This post is part 2 of what happened after I dropped Pastor Pete Couper off from Monday afternoon, September 14th and covers ground through Thursday, September 17th.  It has to do with a familiar spirit and how this affected me.

So what is a familiar spirit?

• Dictionary.com –  “A supernatural spirit or demon supposed to attend on or serve a person.”
• Google  – “A demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal.”

I did some more research on this topic to better understand what happened to me.  My source for the following information is from GotQuestions?.org.

• Question: “What are familiar spirits?”Answer:

  The word familiar is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a “household servant,” and is intended to express the idea that sorcerers had spirits as their servants ready to obey their commands. Those attempting to contact the dead, even to this day, usually have some sort of spirit guide who communicates with them. These are familiar spirits.Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27; and Deuteronomy 18:9-14 refer to “mediums and familiar spirits” and forbids being involved with them, as they are an abomination to the Lord. A medium is one who acts as a liaison to supposedly contact or communicate with the dead on behalf of the living. In reality mediums are contacting demons who convince the mediums that they are “familiar” and can be trusted and believed. The practices associated with mediums and familiar spirits were banned in Israel, and the punishment for practicing such things was death.

  Familiar spirits and spirit guides are under the control of their master, Satan. They influence people to spread lies and deceit in order to thwart the kingdom of God. To knowingly open oneself to the work of demons is an evil thing: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in [a] fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12a).

  Some avenues through which demons or “familiar spirits” can gain entrance into a person’s life are divination, transcendental meditation, visualization, necromancy, witchcraft, drugs, and alcohol. These are all activities that believers are exhorted to avoid. Instead, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, with love, with joy, and with the fullness of life that comes from Jesus Christ. We are also to be on guard, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

I wanted to lay the foundation of understanding for what I experienced after I dropped Pete off.  I have come to learn through Wisdom not to focus on the enemy rather, to keep my focus on Jesus.  However, we can’t ignore the enemy either.  We have to recognize that the enemy may be a defeated foe, but that will not stop him from wreaking havoc on our lives or on those we love.

When I dropped Pete off and drove away – I immediately started to feel an oppression come over me.  I can only describe it as a blanket that fell upon me.  It was heavy and I felt alone.  In an instant, everything changed.  I was agitated and feeling irritable.  This describes my nature over the next three days.  It had an impact on everything including my family.  Since I started my sabbatical almost two months ago, one of the benefits I have had the luxury of experiencing has been my mornings with the Lord.  Generally speaking, from 6 am to around noon I have simply been with the Lord praying, reading the Word, and writing.  But, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning last week it was different.  I tried but quite frankly, I simply lost the motivation.  This was scary.  I have never really experienced severe depression in my life, so all I can say is that this is the only way I can describe it – depression.

Is it possible that the seed of depression is demonic?  Look, I am not a Psychologist but if what I experienced was depression, and I can pinpoint the location where the seed was planted, and I can describe my experience in detail, and I can describe (As I will in my next post) how God pulled me out of it – then, as far as I am concerned it is.  You simply can’t deny my experience.  I believe God, in His sovereignty had something to show me.  Something I needed to see.

What I haven’t told you is that Pete dealt with this for at least two days before we went to North Branch.  And G dealt with this for at least two days after he went and prayed in North Branch.

Here is what I have concluded.  There is a powerful principality over this region and it now knows who we are.  God allowed us all to experience this so we would know who we are dealing with.  This familiar spirit is what we are up against.  Overcoming this spirit is the topic of my next post.