Credit: Sir Francis Dicksee (1876)/Wikipedia/Public Domain
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Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to talk about the appearance of the Spirit of Jezebel in the end times.
There is a theory circulating among those who study end-times theology, that as we near Christ’s second return we are going to see a revival of the ancient gods who once plagued Israel.
This is the premise of Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Return of the Gods, where Cahn argues that we may not necessarily see Baal idols popping up around the world, but rather the spirits behind these idols will try to reassert themselves.
Though these idols were typically manufactured out of wood, clay or stone to represent various gods, the Hebrews understood that there was more going on than just idol worship as there were demonic and evil spirits behind these gods.
We read in Deuteronomy:
“They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded” (Deuteronomy 32:16-17 NASV)
This was the real problem. They were actually making sacrifices to demons or evil spirits.
So what spirits could possibly be making an appearance in the end times?
In his book, Cahn discusses three major satanic spirits:
- Baal, the possessor.
- Asherah or Astarte, the Enchantress. She was a female fertility goddess connected with sexuality.
- Moloch, the destroyer. This idol was connected to death and often involved human sacrifice, particularly children.
One of the curious things about Baal is that the ancients believed it also controlled the weather and is often pictured with a thunderbolt in his hand.
So is this manifesting today?
I wonder because many are starting to refer to climate change extremists as religious cult.
In an article written for Time Magazine entitled, ‘The Case For Making Earth Day a Religious Holiday’, New York professors, Paul Greenberg and Carl Safina called on the government to make the annual Earth Day event, a religious holiday since it’s sandwiched between Easter and Passover.
Earth Day originally set aside to demonstrate support for the environment has been hijacked by Climate change extremists in recent years and now they want to make this a religious holiday
There was also the evil spirit behind Asherah, a female goddess that went by different names in other countries, Ashtoreth or Astarte. Considered the mother of all gods, it was a fertility god that included temple prostitutes and sexual orgies as part of its worship (Jeremiah 2:28). Could this evil spirit be connected to the flood of pornography we are seeing in society?
But aside from those two examples, we may even have a prophetic warning about one of those ancient satanic spirits making an appearance during the end times in the Book of Revelation.
In the first two chapters of Revelation, the Apostle John provides messages to seven churches of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Though these churches existed during John’s day, many suspect that John’s warnings were also prophetic and revealed problems and spiritual attacks that the church would face in the end times.
If that is true, then this may include an attack by the Spirit of Jezebel.
In chapter two, John describes a situation taking place in the church of Thyatira involving a woman who John referred to as Jezebel:
20 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. (Revelation 2:20 NASV
This individual had usurped prophetic and government authority in the church and was leading members into sexual immorality and acts that would compromise their faith.
In other words, she was eroding the church from within, rather than through an outward assault.
I don’t believe John was describing a woman named Jezebel, but rather John used this name to reveal that she was being influenced by the spirit of Jezebel, an evil spirit that haunted Israel a few hundred years earlier.
The apostle was pointing readers to another Jezebel — a Phoenician princess mentioned in 1 and 2 Kings, who married Israel’s King Ahab.
It was an arranged marriage intended to solidify a peace treaty between Israel and Phoenicia.
Because of Jezebel’s association with females in both the Old Testament and New Testament, many focus the story on women. However, it is important to realize Jezebel is not a woman, but rather a demonic spirit that equally influences both sexes.
Jezebel’s marriage to Ahab was a thinly veiled invasion of Israel, not by physical troops, but rather by spiritual demonic forces.
When Jezebel arrived she brought with her — 400 prophets of Asherah and 450 prophets of Baal.
These false prophets represented two powerful gods in the Phoenician religious pantheon. Jezebel was leading a super-charged demonic force combining the spiritual wickedness associated with two other ancient deities.
Jezebel was there to take over a nation.
Almost immediately, Jezebel set up two idolatrous temples — one at each of Israel’s capital cities.
She established a Baal temple in Samaria and one for Asherah at the main palace in Jezreel, where Ahab and Jezebel resided (1 Kings 16:32-33). We are told in 1 Kings 18:19, that the 400 prophets of Asherah ate with Jezebel at her table.
Not surprisingly, these were the centers of political power in Israel, because I believe the Spirit of Jezebel is one of the satanic principalities or rulers the Apostle Paul referred to in Ephesians when he wrote:
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NASV)
The word ‘rulers’ translated as ‘principalities’ in the King James version is the Greek word “arche.” It refers to ruling Satanic angels that have forces beneath them. In this case, Jezebel was the leading principality with evil spirits and demons associated with the worship of Baal and Asherah in a supporting role.
The spirit of Jezebel is unique in its goal to invade and conquer countries and organizations such as churches by usurping authority from the inside. They are not attacking from the outside, they are rising up within.
After Jezebel arrived in Israel she took her place at Ahab’s side. 2 Kings 9:30 suggests that she was an attractive woman and may have used sex to seduce Ahab, but whatever happened the writer of 1 Kings says:
25 Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him. (1 Kings 21:25 NASV)
Notice how it says that Ahab sold himself to do evil. Selling means an exchange took place. We don’t know exactly what Ahab received but it was payment for allowing evil to flow into Israel.
But the ultimate goal of Jezebel is to seize control and we have an interesting story in (1 Kings 21:1-16) that sets the stage for Jezebel’s eventual power grab.
Beside Ahab’s palace in Jezreel was a vineyard belonging to a man named Naboth. Ahab saw it every day from his palace wall and the more he saw it, the more he wanted it.
The king approached Naboth asking if he would be willing to exchange his property for a better vineyard the king owned or take the equivalent in money. Ahab offered Naboth a deal that he couldn’t refuse.
But the farmer refused because the land was the original part of the inheritance his family received when Israel entered the Promised Land.
Ahab didn’t handle the rejection very well. He was depressed, refused to eat, and moped around the palace like a little child. When Jezebel eventually found Ahab, he was lying on his bed facing the wall (v 9).
When she asked him what had happened, Ahab wined about Naboth’s refusal to sell his vineyard.
Jezebel told her husband and king, “Arise be joyful, I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
At that point, Jezebel sent a letter to the elders of Jezreel using Ahab’s seal and was essentially usurping the king’s authority. She ordered the nobles in the city to find two people who would accuse the farmer of cursing God and the King. The two men delivered their murderous words, and the elders ordered Naboth to be stoned.
With the owner gone, Jezebel told the king to take the land. Who could stop him now?
This story reveals the strategy that the spirit of Jezebel will employ in the end times, to gain power. It will try to exert influence if four critical areas:
The Breakdown of the Family
The first involves the breakdown of the family.
In this incident, we see by this point the relationship between Ahab and Jezebel had degenerated from one of a husband and wife to that of a mother looking after her child.
This was largely due to Ahab abdicating his God-given role as leader of the family and king of Israel.
As Ahab pouted, facing the wall like a five-year-old petulant child, Jezebel stepped in like his mother vowing to make things better.
One of the four goals of the Jezebel spirit is to break down the God-ordained family structure.
How many families in America are fatherless through divorce or unmarried women becoming pregnant and forced to raise children on their own.
And it is not just America. England’s Office for National Statistics reported that in 2012, 47.5% of children were born to unwed mothers. If that trend continues, they expect over half the births in the following years will be in the homes of unmarried women.
In 2019, the Daily Mail reported on a study by University College London that found divorce has a negative impact on children.
The researchers followed 6,000 children between the ages of three and 14, and discovered that if their parents divorced when the children were in primary school or early teens it resulted in “an average 16 percent rise in the intensity of emotional problems,” which often revealed itself through bad behavior and mental health issues.
The Daily Mail added this warning:
The study, published by University College London’s Institute of Education, confirms earlier research pointing to the suffering of children in divorced families.
Other studies have found that divorce is linked to poor health among teenagers and an increased risk they will drift into drugs, crime, joblessness or early pregnancy when they are older.
Seizing political control
The second thing Jezebel did was seize political control. She sent the letter to the nobles (leading men) and elders of the city in Ahab’s name, using the Royal seal ordering Naboth’s arrest.
The seal was created by a signet ring with an image on it that was superimposed on a letter and other official Royal documents by pressing it into wet clay or wax.
Jezebel was forging letters and usurping the power of Ahab.
The Spirit of Jezebel likes to be secretive. It haunts the shadows and dark places of power pulling the strings from the background through influential advisors. It manipulates those with close connections to leaders in order to be able to control them.
To the unknowing, it seemed like it was the King who was making the decisions, but another was secretly pulling the strings.
Jezebel had enough control that she could make decisions in the name of the King. She had stolen the king’s authority. Lower levels of government intimidated by Jezebel meekly caved into her outrageous demands.
This is not to say that when the time is opportune, Jezebel won’t emerge from the shadows and blatantly try to take control. But this is not how it starts.
Jezebel seizes judicial control
The third thing that Jezebel did was gain control of the justice system.
The elders at the gates represented the judicial system in Israel. In Deuteronomy 16:18 we read that the elders served as the country’s judges.
People with problems or disputes would bring their cases to the elders for a ruling.
Jezebel manipulated the justice system using Israel’s law which prescribed the penalty of death for blasphemy (Deuteronomy 13:9-14) and the need for two witnesses to make the accusation stick (Deuteronomy 17:6-7).
When Jezebel ordered the elders to find false witnesses she had corrupted the justice system to do her bidding. The judges did exactly as they were ordered ensuring the verdict had the appearance of legality.
When we are praying for our county, we must remember to pray for our justice system, which can bring down verdicts that impact the spiritual nature of a nation – positively and negatively.
Jezebel seizes spiritual control
The last thing Jezebel tried to do was to assert control of the spiritual life of the nation. It does this by redefining what it means to be a Christian in order to compromise people’s faith as that spirit was doing in Thyatira, where people were being taught to accept immoral acts as Christian.
This was all coming from within the church, from people with authority inside the church.
In her letter to the elders and nobles of the city, Jezebel ordered these leaders to proclaim a city-wide fast. These fasts were calls to repentance – in this instance, Jezebel was calling them to repent over Naboth’s supposed blasphemy.
Notice how she tried to shame Israel for this supposed sin. The whole city was called to repent. The spirit of Jezebel uses this tactic to blame and shame.
It was a fake sin and a fake call to repentance.
These calls to repentance were normally made by the prophets (see 1 Samuel 7:6). By her actions, Jezebel had seized spiritual and prophetic control of the nation. On the outside, this call to repentance appeared so spiritual, but it covered up a horrendous evil.
In our modern context, Jezebel desires to redefine what it means to be a Christian, moving people away from their true Biblical faith, in the process creating a false Christianity.
At this point Jezebel’s overthrow was complete. But it would not last, as God would deliver the nation from the Spirit of Jezebel (2 Kings 9:31-33).
There are indications that these ancient evil spirits that once plagued Israel are being reactivated in the end times, and it’s time to start praying.
READ: A ‘Dark Trinity’: Jonathan Cahn Says America’s Brutal Culture Wars Really About ‘The Return of the Gods’ AND Divorce really DOES have a negative impact on children: Study shows boys over seven are most likely to behave badly if their parents are separated
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