Doug Tales 105: Evil Entities, Part Five

The effects of sin or repentance (or both) can take place over a long period of time. Alma explained to his son Corianton that this life has a “space for repentance” and that “there [is] a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.” (Alma 42:4-5) For some, their probation here includes many years of being possessed by evil entities (before they are cast out). Doug Mendenhall shares scriptures on this topic on page 67 of Conquering Spiritual Evil, Volume One (2012):

Characteristic #5: Possession can be long term and even generational.

The previous scriptural reference from Mark 5 showed a man that was “dwelling among the tombs” who had “been often bound with fetters and chains.” This seems to indicate that he had been possessed for quite some time before the Savior cast the demons out.

On another occasion in Mark 9 this happened:

“And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.” (Mark 9:17-21)

We need to realize that some possessions go on for a long time, some are even generational. This will be discussed in chapter 15 “Little Children and Possession.”