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>An Open Door for Demonic Entry

The spirit of Jezebel can indeed be a formidable foe and therefore, will certainly be a significant challenge for any people who have lost their intimacy with the Lord. For the enemy of God keeps intent watch for those souls with whom the walk with the Lord as become a struggle partly because of broken fellowship.

Today we must be a people that has a testimony as Enoch, that, “he walked with the Lord; and was not; for God took him”; meaning by interpretation, that he disappeared or stopped being Enoch and started being like God.Enoch became perfect, of good comfort, having the mind of God, living in peace; and the scripture ends by saying; “and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2Cor.13:11).

But when we refuse to live in love and peace, then you give the enemy the right to continue to binds us as he strategically fills us with guilt and condemnation. So that in the end, we become souls void of the spirit of joy that he may gain his ultimate goal of torment and destruction. He knows that the joy of the Lord is the strength of God’s people and so he will do his utmost to effect frustration to wear out the saints, especially with the use of the spirit of Jezebel.

The spirit of Jezebel will oftentimes function as the strongman, as was the case of the wife of King Ahab, which has other spirits working in corporation with it to complete an assignment. Let me point out here that even though demon spirits hate each other, they will corporate for an assignment.

Paul gives us 4 satanic rankings listed in the book of Ephesians 6:12 (KJV), saying;

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”.

The Moody handbook of Theology describes the four classifications of angelic beings as;

Ephesians 6:12, “refers to “ranking of fallen angels”: rulers are “those who are first or high in rank”; powers are “thoseinvested with authority”; world-forces of this darkness “expresses the power or authority which they exercise over the world”; spiritual forces of wickedness describe the wicked spirits, “expressing their character and nature.”^22-7 Daniel 10:13 refers to the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” opposing Michael. This was not the king of Persia but rather a fallen angel under Satan’s control; he was a demon “of high rank, assigned by the chief of demons, Satan, to Persia as his special area of activity.”

That being so, we see that the spirit of Jezebel received it’s directions from the principality or ruling spirit known as Baal, the god of thunder, whom Israel after settling in Canaan, was deceived into believing that Yahweh was the God of the desert but worshipped Baal as the god of fertility for the cultivation of their new land. This syncretism was solidified during King Ahab’s reign when he was coerced by his wife Jezebel to make the worship of Baal a state religion in the northern kingdom.

Assignment

There is a myth, that because the enemy’s kingdom is separatist, that is, demons, regardless of their rank, fight each other for territorial control and are therefore ineffective because of there discord. This is parlayed in ancient Syrian mythology as we look at the dragon of the sea, Tannin, and Mut, the god of death and the underworld in a sequence of battles against Baal, the god of land. It is true that the devils camp is filled with hate and disgust among them but don’t be fooled for they have a common enemy, and his name is: “Adam”.

In Matthew 12:43-45, the Bible gives us an example of seven spirits returning with one who had been previously cast out and after wandering through dry places and finding no rest, returns with seven more stronger than himself to complete the assignment.

We see another instance where the children of men being inspired by spirits of control and domination desired to; “build a city and a tower, whose top may reach the heaven; and let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4-8).

That project came to a screeching halt as the Lord amazed at their corporation, said, “Let us go down, and there confound their language … nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do”.

The words which the people had spoken became words of prophecy, because that which they feared was carried out upon them and they were scattered over the face of the earth, disassociating their prescribed oneness.

Therefore one who is under an attack by the spirit of Jezebel may find symptoms of other demonic activity that’s without the normal scope of a jezebel attack, all in an attempt to get the assignment completed by any means necessary. Hence, Jezebel’s chameleon like disposition will undergo change to accommodate her selfish interests and expectations.

In this chapter, we will expose some demonic activity that will often accompany Jezebel in her evil pursuits to dominate, control and manipulate mankind.

Spiritual Disorder

In chapter one, we see how Satan lives up to his name, “Deceiver”, by luring the first man and woman into the sin of disobeying the command of God. Satan continues using seductive words to seduce the Eve’s of today into sin condemnation.

In a condemned state, Eve spirals towards perversion. Instead of just positioning herself as mans helpmeet, she becomes man’s domineer, taking on the perverted character of a jezebelian spirit, manipulating and controlling man in an attempt to overpower man out of his God-given position, which she envies. Just as Queen Jezebel did to her husband Ahab, this spirit attempts of conquest, drive modern day Eves further away from God into the bowels of witchcraft and abortion of marriages. She wants to rule over her husband instead of having her husband be in the authority which he had been given by God according to Genesis 3:16 which says,

‘Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee’.

She desperately attempts, as the maxim goes, “To put the shoe on the other foot”; but, obviously, it can’t fit for there is no grace for her to be in that position. God had said that because of the woman’s transgression that the determination of the will of the woman would be determined by her husband. This subjection to the will of the man would not function after spiritual resurrection or the new birth, for the woman would regain her position as man’s helpmeet.

Jezebel within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ attempts to disarm the “firing mechanism” or the passion of the saints of God, rendering them defenseless to her control and authority. Jezebel nullifies and fragments spiritual authority to the extent that the glory of the Lord will depart from a particular ministry, as the spirit of Jezebel tightens her grips, causing Ichabod to be written on the doorpost. In such a place, there can no move of God, merely a religious gathering.

In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were influenced by Jezebel to walk away from Jehovah and worship false gods. After that they had given themselves over to strange gods, they became distressed and confused, for they had left the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness. They forsook Jehovah, preferring Baalim and Ashteroth, and in their multiple transgressions, the glory of the Lord departed from them.

Hence God allowed the Philistines to take the Ark of the Covenant from them at Shiloh, which city aforetime had glorified in the majesty of the Lord, but now had become a curse. In Zephaniah 1:17, this is what the Lord says,

17 And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. (KJV).

A church in which the spirit of Jezebel is in control will be a defeated place, because of the blindness of the people, there is no spirit of prayer to beak the yolk, and no anointing to pull down bondages. Affliction after affliction and continual pain will visit the people, because there is no grace to carry the winds of God for revival and hence no manifestation of his power.

As we look at the book of 1Samuel, we see the old prophet Eli to have allowed the “little foxes to spoil the vine”. He exercised no direction over his sons who were fornicating in the temple doorway (a Philistine religious ritual in honor of Ashteroth). Spiritual disorder was indeed in the house of Israel, and Eli had allowed himself to become ‘fat’ as he compromised with the sin of his sons. This fatness was not only physical, but was prophetic of his excess of perversion that he allowed within his house. Eli leadership over Israel had lasted 40 years until he died of a broken neck.

He and his sons had separated Israel from their “Head”, Jehovah. The way he died, of a broken neck, was a prophetic sign that he and his sons had opened a door to demonic entry and caused the body of Israel to indulge in the sins of the Canaanites, thereby causing the glory of God to depart. Eli had lost his focus and had become inundated with the transgression of his house with which he refused to bring to an end.

His sons were treating the people’s sacrificial offerings with contempt in not administering their duties according to law. They forced upon Israel their will, as they would remove from the offering pot the portion that they desired, without firstly burning the fat.

Thus, the spirit of Jezebel had influenced all Israel, beginning from the temple of God, into greed, disharmony, manipulation and contempt of God’s spiritual authority.

Because Eli and his sons refused to repent, God choose a vessel from the barren womb of Hannah, fathered by Elkanah, an Ephrathite, as their replacement. His name was Samuel which means, “asked of God”. This prophet heeded the clarion call of Jehovah Saboath and led Israel to victorious revival.

Ever so often, God has to make an example within the church to get the eyes of mankind refocused on him and not on that which He has created. If not, man would start formulating his own religious systems, leading many into self-reliance, pride, and contentiousness, blinded to the fact that his wisdom and his knowledge is a source of perversion rather than a source of truth.

This false confidence further leads many to the methodical abortion of God’s governmental system and obstructs godly leadership. An example comes from the book of Numbers chapter 16 which tells of Korah and the 250 princes who sought to stop Moses from his assignment as God’s leader. The penalty for this interference, with Divinity at work was a swift exit from the living, as the earth opening her belly, gave entrance to them that were at fault. Israel’s utter bewilderment was to resulting an instant merging into an attitude of corporation, a sort of unity of the faith. This unity, however, was not given to longevity, but did produce momentary caution against murmuring and complaining

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Similarly, Eli and his sons led Israel into a pit – a waterless pit. When we equate water as being God’s word (Ephesians 5:26), and as we do this, we see the nation that was not leader-friendly, having none that would break the fresh word of God among the people without hypocrisy and undue gain. Eli’s sons had no zeal for God but were making merchandise of the things of God. Therefore the people were in a “pit”, powerless, oppressed, having no hope, alienated from God because of leadership that was caught up in idolatry.

The spirit of Jezebel’s aim is that the saints of God are made to be caught in a constant press, as that spirit tries to hammer away at, firstly, leadership or God’s delegated authorities in the earth realm, then the flock. The goal is to see them prostrate before it, to even walking away from their spiritual assignments and to be a reproach unto God.

Let me inject here that none of us (God’s people) has the right to pass judgment on another, as we are all being afflicted by the adversary in some salient or obtrusive manner and our only way out as one people is that we bear each others burden by prayer.

The Spirit of Ahab

The Jezebel spirit euphemistically “lives its life” through others around it. This domineering spirit, although being resident in one person, will attain its objectives through another – in most cases through someone close. This is exemplified in a husband and wife relationship, with the wife, in this case, is being driven by a spirit of Jezebel and the man a spirit of Ahab.

Weak-mindedness is symptomatic of a person in whom the spirit of Ahab is either afflicting or has possessed. This symptom is not pervasive in all areas but only in those Jezebel wants to influence or manipulate.

Let me point out that Ahab was one of the strongest Kings of Israel in respected to foreign policy and at the same time one of the weakest as he tried to syncretise the religious worship of his wife Jezebel who worshipped Baal and Ashteroth with that of Yahweh. Even though Ahab tried to serve Yahweh by naming his children in His honor, his wimpish attitude forbade him the strength to be man of his house and he soon built in Samaria for his wife, a temple to Baal, and his mistress of the mistress of the seas, Astarte.

Among the spirit of Ahab’s listings are: covetousness, and dishonesty in trying to usurp Naboth’s vineyard. Along with these goes a spirit of accusation, namely he accused Elijah the prophet 1Kings 18:17-18. We see also a spirit of flattery, 1Kings 20:4 and murder, 1Kings 21:10-24.

The Jezebel/Ahab couple may seem quite cordial in their relationship with other people, the male usually going out of his way to make sure that he does not exit the code of conduct that his wife has concocted but that he remains in the caricature of being her “male”. Needless to say, in his weak-minded attempt to please his “Jezebel” wife, he goes out of the call of duty, ending up being mistreated and his wimpish attitude makes him an offence to humanity

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Ahab does not defend himself because of fear produced by the bondage he calls “wife” who is always contriving the next move to humiliate her figure of a man lest he tries to break out of the bondage. The spirit of Jezebel ministers to the wife on how to keep her husband always under subjection. Her husband then develops and exhibits the nature of a mental freeloader, devoid of any innate personality, only operating as a “yes man”, him believing himself to be humble and modest, which Jezebel encourages. It is intended to decrease the man’s Adamic birthright and bring disrespect to God’s authority. Queen Jezebel had imposed on herself the title of goddess: self-acclaimed, proud, and distant; but deep down, insufficient, thus, imprisoning herself to misery and destruction.

Therefore, to operate successfully, the Jezebel spirit will always need an “Ahab”. This can either be a man, woman, or community, for without an “Ahab” to manipulate and control, this spirit soon looses its strength and effectiveness in its assignment as a strongman. Thus, “Ahab” gains freedom by the power of resisting, as he fights manfully the fight of faith (1Peter 5:9, 2Peter 1:10) to make his calling and election sure.

Selfishness

From the American Heritage Dictionary, we derive this meaning of self: the total, essential, or particular being of one person. Through creation (and not evolution), we know that God is the only total and true “self. When the creation begin to consider man as total and independent, then it becomes “selfish”. Jezebel lives for and through “self”, disregarding the fact that God is the only true “self”, and man is merely a vessel which God has made to contain his breath. For man, without the breath of God, is merely dust, which belongs to the serpent as an appetizer.

This selfish spirit causes disturbance and embarrassment in a marriage. In fact, it is frustrating, even to the mildest mannered spouse. As one of Jezebel’s weapons, it bears the similarity of being suffocated by a large snake: selfishness brings fatigue and exhaustion to its victim, with the intent of driving the victim into complete disparity.

Jezebel, driven by selfishness, tries to garrison her victim away from others who could uncover her own true self. She will argue her love is so great for a person that she refuses to allow that spouse time with others who it considers a treat to its perverted influence. “Others” could include family, friends, or other church members.

Jezebel also uses selfishness towards the destruction of another’s marriage. The spirit of jezebel operating in a woman can befriend a wife, win the wife’s confidence, belittle the husband, ruin his image, and shatter his wife’s respect. She selfishly controls the wife and divides husband/wife unity. Once accomplish, the spoils of her victory may be the seduction of the husband for herself. She cast aside the wife, no longer needing that relationship, because her control was ultimately to be gained over the husband anyway.

Could this be how Herodias ended up with Herod? What relationship did she destroy to get Herod for herself?