Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ancient Rival


Sometimes I do artwork as spiritual warfare. This particular piece is one of those. It began as an abstract photo of a red plastic screen at a restaurant. In it I began to see shapes, and as I worked on it, this is what it became. It's not the "prettiest" art, but to me it is important, because it depicts a devious enemy of the the Church of Jesus Christ.

I'm not going to write much about the evil spirit we call Jezebel, because there is plenty of material out there to study. A great resource is a book by John Paul Jackson, titled "The Veiled Ploy". I'll put up a link as soon as I get my connection upgraded. I've had plenty of experience with this evil spirit, having been under its influence in the past; but the Lord enabled me to break free of it and combat it at various times when I have encountered it. I will share what I have personally learned from the Lord about this evil spirit.

The book of Revelation speaks of this evil spirit in the letters to the seven churches. Jesus says to the church of Thyatira: "Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." Revelation 2:20 NKJV It's quite certain that He is not talking of a particular woman here, or of woman at all, but a spirit whose characteristics are seen clearly in the Old Testament figure, Jezebel. Here, the Lord is revealing that this spirit is still at work in the church, and it must be overcome.

To see the Jezebel spirit in action, read the passages in I and II Kings that refer to this "queen", Ahab's wife: e.g., I Kings 16: 31; 18:4, 19; 19:2; 21:23-25; II Kings 9:22; 30-37. In the realm of the spirit, this evil entity will behave the same way. There is subtlety to it, as well as intimidation when it doesn't win by seduction. A demonic spirit is not male or female, and can work through or influence a person of either sex. Calling a woman a "Jezebel" is not the love of Christ, but it is common to see that spirit working through a "witchy" woman who doesn't respect men, especially her husband. Nonetheless, I have seen men who were totally given over to the Jezebel spirit, and their wives strongly controlled by the counterpart spirit we could just as well call Ahab (submissive, wrongly, to the controlling spirit).

The Satanic spirit we call Jezebel is jealous of the Church-- who is betrothed to Jesus, and is being prepared as a spotless Bride, full of glory and power, and who will rule and reign with Christ at His return. As Satan wants to be "like God" and tries to gain worship for himself, he has a counterfeit for everything he sees God do. This evil spirit works to get the true Bride away from her pure love of Christ, and to seduce her into defiling herself with occult practices, sexual immorality, and spiritual adultery and idolatry. It hates all things and people of God that are prophetic, and it tries to seduce people into using prophetic giftings for power and profit, and to lead others astray with false prophecy.

The Jezebel spirit especially hates the Bride of Christ, marriage, proper authority, proper male-female relationships, and godly creativity and imagination (because this births things from God). An Ahab-Jezebel type relationship is something to be repented of, whether in a Christian marriage or in a pastor-church relationship. [As I wrote this, I got a revelation that the Jezebel spirit is behind abortion, physical and spiritual! I haven't done a specific study on this, but it was confirmed to me by a prophetic friend after I posted this blog. I will be seeking the Lord for more insight into the topic, and will blog on it soon in "Fireberries" -- see link on top page].

It must be kept in mind that the Bride of Christ is not an individual person, but the Church as a whole, and that individualistic doctrines of brideship are most likely ideas promoted by the Jezebel spirit to keep a child of God separate from the Body, in pride and rebellion, and open to seductive and occult ideas that pollute the spirit and infect others.

As will be more and more evident, the Jezebel spirit will set "herself" up as the false bride of a false christ, and will seat herself luxuriously upon an idolatrous throne right in the midst of the apostate church: "So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication." Revelation 17:3-4 NKJV

This artwork reminds me of the following verse, now that I'm writing about it, for in it there is a man hidden in a cave-like place, and there is a rescuer coming with a torch: "For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water." I Kings 18:4 NKJV

The redness of this picture speaks to me of not only the bloody history of the original Jezebel, and of that influencing spirit's destructive work, but also of the blood of Jesus: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." Revelation 12:11 NKJV. Jesus has already overcome Satan and his tactics, and is coming to His Church in power (as the Lion of Judah) to help her enforce His victory. [Now, with the additional insight on abortion, I am seeing this red, cave-like place as a womb!!].

I believe we must fight to deliver the young people who are being seduced enmasse by the "dark side" of fantasy and witchcraft to such things as Harry Potter. There is a major difference between something birthed by a demonic spirit and something birthed by the Lord such as C.S. Lewis's fantasy writing or Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings"(at least partially, as I don't claim these works to be perfectly God-inspired-- are any of us?).

In my artwork, a unicorn or flying horse represents the creative and imaginative power that God placed in us, which is part of His nature and image. In this picture, the unicorn, not evil of itself, is being drawn to the seductive power of Jezebel. It is the Church's job to see the young generation, called to be prophetic and powerful in warfare against evil, delivered from the captivation of the enemy and trained and released against that enemy. We must see to it that our creative powers are used by the Holy Spirit and not by the devil.

It is crucial that all of us in the Body of Christ be cleansed of everything that is related to this seductive and rebellious spirit. Time is running out, but there is an open window of freedom available to all who will call out to God for help.
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The credits for the images used in this composite have been listed on my Flickr stream, with links to them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artezoe/3232829658/





1 comment:

Rosy Outlook said...

Beautiful artwork Karen. Thank you for your prayerful and thought-provoking explanation of it!