There is a war, a very ancient war, between the spirit of Elijah and the spirit of Jezebel. In this age-old battle, Elijah represents the interests of Heaven: the call to repentance and the return to God. Jezebel, on the other hand, represents that unique principality whose purpose is to hinder and defeat the work of repentance.

To The Victor Goes Our Nation

To understand the conflict between the Elijah spirit and the spirit of Jezebel, we must understand these two adversaries as they are seen in the Scrip-tures. Each is the spiritual counterpart of the other. Is Elijah bold? Jezebel is brazen. Is Elijah ruthless toward evil? Jezebel is vicious toward righteousness. Does Elijah speak of the ways and words of God? Jezebel is full of systems of witchcraft and words of deceit. The war between Elijah and Jezebel continues today. The chief warriors on either side are the prophets of both foes; to the victor goes the soul of our nation.

In the tradition of Samuel, Elijah was the head of the school of prophets. Under him were the sons of the prophets---literally hundreds of seers and prophetic minstrels---who proclaimed the word of the Lord. In this war, however, Jezebel had vicious-ly and systematically murdered all of God's servants until only Elijah remained (I Kings 18:22). Elijah, as the last of the prophets, then challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of the Asherah to a demonstration of power: their gods against the power of the Lord.

These 850 men were the false prophets, the satanic priests ``...who eat at Jezebel's table'' (I Kings 18:19). They were the most powerful, demonized individuals that the hosts of darkness could produce. King Ahab, Jezebel's husband, sent a message out to ``all the sons of Israel,'' and the nation came to witness the conflict between the God of Elijah and the demigods of Jezebel.

The terms of the challenge were simple: each was to place an ox upon an altar. Elijah then said, ``...you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God'' (I Kings 18:24). Six hours later the cult priests still could produce no fire; twelve hours passed and Elijah began to mock them, ``Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside...perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened'' (vs 27). Just before evening, Elijah prayed over his sacrifice and, ``The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offer-ing...and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, `The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God' '' (I Kings 18:38-39). Immediately after this powerful witness of the Lord, Elijah had the He-brews hold the prophets of Baal and all of them were put to death.

We would suppose that, at this point, Elijah would have gone into Jezreel and asked God to finish off Jezebel, but he did not. In fact---and this may surprise you---Elijah came under spiritual warfare. Jezebel, in a fit of rage, released a flood of witchcraft and demonic power against Elijah that put fear into his heart. Elijah ran. You may ask, ``How could such a mighty prophet turn and run?'' The answer is not simple. In fact, the situation worsened. We then see Elijah sitting under a juniper tree, bewailing that he is no better than his fathers--actually praying that he might die! (I Kings 19:4) What pressure overwhelmed this great man of God that he would fall prey to fear and discouragement? The spirit of Jezebel.

And now, let the reader understand. When you war against the principality of Jezebel, even though you stand against her lusts and witchcrafts, you must guard against the power-demons of Fear and Discouragement, for these she will send against you to distract you from your warfare and your victory!