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Spirit of Jezebel, who is she? Is she real? You know, there's a lot of mentions in the Bible. In fact, somebody counted 22 times Jezebel is mentioned and her husband Ahab mentioned 90 times. But we really see her in the Old Testament, 1 Kings chapter 18 and in the New Testament, Revelation 2:20.
But Jezebel, even though there is no word specifically in the Bible, “spirit of Jezebel” as it says, you know, “spirit of heaviness,” “spirit of fear,” it doesn’t use the word “spirit of Jezebel” yet because we see her reappearing again in the Book of Revelation. We can assume that a spirit of Jezebel is really a demonic spirit that inhabits a person that causes them to be driven by sexual appetites and by control and false teaching.
The best way to define this Jezebel spirit, it’s pretty much characterized as anyone who lives like Jezebel did: engaging in immorality, idolatry, false teaching, and unrepentant sin. You know, she was guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of God or fear of men, passionate in her pursuit and attachment of heathen worship. She spared no pain to maintain idolatry around her in all of its splendor.
In fact, let’s read what the New Testament says about this Queen Jezebel, who I believe is still alive and well, and it operates in a lot of people and even in some churches. In Revelation 2:20 it says: Ouch! That’s some pretty strong words. I want you to notice who had this woman operating – the church. The church had a Jezebel operating in pretty high levels.
So let’s look at eight things I want to mention about this spirit of Jezebel that I believe still operates and we as pastors, ministers, and believers have to be aware.
Number one, it can operate in men and women. I remember doing deliverance on one guy, it’s on my YouTube, you can see it—in another city and was a spirit of Jezebel that was bringing lust in his life and he was a guy. After he was delivered, he was freed from pornography.
Number two, this is a spirit that causes control, manipulation, and domination, which is kind of a form of witchcraft. Jezebel was a control freak. We must understand that control of people is a sign of witchcraft. Control of people, dominating, intimidating, manipulating is a sign of a Jezebel characteristic. You might not be comfortable calling it Jezebel spirit because the Bible doesn’t say Jezebel spirit, but it’s her lane. Okay? It’s her world. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The fruit of Jezebel is people control. It’s controlling everything else except self.
A third sign of Jezebel, she’s really good at intimidation. She causes fear, flight, and discouragement. She didn’t kill Elijah; she threatened him. She sent a messenger to make him run, to make him flee, to make him be discouraged. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. The guy was crazy, okay, he was fearless. He was reckless. Like, he was scary. I would be scared of Elijah if I were Jezebel, okay? But Jezebel didn’t want to kill him; otherwise, she wouldn’t send a messenger, she would have sent an assassin. She wanted to scare him. She wanted to make him run. She wanted to make him overthink. She wanted to make him complain, and she accomplished that really well because Elijah ran. He started to complain he was the only one, there was nobody else. “God take my life.” He despaired of life. Even though he just had a great victory on Mount Carmel, he slaughtered the prophets of Jezebel.
And a lot of times after great victories, this spirit, this demonic work to bring deep, deep despair, deep discouragement, like, almost like not normal, like spiritual, you just feel like, “I don’t want to live, I want to quit. I want to give up. I’m burned out.” And that’s not to say that we emotionally, physically get tired and need to be refreshed, renewed, and recalibrated. But in Elijah’s case, Jezebel pushed him over the edge. Maybe you are experiencing that. What if I were to tell you that behind some of the burnouts, discouragements, disappointments is an evil spirit? It’s an evil plot and a plan to wear you out, take you out. The enemy can’t attack you head-on; he wants to wear you out. Find comfort in a still small voice of God. Get back in the game and keep on fighting.
Sign number four of a Jezebel spirit is seduction and sexual immorality. Jesus made it very clear. He pretty much pulled the curtains and said this Jezebel, she seduces, listen to this, “My servants with sexual immorality or to commit sexual immorality.” Now we see— How many servants of God and pastors get seduced and fell into sexual immorality? I am not in any way going to point fingers or throw stones, because I myself am in the same danger to come under discouragement. And I feel like when the enemy can’t take you out by wearing you out, then the enemy changes the tactic through seduction. When Jehu came to destroy Jezebel, she came out of the window and she put makeup on. Okay? This wicked queen, she wanted to seduce Jehu. Revelation chapter 2 says clearly: “Seduces My servants.” That means she is after the preachers. She is after the ministers, the evangelists. Why is she after them? If she can’t wear them out, she is going to seduce them. Why? Because when a person in the place of authority, in the place of influence falls, their fall doesn’t just attack their spouse, influence and affect their spouse, it affects those that believed in them, followed them, knew them. When great preachers like Ravi Zacharias, when great preachers like—recently not long ago Carl Lentz, and so many others throughout the history that fell into sexual immorality, the kind of damage it did to other believers, the damage it did to the Name of Jesus was way bigger than if somebody, an ordinary Christian committed the same sin. I am not in any way saying that these sins didn’t damage those families, didn’t cause huge pain to those families. And I’m not in any way saying that these men are not held accountable and they shouldn’t repent. We must understand, please pray for your pastors. Pray for the preachers. Pray for God’s servants. Okay? Because the higher God takes them, the higher God takes them, the more the enemy wants to attack them and those heights so that when they fall, great is their fall and many can be affected by their fall. You know, when David committed sexual immorality with Bathsheba, God says you gave My enemies a reason to reproach, to blaspheme My Name. And David’s consequences were very severe. And this I believe Jezebel seeks to seduce God’s servants through pornography, through affairs, and through just flirtations, all kinds of things to distract them. If it can’t distract them with discouragement, it will seek to distract them with seduction.
This Jezebel, the Bible teaches that she prophesies and teaches in the church. Now that’s crazy. How did she get to the church? In the Old Testament, Jezebel was fully in control of religion. Not only was she a queen, a political figure, she was a religious leader. She had prophets on her payroll, and she really controlled the religious climate in her time. In the Book of Revelation, we see a similar thing where this woman, she declares herself a prophetess and she teaches. Meaning she has a place of influence, and she has a place where she can influence the culture of the church by her mouth. This doesn’t mean that she was a woman. We don’t know. Maybe a man, maybe a woman and stuff because a lot of women didn’t preach at those times in those churches. But maybe she was a woman, maybe she was a man. It’s someone who preaches a false doctrine. Someone who preaches other truths than the gospel. And we have to be very careful. No matter how good they sound, no matter how good they look, no matter how much influence they have, Jezebel is not just a seductive, controlling, you know, infuses you with fear and manipulation, it’s also a teacher. And those of us who teach God’s Word, we have to be very careful that we don’t come under influence by teaching something that is not true to the Scriptures.
Number six is Jezebel quickly rises to the place of influence and leadership. She loves to be in the place of leadership. She was not just a servant; she was a queen. And in this place, she was a prophetess in Revelation chapter 2. She was in the place where she was influencing. She loves the spotlight. I’m always cautious when people are addicted to the spotlight, when young men and young women cannot live without a microphone, or they need a podium to feel validated. They need a place of visibility to feel valued. It’s very dangerous. And unknowingly, you can yield and give yourself to this spirit through this insecurity. You can allow this demonic bully to take over you and begin to infiltrate the church and the Kingdom of God through your vulnerability, through your—not vulnerability, through your carelessness, through your desiring for fame, desiring to be known, desiring a position of leadership not so you can serve, but so you can shine. It’s very dangerous because then you can be in that place and actually bring damage because something else is controlling you. And you become like a puppet for an evil plot, an evil ploy, an evil spirit.
Number seven, Jezebel thrives where there is weak leadership. For every Jezebel, there is an Ahab. In fact, Jezebel couldn’t do anything without Ahab. Ahab is the enabler. Ahab couldn’t stand up to her. Ahab was passive, and therefore, God had to use Elijah to confront Jezebel. He had to use Jehu to wipe her out, to take her out because Ahab couldn’t do it. Jezebel thrives in places where leadership is afraid of confrontation. Where leadership is so passive, so fearful of any kind of conflict that it will cause by confronting Jezebel. They’re just keeping peace at any cost. Even if it’s destroying the ministry, even if it’s causing things to be taught wrong, “I just don’t want to upset people.” And this kind of Ahab attitude is what Jezebel loves. It thrives in those kinds of environments. Now, I’m not saying we have to love confrontation, none of us do. But part of the challenge of being a Christian leader, part of the challenge of being a pastor is you have to spot a Jezebel and you have got to stop her. And to do that, you have to be confrontive. To do that, you have to have a spirit of Elijah, you have to have a characteristic of Elijah where you can face head-on and stop it and you are not afraid of the consequences. God even said, He says, “I’m going to throw her in the sick bed.” God was confronting her. So God wants us to rise up against that. And I’m not talking about now going and attacking every person that you don’t like in the church. First of all, deal with Jezebel within your life. Certain habits, attitudes, control tendencies, you know, discouragements, sexual sins, this desire for fame, desire to be known not so you can make Jesus known but so you can feel more secure, more confident about yourself. Deal with those things in your heart first. We have to deal with—I have to deal with my own heart before I deal with that with others. And when I spot things that are out of line, not to be afraid of men, but to confront things and to put them in the right place.
Lastly, is Jezebel is usually not repentant. And we see in Kings that Jezebel never repented; she had to be punished. In the Book of Revelation, God gives her a chance to repent, but God is already saying, “I’m throwing her in the sick bed,” meaning I’m going to punish her. I’m going to discipline her and everyone else who was involved in her deception. And He says, if she doesn’t repent, I’m going to start killing things. I don’t know if that’s literally killing children. I don’t know about that. Or this is speaking maybe of some kind of other thing, I don’t know, but I know there are consequences to allowing Jezebel to operate in your life. And so, confront that witch head-on. Control that wicked queen head-on. And don’t give her a place through discouragement, through seduction, through control, believing false doctrine, seeking, you know, a place of leadership to shine when you don’t have the gift and calling to be at that place because you’re just insecure, you know, being a bully. Don’t give that Jezebel a place in your life. Overcome her by repentance, by trusting in Jesus, preaching the truth, seeking to have self-control instead of people control, overcoming discouragement. It’s okay to be discouraged; it’s not okay to stay like that. To fighting and fleeing sexual immorality instead of fleeing your calling. And seeking to serve instead of to shine, meaning being in the spotlight. That’s what I mean because we are all called to shine as lights and be the salt. But I’m talking about, you know, desiring the spotlight for the sake of being known and famous.
Thank you for watching this video. I hope that you were challenged and encouraged to live in the way of Christ instead of in the way of the wicked queen. Drop in the comment what you learned today. Make sure you hit thumbs up for this video, share it on your social media, encourage other people to join this channel. Let me know how this has been a blessing to you as well as subscribe to this channel so you can be reminded each time we upload new videos and click on the bell so that when we go live or when we post videos you can be reminded. Until next time.