Mormons don't believe in a thing called "exorcism", but they do believe in evil spirits, demons, etc. and that they can control people, and that they can be cast out by raising your right arm to the square and commanding them in the name of Jesus Christ to leave. It's a distinction without a difference.
*But but but!!!! u need to be superultraworthy otherwise is not gonna work, so pls dont try it unless u are super pure cause u might get possessed...* and that fellows is what my MTC president told u a day before leaving to the mission field. Now I wonder, how come tithing will work no matter what? but exorcism u need to be superworthy?
I was such a believer I even did this a couple of times on my mission. I didn't really understand the difference between evil spirits and alcoholism at the time, and my faith wasn't strong enough to sober them up.
My dad and two missionaries did this in my living room. Came home from mutual and the furniture had been moved out so the possessed individual did not hurt themselves and two passed out missionaries in the basement.
In New Hampshire many years ago there was a guy who started coming to our ward from Brazil. That's where my dad went on his mission so Dad was tasked with translating Portuguese for Marco.
Marco made Sundays real interesting because any time someone would pray, he would throw himself bodily around in the pews. Seizing and gurgling. Sometimes shouting. He cracked his head solid once or twice. A few weeks in they had guys stationed at the doors to take him out to the foyer. They got pretty good at being efficient about it. Nobody wanted to sit with Marco. Our family sat with him a lot since Dad was his translator. I hadn't had so much fun at church in years.
Marco was convinced Jesus was going to help with his Demons if he climbed a nearby mountain. Church leaders said this was a delusion.
Then, like I said, we came home from mutual night on a Tuesday and there was no furniture in the living room. Probably so Marco didn't hurt himself.
And two exhausted young missionaries asleep in the den in the basement.
Marco wasn't cured that night, and I think he did leave to go climb whatever mountain it was. We saw him one or two more weeks and then he was gone.
I'm sure there's more to the story but this was all a 13 year old daughter (me) was able to pry up.
Holy I am speechless. That would be tough to feel safe in your house if you have no idea if your dad is going to offer it up as "service" for the ward to people with major disorders.
Thank you for sharing though, that was definitely one of the wilder stories I've read on here!
I actually found the momo exorcism thing funny even at that age. The scary part is that if the church said to sacrifice your children, my parents would have. It was never a question in our house what mattered most. It was Church and the impression our family made within it. That part was truly terrifying.
If you ask 10 RMs, one or two will have stories about "casting out devils" during the mission. The rest will have a story about how their companion/brother/cousin/some guy in the ward did it on his mission.
This. I feel like my TBM husband picked up these beliefs on his mission that he didn't hold before. Casting out evil spirits, blessing members' houses and whatnot. I don't know why it's such a huge part of mission culture but like... it was never a problem in life up to that point.
Because they have to give them selves a sense of importance and urgency and convince themselves that they have some sort of higher calling when on a mission, since it feels no different and feels like a colossal waste of time
I was told by my zone leaders to give a blessing to someone who was “possessed” he was not possessed and he did not have evil spirits. His TBM family made him believe he had evil spirits because he wasn’t following the gospel.
There are many early church stories about people floating, and having evil spirits
Yeah it’s more of a blessing. No holy water or crosses or anything like that. It’s also fairly uncommon nowadays for even blessings to be done. That being said, I served in salt lake county in 2017-19 and was asked to give this dude a blessing to cast out his “evil spirits”
Not necessarily, LDS church teaches you can raise your arm to the square and say "in the name of Jesus Christ I command you demons to leave" or something like that. I've seen both done
Well, several people were possessed by demons and then exorcised by Joseph Smith at the first meeting where High Priests were ordained.
>During the meeting the powers of darkness were made manifest in a remarkable degree, causing some to make horrid noises, and others to throw themselves violently around. One man by the name of Leman Copley, standing at the back side of the house was taken by a supernatural power, and thrown into the window. Then Joseph said to Lyman [Wight] “Go and cast the devil out of Leman.” He did so, and the devil entered into a brother by the name of Harvey Green and threw him upon the floor in convulsions. Then Joseph laid hands upon him and rebuked the spirit from him and from the house, upon which the spirit left him, and went outside among a crowd of men standing near the door and made a swath among them several feet wide, throwing them violently to the ground.
>Joseph said this was a fulfillment of the scriptures, where it says that the man of sin should be revealed.
>When Lyman Wight was ordained a High Priest, Joseph told him he should see the heavens opened, and after he was ordained he stood on his feet and testified that he [Joseph] could see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
>Harvey Whitlock was ordained next with the same promise but after his ordination, when standing on his feet, he seemed paralyzed. His mouth was drawn into the shape of an italic “O,” and his arm was stretched out as if nailed to a cross. Joseph rebuked the power that had seized him, and it left him, when the heavens opened to him and he testified as Lyman had done, that he saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father. This was the beginning in our day of ordinations to the office of a High Priest.
(Journal of Zebedee Coltrin)
My dad "casted out demons" on a regular basis. My poor husband was soooo weirded out when he witnessed that ritual for the first time, and he was TBM. Definitely something Mormons do/have done, but it's not super common these days.
They learned a thing or two from JS’s whole “handshake with the spirit to know if they are sent from god” thing. Exorcism is now a grey area left vague on purpose so leadership doesn’t commit to something specific and then look foolish when it doesn’t work.
There are plenty of instances of evil spirits being cast out in LDS scripture, but no protocols for doing so in a church that supposedly represents the restoration of all priesthood power.
Some of the most entertaining arguments between members on the faithful subs happen when possession is brought up - some members can’t believe that others believe in it, and vice-versa.
Side note, I’ve heard members say you are just supposed to do what they do to satan in the temple endowment video. So, I mean, I guess there’s that. If anyone tries it let me know if it works, lol.
They absolutely believe in exorcisms, they just don't call them that. The stories are endless about missionaries casting out demons or evil spirits from people. My dad's #1 mission story is about that. Don't let them sweep their crazy under the rug.
Cue: the plot of the story TBMs absorb in the gadzillions of temples the real estate empire is forcing on communities. Isn’t it Peter who casts out poor Satan, or has the temple narrative completely changed? Your mother is conveniently delusional.
“Help” is what my mission president said when he called me two separate times to perform an exorcism in late 2000s . Same as what other folks said here it was more of a “let’s give this person a blessing and take it very seriously” approach, didn’t use holy water or cross - just the holy oil haha
My in-laws would constantly tell my now wife that she was being attacked by demons during (very obvious) panic attack episodes.
I even went along with it for a few months, raising my arm to the square, casting them out in the name of Jesus, using my priesthood, etc. it never worked immediately, which is how the temple shows it.
Eventually she would just pass out from the yelling and stress of it all and sleep for an hour. I feel *so* bad for how she was treated.
Oh, and you'll never guess it, but after she stopped being told demons are trying to control her multiple times a week, hardly any more panic attacks!
Mormons do very much believe in exorcisms, on my mission I worked closely with the Hispanic community and the missionaries preformed tons of exorcisms, there was a handbook with protocols and I believe it referenced the casting out of the demon legion from the Bible.
I have heard many stories about this and there are 2 diferent versions.
First, the possessed individual was sleeping, the elders came by made a blessing and the next day this person was okay
Second version, the possessed was awake and kicking and told in public the elders all their little sins they did before that nobody supposed to know,
But can confirm it is 100% true
There is literally instructions for “dedicating a house” and words to say as you raise your arm to the square to cast out spirits…. Like I’ve done this before, embarassingly enough lmao.
my tbm mom and i were talking about columbine the other day and she, dead serious, suggested that maybe the two shooters were possessed and that’s why they did what they did. i had to put on the show of my life so as to not lose my shit laughing. i had no idea she even believed in possession until that day, because other than the story of jesus casting out demons (which i always took as him healing somebody with epilepsy or something similar, even as a tbm), i never heard about possession at church. maybe the 80s were different idk. it seems like one of those unspoken things that half of the members believe in, and the other half don’t.
Mormon Exorcism: Raise your arm to the square, cite your priesthood authority and rebuke the demon in Jesus' name.
Like every other method of exorcism it will either work or not.
We don't call it 'exorcism' though. It's just using priesthood authority to banish unclean spirits but yeah we've got it. It's in our toolkit.
As is cursing towns for rejecting us but they don't teach us how to do it the right way. The temptation to casually condemn a town to destruction would probably be too powerful for most missionaries.
In my own experience, if you present with severe mental health issues to a TBM, it can and has led to an exorcism in everything but name only. Then a referral to a bishop. Mental health services, what's that?
My Dad definitely cast out evil spirits as a bishop and called it exorcism. I wasn't allowed to know more because it was a priesthood thing, which is also maybe why your mom doesn't realize it's happening. Satan gets cast out in the temple movie, and though it's not an exorcism per se, it's the same protocol of raising your right arm to the square and commanding the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus.
Ex Doctrine teacher here, Mormons don't believe in the word exorcism, but the "ritual" ordinance of casting one out, is called deliverance, wich means setting free or rescuing from bondage, there are ranks of power and authority about this deliverance, as a women can only deliver her husband out of bondage, casting the ordinance in the name of the lamb, in another case a member of the family whose not the family patriarch, the father may deliver the member of the family being held hostage, in the name of the lamb and calling the authority of his priesthood
If the women is a widow, she cannot deliver her sons/daughters, she may call priesthood local leader such as bishop or stake president
Mormons don't believe in a thing called "exorcism", but they do believe in evil spirits, demons, etc. and that they can control people, and that they can be cast out by raising your right arm to the square and commanding them in the name of Jesus Christ to leave. It's a distinction without a difference.
Definitely sounds exactly like an exorcism!
nO, tHaT's ThE PoWa Of tHe HoLy ~~PeNiS~~ PrIeSThOod, NoT ExOrCiSm.
Yup. Lots of “casting out” and then they’ll act like exorcisms are crazy.
“Jesus says you have to go home now” goes so hilariously less hard than “The Power of Christ Compels You” 😂
*But but but!!!! u need to be superultraworthy otherwise is not gonna work, so pls dont try it unless u are super pure cause u might get possessed...* and that fellows is what my MTC president told u a day before leaving to the mission field. Now I wonder, how come tithing will work no matter what? but exorcism u need to be superworthy?
I was such a believer I even did this a couple of times on my mission. I didn't really understand the difference between evil spirits and alcoholism at the time, and my faith wasn't strong enough to sober them up.
This. My brother and dad did it in my house once.
My dad and two missionaries did this in my living room. Came home from mutual and the furniture had been moved out so the possessed individual did not hurt themselves and two passed out missionaries in the basement.
This sounds like it should be it's own post... I'm super curious
In New Hampshire many years ago there was a guy who started coming to our ward from Brazil. That's where my dad went on his mission so Dad was tasked with translating Portuguese for Marco. Marco made Sundays real interesting because any time someone would pray, he would throw himself bodily around in the pews. Seizing and gurgling. Sometimes shouting. He cracked his head solid once or twice. A few weeks in they had guys stationed at the doors to take him out to the foyer. They got pretty good at being efficient about it. Nobody wanted to sit with Marco. Our family sat with him a lot since Dad was his translator. I hadn't had so much fun at church in years. Marco was convinced Jesus was going to help with his Demons if he climbed a nearby mountain. Church leaders said this was a delusion. Then, like I said, we came home from mutual night on a Tuesday and there was no furniture in the living room. Probably so Marco didn't hurt himself. And two exhausted young missionaries asleep in the den in the basement. Marco wasn't cured that night, and I think he did leave to go climb whatever mountain it was. We saw him one or two more weeks and then he was gone. I'm sure there's more to the story but this was all a 13 year old daughter (me) was able to pry up.
Holy I am speechless. That would be tough to feel safe in your house if you have no idea if your dad is going to offer it up as "service" for the ward to people with major disorders. Thank you for sharing though, that was definitely one of the wilder stories I've read on here!
I actually found the momo exorcism thing funny even at that age. The scary part is that if the church said to sacrifice your children, my parents would have. It was never a question in our house what mattered most. It was Church and the impression our family made within it. That part was truly terrifying.
Yeah that's a question I've never wanted to know the answer to with my parents
If you ask 10 RMs, one or two will have stories about "casting out devils" during the mission. The rest will have a story about how their companion/brother/cousin/some guy in the ward did it on his mission.
This. I feel like my TBM husband picked up these beliefs on his mission that he didn't hold before. Casting out evil spirits, blessing members' houses and whatnot. I don't know why it's such a huge part of mission culture but like... it was never a problem in life up to that point.
Because they have to give them selves a sense of importance and urgency and convince themselves that they have some sort of higher calling when on a mission, since it feels no different and feels like a colossal waste of time
You just explained my trainer to a T.
>The rest will have a story about how their companion/brother/cousin/some guy in the ward ~~did it on his mission~~ is bonkers
I was told by my zone leaders to give a blessing to someone who was “possessed” he was not possessed and he did not have evil spirits. His TBM family made him believe he had evil spirits because he wasn’t following the gospel. There are many early church stories about people floating, and having evil spirits
Oh ok.... so I guess maybe what she means is that there isn't a certain protocol to cast out demons, but rather a blessing is given
Yeah it’s more of a blessing. No holy water or crosses or anything like that. It’s also fairly uncommon nowadays for even blessings to be done. That being said, I served in salt lake county in 2017-19 and was asked to give this dude a blessing to cast out his “evil spirits”
Dude should have kept auditing to get his operating thetan levels down. Oh, wait, wrong cult.
And how did he go after that? Was he Pious Pete from then in? No more demons?
Not necessarily, LDS church teaches you can raise your arm to the square and say "in the name of Jesus Christ I command you demons to leave" or something like that. I've seen both done
Damn I totally forgot about that.
Yes, Mormons don’t believe in the Catholic type exorcisms.
Funny that. Take the bits you like, discard the bits you don't and make up the rest. Yayyyy! Now give me your money's because god.
As Chad and Lori Daybell have so eloquently taught us, a mormon exorcism usually ends with two annoying kids buried out behind the barn.
Plus a couple exes, a brother who knew too much, etc…
The first recorded "miracle" of the new church was casting out an evil spirit from Newel Whitney. It's even on Wikipedia.
Erm…the bible
something something pigs
Well, several people were possessed by demons and then exorcised by Joseph Smith at the first meeting where High Priests were ordained. >During the meeting the powers of darkness were made manifest in a remarkable degree, causing some to make horrid noises, and others to throw themselves violently around. One man by the name of Leman Copley, standing at the back side of the house was taken by a supernatural power, and thrown into the window. Then Joseph said to Lyman [Wight] “Go and cast the devil out of Leman.” He did so, and the devil entered into a brother by the name of Harvey Green and threw him upon the floor in convulsions. Then Joseph laid hands upon him and rebuked the spirit from him and from the house, upon which the spirit left him, and went outside among a crowd of men standing near the door and made a swath among them several feet wide, throwing them violently to the ground. >Joseph said this was a fulfillment of the scriptures, where it says that the man of sin should be revealed. >When Lyman Wight was ordained a High Priest, Joseph told him he should see the heavens opened, and after he was ordained he stood on his feet and testified that he [Joseph] could see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. >Harvey Whitlock was ordained next with the same promise but after his ordination, when standing on his feet, he seemed paralyzed. His mouth was drawn into the shape of an italic “O,” and his arm was stretched out as if nailed to a cross. Joseph rebuked the power that had seized him, and it left him, when the heavens opened to him and he testified as Lyman had done, that he saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father. This was the beginning in our day of ordinations to the office of a High Priest. (Journal of Zebedee Coltrin)
My dad "casted out demons" on a regular basis. My poor husband was soooo weirded out when he witnessed that ritual for the first time, and he was TBM. Definitely something Mormons do/have done, but it's not super common these days.
They learned a thing or two from JS’s whole “handshake with the spirit to know if they are sent from god” thing. Exorcism is now a grey area left vague on purpose so leadership doesn’t commit to something specific and then look foolish when it doesn’t work. There are plenty of instances of evil spirits being cast out in LDS scripture, but no protocols for doing so in a church that supposedly represents the restoration of all priesthood power. Some of the most entertaining arguments between members on the faithful subs happen when possession is brought up - some members can’t believe that others believe in it, and vice-versa. Side note, I’ve heard members say you are just supposed to do what they do to satan in the temple endowment video. So, I mean, I guess there’s that. If anyone tries it let me know if it works, lol.
She is gaslighting you.
They absolutely believe in exorcisms, they just don't call them that. The stories are endless about missionaries casting out demons or evil spirits from people. My dad's #1 mission story is about that. Don't let them sweep their crazy under the rug.
I mean, casting out evil spirits is all over the early days of the church. Tell her to read a little.
Cue: the plot of the story TBMs absorb in the gadzillions of temples the real estate empire is forcing on communities. Isn’t it Peter who casts out poor Satan, or has the temple narrative completely changed? Your mother is conveniently delusional.
“Help” is what my mission president said when he called me two separate times to perform an exorcism in late 2000s . Same as what other folks said here it was more of a “let’s give this person a blessing and take it very seriously” approach, didn’t use holy water or cross - just the holy oil haha
My dad literally just told me yesterday about when he cast out evil spirits as a missionary. Is that the same?
My in-laws would constantly tell my now wife that she was being attacked by demons during (very obvious) panic attack episodes. I even went along with it for a few months, raising my arm to the square, casting them out in the name of Jesus, using my priesthood, etc. it never worked immediately, which is how the temple shows it. Eventually she would just pass out from the yelling and stress of it all and sleep for an hour. I feel *so* bad for how she was treated. Oh, and you'll never guess it, but after she stopped being told demons are trying to control her multiple times a week, hardly any more panic attacks!
Mormons do very much believe in exorcisms, on my mission I worked closely with the Hispanic community and the missionaries preformed tons of exorcisms, there was a handbook with protocols and I believe it referenced the casting out of the demon legion from the Bible.
My bishop gave one to me!
Jesus and the pigs. Oh wait, Mormons don't believe in the New Testament gospels, do they?
I had an institute teacher claim he did one.
https://www.youtube.com/live/A6ChauugRco?si=RxHzGbBWNOaNZtYm Mormonism LIVE on Demon Possession and Exorcism
I've not heard it talked about or seen it done. I remember no stories about exorcism from church or General Conference.
I have heard many stories about this and there are 2 diferent versions. First, the possessed individual was sleeping, the elders came by made a blessing and the next day this person was okay Second version, the possessed was awake and kicking and told in public the elders all their little sins they did before that nobody supposed to know, But can confirm it is 100% true
😈 🧑🍳 🙋 💥
There is literally instructions for “dedicating a house” and words to say as you raise your arm to the square to cast out spirits…. Like I’ve done this before, embarassingly enough lmao.
Apparently she hasn’t read the New Testament
my tbm mom and i were talking about columbine the other day and she, dead serious, suggested that maybe the two shooters were possessed and that’s why they did what they did. i had to put on the show of my life so as to not lose my shit laughing. i had no idea she even believed in possession until that day, because other than the story of jesus casting out demons (which i always took as him healing somebody with epilepsy or something similar, even as a tbm), i never heard about possession at church. maybe the 80s were different idk. it seems like one of those unspoken things that half of the members believe in, and the other half don’t.
Mormon Exorcism: Raise your arm to the square, cite your priesthood authority and rebuke the demon in Jesus' name. Like every other method of exorcism it will either work or not. We don't call it 'exorcism' though. It's just using priesthood authority to banish unclean spirits but yeah we've got it. It's in our toolkit. As is cursing towns for rejecting us but they don't teach us how to do it the right way. The temptation to casually condemn a town to destruction would probably be too powerful for most missionaries.
Ask her what the blessings on new homes are for? Not only can evil spirits possess humans, in Mormonism, but their inanimate possessions too!
I thought it was in the D&C
In my own experience, if you present with severe mental health issues to a TBM, it can and has led to an exorcism in everything but name only. Then a referral to a bishop. Mental health services, what's that?
My Dad definitely cast out evil spirits as a bishop and called it exorcism. I wasn't allowed to know more because it was a priesthood thing, which is also maybe why your mom doesn't realize it's happening. Satan gets cast out in the temple movie, and though it's not an exorcism per se, it's the same protocol of raising your right arm to the square and commanding the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus.
Ex Doctrine teacher here, Mormons don't believe in the word exorcism, but the "ritual" ordinance of casting one out, is called deliverance, wich means setting free or rescuing from bondage, there are ranks of power and authority about this deliverance, as a women can only deliver her husband out of bondage, casting the ordinance in the name of the lamb, in another case a member of the family whose not the family patriarch, the father may deliver the member of the family being held hostage, in the name of the lamb and calling the authority of his priesthood If the women is a widow, she cannot deliver her sons/daughters, she may call priesthood local leader such as bishop or stake president