This is bound to stir the hornet’s nest. I realize that is probable, and though I do not personally enjoy confrontation, I am compelled to address certain topics of concern and to point myself and others back to Scripture. This is one of those topics. I wrote a post recently about Christian deliverance and how I disagreed with the premise that born again believers can be indwelt by demons and how Scripture does not support such a belief. This is not to say that demons are not real and that spiritual warfare has no Biblical precedent. Most assuredly, they are, and most assuredly, it does. And along with the teaching that Christians can have indwelling demons that need to be cast out is the teaching about many spirits said to be in operation with believers being labeled as having a particular spirit. Apparently, there are numerous spirits believers can entertain, some of which are not even mentioned in the boundaries of Scripture. I find it interesting now that all of this talk of demonic indwelling, demonology, and erroneous spirits operating in people is not said of the world necessarily, but it is said to Christians concerning fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I began to notice a few years ago while reading the Bible that I could not find some of these spirits mentioned though dozens of books can be purchased that are dedicated to extrabiblical knowledge concerning them. There are entire doctrines being built upon the presence of these spirits. Rather than going on personal experience, we should be asking if this is Biblical or if people are being led off into myths.

​The Bible does reference specific spirits just to name a few: familiar, unclean, evil, seducing, lying and antichrist spirit. There are references to such things as the spirit of jealousy, which would describe an emotional state rather than a demonic entity. In fact, many spirits that are said to require deliverance ministry are identified in Scripture as works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). Jealousy is one of those listed here. So, who are we to believe? It would seem that some have a hunger and thirst more for the demonic and the supernatural than for Jesus Christ, His Word and His righteousness. When we assign a demon to every action and response, we remove the truth of sin, the need for repentance, and the painful truth of personal accountability.

​The most common spirit in the apostolic/prophetic/Charismatic is the Jezebel spirit. Jezebel’s name is mentioned in the Bible 23 times and of those, she is referenced once in the New Testament. There is never a mention of a Jezebel spirit, but somehow it is proof texted to imply that. I recently did a quick search on Amazon for books about the Jezebel spirit and 317 books popped up in the search. This is merely an example to show just how much emphasis is out there on this one “spirit”. Jezebel was a wicked woman who worshiped Baal and defied the True and Living God. Ministers teach that the Jezebel spirit is mentioned hundreds of years later in Revelation 2:20, but notice what Jesus says to the church in Thyatira, “But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” Jesus goes on to say that He gave her time to repent, but she refused and because of this, she along with those who commit adultery will be thrown onto a sickbed. Jesus refers to this particular Jezebel here as a woman, not a spirit. Some things to think about here: How could Jesus give the spirit of a dead woman time to repent? Does this not go against basic biblical understanding?

Nevertheless, this is a prime example of creating teachings concerning this “spirit” because now with an abundance of teaching on the Jezebel spirit, we see more of a bend to label someone with a Jezebel spirit or to teach the church how to combat the Jezebel spirit or how to deal with people in the church who have a Jezebel spirit. We can read books on these spirits that may have differing insight on these spirits. Who has it right, and why do we need so many books on these spirits? Why is the Bible not sufficient for training us up in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:17)? Why is the Bible silent on these spirits if this understanding is so crucial? Think about it.

Jezebel is one of many spirits mentioned by ministers in the Charismatic church. Others include Leviathan, python, Ahab, Absalom, Delilah, Judas, Saul, religious and orphan spirits. You can typically find the religious spirit assigned to those who would ask questions of senior leadership and test things against Scripture. It is also interesting to note that the orphan spirit is assigned to those who are viewed in a negative light in questioning authority. What is interesting to me is that as believers in Christ, we should have a response to the accusation of an orphan spirit. Jesus Christ told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans (John 14:18). This applies to us as well because we have been adopted as coheirs with Christ. I would propose that this is problematic for the claim of the orphan spirit. This is extrabiblical teaching and is refutable. Furthermore, why are we assigning demonic spirits to dead people such as Ahab and Absalom? Other than Judas, there is no mention of their actions being driven by demonic possession. Flesh and sin are being taken out of the equation here.

Again, I do not deny the demonic realm. I am merely calling into question our understanding of it and whether we are seeing great liberties taken to exploit this area of ministry with conjecture and speculation unfounded in the Word of God. People are falsely accused of having these spirits for invalid reasons, and this should not be so. When people do not cooperate with leadership, they are assigned a spirit or label rather than addressing flesh, sin, or the unwillingness to disregard the Word of God due to corrupt leadership and false teaching. We need to not only read the Word but believe it and obey it, and if we are taught something and it does not line up with Scripture, we can reject it without concern of hurting feelings or offending others. An improper understanding brings spiritual sickness to where we do not even understand Christ as our Redeemer.

Personally, I do not want to spend my life chasing spirits that are nonexistent and trying to defeat Jezebel or any other fallacious spirit when the devil and every demon has already been defeated by Christ on the cross. We are to follow Christ. We will face trial and tribulation, but as believers we have great peace in knowing that Jesus has overcome the world, including the ruler of this world. (John 16:33) We need not fear or look for the spirits of men and women that are dead and long gone to their eternal destination. What we need to be doing is repenting of sin and having our minds renewed by the Word of God daily.

*Excerpts from Nonprophet Woke used in this blog post.