Saturday, September 21, 2013

The "Jezebel Spirit" Teaching: Priming Churches for Spiritual Abuse

It's a story my husband Jeff likes to tell from before we were married.

We were both members of a coercive Christian group of "charismatic" persuasion-- meaning that the group believed in supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Like most charismatic groups, our church believed that Christians and churches could be harassed by, or even come under the power of, demonic spirits. We believed God had called us to "rebuke" such spirits in the name of Jesus and drive them out of our lives and the lives of others.

One evening Jeff was sitting in the living room of the apartment he shared with his roommate (I'll call him Mike). Mike's best friend (let's say his name was Dave) was visiting, as he often did.  The evening news came on.

Dave stared for a minute at the female news anchor, who was speaking in an assertive, confident voice.  He raised his hand in a karate-chop motion and shook it at the screen.  "I rebuke that Jezebel spirit in the name of Jesus!" he said.  Mike nodded agreement.

My future husband stopped himself from rolling his eyes.  "Why are you doing that?" he asked.

"Look at her!" Dave said.  "She's controlling and bossy.  She thinks she can take over a man's role.  She's got a Jezebel spirit!"

Jeff sighed, but didn't try to argue. There wasn't really any point.  Mike and Dave's ideas were right in line with our church's teachings.  Jeff's disagreement would only be looked at askance.  But even then he didn't see that simply doing a news anchor's job while female indicated the presence of a "Jezebel spirit."

Jeff and I left the charismatic movement when we left our Maranatha Campus Ministries church, some years after we were married.  I have nothing against the charismatic movement in general; I think their emphasis on real-life experience of the divine is a valuable and needed part of Christianity as a whole.  But even some charismatics have problems with belief in the existence of a "Jezebel spirit." As my online friend and respected colleague "TL" at SpoudazO Logos says,
It is unfortunate that there are those who have added to Scripture to claim that an evil woman of the Old Testament is now a female demon going about influencing mostly women to be like her in Christian churches. There is no biblical ‘spirit of jezebel’. What there is, is a real woman who lived and died. . . Her spirit does not roam the earth in the form of a demon and influence people.
Unfortunately, as far as online charismatic voices are concerned, TL is definitely in the minority. Googling "Jezebel Spirit" yields multiple websites dedicated to describing the supposed Jezebel spirit and giving points on how to fight it. There are also a number of books specifically about the Jezebel spirit: Iowa pastor Francis Frangipane wrote one simply named The Jezebel Spirit in 2001. Author John Paul Jackson put out a similar title in 2002. Florida minister named Jonas Clark has a website containing several pages devoted to stopping this evil spirit-- he even offers a CD learning course which will cost you $150 to break free from being Jezebel's eunuch. I even found a sales guide listing 10 or 20 titles on defeating this supposed "controlling" spirit and its corollary, the "passive" Ahab spirit.

There is even a website dedicated to information about this spirit: jezebelspirit.net.  To be fair, they may not subscribe to the idea that the Jezebel spirit is actually the same being as the woman Jezebel who was married to Ahab, king of Israel, as described in 1 Kings 16 through 2 Kings 9.  The way I understood the "spirit of Jezebel" when I was in Maranatha was that this was an evil spirit that possessed both Queen Jezebel and another woman called by the same name in Revelation 2:20-23, and which still influences women to manipulate, seduce and control men.

But what I found later, in the years when I went back to everything I had been taught as a Christian and searched the Bible in a reassessment of my beliefs, was that there is actually no biblical support for believing in a "Jezebel spirit" at all-- whether as the spirit of a woman in history which has become a female demon, or as a demonic spirit which possessed that woman and is still active today.  Neither the 1st - 2nd Kings stories, or the Revelation passage, say anything whatsoever about a demonic spirit.  Rather, the Kings passages describe the real activities of a real woman, and the Revelation passage uses the symbolic name "Jezebel" to refer to a woman whom the writer considered to be committing similar sins to those of the original Jezebel.

Charismatics are taught to test everything -- every experience, every teaching, every doctrine-- against the Scriptures, which are the check and balance to keep their emphasis on the supernatural and on spiritual experience from leading them away from orthodoxy.  I remember how carefully this was pressed on us when I was in Maranatha.  But the teaching on the spirit of Jezebel turned out to be only one of many areas where I found, on re-examination, that the Bible actually didn't say anything like what I'd been taught in Maranatha.

So why am I bringing this up now?

Because it appears to me that the teachings about the Jezebel spirit are continuing to escalate even past the beliefs I once had about it, to the point where Charisma News columnist Jennifer Leclaire says there is a "spiritual warfare culture" where this spirit has "rock star status" (Leclaire actually believes in these spirits herself, though she is one of the voices cautioning common sense and restraint.) This faithsite.com article considers the Jezebel spirit to be the primary spirit that attacks churches and church leaders in an attempt to control and take over, while a lesser "Absalom spirit" acts as a sort of chief lieutenant.

The spirit of Jezebel is called "a spirit of witchcraft."  This is fitting because this entire set of spiritual warfare teachings is teetering on the edge of a witch hunt.

And, as most witch hunts do, it is primed to target primarily women.

Looking more closely at the faithsite.com article linked above, here is how the Jezebel spirit is defined:
Jezebel is not just a principality or power. It is a stronghold of the second highest classification of demons listed in Ephesians Chapter 6. It is a “ruler of the darkness of this world” holed up in a strong and unbroken woman. . . Jezebel exists to undermine the authority and anointing of the man of God. 
No scriptural authority is given for the existence of the Jezebel spirit or for linking it with the "principalities and powers" described in Ephesians 6.  But though the article gives the following caveats:
All strong females are NOT Jezebels . . . All of the above is NOT to say that women should not be in positions of authority and influence in the local church. Priscilla is always mentioned alongside her husband Aquilla in the New Testament and appears to be the primary pastoral figure between the two,
it goes on to say:
Jezebel is a woman with issues in her heart concerning male authority. She has probably been wounded by a male authority figure(s) in her past, and hasn’t allowed God to heal those inner wounds. A Jezebel is often a woman who has great disrespect for her father, either because he abused her, ignored her, or because he spoiled her by never confronting her immaturities as a child, and who let her run over him. Regardless of the why, she has nursed a deep disrespect for manhood inside her heart. . .

Sometimes a Jezebel is a Jezebel because, by default, she had no example but her mother… who was a Jezebel herself… in the home.  Men ought to wear the pants in their marriages. Some have a quieter personality than the wife, but they should still assert themselves enough to clearly demarcate who is the head of the family unit. . .

A foolish woman will just take over the husband’s role because she senses he is unsure of himself and she has the stronger personality. But this is unscriptural!
This is very much in line with standard charismatic doctrine, which (unlike in most other evangelical groups) allows women to have authority in the church, but which (as in most other evangelical groups) maintains that the man has "headship" over the wife in the marriage and the home.  But notice what has happened here.  Though women are granted leadership positions in the church, if a woman is perceived in any way as "having issues concerning male authority," the next logical step is to conclude that she has a Jezebel spirit "holed up inside her."  It may be that it is not she who has issues with a man or men in authority in the church, but the male authority who has issues with her.  No matter. By default, suspicion rests on the woman, while any issues that the man or men might have are easily overlooked.

It may be that problems in this hypothetical woman's marriage are due to an overbearing husband who disrespects and belittles her, and she feels the need to resist him.  No matter.  If she has "a problem with male authority" or asserts herself so that she is perceived as not letting him "wear the pants," she is suspected of having a Jezebel spirit.  And this is where the demarcation of this supposed evil spirit as "a stronghold of the second highest classification" becomes deadly.  Here is how the church is advised to deal with a Jezebel spirit:
There can be no détente with Jezebel.
Jezebel has to be dealt with.
Jezebel does not have it within herself to change.
Jezebel will strike again.
Jezebel must be run off.

[Emphasis added.]
Once a group of church leaders decides a woman has a Jezebel spirit, there is no appeal.  There is no argument.  And there is no mercy.

Many of these websites do say that it's possible for a man also to have a Jezebel spirit.  This, of course, simply subjects men to the same Catch-22 situation that church women may find themselves in.  But the deck is already stacked for women to be far more easily and frequently colored with the Jezebel spirit brush (sadly apropos, I suppose, since the woman Jezebel in the Bible is known for "painting her face!").  A man who challenges authority may simply be considered forceful.  A woman who does so is much more likely to be viewed as under the influence or possession of a demon of Satan's first echelon.

This is even more clear when viewing the Jezebelspirit.net website.  On its Introduction page it equates the Jezebel spirit with what psychologists call "narcissistic personality disorder":
The worldly term for the spirit of Jezebel is ‘malignant narcissism’ for which there is no cure. Some traits of narcissism include: excessive self-love; firm conviction that he or she is better, smarter, or more talented than other people; becomes irritated when other people don’t automatically do what he or she wants them to do; thinks most criticisms of him or her are motivated by jealousy; regards anything short of worship to be rejection; often complains of being mistreated or misunderstood; has fantasies of doing something great or being famous, and often expects to be treated as if these fantasies had already come true.
On this page the same basic idea is reiterated:
Those who are "infected" with the Jezebel Spirit are evil, and practice evil. Their character traits are well described and categorized in the secular world who classify these people as Narcissists or Psychopaths for whom there is no healing treatment or cure. [Emphasis in original]
Based on this, the website then warns:
When it comes to Jezebel, you can forget about praying for her to come to truth and repentance. You will be wasting your precious time. Also, you must never sympathize with her. You must be 100% against her, and stop having hopes for her recovery and well-being! She is not your sister or brother in the Lord. She is living in the strength of demonic soul power, absolutely sold out to doing evil, and completely out of the will of God and obedience to God. She is her own master, and ultimately she serves Satan. Yes, you are dealing with a human being behind the Jezebel spirit, but don’t be weak. This is a pure spiritual battle. You might ask: “Isn’t she just a poor deceived person herself?” Yes, she is deceived, but don’t you also be deceived to have any weakness for this person. If you love the person, cut soul ties immediately, and surrender her completely to God, for Him to determine her destiny. Remember again the book of Revelation where God gives her time to repent, but she refuses to do so. Do not try to save her, or you will go down with her. You need to alienate yourself completely, and have no patience and tolerance for her actions.
All these seemingly controversial points for a typical Christian mindset need to be dealt with before you are ready to fight Jezebel. Anything less than these attitudes will cause you to doubt, and fall prey to her. [Emphasis in original] 
Though there is truth in the idea that a person with narcissistic personality disorder cannot be trusted, and that churches should be aware of this disorder, recognize the traits and warning signs, and not let such a person destroy their congregations, the equation of this disorder with the Jezebel spirit is dangerous.  Narcissistic personality disorder is in fact quite rare.  False identification of church members as having this disorder and then shunning them as pure evil, is a real possibility.  This is particularly true since readers are encouraged to see the influence of the Jezebel spirit everywhere:
The Spirit of Jezebel is a dominating factor over the entire earth today. Jezebel hovers over the Television and Film Industry, causing most TV shows to portray a demonic, twisted, and perverted outlook on life. It cleverly teaches people to strive for material wealth, monetary success, and anything that has to do with instant gratification. . . The Jezebel Spirit is found in the church. Spirits like jealously, controlling submit-to-me pastoring, greed, possessive leadership, erroneous doctrine, focus on outward appearance, and self-promoting ambition all derive from the Spirit of Jezebel. . . The Spirit of Jezebel manifests in politics through narcissistic leadership, officials who love power and choose to steer a nation away from God through immoral legislation. The media is full of corruption, greed, desire for power, hunger for approval and attention, lies and deception, overindulgence, and money-hunger.
And then, even though none of these things are exclusive or even primarily found in women-- even though recognized medical websites like the Mayo Clinic state that narcissistic personality disorder affects more men than women, Jezebelspirit.net equates the Jezebel spirit almost exclusively with women:
The reason we believe the Jezebel spirit only pertains to women is because of the fact that men have been given natural authority from God, it’s not something they would need to fight to get, they already have it! Women, on the other hand, have not been given that same authority, and they would need tools to try to take that position of leadership that the man has. This is where the Jezebel spirit comes in. A demon will come to a woman presenting different tools she can use to regain power over the man. These tools are, among many others: manipulation, control, domination and seduction. For a wounded or scorned woman, these tools come as a temptation she cannot resist, and she grabs them, and starts using them. This is the moment she opens the door to become possessed by the demonic spirit that promises to provide her with everything she needs to accomplish her goal. She may or may not even be aware of what a devastating spirit she has just welcomed into her life. . .

At the other hand, when a man seems to be using some of the same tools as the Jezebel woman does, it is usually not a Jezebel spirit, but a power hungry spirit that comes from being an extremely wounded individual who has most likely been abused in one way or another, and need to control and manipulate his circumstances out of fear of being hurt again.
It is interesting how the website equates "controlling, submit-to-me pastorship" with the Jezebel spirit-- even though even in charismatic churches which allow women some church leadership, the pastorate is still overwhelmingly male! -- and then says that a man who acts like this probably has only a "power hungry spirit" that comes from being hurt and abused (the name seems to indicate that this is a spirit much lower on the totem pole and thus less dangerous than the Jezebel one).  The stage is set for men in the church to be treated with far more sympathy and less fear, even if the men are controlling or manipulative.

The website also uses the threat of the Jezebel spirit to keep women in a subordinate place within marriage:
One of the saddest things is the Jezebel Spirit's influence in Christian and non-Christian marriages, and the lack of understanding and effective arrest of these issues when they appear. . . Even if the woman possessed by the Jezebel Spirit is married, it will never be a marriage where she will acknowledge her God-given role in the marriage. She will have an attitude of wanting to be equal to the man in all matters — even try to prove to be a better leader than the husband. 
One of the main purposes of this evil spirit of Jezebel is to have the wives in the marriage take over the spiritual headship from their husbands, teaching and controlling them, and in doing so, reversing God’s order for marriage. Unless the husband fights his wife for supremacy, he will ultimately end up assuming the second place in the marriage.
Thus a marriage in which the man and woman desire to share authority equally is turned into a demonically influenced marriage controlled by the spirit of Jezebel.

So what we have here, in terms of spiritual abuse, is the makings of a perfect storm.

Here are some of Jezebelspirit.net's primary identifying marks of a person under the Jezebel spirit:
- Believes [themselves] to be right. Wants to win. Will argue till you drop.
- Has a blame/guilt mindset: Everything comes down to who is right and who is wrong.
- Is unwilling to compromise on priorities: Everything has to go the way they have planned it.
- Is strongly defensive when approached for criticism and correction, even guidance.
When ordinary human traits such as defensiveness under accusation become markers of demonic activity, it becomes impossible for an ordinary church member to deny she has one of these spirits, as denial would be perceived as one of the demon's tactics.  Accusation and conviction can easily become the same thing. And the worst thing is that it becomes easy to declare that simple disagreement that there is such a thing as a Jezebel spirit, is actually evidence of being under the influence of the Jezebel spirit.  This makes it impossible to engage in any sort of rational conversation about the factuality or even the scripturality of these claims.

Even when my husband and I were young charismatic Christians, the criteria for identifying a Jezebel spirit were vague and self-contradictory.  This is why a young man in Maranatha, years ago, could blithely decide that a woman he saw on television was possessed by a Jezebel spirit, simply because she sat at a desk where he was used to seeing a man sit, and spoke in a way he was used to hearing a man speak.

But now things have progressed even beyond that.  And it's far too late to nip this teaching in the bud; it came to full flower with the advent of the Internet and is now spreading its pollen on the wind.

My fellow Christians, my charismatic brothers and sisters, please: this sort of thing has to stop.  For the sake of innocent Christian women who sit beside you in church, combat this teaching!  Examine the passages in 1st and 2nd Kings and Revelation for yourselves, and search for any indication that they are talking about an evil spirit ranking first in Satan's army.  Examine the spiritual warfare passages such as Ephesians 6, and see if they give any warning of a Jezebel spirit, or of any spirit to beware of in one of the sexes over the other.

You won't find it.

It's extremely likely that even now, Christian women who do not have narcissistic personality disorder are being accused of having this spirit and are being disciplined or shunned by their churches, with no possibility of self-defense, simply because they have strong personalities or serious goals outside the home. A tendency to bossiness is sometimes a weakness of the stronger personality types, and though it's a flaw in both sexes, it should not be mistaken for demonic influence when exhibited by a woman.

This is not what the family of God should be involved in. Ephesians 3:10 says that the wisdom of God made known through the church is "manifold" -- meaning multi-faceted, varied and diverse. Christians, male and female alike, have a variety of personality types, gifts and talents.  Let's celebrate them and not be afraid of them just because they don't fit gender stereotypes.

We can be careful of the possibility of mental disorders within our midst without setting ourselves up for witch hunts.


23 comments:

Anonymous said...

How horrifying that these men and their twisted beliefs can gain wider traction. They sound like underachievers who are not equipped to handle life's demands, and who are resorting to this as a way of removing some of the competition and some of the attention from their own failures.

At the risk of showing a "Jezebel spirit", there are some holes in their logic. First, they list a lot of qualities that aren't actually traits of "authority." Authority may have some control, but it's not seductive, manipulative, or bossy. Those are separate qualities and as such, shouldn't be automatically implied by a grant of *in best South Park Cartman voice* authoriTAY. In fact, most of the "problem characteristics" that they list for "jezebel" women have nothing to do with authority over others, so much as her realization of her own authority over herself, up to and including complete exclusion of the male gaze or opinion.

Second, since those qualities aren't part of an authority grant to men, what DO we call men who are seducing or manipulating women? Especially when studies show that men lie approximately 6 times more in a given day than women do? What about women who are manipulating other women? Given the amount of pain and emotional trauma female-on-female strife can cause in the church, you'd think it'd be addressed as well.

The quote which refers to Jezebel as an "unbroken woman" is frightening. I hope it's being used in the traditional-if-flippant "Lord, break me and use me" sense of most modern church songs, but fear it's not. The last thing today's beleaguered women need is a collective of complete strangers, all male, intent on "breaking" them with every display of self-possession and autonomy.

Fourth, the definition of malignant narcissism is describing the men speaking here to a "t" . "Firm conviction that he is better, smarter or more talented than others" - check. "Regards anything short of actual worship to be rejection" - check. And so on. Actually, the four qualities listed on the jezebelspirit.net's site describe these men as well.

Finally, while they talk about how a Jezebel's actions grow out of being wounded by a man, probably her father (which I disagree with entirely, but will play along for now), their response is void of sympathy or healing mercy for such wounds. Male "jezebels", they admit, also come from wounds. Wounds they can be sympathetic to (perhaps because they're assuming such wounds did not come from other members of the hallowed male sex, but from those evil women).

There's nothing new about this belief. There are pockets through out history with similar teachings about women: women are the ones with higher sex drives and as such are more wanton and out to bring men to their knees, women are pure evil and caused the fall, women are here to tempt men, women cannot be educated without damaging them, etc. The serpent's promise to target woman in the garden of Eden is still alive and well today - and being carried out largely through men. You'd think they'd have caught on by now.

believer333 said...

"Once a group of church leaders decides a woman has a Jezebel spirit, there is no appeal. There is no argument. And there is no mercy."

This seems to be true. Even if the woman in question is a godly, kind hearted, service oriented loving woman believer, there is no escape once so branded. In their eyes, to deny it is to confirm it. It would be especially difficult to try to explain that their is no such spirit.

Anne said...

This is yet another set of beliefs that can be easily abused by the wicked. During the witch-hunts it was easy enough for a man to threaten his wife/mother/sister that he'd tell everyone she was a witch, and in Victorian times if a husband wanted to be rid of his wife for a while all he had to do was tell the local mental institution that she was insane. No tests, no second opinion, she'd be admitted.

Think of how an abusive man in the church could use this false theology to their advantage. Threaten to tell the pastors that she has a jezebel spirit if she doesn't obey. Abused wives suffer from this already, in a way, as the first thing they are accused of by some church leaders is not being "submissive enough". The assurance of his wife being shunned from their church upon one single accusation would sound like heaven to some abusers. This could get ugly.

Headless Unicorn Guy said...

"Jezebel is not just a principality or power. It is a stronghold of the second highest classification of demons listed in Ephesians Chapter 6. It is a “ruler of the darkness of this world” holed up in a strong and unbroken woman. . . Jezebel exists to undermine the authority and anointing of the man of God."

And I thought Medieval Angelologists and Demonologists (such as referenced in the Malleus Malefacarium) were the all-time champs in weaving elaborate Theologies/Demonologies out of minimal original source documents (like a name mentioned twice in passing in the Bible).

We're seeing the creation and elaboration of a new contemporary intricate Demonology, like that which made the jump from Theologians and Witchfinders-General to Occultists during the Renaissance. Expect this to be the forgotten source documents for some Aliester Crowley type a couple centuries from now.

Or how the Jewish demonological tradition of Lillith became a mythical heroine among some branches of X-Treme Feminism. (And some not-so-extreme who see only the strong female and not the entire myth of Lillith.)

Headless Unicorn Guy said...

"When it comes to Jezebel, you can forget about praying for her to come to truth and repentance. You will be wasting your precious time. Also, you must never sympathize with her. You must be 100% against her, and stop having hopes for her recovery and well-being! She is not your sister or brother in the Lord. She is living in the strength of demonic soul power, absolutely sold out to doing evil, and completely out of the will of God and obedience to God."

i.e. "WITCHCRAFT!!!!!!!!"

OK, now we're even beyond the European Witchfinders-General of the Malleus Malefacarium.

We're into the mass Smelling Out of Witches among the early Bantu and Zulu, where the Isangomas would walk through the crowd flicking their fly-whisks pointing out Witches (even those who didn't know they were Witches) and the King's Warriors would follow with the Impalement Stakes for anyone the Isangoma flicked with their fly-whisk.

(This custom was stopped by the military dictator King Shaka when he unified the Zulu -- he set up a deliberate fake bewitching and called upon the Isangomas to find the Witch. Surprisingly, they all found witches -- their own political enemies and rivals. Since they had found nonexistent witches, Shaka figured they were bogus and had them all killed.)

Kristen said...

Thanks for the history and insights!

Anonymous said...

Traditional gender roles benefit women like OJ benefited Nicole

Sketches by Boze said...

Kristen, this article is so powerful and resonates so deeply with my own experience. I think I may have to write about it on my blog. Thank you for writing this.

Kristen said...

Thanks, Sketches! You're welcome to quote whatever you like.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you posted this. I'm an evangelical Christian who really can't attend church in my area because I've been labeled with this very spirit. One church had some leaders who I caught lying, and they were seen as prophets...and making false prophetic claims. When I challenged that, it turned out the pastor was best friends with them and even acknowledged at least one of the leaders was "insecure and had a need to appear more spiritual than others", to explain the lying. I then was labeled a gossip because I had (wrongly so) spoken about the lies in a prayer group, though I didn't name anyone. Turns out they also had been gossiping about me behind my back, but "that's just sharing information". This liar made phone calls to me and made vague threats, not to mention started on me about the Jezebel spirit, which then followed me to the next church. Turns out these two churches "exchanged information". The paranoia within both churches was such that the pastors were recording my phone calls to them. (I picked up on the sounds in the phone). It's been years, and there are still people from the church who give me those looks, and some will not speak to me, and sometimes look right through me as though I'm not there. I'm still hurting over it all, as it's almost impossible to overcome the wounds when their behavior is still the same. Some have even given me looks of pity and hugged me as though they forgive me....I find this insulting. There is a lot more to the story, but this is the basic issue. I'm sick of the witch hunts, and I did tell one of these ministers, "You will always find demons if you're looking for them; you'll find them in people you don't like." Ain't it the truth!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this article. I have been labeled a Jezebel spirit from 2 churches here in my small town. In the first incident, I became aware that a couple in leadership were telling a lot of lies, passing them off as prophecies or that the Lord was exposing some demonic influence in people, particularly myself, as one of the leaders apparently became jealous. After I had told the minister what I knew, he basically acknowledged that this person was "insecure and had a need to appear more spiritual than others", and pretty much asked me to look the other way. I found out these leaders were his best friends. He then labeled me a "gossip" because I had (wrongly so) complained about the lies in a prayer group, though I had not named anyone. The talk had already been going around about me, though I was unaware at that time. Turns out that when they talked, it was "just sharing information", not gossip. The woman who was intimidated by me made two phone calls, and she was angry and aggressive, referring to the spirit of Jezebel, directed at me, and said if she couldn't get the "gossip" under control, then she would sick the pastor's wife on those who opposed her. IF there were a Jezebel spirit there, it seemed it was more in her than in me....so I left and went to another church. Turned out later the two churches were in friendship and also "shared information". And it was apparent to me that both pastors were recording my phone calls to them....really paranoid. This pastor of the second church also preached about the spirit of Jezebel....looking in my direction the whole time....and that was just the beginning of a few aggressive "sermons" that seemed to be fired in my direction. I don't go to church anywhere now and often am lonely and certainly treated like a leper. Even those who weren't directly involved and have no reason to know what happened, treat me this way...but they don't gossip. I've been deeply wounded by the churches, and have no interest in going at all. I do believe the Lord loves me and that I'm not lost....I'm just wounded and lonely. Even my religious family members avoid me...their church also teaches the submission to authority thing, and especially teach out of John Bevere's books...what happened to the Bible? Doesn't take a scholar to see that in John Bevere's "Bait of Satan", scripture has been severely taken out of context....but, there you go. What the Spirit of Jezebel has done to me. I take comfort in knowing I'm not the only one who sees this as a witch hunt. I did tell the pastor at the second church; "You'll always find demons in people you don't like." I got no response on that. Once again, thank you for posting this article.

Kristen said...

Anonymous, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I see you posted twice, but since the posts are different in some ways, I'll keep both of them up. Thank you for posting here and illustrating first-hand what happens when this "Jezebel Spirit" thing is used against a woman.

I hope you do find a church home where this sort of thing is understood for what it really is.

Cathy said...

I found this site only because I had just read Linda Shepherd Evan's Book "When You Need a Miracle", which when I first got it, I thought, okay, harmless and uplifting. Then I got to the FIghting Enemy part and her very, very long "Set Free" prayers. They were quite disturbing. I don't know what her list of "false religions" is or "counterfeit Christians," or her list of "music." I'm not sure what the problem is with candles and incense.

I did not know what this woman's denomination was, but I was raised Catholic, and I left that religion for the third, and last time, last year. I started reading my Bible and I couldn't stay.

Emphasizing and making lists of what is considered denominc is very dangerous. I remember reading recently last year -- and not something I wasn't aware of on the surface -- was the Catholic role (and we know other religions engaged in this, too) in burning witches, along with their so-called "familiars." At that time I would have lasted two seconds before being burned just for having a cat, dog or other animal and just giving them names. Me and my animals would have been burned together.

I recently listened to a sermon by Derek Prince, after having read something that was very wonderful by him, and it was something about message to America, and he pretty much pointed to the 60s as being the source of all our problems today, and particularly homosexuals and femnists.

I always go back to the words and actions of Jesus when I see what is going on. What did Jesus do: He healed, he loved, he felt compassion, he taught about he who is without guilt ..., he taught about the log in the eye. We don't have a right to judge or condemn anyone.

I did things in my youth for which I spent most of my life being condemned for, mostly by my Catholic family, and a part of me felt that God must feel this way about me, too.

Thanks to Emmett Fox I started reading the Bible. I agree with Emmett Fox that the Bible is a progression from the Old Testament to the New, but that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. If you simply take Jesus teachings and the Psalms you truly understand the nature of God, and it is simply beautiful. Emmett Fox calls the Bible the manual for the soul, that we are on every page from Genesis to Revelation. Fox also spoke a great deal about thinking for oneself and not blindly following groups, people, dogmas, etc.

These days I borrow a phrase from Al-Anon's "take what you like and leave the rest," and I say "Take what is Truth and leave the rest."

If any group or person is overtly giving me a message in their writing to hate a certain group I'm out of there. That's not my job.

I remember a person named Donohue, in an interview a couple of years ago, talking about his idea of a "pure" Catholic Church. In listening to him I thought, well, none of the Apostle could apply, not Paul, pretty much not anyone. Jesus would be the first one kicked out.

Scary stuff.

Anonymous said...

This happened to me over 4 yrs ago. The shock of it is gradually wearing off. If I had understood what was really happening from the moment the word jezebel came from the pastor's (aka "the apostle") mouth as I stood at the altar that day, thinking I was for there for prayer, I would have turned right around, got my stuff, left and never returned instead of coming back for more abuse, rejection & humiliation-the likes of which I had never seen or imagined. I didn't understand what was happening. I was confused, terrified, scared and so desperate not to be rejected & thrown away & treated like lower than trash by someone I considered a spiritual father that all I could think to do was apologize in tears. I researched the stuff online about it. The info didn't look real hopeful for me- since denying it would only make me appear guilty (It's a genius set up. EVERYTHING you say will be held against you), apologizing seemed the best approach in my mind. But apologize for what exactly?!? I wasn't sure what. Smoking? I smoked cigarettes. Does that qualify me to be Satan's right hand woman? Because if that was true, believe me I would have used that power to win the Mega Millions jackpot not bother a preacher in church. Just saying. No one came to speak to me like a normal human being to tell me what or why. When I apologized to the pastor I said I had looked at some new age websites. That's all I could think of. He had preached that he had been dealing with witchcraft for a whole year. I told him I didn't realize that. (Because I attended church only sporadically & I hadn't even been to church in over a year before this) After 3 months of being insulted, accused, persecuted indirectly of course from the pulpit "jezebel wants to kill the prophet!", jezebel wants to seduce the prophet!" "Some people are witches & don't know it" etc. You know what's laughable? when you try to explain this story to people and they say "well if they didn't call you by name how do you know if they were talking about you?" You have a point there. Maybe it's how no matter what chair I sat in, that entire row was often guaranteed to empty within minutes of me sitting down. When it was suggested indirectly from the pulpit that I leave, I never went back to that church or any other. I got sick after that & wondered if it was because I was being punished because the pastor was right & wrote a coupla letters to the pastor asking for forgiveness for any critical thoughts I had about him or his ministry and asking for forgiveness if he was hurt because of me. I sincerely thanked him for what I learned there. There was still apart of me that wanted their approval. I went to find some experienced jezebel experts. This wasn't easy cause there weren't any listed in the phone book. They weren't in agreement with "the apostle" at all. There are probably some people in the church who weren't either but they were too scared say one word with the implied threat of being labeled the J word. After getting my scarlet letter, I went up for prayer frequently to get delivered of this demon & nothing dramatic ever happened after all this jezebel talk. Nothing. Even through my pain, my spidey sense told me something wasn't right. I think I really had to go after all the drama & theatrics & nothing happening. The poor church folks were on the edge of their seats, I guess waiting on the hand of God through the mighty apostle.but no. Nothing. not even a little foaming at the mouth. sorry no refunds. Oh, and by the way, that never stopped them from accepting my money. Kristen, I thank you for this article. it gives those of us a lifeline from the crazy.

Kristen said...

Thank you for sharing all this. You are proof to those reading this who might think it far-fetched, that the witch hunt I described really is happening. It's awful the way you were treated.

Unknown said...

Thank you for this. I can't say it enough. Thank you. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I understand your position against the extreme degree that this belief has taken.
The sad reality is that this is not something "new" or specifically from the charismatic movement. If you go back through all of history, even in the ancient musings of the Jewish faith, you find discussion about Lillith - the two (Jezebel and Lillith) are actually the same spiritual force at work. It really references more so the arrogance of personal motives (of which gender can be one) over those of Gods.
Just because a woman may want to be a news anchor does not make her the subject of this spirit - but if she is doing so for her own glory as a "woman," rather than for Gods glory, then she is absolutely the example of being influenced by Lillith/Jezebel.
It is a simple truth that has, as it often is, been twisted to suit personal agendas.
Thank you for addressing a very important subject. I would only caution the absolute dismissal of something that has been acknowledged for a very long time - it really does have some merit worth a look through the eyes of our Lord.

Kristen said...

Anonymous, you're entitled to your opinion, but I can't subscribe to it. "Lilith" was a conjecture of Jewish rabbis and has no basis in the Bible or in reality. Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab whose name was later used metaphorically in Revelation. Anyone can seek their own glory rather than God's-- it's not the special province of women, and there's simply no evidence that when a woman does it (and why did you put that word in quotes?), she's being influenced by an evil spirit. Yes, I'm going to absolutely dismiss this, and for a very good reason: because it's harmful to real women to view them in this way.

Virgil said...

[b]Well, I ran across while looking for a different view on the subject of; 'A Jezebel spirit.' And the strange thing is it came up on a site dealing with sexual sins. Yet alarm bells went off for me that something was wrong with this teaching.
After reading your presentation, I felt my raised hackles were not in vain. This is one of those teachings coming out of the Charismatic movement that needs to be confronted. I would like to share what you presented if I may?
Side question: Did you say you are from Oregon as am I?[/b]

Kristen said...

Yes, please do share it, and thanks! And I am from Oregon, yes.

Anonymous said...

Love this blog. I was married to an abuser for 20 years, and after he learned of this teaching, I can honestly say that I never had a physical assault that wasn’t accompanied by spiritual and verbal assaults involving the accusation of being controlled by the spirit of Jezebel. I never told anyone about the physical violence because he had so much support for the spiritual. After all, I had committed adultery in our 3rd year of marriage. What other evidence did he need? Eventually, he tried to kill me, so I divorced him. Although he called himself a prophet for most of our marriage, he left the faith after the divorce, becoming completely apostate, attacking God online constantly. He stopped accusing me of being demon possessed by Jezebel and now just tells our children I am an extreme narcissist. Lol

transplant2x said...

I wholeheartedly agree. There is no biblical basis for the "Jezebel spirit." It is literally a doctrine of demons, i. e. a doctrine concocted by the enemy and about the enemy. Thirty years ago, I was the victim of this witch hunt, and it changed my life. To this day, I cannot trust pastors or church leadership. I am very close to the Lord, and I do attend a church, but I stay under the radar and simply pray.
I noticed that the charismatic movement in general, and those who preach the Jezebel spirit specifically, focus on the demonic, not on Jesus. Paul determined not to preach anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I wish the church did this. Jesus already defeated the enemy. I never heard a sermon series on 1 John 5:18, "We know that no who is born of God sins; but He (Jesus) who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." Let's glorify Jesus alone!

Anonymous said...

I too escaped from this ungodly teaching. It is exactly as described here. Praise Jesus for delivering me! My story is very long and would not fit here.

I would love to read the stories of other women who have escaped and whom God has delivered. Is there a compilation of such testimonies somewhere that someone could share a link to?