The Familiar Spirit
The Familiar Spirit is found all over the place in the Bible. And ironically enough, they’re found all over the place in the world today. The point behind this post is to show you that demonic influence is alive and kicking in our world today, and was something that God warned for us to avoid like the plague (to avert from a demonic plague). We’ll cover why that is.
So what are familiar spirits in the Bible? I have a feeling that many of us have a rough idea what we’re talking about. But for those who don’t, before we get too deep into the post, I think it’s good idea to see what the definition of Familiar Spirit is.
Here is a definition I found from Dictionary.com:
Sorcerers or necromancers, who professed to call up the dead to answer questions, were said to have a “familiar spirit”
(Deut. 18:11; 2 Kings 21:6;2 Chr. 33:6; Lev. 19:31; 20:6; Isa. 8:19; 29:4).
Such a person was called by the Hebrews an _’ob_, which properly means a leathern bottle; for sorcerers were regarded as vessels containing the inspiring demon. This Hebrew word was equivalent to the pytho of the Greeks, and was used to denote both the person and the spirit which possessed him.
(Lev. 20:27; 1Sam. 28:8; comp. Acts 16:16)
The word “familiar” is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a “household servant,” and was intended to express the idea that sorcerers had spirits as their servants ready to obey their commands.
Familiar Spirits in different Shapes and Sizes
A good way to describe someone who has received a familiar spirit would be that they are willingly demonically possessed for personal reasons such as religious, or actually may come generational. They may not know or believe that it is a demon or demons that they’ve invited, but that’s the cold hard truth. It is demonic.
I know for sure that there are people that would, but I’d like to assume that most people wouldn’t, openly be willing to invite a demonic force into their lives or body. Because of that, demons come as anything but what they really are. They like to masquerade as anything that you would find safe and appealing. Whatever it takes if they’re looking for you to open a door so they can ease into your life. And as the saying goes, the best deception that the devil ever created, was that he didn’t exist.
2 Corinthians 11:
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Many of you that have come out of the occult and out of new age religions can attest to the above verse, and can testify that what I’m saying is true (please do so in the comment section by the way). Beings of light that ever so gently and lovingly usher people away from coming to the full knowledge of Christ, or to lead people to a “different” path to Heaven or whatever else their version of Heaven may be.
John 14:6 [
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Matthew 12:30
30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
God’s Attitude about Familiar Spirits
In the Old Testament, God Almighty had a good deal to say about those who harbored familiar spirits. He also had 
something to say about those who would go to see them or depend on them for whatever reason. Here’s what he had to say about it.
Leviticus 19:31
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 20:6
And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Before I continue with the scriptural references, I want to discuss why I emboldened those particular parts of these verses. I find it important to recognize that the very first mention (at least the first I found) concerning familiar spirits were not to condemn those who practiced wizardry, witchcraft, or the like. Who is God talking to here?
God is talking to HIS people, that he had just done all kinds of signs and wonders on their behalf, and at the time was actually coming down and making his presence known. He was giving warning and instruction to his own whom he had chosen, not to conspire with his enemies. He knows that these are never looking out for your good, but are deceivers looking to deceive.
What does God say? He says to have no regard for them, also not to seek them out. Why? Because in doing so would bring defilement upon you. Why? My answer to that is because by even entertaining the idea, and then making the decision to actively go out and seek someone doing these things, is opening the door spiritually before you even get there.
It’s like raising a red flag, “Hey, I’m looking for something that isn’t God!”. And there is no shortage of small “g” gods
to fulfill any need or want that you can conjure together. God says it brings defilement; “to be defiled by them“.
Defile Definition: To make unclean or impure. To make filthy or dirty; pollute. Sully, mar, or spoil, or desecrate or profane something sacred.
God isn’t talking about physical defilement, but spiritual. So why would God be concerned about his people getting defiled spiritually enough to give them the boot, and to be cut off from his people? Simple, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. In a way it’s common sense. God Almighty, the Creator of all the Universe, cares for you and cares about the condition of your own soul, and doesn’t want it all messed up by those who hate him.
And because they did, as we do, enjoy free will, he had to establish consequences for their actions. Not to only keep people away from the things that will defile them, but to also protect others in the camp (so to speak) from getting defiled as well. But those aren’t the only reasons he laid down the law concerning these things. There’s one more very important reason.
God also considered it as, “a whoring after them“. That’s a pretty strong and graphic way to put it. God doesn’t mince words. To him, in a spiritual sense, seeking out information from any other source than him, is whoring. How do you think it makes God feel when a creation he loves and has done all kinds of things for, rejects or neglects him, to go seek council of some kind, from those that would rather see you die, and that also hate him?
For a believer to turn from God and seek out the things that stand against God is spiritual prostitution. That’s how he saw it, and we’ll see from some New testament verses, that he hasn’t changed his mind on that position. Here are a few to lay out what God will not tolerate. Nestled right in there are terms that are more familiar to us these days, but many are directly related to what we’ve been talking about. Communing with demonic forces by way of familiar spirits. The first is Paul talking to the Church, the second is Jesus talking.
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Revelation 22:15
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
God hasn’t changed, but it’s we as a society that has changed our view about prostituting ourselves out away from God. Today in a general sense, nobody seems to think anything of it. Wish washy Christianity has tolerated and is now promoting in some circumstances, all kinds of things that God hates. All for the sake of struggling to get along with the world:
James 4:4
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
As far as the falling away of the church, I feel that should be reserved for another post someday. I don’t want to stray too far from the mark. However, like I said above, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And I think today’s spiritually dead sense of the Church is actually evidence of that.
A testimony from Mario (TVC) about coming out of the new age religion. His YouTube account is TheVigilantChristian.
Why seek ye the living among the dead?
To conclude this post, I’d like to just sum up what we’re dealing with. Familiar spirits of the Old Testament, are the spirit guides or whatever term the demon wishes to be called, to give aid to fortune tellers, palm readers, psychics, mediums, etc.. It’s the driving force behind all of them. It hasn’t gone away, but is actually a growing phenom. With thousands of years worth of people going out of their way to be defiled by these beings, so that they can either gain some “forbidden knowledge”, or attain some kind of “spiritual power”, or just for purposes of greed and vanity, or trying to simply have a memorable experience, now we see the fruit of it.
People at times are now born with different abilities that are not common to man, meaning that there is a generational curse in that family from who knows how long ago, but because they didn’t ask for it and that spirit is so well nestled into that person, it’s deemed as a supernatural gift. What it is, was an open window that someone back some time ago left open, and needs to be closed. Simple as that, and is the kind of problem that God was warning about.
Which is to be expected actually. We are living in the last days, and many are noting that the barriers between the spiritual world and the physical have been thinned. But again, I guess that’s a whole other topic for another day, but will definitely cover it in this series.
Thank you for checking out the fourth 
installment of the ‘Are Demons Real?’ Series. If you have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, and have been set free from all of the demonic garbage and baggage that goes along with it, please by all means tell us about it in the comments section. Or, if you would like your testimony featured on the site, please type it up and shoot me an e-mail, and I’ll document it as a page! Let your testimony stand out as a witness to others.
It is so important that you realize that God has established certain things for a reason. There’s a whole world out there full of things that we can’t see that are trying to mess with us all the time. Get into the Word of God. It never fails, and never leaves you wanting. If you don’t have a Bible of your own, I’d encourage you to pick one up. I’d personally recommend the KJV, but the NIV is a good warm up to it. If you’d like to get your hands on one, Click Here.
Please share via the share tab below, or hover over that plus sign over there to the right. I look forward to all of your comments! I pray that this installment has helped you to recognize the familiar spirit.
Hi Brian, Good post. There is one other major portal that leaves people open for demonic control and that is drugs. Much of what is known as new age religion came out of the psychedelic revolution in the sixties and seventies. Timothy Leary wanted to induce a religious experience in people who weren’t likely to ever have one. He opened a Pandora’s box that changed the culture forever. Meth use and paganism often go together and one if four people in the U.S. are said to be taking antidepressants. Other psychotropic drugs are handed out like candy and chemical asylums have replaced mental hospitals. Whether drugs are obtained legally or illegally, drug use and misuse is rampant. Biblically speaking drugs have always been regarded as sorcery. Drugs are bringing America down and I think soon we will suffer the same cultural dedigration and insanity as the countries who’ve been ruined by supplying illegal drugs. The corruption and violence of South America and Mexico is inching northward every day. The greed of pharmaceutical drug makers has ruined our health care system. If there is anything that America has whored after it is drugs and the chickens are coming home to roost. There is no other way to describe the narco culture and the drug war that still rages as anything but demonic.
Hi there Pam, what a comment! I agree with you completely on every point. I did gently brush on this in the third installment called Demons in the Bible -New Testament. But barely scratched the surface of it. And you are right on about sorcery. Perhaps if the Lord is willing, I’ll draw more attention to this issue before the series is over. Just going on what the Spirit is leading me to do at this time. But again, you’re right. Pharmacia = Sorceries. Before everyone goes crazy, this is in the context of drug abuse or to take drugs for spiritual reasons. Not because of your high blood pressure pills.
Thank you Pam for your outstanding comment! God bless you and yours in Christ Jesus, & I’d like for everyone to go check out Pam’s site joyindestructible.com