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.
Isaiah 29:4
Quick Note:
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When it comes to the spiritual realm, there’s a wide gulf amongst believers.
On one side of the extreme there are many believers who behave like ostriches and bury their head in the sand (assuming that ‘what you dont know wont kill you’). Some have been taught that it’s all weird hocus pocus stuff & its best to ignore it. Some pick and choose what they want to believe. Some are just too caught up in themselves and world to even notice.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are also believers who are overtly caught up in obsession with the evil side of the realm of the spirit to the extent of constant paranoia and neurosis. Very common with them is that they too often behold satan and the kingdom of darkness, rather than pressing into the revelation of Jesus Christ. As a result they live in constant fear and anxiety of demons and what can befall them. This too is quite unhealthy.
Christ’s life was a model of balance. He demonstrated to all true believers two truths we ought to consciously live by:
- That we are spiritual beings 1st and foremost, who for an appointed season, live out this life in the physical realm by God’s will.
- We must walk in the understanding that one of the key reasons God has given us time on earth is to give us the privilege of being vessels through whom “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” shall be achieved.
Christ was able to achieve “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” during His lifetime by (i) By speaking that which He heard the father speaking John 5:19 (ii) By doing what He saw the father doing.…John 12:50
What does any of this have to do with familiar spirits?
In society today, there are many whispering voices constantly trying to get our attention and influence our outcomes. Whose voice we hearken to will bear major impact on whether we succeed in our divine mission or we fail.
Familiar spirits are demonic spirits that survey people, territories, and family bloodlines. They operate stealthily & always seek to influence their victims indirectly and directly through relationships, traditions, customs, personality ‘traits’ etc. They speak to us through people, places, media and things. Their core objective is to keep men in unclean bondage and maintain destructive cycles which would prevent men from fulfilling divine purpose on earth.
‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Lev 19:31
Familiar Spirit OR The Holy Spirit?
God has instructed us quite clearly in His word not to consult familiar spirits and operate our lives by them, rather we are to “be filled with the spirit“.
A great number of believers today have genuine difficulty telling the difference between the voice leading them: whether its of God or the devil.
Far too many have become easy prey for this demonic operation because:
(i) We are too ignorant of the sophisticated level of subtlety in the enemy
(ii) Our discernment is often too dulled & overwhelmed by our desires/lusts
(iii) We don’t study our bibles with consecrated hearts. Thus we lack depth.
(iv) We no longer anchor our faith in the word, but in ‘men of God’…..
3 Key Indicators (Fruits) of Familiar Spirit Operations:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits.Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Mathew &:15-16 NKJV
In discerning the leading of familiar spirits, its not best to rely on our “emotions” and “feelings” outside the scope of God’s word. But we must ‘test every spirit‘ by the fruits which they offer us under the light of God’s word., this is how we can know truth.
When God speaks His word, there are multiple layers of revelation.
In His address to the people of Judah in Isaiah 29, we glean 3 revelatory “fruits” which are indicative of familiar & divinatory spirit operations.
- “And thou shalt be brought down“.
In biblical parlance, “down” is very often synonymous with “carnality” “flesh” “compromise” “rebellion” “the plain” “moving away from God’s perfect will“. [ref: Jonah in Jonah 1:3, Samson in Judges 14:1 ]
The leading of God through the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS ‘upward’ Mat 4:1 and targeted at making His people “Arise” and “lifting up their eyes of faith. Likewise the operations of the Holy Spirit through the prophetic & revelatory gifts is ALWAYS for edification, exhortation and consolation. 1 cor 14:3
Familiar spirits are agents of the serpentine. Their voice always produces fruit whose end is to bring us “down”. Their ministrations acts as “flesh hooks” which brings down men’s souls to the ground of self, flesh and exultation of carnal desires. Every operation of familiar spirits is always targeted at reducing God’s mind for us to “meat and drink” at the expense of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. despite the fact that Christ has said in Romans 14:17 that the kingdom of God is not a matter of meat and drink”. The endgame is to entice our souls/body into becoming prey to the serpent their master.
(Note that the serpents domain is always the ground since it was cursed by God in Gen 3:14 “on thy belly shalt thou go”.) - “And shalt speak out of the ground“.
James 3:15&17 has this to say:-
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
From this scripture we learn that there is wisdom (revelation, understanding & direction) that has its source from “ABOVE”
& there is that which has its source from “BELOW”.
Any spirit that is speaking to you whether directly or indirectly through a spouse, parent, pastor, leader, supervisor etc that offers wisdom which overtly appeals to your flesh and sensual nature is devilish and demonic in nature.” - “And shalt be low out of the dust“.
Pre-Pentecost peter within a few verses in matthew 16:18-23 receives great divine wisdom ‘from above‘ when he addresses Jesus “Thou art the Christ” and shortly after Christ was rebuking the spirit speaking from Peter’s mouth “get thee behind me satan”
Christ’s rebuke was quite instructive:
“for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” …Familiar spirits speak with voices which “savour” and “entice” with the things that are NOT of God. By their fruits ye shall know them.
Saul & The Witch of Endor: Still relevant for believers today.
Brethren, lets summarise this teaching with a scriptural example.
King Saul’s engagement with the witch of endor in 1 Sam 28:1-20
Saul’s engagement with the witch of Endor provides 2 instructive points of note for New Testament believers today
8 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
1 Sam 28:8
- Too many times when we as believers go to see prophetic people with wrong motives & unrepentant hearts, we through our words and insinuations try to ‘nudge them to bring up what we “desire to hear” just as saul did with the witch, secretly hoping what they will reveal to us will “validate” or “certify” the desire of our hearts.
This way of doing things makes us & the man of God (if not guarded) easily susceptible to the familiar spirits…
God even tells His prophet in Ezekiel 14:2-4 that when His people come to Him unrepentant and full of made up minds, the prophet shall answer them according to the ‘idols in their hearts‘…
read it for yourself here..
20 Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.
1 Sam 28:20
God’s leading and counsel should leave us only with Godly fear and reverence, for we know from scripture that God “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of courage and sound mind“. Prophets who leave us with earthly fear and conditions for escape which have a fiduciary bent should be recognisable as ravenous wolves!!!
Guidance and counsel from familiar spirits which lead us to take earthly & sensual actions WILL ultimately lead to causing us to fall back from grace into the flesh and strength of man. This will always make us to be prey to the serent as flesh and carnality are his domain.
Summary
- There are many ‘witches of endors’ on our pulpits today. They are dressed as sheep, but inside there are ravenous wolves. They are devilishly wonderful at conjuring up images that please our itching ears. They feed our lusts with savoury tales which are not of God’s perfect will for us..making the kingdom all about meat and drink.
- Too many of us also are lazy and dishonest because we too often seek a quick fix and those who will sing songs to us which are in tandem with our evil lusts. We must also repent. Anyone who genuinely seeks wisdom should prayerfully start in his/her closet in prayer and in the word, and where necessary, the Lord will order their steps to those who are His genuine servants.
- Now more than ever we must spend detailed and in-depth time in the word of God. Because the bible says in the last days :
“For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect“.
Mark 13:22
Grace unto us all.
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