Journal of Discourses 2:128-129 “…The Lord Almighty will not let anything endure that offers hospitality to the devil and his imps…devils cannot construct a house…that is the very thing which causes us trouble continually; for they are trying all the time to get into our dwellings, because they have none of their own. … They are in our midst watching for an opportunity to enter where they may. What will be the doom of those who give way to them, and yield to them the possession of their tabernacles? They will wander to and fro, happiness will be hid from them, they will weep, and wail, and suffer, until their bodies return to their mother earth, and their spirits to judgment.” —Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake City, April 17, 1853
Luke 11:17-18 “But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.”
There’s a lot going on in Mr. Young’s speech so let’s do a quick review! But first as an FYI: the title for this article came from the Journal of Discourses Index under ‘evil spirits’.
1.Jesus tells us in the passage above a house can’t be divided against itself. This simply means an evil spirit can’t reside inside a believer because God’s Spirit already resides there.
2.The term ‘mother earth’ is a term typically used by nonbelievers, especially those in witchcraft. And that even goes for those in Brigham’s day.
3.Where in the Bible does it say evil spirits ‘are trying all the time to get into our dwellings’?
4.Why are evil spirits causing the Mormon people trouble all the time? What are these evil spirits doing?
5.Where in the Bible does it say evil spirits are watching people?
While this may sound like I’ve had to search long and hard for an obscure teaching of Brigham Young, I can assure the reader I have not.
I’m certain I’m not alone when I share my experience at a few of the Mutual meetings I attended in junior high school. My teacher had a fondness for encouraging us to honor our dead ancestors. On more than one occasion we held séances in hopes the dead relative we had been baptized for the previous Saturday would appear and talk to us.
While each girl was given a task for our meetings, I was always in charge of getting the dry ice for special effects simply because I lived closest to the only store in town that carried it.
Be sure to remind your Mormon friends/relatives the comforting words of our dear Lord Jesus.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
” Let no one be found among you who practices divination, sorcery, interprets spirits (as Brigham has done), who contacts the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord(Deuteronomy 18:8-14)
Brigham’s supposed knowledge of demonic activity is evil. The very fact that he has pondered on demonic activity and what demons can and can not do is evil.. Mormons do sometimes attempt to contact dead ancestors. They talk to dead ancestors through mediums. We had a Sunday school teacher, who told us during class, that he had gone through a medium to contact his dead grandfather. His granddad told him (via the medium) that he was spending a lot time in Heaven fishing and that when this particular Sunday School teacher arrived in Heaven, his grandfather would take him fishing. i told the Bishop about this and how uncomfortable it made me. The Bishop, as far as I know, did nothing about it.