In the days of Elijah there was a king, in northern kingdom of Israel, called Ahab. Ahab took Jezebel as wife and made her queen. Ahab went after the god of Jezebel and served Baal. Jezebel set over the people priests and priestesses of Baal and the nation served the god of Jezebel. Ahab was the king and had the right to rule over the nation, but Ahab followed and did not lead. When Elijah killed the priests of Baal, Ahab reported to Jezebel and she sent messengers to Elijah. Ahab did not defend the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and neither did he defend the god of Jezebel. The king was reduced to a messenger of the queen. Jezebel had no right to rule over the nation, except that Ahab gave her his dominion, just as Adam had given dominion to the snake in the garden.

The spirit that is commonly called the Ahab spirit could just as easily be called the Adam spirit or man’s spirit. In Genesis 1:27 the word man is Adam. God created Adam in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. If the Ahab spirit is Adam, is the Jezebel spirit Eve? No. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly (Ephesians 6:12). The Jezebel spirit is the spirit of the enemy. Adam did not cover his wife, Eve, with the word of God. Adam did not say, “Yes that is what God said.” When the snake asked “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1b). And neither did Ahab cover Jezebel with the word of God and say, “You shall have no other gods besides the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down. Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus did not answer that for Himself alone, but for the Church of God, the body of Christ. Jesus overcame the Ahab spirit.

What about Eve? Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Eve also had dominion and could have said to the snake, “Yes, that is what God said.” Adam and Eve both had dominion and both were passive in nature and gave the enemy their dominion (the right to rule over them). Jesus overcame the enemy’s lie and regained dominion as the man Jesus. His overcoming is a covering for the Church; it is a mantle of overcoming that covers the believer.

Does the Ahab spirit still haunt the Church today? The answer is, “Yes!” The Ahab spirit haunts the Church, the homes, and the governments of the world. Satan promises to give to us what God has promised. Look at the temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4. The first temptation was food. God promises that if we seek first the kingdom of God all these things will be provided, all these things include food. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31). The second temptation was to test the promise of God that He would protect Him. The third temptation was for the kingdoms of the world. For that reason Jesus was born, to be king (read John 18:37). Jesus was willing to wait on God and get what God had for Him. Too often we, the Church, try to get the promises of God from Satan. That is the spirit of Ahab.

© 2007 Tim D. Coulter Sr.