THE RISE OF JEZEBEL AND BALAAM TO HINDER THE PROPHETIC MOVEMENT

If you know your enemies and know yourself [in God]*, you will not be imperilled in a hundred battles. If you do not know your enemies nor yourself [in God]*, you will be imperilled in every single battle Sun Tzu The Art of War *My addition. It has been demonstrated throughout history that leaders that who take no time to study the movements, habits and nature of their enemies are doomed to failure in any campaign against them. Hence, every army has a supply of spies who are well equipped to dig and find out the secrets of their enemies, enabling the general to properly plan and execute an effective campaign. BALAAM The ancient of the people; the destruction of the people (Hitchcocks Bible Names Dictionary) Lord of the people, foreigner or glutton (Eastons Bible Dictionary) Balaam was the son of Beor (burning foolish, mad [Hitchcock]), who was the father of Bela (destruction [Smith]) one of the Midianite kings. He was sought out by Balak, (who lays waste or destroys [Hitchcock]), a Moabite king to curse the Isrealites. The Isrealites were encamped near his territory and having heard and seen their exploits under the authorship of God, he was terrified of them. Balaam though living among idolaters, had some knowledge of the true and living God. His reputation was of such that it was believed that if he cursed / blessed you, then you were truly cursed / blessed. He was unsuccessful because as he said he could not speak against the Isrealites anything that was not said by God. Notwithstanding, he suggested to the Midianite king a method of causing the divine displeasure of God to descend upon the Isrealites. He caused the children of Isreal to fornicate. Numbers 25 relates that when Israel abode at Shittim, they committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab. In verse 6, an Israeli carried a Midianite woman to his brethren in the sight of all the congregation as they were at the door of the tabernacle weeping in repentance. He nor the woman lived long after that. Balaam Charactersitics Greed Even though he was told by God not to go to Balak, he was enticed by the money offered and went to him. A person who knows (of) God this is a good disguise as the undiscerning Christian will be easily fooled as Balaam can talk the talk A person who will sell out the secrets of your weakness for gain

A soothsayer one who speaks a sense of the truth and appears genuine. The scriptures speak about false doctrines which will be preached in the latter days. Will cause you to curse yourself when he realises that his curses have turned to blessing

The Balaam spirit teams up with others for your destruction: The Balak (destruction) those who will pay for your destruction (will go to witches and warlocks/ obeah man) The Moabites these are the descendants of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters. Perverse spirit. It is interesting to note that Sanballat mentioned in Nehemiah was a Moabite. His name means bramble-bush or enemy in secret Lust, enticement - Christians moving in the prophetic especially need to deal with issues of lust in their lives, as a foothold such as this one is extremely strong and can lead to spiritual death and blindness. Lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh caused Samson to be blinded and killed. Seduction comes from the Latin word seducere which means to draw aside. The enemy seeks to sift the flock, to separate one from the flock in order to consume them.

JEZEBEL Chaste [Hitchcock] She was the daughter of Ethbaal (with Baal [Easton]), king of the Zidonians, and the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel. During her time she was responsible for putting to death many of the prophets of God. Jezebel Characteristics Usurper of authority Designing Crafty Malicious Does not fear God Unprincipled Sensual idolatory Corrupts prophets by having them eat at her table. Once a prophet depends upon their welfare from man or woman to supply their needs instead of God they become corruptible. Operates in the name of the authority that is usurped Killer of prophets. The prophet of God must be prepared to lose his/her life rather than worship / serve any other god Masquerades as a prophet (Revelations 2:20)

Threatens the prophet with death but in making such a threat will also prophecy against self. 1 King 19:1-3 Jezebel needs an Ahab to operate through

As the prophetic ministry will receive threats from this spirit, it is prudent to examine the reaction of the man of God (Elijah) and Gods subsequent response. This ministry cannot under any circumstances be given to fear even at the threat of life. COMBAT STRATEGY Resisting nagging spirit Samson was weakened by the constant nagging of the women in his life and gave up his secrets to silence their voices. The word Nag comes from the word Naaga (Norwegian and Swedish origin) which means gnaw, irritate and also from the Low German (g)naggen which means to provoke. This is an attack where the battlefield is definitely in the mind. The helmet of salvation is the defensive tool of choice Christians moving in the gifting of the prophetic must learn to deal with the persons that do not fear God without giving in to fear, being not afraid to stand boldly and declare the words that God has put in their mouth. Christians, especially those called to the prophetic have to be able to discern the characteristics of the persons they come in contact with. This means that their relationship with the Holy Spirit must be well maintained by being in constant prayer and communication with Him. The cobra is representative of the seductive spirit. It hypnotizes (comes from the French word hypnotique [Latin - hupntikos ]which means narcotic, causing sleep ) its victims to a crippled state of fear. The Jezebel spirit comes with a seductive side. Elijah, after the great Mt Carmel experience was so seduced with fear to the point that he could not retaliate or even speak back to Jezebel. He ran. Furthermore, he was not accustomed to his life being threatened. He was always respected by the Isrealite King Ahab even when he was being rebuked. Yet a very interesting point to note is that Jezebel never followed up on her threat. Persons called to the prophetic ministry must be able to recognise the bluster of the enemy and stand their ground knowing the Word of God and what a powerful weapon it is. The enemy, knowing the power that is in us through Jesus Christ, wants us to run. Working in unity the lone wolf approach causes one to feel isolated. The Christian must never forsake the fellowship of other Christians. In unity there is strength. It is interesting to note that Elijah worked almost in isolation, yet in reading about Elisha a lot of times there is the mention of his communication and abiding with the company of prophets. Control emotions Reject pride. With pride comes destruction and falling. Remember God is all powerful and it is on His strength and the power of His Holy Spirit we rely.

Obedience to the directives of God. Obedience is better than sacrifice any day. If we are not being obedient, we are being rebellious and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft which God hates.

In summary, the major pitfalls that the Christian moving in the prophetic need to be aware of and be in constant vigilance against are: A) Lust B) Greed C) Pride D) Isolation E) Fear/Doubt Only by rooting ourselves in the Word, keeping our lives in order and righteousness, and being totally dependent upon God and obedient to his directives, testing every spirit against the Word of God can we triumph against the enemy. August 9, 2013 From the Intercession Ministry