Jezebel or Ahab Spirit?

There are many accusations in the Body of Christ regarding the “Jezebel spirit.” Jezebel was a woman who was married to a wimpy king named Ahab who hated the prophets of God and had them murdered. If anyone got in her way or the way of her husband, she just had them massacred.

I Kings 21:
2 So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, "Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."
3 But Naboth said to Ahab, "The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!"
4 So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food.
5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, "Why is your spirit so sullen that you eat no food?"
6 He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, 'Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.' And he answered, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'"
7 Then Jezebel his wife said to him, "You now exercise authority over Israel! Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."
8 And she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.
9 She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people;
10 and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, "You have blasphemed God and the king." Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die.
11 So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.
12 They proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth with high honor among the people.
13 And two men, scoundrels, came in and sat before him; and the scoundrels witnessed against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth has blasphemed God and the king!" Then they took him outside the city and stoned him with stones, so that he died.
14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."
15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead."
16 So it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

As we see here, Jezebel was a woman who was resourceful, and killing someone was not a problem, if it would get her her way.

But whom did God hold responsible? Continuing:

17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
18 "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.
19 "You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "Have you murdered and also taken possession?" ' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours."' "
20 So Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" And he answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord:
21 'Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free.
22 'I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.'
23 "And concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.'
24 "The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field."
25 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.

The rebuke of the Lord came to Ahab before it came to his wife, even though the idea, and the carrying out of the idea, came from Jezebel herself. Does it seem the same to you sometimes today that the man is saying: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."? [Genesis 3:12]

I strongly agree that there is a Jezebel spirit that needs to be resisted and fought. But to put all in its proper order and perspective, we must look at the Ahab spirit as well.

When Jesus exhorted the Church at Thyatira, He said in Revelation 2:

20 "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.
21 "And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
22 "Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
23 "I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

Who was Jesus rebuking? Was it not the elders of Thyatira? And for what? For allowing wrong doctrine and activities.

The spirit of Jezebel -- one who murders the prophets and has her own religion and “prophets” (who cater to the flesh) -- is one that is coming under damnation, but from Genesis to Revelation, we see that it is the Ahab spirit who allows it and is also the one Jesus holds accountable for its operation.

There are two types of victims of this Jezebel spirit. The first are those who get in her way and the second are her “children,” the ones who have been indoctrinated to believe that what is wrong is right.

Many use the accusation of a Jezebel spirit to condemn women who are strong in the Lord. Instead of working together as God desires, the man who is being held up as accountable to be living right is blaming the woman. I am here to prophesy that God is fair and He is going to deal with lying spirits.

This is a day where God is using women. I do not say that arrogantly but by the Word of the Lord.

Acts 2:
16 "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.

Plainly here in the New Testament confirmation of the prophecy in Joel, God is revealing that He will use women in ministry. Does this mean that they operate independently of men? No. Nor does it mean that they are to be devalued either, or bullied.

Just as it is WRONG for a woman to usurp the authority of a man (or dominate him), so it is wrong for him to do the same! Bullying in the Name of the Lord is not a blessed foundation.

God is not taking a popular vote. When He calls people to ministry, He is not asking for public approval. He is asking His people to regard the ministry He has put in both men and women for their blessing.

It’s plain to see that bullying and dominating can be a form of the Jezebel or violent spirit. The victim, on the other hand, needs ministry and deliverance as well.

It is sad when a person cannot make a decision for themselves. Some people have been so abused and so overwhelmed that they are incapable of making a quality decision without fear. As you can see, that spirit is not totally isolated to one gender or the other.

It seems especially sad to see a man who lacks authority, since he has been called by God to be the leader of his house as a husband and father or brother. A man by nature has a covering and providing spirit. There are those who do not yield to it, just as there are Christians who do not yield and make place to the growing of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their lives. [See Galatians 5:22-23] When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit seed is at work to grow and manifest this fruit.

There is deliverance for victims of the children of the Jezebel spirit through the Spirit of God. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” Jesus declared for you and for me. This deliverance is to give you strength to think right and be right. When you are transformed by the renewing of your mind, you can act on what you know is right and live in the freedom of love that Christ has ordained for all of us.

There is also deliverance through the righteous for the injustice in the land by those who will live and walk in the truth. Our warfare in not just in the carnal natural realm but also in the spiritual.

May we be people who know Him who is the Truth, and bless each other for the glory of God's love in all of us.

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