The Hebrew word for familiar spirit, used by Isaiah, means “to mumble (apparently through the idea of babbling a father’s name in a childish manner) -- it also means a necromancer, i.e. a familiar spirit”. And just so we know: a “necromancer” is a person who claims to foretell the future through alleged communication with the dead; other terms for necromancer are conjurer, wizard or sorcerer. Any of these terms define those who are “aided by” familiar spirits; and we could also add fortune-tellers, witches, soothsayers and mediums to that list. Anyone who receives help or guidance from any source other than the Lord is dealing with (and being deceived by) familiar spirits (and just so there is no misunderstanding: I am speaking of those listed in those terms above -- necromancer, conjurer, wizard, etc. -- or anyone who “seeks out” any of these people).

Please, please, please...we need to know this, understand this and get a hold of this!!! There are deceiving and lying spirits out there, just waiting to lead a soul astray! We must not carelessly assume that every demonic force just somehow “mysteriously vanished away” from the face of the earth. The Old Testament saints had to deal with them; Jesus constantly dealt with them, and -- as we will see further down -- so did the New Testament church. And... I hope we can see this truth: If everyone else has had to deal with demonic forces, so will we have to deal with them, and it is paramount that we are able to discern and detect these demonic influences.

And here’s a small “side note”: September 11th, 2001 brought many in America to the realization of what most people in other parts of the world already knew... there is “evil” in the world; there are those who will do ungodly things to innocent people, and no place is “safe” any more. People even saw the “face of evil” in much of the smoke that ascended on that day, but that image is not what real evil is all about. And, last year, we saw two men -- as snipers -- who went around shooting and killing more innocent people. Now, today, on March 14th, 2003, we are on the very brink of war with Iraq. And yet, still there are those who do not “get it” -- they do not “see” the lying, deceiving, manipulating tactics of a true “mad man”, Saddam Hussein. He has used tactics and lies and deceptions to fool much of the world.

These are all, by the way, very clear tactics of our enemy -- the devil and his demonic forces (and isn’t it odd how we are the ones called “devils” and the “evil satan” by those in Iraq and other places?). Because of all this lying and confusion, people are asking: “How come much of the world is so ‘against’ the U.S. on the matter of war with Iraq?” (In other words, if there are so many ‘against’ the U.S., wouldn’t it stand to reason that America is “wrong”?) Or they ask: “Why attack Iraq? They’ve done nothing to the U.S.... yet?” Evil -- true evil -- always has a way of making the Godly and the righteous look “wrong” and “arrogant”, while the ungodly always seem to be the “oppressed” and “righteous” ones. However, history -- over and over again -- has revealed this very same scenario and repeated this very same evil lie.

To get a little better grasp of dealing with demonic forces, let’s take a look at the Greek word for necromancer: nekromanteion, meaning “oracle of the dead”. As we probably all know, many past civilizations have had their “oracles of the dead”, with the Oracle of Delphi being the most well-known. Without going too “far afield” here, I would like to emphatically state: All those who “seek after” and “follow” (or are “guided” or “helped by”) familiar spirits -- claiming to be “speaking” on behalf of a dead person -- are thoroughly and completely deceived! (As I mentioned above). Why do I state this so emphatically? First of all, the dead cannot speak from beyond the grave (and anyone that insists this is not true is very simply deceived! However, at the risk of sounding double-minded here, there is an exception, which we’ll discuss below). Instead, lying and deceiving spirits (demons) are “pretending” to be loved ones, “speaking to us” from the so-called Great Beyond.

As we will see a little later, demonic spirits “know” many things, some of which may even be accurate and true! However... let us never be deceived by familiar spirits -- even though they may “tell us” something we thought no one else could have known -- or even if they “show us” where something has been hidden or lost from us for many years. We’ll discuss more on that further down, but for now let’s look at a certain portion of Scripture, dealing with another aspect of “life after death”. Here, in Luke 16, we read the Words of Jesus, seeing the story of the rich man and Lazarus:

Luke 16 -- “(19) There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and he fared sumptuously every day. (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was daily laid at the rich man’s gate, and he was sick and full of sores. (21) He (Lazarus) desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table; not only this, but even the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) It came to pass, that the beggar finally died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And one day, the rich man also died, and he was buried.

(23) And, being in hell, the rich man lifted up his eyes, and he saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) And being in torments, he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and come and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame’. (25) But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented. (26) And besides all this, between you and us there is a Great Gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there’.

(27) Then the rich man said, ‘I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my own father’s house, (28) for I have five brothers there; please allow him to testify to them, so that they do not come into this place of torment’. (29) But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let your brothers hear them’. (30) And he said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham; but if one came to them from the dead, they will surely repent’. (31) But Abraham replied, ‘If they cannot hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, even though one should rise from the dead’.”

I’ll admit...I do not understand all of the above passage, but I do think it clearly shows that there are “boundaries” and “limitations” to those who have “passed on” into death. And while this passage is taken from a chapter in Luke that has some parables, this is not a parable, because Jesus specifically names the man involved...Lazarus (but not the same one who was His friend, and brother to Mary & Martha), and He also speaks of Abraham. And the rather revealing statement given at the end of this passage (“If they cannot hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, even though one should rise from the dead”) is very powerful, in the sense that Jesus DID rise from the dead, returning and establishing His church on the earth (Acts 2). And, very likely, many that did not believe before His death did not believe after His resurrection...so it was true: One came back from the dead, rising victorious, and yet many still did not believe!

I will also admit this...(and here is the exception I mentioned above) -- I have somewhat of a problem with people (especially Christians) who say that a departed loved one “visited them” to tell them something or to comfort them. Even so...let me say this: While we could most definitely conclude (from the above passage, in Luke 16), that the “unsaved” cannot be visited, once in hell, I cannot (in all honesty and in all fairness) rule out even the slimmest of possibilities that the Lord could allow someone to momentarily “break” Heaven’s ranks to comfort someone here, on earth. Although, I would still caution heavily against any such visitations -- warning and admonishing anyone that they should truly have wisdom and discernment in these kinds of matters. And...while it certainly would not be “common”, I do not see where it is strictly forbidden in Scripture. God is, after all, a Very Sovereign God, and He can do whatever He so desires. For remember: We do have the written account of Elijah and Moses “visiting with” Jesus, and this was clearly witnessed (and recorded) by Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1-9).

Also, I think it wise to consider this: After Christ’s Ascension, things in heaven and earth “changed” somewhat. Below, we see Paul relating to us words of Psalm 68 ...inspired, of course, by the Holy Spirit. Here is Ephesians 4:7-10:

“(7) But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the Measure of the Gift of Christ. (8) This is why he says [in Psalm 68], ‘When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave Gifts unto men’. (9) (Now, what does this mean: ‘He ascended’?), and what could it mean, but that He also ‘descended’ first into the lower parts of the earth? (10) He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He [and His Presence] might fill all things.”

From these verses, we can see Paul telling us “something had happened” after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. What happened? For one thing, “He led captivity captive, and gave Gifts unto men”. Who were the “captives”? Most scholars tend to think it was that group we saw, earlier, that were in Abraham’s Bosom...i.e. Abraham, Lazarus, and every Old Testament saint -- all those faithfully awaiting Salvation’s Completion at the Cross and Redemption’s Rescue by the Risen Lord! I tend to agree with this position. As I said, something had “changed” after the Ascension. What else could have changed? Later, in Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul talks of the five-fold ministry Gifts that are to enrich, build and strengthen the church, bringing it to a place of completion, maturity and unity. But I really don’t want to get “derailed”, chasing after the subject of those Gifts. However, if you are interested, here we have a rather complete look at the >>>Five-fold Gifts<<< .

Basically, to recap: Someone “aided by” a familiar spirit will speak “in the place of” (or “instead of”) the Lord, and their words -- though not God-inspired -- are not necessarily always false! We need to know and understand this, and we will get more into this facet of familiar spirits a little further down. But for now, the simple way to look at what a familiar spirit is (or does), is to note how they are spoken of and referred to in Scripture.

Leviticus 19:31 -- “Do not regard those with familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them”
Leviticus 20:6 -- “I will set My Face against the soul that turns after familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go whoring after them, and I will cut him off from among his people”
Deuteronomy 18:11-12 -- “...a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer: All that do these things (or associate with them) are an abomination unto the LORD”
2nd Kings 21:6 -- “And Manasseh made his son pass through the fire, observed times, used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards; he did great wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger”

From the above verses, it is fairly easy to see that the Lord is not going to allow His children to partake of worldly and ungodly dealings, and He will “set His Face against the soul that defiles himself, turning after a familiar spirit”, and He will also “cut off” anyone who pursues familiar spirits. The last two verses above, where we see the phrases “an abomination” and “provoke Him to anger”, take us back to Isaiah 7:12. It is here where we saw that the word weary meant “to grieve and disgust”. This is what the words abomination and provoke mean: “To disgust and to grieve”. So, in essence, we’ve come full-circle...

If you read all of the above Scripture references concerning familiar spirits, conjurers and wizards (Lev.19:31 & 20:6; 2nd Kings 21:6 & 23:24 and Isaiah 19:3, and of course Deuteronomy 18), you’ll know how much of an abomination any of these things are, and the Lord is very serious about dealing with His children, if and when they might get involved with such things -- whether in the Old Testament, or the New. Speaking of the New Testament, let’s take a look at a very specific incident, involving Paul, Silas, Luke and those with them. Acts 16:16-18 tells us the story of a young woman, possessed with a “spirit of divination”.

“(16) And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain young woman possessed with a spirit of divination met us (she brought her masters much gain by soothsaying). (17) She followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, and they show us the way of salvation!’ (18) She did this for many days, but Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!’, and it came out of her that very moment.”

At a casual glance, someone going about “proclaiming” the truth about Paul, Silas and the others being “servants of the Most High God, showing the way of salvation”, would not appear to be a negative thing. And, very likely, some among their group may have thought this “free advertising” to be quite nice and convenient at the time, but she did this for “many days”. Perhaps she was “announcing” them for ten, twenty or thirty days -- the Scripture does not make that clear -- but however long it was, Paul had finally “had enough”, and he turned to the young woman...but he spoke to the evil spirit within her: “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” Acts 16:18 tells us that Paul was “grieved”, meaning he had become wearied and anguished with this activity, even though it may have “seemed okay” to everyone else. Looking at that word “cried” (in verse 17), we see the Greek word krazo means “to croak, like a raven; to scream, call aloud or even shriek” (so it was not some shy, quiet girl, following them around and softly speaking words). Knowing this, it is easy to see how and why Paul reacted the way he did -- either he finally recognized it as demonic, or he had known it all along and his patience simply “wore thin”, or the “timing” was finally “right”. But -- whatever the case -- he rebuked the spirit, not the girl, and it “came out of her” that very moment.

This is not an “isolated incident” in the New Testament, for we can see several such situations in Jesus’ ministry.

Mark 1 -- “(23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, (24) ‘Leave us alone; what have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, O Holy One of God!’ (25) And Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Hold your peace, and come out of him’. (26) And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. (34) And Jesus healed many that were sick of various diseases, and He cast out many devils; and He did not allow the devils to speak, because they knew Him.”
Mark 3 -- “(11) And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’ (12) And He immediately charged them that they should not make Him known.”
Luke 4 -- “(40)...He laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them, (41) and devils came out of many, crying out, and saying, ‘You are Christ, the Son of God!’ And He rebuked them, not allowing them to speak; for they knew that He was Christ.”

Devils know the Truth...
...and theytremble

We can see, from the above examples, that evil spirits can “know” things, and they can even know the Truth -- the evil spirits knew Paul and the men with him were “servants of the Most High God”, and they knew who Jesus was, and even what He had come to do. And it says, in James 2:19 -- “You believe that there is one God, and you do well. The devils also believe, and they tremble.” I have heard it said by many Bible scholars that demons know the Scriptures better than we ever could, having had thousands of years to learn how to twist and pervert the Word of God.

When we consider how the devil first successfully tempted Eve, and then Adam -- and then when we look at how he came after the Lord, in the wilderness temptation (Matthew 4:2-11, using the written Word against the Living Word) -- we can see the devil and his cohorts know the Scriptures very well...and, yes, probably better than most (if not all) of us. And considering everything between the time of Adam down to the Lord Jesus -- then everything from Jesus down to us -- we will be able to at least consider that the enemy can come at us well-versed with Scripture to tempt us, sway us, or even deceive us.

Jesus, Himself, warned us -- beforehand -- of the possibility of being deceived. Let each of us consider and heed His warning, in Matthew 24...

“(23) Then (in those latter days) if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ, or there is Christ’, do not believe it. (24) For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (25) Behold, I have told you beforehand (that you should know and be wary).”

That word “deceive”, taken from the Greek: planao (plan-ah’-o), is defined as “to cause to roam (from safety, truth, or virtue); to lead astray, deceive, lead into error, seduce, cause to wander and to be led out of the way”. Any way that the enemy can mislead us, side-track us or, ultimately, deceive us is exactly how the enemy will attack us, and using the Word of God to do so is one of his favorite ways. False prophets in the Old Testament mis-spoke, lied, twisted and perverted the Law and the Testimony; the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees also twisted the Word, attempting to trap Jesus in a lie or blasphemy, and today the enemy is doing his best to thwart and hinder God’s Great Work among His people. Before moving on, let’s read some more from the book of Acts...

Acts 13 -- “(6) And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus (meaning “son of Jesus, or son of Joshua”). (7) This man was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; (and Sergius Paulus) called for Barnabas and Paul, and desired to hear the Word of God. (8) But Elymas the sorcerer (this is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the Faith.

“(9) Then Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, and said, (10) ‘O you, so full of all subtlety and mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? (11) And now, behold, the Hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season’.

“And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. (12) Then the deputy, after he had seen what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine (and the Power) of the Lord.”

In these verses we find a very plain and accurate picture of what a person with a familiar spirit is, and what he strives to do.

Looking at what I’ve underlined,
we see that Elymas the sorcerer:
• was a false prophet
• withstood the men of God
• turned others away from the Faith
• was full of all subtlety and mischief
• was called a child of the devil and
• an enemy of all righteousness, and lastly...
• he perverted the right ways of the Lord

And all of this is recorded here, with not one thing being written as to what the man said, did, or tried to do -- unlike the case of the young woman who was possessed with the spirit of divination. All we are told is that he withstood them (but we are not told exactly how), and we are told that he sought to turn away the deputy from the Faith (but, again, we are not shown how he did this). And yet, Paul’s reaction here was much more intense and the results were entirely different than with the demon-possessed young woman.

We can surmise and even assume that perhaps the man was not “ready” to be delivered (for God knows the hearts of all men), or there may have been some “other factor” involved here. Even so, God being a Sovereign and All-powerful God, He could have had Paul rebuke the spirit in that man, just as Paul had done with the young woman. We are not told just what the reasons for this situation were, and we should not get too “caught up” with trying to uncover “secret” or “hidden” meanings. At any rate... whatever the case... this description here, in Acts 13:6-12, gives us a clear and precise view of what a familiar spirit is and what someone with a familiar spirit will attempt to do. The bottom line...?

Familiar spirits are demonic forces who strive against, hinder, thwart, resist and pervert the Ways, the Will and the Works of God. We will have two more sections in this teaching, and in the next two sections we will deal with some things currently “plaguing” the church, and I feel the need to warn some of you... this next section will touch on some things that some of you might consider “holy” and “untouchable”, and I approach this area with much caution and prayer. We will look at some “manifestations” and so-called “miracles” occurring in our churches, here, in America, and (apparently) all over the world. Yes, we will discuss the “gold dust phenomenon”, blood and oil “flowing from a Christian’s hands”, and other such manifestations...or, as a dear friend of mine calls all this activity: Sensationalism! Although I am sure to offend some Christians (who love and enjoy what I call the “hype” and “hoopla” of many ministries today), we will, nonetheless, press on to the end of this teaching... exposing and revealing what we believe to be some very deceptive things in the Body of Christ today.

However, having said all of that, anyone who is even vaguely “familiar” with our teachings will know: We believe in the miraculous; we believe in the Gifts; we believe in the Holy Spirit-led, supernatural flowings of God, but we still feel the need to -- at the very least -- “lay out” a warning here, in the next two parts of the teaching.