This article is based on an interview I did regarding the spirit of Jezebel. The show is called “The Sound of the Trumpet”.

Do you remember Jezebel who was married to Ahab in the Old Testament? She tried to destroy the prophets of God and the culmination of that battle was the confrontation of Elijah and the hundreds of Baal prophets. God proved who He was and the false prophets were killed (1 Kings 18). While she was a real person, the spirit of Jezebel that controlled her is also a real entity. This spirit is at work even today and has infiltrated many churches.

This spirit is hard to recognize. The Bible says to look at the fruit to determine the state of the tree so let’s look at the fruits of the Jezebel spirit and compare that to the spirit of God as represented in Elijah. The spirit of Jezebel is still around. Spirits live a lot longer than humans and it is not until Jesus gets rids of them all at the end that they no longer have any power in our world.

This list comes from Confronting Jezebel by Steve Sampson. In this list Elijah represents those who seek Jesus and Jezebel represents the spirit of Jezebel.

• Elijah demands repentance while Jezebel hates repentance.
• Elijah demands righteousness while Jezebel opposes righteousness
• Elijah speaks freedom while Jezebel desires control
• Elijah demands humility while Jezebel appeals to pride
• Elijah speaks God’s way while Jezebel uses deceit and systems of witchcraft

Witchcraft in this sense means rebelling against God and relying on unholy spirits.  Jezebel is a rebellious spirit that relies on pride, seduction, and deceit to thwart the growth of the true church.

Usually it attaches itself to the leaders but not always. All the time it causes division and compromise.

The spirit of Jezebel is so strong today that it has actually led some real large churches to quit preaching the gospel of Christ and has gotten them to preach the gospel of feel good. Self-help has replaced the Bible and tolerance has replaced repentance in many pulpits. These churches have compromised their values.

There are churches in which only some of the gospel is preached and the message is about love and acceptance and repentance is avoided. The dangers of compromise are that the more darkness we let into our churches the less light we have.

Jezebel spirits work on pride. Many pastors are doing a great job in their churches and who wouldn’t want more people in the pews? The temptation is to start a program or to preach certain topics or to find some way to grow our church through human efforts. Elijah did not do that. He knew he was serving in God’s ministry and let God lead. We have to let God grow churches his way.

Along with my wife, Stella, I lead Lighthouse Ministries. We provide a clear gospel message, hope, love, and food to poor people in one of Canada’s toughest neighborhoods. Some people have told me that if I base this ministry on a platform of social justice it will grow and grow.  And it would. Except that it would not grow God’s way. It would no longer have a foundation of Christ but have one of anger and division as it would foster an us versus them attitude.

If we had more time, I would talk more about Jezebel spirits in individuals who unknowingly divide and destroy churches, small groups, and even marriages.

The bottom line is that the modern church influenced by Jezebel will compromise their following of Jesus by allowing false doctrine, idolatry, and sin in their midst. For example, it is easy to worship the self (pride), money (prosperity gospel), celebrities (idolatry), and tolerate new age beliefs and practices. These things make church easier and we can all feel good about ourselves. But where is Jesus in all this?

Church of Jesus, wake up! Call sin, sin! Repentance and submission to the Lord and resistance of the devil ought to be our foundations, so we can love others. A spirit of Jezebel is tempting the modern church to allow the world’s culture to change the church. We must not allow that. We must be the church that changes the culture.

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Andy Becker is a retired counselor and author of The Travelers, a fictionalized account of spiritual warfare (available on Amazon). He and his wife, Stella, lead Lighthouse Ministries which offers love, hope, and encouragement to one of Canada’s poorest and roughest neighborhoods, North Central Regina. His book, The Travelers, is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca