followers could possess people and cause medical issues why do they not posses all of the human race and and give everyone terminal cancer and make the entire plan of salvation null and void. It is clearly taught in the temple enmity is placed and they cant posses the bodies of mankind.

Evil Spirits Make Us and our Children Sick

Are the people striving to do right? Yes, they are. It has been observed that we are pretty clear from those unruly spirits that have been in our midst. So we are; but you need not flatter yourselves for a moment that the Devil has left us. You will find that he marshals his forces more particularly against this people; and if we are now clear from those unhallowed spirits and the tabernacles they occupied, you may expect that he will, if possible, find somebody here in whom he can have a resting place. You will learn that the wicked disembodied spirits have not left this people, though the most of those wicked persons who sought to destroy the Saints have left us. There are myriads of disembodied evil spirits—those who have long ago laid down their bodies here and in the regions round about, among and around us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and are trying to destroy us and to tempt us to evil. Brigham Young JD 6:73

Spaced_Out
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by Spaced_Out »

brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:16 am You make many claims here such as "New testament casting out devils was simply resolving a medical problem" but you provide nothing to indicate this is anything other than your opinion.
So unless every person is instantly healed from every physical ailment then they are sinning by not having faith in the PH, those that are blind and deaf, or mentally handicapped are all abominable sinner.

Casting out devils is mostly overcoming addictions, physical and spiritual. Overcoming the evil and the chains of hell that bind the sinner it is truly the greatest thing a person can do is assist another to overcome the shackles of sin – there is no greater sign for those that believe.

Spaced_Out
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by Spaced_Out »

brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:25 am
Spaced_Out wrote: December 13th, 2017, 4:21 am No true - don't give the evil spirits that much credit, it is our free agency and natural man that is our affliction.

If only the PH can cast out devils then one has to believe that all men and woman who do not have the PH are possessed and incapable of doing any good or overcoming sin, addiction without the PH. Total nonsense.

We are placed on earth where the war between good and evil continues, and it continues in each of us and we progress depending on which voice we listing to. No devil has power over a mortal without us allowing it to occur. The scriptures and teachings in the temple are sure. The biggest affliction of mankind is mortal weakness where we give into the natural man.

Mankind are capable of great sin of our own free will, sometimes our sins even make the devil cower. People give far to much power to evil spirits and constantly blame the devil - he made me do it. It is our own free agency.

Doctrine and Covenants 123:10
10 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.

You are making far too many strong assurtions for one so lacking in knowledge of these things. I can provide 10 examples from within church history that counter your observations. Have you researched any of this at all?

Is it perhaps a pattern that the first miracle Joseph Smith every performed in the exercise of his priesthood was the casting out of Satan, Or that before he could see God and the Son that he would suffer attack by Satan first. Perhaps the fact that When Christ completed his fast of forty days as he prepared to start his ministry, that he was first tempted by Satan and had to address those temptations.

Again so much more that can be said, but the bottom line is that opinions of these matters are inadequte if you have no supporting material.
JS never cast out Satan and he was not possessed but was under his influence - it was the appear and of God and Jesus that caused Satan to flee. JS was about to be overcome - once a person is so called possessed then they are overcome by the evil. JS was by no means possessed, you obviously have no experience in these things.

Spaced_Out
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by Spaced_Out »

brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:33 am
Evil Spirits Make Us and our Children Sick

Are the people striving to do right? Yes, they are. It has been observed that we are pretty clear from those unruly spirits that have been in our midst. So we are; but you need not flatter yourselves for a moment that the Devil has left us. You will find that he marshals his forces more particularly against this people; and if we are now clear from those unhallowed spirits and the tabernacles they occupied, you may expect that he will, if possible, find somebody here in whom he can have a resting place. You will learn that the wicked disembodied spirits have not left this people, though the most of those wicked persons who sought to destroy the Saints have left us. There are myriads of disembodied evil spirits—those who have long ago laid down their bodies here and in the regions round about, among and around us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and are trying to destroy us and to tempt us to evil. Brigham Young JD 6:73
[/quote]

Spiritual sickness which can affect the body, but it is the influence of the daemons not possession. I gave a very good explanation of how Satan influences people and brings us down in his chains of hell – it has nothing to do with possession.

JohnnyL
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by JohnnyL »

I found this article: https://bookofmormonnotes.wordpress.com ... ilarities/ .
It answers whether Joseph Smith ever cast out Satan or other spirits. I'm still looking for the other story I mentioned before.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 18th, 2017, 1:18 pm
brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:25 am
Spaced_Out wrote: December 13th, 2017, 4:21 am No true - don't give the evil spirits that much credit, it is our free agency and natural man that is our affliction.

If only the PH can cast out devils then one has to believe that all men and woman who do not have the PH are possessed and incapable of doing any good or overcoming sin, addiction without the PH. Total nonsense.

We are placed on earth where the war between good and evil continues, and it continues in each of us and we progress depending on which voice we listing to. No devil has power over a mortal without us allowing it to occur. The scriptures and teachings in the temple are sure. The biggest affliction of mankind is mortal weakness where we give into the natural man.

Mankind are capable of great sin of our own free will, sometimes our sins even make the devil cower. People give far to much power to evil spirits and constantly blame the devil - he made me do it. It is our own free agency.

Doctrine and Covenants 123:10
10 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.

You are making far too many strong assurtions for one so lacking in knowledge of these things. I can provide 10 examples from within church history that counter your observations. Have you researched any of this at all?

Is it perhaps a pattern that the first miracle Joseph Smith every performed in the exercise of his priesthood was the casting out of Satan, Or that before he could see God and the Son that he would suffer attack by Satan first. Perhaps the fact that When Christ completed his fast of forty days as he prepared to start his ministry, that he was first tempted by Satan and had to address those temptations.

Again so much more that can be said, but the bottom line is that opinions of these matters are inadequte if you have no supporting material.
JS never cast out Satan and he was not possessed but was under his influence - it was the appear and of God and Jesus that caused Satan to flee. JS was about to be overcome - once a person is so called possessed then they are overcome by the evil. JS was by no means possessed, you obviously have no experience in these things.
Did you miss the statement, I made "Or that before he could see God and the Son that he would suffer attack by Satan first. I apologize if English is your second language.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 18th, 2017, 1:18 pm
brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:25 am
Spaced_Out wrote: December 13th, 2017, 4:21 am No true - don't give the evil spirits that much credit, it is our free agency and natural man that is our affliction.

If only the PH can cast out devils then one has to believe that all men and woman who do not have the PH are possessed and incapable of doing any good or overcoming sin, addiction without the PH. Total nonsense.

We are placed on earth where the war between good and evil continues, and it continues in each of us and we progress depending on which voice we listing to. No devil has power over a mortal without us allowing it to occur. The scriptures and teachings in the temple are sure. The biggest affliction of mankind is mortal weakness where we give into the natural man.

Mankind are capable of great sin of our own free will, sometimes our sins even make the devil cower. People give far to much power to evil spirits and constantly blame the devil - he made me do it. It is our own free agency.

Doctrine and Covenants 123:10
10 Which dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.

You are making far too many strong assurtions for one so lacking in knowledge of these things. I can provide 10 examples from within church history that counter your observations. Have you researched any of this at all?

Is it perhaps a pattern that the first miracle Joseph Smith every performed in the exercise of his priesthood was the casting out of Satan, Or that before he could see God and the Son that he would suffer attack by Satan first. Perhaps the fact that When Christ completed his fast of forty days as he prepared to start his ministry, that he was first tempted by Satan and had to address those temptations.

Again so much more that can be said, but the bottom line is that opinions of these matters are inadequte if you have no supporting material.
JS never cast out Satan and he was not possessed but was under his influence - it was the appear and of God and Jesus that caused Satan to flee. JS was about to be overcome - once a person is so called possessed then they are overcome by the evil. JS was by no means possessed, you obviously have no experience in these things.
I also found a link to the first story I mentioned of Joseph's first exercise of priesthood. This link is perfect for you ... it has pictures!

https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrine-and ... 0?lang=eng

Or to practice your reading skills here is another link with the narrative:

http://scottwoodward.org/miracles_casti ... night.html

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

Spaced_Out wrote: December 18th, 2017, 1:15 pm
brlenox wrote: December 18th, 2017, 10:16 am You make many claims here such as "New testament casting out devils was simply resolving a medical problem" but you provide nothing to indicate this is anything other than your opinion.
So unless every person is instantly healed from every physical ailment then they are sinning by not having faith in the PH, those that are blind and deaf, or mentally handicapped are all abominable sinner.

Casting out devils is mostly overcoming addictions, physical and spiritual. Overcoming the evil and the chains of hell that bind the sinner it is truly the greatest thing a person can do is assist another to overcome the shackles of sin – there is no greater sign for those that believe.
I am an easily taught individual. If you can provide any commentary by prophets or apostles then I will acquiesce if your material is sustainable. However, thus far you are only providing worthless personal opinion. Every single observation you have made in the above statement is absurd in the least. Please provide credibility for your observations by citing reliable sources.

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brlenox
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by brlenox »

JohnnyL wrote: December 17th, 2017, 6:09 pm
MMbelieve wrote: December 14th, 2017, 10:53 am
Spaced_Out wrote: December 14th, 2017, 2:05 am
BackBlast wrote: December 13th, 2017, 11:59 pm .....devils who afflict individuals before they can be tempted or before they reach accountability. Pure souls, yet they suffer such affliction. In my experience there is purpose in the ways and methods these afflictions are allowed to assist in shaping people. Also that such affliction should not be used as a sign of sin - this will lead to poor judgment.
A person born with genetic weaknesses or a chronic disease has nothing to do with devils - devils cant alter our DNA or cause birth defects as the scriptures are clear there is enmity placed - those so called afflictions is nothing more than mortality - if a person is born with bad eye sight or hearing it is simply a birth defect there is no devil - there is no devil biting onto the person eyeball - the same with all other afflictions of the flesh.
One cant simply attribute these things to devils, they have no power over those before the age of accountability.

Those before the age of accountability can be greedy, throw temper tantrums like the so called terrible two's where children try to assert their own authority but have to learn that the world is bigger than them. These are simply lessons of mortality as we try to understand the sweet and bitter the good and bad and start to overcome the natural man. Devils and daemons have nothing to do with this it is a make up of our "spiritual development prior to coming to earth" and the weaknesses of the natural body.

The devil has nothing to do with our physical afflictions other than tempting us to make bad choices that may negatively affect our mortal body.
They do have the ability to affect people before the age of 8. I can attest to this truth. My brother was affected as a child to the point he was put on medications to remedy his abnormal physical symptoms. The meds did nothing and my mother was inspired to just take him off the medications. When he received the priesthood, the symptoms he suffered for may years completely stopped.

He would see spirits and be haunted by the devil to the point that he didn't know what was real or imagined anymore as it all was real to him. He was being attacked and was an innocent child.

Receiving the priesthood put a stop to all of it. There was no medical explanation for why his problems ceased.

Another example is when my son of 4 months was crying and crying one night because of an evil spirit in the home. My husband was up with him in the night and could sense this evil spirit as soon as he questioned to know what was wrong with our child. The evil spirit was revealed to him and he cast him out, as soon as he did that our son calmed down immediately and was fine. We had a pretty haunted apartment room and had many experiences there for which we did not bring in ourselves.
Lots of stories in early church about casting out devils, including, I believe, one of Joseph Smith and his son, who kept getting sick. When he prayed about it, he saw the spirit, won the turf war (the house they were in used to be a brothel) and cast it out.
Here is the one on Joseph's child.
Joseph’s Child Made Sick by the Devil
I will relate one circumstance that took place at Far West, in a house that Joseph had purchased, which had been formerly occupied as a public house by some wicked people. A short time after he got into it, one of his children was taken very sick; he laid his hands upon the child, when it got better; as soon as he went out of doors, the child was taken sick again; he again laid his hands upon it, so that it again recovered. This occurred several times, when Joseph inquired of the Lord what it all meant; then he had an open vision, and saw the devil in person, who contended with Joseph, face to face, for some time. He said it was his house, it belonged to him, and Joseph had no right there. Then Joseph rebuked Satan in the name of the Lord, and he departed and touched the child no more. (Life of Heber C. Kimball Pg. 270 )

JohnnyL
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Re: The single most common affliction of mankind: possession by evil spirits

Post by JohnnyL »

1 Nephi 11:31 And he spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men. And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel spake and showed all these things unto me. And they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out.

Mosiah 3:6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

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