INSTITUTE OF LOVE

Knowing Jezebel
Text Box: As the “End Times” are drawing closer, we believe the secular, as well as the Christian world, is experiencing a worldwide cleansing. Everywhere sin is being exposed like never before, and God is giving His people divine wisdom to deal with the exposures in His mercy and grace, leading people to God’s heart and destiny for their lives, instead of condemning them and leaving them for the world to devour. May the Lord Jesus Christ guide and direct us. As the Bride of Christ is becoming whiter, we are also seeing an uprising of the counterfeit spirituality, the seducing spirit of Jezebel, working more actively than ever to kill, steal, and destroy.   While some Christians are ignorant and even skeptical of the spirit of Jezebel, many Christians have become educated in some facets of what this spirit of Jezebel is all about. Even so, we many times get this question when we teach on this subject: “I know I must fight the spirit of Jezebel in the Spirit and not in the flesh, but what exactly does that mean for me in real life? How should I behave around people in my family, my work place, my church etc. who have the spirit of Jezebel?” Many say things like: ”I just don’t understand why this is happening to me? Why are they doing this to me? I have tried to stand strong and pray but my energy is zapped, and I’m about to give up. Will I ever win over this spirit?”   From Edwin’s and my experience in battling Jezebel practically our entire lives, we want to share some of our personal experiences in how to practically deal with Jezebel – what to do and what to avoid. This encouragement is especially meant to be for those who feel God is telling them to combat the Jezebel Spirit they are facing in their lives. We do realize that not everybody is meant to enter into combat but rather feel led by God to stand back and not confront. This study is also for all the victims of this vicious Spirit of Jezebel, who doesn’t know what they are dealing with – yet! We pray they will be enlightened and filled with Godly discernment to discover any assignment on their lives. But first a little background on the spirit of Jezebel:   I know all the things you do — your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. But 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. I gave her time to repent, but she would not turn away from her immorality. Therefore, 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. I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching ('deeper truths,' as they call them — depths of Satan, really). I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come. Revelation 2:19-25 NLT   Jesus is calling Jezebel a false teacher that leads His servants astray, someone who encourage believers to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit sexual sin. You can find Jezebel in any level of society. She can be in your family, your school, work place, church — virtually anywhere. She is a woman who claims to have religious zeal and she likes to give herself titles, such as calling herself a prophet, and she likes to mingle with influential people, especially in church. This type of person is especially dangerous because she will deceive people to believe she is one of them, and thereby gain their confidence in order to start teaching them “deeper truths” that twists the original Word of God, making the simple Gospel complicated and mystical. Some people get so bedazzled by her deep “wisdom” that they start becoming addicted to mystifying the Word of God, making it cryptic and withheld to only the “chosen” or “special” one’s who are able to understand these truths that are actually myths. Jezebels’ specialty is to ensnare and convince people to follow her teaching’s that will lead them to rebellion against God. In their naïveté, people fall for her charm and give in to idol worship in their lives, just like King Ahab did when he married Jezebel.   And as though it were not enough to live like Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to worship Baal. 1. Kings 16:31 NLT   No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD's sight as did Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, influenced him. He was especially guilty because he worshiped idols just as the Amorites had done — the people whom the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. 1. Kings 21:25-26 NLT   The Old Testaments’ Queen Jezebel of Israel was a worshipper of Baal, who was a despicable god who required even human sacrifices, and she encouraged and led others to do the same. This way, she steered the people of Israel onto a path of disobedience toward their true God, and brought evil and destruction into the land. She was able to do this, because of the influence she gained over her husband.   One of the Jezebel spirit’s biggest goals is to kill the true prophets of God. An example of this was the prophet Elijah, who, after challenging and killing more than 850 of Queen Jezebels’ false Baal prophets, ran out in the desert in panic after receiving a letter from Jezebel, in which she swore to retaliate and kill him. He was so intimidated by it that he wanted to lay down and die. But Jezebel’s predictions were false, as this spirit’s many prophesies usually are, and Elijah did not die. God’s plan is higher and more powerful than Jezebel’s curses.   Jezebel’s character traits Let us take a deeper look at the character traits that goes along with the spirit of Jezebel, because it is much more than what meets the eye, and can be extremely difficult to discern for the untrained eye. There are certain characteristics that always seem to follow these women, and we have mapped some of them for you, so you will be able to recognize them in your family, job, school, or church, or anywhere else you go. You can only spot the Jezebel spirit when you understand her personality traits, so let’s spend some time under her skin.   The very first, and probably most outstanding quality of a person with a Jezebel Spirit, is their undeniable, ever-present need to always be right! They are not humble people who seek the input of others, but have an unquenchable desire to “win” over you in everything. The worldly psychological term for the spirit of Jezebel is ‘malignant narcissism,’ for which there is no cure. Some traits of narcissism include: excessive self-love; firm conviction that he or she is better, smarter, or more talented than other people; becomes irritated when other people don’t automatically do what he or she wants them to do; thinks most criticisms of him or her are motivated by jealousy; regards anything short of worship to be rejection; often complains of being mistreated or misunderstood; has fantasies of doing something great or being famous, and often expects to be treated as if these fantasies have already come true.   The second highest thing on our traits-list is the “chameleon” Spirit she possesses that allows her to appear a certain way, but not actually be that way. She will adapt to her surroundings to seem like a loving, charming, and even peaceful person, all the while trying to get a hold of your soul. She will appear to blend in and then suddenly, out of nowhere, stick her tongue out and swallow you up, by verbally attacking you. The Jezebel spirit is born out of witchcraft, and is designed to destroy the host (which is the body it lives in), the spouse, the children, the family, relationships, marriages, the church, the prophets of God, and the body of Christ in general, in every crafty and subtle way possible.   The third aspect is her use of seduction, deception, and manipulation to control your mind, your actions, and your destiny. She wants to see how far she can involve herself into your life, how far you are willing to allow her to go. Jezebel’s usually come in two categories; the active, and the passive. Or, as is has been said; the high-profile, and the low-profile. The high-profile, active Jezebel is the woman who is the leader of the home, including everyone in it. She is the one who “wears the pants” in the marriage/family, the overbearing, bossy, in-control, in charge, dominating woman, who is outspoken, bold, and militaristic. The low-profile, passive Jezebel is the woman who controls the husband and family “behind the scenes.” She has a meek exterior, and no one would guess that she has the family in a head-lock, quietly controlling, manipulating, and destroying their lives. She is soft-spoken, seemingly submissive and nice on the outside, and only the closest family knows the truth about who she really is.   Jezebel hates children, especially her own, but it takes great discernment to discover it. Women with the Jezebel Spirit tend to treat their children cold and distant, rarely showing tears or emotion. She likes to make sure they don’t get any sympathy, because she hates weakness. She doesn’t show much love or affection – genuine hugs, smiles, and affirmation are a rare gift. Usually, her children are merely treated as pawns in her game of control and achievement of power and status. She uses conditional love to ensure her children’s subordination. In this way, they will always strive for her attention and approval, and she will glory in it, only for her own self-gratification.   Jezebel will often use religious terms and phrases to appear spiritual, but her life doesn’t produce godliness. Following her life and example, will lead to rebellion, darkness, anger, and strife. You will many times find a Jezebel woman involved in various types of teaching activities; not only in religious settings, but also in schools and in various types of counseling. The reason for this is their need to be an influence on people. The spirit within them drives them to want to reproduce themselves and their teachings to other people. They like to be highly involved in people’s personal lives, getting up close and intimate, making people confide in them. Then she becomes important, needed, and wanted, just the way she likes it. Satan places them specifically in teaching positions, so they will impart a distorted and untrue message to people, and thereby cause more spiritual and mental darkness to come upon their lives. People may be in a bad condition when they come to her, but they leave worse off than they came.   She is a master of the “blaming game,” and is extremely clever in gaining sympathy for herself by producing convincing arguments for her case, usually portraying herself as fair in her assessments. She will twist and turn information to better fit her, even if it involves lying and crying - anything to make you be the responsible or guilty one.   Jezebel does not truly forgive people who offend her. She keeps track of all past offenses, and she uses them to her advantage when she sees the need for manipulation. Her love is always conditional, making you know of the things that please her, so if you do not comply, she will reject you.   The Spirit of Jezebel also produces sexual imbalance and perversion in children. We have seen many examples of rebellion and extreme dark and obscure behavior in children and teenagers of mothers who possess the Jezebel Spirit. The family around them doesn’t seem to understand why the children choose rebellion instead of becoming “normal” like everyone else, not knowing that it is actually not always a choice of conviction on the part of the child, but rather a direct influence by the distorting spirit of Jezebel operating in the family. The control the children are under causes them not to develop as strong, individual, healthy human beings, but causes perversion and confusion, and sexual im-morality. Children of Jezebel’s can also fall in the exact opposite category, being overly well-behaved, submissive, pleasing, passive, and shy of conflict. They can be recognized by their fear, lack of ambition and self-esteem, many times rather wanting to take the blame for everything upon them-selves, instead of searching for justice.   Confusion and peace A Jezebel spirit will never admit any fault or wrong-doing. If you plan to confront the “Jezebel’ite” with something, you can be totally clear about your problems and your list of concerns, and yet come out on the other end, totally convinced that you were the only one at fault. The mighty dark cloud of confusion that surrounds the Spirit of Jezebel makes you give up and give in to her demands without proper reason. You don’t even know what hit you, you just don’t have the strength to fight her, and you may even feel a sense of relief for achieving peace with her, not realizing the prize you are paying, is compromising for the sake of peace.   The spirit of Jezebel brings about a tremendously powerful confusion that can make you doubt everything you stand for. After your first few confrontations, you learn to stay away from coming even remotely close to suggesting anything. You find out that you are not strong enough to stand up against it, and start becoming passive. This kind of passivity is what King Ahab suffered from, when he looked the other way instead of confronting the wrong his wife, Queen Jezebel, was doing:   When Jezebel heard the news, she said to Ahab, "You know the vineyard Naboth wouldn't sell you? Well, you can have it now! He's dead!" So Ahab immediately went down to the vineyard to claim it.” 1. Kings 21:15-16 NLT   Because of King Ahabs’ passive negligence of Queen Jezebels’ wicked actions, we have the term “Spirit of Ahab” which refers to the exact counterpart and partner to Jezebel. He wants to remain innocent, but is anything but innocent in the eyes of God. In fact, the Bible says Ahab was an evil man, possessing the same persecuting spirit as his wife, as he mocked the prophet Elijah and called him intimidating names: "So it's you, is it — Israel's troublemaker?" Ahab asked when he saw him (Elijah). 1. Kings 18:17 NLT. Jezebel is calling Jehu names, mocking him, and comparing him to another murderer: “When Jehu entered the gate of the palace, she (Jezebel) shouted at him, "Have you come in peace, you murderer? You are just like Zimri, who murdered his master!" 2. Kings 9:31 NLT. (This was a very intimidating remark because she was insinuating that Jehu was someone who like Zimri has been disloyal to his king, which was a very serious dishonoring accusation at that time.)   Remember, Ahabs’ passivity cost him everything. The Bible says he sold himself to evil. In other words, it’s not only through “old-fashion” Satan worship we can sell our souls, but also when we sell our souls to worship another human being, who will drag us into a life away from God.   No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD’s sight as did Ahab, for his wife, Jezebel, influenced him. 1. Kings 21:25 NLT   No peace around Jezebel I believe we have to understand that dealing with the Jezebel spirit will never be peaceful! One has to give, and that is certainly not going to be Jezebel, if she has her way. A Jezebelite doesn’t respect anyone, and certainly not someone of lesser authority than herself. She will never humble herself and help find a way to make things work. Things have to be her way, or no way at all. King Jehu, the warrior, knew that there is no achieving peace, no compromise that can be made with Jezebel, only a violent counter-action can stop her:   “King Joram demanded, “Do you come in peace, Jehu?” Jehu replied, “How can there be peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother, Jezebel, are all around us?” 2. Kings 9:22 NLT   Fighting Jezebel In order to fight Jezebel, you have to first come to her level of competition. This means you have to be as strong and fierce and determined as she is. Most times, it takes a prophet to break her spirit. The Spirit of Jezebel is a very overwhelming and overbearing spirit that gives the Jezebelite an arrogant and self confident flare and attitude, making her believe she is invincible. She believes with all her might that she is the victim of every seemingly injustice committed against her up through her life, and she is fully convinced that anyone who doesn’t buck to her authority, is against her, plotting her downfall. In many cases, the Jezebelite has been the victim of sexual abuse in her childhood, and carries a huge grudge against men, and people in general. She demands “silk-glove” treatment. So, in order to combat her, you need to first be completely convinced in your belief about what you are dealing with.   First of all, you have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are in fact dealing with the spirit of Jezebel in that person and have accurately discerned and recognized that spirit through many descriptive behavioral characteristics. You need to know who you are and what your accurate role is. For instance, if you are the husband, know that God has given you the right to confront and correct her. If you are a pastor, know that you have the spiritual right to confront her with allegations or proof of wrong-doing. If you doubt your position, Jezebel will know it immediately, since she has a strong sense of hierarchy, power, and authority. She is strong, manipulative, and very powerful in her witchcraft. She immediately knows it if you are insecure and afraid. Like a predator, her instinct will tell her about the level of your strength and authority and any sighn of weakness, will make her walk all over you.   Second of all, you have to be prepared to fight. Fighting could involve relentless letter writing, phone calls, and open communication with spiritual leaders to let her know, that you know what she is up to, and that you are telling the world! What Jezebel’s fears and hates the most, is when they are exposed. They are usually able to easily seduce and deceive people, so when you expose them, it hits them like a train. They lose their power and get knocked out of their path. In this momentum you can work. That is the time to keep pounding to expose her, because she is weary, and has been taken off guard.   This is where the level of competition is so important. If you are not strongly convinced that you are fighting the Spirit of Jezebel, you will not use your tools efficiently. Remember how strongly she is convinced, and match that!   There are some controversial points to the fight against Jezebel that every believer should be aware of: When it comes to Jezebel, praying for her to come to truth and repentance may be a waste of time. Instead, your energy should be spent praying for the people around her, including yourself, to be set totally free from her witchcraft. Sympathy is one of her absolute biggest weapons of defense, so make sure you are not falling in the trap of sympathizing with her. You must be 100% against this demonic Spirit in her, and stop spending time and energy hoping and holding out for her recovery and well-being! If she doesn’t get the picture when you confront her, it is most likely because she chooses not to cooperate with you and her behavior doesn’t give any sign that she ever will. Ask yourself, what her track record is? Many times, because we are too lenient and tolerant this Spirit that is abusing everyone around us, we spend all our energy on her, instead of those we should be protecting! Although she claims to be a Christian, she is not your sister or brother in the Lord. She is living in the strength of demonic soul power, absolutely sold out to doing evil, and completely out of the will of God and obedience to God. She is her own master, and ultimately she serves Satan. You might ask: “Isn’t she just a poor deceived person herself?” Yes, she is deceived, but the issue that is so important, is that you don’t also allow yourself to be so deceived that you don’t take action. If you love this person, you still need to cut soul ties with her, and surrender her completely to God for Him to determine her destiny. Remember again the book of Revelation where God gives her time to repent, but she refuses to do so. Do not try to save her, or you will go down with her. You need to alienate yourself completely, and have no patience and tolerance for her actions. If you happen to be married to someone who you are discovering has the Jezebel Spirit, it is important to start taking the proper steps to restore order in the relationship both spiritually and physically. Usually this involves starting to stand up against abuse and not allow her to get away with manipulation and praying to God to forgive you for allowing things to get out of order and asking Him to intervene in the marriage. Seek guidance and counseling from people who understand the Jezebel Spirit, pray, and continue to love, protect, and forgive your wife in the expectancy of God’s intervention to either heal the relationship, or deliver you from this toxic abusive alliance.   All these seemingly controversial points for a typical Christian mindset need to be dealt with before you are ready to fight Jezebel. Anything less than these attitudes may cause you to doubt, and fall prey to her. Remember she is ready to devour you, using all kinds of evil, such as confusion, guilt, accusation, and intimidation, among many other things. Don’t set out to confront her, and then pull back in the middle of it. She will bite you, and make sure you never gather the courage to combat her again. Her stings are so toxic, they can drive you to a breaking point, even to the point of causing you to want to commit suicide. So do not underestimate what you are dealing with.   Also, do not mock her or hint to her. Do not use sarcasm or irony. Do not let her drag you into an argument, but stay in the Spirit when talking to her knowing that you are not fighting against flesh and blood. Combating is not antagonizing or challenging or provoking the Spirit in a cynical way, but rather staying on top of her, continuing to expose her ungodly behavior!   Never tell her any personal things of what you are going through, how you are feeling, or where you are with the Lord. She may use such personal information against you, by twisting and turning your words, making you look and feel guilty or defeated, especially in your walk with God. For instance she will say that you are not praying or fasting enough. When she accuses you, do not stay silent and prayerful. Instead, rebottle everything she says! Be stronger than her. Although she claims to be spiritual and a woman of God, don’t believe her. (Note how she never passes on the glory to Jesus, has a hard time worshiping, and doesn’t share about her personal love for Jesus in genuine love and humility!)   Treat her as someone who lives in disobedience. Do not be lenient towards her, thinking she will submit to the Word of God like you do! She is not a real believer; she is an idol-worshiper, and a great deceiver. If you seek to live a God-fearing life, you have nothing in common with her. She is like King Herod, who told the wise men to let him know when they found baby-Jesus, so he could come and worship too. It sounded real, but he only said it so he could find out where Jesus was, so he could kill Him. When dealing with Jezebel, you have to be able to believe the worst of the worst and never be naive. You must know that you cannot trust Jezebel for a word she is saying. In fact, if she says one thing, make it a habit to automatically consider the opposite. Never make the mistake of believing she has any good intentions. See, the wise men looking for baby-Jesus, the newborn King and Savior, heard from the Lord what to do. Otherwise, they would have succumbed to Herods’ evil intentions, without ever understanding and discerning them.   Pray and ask the Lord whether you should fast in your battle against Jezebel. Pray to God to help you expose the darkness, but do not pray or intercede in length for Jezebel. You need to focus all your energy on staying on top of your game, and not giving up!   Giving up is a major threat to your success in battling Jezebel! She will wear and tear on your life, and seem like she will never give in. She will exhaust you on every level, until all you want to do is quit! No, she will not give in out of herself, but if you stay strong in the Lord, He will make her give in. Usually the battle is long and may take years, but with the right steps to understand your position, you can make it!   Many Jezebels use magic – a kind of witchcraft that doesn’t necessarily involve voodoo dolls and animal sacrifices and those kind of things. As the Bible says, she leads the people astray with false teachings. In other words, her magic comes from distorting the things of God: The Word of God, the Spirit of God, prophecies, prayers, healings, miracles, fasting — anything God has given His people to use for worshiping and glorifying God, and living holy lives. That is Jezebel’s main domain! For instance, she will not always put needles in dolls, but she will lay hands on you, asking if she can pray for you. Then she will proceed to speak a false soul-powered prophecy over you, promising things that are not from God, but actually from the debts of Satan! She sows doubt into your life so you start looking for answers in the wrong places, and ultimately causes your life to run off track.   Also, be aware that many Jezebel’s have a demon-empowered telepathic ability! This ability usually works with people they have managed to entice and create a soul tie with! For instance, you may be praying to get out of the darkness and confusion you suddenly find yourself in, and she will be calling you, or she will appear in your thoughts, telling you what to do, or entice you with strong feelings of love for her. Whenever you seek to find God, she will interrupt you by telepathically speaking to your mind, letting you know she is watching you, so you feel trapped and guilty. She is everywhere, demanding your attention. If she gets your attention, she gets your “worship.” How to recognize those who are being oppressed by Jezebel Wherever Edwin and I go, we see Jezebel Spirits manifesting the same ways in different people. It’s almost comical how alike they are. The same goes for Jezebels’ “victims” who also talk the same talk no matter where in the world they are. To give you an idea of how a Jezebel victim talks, we will give you some sentences we hear often, so you can judge for yourself whether you, or someone you know, has been drinking from Jezebel’s poison, and eaten of the fruits of her false teachings. Jezebel-victims always defend her! They feel responsible to come up for her to let everyone know that she “really is a good person,” and that she “really has a good heart and only wants the right things.” They say, “she does a lot of good to people,” and, “you just have to understand her personality,” or, “she doesn’t have any bad intentions at all.” What she is actually doing is making her own feeling, opinions, and needs more important than God. A righteous life in the principles of God is pushed aside to accommodate her personal perception on the way she sees life. When she lives in fear, controls people, and don’t admit any wrong doing, “it’s okay,” because “nobody’s perfect,” and “we have to understand where she’s coming from and what she has to battle in her life.” Slowly, she lifts the focus off of God and Jesus and onto herself, making her struggles and shortcomings “understandable” and something we all should sympathize with, instead of suggesting that she should change and repent from wrong and ungodly attitudes. Although the “victims,” as I call it, do not realize or admit that they are afraid of her, you can easily tell how much they actually fear approaching her with anything she doesn’t like to hear. They will say to you, “Oh, please don’t say anything bad to her. Don’t make her upset, or else she will get angry.” In other words, they are fearing her reaction and the possible punishment and repercussion they might suffer after trying to speak into her life. They have all tried in the past, and failed miserably at reaching her. Now, they try the approach of being patient and understanding. But no matter their attempts to live in peace, she is never satisfied with them, or what they have to offer. They try to give her everything she wants, whether it be money, things, acknowledgement, encouragement, attention – anything she is demanding, but no matter their efforts, she will continue to be bitter and hateful to them, be discontent, demand change, demand perfection, throw fits, and demand whatever she WANTS! After living with Jezebel for many years, the victims start becoming weary and disillusioned. They start believing that they really are a failure, as she has been pointing out so clearly, and that they are the one to blame for it all. The Jezebel Spirit loves to make them suffer internally, watching them digging themselves more and more into the pit of defeat for every day that goes by. The more they try to please her, the more of a sucker they are. And the more she despises them for it. It’s like the Devil when he comes to tempt us to fall into sin, and if he succeeds, he heaps condemnation on us to make us believe there is no way out for us, although Jesus Christ is willing to forgive any sin. That is the way he traps us in defeat, and Jezebel uses the same methods. Intercession Be careful who you pray with. Realize that Jezebel’s grows stronger in their abilities to manipulate, control, and dominate over the years. Some are more seasoned than others, and you will find Jezebels of all levels in churches. Do not intercede with someone who bosses you around, telling you when to pray, and what to pray. Do not pray with someone who stops you to correct your praying by telling you that you are doing it all wrong, and then points out someone else to continue in your place. Do not let her manipulate her way in between you and your other intercessor friends, whom you are in spiritual agreement with, and one with in the Spirit of God, causing a division to come between you, ultimately destroying the prayer group! Do not allow her “take-over” spirit to set the agenda, by running her own mini-ministry inside your prayer group. She will take excess time to read the Word, pray for people un-encouraged, sing or play music way too long, and practice healing and praying as if she is the main minister. It can be difficult to discern the spirits sometimes, but ask the Holy Spirit to expose it. If she starts to run the show, speak up in God’s authority! Tell her how you do things according to the order and authority of God’s given directions in the Word of God. Do not be afraid of a confrontation, or try to keep the peace with her. If she doesn’t submit, ask her to leave! Do not be lenient with this spirit, as you understand how wicked it is, and how it will drag you and the church down.   Watch out if she starts isolating other prayer partners, spending extra alone-time with them. She will often move outside of the building and start leading the group outside, bedazzling them with “wise teachings” and create soul ties with them. Jezebel works fast and ruthlessly. She goes after the weak one’s, and even “buys” them by giving gifts or trips or money, all to get a foot in the door.   Copyright©2008 Sophia & Edwin Christiaan     Text Box: By Edwin & Sophia Christiaan