This Strategy Defeats Jezebel’s Intercessors! How to Confront & Conquer This Demonic Spirit

It was one of the most difficult meetings I’ve ever held in my life, but it was time.

In fact, it was long overdue. Jezebel-inflicted wounds were literally festering in several women in the congregation, and they finally came forth to expose the depth of the destruction. I only wish they had spoken up sooner.

Let me back up for a moment. There was a woman in our church who was giving, helpful, and there every time the doors were open. But she was out of order more than once—far more than once. She was presumptuous. She stepped into measures of authority that were not delegated to her. She drew people to herself. It was the epitome of Jezebel—and we saw it.

Earlene, as we’ll call her, had major issues in her family. Her husband was sickly, her son was addicted to drugs, and her daughter was one of the most insecure young women we’d ever met. We labored long to help the entire family, conducting counseling and engaging in inner healing and deliverance ministry repeatedly. She even sat in the teachings that became the foundation of the book that is in your hands right now, saying “amen” the whole way.

No matter what we tried, how much we prayed, loved, or corrected, the woman would not stop trespassing where she had no authority. But she did change her strategy. She went underground. She started acting like the perfect model of volunteerism while covertly drawing hurting women to herself, telling them she was a deliverance minister and positioning herself as their spiritual mother. Several women in the church told her their deepest, darkest secrets—and somehow, they all believed we sanctioned this despite the reality that she had no public-facing position or authority.

As much as she tried to hide her nefarious motives, others in the congregation started noticing what she did behind closed doors. She set herself up in the lobby to pray for people as they came in, sort of like how Absalom positioned himself at the city gates to woo the people (see 2 Sam. 15:2).

Earlene literally got everyone’s phone number who walked in the door and followed up with them to pray, under the guise of performing “greeter duties.” She was secretly telling people not to come back to the church because we didn’t want them there, didn’t care about them, and wouldn’t help them. We couldn’t be in the sanctuary at the altar and ministering to people and in the lobby at the same time, and she took advantage of this time to work her witchcrafts.

This was indeed the most subtle, underground, wicked Jezebelic attack we had ever seen in the ministry. It wasn’t just the icing on the cake; it took the cake, so to speak. And that says a lot since, as a prophetic and prayer ministry, we have perhaps seen more than our fair share of Jezebel attacks over the years. But, as Jesus said in Luke 8:17 (NKJV), “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.”

When Enough is Enough

When several women came to us with matching information—and based on the history we’d already had with Earlene—we knew we had to act swiftly. We called a meeting of the elders to discuss what more we could do to help Earlene. But one of our wisest elders said the best thing we could do is cast her out. She was sowing seeds of discord in the church, which is an abomination. And Proverbs 22:10 (NKJV) tells us, “Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave; yes, strife and reproach will cease.”

By the leadership of the Spirit, we came into agreement that we had already done everything we could to do help this woman and her family—and even her extended family (sisters, cousins, and family friends). She didn’t want to be free. She wanted to drive people out of the church, and if she couldn’t drive them out she wanted to make eunuchs of them.

Remember, eunuchs were Jezebel’s servants. We decided we would confront her as a group of elders Friday night, but monitoring spirits tipped her off. She said she wasn’t coming Friday night, but later she did come. We couldn’t confront her alone, so we had to put off the confrontation.

The next morning, the Holy Spirit gave me a strategy. Earlene would not deny a personal meeting with me, so I had our office contact her and set up a meeting for Saturday morning. This was a major inconvenience because Saturday is my rest day, but there was no other way. When I drove to the church, I felt like Jehu riding his chariot furiously. I was praying in tongues the whole way there, with a righteous indignation that was set on throwing the spirit of Jezebel down. The plan was to ask Earlene to leave the church, which I had never had to do in over 20 years of ministry.

Since we found out she had a key to the church—a key that was copied without authorization—I purposely told the staff to keep the back door locked and tell her to let herself in so that she would have to use her key. I discerned that otherwise she would claim she forgot her key so that she wouldn’t have to give it back. She agreed to come, and I had three staff members as witnesses gathered in the back room. Of course, she purposely didn’t bring her key, so we had to let her in.

Confronting Jezebel

When she sat down, she seemed nervous since she wasn’t expecting three elders to be there with me. I greeted her warmly and thanked her for coming. I told her we had an issue in the church and wanted her to see it. I then pulled out a 30 year-old book from Dick Bernal called When Lucifer and Jezebel Join Your Church, and began to read this passage:

The Jezebel spirit usually operates through women who push themselves off as prophetic. Deep women. Deeper than the pastor. Deeper than God…. The Jezebel spirit uses witchcraft, control, manipulation, sex, religion, rumor spreading, gossip, false prophecies, etc. This spirit lies at the drop of a hat, digs up one’s past, seems overly concerned with leadership in the church, hates male authority, is extremely nosey, bears false witness and loves power….

The woman under this spirit’s control wants authority but on her terms only. She usually has a cultic following of dysfunctional women and weak wimpy men. She prays a lot, especially for the pastor and his wife, but her prayers are condescending. She puts herself above the true leadership of the church. Her doctrine is divisive, not building. If she is married, she wears the pants…. If repentance isn’t in the picture, the only cure is getting her out of the church and marking her from the pulpit.

With that, I put the book down, looked straight at her and asked, “Who does that sound like to you?” Honestly, I expected her to point out several people in the church whom she had targeted as Jezebels but were not. I expected her to deflect. I expected her to cry and make excuses. But to my shock, Earlene answered, “It sounds like me.” I almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor. This was a new strategy, indeed.

At that point, I said, “I’m sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to leave the church. Know that I have not in over 20 years of ministry had to ask someone to leave my church.” With that, looking me dead in the eye, she said, “OK.” She grabbed her purse and got up to leave, and I said, “Wait a minute.” For the next two hours we unraveled the issues around her, all of which she denied. The hope was she would repent, but she refused. She left, mailed the key back, and took about five people with her—her family.

After she left the church, we saw massive growth. We saw stronger believers, including strong young men, come into the congregation with a heart to pray. We saw a radical shift in the worship, and the atmosphere was cleansed. The glory of God began to manifest in a new way. The change was remarkable from the very first week. It was not a comfortable confrontation but a necessary one.

Why You Must Confront Jezebel

Indeed, confrontation is never comfortable, but God confirmed the decision with signs following. If you are a prayer leader, a church leader, a family leader, or the leader of any group in which Jezebel’s intercessors have infiltrated, it’s your responsibility to confront it.

If you don’t confront it, you will open a portal of hell over your group and people will be indoctrinated into the depths of satan, spiritually castrated, and powerless to resist Jezebel—and they will resist your leadership.

It’s critical that you remember what Jesus said in Revelation 2:20-23 (NKJV). He was speaking to the church at Thyatira, but He wasn’t only speaking to the church at Thyatira. These letters were circulated to other churches and ultimately circulated to us. We need to take heed to what Jesus said:

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. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.

Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

That’s intense! If you are not confronting, you are tolerating. Tolerate means “to allow to be or to be done without prohibition, hindrance, or contradiction.” Tolerate means to put up with. I promise you, it won’t go well for you if you tolerate Jezebel. You can’t accept her behavior, condone her control, humor her manipulation, or submit to her seduction.

Many times, the Jezebel spirit can be confronted in the spirit realm, but just as often the person must be confronted face to face. You must use wisdom. You need to be led by the Holy Spirit. There is no cookie-cutter approach here. In my experience, there are three ways to confront Jezebel’s intercessors.

First, if you are a believer in a Jezebelic church, know that sometimes confronting looks like leaving. If Jezebel is allowed to run rampant and leadership won’t confront it or if the leadership itself is Jezebelic, confronting it face to face likely won’t do any good. You’ll only start a war you can’t fight alone. Remember, Jezebel is not a garden variety demon. Jezebel is a principality that works on the mind.