Jezebel still lives!

We need to be aware that rebellion and witchcraft are on the rise in our society

About fifteen years ago during a TV news report, a senior police officer commented, “We are living in strange times”. Today, a politician echoed those same words. The rudder and restraints of God’s word against chaos and unrighteousness are being removed. People’s minds are seduced, manipulated and controlled in almost unseen ways, as in Genesis 3:1-6. Perhaps because of over-emphasis on the demonic during the Charismatic phase of the 70s and 80s, we are calloused against that which is unseen. Dulled discernment dismisses the possibility of demonic activity, and that of fallen angels in heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Society’s ills are due to the outworking of rebellion/witchcraft. Rebellion entered the human race when Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s seductions and disobeyed the Lord. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23) and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. King Saul is an example. He tried to divine the future rather than trust in God. The comparison of the words, ‘rebellion’ and ‘witchcraft’ in 1 Samuel are not accidental. Defiance is as great as the sin of idolatry. We circumnavigate God for various ungodly reasons and fight demonic powers with weapons that are no heavenly good.

Demonic activity can enter lives through emotions such as anger, fear, lust, unforgiveness, through speech and through idol worship. False religion and sinful acts that we have seen or done, or that have been done to us can affect us spiritually and demonically. The Church suffers from the doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1-2). Evil spirits instigate error (Rev 16:13ff;1 John 4:1-3), particularly through false prophets (Mark 13:22; Matthew 24:11, 24; 1 John 4:1) who lead people astray and can lead to a situation such as that in Revelation 2:20. Evil spirits inspire vain philosophies and empty deceit (Colossians 2:8), producing a form of godliness but a denial of its power (2 Timothy 3:5). Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), while demons look for a house/host that they can occupy (Matthew 12:43ff).

The spirit of Jezebel?1

This is a very popular ‘spirit’ today and there is many a sermon and book about it. What we are often really dealing with is witchcraft/rebellion. Deceivingly, it can appear very low-key to begin with. In the local church, for instance, it can come about when leaders or members of the congregation manipulate and seek to dominate and control others. An example of this involves two women. They were miserable members of a church, always moaning and complaining, weeping, and crying with self-pity. Members elected them to serve as elders. You might be tempted to think that was God’s answer, because now the women were always very pleasant, happy, friendly, and smiling. They thrived when they were given opportunities to preach in the church and lead meetings. There was a problem that appeared to go unnoticed. The women were displaying a fake spirituality and were seeking their own glory, not God’s (Genesis 11:4). They used witchcraft (people don’t recognise it as the source of manipulation and control) to get to where they wanted to be. Over time, interest and attendance in their meetings and Sunday church meetings dwindled. People became ill and were not healed or delivered. Members died, others were admitted into nursing homes. Leadership became ill at ease and dissention set in.

Left unchecked, the spiritual, moral and physical malaise on a church is disastrous. If you deal with the “low key stuff” when you recognise it developing, you might save a congregation, ministry, business, life or nation from a planecrash and remove hindrances to the working of the Holy Spirit. Who was the more responsible for the situation that developed in the example given, the congregation, or the two women? On a larger scale we see men and women TV (give-us-your-money) Evangelists and those in domineering Faith ministries making wild claims of new revelations, miraculous powers, healings, casting out demons that are not there, making false declarations and false prophecies in the name of Jesus. They display seduction, manipulation and control. It is witchcraft.

Playing with our minds …

Mindfulness is an increasingly popular activity, even penetrating the world of music. An opera is directed by a mindfulness guru, who stated: “The performance includes mindfulness, meditation and sensory prompts such as sounds and smells… You won’t have experienced a piece of music-theatre quite like this.” British MPs are provided with Mindfulness sessions. Mindfulness classes are held in state schools – Classdojo2 – “helping teachers, parents, and students change education from the ground up.” Perhaps it is indulgence in these kinds of practices that will lead to the depraved personalities described by Paul in Romans 1:9, and 2 Timothy 3:1-5. A former kundalini yoga instructor gave his testimony. His guru had taught him that yoga was white witchcraft, as opposed to black witchcraft and red witchcraft. By practicing yoga, he had unwittingly opened himself up to the demonic. After he became a believer in Jesus, he described how the enemy attacked him. A demon came through the wall. He said it looked like a grey ball that rushed across the room and slammed into his forehead. The sensation was one of it trying to suck his soul out of his body. He concluded that this was the demon he had yielded to when he did meditation.

Witchcraft in the form of treatments entered the medical world, with clinics offering acupuncture, Tai Chi, and a whole variety of New Age manipulations and alternative treatments that have spurious spiritual roots. Patients claim, “it works”. I wonder, at what price? 3 There are Christian practitioners of alternative treatments and medicines, which is a contradiction in terms. These are all areas where the demonic can infiltrate one’s life. It’s a bit like Saul going to the sorcerers for answers. There is a price to pay.

What some refer to as the spirit of Jezebel began in Genesis (3:16). Because the woman influenced her husband and persuaded him to do what she desired, humanity’s lot changed. The woman and her female descendants would now take a subservient role to that of the man. Equality was forfeited as a result of the Fall – (but, in Christ there is no longer male and female – Galatians 3:28; Genesis 1:27). It opened up many new possibilities; the man being physically stronger could use that strength to lord it over the woman, “he shall rule over you” (yimshal/timshol). Her longing will be for her husband (Ishekh) (Genesis 3:16). The woman could use manipulation and seduction to gain the advantage; seducing as she had been seduced by the serpent. The forces of sex and aggression were introduced and unleashed.

Adam named the woman, ‘Eve’, because she would become the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20, according to English translations). Naming the woman in this way at this point does seem odd, but it also offered hope for the future. However, some scholars consider the name, Hawwā [Eve] to be related to the Aramaic word ‘hiwyā’ and the Arabic ‘hayyatun’ (serpent). This view suggests, she was given to him for an adviser/helpmeet, but instead she imitated the role of the eavesdropper like the serpent [hiwyā], as in – the serpent was [Eve’s] serpent [i.e. seducer], and Eve is Adam’s serpent. The suggestion is that Adam named his wife Hawwā [Female Serpent], with the seduced becoming the seducer. “Living” is still applicable to the name. From the reunion in body and spirit (Genesis 2:24), the relationship changes to a hierarchic, authoritative relationship (Genesis 3:6). Her name is now defined not by her relationship with her husband, and equality and mutual devotion, but by her impending role as mother. It is a warning to us that Satan uses men quite as easily, even those close to the Lord (John 13:27; Luke 22:3; Matt 16:23). God chose to bring forth His Son into the world through a woman (Galatians 4:4) and woman would be blessed (Luke 1:42). Jesus had many women disciples. There were prophetesses, and deacons in the church and at least one female apostle, as mentioned in Romans 16:7.

The Reception of Deception

Because of rebellion against God, the world is open to demonic deception. As a result, Christians are the most-harassed religious group in the world, facing persecution in 143 countries. So-called man-made global warming/climate change is a world-wide deception. Scientists that oppose this view lose their funding for research, they lose their jobs and reputations. Any alternative thinking is crushed. Anti-Semitism, LGBT, religious syncretism etc. are other world-wide deceptions, grounded upon the bedrock of witchcraft. The mind of humankind is gradually being crushed by being taught and programmed not to think. Are efforts to end free speech and freedom of thought, Satan’s twist on Genesis 3:15 and his attempt to crush the head/mind of humankind?

Are we spiritually aware of what is happening around us? Do we know what we should do? (1 Chronicles 12:32). An anecdote speaks of an African that travelled to the West for his education, where he gained a Doctorate in Theology. On his return to Africa, a crowd met to welcome him home. Suddenly a woman fell to the ground shrieking. The chief addressed the young man saying, “You have been studying theology overseas for ten years. Now help your sister. She is troubled by the spirit of her great aunt.” Looking up the index in Bultmann (Rudolf Bultmann), the young man finds and reads the piece on spirit possession in the New Testament, only to discover that Bultmann had demythologized it. He was powerless.

Jesus and the early Christians considered demons as real and very powerful adversaries of man. They exercised discernment, recognising the difference between demonic activity from the ‘natural’ causal effects of sin in the world. Not all illness has a demonic root. The Gospels differentiate between sickness and demon possession. Jesus spoke of His ministry in terms of casting out demons and healing people (Luke 13:32). He regarded His exorcism as an indication that the Kingdom of God was breaking into the present human experience (Luke 11:20). Scripture makes it clear that exorcism itself was not a cure unless the evil spirit was replaced with something better (Matthew 12:43-45; Luke 11:24-26).

1 For the full story of Jezebel go to 1 Kings 16-20 (For the story of her demise go to 2 Kings 9)

2 https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/?redirect=true

3 See DR ELLIE CANNON: Prince Charles is wrong – homeopathy is dangerous: https://tinyurl.com/y4duh8wh