1.     DISCERNING ANTICHRIST

Jezebel and Antichrist are the two strong men whom the deliverance minister must bind if he or she is going to effectively set the captive free. Every demon is related to the strong men.

 “Or else how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he FIRST BINDS (tethers, ties up, renders ineffective) the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.” 
(Matthew 12: 29)

What are the evidences of antichrist at work?

1. Pride.

Pride is the primal sin of Satan;  the very curse, birth and gate of hell. Pride desires to usurp... (Isaiah 14:12-14). Absalom was an antichrist man, proud in his appearance and counsel desiring to replace the anointed King David. Some wear a necklace of pride. (Psalm 73: 6). They think of themselves more highly than they ought to think of themselves. Antichrist himself opposes and exalts. (see 2 Thessalonians 2: 4). The antichrist man gets a position he does not rightly deserve, and deceives the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16: 17,18).

2. Rebellion.

Delusion makes people think they can succeed against God. The heart of rebellion has the aspect of self-deception. There is a refusal to accept genuine delegated authority. Diotrephes is a classic case of this in the church.

 “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to have the pre-eminence among them, does not receive us....”  (3 John 9,10)          

To be stubborn is to have one’s mind made up before the facts are spiritually revealed (Jeremiah 13:10, 16 :12 ). Ezekiel had to confront such a people and there is an increasing stubbornness among God’s people, particularly men, in the church today. At the back of it, there stands the strong man of Antichrist. He has legal access to thousands of Christian men because of freemasonry. Even repentance from the heart IS NOT ENOUGH to avoid the satanic yoke of this idolatrous religion that mixes heathenism with the Old Testament. Such men find it very difficult to get the real baptism with the Holy Spirit.

4. Anger

The anger of man never works the righteousness of God. The anger goes beyond the limits God has set because it wants what is not his. Cain was angry (Genesis 4: 5). People use anger as a mask to hide their own inner hypocrisy. We sometimes spiritually kill one another by the things we say. “Raca” means “you no good rebel” or “Blockhead”.

           The world hated Jesus (John 7: 7).   With the antichrist anger.

5. Mockery 

This damage must be cast out of church life (Proverbs 22: 10), or else contention will divide the brothers. Laughing with mockery will strengthen the grip of evil. Notice mockery is linked with pride (Proverbs 21: 24), and you can discern the mocker by actions as well as words. If the joker male is married to the Jezebelic female and the leaders do not deal with it there will be a split in the church.

6. False Teaching

2 Peter 2 is the definitive commentary. Cain, Korah and Balaam spirits need to be defeated or bondage will enter via unbalanced presentation of the Scripture. The Cross is our master key to preserve the integrity of Scripture and paralyze the intrigues of Satan. The Sadducees knew the word of God minus the supernatural power of God. (see Mark 12:24). They could not understand the Cross or the resurrection. Many believers today fail to receive revelation in the central truths of the faith. Mental teaching begets mentally orientated believers. Discipleship becomes an impossibility. We must BIND antichrist; all that is against and in the place of the revelation anointing, the Christ.

7. Warrior.

Nimrod was a classic antichrist man and we have some such in the pulpit today terrorize and lord it over the flock. Paul had a different spirit: — 

“Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy:  for by faith you stand.”  (2 Corinthians 1 : 24)

Domination, intimidation and manipulation from preachers is a work of the flesh i.e. witchcraft. Some men love to be number one and gradually leads to a desire to be worshipped. (Luke 4: 7). Such leaders fail to meet the needs of the flock, rather scatter them. (Ezekiel 34: 21).
Jesus taught the opposite to potential leaders. The life laid down is the hallmark of                 true leaders.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it SHALL NOT BE among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant”.   
        (Matthew 20: 25,26)

If there is no servanthood spirit there will be a crusading spirit that conceals a hatchet or else a leadership of passivity and no pastoral care.
 

DEFEATING  ANTICHRIST

1 JOHN 2: 18-20 tells us the road to victory. Under the anointing you can overcome the antichrist tendencies in your church or in your marriage, or over your life. We need the supply of fresh oil until our cup runs over. David could defeat the antichrist in Absalom because he was anointed (Psalm 23:5, 89: 20, 92: 10). The anointing is the power of God smearing and rubbing over and in you so you can do things beyond the limits of natural man. I remember having to confront two men who were operating the antichrist spirit against the anointing  in a meeting. God gives the unction to those who function in true leadership. We fan into flame the gift of God within us by refusing fear of man, fear of rejection and fear of making mistakes. We travail in our prayer language of intercessory tongues in order to release the anointing that abides within us. THE ANOINTING ALONE DESTROYS antichrist. To flow in the supernatural we must believe to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. May we recognize the traits of the antichrist and warfare against them, so that the harmony and unity of church life is maintained. WARFARE comes before WELFARE. Always remember the Holy Spirit gives discernment to recognize the nature of the mountain (Zechariah 4:7) and He gives the faith to enable the mountain to become a plain!
 

2.    DISCERNING JEZEBEL

Jezebel insinuates, lies and curses the godly in Christ Jesus, especially leaders. The                    goal of the principality is to undermine marriage through a potent mixture of sexual immorality and the occult. God ordained marriage as a commitment to partnership so that the power of agreement can be expressed. Through two, ten thousand are put to flight. Jezebel hates the Holy Spirit filled couple who are walking in the will of God. The church is being formed into a weapon to fight, overcome and destroy this terrible spirit. At Thyatira, God knew that this battle to be so important that there was no other burden given to this particular church (Revelation 2:24). So how do we discern the characteristics of this terrible spirit of control and domination? Before victory we are called to discern and recognise what the enemy is doing. We need a focus of “ no other burden” to deal with Jezebel effectively.

1. Wicked Works 

Division is the name of her game and she will strike against the prophetic often by counterfeit gifts, flattery, or soulish prayer. When a church is coming under Jezebel manipulation and factions start appearing always remember 1 Corinthians 11: 18,19:

  “For first of all when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognised among you.”

2. Sexual Immorality

Potiphar’s wife was a Jezebel who got righteous Joseph in prison. Herodias and Salome were deeeply Jezebelic, who beheaded John the Baptist. They oppose the purposes of God by powerful sexual attraction. Jezebel herself painted her eyes as Jehu was coming, hoping to seduce him and prevent her own death. Our society is saturated by filth, uncleanness, pornography, sexual deviancy, masturbation, etc. Behind it all is the certain interaction of the strong man, Jezebel. Incubus and succubus demons of the night have sex with their victims on a widening scale. Isaiah 34: 14 speaks of Lilith, a female monster of the night, seeking male genitalia. The New Age advertises deep secrets of occult sex. Counterfeit charismatic women enter our best  Spirit-filled churches and pass themselves off as prophetesses, but will begin secret sexual liaisons with deacons or elders or preferably the pastor. The idolatry is often depicted in the bible (Proverbs 7:13-14 and 9:13-17, Ezekiel 16:26-29, Hosea 4:11-14), but we think we are immune because we have had an experience of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5: 3-7 warns that sexual sin prohibits us from enjoying our inheritance in Christ. The condemnation includes jesting, innuendo and gossip concerning fornication.

3. Witchcraft 

Jezebel gets her power from demons. Whether it is false charisma being a snare to God’s people (Ezekiel 13:18) or the direct curse, (1Kings 19:2) she consistently desires to manipulate, dominate and intimidate. Recently I had a strong desire to drive my car into oncoming traffic, never before have I experienced suicidal thoughts. After worship and acting in accordance with the love of God, the Lord slipped in the knowledge that a spiritualist had put a curse of death over my life. Idolatry, sorcery and hatred are works of the flesh with powerful demons behind them. This area of witchcraft – influencing people by occult power – prevails in the Jezebelic man or woman who seeks to divide and conquer genuine leadership from God. (2 Kings 9:22).
She attacks family headship (Nahum 3:4), hates the reality of 1 Corinthians 11:3 by either usurping the male or holding the woman in such deep terror she cannot respond to her husband as the head of the family. Only an Elijah ministry can produce family harmony and oneness, (Malachi 4:5-6). That is why her work of witchcraft is particularly aimed at church leaders, especially the prophetic. Jezebel will infiltrate the leadership usually by the method of having her occultic gifts endorsed by them. She will enjoy praying for problem people, and getting them ‘healed’, apart from the recognised leaders. She loves to prophesy and teach what at first appears to be in line with the word of God, but there is no cross, no death to self, no condition for the promise to be fulfilled. Some of the knowledge will be extremely accurate, but coming from the wrong source. In Acts 16:16-18 the divination spirit spoke the truth, but Paul was agitated in his spirit and cast out the demon. The aim of witchcraft is to elevate women ahead of men in matters of discernment and wisdom.
Always check the source…. the will and wisdom of God always contains the Cross, and has a practical outcome of the resurrection life.
         
4. Violence

Venomous words and acts of violence like biting or temper tantrums are a part of the reign of terror. Jezebel will produce fear in its victims and then seek to bring protection. There is the strong love – hate syndrome between a Jezebelic mother and her children. She hates the loss of her children to the Lord Jesus Christ, (Isaiah 47:8). Her pride stops her from even contemplating defeat in spiritual matters. Pride, the very birth, curse and gate of hell is found in the first born of Satan and wherever Jezebel is working, out of pride comes contention, (Proverbs 13:10). When Jezebel operates through physical violence in a young born again believer, prayers of peace in the power of the Holy Spirit are vital to bring sanity to a situation where things can get out of control. Many women murderers were inspired by Jezebel. The threat is turned to action unless the victim decides to fight spiritually or take to flight. Elijah in 1 Kings 19 chose the latter course of action. In Ezekiel 8 we see the conclusion of verse 17 to all shocking idolatry – “for they filled the land with violence”. Violence fills the living rooms of the western world in order to blunt sensitivity to sin and the need of repentance. At the back of this strategy there stands the strong man of Jezebel. She will also attack any woman who is fulfilling a genuine ministry in the Holy Spirit. Fiery arrows of wrong words will attack relentlessly. Jealousy, as cruel as the grave, can stop gifts of the Holy Spirit from their function under the unction - sometimes making a genuine manifestation stop abruptly or not even begin the utterance. To take authority over Jezebel before meetings is vital if the spirit is operating.

OVERCOMING
            
Some keys to overcoming this wicked spirit are as follows: -

a)Recognise your precise enemy.
b)Prayer with fasting and knowledge of spiritual weapons.
c)Declaration of her judgement from Scripture.
d)Confronting the person when the issue has become clear.

Recognising Jezebel in prayer helps because in the natural we are prone to mistakes. Real discernment must function because Jezebel seems so zealous, helpful, openly gifted and able to impart knowledge. At Thyatira she was called a prophetess. This kind does not come out of the church except by prayer and fasting. A small select band of warriors who are trustworthy may be used, especially if the pastor and his wife are under direct attack. Psalm 137: 8-9 is a great sword of the Spirit against Jezebel and her children. So is 1Samuel 15:3, when it is used in the timing of God. Remember God gives time to repent of her sin before judgement falls. Hosea 13:16 again shows the severity of God’s precise retribution because all her children will be killed with death (Revelation 2:23). This means that those who have come under Jezebel, and not overcome her, get separated from the blessings of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. God gives according to our works says the Son of God whose eyes are like flames of fire searching the minds and hearts. We must remove Jezebel from our charismatic fellowships or else we will share in the plagues God will pour out upon the false church. Revelation 18:4 is the cry of the Spirit to all true Christians still caught up in the church structures and leaders who deny the power of God. Babylon, the false church, has become a habitation of demons and the word of the lord is COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE. You overcome Jezebel by first of all leaving Babylon. Leave Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism, the United Reformed Church and all those denominations who stray from the truth. God hates the false system of Babylon, but loves sinners. We are to love, love and love again our brothers and sisters still enmeshed in Babylon. Love them with the truth of separation. Speak in love 2 Corinthians 6:6-18. Pray fervently that those who love the Lord within the denominationalism will discern Jezebel in the midst. This is the strong man who will even seemingly prosper and grow churches, but on a mental foundation of easy believing rather than a spiritual foundation of repentance and regeneration.
In a Spirit-filled church where Jezebel is operating, you as a leader, will have to confront. Beware her flattery and inordinate affection. Beware her ability to direct you rather than the Holy Spirit. Do not be a Saul, fearing the voice of the people and missing obedience, (see 1 Samuel 15:24). Be a Jehu, prepared in his heart, knowing what must be done to Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37). Even then Jezebel by painting her eyes attempted seduction. The time to stop her wickedness is when defilement has begun in the church. If confrontation fails to take place the men become like weak- willed Ahab’s unable to rule in integrity. When Jezebel is overcome, the Elijah ministry can impart life to God’s children. I remember warning a pastor about a young woman joining his flock. She had certain “gifts”, joined him in counselling and were sleeping together within weeks of a God given warning. The secret adultery went on for months until the time of exposure. It devastated a church that this man had built up under God, to over 300 people. The sequel was that the church reverted to an evangelical mould. Jezebel is successful today. We need the Jehu's and Elijah's to preserve the work of the Holy Spirit.
The rewards are great for leaders who overcome Jezebel. Revelation 2:26-28 mentions the double blessing of power over the nations and the morning star. This means a divine ability to break demonic strongholds over geographical areas, and a deep, zealous expectancy for the return of the Lord in power and glory. The evangelistic urgency will belong to the spirits who overcome Jezebel. Hallelujah! Our God is a consuming fire. He will answer by fire for those who pray, discern and obey. If we allow Jezebel to operate in church life, a famine of the true word of God will follow.

3. DISCERNING DEATH FOLLOWED BY HADES

If Jezebel has been over your mother and Anti-Christ over your father, there is a strong possibility Death and Hades is operating over your life. We must first render inactive the strongman, if we are to plunder the goods. Death is not merely the cessation of human existence by ceasing to correspond with this environment, it is a personality and a power. The sting of death is sin by which we give place to death as a power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death because sin continues with great accumulation until Jesus Christ returns. However, right now, death need not separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What are the features to look for if the strong man of death is operating?

1.  Guilt

God gives guilt when we do something wrong, but the enemy adds to it with a religious demon. A powerful bondage is established in certain lives when a demon disguises itself as the Holy Spirit and admonishes the sufferer. Legalistic believers especially are marked out for condemnation. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin by leading us to the love and blood of Christ. Hatred of a brother brings death (1 John 3: 14) and guilt will fester unless forgiveness is found for him and ourselves.
          
2. Torment of Hell

A spirit of hell brings torment for past sins, but this demon never says “enough”. (Proverbs 30:16). The tongue is set on fire by hell says James, and this “restless evil” predicts we are concerned with an evil spirit behind the sin. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and death can, along with criticism, negative words, hopelessness, be a spirit on the tongue as well as in the mind. Torment (Mark 5 7 and Acts 5: 16) does not easily give up, and a knowledge of the blood of the Lamb in the sufferer’s life is essential before successful deliverance.

3. Prison, Entrapment Spirits
 
In the reason for gospel ministry Luke 4: 18 proclaims freedom for the prisoners. Many previous saints can come into a prison through antichrist disdain and wrong expectations so the yoke of the Lord is not functioning and an entrapment demon holds the sufferer back from spiritual progress. Psalm 107 verses 10 - 20 need careful examination and often we need to cry out loudly for real release. Fasting, too is usually essential, see the relevance of Isaiah 58: 6, that every false yoke be broken!

4. Sickness and Infirmity

God will use death to punish disobedience (1 Corinthians 11: 30-32), particularly sickness and infirmity. Spiritual warfare is very difficult to initiate in a church that keeps sweeping sin under the carpet. All creation is bound by decay and corruption and our bodies are particularly susceptible, being next to the physical world. Cancer moves in families, epidemics in certain geographical areas, and their source is always demonic. Sin has physical consequences in the word of God (James 5:14-16, 3 John 2). Our health can be linked to how our soul is prospering in the will of God. If our spirits are strong in faith we can resist disease. But only Enoch and Elijah have resisted death! Acts 10: 38 and Luke 13:10-17 show clearly how Satan is the source of sickness.

5. Shock

Car accidents, divorces, bereavements, murder in the culture (400 on TV most weeks) all produce shock. The blood of Jesus can soothe frayed nerve endings so the poise of peace can enter our consciousness again. All shock should be revoked with the laying on of hands. Funeral services, war, theft, broken engagements can be ground for spirits of shock.

6. Sleep

The angel of death brings euthanasia, exhaustion, burn out and the shroud of sleep that makes Europe so slow spiritually. Arise from the dead in Ephesians 5:14 is preceded by “awake you who sleep”. Passivity is ground for evil spirit activity, and sleep problems can afflict even an apostle! (see 2 Corinthians 11: 27). Anxious concern for the churches gave Paul nights of turning and tossing. We are to be alert and self-controlled in our use of sleep; over-indulgence brings the shroud of death. Stupor will block the anointed word and desire to pray. (Isaiah 29: 10, Romans 11: 8). We must never let a sense of failure prevent a new initiative by spiritual sleep (see Matthew 26: 46; 1 Kings 19: 5). If we are exhausted by sorrow, frustrated continually or in deep despair, God’s word is for us to arise to a new sense of purpose. Guard your nights with the blood of Jesus and BIND back death so you’ll stay under the shadow of the Almighty.

7. Nostalgia

Worldly sorrow invites death (2 Corinthians 7: 10). The great law of spiritual warfare is “don’t look back”. The curse of memory lane entraps many believers and they need the power of His goal. Dirt, grime, neglect, broken down things, dust in the home is a sure sign. Ecclesiastes 7: 10 warns us, “do not say - why were the former days better than these? For you do not enquire wisely concerning this.” Memories can grip us to the fabric of natural life certain allegiances to people and places need to be renounced in the name of Jesus. A place that used to spell death can be transformed.
 

 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and your staff they comfort me.”           (Psalm 23 : 4)