Deliver Us From Evil, Part 12

 

May 17, 2019

 

We have talked on numerous occasions in the past about the Spirit of Jezebel, and how that spirit has invaded the body of Christ.  The common misconception is that refers strictly to women who aree afflicted by this spirit.  Not so!  I have personally seen more men afflicted by this spirit than I have women.

 

Let me start off today with a prophecy that John gives in Revelation 2 to the Ekklesia in Thyatira:

 

Revelation 2:20-24: “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.   Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

 

And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

 

But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.”

 

Pretty strong, isn’t it?

 

Obviously, the Lord wasn’t saying that Jezebel – the wife of King Ahab and daughter of Ethbaal, the Amorite king – was still alive and operating in Thyatira nearly a thousand years after her death.  He was referring to that spirit that emulated her, actually that wicked, evil spirit that ruled Jezebel and contaminated the life of Israel in ways that ultimately led the nation into captivity.

 

Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of Jezebel in John’s prophecy – the characteristics of this spirit – and how it was contaminating the body of Christ even then, in or around 96 AD.

 

1. “She calleth herself a prophetess.”   Hmmmmm.….  OK.  False prophet (ess) and false prophecy.  False prophecy is the epitome of witchcraft because it seeks to promote the false prophet(ess) and manipulate outcomes for those who receive the prophecy.

 

2. “to teach and seduce my servants…”  Right.  This spirit poses as a seductive teacher, promoting doctrines and teachings that lead the people of God astray.

 

3. “to commit fornication.”  This seduction is both spiritual and sexual.  We’ll get into that in more detail shortly.

 

4. “and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”  Uhh Huhh.  Idolatry: the worship or reverence of things, or individuals, or entities other than the Lord Himself: the prioritizing of doctrines over a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Just wait.  It gets worse.

 

5. “I gave her space to repent of her fornication.”  So Jezebel (or those individuals contaminated with that spirit) are actively committing fornication.  That doesn’t mean they are necessarily running around, having promiscuous sexual relations, although they well may.

 

6. “and she repented not.”  So those afflicted with this spirit generally tend to be unrepentant.  They have no remorse over their sin, can’t see that what they are doing is sin, and refuse to repent when faced with exposure of their sin.

 

7. “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”  So it’s more than just fornication: it is adultery, too.  We’ll get into this more, too, as this discussion proceeds.

 

8. “And I will kill all her children with death.”  Strange phrase, isn’t it?  If one gets killed, they are dead are they not?  How do you kill someone with death?  This is an interesting Hebrew metaphor occurring in the Greek text.  In this case, the Lord is talking about more than physical death: He is talking about an eternal death and separation from all possibility of redemption or future relationship with Him.

 

If there is any hallmark of the spirit of Jezebel, or some particular characteristic that sums up and describes its overall purpose, it would be “usurper.”  The primary objective of the spirit of Jezebel is to usurp the operational authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in those who are anointed and appointed by the Holy Spirit to minister, to present itself as THE voice of the Lord instead, and to take control of the leadership of God’s people.

 

See that word, “control”?  It goes with manipulation.  It’s called witchcraft.  That’s what we’ve been talking about for these past weeks.  So what is witchcraft, really?  Black magic?  Hocus-pocus? Magical incantations?  Spells?

 

Whenever you use the word, witchcraft, people automatically associate it with magic, incantations, casting of spells, etc.  And that, folks, is exactly how Satan wants you to see witchcraft!  The Enemy wants you to focus on the superstitious aspects of witchcraft, the mythological and fantastical images of an old hag stirring a cauldron of some evil brew.  He doesn't want you to see witchcraft for what it really is: the deliberate manipulation of people through deception, mis-direction, creating suspicion of others and -- more specifically -- creating dissension among God's people by promoting false teachings which question just how far our relationship with the Lord stretches.

 

This is where the first description (She calleth herself a prophetess) plays such a major role within the Body of Christ today.  For centuries, God's people have been plagued with folks who've succumbed to this spirit, and I daresay that more men are contaminated with the spirit of Jezebel than women.

 

Let's talk for a minute about the role of the prophet(ess).  This word is derived from the original Greek, prophetes, which is a conjunction of two other words meaning: to proclaim, or to put forth the thoughts or expressions [of God].  The more common interpretation of the Greek term is to describe one who speaks forth under specific inspiration -- one who is a "forth teller."

 

That can describe one who foretells future events (and that is probably the most common perception of a prophet), but is more accurately referring to one who speaks forth under divine inspiration, "telling forth" that which Holy Spirit is speaking about or addressing under certain circumstances and in certain situations.  Foretelling the future is certainly a part of being a prophet.

 

All too often, however, the spirit of divination is what masks itself as the spirit of prophecy.  The spirit of divination is the demonic counterpart for the spirit of prophecy.  Divination is that which takes place when an individual is "inspired" with thoughts and pictures of unfolding events, either by the use of astrology, Ouija boards, palm reading, seeing images in a crystal ball and a myriad of other means.  The catch is that the spirit of divination often has a particle of accuracy in some facts, enough of which leads to deception -- both for the "diviner" and for the intended target of the divination.

 

Again, the spirit of divination will at times utilize Scripture verses out of context and in the wrong situation in order to lead men and women astray.  You may ask how that could be possible, or how people could fall prey to such deception.  The real truth is that when people do not live in a place of intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, when they do not continually live in a place of daily, moment-by-moment communication with the Lord where they hear His voice, they become susceptible to deception.

 

Once a person hears and KNOWS the voice of God, any other voice and any communication which comes out of a wrong spirit simply lacks the authority, the peace, the love and the power of God.  Many years ago (and I've shared this before) when I had my first trip to Heaven and had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Abraham, he said to me (in response to a question), "Once you've heard the voice of God, there is no other voice!"  That is absolutely true!

 

No matter how much Satan tries to counterfeit the voice of God through the spirit of Jezebel, no matter how much effort is made to seem like the authoritative voice of God in what seems like a prophetic word, if that word comes from a spirit of divination, the difference between that voice and the voice of God is unmistakable.  No demon, no voice of an evil spirit can match the supreme authority that rests in God's voice.  Any voice which speaks without the peace that passes all understanding -- especially if correction is being brought -- comes out of a spirit of divination operating through and in cooperation with a spirit of Jezebel.

 

When I hear the Lord speak to me, I don't have to sit and try to figure out whether I'm actually hearing Him, or whether I'm being led down the primrose path by a lying spirit.  The voice of Father God has supreme authority in it, along with agape love, and even in the midst of correction and reproof there is a peace that defies explanation.

 

We have touched on the fact that this spirit perverts sex, sexual relationships and male-female roles.  Jezebel was the incarnation of the presiding spirit of the Amorites.  Beyond the fact that the dominant spirit in their midst was The Fear of Evil, they had adopted the perversions of their Canaanite brethren.  Let's not forget that the curse which came upon Canaan as the firstborn son of Ham the son of Noah was a direct result of Ham's perversion and the homosexual act he committed on his father while Noah was passed out from his wine.

 

Sexual perversion of every conceivable act and type were hallmarks of each of the seven nations that inhabited the land of Canaan, and it was one of the reasons why God commanded Israel NEVER to cohabit the land with them, not to compromise with them in any way and not to get sucked into the worship of their pantheon of gods.  Sexual perversion (sex between men and animals, women and animals, homosexual acts and lesbian activity, just as an example) was elevated by many of the nations as a mode of worship to Baal and Astarte (or Ashtaroth).

 

The Amorites took it to another level and Jezebel played it to the hilt.  Men and women were forced into sexual slavery as "cult prostitutes" for the priests and priestesses, and it became their duty to perform and provide satisfaction to the priests and priestesses as an act of worship to the gods.

 

Jezebel used these practices to entice men and women in Israel.  Just like her Canaanite cousins, she ordained homosexual priests and lesbian priestesses as Israel's "holy ones."  Here's the issue!  She was facilitated and enabled by Ahab.  As an Israelite, Ahab knew better.  He knew God's commands to Israel.  He couldn't have been more familiar with God's command:

 

"There shall be no cult prostitute [lesbian] of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) [homosexual] of the sons of Israel.  You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog [a sodomite] into the house of the Lord your God, in payment for a vow; for both of these -- the gift and the giver -- are an abomination to the Lord your God."  (Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Amplified Version)

 

Consider what the Scripture says of Ahab: "And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.  And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.  And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.  And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

 

How's that for a testimony against him?  Now you see how Jezebel was enabled in Israel with her abominations.  There is a particular phrase in this passage which says a whole lot: "And Ahab made a grove."  This is a poor translation from the Hebrew "asherah."  While this word can be translated as "image" it is representative of a place of worship with life-size idols, altars and (somewhat) secluded sites hidden among leafy trees for their "worship."  Since the "worship" of these idols of Ashtaroth and Baal required every kind of perverse sexual activity, Ahab was specifically enabling Jezebel to promote these abominations in the land.

 

History makes very clear that Jezebel and those of her ilk sacrificed the lives of young boys and young girls, forcing them into temple sex until their lives were spent and they were discarded and (frequently) put to death when they no longer satisfied their masters.  The flourishing sex trade we see today is a direct product of Baal worship, or the worship of the ancient gods.  The fact that we see so many priests being tried for sexual molestation of young boys is a continuing carryover of the spirit of Jezebel.

 

It is a sick, sick fact that this has been far more prevalent than anyone has any idea.  Next week, I want to talk a bit about the sexual perversion that has invaded the body of Christ, and the evil that it represents.

 

As we wrap up today's Coffee Break, following is an excerpt of a recent prophetic word delivered by Dutch Sheets, a brother with a profound accuracy in his prophetic utterances, and one whom I first met and came to deeply appreciate a good 30 years ago.  This word is relevant to what I've been sharing on the spirit of Jezebel.

 

"Opposition, both from the Church and the world, will increase as we break out of normal. Religious spirits will insist on maintaining old structures and systems, and the kingdom of darkness will react aggressively to the spirit of revival. Don't be alarmed at this. Stay the course and resist the demonic pressure!"

 

In case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:30AM Pacific.  That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#.  We are now making these gatherings available on video using ZOOM.  If you wish to participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513.  If you miss the live voice-only call, you can dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later.  The video call, of course, is not recorded – not yet, anyway.

Blessings on you!

 

           

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504

Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com

 

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