Editing Exorcism (section)

=== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ===
While a very rare practice in the Church, there are two methods for performing an exorcism. The first is by [[anointing]] with consecrated oil and [[laying on of hands]] followed by a blessing on a specific person and commanding the spirit to leave.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Taysom|first=Stephen|date=18 June 2018|title='Satan Mourns Naked upon the Earth': Locating Mormon Possession and Exorcism Rituals in the American Religious Landscape, 1830–1977|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religion-and-american-culture/article/abs/satan-mourns-naked-upon-the-earth-locating-mormon-possession-and-exorcism-rituals-in-the-american-religious-landscape-18301977/F6239202C070D319B6B97E5C01D8943D|journal=Religion and American Culture|language=en|volume=27|issue=1|pages=57–94|doi=10.1525/rac.2017.27.1.57|s2cid=151502698|issn=1052-1151|via=Cambridge University Press|access-date=4 July 2021|archive-date=4 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704221045/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religion-and-american-culture/article/abs/satan-mourns-naked-upon-the-earth-locating-mormon-possession-and-exorcism-rituals-in-the-american-religious-landscape-18301977/F6239202C070D319B6B97E5C01D8943D|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The second and most common method is done by "raising the hand to the square" and then "commanding the spirit away in the name of Jesus Christ and with the power or authority of the Melchizedek priesthood".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2017-10-27|title=Mormon exorcism lore, with Stephen Taysom [MIPodcast #71]|url=https://mi.byu.edu/mip-71-taysom/|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship|publisher=Brigham Young University|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120141936/https://mi.byu.edu/mip-71-taysom/|url-status=live}}</ref> Exorcisms can only be performed by someone holding the [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]], the higher of the two priesthoods of the Church,<ref name=":0" /> and can be performed by anyone holding that priesthood, however they are generally performed by [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|bishops]], [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionaries]], [[mission president]]s, or [[Stake presidencies|stake presidents]].<ref name=":0" /> Exorcisms are not recorded by the Church and therefore the number of exorcisms performed in the religion are unknown.

Demonic possession is rarely talked about in the church. Demonic possession has been talked about twice by [[Joseph Smith]], the founder of the faith. The first time refers to his experience during the [[First Vision]]<ref name=":0" /> and he recorded the following in his "1831 account of the First Vision":
{{blockquote|I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God, I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.

Thick darkness gathered around me and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction, not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world who had such a marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being, just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thirdhour.org/blog/faith/joseph-smith/joseph-smith-encounters-satan/|title=3 Times Joseph Smith and Satan Went Head to Head|last=Snell|first=David|date=2017-09-02|website=Third Hour|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-06|archive-date=2019-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006172729/https://thirdhour.org/blog/faith/joseph-smith/joseph-smith-encounters-satan/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

His second experience comes from a journal entry in which he talks about the time he performed an exorcism on a friend.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/01/the-knight-family-ever-faithful-to-the-prophet?lang=eng|title=The Knight Family: Ever Faithful to the Prophet|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=2019-10-06|archive-date=2020-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805155138/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1989/01/the-knight-family-ever-faithful-to-the-prophet?lang=eng|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />