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Title: THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL IS ALIVE AND THRIVING - PART 1 OF 2 Post by: RhondaR on August 31, 2006, 07:36:45 PM THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL
(Dead or Alive) by Dr Michael J Thomas PhD STRATEGIES NOTE; The Jezebel spirit is atrributed to women, but can and does appear in men. This has noting to do with women preaching in the church, we atribute this spirit to a women who by the same name caused the fall of mighty men of God. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a divine strategy in place by which the Lord will restore and prepare His church, equip His army for a mighty final conflict of spiritual warfare, and bring into His house a great harvest of souls before He returns to judge the world. Satan also has a counter strategy of deception centered in the New Age Movement by which he seeks to frustrate the purpose of God. Satan's ultimate goal is to be worshipped as God by the world (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:8). Therefore, while he seeks to capture every soul, he knows that this will not be achieved simply by promoting atheism and unbridled lawlessness alone. For this reason, his primary focus is religious deception. Central in this strategy is the spirit of Jezebel. Christians, not wholly committed to Christ or who are unaware of these two strategies, face two potential losses: (1) Missing their opportunity to participate with the Lord in His great end-time work in and through the church. (2) Being ineffective in spiritual warfare and open to possible deception. THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The spirit of Elijah is vital to the Lord's strategy. Despite all truth that has been, and is being restored to the church since the time of Martin Luther, there exists one significant deficiency yet to be addressed. I do not say restored, for it was also missing in the early church. There has never been a generation of spiritual fathers who brought forth a generation of sons (converts) that surpassed them in excellence of character and ministry. Historically, when some truth was restored through a great man of God, his followers built a denominational monument to that truth and resisted further light. New truth would then arise through another man in later generations, but always with the same result. Thus, truth has been exploited by leaders to divide the body of Christ rather than bringing it into unity of the faith. A change is coming! The church the Lord will return for will be united in Him, fully manifesting His character, power, authority and demonstrating the fulfillment of scriptures such as Ephesians 4:11-16; John 17:20-23; Acts 3:17-21 and Joel 2:23-25. This great work in the church concerns the spirit of Elijah. His spirit, which rested upon John the Baptist, was an essential requirement for the Lords first advent. The spirit of Elijah is equally necessary to prepare the church for His second coming. Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse. (Malachi 4:5-6) And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first,And He answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished?. . . . (Matthew 17:10-12) Just as the Lord has recently removed the leaders of many communist nations to open doors for the gospel, so also will He replace many leaders in Christendom with a new generation of bondservants to lead and prepare His church. They will be men like Elijah. They will have hearts and a vision to raise up spiritual sons that excel them in ministry and (eventually) in stature. They will not seek to build a kingdom around their person and ministry, for they will have the spirit of Elijah resting upon them. The greatest miracle ever accomplished by Elijah took place during the years when he imparted to Elisha what God had built into him. It created a godly desire in Elisha to receive the anointing that rested on Elijah, along with understanding on how to avoid the weaknesses of character Elijah displayed in his conflict with Jezebel (i.e. fear, discouragement, self pity). The fruit of this miracle was evident when Elisha performed similar miracles-but twice as many as Elijah without evidence of fear and discouragement. The traditional mind-set of many ministers today is to pass on at death authority to someone on staff to carry on their ministry. This is unscriptural and contrary to developing spiritual excellence. One can pass nothing on at death; it must be imparted while we are alive! The final victory over Jezebel did not occur in the days of Elijah. It took place during the life time of Elisha when Jehu was king over Israel. In the final spiritual conflict of this age, a vital part of the Lord?s army will be young warriors who have been trained by godly fathers with the spirit of Elijah (1 John. 2:13-14; Psalm 110:1-3). This is a fundamental principle of excellence in the Lords end-time strategy for His church. This was a principle practiced and taught by Paul, but which appeared to cease with Timothy. THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Satan has placed certain fallen angels as authorities of darkness over populated cities, regions and countries (Ephesians 6:12; Daniel 10:13). Operating through demons, these principalities exercise specific roles of wickedness in deception and warfare against mankind. The spirit of Jezebel, one of these spirit beings, is the most dominant authority of evil over our nation today! The following are manifestations of this spirit which become apparent from observing the demonic behavior of Queen Jezebel whom it controlled. The wicked acts of the queen is why this being is called the spirit of Jezebel. Each characteristic represents a unique demonic influence which continues to mark this spirit today. 1 It is a spirit that seeks to control men and women, but primarily women, and to manipulate others through them, often through sexual means. 2 Jezebel fed four hundred prophets of the Asherah (a wooden symbol of a female deity) at her table. Her pagan religion included the practice of fertility rites. Besides having a devastating debasing effect on the practitioner, the acts of worship included male and female cultic prostitutes in hetero and homosexual liaisons. Such corrupt practices as child sacrifice and licentious worship also marked religious devotion to Baal who Jezebel served. 3 It is a controlling, rebellious spirit that resists all law and godly authority, especially male authority. Although Ahab, her husband, was king over Israel, it was really Jezebel who ruled. She, not Ahab, defined and led the retaliation against Elijah (1 Kings 19:2). 4 It is a lying accusing, manipulating spirit. Jezebel manipulated men of authority to have the man Naboth falsely accused and then stoned to death, in order to steal a vineyard he owned. 5 It is a spirit of devastating fear and discouragement. After Elijah slew the prophets of Baal, demons of fear and discouragement troubled him greatly, so much so that he wanted to die (1 Kings 19:3-4, 10-14). 6 It is a spirit of witchcraft and the occult. 7 Jezebel served Baal and supported four hundred and fifty demonic prophets of Baal, and was instrumental in leading the nation of Israel into idolatry. 8 It is a spirit of murder, and hatred for the word of God. 9 Jezebel destroyed the Lords prophets in Israel (1 Kings 18:4), and she tried to kill Elijah. She played the role of chief priestess to the Baal of that area (Melkarth), a god that required the burning of innocent children as oblations on his altar. JEZEBEL'S INFLUENCE IN SOCIETY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This spirit has been in the world for centuries, but in the strategy of Satan, has been placed over this nation in recent years to bring about the same breakdown in morals that it accomplished over Israel in the days of Ahab and Jezebel. A primary focus of Satan has been to destroy the family. The controlling, dominating spirit of Jezebel is the very antithesis of meekness and submission which are the qualities of godly women. This spirit seeks to emasculate the headship of man which God has ordained for the family and for leadership in the church. Title: Re: THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL IS ALIVE AND THRIVING - PART 2 OF 2 Post by: RhondaR on August 31, 2006, 07:39:02 PM JEZEBEL'S INFLUENCE IN CHURCHES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One ancient influence of this spirit in Christendom can be seen in the practice of presenting God to the people as a small baby in the arms of His mother, and encouraging prayer to her as a mediatress. A second, more recent example, is use of Mother as an acceptable alternative to Father when addressing Jehovah God. A third example is the increasing acceptance of women for ordination into the clergy (this is not say that women cannot be ordained) Of course, the closer a church walks in the ways of the world, the greater will the previous list of social influences become apparent in it. Ordination of homosexuals is one such example. The only answer to such influences is total repentance and commitment to the Lord. However, the most significant and potentially dangerous influence can come from not understanding the strategies that are back of spiritual warfare today. The second conflict between Elijah and Jezebel is about to begin! The Lord is apprehending a new generation of bond-servant leaders (both men and women) with hearts to raise up overcomers, to build the army of the Lord and to prepare the church for His return. The spirit of Elijah will rest upon them to bring forth these end-time Elisha's. Because they have the now word of the Lord for His church, just as Elijah did for Israel in his day, they are going to be attacked by the Jezebel spirit. God will allow this in order to test and teach His children to overcome. Thus, the more spiritual of saints can expect the assault of this spirit. Consider the Lords words to the church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:19-20): I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. After such words of commendation, it would seem almost impossible to imagine anything amiss in such a church! However, the Lord goes on to say: But I have this against you, that you "tolerate" the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray. . . . There is no higher calling for a believer in this life than that of a bond-servant for Christ. It was the very best of the saints who were led astray; not by a woman, but by the prophetic evil spirit of Jezebel. The goal of its deception, shown in verse 24, was to subtly introduce the deep things of Satan to eventually corrupt and mislead the church. It is not enough to serve the Lord with all of our heart; we must also be men and women of His presence. This is how we protect our hearts from error. The real fault of the Thyatira church was the tolerance of its leadership to so called prophetic messages that were not from God. The elders failed to discern the spirit behind these revelations, and they did not judge their contents by the word of God. How do the more spiritual guard themselves from the spirit of Jezebel? VICTORY OVER JEZEBEL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The place of victory over this spirit begins with godly character that is rooted in humility and submission. First of all, submission to the Lord, and secondly, submission to those over us in the Lord. It is particularly important for wives to honor the headship of their husband, and for single sisters to honor the oversight of their elders. The primary assault of Jezebel is against all godly male authority. She seeks to manipulate leaders, whether in family oversight or church government. She hates male leaders who declare the word of God with authority, and who give clear direction to the church. We are considering these things within the context of a spiritual (i.e. New Testament) church environment where husbands do hear from God through their wives, and where elders recognize and receive the prophetic words of the Lord through other members of the body of Christ. There appears to be no evidence that lack of submission was an issue at Thyatira. Thus, a second vital step in defense is to be equipped by the Holy Spirit and the word of God so as to recognize what is false and opens the door to deception. In essence, this requires gifts of the Holy Spirit (i.e. word of knowledge and discerning of spirits) plus clear knowledge from scriptures of how the spirit of Jezebel can initiate deception into the mind of even spiritual believers. The following are some examples of what believers and leadership must guard against. These may come in the form of impressions, revelations, prophetic messages, words from other believers, dreams, etc. In all cases, they are to be rejected. To believe or embrace them is to potentially become open to demonic influence of this spirit. This can lead to further deception, and to introducing that deception into the church. ----- Your husband doesn't understand spiritual things; you are the real spiritual leader of your family ----- Your spouse doesn't understand you; that persons spouse does, therefore, confide in him (her) ----- You have revelations; the elders and the rest of the church do not understand. Therefore, leave the church and go develop your ministry ----- Sexual relations are carnal; therefore, leave your spouse and children to follow me ----- Use sex to persuade your husband to allow you to assume the ministry and role of spiritual leadership in your family. ----- Use your service (prayer, talents, giving, spiritual gift) to influence the elders to seek your input for their decisions. You should be recognized for your spirituality ----- The elders are not spiritual and do not have the mind of God for the church. I have given you revelations and directions for the church to follow The spirit of takeover, is the mist of the church (male or female) TO LEADERS: [[[[[[ Your church is the most spiritual and the only right one; don't associate with leaders of other churches [[[[[[ You do not have to be accountable to other men; you alone are leader of the church,that God has placed you over [[[[[[ Lack of accountability is a major reason why many leaders fall into sin and their ministry is discredited. The spirit of Jezebel seeks to prevent the accountability of a Biblical leadership for local church government [[[[[[ Unexpected and overwhelming spirits of fear or discouragement [[[[[[ Desires for sexual fantasies [[[[[[ The elders lack spiritual insight and wisdom; they are unable to give you counsel so just ignore their words These illustrations do not address the obvious and more gross sins, but they do point out clearly the type of subtle overtures Satan uses to gain openings in spiritual believers so as to divide believer from believer, husband from wife, believers from the eldership, leader from leader and church from church. All sin can follow once Gods authority is manipulated or destroyed in group relationships. The spirit of Jezebel had the last word in her conflict with Elijah. It was when he was under the attack of the demons of fear and discouragement that the Lord directed him to go and anoint Elisha prophet in his place. The Elijah's of today are not to run in fear or be discouraged. This is the day of victory! Dr Michael J Thomas PhD Sr Pastor IDMC 10/2003 http://www.idmc.org/idm/the_jezebel_spirit |