Imaginary Playmates. It is not unusual to find a child who has an imaginary playmate. The invisible companion is very real to the child. In fact, the playmate may be invisible to others but appear visibly to the child. The imaginary playmate becomes a companion and a teacher of the child.

What begins, in the child's imagination, as a technique to offset loneliness, evolves into a relationship with a familiar spirit. A four- year-old-boy, to whom we ministered, had an imaginary playmate whom he called Charcoal. We asked why he called his playmate "Charcoal," and he insisted that the playmate told him that his name was Charcoal. In order to be set free, the boy first had to fall out of agreement with the familiar spirit and, command him to go. Although he was normally an obedient child, he was so threatened by the prospect of losing his companion that he stubbornly resisted his father's coercion to renounce the demonic presence. After a successful deliverance, there was a marked improvement in the child's personality and behavior.

In another case, my wife and I ministered to a young woman who was plagued by extreme supernatural phenomena. Poltergeists manifested themselves in her house; she experienced unsought astral travel, and possessed undesired psychic insights. The root cause for all the supernatural phenomena was, in her particular case, an early childhood relationship with an imaginary playmate. Her parents had divorced when she was four- years of age. Rejection and insecurity resulted because she was passed around for different ones to raise. She began to play with an imaginary friend, a familiar spirit, named "Genie." Interestingly, Genie (a derivation of jinn) is one of a class of spirits which assumes various forms, exercises supernatural power, and serves his summoner. The familiar spirit, Genie, was responsible for the occult phenomena.