Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 161
TRANSCRIPT
Have you ever been in a church where there was a church split? If you have not, you are blessed. Why is it not unusual for a church to have a split? In this podcast I want to talk about a very destructive demonic stronghold that is coming against you and your church. I am not going to mention the name of this spirit yet because it may cause some to turn this podcast off. I believe that once I explain how this spirit operates, you will be glad you continued to listen.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations, and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom podcast. Today, we are going to talk about a very common spirit that affects most spirit-led churches. I will warn you up front, this is a controversial topic in some circles. I even read on one “Christian” website that this is not a demonic spirit, it is just behaviors that people exhibit. It is obvious to me that whoever wrote that has never actually encountered this demonic spirit. Today’s topic is the spirit of Jezebel and why you need to be aware of how it operates.
First of all, let me say that Jezebel is a demonic spirit that operates through both men and women. The original Jezebel in the bible was a woman, and many times, men want to attribute this spirit to only women. The spirit operates equally through both men and women.
Our first experience with the spirit of Jezebel it was operating through a man. We were looking to hire someone who could help us in a particular area of our ministry. This guy came to us very highly recommended by someone we trusted, and his resume looked really good, so we interviewed him for the job. Our first experience with Jezebel was during the interview. We asked about his previous employment and suggested that we needed to contact his previous employers. The people he had previously worked for were very well known and respected in the Christian community. His reaction to our request to have contact information for these employers was very manipulative, aimed at intimidating us into not calling his previous employers. The manipulation unfortunately worked on us, and we were intimidated into not making the phone calls asking for a reference. During his short employment with RTF, he continued to intimidate and manipulate us into doing things the way he wanted them done. He was a very talented guy, so it made our feelings of discomfort at his behavior even more difficult to understand. The final straw came when he accused us of lying about the content of emails that he sent out on our behalf. Because we did not call his previous employers, we signed a contract with him, and we had to buy out his contract in order to terminate his employment. Along the way, he called us every name you can use without swearing. Because this spirit is very convincing, he caused a division between us and our leadership. It was horrible.
What does this spirit of Jezebel look like? It is often a manipulative and controlling spirit, often associated with idolatry and spiritual deception. It seeks to dominate others and lead them away from the true faith and purpose. Some of the characteristics of this spirit are traits such as:
Control and Manipulation
A person under the influence of this spirit will try to control situations and people, often through subtle means, but sometimes through overt control. One of the main tactics of this spirit is to work its way into a situation by making itself valuable. You may see this in a church situation as a person who comes into the children’s department, or joins a prayer group, or joins the worship team and becomes so valuable that they earn control of the group. Then, over time, they manipulate the group to go against the given authority. We experienced this with the guy we hired. He was very good at what he did and made himself valuable in helping us. Then he began to try to control us and eventually tried to turn the leadership against us.
Pastors are susceptible to a person operating from this spirit because the spirit worms its way into the pastor’s life by becoming a very good friend and confidant. Then, over time, this spirit will turn on the pastor in an attempt to ruin his ministry. One common aspect of this spirit is the use of sexual seduction. We all know of pastors who have been taken out of ministry due to a sexual affair. I believe many times it was this spirit of Jezebel at work in his life and the church seducing him into making bad decisions.
Idolatry and Deception
Another common target for the spirit of Jezebel is the worship team. This attack on the worship team manifests itself in several different ways. It is common for worship leaders to get into sexual relationships with other members of the worship team. There may be other reasons for this propensity, but I think it is often the influence of this spirit of
Jezebel. This spirit also begins to cause idolatry and deception. When it is operating in the prayer group or the worship team, the spirit convinces people that the people in those groups are hearing from God better than the pastor or the leadership team. It then stirs up dissension with the pastor or leadership team.
Rejection of Authority
This spirit promotes a resistance to legitimate spiritual authority. Many years ago, we were part of helping start a church. As with most start-up churches, we needed people to help with every aspect of the ministry. A dynamic young couple began attending the church and offered to serve in the children’s ministry. They became so valuable to the children’s ministry that the church put them in charge. Over time, some issues began to emerge. The major problem was that this couple would not follow the direction of the church leadership. They felt like they knew how to run the children’s ministry better than the pastor. They also brought in a curriculum that they had personally written, without the approval of the pastor or elders. When they were confronted about their lack of submission to authority, they refused to listen. They were asked to leave their position in the children’s department and eventually were asked to leave the church because they were spreading dissent against the leadership. And because they endeared themselves to many of the parents of the kids in the children’s department, there was damage done to the church when they were asked to leave.
Persecution
Jezebel will attack or undermine those who oppose them. We experienced this firsthand with the guy that we hired. As long as we agreed with him and made sure that he got credit for the ideas he had that went well, things went along smoothly. But the moment we confronted him; he turned on us and began attacking us and trying to undermine our leadership with the rest of our team.
The spirit of Jezebel has four faces, so to speak. These four demonic influences are often found working together. Again, I am talking about these spirits to help you recognize when they are either trying to operate in your life, influencing your behavior, or they are coming against you by using another person to hinder your life in Jesus. Chester Kylstra uses the term that we can be an unwitting instrument being used by these demons. It is not that we are doing it voluntarily, but due to ignorance, we can unwittingly cooperate with this spirit.
The first face of Jezebel is the actual spirit of Jezebel. We have already described how this spirit works. This spirit almost always brings with it the spirit of Ahab. Ahab was Jezebel’s husband. Ahab was the passive counterpart to Jezebel’s control and manipulation. For the spirit of Jezebel to operate, there must be an Ahab who is passive and allows the spirit to operate. In our experience with Jezebel, I was the Ahab. I was passive and allowed the guy we hired to manipulate and intimidate us. I should have stood up to his control and shut it down, but I had never been confronted with the level of control and manipulation, and intimidation that we encountered through him. This spirit of Ahab is what causes pastors to go along with the spirit of Jezebel. I mentioned the couple who came into our start up church and took over the children’s department. This takeover was not right. The pastor knew it was not right, but because this couple had turned several of the leaders against the pastor, he became passive and did not confront this couple. It was only when the damage became severe did, he stand up and have the couple removed. Ahab was at work in his life fear and intimidation to cause him to remain passive.
Another face of this spirit of Jezebel is Leviathan. It is often depicted in the bible as a powerful sea creature, often described as a monstrous serpent or dragon. Leviathan causes chaos and evil against God’s people. It is most often seen causing chaos in communication. It tends to be able to twist communication. You have more than likely had this happen to you. You are in a conversation with someone and what they heard you say is not what you actually said. For example, you tell your friend that you will meet them at McDonalds at 3:00pm. They arrive at McDonalds at 2:30 and they are upset that you are so late. What could have happened is that Leviathan twisted your communication so that they heard something different than what you said. This twisting of communication is very common, and it is caused due to the influence of this spirit. I remember giving a teaching at a church and someone came up to me and said something about how wonderful it was that I talked about a certain topic. To my knowledge I did not talk about that topic, yet they heard something I did not say. Leviathan twists communication.
The third face of Jezebel is a spirit we call Python. This spirit historically refers to a spirit of divination or fortune-telling. A more common way this spirit operates is to try to restrict and oppress believers, hindering their spiritual growth and freedom. My simple definition is that Python attempts to squeeze the life out of believers. You may have had this happen, or you may know someone who has experienced this, but this spirit chokes the life out of a believer. They can get saved, but they struggle to catch their breath with God. It may be seen in someone who is always tired, both physically and spiritually.
We are talking about the spirit of Jezebel because it is much more common than most believers think. If we don’t stand guard against this spirit, it will use us to do its bidding. The demons try to convince believers of two things. First, they try to convince believers that demons don’t exist or if they do exist, they don’t oppress believers today. The second thing demons want Christians to believe is that if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone. The truth is that demons do exist, and their purpose is to hinder the life of a believer and keep them from maturing and being the powerful weapon of righteousness they are created to be. The truth is that we have authority over this spirit and any other demonic spirit we encounter. When we know and walk in our authority as children of God, we are a threat to the kingdom of darkness.
PRAYER
Father God, would You show us if we are being oppressed by this spirit of Jezebel. Would you also show us if the church we attend is being infiltrated by this spirit so we can stand in our authority as believers and resist its operation. We will no longer cooperate with this spirit any longer.
I know that this podcast was more about information than about ministry. If you suspect that you are being influenced by this spirit, please don’t put up with it. Contact one of our highly trained RTF Healing House Ministers at schedule a ministry session to rid yourself of this influence.