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JON - Does the Church perform Exorcism? If so, where can you go to have it done? Not all priesthood holders believe in it, nor do they dare to perform it. But there must be a place or someone who does this in our church, right?
JOEL -
There is no specific person or place in the Church organization that people go to have exorcisms performed.
Anyone holding the Melchizedek Priesthood can be called upon to command an evil spirit to leave someone's body.
If they refuse to do it, well that's their problem of displaying a lack of faith.
JON - Is it possible to an evil spirit to invade your body or mind while you are asleep? When awake you have control and can rebuke the advsary, but when asleep you do not have full control and your mind seems to awaken and your either thinking or doing something not so good. Is that a possibillity? If so, are you accountable for that?
JOEL -
I suppose it's possible; I have never heard of any church leader addressing this. Such a person might need some counseling. If we strive to live a righteous life, I think we can rely on our own conscience and the Holy Ghost to protect us. If we give Satan power over us during our awake time, I supposed the unrighteous thoughts we have during the day could invade our minds while we sleep. I guess what's most important is that if such a thing happens we do not act on those thoughts while we are awake.
JON - If a persons body is in so much pain and/or mental anquish. Does the evil spirit leave the body becuase it can not stand to be near or in it. I heard that because of the dominance of the pain that an evil spirit does not like to be in there? The other side of that is. Does or can a evil spirit cause someone to have physicall pain or cause illnesses. I heard Brigham Young said "all illnesses were of the devil". Is that true?
JOEL -
Never heard of an evil spirit leaving a body because of pain. An evil spirit (or Satan) or a person plagued with unrepented serious sins can cause one to become physically ill. Sin can make one sick, mostly because of the depression which can lower a person's ability to fight infection or crush the will to get well or to take care of themselves in a healthy way.
Interesting to note that sometimes when Jesus healed someone He simply forgave them of their sins and they were healed.
Here are some scriptural references you can look up linking sickness to Satan:
Satan caused Job to have painful sores (Job 2: 4-7)
A woman crippled by a evil spirit (Luke 13: 11)
Satan seems to be the reason for a woman's disease. (Luke 13: 16)
Satan was the source of the thorn in Paul's flesh (2 Cor 12: 7)
Jesus "rebuked the Devil" from a boy and healed him (Matt 17: 14-18)
Here's the quote you were referring to from Brigham Young relating illness to the Devil which seems to be supported by the above scriptures:
“You never felt a pain and ache, or felt disagreeable, or uncomfortable in your bodies and minds, but what an evil spirit was present causing it. Do you realize that the ague, the fever, the chills, the severe pain in the head, the plurisy, or any pain in the system, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, is put there by the devil?
The spirits that afflict us and plant disease in our bodies, pain in the system, and finally death, have control over us so far as the flesh is concerned. But when the spirit is unlocked from the body it is free from the power of death and Satan; and when that body comes up again, it also, with the spirit, will gain the victory over death, hell, and the grave.” (Journal of Discourses 4:133)
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