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FELICIEN - A friend asked me about the church stand or teaching about someone being possesed by evil spirit.what do we do about it?
JOEL - We can use the power of the priesthood to cast the evil spirit out of the person.
There are many instances of unclean spirits being cast out recorded in the scriptures (Matt 8:16, Matt 10:1, Mark 1:23-27, Mark 5:1-20, Acts 8:6-7, 3 Ne. 7: 19)
The casting out of an evil spirit is something that can simply be included within a regular priesthood blessing; like one would give for someone who is sick, relying on the spirit to know what to say. One might simply command the evil spirit to depart from the body of the individual by authority of the priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ. Fasting, faith, and prayer should always be involved.
"And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." (Matt 17: 18-21)
Here's how Paul did it:
"And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour." (Acts 16:16-18)
Harold B. Lee related his experience with casting out evil spirits:
"I want to bear you my solemn witness that I know there are such forces in the world today. It would seem to me somewhat significant as I have thought about it, that the first and only experience of its kind I ever had, came shortly after I came into the Council of the Twelve when I was asked to administer to a young woman who was possessed of an evil spirit. Seemingly, there might have been a purpose in letting me know that these powers were around. In this experience, as I was challenged by the evil spirit, the hairs on my head felt as though pin pricks were in every hair and coursing down my body. I knew in that experience the power of evil, and I knew again the superior power of the priesthood and the powers of the Living God." (conf report 1949)
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