Embedded Files
The Holy Spirit gives seven kinds of messages to the seven kinds of churches in our midst in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation. His message to the church in Thyatira in Rev. 2:18 to 29 is relevant to the churches of today. It is a message to the children of God who are called saints. At the end of every message, we can read a standard saying that he, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The churches who preach the gospel to the lost world should have “an ear to hear “what the Spirit says to them. We preach but do not hear or listen. We preach Christ crucified but do not hear what He tells us. This shows that we have the tendency not to hear what the Lord wants to tell us. It is a very dangerous thing. God speaks to the churches or the children of God or to me, through some unpopular child of God or through someone sitting in the pews. But we do not have “an ear to hear” what the Lord wants to speak to us. We look to “prophets” or some great preachers for God’s message. But God chooses the foolish people or the weak people in our midst to convey His message to us.
Background
Thyatira was a politically and culturally marginalized city, finding its identity economically, with guilds dealing in metals and fabric (Acts 16:14). Guilds celebrated their patron deities in periodic festivities, so Christians might have been tempted toward the message of a “prophetess” who advocated participation in illicit sex, and food sacrificed to idols, both staples of the social scene. Thyatira’s strengths and weaknesses are the inverse of those at Ephesus. This church is strong in love evidence in works, but it lacks discernment and tolerates heresy. The self-proclaimed prophetess who endorses idolatry and immorality resembles, Jezebel of Tyre, who married Israel’s King Ahab and violently imposed Baal-worship on the northern kingdom (I Kings 16: 3-33; 19:1-2). She symbolizes the prostitute Babylon, who seduces through pleasure and luxury as well as ruthless violence (Rev.17).
The church in Thyatira was influenced by the social life of the city. In the heathen religion, there used to be prophets or prophetesses who were the mouthpieces of their gods and goddesses. The doctrines and teachings of Jezebel entered the church surreptitiously through the messenger Jezebel. Jezebel was accepted as a prophetess in that church.
The spirit of Jezebel induced the children of God to commit adultery with the worldly systems. Please note that this is not physical adultery but spiritual adultery. She was teaching and seducing “My servants”. God’s servants were taught and seduced by Jezebel!
Thyatira church represents a religious system which allows the anointed children of God marrying or entering into a covenant with the worldly system of rebellion against the God’s order. Ahab who married Jezebel represents the anointed people of God who reign in the Kingdom of Christ and Jezebel represents the worldly things like covetousness, rebellion, worshipping of idols and images, violence against the prophets who speak the truth.
While appreciating the good things like “thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works: and the last to be more than the first”, the Holy Spirit puts a coma there, saying “notwithstanding” and then tells, “I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel to teach…….” Let us know how the Spirit of God judges His children. He speaks about their good qualities first and then says He has a few things against them. In this church, or in a modern day church likened to this church, the elders allow such kind of false doctrines that allow the children of God to commit spiritual adultery and to “eat things sacrificed unto idols”.
The elders allow the spirit of Jezebel to build idols or images in their churches and ministries. They allow the doctrine of spiritual adultery with the world to be preached in their churches. Whatever happens in the worldly kingdom is made a replica in the churches of God. The worldly leaders covet fame. The same spirit of fame enters the church. The worldly leaders covet “hero worship”. The same spirit of “hero-worship” enters the church. The worldly leaders demand implicit obedience to their commands by their followers without questioning them. The same spirit of obedience without judgment or discernment enters the church. The worldly leaders demand service from their followers. The same spirit of demanding and enforcing service on the children of God enters the church. In a nut-shell, the world is brought into the church with the result that the children of God are made to commit adultery with the world. They are allowed to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Loving the world, an adultery
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not the Father, but is of the world (I John 2:15-16).
James 4:4 says “You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God”. According to ESV Study Bible, friendship with the world means “imitating worldly ways of thinking and worldly activities, making them enemies of God.
Worldly ways of thinking are not the thoughts of God. Building structures with mortar and bricks for purposes other than evangelism, earning fame, becoming popular, making images, taking services instead of giving the same, etc. are part of building the Babylonian Kingdom that is opposed to the Kingdom of Christ. Worldly activities are gathering people for image building, writing or singing just to attract others towards self, collecting funds from people for executing projects, advertising or promoting an activity of selling.
Let us draw a line of demarcation between the earthly structures being built for evangelism and the earthly structures being built for fame or for purposes of promoting our own kingdoms at the cost of the Kingdom of Christ. If I build a church building to accommodate my church congregation whom I can minister to personally through my pastoral ministry, this structure becomes a tool for building His Kingdom. But I build a very big magnificent church building to accommodate a very big congregation whom I cannot minister to personally and individually, this earthly structure is a replica of the world. The concept of a mega-church where the children of God cannot have fellowship with one another and with the elders is not of the Kingdom of Christ but is of the world. Even if the head of the church, the senior pastor employs assistant pastors to minister to the thousands of the children of God, it is not in accordance with the God’s plan for a New Testament local church. There should be a team of elders to minister to the children of God personally and individually in every local church. If I build a very big hall or an auditorium spending a huge amount of the offerings of the people of God just to gather the children of God for prayers or for meetings, it is also a replica of the world. The children of God should be exhorted to pray in small groups so that all of them can pray more effectively than a large number of people being led by a few prayer leaders. The children of God should be taught in small groups, preferably in U shaped meetings so that they can interact face to face with the teachers more effectively than a very big gathering being addressed by a few preachers. We mimic every tool or every concept that is found in the world. Please note that I do not say that we should not make use of the tools in the world for evangelism.
Jesus taught to the multitudes also but was also available to those who sought His ministry individually. After addressing great multitudes, when Jesus came down from the mountain, in the midst of these great multitudes, there came a leper and worshipped Him and sought to be healed by Him. Jesus healed him (Matt. 8:1). Can we expect a popular evangelist or a popular pastor to minister to a single person? If any sick person approaches the residence of a popular minister or his office, he or she will be immediate turned down with a message that the latter should attend the healing crusade or listen to the television programme of the minister concerned.
Jesus healed the sick people individually and not in a mass. Today we hold healing crusades and all the sick people are not healed. Only a few people are healed. But if during this healing crusade, more ministers of God minister to the large number of sick people individually and personally, more sick people can be healed. Today, no popular evangelists and pastors are available to the individuals, though they have all the latest gadgets of communication. Their mobile numbers are kept secret. Only their office staff receive the telephone calls or the emails sent in their names. If their office staff can receive the telephone calls on their behalf and pray for others, then their office staff should be made co-workers or the team workers. But they will not allow such delegation of their powers because they want to be popular amongst the masses. If the ministers of God are not available to the public or are very busy, then they are not ministers or servants. Today the common man on the street cannot approach a minister in the government easily but through appointments. The same thing is seen amongst the popular evangelists and pastors.
Jesus spoke to the two sons of Zebedee who sought prominent positions in the Kingdom of God that the rulers of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them and that they who were great exercised authority upon them. “But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great amongst you, let him be your minister (servant). And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25-28). Jesus warns those who want to be leaders that this practice of the Gentiles should not be amongst them. If an evangelist or a pastor is not available as a servant to the people whom he is supposed to minister, then he ceases to be a minister. A servant will never stand on an erected podium to speak to his master. He should be available at the call of his master.
The popular evangelists and pastors expect the children of God to be gathered in very big auditoriums to hear their sermons. For this purpose, they keep building earthly structures. They thus love the things of the world, wanting to be lords over the Lord’s sheep. If they are not individually available to the people to whom they are supposed to serve, then how can we call them “ministers”? They can easily develop second, third, fourth, fifth line leaders to minister to the thousands of people who seek their ministries. They can train the thousands of people who throng their meetings as armed warriors for the Lord so that they are not burdened with more work in their ministries. If a true revival breaks out in our nation, we cannot find these thousands of children of God in the gospel meetings of our evangelists because these people would be preaching the gospel and would be actively engaged in the Vineyard of their Master.
Dearth of blacksmiths in our midst
In this regard, I quote an excerpt from a message (in italics) given by Robin McMillan titled the call of the blacksmiths
During the era of Saul's early reign the nation of Israel was afflicted by the oppressive influence of the neighboring Philistines. The Philistines removed all the blacksmiths from the nation, effectively disabling them from providing for themselves agriculturally and defending themselves militarily. This is a prophetic picture of the church in our nation in the area of equipping the saints for ministry.
"Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears."
But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man's plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; and the charge for a sharpening was a third of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads.
So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son" (1 Samuel 13:19-22).
Weaponless in the Day of Battle
The Philistine strategy in removing all blacksmiths from the nation effectively impeded the ability of Israel to produce weapons of war and farming implements. When crops did mature, enemy spoilers would raid the nation, stealing their bounty. Thus the Philistines rendered the nation helpless both agriculturally and militarily. Israel was defenseless. The only weapons in the nation were in the hands of the leaders, King Saul and his son, Jonathan.
Armed leaders, disarmed saints
In today's church we have a similar situation: the leaders are armed while many of the saints are not. Week by week pastors and leaders use the gifts and ministries entrusted to them by the Lord to speak to their congregations, but typically the rank and file member is without proper training and weapons.
I am sure many leaders want to train their fellow saints but are unsure how to do it in the context of today's normal church setting. The point is that it cannot be done without changing our current mind-set and church practices.
Pastors and preachers must transition from ministering to equipping if we are to accomplish God's purposes. When we realize that our commission from the Lord is "for the equipping the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12a), then we must discern what ministry each church should be doing and develop the necessary training to that end.
We must also realize that it is not just the leadership of the church that must make adjustments in this area. Church members also have fallen into traps that have hindered them from becoming fully equipped for ministry.
'One Man Show' Mentality
One plan the enemy uses to disarm the people of God is to convince them that the ministry is the job of professional religious leaders. For too long the focus has been on the leader and not upon the effective equipping of every member.
The Apostle Paul taught that the growth of the body of Christ was dependent upon every member effectively working and doing its necessary share of that work: "... (so that) we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (Ephesians 4:15-16).
One prevailing danger inherent in building a congregation upon the powerful ministry of just one person is that the enemy need only snare or remove that one to scatter the sheep and ruin the work of God in that ministry. All too often we have seen the leader of a congregation or ministry leave, or become snared in some moral failure, resulting in the destruction of the lives of many of the saints.
The early church was built upon the effective labor of apostles and prophets, plural, with Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone:
"Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:19-22).
The first century church was certainly tested in this specific area on a number of occasions. The first one was when James the brother of John was martyred. He was one of the three men closest to Jesus and most depended upon by the church. Nevertheless, the church continued to prosper even under dangerous and difficult times because of the presence of substantial and multiple ministries.
There are many tremendous preachers and teachers in our land who have powerful and effective ministries. For them to achieve maximum effectiveness in an ultimate sense, they must build with a team and release others in the ministry that operates at their same level of competency. “
Imitating things of the world
The above picture shows that we are imitating the things of the world where the kings or the elites rule the people with the result that the thousands of the children of God do not become armed warriors, to the great disadvantage of the Church, the Body of Christ. Our leaders love the things that are in the world. They covet fame and power of the Holy Spirit to perform miracles just to remain popular in the Christian world in the garb of ministry.
Do you love the things that are in the world? Though we adopt the worldly methods or tools for preaching the gospel, do we love such methods? Have the means or the methods become the end instead of the means? The lust of the flesh means craving for the carnal things of the world i.e. fame, praises, ego. The lust of the eyes means craving for things which are pleasing to the eyes and not to God. Our actions are based of what we see through our physical eyes by the standards of this world and not through our prophetic eyes by the standards of God. The pride of life means the spiritual pride by not heeding to the voice of people whom we consider insignificant and by nurturing a false feeling that we know all things. Do we love to be praised by others? Do we hate those who tell our faults on our faces? Do we love sycophancy and dislike criticism?
Doctrine of Jezebel
Let us read 1Kings 21:1-7, 14-16, 17-20. Those who teach the Jezebel doctrine claim to be prophets or the messengers of God today. But there is a test of true and false prophets. The false prophets likened to Jezebel prophesy good things only just “peace and prosperity”. "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you" (Jeremiah 23:14-17). They do not turn people from wickedness. They speak of dreams and act foolishly standing on the pulpit. They are jokesters as they entertain the children of God on stages without bringing the people of God to repentance or without equipping the people of God for the ministries. .
Listen to the doctrine of Jezebel, "You are a king, number one. You have rights. Let nothing stop you from getting what you want". She said to Ahab, "Be merry. Be happy. Rejoice. I'll get it for you". That is the prosperity gospel in a nutshell. "Don't sweat it. Don't feel sad or condemned by those desires that eat you up. I'll get it for you". Like the deceptive methods Jezebel used, the preachers likened to Jezebel twist and misuse the Scriptures. They seek offerings telling the donors that God would bless them financially in return for their becoming partners in their ministries.
The greatest deception in the modern church is the matter of using God's Word to put a badge of approval on covetousness. Coveting fame and pulpits is the most dangerous iniquity that is prevalent amongst the ministers of God.
On the surface the Jezebel doctrine works (1 Kings 21:14-16). It got Ahab what he wanted. He possessed his rights because when a man was stoned for high treason against the king, all his rights reverted to the king. Like Ahab, they are enjoying their possessions made out of the precious offerings of the children of God. Of course, the donating children of God also receive material blessings because they give their sacrificial offerings in the Name of Jesus Christ.
So it is today. God has sent prophets throughout the land, crying aloud, confronting the Jezebel doctrine of materialism, making it so uncomfortable for Christians to enjoy their playthings and acquisitions.
Christians bound by the Jezebel doctrine are 100% sure they are right. They cannot see the deception.
Seducing spirits at work
When seducing spirits are at work, the individuals most often think they are fine, they are having great theological ideas given to them, revelations that are coming from the Holy Spirit, but in fact they are false doctrines and must be tested to see if they are of God, tested against Scripture, that is Scripture that is interpreted using sound hermeneutical skills. Demon spirits entice what appeals to the flesh, they bring forth unsound doctrines that will "feel" good, as emotions can be manipulated and they can be wrong when it comes done to truth especially when truth contradicts feeling as it almost always will. The apostasy many times comes from "good" people, who are sincere in what they believe, but they are sincerely in error and despite their cries of foul when exposed, they are sincerely wrong and must be exposed as such overturning their false doctrines for the truth.
There are some very distinct characteristics of seducing spirits from Paul's letter to Timothy. First they are in the faith, they are in the church, they are members in good standing and they are more than members on a role, but they are able to instruct because Paul makes clear that some depart from the faith as a result of their instruction. They may be some anointed ministers, but have departed from the faith or the foundational truths. These people may do teach their destructive heresies to perhaps some unsuspecting "fools" in the congregation or in the meetings. Paul makes clear that we are to NOT take what someone says as the truth, by as is by nature for disciples [learners], they study God's Word to know what it says, and NOT what someone or some group says. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
Who is Jezebel?
She was the queen married to the King Ahab. But she was the enemy number one of Elijah. Elijah was after her life and she was after Elijah’s life. Today, the spirit of Elijah cannot cohabit with the spirit of Jezebel in the house of God. The spirit of Elijah is very much against the worship of Baal in the house of God. But Jezebel promotes the worship of images in the house of God. Jezebel, in Hebrew, means "chaste, virtuous, without idolatry". The most ungodly, most idolatrous, scheming, hateful, woman in all the Bible is called virtuous, without sin! Something very bad is named good. But ironically it is "chaste?" - with a question mark. How? When? Where? How did she become chaste? When? Where? This is the great deception we should understand. Ministers who look very spiritual on the outside preach the false doctrines that strike at the very roots of our faith. We do not know when they have fallen down from the heavenly places where they were seated with Christ.
Jezebel represents false doctrine and Ahab is its victim. The Bible states that it was not enough that Ahab had a heart bent toward sin, idolatry and compromise. "….but there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1 Kings 21:25).
Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord (I Kings 18:13). The spirit of Jezebel through her influence on the churches always kills the prophetic ministers or the discernment ministers. The religious system influenced by the spirit of Jezebel always hates the prophetic ministers and does not allow them to speak to the children of God from the pulpits.
The spirit of Jezebel influences the servants of God likened to Ahab for coveting the vineyard of Naboth and then eliminating Naboth through a conspiracy hatched by Jezebel.( Kings 21:1-16). The vineyard of Naboth prophetically means the material blessings in the form of earthly assets that come from the world. The children of God are being deprived of their hard earned money (vineyards) through various schemes and plans of the ministers of God who promote their own kingdoms by erecting earthly structures coveting fame. Ultimately, they lead the children of God to the idols of material prosperity after coveting their vineyards. Many children of God who are in the captivity of these ministers of God do face spiritual death because they are not in the vineyard of their Master. These children of God are being taught to covet God’s blessings and not to serve Him in His vineyard. They are being taught only to serve these ministers of God in their vineyards.
Who is Ahab?
Ahab was the King of Israel. Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And look at Ahab. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him" (1 Kings 16:30-31). Ahab means "one like father" or "stamped with the nature of his father". He had an unholy marriage with Jezebel. He worshipped Baal and erected an altar for Baal. He coveted the vineyard of Naboth. He promoted the false prophets. Ahab represents a Christian religious order that promotes false doctrines under the influence of false prophecy (Jezebel) that appears to be from the Lord but is from the Satan.
Micaiah, “another prophet of the Lord” (I Kings 22:7) had not jumped on the bandwagon of the false prophets who had prophesied through a lying spirit sent by the Lord (I Kings 22:21-22). The Lord does allow the lying spirits to prophesy to His people who are already under the influence of the Christian religious system.
Death of Ahab
Ahab was killed by the Syrians in fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah. Ultimately, the religious system of Ahab which has found its way into the House of God will meet its end and the true prophets of the Lord will triumph. The true prophets will merely prophesy against such false prophets promoted by Ahab, the Christian religious system. But the judgment of such a religious system which has become a part of the House of God will be through the hands of Syrians. Syrians represent a moral and righteous system of the world that does not become a part of house of God but that overtakes the Christian religious system likened to Ahab and annihilates the latter. Today, we find a stronghold of opposition that emerges against the Christian ministers about their life-styles, their financial misdeeds, their secret lives etc. from the right thinking secular world.
Ahab in fact repented when he heard the prophecy of Elijah by tearing his clothes, putting sackcloth and fasting. The word of the Lord came to Elijah praising Ahab for his humility. The Lord relented in His judgment on Ahab and told Elijah that He would not bring the disaster in his days but in his son’s days upon his house (I Kings 21:27). The Christian religious system represented by Ahab does exhort us to hear the word of the Lord and to humble ourselves before God. But Ahab believed in the lying prophecy that had enticed him with the result that he was killed by the Syrians. This religious system always is at war with the prophetic ministers who speak the truth, standing in the wilderness. Though they hear the word of the Lord and humble before Him, yet ultimately they believe in the lying prophecy or the great delusion being sent by the Lord because they are married to the world and believe in the doctrines of Jezebel.
Death of Jezebel
Jezebel was killed through the hands of Jehu, a king of Israel in fulfillment of the word of prophecy spoken by one of the children of the prophets in the company of Elisha (2 Kings 9, 30-37). Jehu was anointed for avenging the blood of God’s prophets killed by Jezebel. The false doctrines or the doctrine of Jezebel stand exposed through the true prophetic ministries likened to Elisha and the servants of God likened to Jehu become the tools in the hands of the Lord to expose and destroy the false prophetic ministries. Though we have the Christian ministers likened to Ahab in our midst, yet God has kept some ministers likened to Jehu to destroy the Jezebel in our churches and ministries.
Jezebel was thrown out of the window by the eunuchs on the instructions of Jehu. God has hidden many true ministers of God likened to Jehu in the wilderness. Prophetically meaning, eunuchs are those children of God whom this Christian world ill-treat and mock at. These children of God would throw out the Jezebel in their midst. It is through a window the Jezebel is exposed and thrown out. There is a small prophetic window in the churches of God through which we can expose the spirit of Jezebel and throw her out. Dear pastors, do allow and encourage the children of God in your churches to prophesy against the spirit of Jezebel and to expose the pernicious doctrines of Jezebel. Do not shut this small window in your church! Become a Jehu and tread under your foot the blood of Jezebel. Let the power of the Holy Spirit likened to the horses of the chariot of Jehu trample the Jezebel under your foot. Her husband Ahab was killed in an open war by the warriors whereas she was killed by insignificant and ordinary people. She was called a cursed woman by Jehu on her death. The false doctrines that strike at the very roots of our Christian faith and that deny the Father and the Son come from the pit of the hell. The doctrine of Jezebel is pernicious because it seduces the servants of God to commit adultery with the world.
The spirit of Jezebel in the churches
Enrolment of voters, enrolment of tax payers, registration of citizens with the government agencies, etc. are the things of the world. The pastor or the evangelist concerned may come out with a novel scheme to augment his finance saying “God has spoken to me for starting a project of building a structure or starting a ministry to bless the children of my partners or my partners in business”. Did Jesus ask His disciples to build a structure to bless the people who came to Him? Did His apostles seek financial support to build any structures? Can we expect God to bless a particular group of young children who would be enrolled by payment of some donations or offerings to be blessed through our prayers, when there are millions of the young babies and young children who die due to malnutrition whom the churches of God are supposed to take care of? Can we expect God to bless a group of Christian businessmen who would be enrolled by “voluntary” donations or “a part of profit” through our special prayers, when many of them do not pay their taxes to the Government agencies and when they adopt unethical business methods? Is it not the system of the world wherein such enrolment takes place? They say this is the message of God in the same manner the prophetess Jezebel gave a message to the children of God in the church of Thyatira. To quench the argument of reasoning, they say, “God has spoken to me about this”. Which spirit is working amongst them? It is certainly not the Holy Spirit. Test the spirits. It is the command given to us by the Holy Spirit.
The children of God who sacrificially give their sacrificial offerings in fact do sacrifice the same to the idols made out by these servants of God in the House of God. If Jesus is in our midst, will He ask you to enroll some particular group of children or businessmen to be blessed by Him? Jesus loved the children. What did He tell His disciples? Read Matthew 19:13-15. Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." And after laying His hands on them, He departed from there. He asked them to allow the children to come to Him. What we are supposed to do is to present Jesus to the children who do not know Jesus Christ. This is what we are dong through the Sunday classes or through VBS. Jesus took out a whip and drove away the corrupt traders who were cheating the people of God in the Temple premises. If He were with us, will He allow us to take their donations for His work?
If I build a world class structure in the form of an auditorium for prayers or for use by our evangelists spending the precious sacrificial offerings of the children of God, will Jesus allow such a structure to be built either for worshiping God or for evangelization if He were to live in flesh in our midst? Jesus did not use any such things of the world to preach the Kingdom of God to the people? Say Yes or No. Why do you want to gather the children of God? For prayers and hearing your messages! Lead them to prayer cells in many small groups in the same manner 120 disciples were assembled in the Upper Room for prayers. The fire of revival breaks out through prayer cells where we can pour out our hearts to God with tears and supplications. In a very big crowd, nothing is audible and many of us do not pray but just say Amen to the prayers of a few prayer leaders.
We build the earthly structures for preaching the gospel but do not build the lives of the children of God for preaching the gospel with the result that millions are bound for the hell because the very people who are supposed to lead the lost souls to the heaven are still with us in our captivity, listening to our messages how to inherit God’s blessings. Those who are saved through our ministries continue to serve us through their offerings but do not serve their Master in His vineyard. Instead, they are forced to serve our ministries. We use our talents and the God-given resources to carve for ourselves big crowds to listen to what we preach. Woe unto us! We covet their offerings for erecting perishable earthly structures or tabernacles. We expect the lost to visit our earthly structures to see Christ Jesus or to receive salvation whereas Jesus wants us to go to them and preach the gospel. Go and preach is His command. But we say “come and be blessed”. We have deviated from the New Testament standards of preaching the gospel and have followed the standards of the world.
These earthly structures may collapse but the lives of the children of God built on the Rock will not collapse. Today we do not build their lives but want them to hear what we preach. We make molten calves and idols out of the offerings of the children of God and ask the children of God to sacrifice to the molten calves and idols built with our own hands giving them a “prophetic message” that God would bless them materially if they offered to their “God-given” projects. Does this constitute a prophetic message of the Lord or a message of Jezebel? It is for you to judge with the spirit of discernment or with the measuring rod in your hands.
Space to repent
Those who teach like Jezebel are being warned by the Lord to repent of “her fornication”. God gives them space to repent. In the eyes of God, your ministry carved out of this corrupt world is a spiritual fornication. God may perform signs and miracles through your ministry but such works of the Holy Spirit take place in the outer court. We are not supposed to measure the outer court but the Temple and the altar and those who worship therein (Rev.11:2).
But those who preached the doctrines of Jezebel did not repent, though the Lord exhorted them to repent. “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds”. The teachers who teach like Jezebel by way of false prophecies and those who hear and obey their prophecies would be cast into a spiritual sick bed for judgment. The great tribulation is none but the way of God’s judgment. It is not the great tribulation during the so-called rule of the Antichrist. Many of the children of God must be undergoing this great tribulation because they had failed to heed to the word of the Lord but to the words of the false prophets who prophesied on peace and prosperity instead of wrath of God and His judgment.
Killing her children
Those who are taught of the Jezebel doctrines in the House of God have to undergo this divine judgment and the spiritual children being mentored by them will also be spiritually annihilated by the Lord. The Lord says, “I will kill them with death”. Ahab and Jezebel were judged by God with death. Out of His mercy and longsuffering, He has not judged many of us. He extends this warning to all of us so that we may repent of the doctrine of Jezebel and turn to Him with all our heart. The children of God taught with the doctrine of Jezebel will ultimately meet the spiritual death due to divine judgment. Many of the children of God are on the hedge of such a spiritual death.
Lord, send us Elijah
Oh, let us flee from the spirit of Jezebel and hear the Elijah whom the Lord has promised to send before the great and terrible day. Let us also heed to those who turn our hearts to our spiritual children in many churches of the world who are being deceived by the Antichrist and the false prophet and who are being fed with the doctrine of Jezebel. Let us also heed to those who preach repentance and who turn our hearts to our forefathers who had been the founding stones of the Church, who had been persecuted and martyred for the sake of the Lord in every century, who had stood for the truth against the tide of apostasy by paying a great price, who had preserved the truth from the evil of corruption, who are now in the cloud of witnesses surrounding us. May the Lord fulfill the last word of prophecy in the last prophetic book of Malachi by sending the Elijah!
During the first advent of Jesus, John the Baptist came into the world with the anointing of the Elijah. Similarly, during the second advent of Jesus, a small group of nameless and ordinary people whom we consider insignificant and foolish are emerging from the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord (Malachi 4: 5-6). Let us cry to our God, “Oh God, send us the Elijah to restore our Church to its original standards as per Your plan”. Only the Elijah has to prepare the way of the Lord by cleansing the Church of its corruption. Jesus stated in Matthew 17:11 that "Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things." What will this "Elijah" restore? Jesus also said that the Elijah "has already come" (Matt. 17:12). Jesus explained that a partial fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy had been carried out by John the Baptist, whose call to repentance had been heeded by many (Matt. 3:5-6). However, John's efforts had not brought about a restoration as complete as the one the disciples were envisioning. Like a number of previous prophets, John had died a martyr's death. And as Jesus had told them, the end-time Elijah like ministries would not be welcomed by the religious Pharisees and they would be rejected and mocked at. But they will triumph over the spirit of Jezebel.
Searching the reins and hearts
The Holy Spirit goes deeply into the lives of the children of God, looking for the hidden idols in their hearts. He is the holy God jealous of His children and cannot tolerate His children to worship another Jesus or another God in the church in Thyatira. He searches your mind and your heart today. The Holy Spirit searches our lives and ministries for hidden idols in the form of fame, name, and money. We cannot deceive God because He knows our inner motives in every act that we do in His Name or in His vineyard. We twist, butcher His words to suit our conveniences.
Those who have not this doctrine
There were still some children of God who had not this doctrine in the church at Thyatira. In the same manner, there are still many children of God and God’s servants in our midst who have not known the doctrine of Jezebel. They have not known the deep things of Satan. This means that the deep things of Satan contributed to the preaching of the doctrine of Jezebel which cannot be discerned easily. The source of the doctrine of Jezebel is Satan only. The Holy Spirit does not give any other burden to these people of God except to be ware of the doctrine of Jezebel. This means it is all the more important for us to know the deep things of the devil and the doctrine of Jezebel. Satan deceives the saints, especially, the elders in the house of God so that they allow the false teachers to teach the children of God. Today many people of God say that what we have to do is to preach the gospel and not to bother about what the elders or the servants of God teach or preach in the churches and ministries. We should preach a gospel which is unadulterated and pure. We cannot preach this glorious gospel if we allow the Jezebel to dilute the gospel of Christ by presenting another Jesus or another God to the millions.
We ought to know the deep things of Satan to warn the children of God against the great deception in these last days.
Holding fast sound doctrine
The Holy Spirit exhorts those who have already known the doctrine of Jezebel to hold fast the truths learned by them till the second advent of Jesus. We have to remain watchful or vigilant against the leaven of Phareeism and the doctrine of Jezebel in these last days amongst our churches and ministries. If any preacher propagates the doctrine of Jezebel, just avoid him or her.
Power over nations
God gives power over the nations to the one who overcomes the doctrine of Jezebel and keeps the works of Jesus Christ. Overcoming the doctrine of Jezebel is tantamount to ministering like Jesus Christ. Let us read the four gospels to study for ourselves how Jesus Christ ministered to the multitudes and to the individuals; how He lived in the company of His disciples, etc. Then only we can have power over the nations and “rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father” (Vs.17). Even now you can exercise power over the nations and no powers on this earth can prevail over you in your ministry in the same manner Jesus Christ ministered to the people.
Morning Star
The Holy Spirit tells us that the one who receives power over the nations will also get the Morning Star. The Morning Star is the Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today many of us do not have the Morning Star but only His gifts. The early apostles, Sadhu Sundar Singh and our forefathers of faith had received the Morning Star in their lives.
by Job Anbalagan
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