The title’s question mark gives away my conviction concerning this popular teaching.
It’s too long a message for a blog entry, so I’ve put it on my Other Writings page.
Here’s how it begins:
Let me lead into this subject by sharing my personal experience with a fellowship that used the term “familiar spirit” to refer to evil spirits that (according to this fellowship) entrench themselves in the families of mankind. For example, if Grandpa and Uncle Bill and cousin Jack are alcoholics, this is the work of a “familiar spirit,” and inevitably the new generation will grow up and be victimized by the same. Or, if Great Grandma and Grandma and Dad have heart disease or Alzheimer’s, this is no doubt the work of a “familiar spirit.”
The elders of this fellowship would sometimes visit the fellowship I was part of, bringing this teaching with them—to the point that just about every sin and problem and sickness in our midst was credited to the evil working of familiar spirits. Prayer times were invariably filled with their loud declarations binding the familiar spirit in So and so, and the familiar spirit over Such and such a family, or breaking the curse of a familiar spirit over this one who was sick… and so on….
Those interested can read the full message here: Generational Spirits?
A Mending Feast 
Good article, brother.
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Thanks, Robert. I wrote it a while back, and again a few weeks ago gave it to some friends to read. Then again a few days ago a brother asked me if I had anything on this teaching. So I thought I’d put it on my blog. It’s very concerning how readily we accept what comes “down the pipe” without verifying it by the Scriptures.
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Reblogged this on The Girded Mind and commented:
This article is well worth reading.
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Thanks for the reblog, Robert.
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Very Good and Clear teaching Allan! The serious result of the false teaching , now being promoted strongly in many circles , is that it detracts God’s people from seeking the True relief from their afflictions that the Blood of the Cross is intended to abundantly provide. It is actually a distraction and very degrading to the Glory and Power of Christ’s Atonement!
I hope this article finds its way into some of these circles!
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Thank you, Robert. Perhaps the Lord will see to it that this message gets to some of those circles you referred to.
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Very liberating word Allan. Thank you, may the Lord give you more boldness to continue to rightly divide the word of truth.
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Thank you, Alden. I much appreciate your prayers for me for more boldness. The apostle Paul knew his own need for such prayer (Eph. 6:19). How much more I.
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Hello Allan
Read your article and enjoyed your insight.
I have been doing some research on this as well considering the times in which we live.
The term “familiar spirits” as used in the KJV “familiar” is only mentioned in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew Word “Owb” which originally meant “water bottle”; the reference being that as the water bottle contained water inside the vessel these people were full of a demon inside their vessel. This term in the Hebrew came to be applied to the mediums or “spiritist” (as we call them today) to describe those who presented themselves as having contact with the deceased. The term “familiar spirit” was the English translation back in the 1600’s to reference their deceptive expression by seeking to deceive those who sought them out by imitating “familiar” tendencies of those who were dead. The term “familiar spirits” were applied to the spirits through which these mediums operated. It was never applied to family or generational sins of people but to the deceivers who would by demon power provide accurate portrayals or “familiar” details of the deceased though utterly false.
These same spirits can also come to people posing as someone who has passed on, someone with whom the person being deceived is “familiar” with. This wickedness is not only deceptive but deadly.
It is good to see sound teaching on these things.
Keep up the good work.
Brian
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Thanks for the further insight, Brian. Let the saints of the Lord gird themselves with the armour of light in this hour of increasing deception.
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Thank you for laying this out so clearly.
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It’s one of those things, Anna, that many Christians take for granted is backed by the Bible. It isn’t.
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