Is it possible to exorcise ghosts if you e not a priest?
I saw a television show last night about all of the haunted buildings in Gettysburg. A woman lived in a house that had a room where she worked on her computer at night – where she felt as if someone was watching her. She would get the creeps and go to bed and at some point decided to ignor her creepy feelings and continue to work. Eventually a blue column of light showed up while she worked on her computer, frightened her, and she fled to her upstairs bedroom. After a while, she decided she wouldn’t leave the room and she just sat and looked at the light. She finally saw the apparition of a Confederate soldier in the light who was not hostile and just watched her. The woman finally got brave and the when ghost appeared, she yelled at him and told him to get out of the house, it was her house now. He disappeared and never returned.
This wasn’t fiction, it was on the History Channel and called "Ghosts of Gettysburg." If you can watch the show, it may give you some idea on what to do.
We as human beings have amazing abilities and each and every one of us has the power to help a trapped spirit "find the light". You must get over the fear first. This a trapped spirit which needs help to release from this dimension so to speak into the next. There are many methods of the removal but I think the easiest is to talk to the spirit. See if there is anything the spirit is trying to tell you. Sometimes the spirit must say it’s story or had some important information which was never delivered. Next tell the spirit to find the light and follow it. That everything is okay and it will find peace in the light. I also suggest if you are spiritual to ask for protection, and guidance. I personally ask archangel Michael to help the spirit find passage to the light safely.
In this method you are doing a great service for a lost soul!
Yes, it is possible to exorcise a ghost if you’re not a priest. It depends on what kind of ghost. Most ghosts just want to be crossed over and they need to see that someone is praying for them to cross over. This is very simple. If you have signs of a ghost that wants to leave Earth, just place your hands in a prayer position and say, "I pray that this person goes to heaven right now." They just NEED to see a person doing this. It gives them a sense of security. Do this whenever you feel their presence. You may have more than one ghost. They should leave as soon as they hear and see you praying.
There are ghosts that do not want to be crossed over. These may want to spook the living. They are out to do mischief, or sometimes even some harm. In this case, if you’re not an experienced exorcist, find some help from other people. Two others should be enough. Just pray that they leave the place where they now are. Anoint the home first (all the walls, the windows, doors, the floors and ceilings) with olive oil or holy water. There isn’t any power in those elements. It’s just a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Some ghosts may have been religious or superstitious when they lived. Each person praying should anoint their foreheads with a drop of holy water or oil. No symbols need to be made. Then, pray for them to leave. This shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. If after they leave they return, do it again. Long, drawn out TV and movie exorcisms are just for show. The real thing is much easier.
This tip comes to you from an experienced exorcist and ghost whisperer with a 100% success rate.
There is no real simple answer to your question but let’s look at it from a Biblical perspective. The Bible refers to ghosts, demons, and spirits as being interchangeable terms with the exception of the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of God, the third part of the Godhead. Also according to the Bible, demons, ghosts, and spirits are the underlings of the devil, Satan, who masquerades as an angel of light. That is, he can disguise himself as something good when he is not good in order to deceive. His minions have that same capability.
In Acts19:13-20 some itinerant Jewish exorcists who were the sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, decided to try to exorcise some demons by using the name of Jesus as they had witnessed the Apostle Paul doing. The demon responded back to the sons of Sceva saying, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" The man in whom the demon was leaped on them and overpowered them to the point they fled out of the house naked and wounded. The Bible doesn’t say the men were priests, merely sons of a priest, who were thoroughly whipped, stripped, and chased off for their ignorant impudence.
Jesus healed two demon-possessed men as described in Matthew 8, Mark 5 and Luke 8. Jesus is our High Priest according to Father God, but according to the traditions of the ruling priesthood at that time, he was considered a rabbi, or teacher, as opposed to a ‘priest.’
One must wonder what criteria the demon used to recognize the difference between the sons of Sceva and the Apostle Paul and Jesus. How did the demon "know" Paul and Jesus? James 4:7 says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
In Matthew 13:43-45 Jesus tells the story of "when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first…"
So in answer to your question, yes, a lay person who is not a priest can cast out or exorcise ghosts/demons but they need to have a right relationship with God in order to have the necessary authority to command a demon and expect it to obey. They also need to have the discernment to know when to cast out a demon as that demon can come back with others worse than himself if the "house" has not been filled with something else, that is, the Spirit of God. Whether the demon resides within a house of wood and stone or a house of flesh matters not. What does matter is whether or not they are truly willing to "submit to God" so that His presence in them can chase away the ghosts.
In the Wiccan/white witchcraft traditions, there are cleansing rituals that may be performed by the resident or the white witch herself or himself. These strategies are not, I emphasize, "black magic." They are easily found on the Internet or in the ghost novel The Shadow Man by Karin Coddon, available at Amazon.com. Cleansing rituals are generally simpler than some other non-priestly or priestly ones. They usually entail candles, incantations, and the use of such easily obtained materials as sage sticks and holy water. The sage smudges or sticks are usually burned throughout the house and especially in specific places within where the spiritual presence may be the strongest. The same goes for the sprinkling of holy water, which one would also want to dabble over entrances and exits, stairways, or other such places of egress. The incantations, while pagan in origin, are not, I repeat, Satanic. In fact, they often syncretize elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition with a much older religious tradition. Try Googling "cleansing ritual" and you will find many sites that provide a specific blueprint, including incantations. And good luck with your ghost!
