The spirit of Jezebel (From YWAM teachings by Mariette Louw)
The basic goal of the spirit of Jezebel is to destroy the image of God the Father on
the earth. A prime point of attack is to
ruin the image of our fathers in our families.
Overly strong, independent women, homo-sexuality, worship of women
(Mary) or goddess, and matriarchal societies are a few of the things Jezebel
uses to destroy men and the proper image of maleness and fathers so as to
destroy the image of God as our heavenly father. Jezebel crushes the will, especially the will
of men to make them passive. Jezebel
works through dominant mothers and passive men.
The point is to crush the Godly image of maleness. Wherever you find the spirit of Jezebel you
will find and Ahab; crushed men.
The demons Baal and Asherah are always associated
with Jezebel (1 Kings. 18:19). Baal is
the male god and Asherah the female counterpart. Baal's symbol is the obelisk (represents the
male organ). Baal worship had and has
immorality of every kind. Baal is also
associated with Molech, which is the sacrifice of children (abortion). Wherever there is an obelisk or an Asherah
pole, there is Jezebel. These statues or monuments are where the spiritual and
physical worlds intersect; the worship sites and high places or seats of power
of Jezebel. The spirit of death is often
associated with and accompanies Jezebel.
The Asherah pole or tree trunk with sprouts (1 Kings 16:33) symbolizes
the fertility between the two gods.
Asherah is the female god now worshipped as mother earth by the New Age
followers.
The battle with
Jezebel is given to us in first and second Kings. One man with a prophetic anointing took on
all of the prophets of Baal. When Elijah
called out, God poured out fire from heaven.
We fight Jezebel with the fire of
God, the Holy Spirit (1 Kings. 18:36-40).
After the battle, Elijah went into intercession and the rain of blessing
and revival followed. We must defeat
Jezebel for revival to come (1 Kings. 18:41-46). In 1 Kings 19:1-2 Elijah slew the priests of
Baal with the sword, so we must use the
Word of God in our battle. Jezebel
doesn't give up easily. In 1 Kings
19:1-9 Jezebel threatens Elijah's life and she will threaten those that oppose
her. We can become depressed and
silenced by Jezebel also but like Elijah, God will provide angels to care for
us.
Jezebel often comes
into action when men can't get what they want.
She steps in a offers to get it for them. She usurps their authority, takes control and
men become weaker and weaker. They loose
their self respect, their maleness and become manipulated servants of the
spirit of Jezebel (1 Kings. 21:1-8). In
verses 9 through 19 we see her manipulating the elders of the city to kill an
innocent man. The government leaders are
the ones she often uses like puppets on a string. She is a murderer of men and kills
maleness. She kills and silences prophets; her archenemy because they have
the anointing to destroy and overcome her.
In 2 Kings 9:1-5 we find Elijah the prophet anointing Jehu the
warrior to bring God's judgment on Jezebel and her offspring. This happened in an inner room and this is
where we will get the anointing, the Jehu anointing and fighting spirit to
overcome Jezebel. It is in the place of
intimacy with God, the "inner room", where we get the fighting
spirit, the authority and the weapons, the power, with which to fight and
defeat Jezebel. In verses 30-33 we see
that Jezebel lives with castrated, emasculated men; men who have lost their
maleness. Jehu is a man who refuses to
let Jezebel control or intimidate him.
But it is the men who she had been controlling who actually threw her
down and killed her. It is the crushed
men who have been freed from her who have the greatest authority to throw her
down and destroy her.
To fight Jezebel we
need both the Jehu (the fighting spirit), and the Elijah (prophetic)
spirit. When we encounter Jezebel we can
either tolerate her or we can expose her.
Exposing her is the first step in defeating her. Jezebel operates in five areas according to
Rev. 2:18-24.
1. She calls herself a prophetess. She is a religious
spirit and controls the church through legalism or liberalism. Legalism
loves laws and is inflexible. It has
narrow boundaries. It takes absolutes
and makes them relatives. Liberalism takes absolutes and makes
them relatives (all ways or many ways lead to God).
2. She teaches and misleads. This is witchcraft of controlling and manipulating people. She controls through causing withdrawal, breaking
of relationships, silence, sex, sulking or throwing tantrums, flattery, double
mindedness, and broken and inactive wills (inability to make decisions). She can attack not only the will but also the
mind and she can bruise the emotions in order to control and manipulate people.
3. She uses
sexual immorality. Lust and
perversion in thought and in deed are used to bring shame and destroy true
sexuality. We must expose her by
confessing sin. Confession and exposure
shuts Jezebel down for she says that no one sees her (Is. 47:10). Our confession will shame the devil and give
her back double for the shame she has caused.
4. She causes men to eat food sacrificed to idols.
This is in essence to participate in idol worship itself (I Cor.
10:18). This is satisfying the lusts of
the flesh; giving in to the temptations of sin.
It is compromise where we excuse our sin instead of just confessing
it. It is compromise in order to meet
perceived needs and desires.
5. "Satan's
so-called deep secrets". This
is the occult; occult powers are submitted to Jezebel. Drugs and drug abuse are under her. Those under drugs need deliverance from
Jezebel. Astrologers and magicians are
under her, and so is the New Age, fascination with the occult, etc. (Isa. 47).
Revelation 2:26 To him
who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations --(NIV)
As we overcome Jezebel we will inherit and rule over the nations! Clarity will come as to what nations to go to
and as to what strategies to use. Where
Jezebel has control or influence she has probably distorted or perverted our
strategies for reaching nations. This is
why defeating Jezebel is critical to those trying to reach the nations for
Christ!
Isa. 47 is important
to use when fighting Jezebel. It is the
humiliation of the daughter of Babylon.
Rev. 18 is also key scripture.
Ps. 18 is the battle hymn for this last days battle with Jezebel, the daughter of Babylon.
Isaiah 47:5 "Sit
in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be
called queen of kingdoms. (NIV)
Revelation 18:2 - With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen!
Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for
every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. (NIV)
There is another aspect of the later day works of the Jezebel or
daughter of Babylon spirit that is operating in the church. Looking again at Rev. 2:20-29 (NLT)
20But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting
that woman—that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet—to lead my servants astray.
She is encouraging them to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit
sexual sin.
21I gave her time to repent, but she would not turn away from
her immorality.
22Therefore, I will throw her upon a sickbed, and she will
suffer greatly with all who commit adultery with her, unless they turn away
from all their evil deeds.
`This
demonic spirit, operating in the later day church, calls herself a
prophet. The result is that this
spirit leads God’s servants astray (deceive-Matt. 24:4). This spirit encourages idol worship and
brings the spirit of harlotry (Ezk. 23:37, James 4:4) and division (or
rebellion) into the church.
The manifestation in our day seems to be that
some individuals are calling themselves “prophets”, giving both personal and
public prophecies in the church (Rom. 12:3).
The problem is that these individuals have not been appointed
(Eph. 4:11, Jer. 23:21) to the office of prophet. These individuals may even have giftings and
even callings into the prophetic ministries but God has not yet appointed
them to this position (Heb. 5:1-5, Matt. 22:14). Biblically this appointing is done by Jesus,
through the Holy Spirit operating through already appointed church
leadership. As in the case of Paul,
(Rom. 1:1, 1 Tim. 3:10, 2 Tim. 1:11, Acts 13:1-4, 1 Cor. 12:28) this
appointment generally comes after the person has served faithfully under
established leadership in lesser positions and has proven themselves and been
tried and tested to the point the their will is fully controlled by the Spirit
of God (1 Cor. 4:2). They will also be
fully submitted to the leadership that is used to appoint them.
When
“prophets” operate in a church that are self appointed or even appointed by others
that are not under submission to the local pastor or leadership, the fruits are
trouble. They undermine the authority of
the pastor and other leaders, often lead others into pride and self-exaltation
because they “prophecy” things that “tickle other’s ears” and tend to draw
attention to either them selves (Act. 20:30) or the people they are
“prophesying” to (Rom. 16:17-18). These
words tend to not build up, edify and encourage or even really bring correction
to the congregation, but to bring condemnation or just the opposite, exalt the
person, telling them what they want to hear and leading them astray. In the end, they open doors for rebellion,
pride, division and disunity (Rom. 16:17-18).
Prophets are known or tried by their fruits (Deut. 13:1-5). What fruit is or has been produced by the
prophets or prophecies in your church?
Basically the issue is one of subjection and
obedience (i.e. rebellion which is idolatry, 1 Sam. 15:23). Be careful with “prophets” that are
self-appointed or that come in from the outside (i.e. not a part of or
submitted to the established authority of the local church). This can be an open door for the spirit of
Jezebel to get a foothold in your church (1 Cor. 10:11, Titus 1:10).
