The Unquiet Dead

TheUnquietDeadI have mentioned this book in several of my posts over the past year or two but only recently did I give it a thorough reading. It’s an old book so this is certainly not the first review. Oh, and by the way, this is not about the episode of the same name from Doctor Who, the British Science-Fiction television series. I think the title of the book was a good choice. It gets your attention.

It was published in 1987 and is Dr. Fiore’s second book. I reviewed her first, You Have Been Here Before in a previous post. Most Amazon and Goodreads reviewers gave it four or five stars. If you are not familiar with the work of Dr. Fiore, this YouTube video is a good introduction. It brings home the point that many LDS find objectionable right up front – where dead people go.

Some Spirits Hang Around

We have been taught in the LDS Church that there are two places for the spirit to go when it dies – either to the light of paradise or to the darkness of spirit prison. As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Fiore has helped thousands of people deal with spirit attachments or possessions. You can learn more in this additional video excerpt from Dr. Fiore discussing how spirits can hang around.

My point is that there are some spirits who do not go to the light or to spirit prison when they die. Yes, we’re talking about ghosts here. Yes, I’m saying that I believe in ghosts. And yes, I have some personal experience in this area. I have shared that experience previously in private email for those who ask. I don’t mind if you don’t believe. I’m OK with that. I barely believe it myself.

Multiple Mortal Probations

In my review of Dr. Fiore’s first book which deals with Multiple Mortal Probations, I mentioned an alternative explanation for the evidence of reincarnation she presented. Of course the evidence was in transcribed recorded sessions of her patients under hypnosis. They were able to describe specific activities, sights, sounds and smells from someone living in a different place and time.

In other words, her patients related that they had lived before and provided incredible detailed descriptions of what happened to them in that previous life, which affected them in their current life. My alternative explanation is that the past lives being described were not from the patients but from spirits who had attached themselves to these patients. Her second book bears this out.

Man is More than a Body

The whole idea of spirit attachments or possession is freaky to most people. They simply don’t want to deal with it. Because this concept explains so much, it receives a lot of opposition. Our culture mocks those who believe in ghosts. That’s OK. It’s wonderful to find someone like Dr. Fiore who has shared professional clinical cases documenting the truth of this very radical idea.

I say it’s radical, but only to our modern, enlightened way of thinking. The influence of beings from the unseen world is an idea that has been around since the beginning of recorded history. The argument of just what comprises the soul of man continues unabated to this day. I found that most philosophers in my college philosophy classes could not agree on man as more than a body.

Different Kinds of Possession

The Unquiet Dead presents clinical case studies of these spirits communicating with Dr. Fiore while their hosts, her patients, were under hypnotic trance. The patients came to her seeking help with some problem that defied customary medical or psychological treatment. Dr. Fiore is a professional hypnotherapist who has found tremendous success in treating spirit possession.

Dr. Fiore is very clear that she doesn’t deal with demonic or satanic possession. That’s a whole different area best left to those who have studied, prepared for and specialize in treating disorders of this kind. If you are not sure of the difference, I’ll refer you the definitive handbook on the subject from my friend Doug Mendenhall. I previously reviewed his book Conquering Spiritual Evil.

The Effects of Possession

The Unquiet Dead is kind of a self-help book in that it guides the reader to a better understanding of recognizing spiritual possession by their effects on the body. In chapter six she discusses some of the physical symptoms, mental problems, emotional problems, drug and alcohol addiction, smoking addiction, weight and obesity problems, relationship problems and sexual problems.

The degree of possession can range from nearly total, in which case the original inhabitant is almost completely replaced, to a very minor influence. She also addresses the very important factor of age when possessed and the effect of possession by spirits of the opposite sex. Now I know this gets into a very politically sensitive area right now so I’ll try to tread upon it lightly.

Dealing With Same-Sex Attraction

I’d like to share a couple of fascinating quotes in Dr. Fiore’s book on this subject. The first is found on page 36. “Entities of the opposite sex are the cause of a great deal of confusion about sexual identity. Homosexuality, transsexuality and transvestism are the extreme results of this kind of possession.” This will be welcome news to some people but I know it will anger others.

She offers this on page 43: “One of the causes of homosexuality is possession by spirits of the opposite sex. If the possession began before puberty, heterosexual development often was disrupted and the afflicted grew up believing they desired sexual partners of the same sex, when it was the entities who were determining their choices.” This idea makes perfect sense to me.

Results of Opposite Sex Attachments

“Sexual hang-ups are part of the repertory many entities bring with them. Their own problems or proclivities manifest themselves when the possessed engage in sex. At one extreme, their host may even be prevented from approaching their partners.” A spirit attachment of the opposite sex can explain diminished sex drive or a reversal in typical male-female relationships.

She continues, “Every homosexual patient I have done a depossession on has had at least one exceedingly dominating entity of the opposite sex who was determining the sexual preference. Often these patients told of feeling they were ‘trapped’ in bodies of the wrong sex.” I know this is not something the gay community wants to hear, but is helpful for those who are questioning.

Wait to Have That Sex Change

“Some of these people were considering irreversible transsexual operations because of the spirit’s desperate attempt to make the possessee’s body as much like the deceased one as possible.” Can you imagine the devastating effect it would be on someone who went to the trouble and expense of a sex-change operation to later discover they had a spirit attachment?

The effect of being possessed by a spirit of the opposite sex can explain why some men feel a desire to dress up as women. “I have treated a number of transvestites, all with possessing spirits of the opposite sex. It was they who bought the clothes and dressed up to suit their fancy, much to the confusion and embarrassment of their victims.” Again, this makes perfect sense to me.

More Than One Witness

Dr. Modi, on page 270 of her 1997 book, Remarkable Healings, confirms the findings of Dr. Fiore: “In some of my patients, possession by an entity of the opposite sex has caused confusion in their sexual identity, especially when the possession occurred before puberty.” There are so many young people who could benefit from knowing this information. It would be so helpful.

Dr. Modi continues, “A female spirit in a man may desire sex with a man, and this desire and attraction may in turn become the desire of the male host toward another male. The host may think he is a homosexual, when in fact he is only acting on the spirit’s desire.” The gay community has tried to debunk these quotes but they’re helpful for those who don’t want same-sex attraction.

And Yet Another Witness

In Conquering Spiritual Evil, Doug Mendenhall, whose daughter is spiritually sighted, meaning she has lost her veil and can see spirit of all kinds, including those who are attached to others, shares additional evidence that spirit attachments are the real cause of same-sex attraction. You can read more about Denise from books published by her father on his site, Publishing Hope.

“When I meet people who claim to be gay, I ask my daughter what she sees in them. There has never been an occasion where she did not see one or more earthbound female spirits attached to a gay man and has always seen earthbound male spirits attached to a gay woman.” I have always thought this to be the case and have wondered why so many fight against the truth of this idea.

A Final Witness of This Truth

My friend Mel Fish in his book, Healing the Inner Self addresses this subject on pages 191 to 194. He provides specific examples of individuals who came to him for help after dramatic and undesired changes in their attitudes toward sex. He made it clear that he was only able to help people who wanted help. If they did not want to change, there was nothing he could do for them.

He wrote that he had no desire to force people into a heterosexual lifestyle if they did not want one. His only desire was to help those were experiencing unwanted same-sex preferences to come to an understanding of the source of the problem and remove it if they wanted to. If the person believed they were gay and had no desire to change then he could not help them.

Sexual Preference can be Tested

Mel uses muscle testing to determine sexual preference. He uses a scale that places a person who is completely heterosexual at a zero. Such a person could not be sexually aroused by anyone of the same sex. A person who is completely the opposite and cannot be aroused by anyone of the opposite sex is a six. He has never found a person who measured either a zero or a complete six.

He says most people test out at a one or two. Every one of the people who tested at a five had with them spirits who were of the opposite sex. After sending those spirits away, every one of these people changed from a five to a one or two. The whole point here is that there is a way to be “cured” for those who don’t want to experience same-sex attraction. Removing spirit attachments helps.

An Important but Controversial Subject

Now I know this is a controversial subject. I wrote about this once before and received all kinds of negative comments and denials that unwanted same-sex attraction could be removed. One regular reader commented that he was “pretty sure this will be in the running for this week’s least politically correct Bloggernacle post.” It’s been five years. I wonder if things have changed.

We live in a day of testing in our church. Those who are pushing the homosexual tolerance and equality agenda will not be pleased with this essay. As I noted on my previous essay, I did not write it for them. I wrote this because the Lord asked me to. He wants those who have unwanted same sex attraction to know that there is an explanation and a way to remove those feelings.

An Invitation to Dialogue

Comments are welcome. I love and appreciate opposing viewpoints. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I know this is a sensitive matter in the church right now, one that is separating many families and members of all age groups. Please don’t attack each other personally. If you want to email me privately, I can be reached at tmalonemcse@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.

11 thoughts on “The Unquiet Dead”

  1. A few quotes, for what they’re worth:

    “There are myriads of disembodied evil spirits — those who have long ago laid down their bodies here and in the regions round about among and around us; and they are trying to make us and our children sick, and are trying to destroy us and tempt us to evil.” — Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 6:73; see also JD, 5:54-55.

    “When you lay down this tabernacle, where are you going? In to the spiritual world….Where is the spirit world? It is right here.” — Brigham Young, JD 3:369.

    “The spirits of the just are exalted to a greater and more glorious work; hence they are blessed in their departure to the world of spirits. Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith.Flesh and blood cannot go there; but flesh and bones, quickened by the Spirit of God, can.” — Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1938), p. 326.

    1. yes, this^.

      I was just going to say that it’s not so much that a spirit (ghost) doesn’t go to either paradise or “spirit prison”, it’s that “spirit prison” is essentially right here, or very close to here….I also think it may be feasible that not all spirits that go to spirit prison are necessarily immediately aware they are dead. it might be a gradual realization for some, when they realize things aren’t right.

      but maybe some are stuck in between, i dunno. you get some “ghosts”, like those of children, that seem like they wouldn’t have gone to spirit prison maybe, so I’m not sure.

      i actually always preferred the word “purgatory” to “spirit prison”…seems more neutral to those who were good people but are just there because they weren’t baptized or something. Or maybe I need to read up on the qualifications for paradise?

  2. I previously thought that there was not much that could be done for same-gender attraction (some of my best friends have been gay or queer, and I fully trust that they believe they were born that way). The readings you point out, though, have made me question that belief. I’ve only recently read Mendenhall and Fish and am still coming to terms with a lot of the strangeness of some of the things they teach. Yet, even though I can’t fully embrace everything they write, I definitely sense truth in it. This is an extremely important topic, and I hope more people will be open to the subject of spirit attachment, and the multitude of ways in which it can affect us.

  3. Pingback: You Have Been Here Before | Latter-day Commentary

    1. Well, C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters has been referred to by President James E. Faust and other leaders in several General Conference talks. (Do a keyword search on Screwtape at lds.org for examples.) So in essence there are demons sitting on our shoulders trying to tempt us and discourage us.

  4. I don’t think anyone is surprised that gays are leaving the church in droves, but now you suggest that they are also demon possessed? “Danger Will Robinson.”

    1. Hi Steven B. Thanks for your comment. This is such an old idea I’m surprised at your surprise. We all have spirits that trouble us. That’s the purpose of life – to see how we respond to their temptations. My post is not aimed at making a suggestion, it’s a book review of the life work of Dr. Fiore, who knows a whole lot more about this stuff than I do. I just added a few supporting comments from others I have read who have taught the same thing. Surely, this can’t be new to you. It’s been mocked and objected to by the gay community for as long as I can remember. It was especially harsh when people brought it up back in 2008 when prop 8 was being debated. It’s a basic tenet of our religion – that we are surrounded by spirits who influence us. I think you might be fascinated by the examples in her book. I offered several of them in the review. God bless.

  5. Cool to find this post. I just finished this book. Super interesting. I think if I hadnt previously read Life Everlasting I might not have been able to process this one. But it fits with so much else we know. Lots of Brigham Young quotes and stories along this same line. I know it’s normal for people to resist “new” ideas. Anyway, I agree that what Dr Fiore was interpreting as reincarnation, was really from the possessing spirit, not the person. But I do kinda wonder why innocent children would be allowed to be possessed….any thoughts on that?

    1. Hi Goodfighter. I went back and forth on that one – the idea that little children could be influenced by spirits. I have seen it first hand, meaning, I knew little children under eight whose behavior was obviously influenced by someone unseen. Some of the examples in Dr. Fiore’s book make sense – a man recently deceased in a hospital, seeing a little child being born premature, knowing she would not live unless he helped her. I have read others from other authors with similar stories. I know what the scripture says. I have also seen little children whose behavior was atrocious because of the spirits afflicting their parents or caregivers.

      Again, I know the scripture says the adversary cannot tempt little children, but I am convinced they can be influenced by those who have died – both those who love them and those who simply want to use them. One of the points I have made many times for which I have been ridiculed, mocked and chastised is that spirits of the opposite gender can co-habit little children from a young age and cause all kinds of problems at puberty. I don’t think anyone in this life has all the answers. I am looking forward to learning more in the spirit world.

      1. Yeah. I think these things are all the more reason why we need to focus on loving others and avoid unrighteous judgment – we sure can’t see the whole situation.

  6. Pingback: Evil Spirits in Psychotherapy | Latter-day Commentary – Last Days – Signs of the Times

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