by Ron Wood
John the Baptist came in the "spirit and power of Elijah." (Luke 1:17) In this way Christ described John’s prophetic mantle, the powerful anointing that dared to challenge religious rebellion and prepare the way for the Lord. John the Baptist was a forerunner of Christ. His mission from God was similar to Elijah’s in that he confronted religious idolatry and called the people to repent and to return to God’s covenant.
Malachi said this Elijah ministry would reappear in the last days. (Mal. 4:5-6) Jesus said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things." (Mt. 17:11) This Elijah anointing turns the hearts of fathers to their children. It affirms fatherhood. It denounces anything that attacks a man’s moral fiber or the makeup of the family. It restores God’s divine order. In John the Baptist, as in Elijah, this anointing confronted religious idolatry.
If the Elijah spirit can appear on God’s servants in the last days, then its evil counterpart, the Jezebel spirit, can also affect people. In fact, the book of Revelation describes a church that tolerated the Jezebel spirit and faced God’s anger as a result. "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel..." (Revelation 2:20)
So the Jezebel spirit is quite at home within a New Testament church, even prophesying and having influence over the leadership. The Jezebel spirit will continue to work unrecognized, creating confusion, resisting God’s purpose, until God raises up an Elijah-like voice. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of biblical history. He was a hero of epic proportions. He, along with Moses, appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration to encourage Jesus before His crucifixion. (Mark 9:4) Not many prophets had the rank to fill that role, did they? Both Moses and Elijah worked miracles of nature. Moses was a writer. Elijah never wrote a book, yet he single handedly turned Israel back from idolatry. Elijah faced down the great enemy of all prophets, Jezebel. By so doing, he saved Israel from extinction.
That extinction was nearly caused by one woman, Jezebel, who was brought into Israel by the sin of one weak man, Ahab. Ahab formed an unholy alliance with a foreign nation by marrying that king’s daughter. When she came to Israel, she brought with her the terrible worship of Baal. Baal worship involved false religion, the sacrifice of children, and acts of immorality by male and female prostitutes in the Temples of Baal built by Jezebel. As a result, Israel backslid. This Baal system turned people away from worshiping Jehovah and brought God’s people to their lowest point in history.
Elijah was a courageous man who typifies genuine faith. (James 5:16-17) Elijah prayed and the rain stopped for three and a half years. He prayed again and the rain resumed. Prayers offered in faith have power. Elijah also prayed and called fire down from heaven when he confronted the prophets of Baal. (I Kings 18) Obedience and boldness characterized Elijah’s ministry. He confronted King Ahab, challenged Israel to follow God, taunted the false prophets of Baal, and then saw to it that they were executed. Then he ran for his life from Jezebel. Why did he flee from this one woman? Because he knew Jezebel’s true nature. She embodied an evil demonic principality. She was a killer. She had already killed hundreds of God’s prophets and Elijah was next on the list.
Don’t be naive about this spirit. It is a master of accusation. It won’t stop at slander or ministry-murder to get its way.
This spirit is still at work today, devastating churches, deceiving women, and weakening men. It accuses and undermines God’s appointed leaders. The spirit of Jezebel delights in displacing the true worship of God with idolatry. In churches today, Jezebel robs the praise and worship of its freedom. She desires to steal the money due God’s genuine servants. Jezebel daily fed 450 false prophets from her table, a significant financial investment by Israel’s queen. Thus she thwarted God’s program. It matters where the money goes!
Jezebel emasculates fathers, husbands, and pastors. She controls them by intimidation or manipulation. With one glaring look Jezebel stifles a man’s voice. She neutralizes any initiative besides her own. She is a woman whose head is uncovered. She is out from under God’s authority. (1 Cor. 11:3-12) She is out to conquer, not compromise. Any yielding on her part is only feigned obeisance in order to gain advantage.
Her manipulation may be in the form of religious bondage or it many be as a seductress, appealing to sinful lust. However she can do it, she is after one thing–control. Anyone who resists her ambition becomes her target. She makes peace only with hirelings, those who can be bought. She especially wants to kill the prophets because they have an anointing to expose her lies, confront her idolatry, and pull down her false system. How? By calling God’s people to repent. Jezebel hates the prophetic office and wants to destroy it.
This spirit is similar to witchcraft. Witchcraft bewitches people. (Galatians 3:1) It casts a spell so people can’t see Christ and his kingdom. Anytime there is a contest for control, for power, for leadership, there is usually a spirit of Jezebel working somewhere behind the scenes, accusing God’s servants, sowing discord, deceiving the saints. Behind many bitter splits in families and churches, there lurks this wicked spirit.
This spirit hates God’s government and rejects divine order. It seeks to dominate a man until he surrenders headship to his wife. Remember, "It takes an Ahab to have a Jezebel." While a husband must be sensitive to his wife, he can’t renege on his responsibility to fulfil his role as head of his family. Neither can he be dominating, dictatorial, or abusive.
Acting macho has nothing to do with being masculine. (Being strong doesn’t make a woman a Jezebel, either. This relates to usurping rightful headship, not being strong in personality.) Men should not default on their duty to lead. Biblically, a man should submit to other men in Christ, but never to a controlling spirit (1 Tim. 2:12). (For more on male-female roles and women’s ministry, see my book "Women on the Team")
Men lacking in moral fiber don’t stand a chance when they’re up against a Jezebel spirit. Ahab sulked and even gave control of government affairs to his wife. He acted like a spoiled child being led around by his mother. It was no wonder Jezebel ran right over him. The antidote to Jezebel’s influence is for men to have godly character, be strong in faith, and be submitted to God’s word.
If this spirit can’t control a man by intimidation, then it will try to do so by manipulation through sensuality. That’s why this spirit, although it may operate through a man, often uses a woman. It attacks men by outright seduction or by injecting unclean thoughts. As Jesse Penn-Lewis has said, "The battlefield is in the mind." This power of pornography defiles a man’s imagination and makes him feel disqualified so he never comes forward into leadership in the church.
Men who are condemned and defeated in their minds hang back from worship or spiritual battle. They’re neutralized. Another way of saying neutralized is neutered. The Jezebel spirit wants men to be good geldings, with bit and bridle, broken and tamed to do her will.
In the church, Jezebel wants to disqualify God’s appointed leaders. Here, her chief weapon is her tongue and with it she fashions clever accusations. (Isaiah 54:17) Unlike those who fear God, she doesn’t hesitate to accuse God’s servants. (Romans 8:33) Any error or mis-step she discovers is an excuse for not obeying or submitting.
She plants subtle hints that sow discord and create criticism of the leader. She is a master at forming factions. Her goal is to undermine legitimate authority and supplant it with her own will. Intercessors may adopt her "concerns," projecting her will in prayer and taking up her complaints against leaders.
Jezebel desires for others to see her as the one with the best answers for the church. She appears to be spiritual and pious, but inwardly she has no allegiance to leadership and is not submitted to it, especially if that leadership is clearly masculine or anointed to govern.
Jezebel looks for the first sign of a leader faltering so she can flow into the resulting power vacuum. She may use her religious knowledge, force of personality, or even pity due to her ailments, all as a means to get attention and eventually to gain control. She uses guile instead of brute force to do this. Usurping control away from God’s authorized and anointed servants is always her goal.
What can we do if we discern this stronghold in our church? What if this spirit is found disrupting our families?
The answer is always repentance. God gives time for repentance before final judgment. Jezebel, once confronted, must repent or be removed. There can be no compromise with this spirit. Here, tolerance is not a virtue. It is literally a battle to the death. This spirit is alien to the kingdom of God and contrary to God’s system of divine authority.
In the Bible, Jezebel was unrepentant until the last. God sent Jehu to have her killed. (II Kings 9:21-10:17) Her fate pictures God’s attitude and ultimate actions toward this strong lawless spirit and those who embrace it.
© 1997 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.