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The Bible contains several passages testifying of evil spirits being cast out of people, healing of leprosy, raising the dead. I have some questions:

1. where did all the evil spirits go?
2. why do we never hear of evil spirits anymore? Was Hitler's spirit not evil enough? Saddam? Pol Pot?
3. why do we never hear of a Mormon casting out evil spirits? Surely the priesthood would come in handy for that, yet reports of such occurances are never in the Church News or the Ensign.
4. why do we never hear of such miracles anymore? Can't our prophets do similiar miracles to show the people his power? Heck, we can't even heal the sick, more often than not.

Hi Harmony...

Angels and demons are disappearing with the creation of paxil, prozac, lithium, zoloft, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

;-)

~dancer~

truth dancer wrote:Hi Harmony...

Angels and demons are disappearing with the creation of paxil, prozac, lithium, zoloft, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

;-)

~dancer~

I think the term "evil spirit" has officially been replaced with "night terrors," which is a physiological phenomenon.

There are a number of stories regarding dealing with evil spirits. I'll try to post some soon.

My wife is an example of priesthood healing in that since being diagnosed with MS a year ago she has not had a single relapse or flareup since the time of her diagnosis. Last week she had a new scan done and the scarring is unchanged. The nurses and doctors were shocked. I firmly believe that this is due to the priesthood blessing she received, and the prayers of the righteous priesthood bearers that gave her the blessing. We are blessed from God in that this mother of three young children can continue to live her life in relative normalcy.

There is an excellent talk that I remember by Mattew Cowley on the subject of miricles:

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=135&tid=2

Gazelam wrote:My wife is an example of priesthood healing in that since being diagnosed with MS a year ago she has not had a single relapse or flareup since the time of her diagnosis.

Congratulations on her condition and the happiness it must bring you all!

Just wondering: Can you say how many people have the same outcome without a priesthood blessing?

I suggest we're dealing indiscreetly with semantics of another time. Trying to apply ancient words in our time... But a good question...

Too often misunderstandings and prejudices lead to the "baby out with the bath water" thing. To put ourselves back 6,000+ years is not much easier than projeting us ahead 6,000+ years. Although we can study history, anthropology, etc.

MY take, there is little question about questions of this nature outside of the circle of "Religious Nuts". (I'm a Pecan, easy to crack and full of tasty meat :-)

Current knowledge indicates "spirits" evil or otherwise have nothing (little) to do with physical illness--unless one is a hypocondriac, then that's mental/emotional and quite likely bears on their 'spirit' and life quality.

Gaz brings in a reality that often perplexes many of us who tend to black-or-white thinking. There are invisible forces in life we now take foregranted--not magical in any way--electricity, electrons, gravity, aerodynamics, x-ray, the list grows every day. We ascribe them to physical sciences of one genre or another.

On the otherhand we experience healings, intuitions, premonitions that seem beyond explaination. As did the things we now expect without hesitation, and in fact have GREAT FAITH in. So be it.

The mechanics of 'miracles' however at the moment are beyond our reach. When they are experienced we tend to revert to divisions of belief in 'supernatural' as indeed they are :-)

That such "miracles" are experienced in all sects, cults, denominations, religions, philosophies and care-facilities should confirm the "God" that/who is no respector-of-persons. IMSCO that is.

As to da question of "EVIL SPIRITS" der never was non! :-) RM

Hey Gaz...

I'm glad your wife is doing so well. :-)

The thing is, maybe a priesthood blessing is the reason she is doing well but the reality is, there are literally millions of people the world over who believe they are receiving the same exact healing, blessings, and intervention as do you.

I personally know many non-members who have performed healing from all sorts of faith traditions.

Secondly, for every priesthood blessing that heals someone, there are hundreds where this is not the case, similar to most other religious forms of blessings/healings.

In other words, is the LDS version of blessings any different in any respect than the outcome of other blessings that do not have the true priesthood?

Along these lines, a few weeks ago I attended a lecture by a very gifted doctor of eastern medicine who happens to be a good friend of Larry Dossey who has written a number of books on prayer. The lecturer, discussed the latest research on the topic of God healing prayers. Turns out, prayer works. No question. The question is, who is answering the prayer? Evidently research suggests that regardless of to whom one prays the results are the same. Even if one is praying to an animal or a force or "even a shower curtain" (that is a direct quote)! (Not sure why they did research on this but they did).

Anyway, regardless of why your wife is doing so well, I am glad for her and your family!

~dancer~

Thanks for all your kind words.

The MS started in her eye, she thought it was a vision thing, but as she went from eye doctor to neurologist it became veident what was going on. Our luck/blessing was that we found an excellent doctor who did a steroid drip and that was a huge help. Turns out most doctors don't/won't use this treatment. It halted whatever progress the MS was incurring at that time.

On a side note to the blessing. We all pretty much received a revelation at the same time when we went to give the blessing. She would not be fully healed, and she was given the MS for a reason. It appears that upon our faith he would halt the progression, but there was a lesson he wanted us to learn there/here. This revelation was received by all three of us at the same time. My Home teacher is a man I have grown up with, the Father of a friend at church. He is in the Stake Presidency and an extremely spiritual and well balanced man with an amazing sence of humor, funny and spiritual at the same time. One of those types that carries the Holy Ghost in his "aura", yet does not come across as holier than thou in any sort of way, if that makes sence.

Also to those who havent listened to that talk I linked to above. The man spent a great deal of time in the Pacific islands in the 40's, and he shares his testimony of raiseing a man from the dead. An amazing story and I recommend listening to it.

Gaz

Gaz, i too am glad that your wife was "healed". You say:

Our luck/blessing was that we found an excellent doctor who did a steroid drip and that was a huge help. Turns out most doctors don't/won't use this treatment. It halted whatever progress the MS was incurring at that time.

Praise be to Science, the inquiring mind and the evolving advancement of mankind as they "knock, seek and find" that which grants "luck/blessings"!! IF you can, put yourself, and your wife's situation back a 100 years, with no "excellent doctor... or a steroid drip".

Would she have been healed at that time by the Priesthood blessing is a more germane question. My earlier understanding of her situation did not include 'medical aid'. Thanks for coming clean :-) Roger

harmony wrote:The Bible contains several passages testifying of evil spirits being cast out of people, healing of leprosy, raising the dead. I have some questions:

1. where did all the evil spirits go?
2. why do we never hear of evil spirits anymore? Was Hitler's spirit not evil enough? Saddam? Pol Pot?
3. why do we never hear of a Mormon casting out evil spirits? Surely the priesthood would come in handy for that, yet reports of such occurances are never in the Church News or the Ensign.
4. why do we never hear of such miracles anymore? Can't our prophets do similiar miracles to show the people his power? Heck, we can't even heal the sick, more often than not.

They've all gone to the telestial forum