I am not going to post all of this man's writings but on this topic, I
thought it might be worth your reading. Besides, if you want to subscribe
for yourself, the information to do so is at the end of the message. This,
however, bears reading.
Phil.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Regner Capener" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 8:50 AM
Subject: ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: JEZEBEL & IDOLATRY
ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: JEZEBEL & IDOLATRY
Hi there, Folks!
What a day! The sun is shining, the grass is growing, the flowers are
blooming, our trees are showing a spectacular crop of fruit for this
season...well, that's another topic. We've got twenty different fruit trees
with eleven different species of fruit growing. Now just don't go calling
me a fruitcake, Hehehehehe....
Coffee's on! We're doing a dark roasted Ethiopian coffee today. Looks
pretty good! Smells great! I think there may even be a few of those
luscious four-inch "vitamins" on the island in the kitchen, too. Better
grab one before it's too late.
I still want to take you into the eight characteristics I outlined last week
that depict the nature and character of this spirit, and that's where we
will go with it today. At least we'll start. How far we get today remains
to be seen.
We're still dealing with "Nevertheless, I have a few things against thee,
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a
prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her
fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and
them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they
repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the
churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I
will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I
say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and
which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you
none other burden." (Revelation 2:20-24)
One more time.
1. "She calleth herself a prophetess." We talked yesterday about how the
false prophecy coming out of this spirit is less "foretelling" and more
"forthtelling," pretending to speak in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. "to teach and seduce my servants." We've already covered some of
this..how the body of Christ has been lulled to sleep spiritually and
neutered so that many folks lack the ability to pro-create spiritually.
3. "to commit fornication." This seduction is both spiritual and sexual.
We've already touched on this and maybe we'll cover it a little more in the
days ahead.
4. "and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." Idolatry: the worship or
reverence of things, or individuals, or entities other than the Lord
Himself: the prioritizing of doctrines over a relationship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is where we need to go today: the idolatry that comes
out of this spirit.
5. "I gave her space to repent of her fornication." We've already touched
on this, but there's a lot more to cover.
6. "and she repented not." Those afflicted with this spirit generally tend
to be unrepentant. They have no remorse over their sin, can't see that what
they are doing is sin, and refuse to repent when faced with exposure of
their sin.
7. "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." It's more
than just fornication: it is adultery, too. There's still more to talk
about on this topic.
8. "And I will kill all her children with death." How do you kill someone
with death? This is an interesting Hebrew metaphor occurring in the Greek
text that we will explore.
I was serving at Full Gospel Assembly in Salt Lake City during the late
1960's when I received a phone call from Allen Parker, one of my former
classmates at Bethany Bible College, who happened to be in Barstow,
California at the time working with some fellow-Christians to re-establish a
fellowship that had been torn apart through a series of unfortunate events
including the untimely death of its founding pastor.
Allen knew that the Lord had given me a great degree of boldness in
addressing various problems in the body of Christ, and he wasn't quite sure
how to deal with an unfolding situation in this particular church.
"Regner," he said, "the founding pastor of our church was killed in an
unusual accident some months ago. His wife has taken over the pastoral
responsibilities, and she definitely has the anointing for the job. She has
a problem, however, with a couple in the church. These people showed up on
the scene when the pastor was killed and they are making life miserable for
her - and for the church."
For the sake of reference, I will refer to the founding pastor as
"Benjamin." We will refer to his wife who had taken over as the pastor as
"Nancy." Neither are their real names.
I asked Allen to explain and he began to unfold a tale unlike anything I had
ever seen before. It seems that this couple felt that they were the
anointed leaders of the church. To distinguish them apart from the real
pastor and his wife, we will refer to them in this instance as "Marge" and
"Davis."
The timing of their appearance on the scene following Benjamin's death was
strange. They weren't from the Barstow area originally, and as far as
anyone could figure out, Marge and Davis - a couple in their mid-50's - had
no visible means of support. Their appearance was generally shabby and
unkempt.
No matter whether it was a Sunday morning or Sunday night service, or a
Wednesday night Bible Study or Friday night prayer meeting, each service
would begin with folks gathering at the altar to pray prior to the beginning
of the meeting. That had been the general practice for several years in
this church.
Marge and Davis would show up for these early prayer services, but they
would sit perhaps halfway back in the church instead of praying at the
altar, and begin to pray so loudly it consumed the attention of the other
folks praying. The routine was often the same, meeting after meeting after
meeting. Marge would then suddenly explode, speaking in what can only be
described as "false tongues" (I'll clarify this momentarily), and then begin
to "prophesy."
Her prophecies ran the gamut of doom and gloom and commands to the church
body. At first, Nancy tried to ignore this routine and carry on with the
church services in normal fashion. When Marge and Davis realized that they
were essentially being ignored, Marge's histrionics increased, along with
the judgmental "prophecies."
It reached the place where when Nancy would go to this couple and try to
make them understand that they couldn't continue to disrupt things, they
would turn on her and begin prophesying her death in similar manner as that
of her husband's.
By now, Nancy was intimidated and unsure of herself. It was at this point
that Allen stepped in, along with another brother in the Lord, Tim. They
went privately to Marge and Davis and let them know that their attempts to
control the services were going to come to an end.
None of these efforts to bring order and peace back to the church services
seemed to make any difference whatever. The routine was the same, meeting
after meeting. Marge would give her "prophecies" and begin to preach from
wherever she sat, taking over each service in succession in the same way and
usurping Nancy's leadership and anointing. Her delivery was so powerful and
her mannerism so forceful that the church was succumbing to real error.
Nancy, of course, was still in the midst of her grieving process from the
loss of Benjamin. She was not prepared emotionally or spiritually for the
onslaught taking place.
The "false tongues" to which I refer is a phenomenon I have witnessed only a
few times throughout the years. Having been filled with the Holy Spirit and
speaking in tongues for more than 50 years, I can tell you that there is
both an authority and an incredible sense of peace that comes with the
genuine outflow of the Holy Spirit. When someone attempts to mimic tongues
or misuse the real article for personal gain, every cell of your being goes
on alert. The spirit that is speaking in these unknown tongues or languages
in this instance is NOT the Holy Spirit, but a spirit of witchcraft, a
spirit of divination or a spirit of Jezebel (or perhaps all three).
The Holy Spirit within you KNOWS that the spirit speaking forth in these
"false tongues" is a fraud, that it is all a show for the sake of attention
and control.
The purpose for speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit gives utterance
through you is to offer the most glorious praise and adoration of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It permits you a channel of direct communication with the
Lord which Satan CANNOT understand or interfere with in any way. It
provides a means of praying and interceding according to the absolute will
of God so that it becomes impossible to pray for something that is not the
will of God.
Speaking in tongues can also be utilized as a prophetic gift in which one
person begins to speak in an unknown language, delivering a direct message
from the Holy Spirit to the gathered people; and it is followed by another
person interpreting that message in the language of the hearers.
The apostle Paul expressed it this way, "Wherefore tongues are for a sign,
not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying
serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe." (I
Corinthians 14:22)
Thus two things are accomplished when prophecy comes forth in this manner.
First, the tongues come forth as a sign to the unbeliever. Then the
prophecy coming in the form of the interpretation of those tongues comes as
a sign to the believer.
Marge was abusing what should have been manifested as two marvelous gifts of
the Holy Spirit: tongues and interpretation. Along with it, she was
utilizing her "prophecies" to control the church body through fear.
Whenever you see fear and intimidation coming forth as "prophecy," you KNOW
you are dealing with witchcraft. In this case, you are dealing specifically
with the spirit of Jezebel, who has idolized herself and wants the
reverence, and the attention, and the worship of all around her.
Idolatry is key in this situation. A lot of folks miss the significance
because they are so sidetracked with all of the other ongoing events. What
drove Jezebel was idolatry. She grew up in it. Her father was a priest of
Baal.
Baal-worship transferred the attention from the Lord God to itself and
seduced men and women through bizarre sexual practices, making women the
center of its idolatry and using the sensuous and licentious sexual
appearance of young women to entice men to engage in false worship. Young
men and young women were used as discardable property while their bodies
became the center of lustful attraction and interchangeable use.
Jezebel knew well how to use the skills she learned from her father. The
spirit within her drove her seduction and enticement of Ahab, making him not
only her willing slave, but - in his role as the King of Israel - the means
by which she could entice the nation through all of the abominable practices
of Baal-worship and lead them into idolatry. Jezebel idolized herself. She
thought she was the greatest thing on the planet. She loved what she saw in
the mirror and worshiped herself to her own downfall.
So it is with folks who become ensnared by this spirit. They become the
center of their own attraction and self-worship. They become so arrogant in
their own appearance or abilities that they believe everyone else should
likewise be drawn to them. Thus, manipulation and control - witchcraft and
sorcery, and with it, divination - become their modus operandi.
When Allen called me, he was frustrated to his wits end. As he unfolded the
foregoing tale to me, the Spirit of the Lord rose up in me and I said to
him, "This thing is an abomination to the Lord. You are being deprived of
the peace of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit is being denied an opportunity to
bring growth and understanding to the people in the fellowship."
Allen must have heard the authority of the Lord in my response and he said,
"If I come and pick you up, will you come to our church and address this
situation?" I KNEW that I had heard from the Lord and responded
affirmatively.
It was the middle of the week when Allen called, and he drove to get me the
next day, making the round-trip to Barstow virtually non-stop. I arrived in
Barstow ahead of the Friday-night prayer meeting. Tim had spread the word
that I was coming, and instead of just a few folks gathered together, most
of the church showed up. I had a few minutes to meet with Nancy prior to
the prayer meeting, lay hands on her and pray over her with Allen and Tim,
and things got under way.
Sure enough, Marge and Davis came in a few minutes after everything had
commenced. The altars were filled with people praying. They sat down in
their usual place, about midway in the auditorium on the left side.
I was kneeling down at the front bench because the altars were full and
praying in the Spirit. All of a sudden I heard this voice begin to speak
loudly in tongues. The sound sent chills down my back. I didn't have to
look up to know what was happening.
After a minute or two of this, I got up from my place of prayer and turned
around in the seat. At that moment, Marge began to spout one of her
"prophecies." I flipped open my Bible and it opened to I Corinthians 14:33,
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of
the saints."
Allen and his wife were seated next to me on the front bench. I turned to
Allen and said, "Brother, it's time!" He nodded his head. I rose to my
feet and walked up to the platform and set my Bible down on the podium.
Marge hadn't missed a beat. She was still prophesying away as though
everything was just fine and she was in control.
Whether it comes from years of public speaking or whether it is just natural
to me, I have a rather loud voice. Della continually tells me, "Honey, you
don't have to shout. Just speak quietly." Hehehehehe.... I'm not aware of
being loud most of the time, but when I purposefully speak loudly, people in
an auditorium don't need a microphone and PA system to hear me.
That said, I was pretty loud when I began to read from I Corinthians in the
middle of Marge's "prophecy." She shut up immediately and sat down.
I continued to read and flipped over to a couple other passages before
closing my Bible. Then I began to address the commotion and confusion
saying, "This thing is an abomination in the sight of God."
Wheww! You could have heard a pin drop. As I began to unfold the word that
the Lord had given me - and let me make clear that I wasn't speaking to
Marge or Davis directly: I was addressing not only the confusion that
existed, as well as that body of believers for allowing such a spirit to
take control in their midst - people all over the church began to weep.
Marge and Davis suddenly got up from their seats. They were both as pale as
ghosts. Without another word, they headed out the door of the church and
were gone. When I left the church that night, the entire spirit of the
place had changed.
The following day - Saturday - I asked Allen to take me over to Marge and
Davis' home so I could speak with them. To our astonishment, the house was
vacant. They had packed up bag and baggage and household goods during the
night and moved away. The front door was hanging slightly ajar and when we
opened it, the place was empty.
Nancy, Allen, Tim and the entire church never saw or heard from them again.
It was as graphic a demonstration as I've ever seen in my life of just how
fearful the spirit of Jezebel is, and how it cannot stand rebuke.
We'll get into this topic of rebuke and the lack of repentance that
generally goes with this spirit in tomorrow's discussion.
I'm an Extremist! I'm extreme enough to believe God can do ANYTHING - for
me -- AND for you.
Blessings on you!
Regner A. Capener
R & DC MINISTRIES
Ekklesia House
RR-15, Box 6180
Mission, TX 78574-9589
(956) 583-5355
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