The spirit of Jezebel and Ahab, or advice to wives.

I was motivated to search by my online Angelika. Mine because a tease of mine :D, although this time in an email she presented a real problem with a certain type of man.

 

I was going to write a text about this, but I found one ready to go, and let it be an introduction to what I will soon write about men. We have already covered Jezebel, so this time please pay attention to Ahab, because he will be the subject of my new text.

It also says what a wife should not do, all in the light of God's Word:

 

I could Give this sermon the subtitle, "The Danger of Deception by False Doctrine." Read Revelation 2:18-29, and you will see that Christ Himself warns the church against the teaching of Jezebel. "But I have reproached you for allowing the woman Jezebel, who claims to be a prophetess, and teaches, and deceives my servants, to practice fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols." (Rev. 2:20). The Greek word referring to Jezebel is a synonym for a false teacher. She clearly represents false teaching, and Jesus makes this clear by continuing, "...to all you who do not have this teaching..." (Rev. 2:24).

Here is a group of God's people, full of good works and almsgiving, having a form of faith and patience. But the eyes of Jesus appear among them, like flames of fire. Something very dangerous is happening to what is good and worthy of recommendation, something so deceptive that Christ warns that He will send judgment and make them an example to all the churches. Certain church members have sold themselves to Satan. Their good works, alms giving, service, faith, and patience, had been obscured by the deception in which they were involved, the deception of false teaching. They were under the spell of false teaching; teaching that had the appearance of the true Word, but was actually evil.

Deceiving God's servants

Christ said that it is "my servants" who are deceived. Preachers. We have come to that very dangerous condition that Christ warned about. There are scores of pastors, teachers and evangelists under the deceptive spell of Jezebel's teaching. These deceived teachers in turn give birth to 'children of deception'. They teach fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols - this is spiritual fornication. It is eating demonic food of teachings that justify sin.

I want to make it clear that it is dangerous to sit and listen to the wrong teaching. False teaching can condemn you faster than lusts or sins of the flesh. False teachers and preachers send more people to hell than all the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes combined. This is not an exaggeration ? I believe it. Plenty of blind, deluded Christians sing and praise the Lord in churches sold out to false teaching. Thousands listen to teachers who spew the doctrine of demons ? and on leaving say, "Wasn't that wonderful?"

Christ does not take this lightly. His eyes are piercing the church again; He has come to warn, reveal and save His people and His servants from terrible deception. We better get down to it seriously. It matters where you go to church. It matters who you listen to. It matters what teaching reaches your heart.

Godly people sell themselves to Satan on every side by giving themselves over to false teachers and stretches of false teaching. People associate selling themselves to Satan with damaged drug addicts, alcoholics, AIDS-infected prostitutes, and God-hating atheists. It doesn't. It happens in the church, at evangelistic meetings, conventions and major seminaries.

It is a sign of a deceived Christian that he is seeking new and different and strange teachings. The Bible warns; "Do not be deceived by strange and various teachings. (Hebrews 13:9). Do not be dragged here and there, from one place to another. I am not talking about those rare times when a mature believer goes to hear a true man of God preach Christ and repentance. I'm talking about flying from place to place, seminary to seminary, church to church, healing meeting one after another, having no roots. Their ears are always itching to hear something new, sensational, entertaining, something to satisfy their flesh. We have such in Times Square Church ? roving, subversive people riding on the wings of doctrine. This kind doesn't come back to us again because we don't scratch itchy ears. They want to be stroked, not chastised. Thus they return back to their teachers ? sycophants, happy positive thinkers. They resemble the Athenians who "... had so much time for nothing else as for telling or hearing the last news" (Acts 17:21). Paul warned Timothy about this: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but will, according to their own fancies, choose teachers for themselves, eager for what pleases the ear." (2 Tim. 4:3).

Christ's teaching

The mark of a mature Christian is to reject being "tossed about and carried about by the winds of doctrine..." (Eph. 4:14). Such believers cannot be manipulated by any teacher. They do not need to run to different places because they drink from the Rock. They are growing in Christ. They feast in green pastures. They have circumcised their ears and study every teacher, every teaching, by how much it transforms into the holiness of Christ. They are able to discern all teachings that are false, and are repulsed by all foreign, new doctrines. They have learned Christ. They will not be held by music, friends, personalities, miracles, but by a hunger for the pure Word.

There are only two kinds of teachings. The teaching of Christ and the teaching of Jezebel. Paul said: "... that in everything they may be an adornment of the doctrine of our Savior God" (Titus 2:10). What is the teaching of Christ? God's grace instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly (Titus 2:12). Christ's teaching will transform you into the likeness of Christ. It will expose every hidden sin and every evil desire.

Does your teacher chastise with authority, telling and exhorting you to forsake sin and all idols, as he instructed in Titus chapter 2? Do you learn to fiercely hate sin? Or do you leave the church still unconvinced to the core? Can you leave clinging to your favorite sins? The message of Christ's teaching is this: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, completing our holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

So many write to us: "Our pastor repeats: 'I am not here to preach against sin; I am here to exalt Jesus.' Or, 'No condemning sermon from this pulpit ? I am here to remove fear and depression from my people.? Even among Pentecostal preachers there are two extremes. Some shout a hard legalistic gospel without love, that of works, others preach against sin like cowards, retracting it later in the same sermon. False love and crocodile tears.

The doctrine of Christ is the doctrine of godliness and holiness. "If any man teach otherwise, and hold not to the saving words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine of true godliness, he is conceited, knowing nothing, but sick of disputing and contending for words, whereof arise envy, strife, blasphemies, and malicious suspicions. (I Tim. 6:3-4). Some tell us: "My teacher talks about holiness." But I do not mean merely using the words ?holy? or ?godly?; I mean preaching it with all authority. Preaching the doctrine of Christ will bless, strengthen, and encourage you, but it will also convict you so deeply that you will not be able to sit listening to it and still languish in secret lust.

Science of Isabel

Let us look at this teaching of demons and see if you are in danger of selling yourself to Satan. There are three distinctive signs of the teaching of Jezebel. All three are found in the Old Testament's Jezebel, the mother and embodiment of false teaching. Jesus identified her name with false teachings. This is the teaching that says that something evil can be good, and that something cursed can be pure.

Izebel, in Hebrew, means 'pure, virtuous, not idolatrous.' Imagine. The most ungodly, idolatrous, scheming and hateful woman in the entire Bible called virtuous and without sin. Something very bad was called good. But ironically it is ?purity? with a question mark. How? When? Where? How did she become pure? When? Where?

And look at Ahab. "But Ahab the son of Omri did worse in the sight of the Lord than all his predecessors. Nought yet did he walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat; but moreover he married Jezebel the daughter of Etbaal king of Sidon, and served Baal, and worshiped him" (l Kings 16:30-31). Ahab means 'like his father' or 'sealed with the nature of his father? ' Jezebel represents false teaching, and Ahab is her victim. The Bible says that it was nothing that Ahab had a heart turned to sin, idolatry and compromise. For he had brought into his life a satanic influence that confirmed him in his sin. "Truly there was none like Ahab, who so sold himself, doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, to which Jezebel his wife led him." (l Kings 21:25).

The message is that the tendency of Christians who cling to hidden sin and lust is to embrace and marry false teaching that will only encourage and strengthen them in their sins. The last thing Ahab needed was Jezebel. How dangerous. She brought out the worst in him, magnified it, and destroyed him. It is the same with false teaching. If there is any sin, lust or secularism in you, the last thing you need is a teaching that will release the worst in you. When David sinned with Bathsheba, he didn't need a false prophet to bring him a soothing message of God's love. He needed an uncompromising prophet, Natan, who, pointing his finger, cried out: "You are the man." Those who preach the teachings of Christ show people the difference between right and wrong. No mixture flows from their lips. "They will instruct the people about the difference between what is holy and what is common, and between what is unclean and what is clean" (Ezekiel 44:23). Ezekiel condemns those false prophets who enrich themselves by bringing a message that justifies sin. "Whose princes are roaring, predatory lions. They devour the people, they take away property and affluence, they multiply the number of her widows in her. Her priests violate my law and insult my holiness, they do not distinguish between the holy and the common, and they do not instruct about what is unclean and what is clean. They close their eyes from their sabbaths so that I am defiled among them. Its chiefs are vittles of predation, they shed blood, they destroy human life to make profit. Her prophets plaster all this to them, preaching to them illusory visions, prophesying to them deceitfully, and saying, Thus saith the Lord Almighty ? though the Lord hath not spoken" (Ez. 22:25-28).

The result is a whole generation of confused kids who can't even recognize evil when they see it. They have been deceived by false prophets. They call it good when rockers with red hair, dressed like sado-masochists, jump around and move sexily on the podium with big voices presenting their rock and roll. They are told that extramarital sex is good as long as you love and respect the other person. Preachers and teachers are the greatest defenders of sin in the nation.

Izebel's teaching promotes greed

"And Ahab said unto Naboth, Give me thy vineyard, and I will make me a vegetable garden therein, for it is nigh unto my palace: and I will give thee for it a vineyard better than it, or, if thou wilt, I will pay thee for it the purchase price of silver. But Naboth said unto Ahab, The Lord forbid that I should give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And Ahab went away to his house sullen and angry, and lay down upon his bed, and turned his face to the wall, and took no meal. And when Jezebel, his wife, came to him, she asked him: Why are you so sullen and do not take your meals? Are you the one who exercises royal authority in Israel? Get up, take a meal, and be of good cheer. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." (l Kings 21:2-7).

Listen to the teaching of Jezebel: "You are the king. Number one. You have your rights. Let nothing stop you from achieving what you want." She said to Ahab: "Be cheerful. Be happy. Be joyful. I will get it for you." This is the whole gospel of success. "Do not sweat. Don't be sad or feel condemned by the desires that are eating you up. I'll get it for you." For centuries the church preached sacrifice and condemned greed, calling it a sin to chase after material things. But came the teaching of Jezebel, saying: "I will get it for you." Like Izebel's deceptive methods, these teachings twist and misuse the Word.

The greatest deception in the modern church is the issue of using God's Word to approve greed. Outwardly, Jezebel's teaching works (see l Kings 21:14-16). She obtained for Ahab what he wanted. He gained his rights because the man was stoned for a great offense against the king; all his rights passed to the king. There was never any doubt that for many this teaching of material prosperity was working. Like Ahab they enjoy their possessions.

But Ahab could not rejoice for long over the intolerable prophet of God. "Then there came to Elijah the Tishbite a word from the Lord to this effect: Arise, go out to meet Ahab ... in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession of it, and say to him thus: Thus saith the LORD, Have you made a murder, and have you already taken possession? ... In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall also lick your own blood. And Ahab answered Elijah: Have you found me already, my enemy? And he answered, Yea, I have found you, because you have sold yourself entirely to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord. (l Kings 21:17-20).

Imagine Ahab walking around his new estate and saying: "Isn't life sweet? Oh, Isabel. I may not agree with all her methods, but she achieves what she wants." But step by step he is followed by the prophet Elijah. Ahab turns away shocked. He knew what was coming. His conscience told him: "You have found me, my enemy."

This is still the case today. God has sent prophets throughout the earth who cry out loudly and confront the teaching of Isabel's materialism, causing Christians who enjoy their toys to feel uncomfortable. They fail to see the sin behind it all. Every time I cry out against false teaching, I feel the spirit and power of Elijah over me. You will hear more and more of the unveiled teaching of Jezebel. Prophetic voices will be heard loud and clear everywhere, crying out: "Sin. You gained it by selling yourself to sin."

Jezebel hates God's prophets
and godly prophecies

"Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had had all the prophets of Baal struck out with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: This let the gods do, and let them make it so that tomorrow about this time I will do to your life the same thing that happened to the life of every one of them." (l Kings 19:1-2).

Christians bound by the teaching of Jezebel do not heed God's holy prophets at all. They sit rigidly like Jezebel, unmoved, like Ahab who watched in detail the miraculous display of supernatural power on Mount Carmel. Listen to Ahab: "But, Jezebel, maybe we should listen. I saw it with my own eyes. Our prophets danced and cried out for hours, but there was no power. Elijah just spoke God's words and fire fell. Everywhere people lay on their faces and repented. They turned away from all idolatry. God sent a revival of sanctification." But this did not make the slightest impression on Jezebel. It only caused her to harden in her resolve.

This is the case even now. The preachers of the doctrine of Jezebel and those like Ahab who are victims of it are not receptive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit or the message of repentance and sanctification. They listen to it and continue on their way, even more intent on this teaching than ever before. There is no fear of God in their hearts.

The surest sign of a false teacher and the teachings of Jezebel is to reject the prophetic warnings and refuse to hear about judgment. They call, it darkness and cloud. They laugh, scoff and expose themselves to ridicule. They have no respect for any negative warning. Jeremiah says that such shepherds are blind and deaf. The Lord said: "Hear ... but they have not hearkened and pricked up their ear, but have acted according to the inclination and stubbornness of their evil heart, and have turned their backs and not their faces to me" (Jer. 7:24-28).

Those who teach the doctrine of Jezebel call themselves prophets. But there is a test to distinguish a true prophet from a false one. The prophets of Izebel prophesy only good things, only peace and prosperity. "But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horror; they commit adultery and act deceitfully, and they strengthen the evildoers so that none may turn from his evil; therefore they have all become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and water them with poison, for from the prophets of Jerusalem has gone out ungodliness throughout the land. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they only deceive you, the vision of their heart they proclaim, not what comes from the mouth of the Lord! They say to those who despise the word of the Lord: Peace be unto you. And to all those who are guided by the stubbornness of their heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. (Jer. 23:14-17). They do not turn people away from ungodliness. They talk about dreams and act foolishly behind the pulpit. They are pranksters.

Ahab's covenant with the world

Ahab repented after Elijah's sermon. Elijah's message affected him deeply. He tore his clothes and walked in humility for a while. God called this repentance, "Did you see how Ahab humbled himself before me?" (l Kings 21:29). From that day forward he could look back and say, "Repentance? Yes. Influenced by the preaching of that great man of God, Elijah, in my garden at Jezreel..." For him, it was just a one-time experience, not a daily occurrence. It did not last very long. The problem is that Ahab had made a covenant with the world. He was in harmony with sin. He became a brother and friend to the world. "Brother" here means "kinship; exactly like me; one whom I respect." He made a covenant with that which God had cursed. So even today there is a shallow, yet true atonement. But you will return to the same if you do not break your covenant with the world.

Ahab claimed to love the truth, but deep in his heart he hated rebuke. Ahab and Jechoshaphat waged war against the Syrians. Four hundred false prophets proclaimed success: "Go and you will succeed. You will succeed," But there stands one lone prophet against 400 false ones. Listen to how Ahab demands the truth: "And Micah answered, As the Lord liveth, that I will speak only what the Lord shall tell me. And when he came to the king, the king said to him: Micah, shall we go up against Ramoth of Gilead to war, or shall we desist from it? And he answered: Go forth, and it shall be your good fortune, and the LORD shall deliver them into the king's hand. Then the king said to him: How many times shall I curse thee, that thou shouldst tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?" (l Kings 22:14-16). Yet in his heart he would not listen to it; he hated it. So he imprisoned the prophet.

Pastors, teachers and listeners today say, "We want the truth. Preach it as it is. Go on. Pour it out. No matter how it hurts." But in their hearts some boil over, "Too much condemnation. Too hard. I can't take it anymore."

Ahab was blind to the terrible fact that he was being led by lying spirits. This lying spirit was not from God, but came at His command. Evil, lying spirits must come or go at His Word. They are not from God, but are sent by God. "The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets" (l Kings 22:22-23).

This lying spirit caused Zedekiah, the false prophet, to boast that the Spirit of God was upon him. The lying spirit within him could honestly proclaim: "The Lord has sent me." Lying spirits are very convincing. "Thou shalt deceive him" (l Kings 22:22). Ahab was now fully convinced that he heard God's voice and that he would return victorious.

Christians bound by the teachings of Jezebel are 100 percent convinced that they are right. They do not see deception. Ahab did not stand up, thinking, "Micah is right; he has the mind of God. Four hundred are false; they have no word from God." No. He went out completely convinced ? deceived ? totally deceived. He was persuaded that Micah was not right, and the four hundred were right.

Why some Christians
fall into such a deception?

"Behold, you rely on deceptive words that will not help. How is it that you steal, murder, commit adultery and perjury, offer sacrifices to Baal, and go after other people's gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name, and say: We are saved ? to continue to commit all these abominations!" (Jer. 7:8-10). Here is the answer. Holding on to some favorite sin, some hidden idol in the heart. Justifying sin. Walking after the world. Becoming friends with the world. Then they come to God's house, boasting: "I am not judged." This is an open invitation to lying spirits.

 

The message was taken from the Polish edition of Light of Life, a Searchlight publication.

—
Used by permission of World Challenge, P. O. Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

http://www.tscpulpitseries.org/polish/ts880118.htm

 

 

And then there's the old text:

 

Rebellion is so closely related to controlling that we hardly notice it. The desire to control is the basis of rebellion in a wife. You might say: "I am not a rebellious wife," picturing someone who is tough, relentless, demanding her own, and naturally rebellious. But rebellion is insidious and often comes from beneath the surface. The most rebellious wife can be the one who is sweet, quiet, and complacent.

When you're always late and make him wait - that's rebellion.

When you "forget" to pay your bills or call somewhere when asked to do so - that's rebellion.

When you persist in a habit that he asked you to let go of - that's rebellion.

When you do things behind his back that he doesn't want you to do - that's rebellion.

These are all control activities that assign us the baton in very subtle ways.

I remember when I had a big problem with looking back and reflecting on the past. My husband kept telling me not to do it. But I rebelled and did it anyway. Oh, what a pain! I understand how Lot's wife felt in this case. Looking back brings paralysis. You are literally in impotence when it comes to doing anything once you get into that syndrome.

How can we, overcome this stronghold of rebellion? What will defeat it? First of all, we must have the desire to relinquish control and submit ourselves to the leadership of our husbands. We must voluntarily come over to God's side and obey Him.

For our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but have power to destroy strongholds for the cause of God; and with them we destroy every evil thought, every pride that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:4-5).      

We can cut through the stronghold of rebellion by making a greater effort to bring every thought and aspiration under the lordship of Christ. We can do this by praising God and thanking Him for every situation we encounter, good, bad, or indifferent. God dwells in the praises of His people (Psalm 22;4). When we praise and thank God for the circumstance or person we feel is the cause of our rebellion - peace will flow upon us. We will be given a much needed perspective.

Give thanks for everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (I Thessalonians 5:18).

source: http://www.gdansk-wiosenna.kwch.org/nauczanie/artykuly/duch-izebel-194.html