The Dead Are Dead: Familiar Spirits

Our lives pass on quickly. “Oh how the days go swiftly passing by!” That reminds me of a song written by Stuart Hamblen in 1958:

[Verse 1]
My heart can sing when I pause to remember
A heartache here is but a stepping stone
Along a trail that’s winding always upwards
This troubled world is not my final home

[Verse 2]
The things of earth will dim and lose its value
If we recall they’re borrowed for a while
And all the things of earth that cause a heart trouble
Remember there will only be a smile

[Verse 3]
But until then, my heart shall go on singing
But until then, with joy, I’ll carry on
Until my eyes behold the city
Until that day God calls me home

Christians seemed confused about God “calling us home.” Another song ends this way:

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

I love to sing this song. But I change the lyric of the last two lines:

Till He returns AND calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Christ will not call us home before he returns. THAT’S WHEN the dead in Christ will rise and those alive in Christ will be changed to have new bodies like his glorious body.

1 Corinthians 15:22,23:
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man IN HIS OWN ORDER: Christ the firstfruits; AFTERWARD they that are Christ’s AT HIS COMING.

Jesus Christ has not “come back” yet. So, there is NO ONE IN HEAVEN WHOSE DIED, EXCEPT FOR JESUS CHRIST.

The sad part is that believing that dead people are “ghosts” or “spirits” or “angels,” allows the Devil to imitate the dead through FAMILIAR SPIRITS. The English word “familiar” means “like a family.” They often imitate dead relatives or friends. Here is what the Bible says about these evil spirits.

1. HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM OR THE MEDIUMS, PSYCHICS, OR SPIRITISTS WHO ARE USED BY THEM. THEY WILL SPIRITUALLY “DEFILE” PEOPLE.

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.

2. GOD CANNOT HELP ANYONE WHO TRUSTS IN THESE EVIL SPIRITS RATHER THAN IN HIM. HE SENT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST TO SAVE US, NOT FAMILIAR SPIRITS.

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.

3. CAPITOL PUNISHMENT IS THE OLD TESTAMENT SOLUTION TO STOPPING PEOPLE WHO ARE USED BY THESE SPIRITS. BY KILLING THEIR BODIES, THE SPIRITS LOST THEIR TEMPORARY “HOMES.” WHEN CHRIST CAME, HE CAST OUT SPIRITS AND SAID WE AS HIS FOLLOWERS WILL DO THE SAME.

Leviticus 20:27:
A man also or woman that hath a FAMILIAR SPIRIT, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

4. WE ARE TO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM OR THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE USED BY EVIL SPIRITS. TODAY AS BELIEVERS WE CAST THESE SPIRITS OUT AND BRING DELIVERANCE. THEY ARE “ABOMINATIONS” TO THE LORD. THE HEBREW WORD MEANS IT MAKES GOD “SICK” TO SEE THEM AMONG HIS PEOPLE.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12:
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
Or a charmer, or a consulter with FAMILIAR SPIRITS, or a wizard, or a necromancer [priest of the dead, psychic].
For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

5. SAUL HAD DONE GOD’S WILL AND GOTTEN RID OF THESE PSYCHICS AND MEDIUMS. BUT HE WAS SO EMOTIONALLY HURT AT THE DEATH OF SAMUEL, HE FORGOT GOD’S WARNING ABOUT THIS EVIL.

1 Samuel 28:3:
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had FAMILIAR SPIRITS, and the wizards, out of the land.

1 Samuel 28:7:
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a FAMILIAR SPIRIT, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

6. SAUL TRIED TO “DISGUISE” HIMSELF FROM THIS PSYCHIC. SHE WAS FOOLED UNTIL THE SPIRIT TOOK OVER HER THINKING. THEN SHE WAS VERY “SHARP” AND RECOGNIZED SAUL.

1 Samuel 28:8-12:
And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the FAMILIAR SPIRIT, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have FAMILIAR SPIRITS, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.

THIS PSYCHIC IMITATED THE DEAD PROPHET SAMUEL, AND CONVINCED SAUL THAT HE WOULD SOON DIE. SAUL “LISTENED” TO THIS EVIL SPIRIT, AND IT COST HIM HIS LIFE.

1 Chronicles 10:13:
So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a FAMILIAR SPIRIT, to enquire of it.

7. KING MANASSEH ALSO ALLOWED THESE EVIL SPIRITS TO ATTACK THE PEOPLE.

2 Kings 21:6:
And he [Manasseh] made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with FAMILIAR SPIRITS and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

GOD WAS UNABLE TO HELP JUDAH BECAUSE OF THIS EVIL. THE HURT AND DEVASTATION CAUSED BY THESE EVIL SPIRITS WAS “EAR-TINGLING” NEWS.

2 Kings 21:12:
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.

2 Chronicles 33:6:
And he [Manasseh] caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a FAMILIAR SPIRIT and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

8. MANASSEH’S DESCENDENT, JOSIAH, REVERSED THIS EVIL.

2 Kings 23:24:
Moreover the workers with FAMILIAR SPIRITS, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

9. THE PROPHET ISAIAH HAD GREAT REVELATION ABOUT THE COMING MESSIAH, A SUFFERING SAVIOR WHO WOULD REDEEM ALL PEOPLE. HE ALSO SPOKE OUT AGAINST THESE EVIL SPIRITS. THESE FAMILIAR SPIRITS “PEEP AND MUTTER,” THEY “SPEAK OUT OF THE GROUND” AND “WHISPER OUT OF THE DUST.” WE SHOULD NOT SEEK THESE “DEAD” CREATURES, BUT OUR CREATOR, THE LIVING GOD!

Isaiah 8:19:
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have FAMILIAR SPIRITS, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

Isaiah 19:3:
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have FAMILIAR SPIRITS, and to the wizards.

Isaiah 29:4:
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a FAMILIAR SPIRIT, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Let’s live each day with the hope of Christ’s return, and stand against these evil spirits by putting on “the whole armor of God.”

Ephesians 6:12,13:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.