The Two Demons Destroying America

0:00Rinse snows that greatness takes time, but soda's laundry. So rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time one spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens, or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card, and leave the laundry to us. Rinse, it's time to be great. Well, howdy Spotify, thank you for tuning in to Pastor Mark's sermon this week. Wanted to tell you real quick, we'll get you to the sermon in just a second. What real faith is, real faith exists for one reason, to get bold, practical Bible truth to as many people as possible. Pastor Mark can his family launch real faith to help people grow, strong in faith and live out God's truth in real life. What started as a simple online library of sermons and daily devotionals has grown into a global Bible teaching movement.

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2:04because we are a non-profit, and we are donor-supported. So if you text partner to 993-3, that's partner to 993-3. You could join with us and help get Bible teaching out to 150 nations, hopefully more, whenever they get the internet there. So with that, guys, it's sermon time. Yeah. Party said in me you have a great of wisdom And all the wisdom of Solomon, he said, you're blind. You cannot see the truth, you're deaf, and you cannot give the truth. He said, I am the truth. I'm the light of the world. I'm the sign.

3:08All right. Welcome to Real Man. We start a brand new series, four weeks starting today. We're going to deal with the Elijah Spirit, the Jezebel Spirit, and also the Ahab Spirit. I'm honored to have you. My name is Pastor Mark, whether you're joining us live or online. This is Real Men. And what we say is we build men up to bless women and children. And I've got a serious word for you. I'm really excited about it, but I feel like this one, we should start in prayer. And so I'm just going to go ahead and kneel and try and make sure that I do the best I can. Father, God, thank you. There were your sons. God, thank you. You look down on the earth and you wanted to adopt some guys to be your sons. And you adopted us. You're going to pick to anyone. You picked us. And God, we just thank you that you're our father, that we don't belong to the father of lies, that we belong to the father of light and truth and life. Lord Jesus, we thank you that we know exactly what it looks like to be a real man, that our God became a man, perfect man, sinless man, a man who died and rose to save and forgive,

4:13and also to defeat the demonic and to deliver us from darkness to light. Lord Jesus, we want to be like you, and we want to be like our father. So Holy Spirit, we invite you. Fill this time, fill this place, fill these men, fill our lives. I pray against the enemy of servants, their works and the facts, and we invite the Holy Spirit to do whatever he would have for us in us and through us. And God, as we open your word, I pray that you would open our hearts and minds, and when all is said and done, we'd be more like Jesus. And God, we just thank you so much. You've spoken to us through your word. And as we open your word, Father, we pray your sons would open their ears in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, first talk is going to be passive men and controlling women, the A-hab and Jezebel spirits today. Let me start with a story to make this very personal and practical, and then we'll get biblical and theological. This story is based on a true story. It's a compilation of stories.

5:15But it's a story I'll tell about two people I'll call Tony and Gina. They met in college. They professed to be believers. They actually met at a college ministry. And pretty quickly, Gina started becoming very aggressive and flirtatious and sexual. Now Tony knew this was wrong, but he also enjoyed it. Men like sex. All the men said, Amen. Okay, and so the problem is not liking sex. It's who you're supposed to have it with. So he crossed some lines and he enjoyed the favors that he got. And he thought ultimately, well, she must really be into me, because he was not even stupid, welcome to college guys. And so ultimately, what he didn't realize was, this was manipulation, and it was her way of controlling the relationship. Now they can't really talk about spiritual things, and he's not really the leader, because he has advocated his authority through his passivity. So he enjoys what he's getting, and he doesn't understand that now she is leading.

6:17Pretty soon, they eventually do get married. They graduate. They take jobs out of state. And there's a small church not far away. So she picks the church. Notice she picks the church. She takes her husband to church. He doesn't lead his family. He follows his wife. It's a small church, mainly older people. They get very active very quickly. As a young couple, people are excited to have them a little fresh energy in life. They start volunteering a lot. They appear to be a very spiritual, very religious, very devout family and couple, but it's mainly her who is the driving spiritual force. Now they're volunteering. They're at the church all the time, putting in lots of hours. And the people in the church think that this is a wonderful young couple. They're very glad to have them. Well, before too long, she gets on the worship team. She can sing, so she's up front. Now she has a platform, literally, and she's well known. Eventually, her husband joins her. He plays an instrument. And on one curious weekend, she announces herself and her husband as the worship pastors.

7:23Now, nobody in this church had given them that title. And that wasn't really their role. And the people in the church just assumed, well, they're young. They don't really understand the language. Maybe they misspoke. So they tolerated this. Before long, she started showing up to various meetings at the church. Let's say it was women's ministry or children's ministry or was small group ministry. And they would have leadership team meetings. And she would show up, but she wasn't part of the team. She was never invited. She just kind of invited herself. Made people feel a little awkward. And did you call her? Did you invite her? And rather than saying, they just kept tolerating. Well, pretty soon she started disagreeing with some of the preaching. And some of you chuckled because you've met this woman. She's in every church, by the way. And she started by just having questions. I'm not trying to be divisive. I just have some questions. But then pretty soon she was pushing back. You don't really agree with that sermon. I don't think the tone was right. I don't think we should do that series. That's not exactly what I think the Bible says.

8:24Well, it reached a point where it started to become a problem. She started having other women over to her house in her controlled environment, by the way. And she would share with them some of her concerns and her frustrations and her disappointments. And of course it was usually all women and how the church was led by men. And she didn't feel like the women had enough of a voice. And she didn't feel like the pastor was really loving the people well enough. And some of the Bible teaching wasn't accurate. Next thing you know she's handing out literature and books and other teachers. And next thing you know, they don't really trust the leadership. So they've started their own little Bible study at her house. And they're inviting other women from the church. And now these women are starting to echo her and it becomes a problem. Now it's divisive and there's a faction. So the leaders of the church called the husband in. They say, you know, you're the head of the home and this is your wife. And this has officially become a bit of a problem. And we want to talk to you about this. And if you believe it's a problem, we want you to go talk to your wife. And the husband was nice. He was compliant. He listened.

9:24He apologized. He was very considerate. He didn't get defensive. He sort of absorbed it all. And the leaders of the church said, don't go home and tell your wife what we said. But go consider and seek the Lord. And if you think that any of what we're sharing is true and your wife needs to correct some things or get some help, we're just encouraging you as the leader of the family to go say whatever you believe would be in the best interest of your wife and marriage. He went home. What do you think he told his wife? Yeah. I met with the leaders. And here's what they said about you. And he gets himself out of the middle. Now it's head on collision between the wife and the leaders. And he has completely exited his responsibility. Well, now she feels very hurt. Now she feels very judged. She feels very unloved. She gets very emotional. Lots of tears. Pretty soon. Lots of emails. Lots of phone calls. Lots of social media posts. Lots of drama. It gets very loud. It gets very emotional. It gets very public because now she's a victim.

10:26Or at least that's what she says. This continues to where now the church leadership is embroiled in a controversy. And a lot of the women are taking sides and people are leaving the church. And now her story keeps shifting. All of a sudden she was confronted directly and they cursed at her and they were unloving to her and they threatened her. Things didn't ever happen. So they called for a meeting and they said to the husband, could you please bring your wife. We need to sit down and sort this out. It's gotten very public. It's gotten very ugly. He showed up. She didn't show up. He said, where's your wife? She said she won't come. She acts. She's very independent. She's a very independent woman. He said, well, if you can't lead her and she's not going to get help and she's going to be divisive, maybe the two of you should find another church. Well, now it explodes. It's domineering, overbearing. It's a cult. They're heavy handed. They're not accountable. You know, I've been mistreated. This is spiritual abuse. I demand the finances.

11:27I demand all the accounting. We need a lot of information. We need to walk in the light and all these people accountable. This happens at some point in every church. Well, eventually, this couple refused to leave the church. And eventually, this little church, it died. And then she went online as a victim and said, see? I was a prophet. I was telling the truth. My visions were true. My dreams were true. My interpretation of the Bible was true. My leadership was true. If they just would have submitted to me and listened to me, I could have saved our church. And she presented herself as a victim when she was just a witch. And to this day, I don't just know this woman. I know thousands of this woman. A postate, rebellious, independent. Can't find any church that is biblical, mental health issues, sexual confusion,

12:28transgender ideation, or at least approval, self-righteousness, profound deep religiousness, hatred toward any man who would say no or teach the Bible. That's the Jezebel spirit. The Jezebel spirit is rebuked in the days of Elijah and in the New Testament book of Revelation, chapter 2. Jesus says, you tolerate that woman, Jezebel. She says she's a prophetess and a teacher. She leads people astray and she seduces them sexually. Jezebel loves to take control of the home and the church, the home and the church. I'm going to talk about the Jezebel spirit, the Ahab spirit, and also the Elijah spirit. And the Bible doesn't just tell us what happened, but what always happens. The problem that we're going to see in First Kings starts back in Genesis. Our First Father Adam, he acted like an Ahab.

13:31Satan shows up. There is a demonic attack. And what does he say and do? Nothing. He's passive. He's like, I'm not going to say or do anything. I'm just going to stay out of this and see what happens. So what Eve does, she seeks control. Well, if Adam is not going to lead, I will. So she takes control. She's the boss. She takes the reins. She has the argument with Satan. She gets confused. She sins. She gives some to her husband. He participates. She's the leader. He's the follower. And the truth is, men, hear me in this. If you don't lead your family, Satan will. Genesis 3. Adam and Eve and Satan. Who did Eve think was leading the family? She thought she was leading the family. Who was leading the family? Satan. There's two options. You lead your family or Satan will. And he'll lie to your wife and tell her that she's the leader. What happens then is God comes to Eve and he says as part of her curse,

14:34she will want to do what with her husband. Rule. Control. Dominate. Be the boss. That's the beginning of the Jezebel and Ahab pattern. Fast forward to 1 Kings 16 through 2 Kings 2. Read it for yourself. That's my excitation to all of you. They are literal people. Ahab was the king of Israel. Demonic generational curse line according to 1 Kings 16. He marries a Sedonian godless demonic woman named Jezebel. They are literal historical people but working through them are spiritual forces. For that reason, though we do not have those people at work in our world, their spirits are still very much at work in our world through different people. My thesis is New Day's same demons. This pattern of passive men like Ahab and controlling spiritual seductive emotional women like Jezebel continues to this very day.

15:39I've got it in the free study guide. Pick it up on your way out. Go to realfaith.com. We'll give it to you digitally for free or a gift of any amount. I send out daily devotions five days a week. I wrote a 70-some-thousand word book on this and something like 48 hours just kind of in a bit of a focused phase and maybe we'll give that away. But here's the big idea. I do my homework and I love you and I want to provide good Bible teaching. Some will say, well there's no evidence in the Bible of a Jezebel and Ahab spirit. I would say, well, the word Bible also does not appear in the Bible just so you know. It doesn't. It says scripture, but the word Bible doesn't appear in the Bible. And what we do see with Ahab, we'll just summarize it briefly why there is an Ahab in Jezebel spirit. I said this in the sermon this weekend. Number one with Ahab, it says that he did more evil at the end of first King 16 than any King before him.

16:39The word evil is also translated in the storyline of Saul as a tormenting demonic spirit. In addition, I showed you and I think it was in second Kings 9 where it says that he sold his soul to the devil. He sold his soul to do evil like Judas possessed by evil to do evil. Jezebel appears not just in first Kings, but as I told you in Revelation chapter 2. It's a different woman, but the same spirit shows up through a different woman over a thousand years removed from Jezebel. So what we're talking about is a spirit that lives on. And there are three levels of influence or control with these spirits. Some people are possessed by demonic spirits. Jesus deals with these people during his life. They have extraordinary power, authority, clairvoyance, they're dangerous and or they're very, very convincing and seductive. And so what we see with Jezebel and Ahab, they are possessed by these demonic and evil spirits.

17:44What happens when someone is possessed, it's the counterfeit of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything God creates, Satan counterfeits. Being demon possessed is the counterfeit to being spirit filled. What happens when someone is demon possessed where their personality ends and the demon begins is a very blurry line. Well, thank you for joining us here on Spotify. If you don't know me, my name is Pastor Mark Driscoll. I have been in the pulpit for a little more than 30 years preaching and teaching in the Bible. I have been faithfully married to my wife since 1992. We've got five kids. We've got six grandkids. And I would love for you to know more about real faith ministry where we send Bible teaching around the world. And if you would pray for us, we would appreciate it. And if you'd like to partner with us, we would invite you to do so. We are supported by generous people who give financially so that we can get God's word out to the world. If you'd like to do so, text partner to 999-383.

18:48Again, text partner to 999-383. We love you. We thank you. And I appreciate you allowing me to help you learn God's word. Their decision making, their identity, their lifestyle is not purely determined by them. It is some sort of combination of them and that evil force that is at work in and through them. Medically, or I should say clinically, sometimes this will be called multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. People that have different names and different personalities and different story lines, you're like, what is going on? Well, they have different spirits at work. Jesus encounters one named Legion. That's an entire military fighting unit. Of demonic soldiers for the Kingdom of Darkness. Some people are not just possessed, but they are oppressed by demonic spirits.

19:50This is the case, for example, with Elijah. We're going to hit this coming up at the end of the month. We're going to be in, I think it's first King's 18 where Elijah is on Mount Carmel, and he's against the 850 false prophets of Bale and Astro of the Male and female demon gods in Israel. And I think that week, I think Sean Ford is going to come lead worship for us. It's coming together to be a little bit of a fun time. And what happens in the next chapter in first King's 19 is that Jezebel puts out a death sentence on Elijah. After he sees fire come down from heaven, and he is overwhelmed and anxious to the degree that he runs a hundred miles away. The prophet of God has just seen fire come down from heaven. He goes into the wilderness alone, he lays down, and he basically says, I just want to die. I just want to die. He is oppressed by this demonic Jezebel and Ahab spirit.

20:51To the degree where he is exhausted, he is overwhelmed. To use the clinical term, he is dysregulated, he ain't himself, and he's not doing good. There are going to be times that even if you are like Elijah and you love and serve the Lord, you will feel this demonic oppression on you. And this demonic oppression will exhaust you, it will confuse you, it will disorient you, it will cause you to give into a spirit of fear, and it will cause you to make bad decisions. He recovers from it, God finds him, God speaks to him, God gives him 40 days of recovery. In addition, there is not just possession and oppression, there is personalities and tendencies. And some people don't have the Ahab spirit, but they're just very passive shy people. So they have personality and tendency. Other people don't have the Jezebel spirit, but they're just high control people. And it's being aware of that. Sometimes this can be because you grew up in a dysfunctional and broken family system.

21:55If you grew up in a home where it was a lot of permissiveness and it caused you brokenness or trauma, you could be a person that only feels safe when you're in control. If you're a person that was always controlled, you may be a person who becomes too passive and allows things to happen because you don't want to be controlling of others. Sometimes this can be the result of bad teaching in church. There's sort of this stupid lie that's gone out. There's many, but one is that to be a Christian is just always being a nice person and not to cause any trouble. There's a time when Elijah is face to face with Ahab and Ahab looks at him and he says, well, you're the traveler, you're causing all the trouble. The answer is, yeah, that's my ministry. We need some men who cause, you know, that the Lord would call to a ministry of sanctified trouble-making. Sometimes it's good to get in trouble with the wrong people for the right reasons.

22:55And so what we see is that ultimately there are going to be times when you're going to be oppressed. If you do love the Lord, you'll be dealing with people who are possessed. And sometimes you'll manifest tendencies, tendencies, personalities. A couple of things I'll say before we jump in. A man or a woman can have the Ahab or Jezebel spirit. Spirits are not engendered. They can appear male or female. A man can have the Jezebel spirit. He can be domineering, overbearing, high controlling, and also very sexually unhealthy and very religious. I've met guys like that. Some of the most difficult guys I've ever dealt with in ministry were head-on collisions with those guys. Similarly, a woman can have an Ahab spirit. She can have a wrong understanding that honoring and respecting the leadership of her husband means that she's not allowed to have an independent thought,

23:56but she's never allowed to disagree or have her own voice, and so she becomes wrongly passive. In my experience, however, having had a head-on collision with these spirits for a long time, most of the time in my experience, it's the man who has the Ahab spirit, and it's the woman who has the Jezebel spirit. The man is passive and the woman is controlling. Either can be true, but in my experience, that is most often true. In addition, an Ahab and a Jezebel spirit, they feed off of one another. And so let's just use the example in marriage, since we're dealing with the marriage of Jezebel and Ahab. Ahab was passive, that allowed her to be controlling. His passivity opens up her domineering, overbearing, controlling tendencies. They feed off of one another, and they use one another. I'll say this as well. It is less likely that someone will overcome a Jezebel spirit than an Ahab spirit.

24:59Here's why. The Jezebel spirit is about what did I tell you? Control. And the key to being free of the Jezebel spirit is to have God be in control, not you. And if you are the person who does not give up control, you can't be healthy, and you can't be holy. Because the only way to be holy, and the only way to be healthy, and I would add to be happy, is to be under the ruling authority of Jesus Christ, and the sovereign rule of God in control over your life. And if you're a person who says, I have to be in control, you can't be a Christian, you at least can't be a healthy Christian. And so it is more likely that someone with the Ahab spirit would overcome that and be delivered than someone who has the Jezebel spirit of control. That being said, let me unpack these a bit in succession. Let me deal first with the Ahab spirit. An Ahab spirit is marked by passivity, cowardice, indifference, hesitancy, insecurity.

26:09An Ahab spirit, and I'll get into these in more detail. Next week I've got 28 signs of an Ahab spirit, then I've got 29 signs of a Jezebel spirit, and then at the end, how to deal with these spirits in talk number four. But an Ahab spirit avoids conflict. They do not like conflict. They also avoid disagreement and confrontation. They don't like to confront others, and they don't like others to confront them. They will avoid at all costs, confrontation. They are passive. In addition, they tend to be very insecure. They need to be needed. They like to be liked. They often time struggle with what Proverbs 29, 25 calls, quote unquote, the fear of man. Fear of man is, do you like me? Do you approve of me? Are you going to punish me? Are you going to reject me? Are you going to correct me? Are you going to expose me? You're very concerned. Not about the Lord, but them, and not his decision, but their opinion.

27:13This leads to people pleasing and cowardice and fear of man. Sometimes this can include a shy personality. Someone with a shy personality is more prone to an Ahab tendency. Someone who is more loud, confident, aggressive, more susceptible to Jezebel tendencies. Some of you are just more quiet. You're like, I just don't like to say a lot. I don't raise my voice. I don't like to get an argument in fights. I think slow, and so usually the argument is way down the road before I've even figured out what I'm going to say. In addition, if you have unhealed trauma or hurt, that Ahab spirit causes you to be sort of a broken person who's not strong enough for the conflict. The way this leads you vulnerable to the Jezebel spirit, Ahab spirit, passive, Jezebel spirit, controlling and domineering.

28:15If you don't say something, she will. If you don't do something, she will. If you don't act, she will. The Jezebel spirit is about control. There's only one thing that makes the Jezebel spirit happy. It ain't health, wealth, success, it's control. That's why people love their life even when it's a disaster because they're in charge. These are the people that have to be in charge. They have to be in control. They are going to give you serious grief if you don't ask their permission or if you disagree with them or if you make a decision without consulting them. These people are prone to being very emotional and if it's a woman, doubly so. Some women, so you single guys, pay careful attention. Let me just put the dad hat on.

29:16Sometimes women will manipulate through seduction, flirt, sex, I'll take care of you, you let me do whatever I want. Older men is that true or false. It's true. Some women, they control through seduction, others through emotion. They're going to freak out, they're going to cry, they're going to throw a fit. It's going to be a lot of drama, there's going to be tears and as men, that makes us uncomfortable, true or false. True. So what a man does, he's like, you just tell me what you want and I'll say yes if you stop being so emotional. Let me say this too, my wife is also teaching this, so bring your wife. You have somebody needs to say it, grace well, she's a larger, I'm just telling you how that's going to roll.

30:19But what happens is this, they find different ways to be in control, they control the environment, they control the conversation, they control the budget, they control the church, they control the emotion, they control the bedroom, they're the boss, they're the boss. When Jezebel was married, she was young, beautiful, sensual and evil, but she was something. Her father was, as we studied this weekend, a Sedonian king, he's a high priest of Ashera, a demonic, female deity of fertility and sensuality. This is generational curses of evil in the family. Her father's name, Beth Bale, means literally with Bale, with Bale. So he worships Bale, demonic false god, Ashera, demonic false god, purported to be male and female and they had sexual relations and they encouraged total sexual anarchy. The Holy Spirit reminds me, when Jesus rebukes those who are tolerating the Jezebel spirit in revelation, he says that they are allowing her to seduce them to sexual immorality.

31:28Hear me in this man, that word in the original Greek, I'm just reminded of this, is the same root word that we get pornography from, it's Pornail. The Jezebel spirit runs the porn industry. The Jezebel spirit knows that if you can't control a man through domination, you can't through seduction. And then you get him into a position of addiction. And as soon as he is addicted to pornography or sexuality, then you are in control. The Jezebel spirit will use anyone or anything for control. Jezebel's name literally means without husband or unhusbanded and her name also means with Bale. So she's fiercely independent, very strong will and her devotion is not to her husband but to her demon. Hear me in this, the Jezebel spirit is oftentimes very religious, profoundly religious.

32:35This is why you see Jesus rebuking the Jezebel spirit at a church called Thyatira in Revelation 2. And a lot of times people are like, why are some of the worst women in church because Jezebel goes to church? She wants to get on the board, she wants to attack the pastor, she wants to get as close to the leadership as she can, she wants to control the finances and communication. Jezebel loves being in control. What better place to be in control that to try and control the church that belongs to Jesus Christ? Jesus is the one who rules the church and Jezebel thinks that she could do a better job. So the Jezebel spirit is profoundly religious. Every gal who quotes a verse isn't necessarily filled with the Holy Spirit. Every gal who has ministry experience was not necessarily serving the kingdom of God. Every gal who feels like the Lord is called her to come alongside and lift a burden and help the minister, sometimes is not sent by God but the enemy of God.

33:41Very profoundly, deeply religious, if not spiritual. The Jezebel spirit is fiercely independent, manipulative, controlling and very unrepentant. If you confront the Jezebel spirit, they will fight back. And if they feel like they're losing, they will change the conversation to where they are a victim and you have abused them. And they're very heard and very emotional. And what the Jezebel spirit knows is if it's a woman who then is declaring war on a man, it puts the man in a loose, loose position. Because if she attacks him and he fights back, see he's mean, he's domineering, he's overbearing, he's a bully, me too. And if he just takes it and tolerates it, show control and dominate. It's spiritual warfare. And in our culture, the Jezebel spirit knows that a man versus a woman, the man is guilty until proven innocent and the woman is innocent until proven guilty.

34:47And she'll use that to her advantage. And if she doesn't get the outcome, she won't, she'll go on the internet because all the Jezebels are on the internet and then create some sort of coalition and together, now you have the equivalent of a demonic legion. Now, within this, the way that a Jezebel spirit works, domineering, controlling, threatening, overbearing, emotional, seductive, punishment, and reward. There's only one thing that the Jezebel spirit needs to dominate, control, and win. And that is tolerance. Jesus rebukes the church in Revelation chapter 2. He says, you tolerate. And see, this is the problem of the Ahab spirit. The Ahab spirit is passive, so it tolerates.

35:47That allows the Jezebel spirit to dominate. So here's what you get, tolerate, dominate. That's the cycle. All you've got to do, say nothing. All you've got to do is do nothing. All you've got to do is just not engage, and here's why. You don't want to engage, because that will enrage. I feel like I should go from preaching to meddling here. Some of you, you're like, I look, man, don't cross mom. Hey, dad, what do you think? Don't ask your mom. She's the boss. Why don't you talk to your wife about that? Oh, no, man. I don't know. Well, maybe all, maybe all, you know, try a little bit, but you know, I can't just say, hey, this is a problem. Because if I engage, she will enrage, and I'm scared of her. Or I'm scared of what she'll do.

36:50Or I'm scared of what she'll say. Or I'm scared that she's going to gut me for half my money and take my kids. That's spiritual warfare. Let me talk a little bit about alliances and soul ties, and these work together. What you have with the Jezebel and Ahab spirits is a co-dependent relationship. They stick together because they need one another because they feed one another in the worst possible way. The American Psychological Association defines a co-dependent relationship as this. The state of being mutually reliant and quote, and quote, a dysfunctional relationship pattern in which an individual is psychologically dependent on or controlled by a person who has a pathological condition. Ahab needs to be needed. He wants somebody to take care of him. He wants somebody to sleep with him. He wants somebody to make the decisions for him.

38:00Jezebel needs somebody that she can control and dominate and rule over and use an abuse. So she takes care of him, and he abdicates his authority to her. Their relationship as you watch it, and just verbal process for a moment, but like when you watch it, there's this guy. There's a guy that comes in the story. His name is Neboth. He's got a piece of land. Ahab the king. He's got tons of land. He doesn't need land. And there's this one little plot of land. He's like, I want that too. Because he's an impetulent, selfish, childish imp of a man. And so he goes and he tries to negotiate the deal, and Neboth is like, no, this is my family's land. We've had it for generations, and I'm not going to sell it to you. So what happens is, Ahab goes home, lays in bed, faces the wall, and throws a fit, sucking his thumb, like a baby boy.

39:00And then Jezebel comes in, rubs his back. What's wrong, honey? Neboth won't sell me the land. He won't sell me. I wanted the land. I just need the land. She says, that's okay. I'll kill him and get you the land. She murders Neboth, takes the land. Their relationship, and some of you hear me in this, their relationship is like a sick mother and a dependent son. They don't have what looks like a marriage. She's like a demonic mom, and he is like a complete childish son. They have this unhealthy co-dependent relationship. He's too much of a coward to make decisions and lead, and she wants to dominate and control. So they have this co-dependent relationship. It's the demonic counterfeit of unity, by the way. They have community, but they don't have spirit-filled life-giving, healthy community.

40:03They are together, they're together like drug cartels and biker gangs. They are together. And they have an unholy alliance, and there are holy and unholy alliances in the Bible. Unholy alliances would include San Balot and Tobaya that attacked Nehemiah. We looked at that when we studied that book of the Bible. James and John Brace, who attacked Moses. Hymenaeus and Alexander, who attacked Paul, and in the storyline of Elijah, what's the unholy alliance up against? Elijah, say, having Jezebel. That's an unholy alliance. Some people come together like two barrels on a gun to multiply their evil. In addition, there are holy alliances in the Bible. In the days of Nehemiah, Ezra and Nehemiah, there are holy alliance. In the days of Moses, Moses and Joshua, there are holy alliance. In the days of Paul, Paul and Timothy are a holy alliance, and in the days of Elijah, Elijah and Elijah are a holy alliance.

41:09The goal is not to just have relationships and community, but to have healthy, life-giving, God-glorifying relationships and community. In the days of Jesus, he had a holy alliance with his disciples, and then Judas had an unholy alliance with the religious and political leaders. So when you go to the crucifixion of Jesus, suffering and dying in our place for our sins, it's literally a holy alliance versus an unholy alliance. It's Satan working through Judas with the unholy alliance of political and religious leaders against Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, surrounded by his disciples. In addition, there are something called sultais, and I know a lot of my non-charismatic friends will argue all of these points, and they're wrong. And what happens is if you don't believe in the Holy Spirit, you don't really believe in the demonic spirits either. And if you don't fully consider the Holy Spirit, you don't fully consider the unholy spirits. And so we believe what the Bible says, and that is that our war is not against flesh and blood, but powers, principalities and spirits.

42:15And here are me in this, and let me just speak with the Father's heart of compassion. When we see someone who is gripped, whether it's possessed, oppressed, or just personality-trader type of, like Ahab or Jezebel, we don't hate those people, we love them. And we agree with the words of the Lord Jesus, who said that He came to set captives free, that the God of this world has blinded people's eyes, and He has taken them like captives in war. And these are people that are now under the oppression and possession of a kingdom of darkness, and they are not only doing harm, they're doing harm to themselves. So we don't hate anybody, we love everybody. But we do hate those spirits that harm and damage and attack people that God loves and Jesus died for. And so when it comes to soul ties, soul ties are a bond between two individuals. Their soul, mind, will, emotions are knit or joined together, and you can have a soul tie for good or evil.

43:16You could tell you've got a soul tie when one person follows another. In marriage, the wife should follow the husband's leadership, not behind him, but alongside of him. In an unholy marriage, the wife is out front, domineering, and overbearing. That's a feminist marriage. In an unhealthy, unholy, chauvinistic marriage, the husband is domineering and overbearing. In a healthy marriage, where there is a healthy soul tie, the husband and wife are together, but the husband is the head. In addition, what you see when there is a soul tie, one person fulfills the desires of another. Again, in a healthy marriage, this can be very, very good. I got home late last night from a trip. I've been on the road. I'm out recording Good Friday for online tomorrow. It's a very, very busy week. My wife Grace came up today, held my hand, pray for me. In my office, and she said, you got a lot going on this week, she said, how can I be a good friend? How can I help what you need for me?

44:18That's my girl. You see what they have in Jezebel. She fulfills his desires, and he fulfills her desires, but their desires are always evil. So he gets what she wants. She gets what she wants. He gets what he wants. God never gets what he wants. What happens in a soul tie, people will surrender or share goods. Again, in a good marriage, like, you give your wife, your wife gives to you, you share everything. In an unhealthy, unholy soul tie, the one person wins and the other loses. See, Ahab thinks that he's winning because he married this hot, beautiful, seductive, competent, courageous, business-minded woman, and he's going to join two kingdoms together, and in his mind, he is now ruling over two kingdoms. Is he? No. She just invaded his kingdom through his bedroom, and now she is ruling and reigning over two kingdoms.

45:27In addition, when there is a soul tie, when someone you are attached to is opposed or attacked, you defend them. In a healthy marriage, that's a good thing. With Jezebel and Ahab, they support and defend one another when they shouldn't because they're wrong. Let me tell you this, man. Your goal is not to defend your wife. Your wife's goal is not to defend you. You and your wife's goal is to defend the Lord. A lot of times, this is where it just comes to mind. You tell me if it's a spirit. Your wife is like, I'm your wife, you need to take my side. The answer is, I need to take the side of truth and righteousness. I tell this to my kids all the time. I'm not forer against you. I'm for the Lord, and I would like you to be on that side of the line. If there is a line, and that's wrong, and this is right, and somebody you love is on that side of the line, you can't cross that line to align with them.

46:28You need to invite them to repent, to cross the line, and to join you on the side of that which is true and right. This is what happens in marriage. I didn't think of it until right now, but what happens with they have in Jezebel? They are committed to each other, not to the Lord, and so they always defend one another, and they always offend the Lord. I am not for or against people. I'm for or against truth and righteousness. If you are against truth and righteousness, I love you, but I can't before you, and I can't side with you, because if I did, I would be declaring war on God. I want you guys to think not in terms of who am I loyal to, but am I loyal to him. In addition, I'll just jump into this. Let me just summarize this. In the storyline of Elijah, holy alliance, healthy soul tie would be Elijah and Elijah.

47:37They aligned together, they are connected, and they are both filled with the Spirit and for the Lord. Unholy alliance, unholy soul tie, Jezebel, and they have. The reason that we're here, men, you're looking for your Elijah or you're looking for your Elijah. You're looking for the guy who is filled with the Spirit and does of the Lord, and the two of you, you can walk together. The Holy Spirit wants to introduce you to men like Elijah and Elijah. Demonic spirits also do a lot of introducing. Some years ago, one of my pastors, he asked me this question, he asked, have you ever noticed that two people who are just evil and never met, they always find each other? You notice that? Have you ever noticed that all the A-haps find each other? And you're like, how do you do that? You guys are all passive. Who organized this?

48:42Who took the initiative to put you together as a group? You guys don't do anything. You're passive. Have you ever noticed that the Jezebels, they find each other? Some of you, you married a girl because she was crazy in bed, and then you realize she's just crazy. I don't like crazy a Costco. No one does. Have you noticed that the crazy finds crazy? That evil finds evil? That just men hating, broken, traumatized, weaponized women, you could be in a very large church and there's three of them. They all have to go to the bathroom at the same time and they end up next to each other. Or they end up with the same women's ministry, sharing prayer requests about their husbands. Let's tell you, a lot of evil happens in women's ministry. That's why Grace runs it. She's in Elijah.

49:42Have you ever wondered, how do people that have never met, but they're like the same spirit? How do they meet? Well, the people don't know each other, but the demons do and the demons make the introductions. If the A-Hab spirit is working through 10 men, they can introduce them. Hey, you guys can A-Hab together. If the demonic spirit is working through the Jezebels, like, well, you 10 Jezebels, we get you together. You'd be quite a coven or home Bible study. Call it what you want. Call it what you want. And the Holy Spirit also introduces people. You Elijah's, need each other. You Elijah's, the younger guys were pulling up. You need each other and we need each other. So, let me end with this. I'm over. If you're honest with yourself, don't raise your hand and don't make any noise.

50:44I'm going to give you three options. Would your tendency be, I'm more like Jezebel, controlling, domineering, bossy, pushy? Need to be in the know. Need to make sure everybody knows what I want. And if I don't get my way, well, then there's going to be hell to pay. And also, are you sexually unhealthy or perverted? That's Jezebel. Would your tendency or proclivity be, I'm more like A-Hab? I would rather run from a fight than into a fight. If I know that my wife is upset, I'm not going to walk into that room. I'm just going to let the kids take it. I'm not going to get in the middle. If there's an issue at work, I'm just going to keep my head down and try not to draw any attention to myself. If my daughter is dating a guy that's not a very good guy, I'm just going to hope it works out, maybe pray, but I don't know what to say or do, so I just won't say or do anything.

51:51Or are you more like Elijah? I don't look for the fight, but I'll have it. I don't have to be the guy who says it, but if nobody does, I'm going to say it. I'm not always looking for trouble, but if trouble comes, I will get in front of it. The key is that most men are either Jezebel or Elijah, or excuse me, Jezebel or A-Hab, and their wife is the other. If you are the Jezebel and your wife is an A-Hab, you're abusing her. If you are an A-Hab and your wife is a Jezebel, she's abusing you. And sometimes you take turns. And the key out of it all is the spirit of Elijah. I'll close with this. I'm later, and this is the end of the Old Testament. God says, behold, I will send you Elijah, Elijah, the prophet.

52:56That means the one who tells the truth before that great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Then he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, unless I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. Here's what he's saying. I just feel inclined to say this. A nation is doomed. A culture is doomed. A family is doomed. A church is doomed. A ministry is doomed. A legacy is doomed, unless there's an Elijah. And when an Elijah shows up, they speak the Word of God and it changes the heart of men. And it gives them the father's heart. And it gives them a heart to father their own children.

53:57And it gives their children a heart to love and follow the active, healthy leadership of their father. And what he says is, unless the Elijah spirit is present, you have men who hate children and children with father wounds who hate men. That's America. All of our problems are two things. People are connected to the father. They're not connected to their father. Those are the two problems. The answer is that Elijah helps connect the fathers to the father and then the children can connect to their fathers and to the heavenly father. And the spirit of Elijah is at work in Elijah. It then gets transferred in double portion to Elijah. It is promised here that the Elijah spirit, the father heart of God spirit, would then come in John the baptizer to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus who also has the Elijah spirit.

55:04To such a degree, he asks, who do people think that I am? And they say, something, you're Elijah. The Holy Spirit's in Elijah. The Holy Spirit's in Elijah. The Holy Spirit's in John the baptizer. The Holy Spirit is in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is in you. The Holy Spirit is in you if you belong to Jesus. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. Greater is he who is in you than he who is at work in this world through the Jezebel's and Ahab's. You do not have a spirit of fear. You have a spirit of such a spirit. You have a spirit of fatherhood and you have a spirit of faith. You men are here to surrender to the Holy Spirit. To be active in your home and in your church and in your business and in your community.

56:07I am telling you this. This world is run by Ahab's and Jezebel's and we're here to learn how to be Elijah's. Father God, thank you for an opportunity to teach and God as we go to a time of testimony and table talk. God, I pray that this would capture the hearts of the men. God, our world is ruled by Ahab's and Jezebel's and Lord, it is destroying generations and breaking children. And father, our heart is that we would build men up to bless women and children. God, I pray for the men who are Ahabs that they would activate, not in a domineering or overbearing way, but in a assertive and God glorifying way. I pray that they would open their mouth when they need to speak, that they would act when they need to act and that they would stop their sin of omission.

57:07God, for those who are more Jezebel controlling, domineering, overbearing, God, I pray that they would repent and submit to your authority. Come under your sovereignty, not be in control, but be controlled by the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, thank you. You came into a world filled with Jezebel's and Ahabs. You weren't passive like Ahab and you weren't evil like Jezebel. Lord Jesus, please send us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Elijah, the Spirit of Elijah, the Spirit of John the Baptist, or in Jesus, your Spirit to allow us and enable us and empower us to be like Elijah, to speak like Elijah, to lead like Elijah, to endure like Elijah, to love like Elijah, to activate like Elijah in Jesus name. Love you guys. Thanks for letting me teach.