One of the activities of evil spirits mentioned in the Bible is that of "familiar" or "divining" spirits. These demons appear to have the ability to rouse the dead from their ordained sleep. They also seem to be able to foretell the future, to some extent. The first mention we see of these spirits in the Scriptures is a warning from God to avoid consorting with them or the mediums that contact them.

"Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God."Leviticus 19:31

"And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people."Leviticus 20: 6

"A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them."Leviticus 20:27

“There shall not be found in thee one who purges his son or his daughter with fire, one who uses divination, who deals with omens, and augury, a sorcerer employing incantation, one who has in him a divining spirit, an observer of signs, questioning the dead.”Deuteronomy 18:10

“Then Saul said to his servants, Seek for me a woman who has in her a divining spirit, and I will go to her, and enquire of her: and his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has in her a divining spirit at Aendor.  And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he goes, and two men with him, and they come to the woman by night; and he said to her, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the divining spirit within thee, and bring up to me him whom I shall name to thee. And the woman said to him, Behold now, thou knowest what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who had in them divining spirits, and the wizards from the land, and why dost thou spread a snare for my life to destroy it?”I Samuel  28:7

“It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out at that very moment.”  Acts 16:16

Cases of possession are numerous in the New Testament and Jesus appears a the great figure of the “Exorcist” among his people. This practice seems to be inherited from the Apolyptical sects.

Below are a few of the examples available from the Scriptures records where evil spirits possessed and took up residence within human beings..

“There was a man in the synagogue who had a spirit, an unclean demon. And he cried out: ‘Ah! What have we to do with you, Jesus, the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you, you are the Holy One of God.’ And Jesus rebuked him and said: ‘Hold your peace and come out of him.’ And when the demon had thrown him down in front of them, he came out of him without hurting him...” Verse 41: “And demons went out from many, the demons crying out and saying ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ And he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew him to be the Messiah.” Luke 4:33

“But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.  Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.”Mark 7:25

“Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  And when He stepped out on the land, there met him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!" For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss [abusson]. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.“ Luke 8:26

The notion that the name of Jesus in itself has power over demons was disproved by the Biblical incident of the Jewish exorcists who attempted to use the names of Jesus and the apostle Paul as magical words of power to cast out a possessing demon from a man. The demon said through the voice of its human host "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?".

Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."  Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.  And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"  Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.Acts 19:11

Judas Iscariot was chosen as the twelfth apostle by Jesus and later betrayed him. At first glance, the Lord could be considered faulty for having put his trust into a potential traitor.

Strangely we hear that Jesus knew Judas’ real character from the very beginning.

"Have not I chosen twelve, and one of you is the devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him" (Jn. 6:70-71).

Judas was covetous and a thief. He stole out of the treasury bag of the apostolic band as John 12:6 tells us. We find him later going to the chief of priests of the Jews and saying to them"

"What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought to betray him" (Matt. 26:14-16).

At the last supper, the Lord dipped a morsel of bread in sauce and gave it to Judas. This was a custom of the host to honor a guest and it is indicated as a pledge of love .The next thing we read of Judas is that when the Passover supper was ended, the devil "now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him" (Jn. 13:2).

Judas was already tempted and sinful before Satan possessed him. Despite the three and one-half years he spent in the company of Jesus, his heart was untouched by all, never yielded his heart and soul to Christ. He carried out his thievery and covetousness which opened his heart to carry out Satan's evil design.

When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, "He felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? See to that yourself!' And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hung himself" (Matt. 27:3-5). Instead of repenting to God, he went out and committed suicide. So Peter later said: "Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place" (Acts 1:25). He did not go to paradise as the repentant, dying thief did. How sad is the history of Judas who sold his soul to Satan for money. It was truly as the Lord said, "It had been good for that man if he had never been born" (Matt. 26:24).

Some believe that the majority, and perhaps all, of the senseless crimes of violence, torture, perversion and hatred committed in the modern world can be attributed to the actions of possessing demons who have succeed in their efforts to tempt human beings to sins of evil, and having gained control over sinners by this means, are then free to use them as instruments to commit even greater works of evil

The late-afternoon TV talk shows and tabloids, as well as the legitimate press, provide multitudes of case studies which document the classic symptoms of demon possession singly and in various combinations and degrees of intensities.

This affirmation can be supported by the many interviews of serial-killers and other criminals that attribute their sins to some alien evil.

Ted Bundy was featured in a February 1996 A & E cable broadcast of the program Biography moderated by Jack Perkins. The program said this about an outside force which contributed to Bundy's crimes:

Now again, he would never admit that he "heard voices," because he knew that was insane. But, he would describe someone as "another Ted". This other Ted would start talking to him in this growling voice and point out that this woman thinks you could never have her. 'Look at her walking by. What is she thinking about you ...' And work him up into this hatred where then he would start this process of stalking ..."