The Spirit of Jezebel By Bruce W. Robida Oct 21, 2011

 

After reading several opinions online about the spirit of Jezebel, I have reached the following conclusions.

The premise of the spirit of Jezebel is that in the spiritual realm, certain demonic spirits cause humans to act like Jezebel, wife of King Ahab from the Biblical book of 1 Kings. In fact, it is thought that this spirit is the one who gave Jezebel the power to become the real power behind her husband’s throne. Today, it is thought that the very same Jezebel spirit operates today in many Churches, causing Christian leaders to succumb to temptations of power, greed, and especially sexual immorality.

First, I believe demonic spirits can indwell humans and the Bible gives many examples of this. And I don’t believe Christians, who are already indwelt by the Holy Spirit, can actually be possessed by demonic spirits. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit would allow such a cohabitation to exist.

Second, I believe that demonic spirits who indwell unbelievers can cause these humans to sin. In this case, demon possessed humans can rightfully say, “The devil made me do it”. However, unbelievers who are not demon possessed, and even Christians, since they are filled with the Holy Spirit, can make no such claim. The devil has no power to literally force these people to do anything.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:13-15

Notice in these verses, that each person is tempted, not by demonic spirits, but by their own evil desires. All humans have the ability to conceive of their own evil desires leading to sin without being tempted by evil spirits. We cannot give credit to the devil for our own evil actions. Even the enticements that we see on a daily basis are usually placed in front of us by people acting out of their own evil desires for power, greed, sexual satisfaction, or all of the above. We often make the devil’s work easy by own misdeeds.

Third, evil spirits are not omnipresent (not everywhere at the same time). While there may be many evil spirits lurking around (and I believe there are), each one acts maliciously and autonomously to try to cause humans to sin. It is their mission in life. One evil spirit doesn’t know what the other evil spirit is up to, unless they are within sight or sound of each other.

Fourth, evil spirits are not omniscient (all knowing). They cannot read your mind or thoughts. They have no idea about what you are about to do or what you have done in the past unless they have witnessed it themselves.

Fifth, evil spirits are not omnipotent (all powerful), although they do have powers that we would consider to be miracles. This is the way in which demons are allowed to manipulate our surroundings and situations that can influence what we do, think and say. Unbelievers have no remedy against this as long as they remain unbelievers. Christians do have a remedy if they choose to use it.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Sixth, all evil spirits are like the so-called, Jezebel spirit. Every evil thing that Jezebel did, she did by her own evil desires and enticements unless she was demon possessed. Even so, the sole mission in life for evil spirits is to wreak havoc when and where they can, all possessing the same powers and attributes. To name spirits such as, “The spirit of stubbornness”, “The spirit of maliciousness”, or “The spirit of Jezebel” only gives us scapegoats, attempting to place blame on the devil when in reality we are usually responsible for our own sins.

Seventh, when the term, “…in the spirit of…” is used, I don’t believe it literally means being possessed by that particular spirit. For example;

He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:16-17

In this case, and all others, I believe “…in the spirit of…” simply means, “Like a particular person and with similar power”. Therefore, the Jezebel spirit should only be considered as acting in a similar way as Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife and not a demonic spirit that was named after her.

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