An unbelieving woman at Endor was involved with a demon and the occult. By treating what Scripture reveals about her, we learn that we must beware dangerously wrong views about unbelievers, demons, and the occult!
An Unbeliever Who Had a Demon
Scripture reveals that there was a woman at Endor about whom other people knew and testified that she had a familiar spirit:
1 Sam. 28:7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
God through the inspired writer of Scripture confirms elsewhere the validity of their testimony that she had a demon:
1 Chr. 10:13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
Because she had a demon, we know that she was an unbeliever. We also know that she did not have the Spirit.
Furthermore, Scripture does not provide any information about this woman ever having any access to divine revelation, either directly or through reading or hearing read whatever divine revelation that had by then been inscripturated and was available at that time.
An Unbeliever with Authentic Information about Occult Interactions with Demons
Without initially revealing his identity to her, Saul contacted this unbelieving woman to engage for his sake in an occult practice through a demon:
1 Sam. 28:8 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.
When Saul did so, she testified of her knowledge that Saul had cut off such people who had demons and engaged in that occult practice:
1 Sam. 28:9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
She also testified of her belief that for her to comply with this request would be to endanger her own life.
She thus responded in a way showing that she knew that she had a demon. Two points support this reading of what is recorded about how she answered him.
First, her responses imply that she did not protest by saying that she does not believe in demons or that there is no such thing as a demon.
Second, her responses imply that she also did not say that she does not know how to interact with demons to engage in the occult practice that he wanted her to do.
Her responses therefore teach us that she knew and believed that she was a woman who had a demon in keeping with the type of person that they believed her to be.
Furthermore, other divine revelation about this same event shows that she knew that she was being asked to interact with to a demon to receive information through it:
1 Chr. 10:13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
This unbelieving woman who had a demon authentically knew that she had a demon and that she had had interactions with it in engaging in an occult practice. Without having the Spirit or having access to divine revelation, she authentically knew and believed these things and testified to them.
An Unbeliever Who Knew Authentically about Other People Engaging in Occult Interactions with Demons
This woman knew and believed that there were other people who had demons and engaged in occult interactions with them in the same way that she did:
1 Sam. 28:9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
We thus learn that not only did this unbelieving woman who had a demon authentically know that she engaged in occult interactions with a demon, but also she knew of others who did the same thing. Because she was an unbeliever, we learn that having the spiritual discernment that only a (mature) believer would have was not necessary for her to have such authentic knowledge and to testify authentically about her having such knowledge.
Discussion
From the points treated above, we learn several key truths. First, we know that people who are unbelievers can authentically know that they truly have had demons and have had occult interactions with them.
Second, we also learn that having the Spirit and having access to or familiarity with divine revelation are not necessary for unbelievers to have such authentic knowledge.
Third, we learn that people’s authentically knowing that they have demons and proclaim information through occult interactions with them does not require that they have the spiritual discernment that only a (mature) believer has.
Application
We must not hold several wrong views about unbelievers, demons, and the occult. To begin with, we must not hold that unbelievers cannot know authentically that they have a demon and have had occult interactions with them.
Furthermore, we must not believe that they cannot authentically speak about their having had occult interactions with demons and being influenced by demons in those interactions.
Moreover, we must not hold that we may safely disregard testimonies from unbelievers about their having had occult interactions with demons.
Conclusion
By holding the wrong views discussed above, there very likely are many believers who have endangered themselves by disregarding information provided by unbelievers about their occult interactions with demons. We must correct any such wrong views that we may have been holding, and we must treat any such information with great seriousness and care and alter our lives properly according to the nature of the information!
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
