The Mormon Take on Ghosts and Hauntings

What They Are and How to Get Rid of Them

Haunted house
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Heavenly Father does not always tell us everything. We are expected to live by and cultivate our faith. However, there is no ambiguity when it comes to the paranormal like ghosts and hauntings.

To understand what these phenomena are, you must understand the Plan of Salvation (Happiness). In the premortal life, one-third of the spirits followed Satan. They now belong to him. They assist him in tempting those in mortality to go astray. They are evil spirits.

Evil people from earth who have died are without their bodies and exist in the spirit realm also. They are also evil spirits. Many attempt to lead mortals astray and otherwise cause mischief.

We know these evil spirits exist. However, we should not try to interact with them, invite them in or encourage them to stay in our presence or our space.

What Are They Really?

What we currently term ghosts are simply disembodied evil spirits. Some are more mischievous than others. They toy with us for their own amusement. They are capable of doing things we associate with hauntings like moving objects, causing physical harm, making noise and so forth.

The righteous in the premortal life are taking their turns being born into mortality. When the righteous die they exist as disembodied spirits for a time. These righteous spirits are not acting as these ghosts. They are not responsible for hauntings, only the evil spirits are.

Righteous spirits and resurrected persons do occasionally make appearances on earth. However, they are always acting in an official capacity. They convey messages from Heavenly Father under divine laws and divine guidance. These spiritual experiences are never dark, creepy or terrifying. They are not ghosts and they are not haunting anything or anyone.

What Are They Doing Here?

The evil spirits are just causing trouble. Their only object is terrifying and enticing mortals to sin. Their purposes are always the opposite of righteousness. Unable to occupy righteous places with righteous people, they seek out dark places and dark deeds.

Evil spirits may seek out the same places they did in life. They are not limited to those places or to their prior structures. Hauntings may occur in old structures, but evil spirits are not wholly confined to them.

Mortals can take steps to prevent interaction with these evil spirits. Also, these evils spirits can be expelled from places they already inhabit.

Do Not Invite Them Into Your Presence or Into Your Space

Any reasonable person would not want anything to do with dark forces and dark happenings.

Spiritualism, mediums or anything connected with the occult invites and entices these evil spirits to us and where we reside. Do not be involved with any of them.

Any attention or preoccupation with these things, or these beings, is an invitation. Always turn your time and attention to righteous things and you should not be bothered by them. Movies, television, radio, books, items or people could all serve as invitations.

Resist any morbid curiosity. By avoiding it, you will avoid them. If you are already bothered by them in some way, you need to take the next step which is getting rid of them.

How to Get Rid of Them

There is a simple action that can dispel evil spirits and stop the hauntings. Performed by Melchizedek priesthood holders, it requires only the power and authority of God which they possess.

Most LDS men ages 18+ have this ability. The ubiquitous LDS missionaries you see all over the world are capable of this action.

There is nothing time consuming, strange or unusual about it. It just works. Sensationalizing it through the media, photos, news coverage or video is simply inappropriate. It is always done quietly and unobtrusively. It is simply a spiritual directive to leave.

Nothing about this priesthood action needs to be publicized. Publicizing it would be wrong, and possibly harmful. This sort of attention could entice the evil spirits back.

What Mormons Habitually Do to Prevent Ghosts and Hauntings

Mormons avoid the subjects as much as we can. We know about them. We know they are out there. They simply are not worth our time or our attention.

When we move to a new home, the home is dedicated by a Melchizedek priesthood holder, ideally a member of the family, preferably a husband. However, any Melchizedek priesthood holder will do.

If we sense, or experience, an evil presence it should be immediately expelled through this same priesthood action described above. Also, we try to engage in some introspection; in case something we did invited the evil spirits to us or into our space. We try to avoid whatever it was in the future.

Evil spirits and evil forces are not to be played with. They are dangerous. Staying as far away from them as possible is the best solution.

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Cook, Krista. "The Mormon Take on Ghosts and Hauntings." Learn Religions, Sep. 17, 2021, learnreligions.com/mormons-and-ghosts-hauntings-2158879. Cook, Krista. (2021, September 17). The Mormon Take on Ghosts and Hauntings. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/mormons-and-ghosts-hauntings-2158879 Cook, Krista. "The Mormon Take on Ghosts and Hauntings." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/mormons-and-ghosts-hauntings-2158879 (accessed March 19, 2024).