Ghost stories are big right now, with reality shows aplenty trying to meet the public interest in supernatural narratives. “Hunted America”, “Most Haunted”, “TAPS”, are only a few examples. Most of these stories share the same general outline: young woman is victimized by a jealous husband, or children are done in by overly religious parents, and so on. They die horribly in or around the home and those who move in later are visited by their left-behind spirits. Except these spirits are not who they claim to be, not at all.

These spirits are Familiars, demons who know much about the history of the place they make home and of the gruesome past of those who once lived there. The deception is meant to keep the new homeowners talking to and trusting them; the end game is to possess one of the family members for purely evil intentions. These Familiar spirits are nothing new, they are of olden times, and the Bible warns against associating with them in any form.

These same spirits often accompany mediums and fortune tellers, those who claim to speak to the dead and tell fortunes. “Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19.31). The penalty for those who succumbed to working with familiar demons was death (Leviticus 20.27). This was back in Moses’ day, but in the days shortly after Jesus’ ascension things were still very much the same (Acts 16.16-18). Today the tactics of familiars hasn’t changed all that much.

If you watch many of the recent TV shows about “hauntings”, as mentioned above the stories are eerily similar. Someone, perhaps a family, moves into a home and is first approached by familiar demons masquerading as a previous tenant. They do so to gain the trust of the occupants. As the new homeowner investigates they find that the facts of the story they have been told are true, increasing the trust between the home owner and the demon. After a while the demon (or demons, depending on the case) mention they are aware of another spirit entity in the home, one which they fear. This demon begins to wreak havoc with those in the home, frightening them until they either leave, or submit to being possessed by one of the demons. This darker, more malevolent spirit, is played by the familiar’s superior.

From many modern stories of exorcism we have learned that familiar demons are among the lowest ranking form of fallen spirit. They sometimes “haunt” a home or person for decades before finding someone willing to let them in. They build a relationship with the individual, and may even benefit the human target in order to increase dependence and the chance that the person will one day agree to possession.

This is who they are, and what they do. Tomorrow we’ll address other questions that have come in from our Facebook group and by email regarding what demons can and cannot do.