Saturday, November 27, 2010

Part 4: Jezebel vs Sarah - Jezebel's Claim on You and I

This post picks up where I left off in Jezebel, Lawlessness and Legal Authority.

It was probably less than a week after I came to that huge emotional breakthrough in my life that I was on the phone with my friend Glenn. I had been very enthusiastically telling him about a book the Lord had hooked me up with when he made the stunning point; what was presented in Mr. Jackson's book (Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit) was incomplete. The reason why he identified headcovering as a point of proof could not have been more apparent to me! The matter was one of authority and obedience.

You probably think I'm just going to begin jumping up and down, preaching hellfire and brimstone about headcovering, but, no. You might practice headcovering faithfully and still be controlled by Jezebel. Headcovering is merely one of many in a class of commands typically overlooked, neglected and rejected. These particularly open the door for the spirit of Jezebel to have dominion. Due to the current state of affairs, every subject that will be addressed will be controversial and perhaps even seem quite radical.

Jezebel's claim on a person's life is based upon legal authority. This is no different in principle than with any other kind of demonic influence. Demons have legal authority where there is a curse involved, which may be due to a number of factors. The way to deal with Jezebel is to follow the Lord's direction as presented in a general way in James 4.

6b) ...Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:6b-7

What I have to write here is not a manual for personal deliverance or exorcism, though such a result may come. What I'm writing is not a guide to spiritual warfare, though victory may be won through it. What I have to share addresses the fundamental basis for Jezebel's authority, sin. The focus here is going to be most particularly upon the sin that makes Jezebel epidemic in our culture and in the church. No, it's not just the obvious sexual promiscuity or pornography issues, we must look beyond these even to the overlooked, neglected and rejected commandments.

Jezebel has hardly fled from among us, and I'm not now, as from some remote soapbox, addressing those who don't read my blog with these confrontational words. If you, blog reader, have not yet but do dare to prove what I'm presenting in this blog in your own life, genuinely discipling yourself to the Lord who has commanded us thus, you're going to know the Truth that makes us free indeed!

While some will certainly perceive these words as "me being heavy-handed," it must be declared that, if we presume that we can neglect what is being presented without continued consequence we will be proven wrong. You may challenge these words, but I'm testifying with full confidence. If you and I intend to be found worthy of the Bridegroom at His coming, His commands are not optional. His washing of water by the pure Word may be difficult to endure, but it is necessary, absolutely required. The flesh and soul will struggle mightily against it unto death. Yet, this death must come. The struggle must be brought to an end. Few will come to this place. I have no personal assurance that I will come to such a place. I am assured, however, that my Lord is kind, generous and able to bring me to victory, and you, and that He WILL have a spotless Bride!

You'll notice in all that I've written so far that there's nothing that hints at "how to whip all the "Jezebels" in your world into shape." If there's anything resembling such a work to be done, where those being controlled come to repentance, the only conceivable way it might come about is through your own humble submission to the Lord's commands as a disciple who is himself or herself free. Some claim that those who are controlled by Jezebel might be redeemed, but in my experience such has never been the case. There are degrees of controlling influence, and I've seen some fruit of deliverance, but so far in my experience the deliverance from such been very limited. This has to be dealt with at the root level.

Now, with all that said, I'd like to begin exposing the nature of the chink in our armor, our sin, "laying an axe to the root" of Jezebel. I'm going to begin with an example in 1 Timothy and I'm going to be very specific. I've got to start somewhere and I'm going to start with one that I can illustrate with a graphical example most of you can now appreciate.

Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
1 Timothy 2:9

You may recognize the image presented as a braid. If you've following this blog for long you may recognize this three strand construction as modeling the DNA that will characterize the Beast and those who take the mark of the Beast. With this insight, it's pretty obvious why you wouldn't want to bear such a testimony. Of course, no such explanation is given in the text. No reason at all is given why women should not adorn themselves with braided hair.

I don't frequent churches anymore, but when I did, I noticed that hair styles there were no different from everywhere else. When braids are fashionable, women in the church wear braids.

Now, if you're like most folks, you're going be reading along here and see that I'm addressing women wearing braids and think this is really petty. A common response to bringing this up is something along the lines of, "Let's not focus on the small issues when there's so many big important issues that really need our attention." While that might seem like sound wisdom and a "common sense" perspective, it's really not an appropriate response. In contrast, there's an old adage you may have heard, "Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves." This is the better wisdom!

To give the old saying a little more clarity, it doesn't mean we can just focus on what we perceive as little things to the exclusion of anything else. It really means that we shouldn't judge the components of an issue as big or little and use that as the basis for dismissing any of them. This wisdom has been applied successfully in the practical contexts of law enforcement, dog training and the coaching of athletes and sports teams. When properly applied, this principle exposes the reasons for failure in many of our endeavors, proving that we generally underrate the value of fundamental details. You'll never have a winning basketball team if your players can't pass the ball, no matter how much they excel at everything else. Now, I don't really care if you ever win at basketball, but I do care if you succeed at the most important contest in life!

24) Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25) And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Note to self: If I'm serious about striving for the mastery to obtain an incorruptible crown, I must be temperate in ALL things. That's "all" as in "all", not "all" as in "some," or "most, except for those that are too unfashionable or difficult."

Are you grasping where I'm coming from here? Where's the "wiggle room" in that "temperate in all things" business? How am I going to bail out before I actually get nailed to the cross if there's no "wiggle room"? The point is, I'm not. If you can accept the likes of, "Let's not focus on the small issues when there's so many big important issues that need attention," you can wiggle out of anything and everything. That kind of reasoning is straight from the pit of hell, a putrid flow of the deceitful venom of rebellion. What arrogance to presume that we might be free to dismiss the Lord's commands without consequence!

"Oh, Bob, lighten up. They're just braids." If you're willing to take that approach you've already bought a license to sin, so where will you stop? If you are following me here, you're on to something big!

More to follow, Lord willing!

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