The Spirit of Jezebel?

Many false teachers and their followers, especially of the Word of Faith cult, rail at those who expose their false teachers by claiming the nay-sayers have “the spirit of Jezebel.”  This supposedly identifies the nay-sayers as false teachers opposing God.  But let’s look at who Jezebel was, what her evil was, and how that applies to today’s claims of having her “spirit.”

Pastor Bob Liichow, of Discernment Ministries International, wrote an article about this issue in his August “Truth Matters” apologetics letter.  The information he provided needs to be spread among believers so as to be able to address the false teachings about “the spirit of Jezebel.”

Bob notes that Jezebel is only mentioned in 1st and 2nd Kings: She was the daughter of the king of Tyre/Sidon and was a rabid follower of the sensuous bloodthirsty demon called “Baal.”  She married King Ahab and through her ungodly influence, the nation was led into idolatry.

See 1 Kings 16:31-33.

Bob continues:  There are two main events during the tragic reign of Ahab and Jezebel that may help to characterize her and shape what people today mean when they say “you have a Jezebel spirit.”

The first event demonstrates her hatred for the Living God by working to kill all the legitimate prophetic voices and tear down all the altars dedicated to YHWH:

For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed their with bread and water.  1 Kings 18:4.

After this, Elijah demanded a contest between Baal and God, and the prophets/priests of Baal did all sorts of begging and crying out and cutting themselves, etc, all to no avail.  Of course Elijah’s God won the contest and Elijah had the false prophets slaughtered. Then Ahab told Jezebel what happened, which really got her dander up, so she sent a messenger to tell Elijah that she was going to have him killed — so he goes into hiding. No need for repenting or getting rid of idols for her!

The second major event in her reign concerned the sale of a piece of land that was adjoining to the palace.  The property belonged to Naboth and Jezebel wanted it badly. Ahab asked Naboth to sell him the piece of land and he refused to sell.  His refusal was not one of “spite” but he would not sell because to do so would have violated God’s Law [1 kings 21:2-3, Lev. 25:23].

Ahab went home empty-handed and sorrowful.  Jezebel asked him why he was depressed and he told her why (1 Kings 21:6).  Jezebel had a solution; she set Naboth up, had sons of Belial  charge him with blaspheming God and the king with the result being the stoning of Naboth (1 Kings 21:13).  Once he was dead she told Ahab to go and take the land because he had died.  His sons also were stoned so that there was no one else to inherit, thus “freeing” Ahab.

When Ahab arrived at this new land Elijah was there to tell him what his future would be due to this conspiracy (1 Kings 21:19-21).  This led Ahab to repent (1 Kings 21:29) so God’s judgment against him was postponed, but Jezebel did not repent in the face of God’s judgment of her (vs 23), so she came to an end as God stated (2 Kings 9:32-37).  And that is the end of the story of Jezebel in the Old Testament.

So the only thing left about Jezebel is what we find in Revelation 2:20-22:

But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.  Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

So what is it we can ascribe to the character of Jezebel?  She “(1) calls herself a prophetess (self-appointed versus divinely called); (2) teaches false doctrines; and (3) seduces God’s flock to commit fornication and each things dedicated/sacrificed to idols/demons (1 Cor. 10:20).

Bob continues:

Let’s consider what our Lord has to say about this type of personage; the term or phrase “spirit of Jezebel” is never found or used in the Bible.  Jezebel (who called herself a “prophetess”) was clearly not sent by the Lord of the Church, ergo she was automatically a “false prophetess.”  We see this error, self-promotion and thinking higher of oneself than we ought (Romans 12:3) rampant throughout the sign-gift movement.  Thousands of women, many very prominent in enthusiastic circles calling themselves “prophetesses” when they clearly are not.  Some of these women are Cindy Jacobs, Paula White, Lisa Bevere, Colette Toach, Jennifer LeClaire, Carolyn Johnson and many others.  According to the Bible, we know that any woman who usurps the prophetic office is operating like the biblical Jezebel.

Jezebel both teaches and seduces God’s sheep to commit fornication.  This is most likely spiritual fornication/adultery with the world and its powers, although the rankest forms of carnal immorality are well known among sign-gift leaders. …

From the testimony of the Old and New Testaments, we garner the following general “forensic” illustration of the spiritual makeup of Jezebel:

Jezebels hate orthodoxy (right belief) and persecute those who stand for God and the truths He has given to His people.  She pursues God’s servants with the goal of stopping their voices.

Jezebels support false prophets and false practices s we read concerning the priests of Baal.

Jezebels in both Testaments were given a space of grace to repent…

Jezebels are self-appointed and call themselves prophetesses of our Lord, yet they are false prophetic voices who speak in accord with Peter’s revelation when he wrote, “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption” (2 Peter 2:18-19a). …

If anyone has the same characteristics as the biblical Jezebel it is those within the sign-gift movement.  There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong, sinful, nor rebellious in QUESTIONING what is being taught as God’s truth from ANY person regardless of their position in life or title.

Who really has “the spirit of Jezebel”? The Word of Faith teachers and their followers, as well as other false teachers and their followers! Those who are exposing false teachers/teachings certainly are not setting themselves up as prophets, nor do they teach false doctrines, nor do they seduce people into doing vile deeds.

So when someone says you have “the spirit of Jezebel” when you expose false teachers, be sure to point out the truth about who really has such a spirit!