I know someone who is under the influence of a familiar spirit - and whom I happen to think is an evil person trying to masquerade as a being of light. I do not buy the piousness.
I cast my witness into the pool of evidence (as an analytical engineer) that this stuff is real and that there is undeniable power in the priesthood over all that is evil when you exercise that Priesthood in righteousness. I have outlined a few of my experiences previously. I also attest that some come not out but by fasting and by prayer as they are loathe to give up their "hermit crab shell" they have jumped into and mastered the control of in this temporary day of their power. They are parasitical in nature and will never have the association of a full bodily experience - especially after this life is over and the resurrection (to a place of glory) is completed.
Here is something from LDSFF:
Anyone know what was the very first miracle performed in this
dispensation? It was the casting out of a devil from Newel Knight.
Several public meetings were held in Colesville which were attended by
many friends and strangers. Newel Knight, son of Joseph Knight, Sen.,
was a regular attendant at these meetings, and seemed to be deeply
impressed. He and the Prophet held many conversations on scriptural
subjects and the plan of salvation, in which a favorable impression was
made on the mind of Newel. He promised to assist Joseph in one of these
meetings by offering vocal prayer, but when the time came his courage
failed him. Later he expressed a desire to go out in the woods by
himself and there, where he could be alone, offer vocal prayer, a thing
to which he evidently was not accustomed. The following morning, in
fulfilment of his promise, he retired .into the woods alone, with a
troubled conscience because of his failure to keep his promise on the
previous occasion. Kneeling in a secluded spot he attempted to offer
vocal prayer, but his lips were sealed. He could not pray. He began to
feel uneasy and became troubled in both mind and body. When he arrived
home his wife was greatly alarmed at his strange appearance. He
requested her to send for Joseph, which was done. When he came he found
Newel suffering very much; his visage was distorted, and his limbs were
twisted out of shape in a frightful manner. Presently he was caught up
from the floor and tossed about the room. The strange scene and
Excitement brought many of the neighbors to the house, who witnessed his
peculiar malady.
The First Miracle.—After some difficulty Joseph
succeeded in taking Newel by the hand, and with great earnestness Newel
pleaded with him to cast the devil out of him, for he knew he was
possessed. The Prophet said, "If you know that I can, it shall be done."
Then, almost unconsciously, he rebuked the evil spirit in the name of
Jesus Christ and commanded him to depart. Immediately Newel spoke,
saying he saw the evil spirit leave him and vanish from his sight. This
was the first miracle performed in this dispensation. As soon as the
devil departed Newel became normal again, his distortions of body
ceased, and the Spirit of the Lord opened his vision to a glorious
manifestation of the heavens.
Those who were present were greatly
astonished when they saw the casting out of the devil, and the witness
of the Spirit of the Lord. Nearly all of those who were present later
became members of the Church. (Essentials In Church History, Pgs. 95-96)
Brigham Young taught that because the devil has
no body, he endeavors to possess people (JD 5:331, JD 9:333). Elder
William J. Critchlow, Jr., taught that evil spirits possess people and
then influence those whom they possess to do evil and commit sin
(Conference Report, Apr 1966, Pg. 45). Joseph Smith taught that the
devil looks for “any person that he can find that will yield to him, he
will bind him, and take possession of the body and reign there, glorying
in it mightily, not caring that he had got merely a stolen body” (HC
5:388, 403). Even when the evil spirit is cast out of an unwilling
host, it can repossess that person (Wilford Woodruff: History of His
Life and Labors, Pgs. 444-445) until it is told to never return (Mark
9:25).
From Wilford Woodruff:
There
is a vast number of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on the
earth. They do not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they
enter the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are
not to be seen with the sight of the eye. (JD 13:163)
Brigham Young taught that possession by evil spirits is very common.
The devil with one-third part of the spirits of our Father's Kingdom
got here before us, and we tarried there with our friends, until the
time came for us to come to the earth and take tabernacles; but those
spirits that revolted were forbidden ever to have tabernacles of their
own. You can now comprehend how it is that they are always trying to get
possession of the bodies of human beings; we read of a man's being
possessed of a legion, and Mary Magdalene had seven.
You may now see
people with legions of evil spirits in and around them; there are men
who walk our streets that have more than a hundred devils in them and
round about them, prompting them to all manner of evil, and some too
that profess to be Latter-day Saints, and if you were to take the devils
out of them and from about them, you would leave them dead corpses; for
I believe there would be nothing left of them.
I want you to
understand these things; and if you should say or think that I know
nothing about them, be pleased to find out and inform me. You can see
the acts of these evil spirits in every place, the whole country is full
of them, the whole earth is alive with them, and they are continually
trying to get into the tabernacles of the human family, and are always
on hand to prompt us to depart from the strict line of our duty. (JD
3:369)
So did Elder Nicholas G. Smith:
You
think it was an exceptional miracle when, after crossing the sea, the
Savior with his disciples came upon one who was a maniac, and cast the
devils out of him, but it was not; it is something that is occurring all
the time. (Conference Report, Oct 1939, Pgs. 138-139)
And if you think the righteous are exempt, think again.
Their
eagerness to secure bodies is so great that in many cases they endeavor
to steal the bodies of the more favored spirits, and when these evil
spirits enter into and take possession of the bodies of others we say of
those afflicted that they are possessed by evil spirits. They can only
be subdued and cast out of stolen bodies by those members of Christ's
Church who are under divine authority. (President Rudger Clawson,
Conference Report, Apr 1939, Pg. 118)
There are so
many people, including so many LDS who think that the ancient apostles
were simply mistaken in believing that Christ actually cast out evils
spirits, or who think things like mental illnesses, disease, deafness,
blindness, etc., were just a bunch of uneducated hicks. We now have
modern science that explains why the ancient apostles were mistaken. I
pity these people. Why? Because I’m going to take the word of modern
apostles, prophets and scripture over these educated idiots who spout
the wisdom of the world.
Larry Richert
