The Jezebel Spirit — Shane Idleman

The Jezebel Spirit and Its Biblical Basis

Watch out for jets, like what is this? No idea, and then you find things on YouTube and Pastor Robert Morris actually did a great teaching on it, and a YouTuber by the name Vlad, I can't pronounce his last name, or Isaiah Sandoval, some of you guys know them, Ruslan as well, we're gonna be on his podcast, me and Abram are going down there in a few weeks in San Diego, and a lot of these guys have good teachings on it, and so it gets out there to the people.

And so here we are in Revelation on this topic, and then the more I would pastor, the more people would say, you know, there's a Jezebel spirit in such and such, or you gotta watch, and so it's pretty, I don't know if you're aware of it, but it's a pretty engaging, somewhat controversial topic, but it's in the Bible, so we have to talk about it, and I'm gonna get to all the points, a lot of them I wanna share right now, I wanna get ahead of myself, because, I'm gonna get ahead of myself, all right, you'll see it up there later, but the Bible doesn't say there is a Jezebel spirit, okay?

Jezebel as a Biblical Type of Spiritual Influence

22 mentions of Jezebel, I believe mainly in 1 Kings, and then of course in Revelation where we're at, and that woman Jezebel, you allow to teach in your church, and then in 1 Kings, Jezebel and Ahab, so it's a literal person, so the Bible doesn't say you'll have a Jezebel spirit, like it says, you know, God allowed a spirit of, a lying spirit, or a distressing spirit came upon Saul, so how do we come up with it?

I don't have a problem with the language, because Jezebel in Revelation, it seems that Jesus is referencing Jezebel in Kings, and her type of personality, and so there's a spiritual component, a demonic component of what was working in her heart and in her life, so I'd just like to be clear that the Bible isn't gonna say a Jezebel spirit, watch out for that spirit to come within you, but there is a type of religious spirit, and you could call it a Jezebel spirit that can infiltrate the church and believers, so that was just a point of clarification, but my Bible calls this church the corrupt church, Revelation 2, 18, and to the angel of the church in Thyatira writes this, and here's what's interesting, I could've spent 30 minutes on Thyatira in the area in the church, one of our elders, David Thee, sent me some great articles on what I taught last week on the throne of Satan, it's amazing how you can look at pictures, they actually unearthed it and they found it, and Hitler did his thing around it, and it resembled it very much, and there's even links, this isn't conspiracy theories, I'm not gonna put on a foil hat, but if you look at the 2008 Democratic Party platform, it resembles exactly, it's like wow, this is very interesting, and that's the year of course they codified abortion so we can murder children, they take God out of their wording, I mean this is a demonic things that are happening in our nation, and if that upsets people, I'm just telling you the truth, you have an issue with God, not me, all political parties are welcome here, but I will speak the truth, don't worry I rebuke Republicans often, read my last few articles, pride and arrogance on both sides, so to the angel of the church of Thyatira writes these things, the son of God is saying this, he who has eyes like flames of fire, and his feet are like fine brass, the only way human language could describe Jesus Christ, can you imagine seeing him with flames of fire in his eyes, penetrating your soul, he said when Jesus speaks guys, we need to listen, sit up straight, listen, we need to get also, I want to encourage people to get back in the habit of bringing their Bible to church, this is okay, but it's good to go old school, bring your Bible, we're going through it verse by verse, and you can highlight, and you can write, God will put things on your heart, and you got to journal it, you got to write it down, because trust me, I have a pen and paper by my bed now, I've learned over the years, oh that's a great idea, I'm going to remember that tomorrow, nope, I can't even tell you how many times, I mean it's so bad that I'll just get up, I'm so tired, but I'll write it down, here's a sermon point that really touched someone's heart, so he says this, Jesus is saying this, I know your works, so you've got good works, you love people, I know you're serving me, you have faith, and you're patient, and as far as your works, the last are more than the first, nevertheless, there's that word again, this is so interesting to me, nevertheless, I have a few things against you, to me this sounds like a pretty solid church, here's what he has against this church, and I read this probably differently than most people, because I'm reading this as if it's applicable to me and our church, every time I go through these chapters on the church, like Jesus what are you saying to us, what can we learn from this, so this church isn't necessarily, they've got the works, the right works, it looks like the right doctrine, the love, the service, the faith, but they are allowing, because you allow, see we think the church, oh no, but we allow, and let me tell you, this really hit home, because it's much easier to allow than to confront, there are some Jezebels in this church, that I've been praying about confronting, and it's not easy, don't worry I don't think you're at the first service, or maybe they don't even go to this church, you've got that same spirit that can Facebook you right, email you, discourage, discourage, or control, control, manipulation, and so when a church just allows it, because it is much easier, me and we have this talk, weekly, let's just not deal with this this week, and then this week turns into this month, and then I tell them you know what, we're going to deal with it eventually, and it's going to be worse, and we just, but where do you, you don't want to go around also sin sniffing, and confronting everyone, that's not healthy, because it takes time to pray, and maybe God, many times God has worked in their heart, we didn't have to say anything, that's the best thing, or you get that wonderful email, pastor I feel God is calling me to a different church, I think he is, I think, well there goes that one, we just missed that freight train, and because, and I joke, but it's painful, because in a living church, the devil's also working, and no one is perfect, hello, you think sometimes it's my fault, yes, yes, I readily admit sometimes things, problems are my fault, you take a type A highly energetic person, who's upset at our society, and can't say anything political, without somebody getting upset, and you take that, and try to contain that, and wanting to fix things, and handle things, and sometimes no no no no, don't fix it too quick, right that's why me and Morgan, the guys always want to fix it, like she'll come tell me, and she'll vent, I'll handle that tomorrow, oh no no no, just wanted you to listen, I'm gonna fix this, I'm gonna fix this, but see the difference is, as a family we grow, and we own it, and we apologize, I need to work on that, that's my crack in the armor, we all have cracks in the armor, but sadly a lot of people don't want to work on it, they're like, they get offended, and again I recommend that book, Bait of Satan, Laurie and Rick took a group through it a few times, maybe do it again, people are so, because that's Satan's greatest bait, I believe in the church, offense, offense, you know what I don't want to go to church Sunday, you know who might be there, they just gave me a look at Target, well they were in Target too, but this really hit home, I mean they allowed, they allowed something that they should not have allowed, so I think Jesus warned the church, or there was conviction, and there are different, there are different, obviously different churches, some people, some churches will take these things, you know and really go to the extreme of it, you know I can think of hyper conservative churches that are really just, you know just, let me just look for any type of, you know we're gonna catch it right away, and if the timing isn't right, you can hurt people more than help them, and then other churches of course are like, hey man I don't care, we're not gonna, let's just let God fix it, I wish that was possible, but he often uses the leadership to say something, or to convict people, and so this church, it seems like a healthy church, because he'll go on to make some comments about this, you allow that woman Jezebel, so either this is a different Jezebel, bad choice of names, right, you named your daughter Jezebel, you don't hear Jezebel, you don't hear Delilah, you don't hear you know certain names in the Bible, but I'm a man of Bathsheba, you know their names mean something, so this church is allowing Jezebel, could be you know again that Jezebel kind of spiritual influence of what Jezebel did with Ahab, and I'll hopefully get to that, now here's the thing, who calls herself a prophetess, I don't think that's an accident there of language, it's she calls herself, and I see this so many times, and I want to tell people, you know let God call you, let God elevate you, let God, you think we can stop it, well the church isn't letting me do this, if God wants you to do that, don't you think he'll let you do it, like little Shane Eidelman's gonna stop God, but sometimes there's a testing period, how do you handle no, that reveals a lot, pride and arrogance, the Jezebel type of controlling, manipulating, or is there a submission, because we have to understand, even myself submitting to elders, and submitting, God's order is submission, when it's done the right way, not when it's abusive, not when it's controlling, but there's protection when you submit to leadership, whether it's your workplace, the headship of the home, the church, God has put that there is a covering, and the leaders have a responsibility to help the people, whether it's offer godly counsel, whether it's pointing out things, because normally most pastors, this is a true statement, there's exceptions of course, most pastors will try to be non-biased, they will tell you, here's what I see, here's what I think, based on I know your relationship with your husband, or your wife, and here's what I, there's not really an ulterior motive, you could upset them and they leave, and that happens as well, but they were allowing this woman, she called herself a prophetess, and there was a sermon I'll never forget, when I said something like, if you're an apostle, don't put it on your business card, or prophet, and I heard from three or four guys, how dare you, I'm an apostle such and such, give me a break, that's self-exaltation, that's self, you don't tell me you're a prophet, or you're an apostle, let God show me through your actions, and through your humility, and more importantly, through your gifting, there's humble people in this church, who operate in those apostolic, apostle just means sent ones, okay, let's not get charismatic crazy, these are not, these are actually biblical terms, the biblical terms, so if I was a church planter, or what I was, I had that type of apostolic calling, to go and sent, to be sent, that's all that means, let's not get freaking out over it, so don't put it on your business type, business card, on your letterhead, or in an email, just say a servant of God, five fold, that's why they call it the five fold ministry, some he's called to be prophets, apostles, evangelists, teachers, preachers, and then a prophet, is not weird stuff either, it's that prophetic voice, it's that, and God will sometimes reveal things to them, he doesn't do anything, without first revealing his secrets to the prophets, and those who have this discernment, and this wisdom, and they can speak things into the lives of people, and I can know who those people are over the years, by their gifting, through their humility, and they operate in that gifting, I'm not stupid, I know what things look like, I've been playing church, I've been in church, I've met thousands of church goers, I've had thousands of church people come here, and many leave and come back, and this, and dealing with all types of situations, everywhere, you can tell the genuine from the fake, and when they have to call themselves, and we've seen it, people have come, and hey, I'm such and such, I am a prophet of God, at least a half dozen times, and they go, so what am I supposed to do with that?

Self-Promotion, Spiritual Authority, and Humility

What you're supposed to do, is you, they want you to, oh, wow, can you bless our church, can you speak, see it's a controlling spirit, manipulating, watch what they do when you don't give them the platform, I usually say, well, God hasn't told me that yet, so, just keep coming, we'll get to know you, your gifting will become apparent, now I want to be cautious, because some people are just in their zeal, and their excitement, you know, maybe elevate themselves too much, or God's gifted me to do this, you know, and so there's grace there, but this lady, she comes into the, she goes to the church, obviously the leaders know, because she, you know that person, right, well, that's just, let me make sure we don't have a Martha here, I don't know if we do, well, you know, that's just Martha, just let her do her thing, you know, just let her, and they just allow, but Martha causes a little bit of damage now and then, and she goes and tells people things that, well, doesn't come to pass, and people get a little disappointed, and discouraged, and it hurts, I don't apologize, but if it feels like I'm wearing my feelings on my sleeve during this sermon, I am, because I've seen a lot of pain, and we are the ones that have to clean it up, I've had to deal with people who go to people and say, by this time next year, you're going to have a baby, and that's not funny, and this is four years ago, be very careful, be very careful when you say, thus saith the Lord, you allow this self-promoting, it's a self-promoting spirit, and that's why in all areas of ministry, all areas, we have to be careful, if people come in, I want to be on your worship team, well, that's good for you, what does God want?

Well, it's the attitude, do you know, I don't know, I can't even think of anybody who told us, I want to be on your worship team, we just, like, well, they can sing, or somebody else would tell us, or somebody else would mention something, and like, hey, have you heard this?

And God opens the door, be careful of those who try to push the door open, now many of us have been guilty of it, you know, we're excited about our gifting, and we want to, but it seems like the more people promote, the more God holds them back down, and if God wants you somewhere doing something, you will do it, if you submit to it.

I'll have to brag, I don't know if Blessing's here this morning, but I remember, it was probably 2000, my wife would know, 2013, 14, and they were in Lancaster, and I went to a youth camp up in Tahachapi, and they just had Blessing on a guitar, she'd been coming for a year, I didn't even know she, and like, she starts singing on a guitar, and I look at her, and I'm like, what, why didn't nobody tell me, why is she not helping with worship?

You guys got to, what's, well, I don't know, you know, and my goodness, you know, see, that's how God will promote. I remember the same thing with Madeline too, Brant told me, man, Shane, you've got to really hear her, and hear her heart, okay, because I was on sabbatical, and I went to YouTube, and wow, golly, Lord, you really, and see, they're usually, usually, the more God will use you, the least likely the person is to be used.

Because there's not a self-promoting spirit. And that's why many people run, I ran from the pastorate for a long, and oh no, no way. No way. And the more zeal they have to do it, often, it's the wrong motives.

And that's why a lot of churches close down, a lot of people don't make it, pastors long-term. Because they're doing it in their own strength, it's not a God calling, it's what they wanted to do. And she promoted herself.

So we're seeing this type of spirit, if you want to use that word, or this type of person in the church, they are self-promoting, and it goes on to say, they would teach, and they would seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

Basically compromising the faith. And a commentator, Doddridge, said this, the doctrine of those who taught, it was lawful to dissemble our religious principles and occasionally to conform to our superstition and idolatry in order to avoid persecution.

So this person was basically saying, hey, it's okay to compromise. We can see this today, a lot of the church is now flying the rainbow flags. Or a lot of the church is saying nothing. Saying nothing.

Kind of like bending to the culture, right? We want to avoid persecution, and you'll probably see, many of you have heard the new documentary again, another one on Carl Lentz and Hillsong, and I watched it recently.

And you see this capitulation to kind of mix the world in with the church and not be too dogmatic about things. Not too much doctrine. And they begin to welcome all the things. It's a great show entertainment-wise, but is the Spirit of God there?

And I really appreciate where his heart's at now in deep repentance. But sexual immorality was rampant there as well. And in many compromising churches, you find that out. What we allow in the church speaks volumes about the church.

But also, the spirit behind constructive criticism is important. It shouldn't be, go get them. I can't wait to get them. It should be, Lord, I don't want to have this talk. But Lord, I know we need to.

We love them enough to tell them the truth. And guys, the sad fact is, nine times out of ten, they don't return to the church. Nine times out of ten is a safe number. Now, I don't blame people for a few weeks or something, right?

You're kind of processing it. But that just shows really where their heart is at. Does it not? Oh, I'm offended. I'm not coming back. All we do is speak the truth. And they'll go from place to place when they don't want to hear the truth.

So Jezebel, the person, it's often a person who wants the position of authority, and that's why I referenced before 1 Kings. Basically, that's where that term that I use in the title comes from. Who wears the pants?

Usually, Jezebel will kind of run the home. Or they'll push the man. A weak man, a passive man, usually can be easily manipulated by Jezebel. She becomes the decision maker. Ahab wanted a vineyard, and he couldn't get it.

So Jezebel went behind the scenes and had the vineyard given to her husband and the man who owned it killed. She would have her prophets of Baal there on Mount Carmel. And Elijah was mocking them, mocking them, mocking them.

He said, let the God who answers by fire, let Him be God. And God consumed the whole place with fire. And the altar, everything was sucked up. I love the language he uses. And Jezebel... King Ahab was like, oh, this must be the real God.

It seems like. But Jezebel, nope. Elijah had all the prophets killed, and Jezebel said, before this time tomorrow, He will be dead as well. And he ran. He ran because of fear. Jezebel's manipulating. And so we see her controlling, manipulating, kind of behind the scenes of things that are happening.

Gender, Marriage, and Complementarian Roles

And we also know from Genesis, and I didn't have time, I just added this this morning so it won't be up there, but Genesis after the fall, we see that the woman's desire was to rule over the man. And the man's part of the fall nature is to be passive.

Boy, that's an interesting combo. I'm called to lead, but I want to be passive. She's called to follow, but she wants to lead. And that's why we believe in complementarianism. That's what our church is.

The different sexes, only two genders by the way, are meant to complement each other. Not better than. Not more superior. Not machismo. Complement. Complement. But there can't be two heads. Just one leadership.

God allows a person to lead. Now I know some men aren't leading. The women have to carry the slack. And I know there's a whole bunch of different situations. Single homes now obviously continue increasing where there's no man present and women do the best that they can with what God has given them and God sees them and God helps them.

But ideally, there is a complementary role that will bless the home even more. So again, I noted this before, it's a religious spirit. From being told what to do. So they want, let me explain this for a minute.

A rebellious, I'm sorry, a religious, it's a rebellious spirit. It's, how can I explain this? And this is why it's difficult. Jezebel's spirit, it could be an unbeliever. Could be a false prophetess. It could be, but that same type of spiritual influence can work inside a believer.

A rebellious spirit. You ever have one of those? You have a four year old, you do? No, mine. But in the church, that rebellious spirit doesn't like being told what to do. Hey, by the way, can we do this?

Rebellious. That type of, and it has to be crushed, guys. It has to be crushed. A humble, submissive spirit is incredible. God can use it in powerful ways. Could it be the anointing in your life could be much stronger if you were much more humble?

Could the anointing of God be much stronger in your life if you were more humble and gracious? Again, preaching to myself. And this rebellious spirit also gets upset when it's denied. How do you handle the word no?

How does anyone handle the word no? Right, I want to do this, I want this. No, oh. Or not right now. Let's just hold tight. And you can see this work sometimes. Hey, let's just hold tight, let's pray about it.

And then after a little while, the person's getting agitated. Well, how long are we praying about it? Well, we just talked last week. Hold on. And see, agitation, rebellion, it's not happening quick enough.

And guys, sometimes we just have to bring the cancer out in order to remove it. These types of things can happen in the best of us. And once it gets a root, it starts to grow. And that's why this sermon is to pull it out.

Pull it out by the roots this morning. And again, there's a difference between a false prophetess and a bad influence. And here's the bombshell, too. This can happen to men. All the guys sitting here going out, yep, Jezebel Spirit, yep.

Tell those women off. This type of religious spirit is, in men as well, manipulating, controlling. Anyone know those kind of people? Power trips, they'll manipulate things. And here's the thing, they'll say things that are kind of true, but they'll twist it in a way that manipulates the situation.

And because they want to control it. And many times, and that's why you'll hear about people deliverance, okay? And that's a whole nother topic I've taught before. I believe there are times where somebody needs some anointed time of prayer.

And get this, whatever's in you, get it out. Get it out. This kind cannot come out except by prayer and fasting. Sometimes it takes some, these strongholds need to come down one brick at a time. And what she likes to do is influence, or even men, they like to influence weak or soft leaders.

Prophetic Words, Discernment, and Testing Claims

And again, she calls herself a prophetess. I have a word for you. Anybody raised in Pentecostal Charismatic churches? Every week, I have a word for you. I have a word for you today. I have a word for you.

And some things, I'm not mocking that because it's a gift of the Holy Spirit. But I've also seen it where it's used to control. And instead of coming to exalt Christ, you come looking for that person.

Instead of asking what are the prophets saying, you should be saying what is Jesus Christ saying to you in His Word. I've seen a lot of lives get detoured. And here's why it can be dangerous, because somebody could be on.

They could be fasting and praying, and God just downloads something vital to somebody. And they give it to them. They share it with them. The person is just, oh, I can't believe this is such good confirmation.

God, you are so good. And then that person, a couple weeks later, God put you on my heart. And then they begin to control every week, every month. They begin to control that person. And that person then also begins to look for that person for a new word.

I have found, it's not a biblical concept necessarily. I mean, it is, you can prove it with biblically. But often, those types of words come at pivotal seasons. God doesn't, the normal course of action isn't to give you a word every month.

Abram went 10 years on a word. I mean, there's, Abraham, there's times where you, God, I need your help, and there's a pivotal shift. It's a turning, and you need something, and God gives it to you. And then, it was so profound and powerful that now you need to hear, I need help on this other issue.

And sometimes, a person, sometimes their heart is good, but if they exalt self too much, and, because you can take pride in your gifting, and then God will humble you. For example, you can be on spot sometimes, and giving people maybe something God's put on your heart, what they call prophetic word, and you're on point, but then you start to get prideful.

And a good idea you think is a God idea. And you're no more waiting on God, you're just prompted because, hey, you're God's woman. You're God's man. And I've seen this a lot. I've known people that are dead on.

And a year later, they're dead off. And that's why we don't live off these types of things. And if somebody says, you know, I've got something I want to share with you, does it line up with Scripture?

Take it to the Lord in prayer. Because God's going to confirm something with you as well, with what they said. But that's what this Jezebel spirit, I'm going to put up about seven things that I think are important, and I already discussed this.

Seven Marks of a Jezebel-Type Influence

The Bible never calls her a Jezebel spirit. But that's what it is. It's a type of influence. And I don't know in the spiritual realm how that works. You know, God sent a distressing spirit. God sent a lying spirit.

But is there a nicotine spirit? A caffeine spirit? There's a sugar spirit for sure. I mean, I've heard people cast out all those, and a Leviathan spirit, and all kinds of, wow. And again, I mean, the Bible, it's all a lot of it's speculation, and there could be different types of demonic influences in a person's life.

For me personally, I think addiction stronghold is just one type of a demonic, a demon working in the lives of a person to try to take them out through addiction. I don't know if there's a Coors Light demon and a Bud Light and whiskey.

And it's just, there's a demonic realm that will be released on us. And it comes in our thought life with temptation mainly. That's how the enemy works with temptation. He'll tempt you to take that first step and then begin to pull you back.

So we believe, we teach there's a spiritual realm. We believe that Jesus said cast out demons, take authority over the demonic realm. But we also want to keep a healthy balance because there should be a priority of preaching sound doctrine, of prayer and of wisdom and of worship.

And it's just the biblical model lays it out pretty specifically, letting the Holy Spirit guide us into things. And I'm gonna get to that in a minute too. Number two, a religious spirit. See, a lot of these things I already told you.

This person lacks humility. Now it doesn't mean a humble person won't struggle with this from time to time. Because on this side of heaven, you're not perfect. Anybody that you know, you feel you're pretty humble, you know, I would agree with you, probably.

You know, do you ever feel that pride come up? Where does that come from? Number three, not open to the Holy Spirit's work. So this type of Jezebel, obviously she would not be open to the Holy Spirit's work, this type of Jezebel influence in the church.

Why? Because you have to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit. Your words have to come under His authority and under God's Word and under the spiritual covering of the church. You're submitting, you're submitting.

Jezebel doesn't submit to anyone. She controls, she manipulates, she tries to get in there and weave herself in there. And it is hard because sometimes people, again, they just have good hearts, sometimes they're a little misled, or they've got ulterior motives, but it's not a Jezebel type situation.

You know, so you don't want to just call out that on every type of situation that happens. But there are things we have seen over the years that is very clearly, clearly this type of spirit operating in the church.

And God will show you. God will show you if you're open and discerning, and that's why He said, you allow it. I've showed you and you keep allowing it. The church is only in trouble for what they allow and know and are doing.

If it wasn't the case, Jesus would have said, hey, I know you don't know, but there's this lazy lady Jezebel, and you need to handle it this week. Versus they're allowing it to happen. And again, manipulation and control.

It's part of that spirit. Ulterior motives. The spirit of self-promotion. Number six is huge. This person is critical in order to control. They'll be critical of the church or the leadership or maybe somebody you follow on TV or radio or whatever or anything you're doing, a book you're reading, they're critical of it in order to control and to get your focus back on them.

And then number seven, seductive with sexual sin. From Delilah to Jezebel, we see the seduction of sexual sin. From the transgenderism to the sexualization of children and from lasciviousness to the Las Vegas lifestyle in Christians.

This type of Jezebel spirit is controlling, manipulating, and they have not the fruit of the Spirit. And so obviously, sexual sin is tied to that as well. It's all spiritual. And then Jesus goes on to say something very interesting.

And I gave her time to what? I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. A good reminder that God's patience is not His approval. So how did He give her time to repent?

Maybe from sermons at the church. Maybe from letters the disciples wrote. Maybe from one-on-one dialogue. We don't know, but God was using, the grace of God was there, the mercy of God was there trying to get her to repent.

But she would not repent. And so because of this, I have cast her into a sickbed. And those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds, and those who have been there know that that adultery and sexual sin will take you down farther than you want to go.

Right? Keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay. But still, the call goes out, unless they repent. Man, what a beautiful word. No wonder people don't like it. You're not one of those repentance preachers, are you?

I hear that sometimes too. What's so wrong about that? Oh, man, I just want to hear about God's love. Well, God's love compels us to repent. To really experience and feel His love. The love of God consumes us and draws us to that word repentance.

Repentance, Judgment, and the Consequences of False Teaching

And so this is pretty interesting. I will cast her into a sickbed, and I will kill her children. Whoa! I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.

I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now, most commentators, and I would agree, of course, reading even the context, I don't think there's a little six-year-old and a four-year-old who are dying because of her choices.

Children, often, we could do a lot of cross-references, are the fruit that is produced from her ministry. Her followers. Those who know it's wrong, but yet they follow the false teacher. And often, we think, you know, false teachers, yeah, that's pretty bad, but they wouldn't have a platform if there wasn't listeners.

If there wasn't followers, they wouldn't be false prophets. You can't be a false prophet if nobody's listening. So it goes back to individually what we need to do and get our hearts right and really seek God.

And that's why a lot of these cults that you've seen over the years that have come in the last 100 years, I mean, I'm not going to name them all, but just the different things that happen and you're like how?

That's where that phrase, drink the Kool-Aid comes from. Right? How could they drink the Kool-Aid? But when we give ourselves over to a false teacher, we open ourselves up to that doctrine of demons.

And then we begin to compromise. We begin to make choices that are not good and they're not godly. Yet because of pride, we have a form of godliness, but we deny the power thereof. And it's a seductive thing.

Seductive. And I won't go into details, but I know a lot of, let's say like I mentioned, the Hillsong churches, and even there's been churches in our area, a lot of churches that are really not... I mean, they've got cool worship and skinny jean pants and lights and shows.

And it's wow, this is great. There's a lot of sexual immorality going on in the church. Even on the staff. I know a couple of pastors who've stepped down over the years because of that and the church is loosey-goosey.

And see, that's the culture that it promotes. Now, all of us are take heed lest you fall. Right? When I watch that documentary, I don't, oh, how could he? Because it's in all of us. If you don't think it is, come talk to me afterwards.

Sin is in all of us. That's why we need those guardrails, those boundaries, sound doctrine, prayer, fasting, accountability, and all those things that are so important. But you'll see sexual sin is often in compromising churches.

You're seeing it now with this big split in a lot of denominations or with the LGBTQ agenda and the transgenderism. You don't think there's sexual sin and promiscuity in those churches? It's rampant. And it's often tied together with this.

Sickness, Sin, and God’s Discipline

Now, here's the big question though. I think we can put it in the next one. Sickness. Did you know that some sickness can be the result of sin? Now, as a pastor, and you want to be careful, because as I've said many times before, if that were always the case, we'd all be in trouble.

We'd all be sick all the time. And so you can't say, well, if somebody's sick, you must have sin. Often, that's not the case actually. But there are times where God can use that to wake you up. And there's some Scripture references that I have here we can put up.

Well, let me read Elykot. I'm sorry, I don't know if I pronounced that right. One of the commentaries. He said, her children is to be understood as her followers. The so-called prophetess led the way in loose lists of morals under the pretense of some deeper knowledge.

She had her associates and their disciples and all the evil things under her control. And tribulation and death is their penalty. And often as I was studying, I thought of when I was out in Texas, David Koresh.

Remember him? As soon as he wants all these wives, hello, red flag number one. I mean, you can see so many red flags. It's like it started on week one. Like he's God's spokesperson. He's going to reveal some truth.

Bye, I'm out of here. But see, they get sucked into these things. James 5, and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise them up. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven.