“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Revelation 2:20 NKJV)
Jesus’ prophetic message to the church in Thyatira includes a sharp rebuke for allowing the operation of Jezebel in their midst.
If we look at our churches today, we could also say that we have given Jezebel the liberty to operate unhindered in our midst. That is undoubtedly one of the things the Lord has against us today.
The Church today may not be able to fully manifest God’s glory and power in the world until we confront, paralyze, and cast out the spirit of Jezebel from our midst.
However, until we can discern or recognize the subtle operations and manifestations of the spirit of Jezebel, we may not be able to confront, paralyze and dislodge Jezebel’s spirit successfully.
Jezebel is an impostor, a manipulator, a seducer, a persecutor, and a defiler or polluter in the Church. Any church where Jezebel can operate freely will remain perpetually weak, sick, immature, and carnal.
Let us examine some characteristics of the Jezebel spirit and its subtle manifestations.
First, Jezebel is a power-hungry spirit:
Jezebel is the spirit driving men and women to scheme, bribe, coax and manipulate their way to the position of influence and authority in our churches today.
Jezebel always seeks authority and preeminence among God’s people and will pay any price to get it. Jezebel will entreat the favor, secure the attention, and win the affection of the undiscerning church leaders by any means.
Jezebel will give fat offerings and generous donations in the church if it takes just that to get the leader’s attention and win the people’s hearts and applause.
Jezebel’s primary motive for doing any good work in the church is to be praised, celebrated, and promoted to a position of authority among God’s people.
If Jezebel is not praised and promoted to a position of influence, it will seek to usurp, undermine or oppose the authority of the leaders.
The Jezebel spirit makes men and women in our churches arrogate the authority, calling, and title that God has not given them. The Jezebel spirit works in false apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, or teachers (Rev. 2:20, 1 Kings 21:7-8).
Jezebel needs a platform to operate effectively in any church, so its first mission is to penetrate, infiltrate, romance, dominate, or hijack church leadership.
It is sad but true that Jezebel has successfully established itself in the leadership of many churches or denominations today.
Second, Jezebel’s uncontrollable passion for power and authority is for manipulation, domination, and seduction:
Once Jezebel is seated in a high place in any church, it will gradually and subtly turn people’s hearts away from the doctrine of Christ to strange doctrines, human philosophies, vain traditions, or customs.
Jezebel will employ all means and strategies to propagate or broadcast its perverse teachings and damnable heresies.
Jezebel’s doctrine promotes ungodliness, covetousness, and materialism. Jezebel’s doctrine activates the lusts of the flesh, the love of money, and the pride of life.
Jezebel’s doctrine offers people the liberty to sin and endorses corruption, lust, and immorality; it enslaves and suppresses people through fear and turns people into their leaders’ puppets.
Jezebel’s goal or pursuit is to pollute and defile the church through false teachings, revelations, and prophecies, thus weakening the church spiritually.
Therefore, the Church’s greatest and most potent weapon against Jezebel is preaching and teaching the truths of God’s Word.
We must hold fast to the truths, passionately propagate, publish and spread the gospel, and contend earnestly for the faith of old—the body of teaching of Christ delivered to the early apostles and passed down in the Church.
The Lord Jesus commanded the Thyatira Church, saying, “But hold fast what you have till I come.” (Rev. 2:25 NKJV).
Lastly, Jezebel is a persecutor of true believers who hold fast to the truth and will not bow or submit to its authority:
Like Jezebel of old, the wife of Ahab, who massacred the prophets of the LORD who refused to feed at her table and be controlled or manipulated by her, Jezebel today is seeking to oppose, oppress, suppress and subvert faithful servants of God (1 Kings 18:4).
True apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, or teachers are the primary targets of Jezebel’s fiery arrows. This is why God’s people must not fail to pray for faithful servants of God in our generation consistently.
Beloved, God is calling you today into His unique end-time army to oppose, paralyze and dislodge the Jezebel spirit primarily responsible for all the pollution, witchcraft, manipulation, ungodliness, immorality, and carnality that have bedeviled and weakened many churches today.
Effective warfare against the spirit of Jezebel demands searching the Scripture to discover and execute the written judgment against Jezebel (Psa. 149:6-9, Isa. 47:1-15, Rev. 18:1-24).
Like Jehu and his company, let us arise in the might of God to resist, confront, paralyze, throw down, and dislodge Jezebel’s spirit from its undue exalted position in our churches today.
Prayer: My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and strengthen me today to oppose, depose, paralyze, and dislodge Jezebel’s spirit in my life, home, and church, in Jesus’ name. Amen.