Familiar spirits in the church 1

“And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.  And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.” Acts 16:16-18

The late Kenneth E Hagin wrote the following in his book first published in 1991, “The Holy Spirt and His Gifts”

One time a man was invited to the platform to speak for a few minutes in a church where I was conducting a meeting. I had heard that this man was not living right. Of course the Bible tells us that by their fruits we shall know them (Matt. 7:20). As I sat on the platform while this man got up to say a few words to the congregation, I heard the Voice of the Holy Spirit say, "He has a familiar spirit." I looked behind me. I already knew that no one was sitting behind me; yet the Voice was so real I looked behind me. It was the Holy Spirit speaking to me.

Many folks thought this preacher operated in the word of knowledge because he could tell people many things about themselves. He could give them their names and addresses; he could tell them how much money they had in their purses or billfolds. He could even sometimes tell them what they had in their pockets.

But the Spirit of God said to me, "He has a familiar spirit." In the Old Testament God talks about familiar spirits and forbids the people of God to have anything to do with them. Familiar spirits are familiar with people and they can pass on information about one person to another.

Prayer for today: O God expose and disgrace the operations of familiar spirit in your church in Jesus name.