Lesson Outline for Oct 8, 2026
Ungodly Control A Stronghold of the Enemy
If you would like to receive ministry updates text ADVANCE to 888-495-0877
Website – https://advancefreedomministry.com
Goal – To recognize, repent and renounce ungodly control in your life
- What is ungodly control?
- Can you identify ungodly control and authority? In your life?
- Do you tolerate Jezebel in your life?
- How is the Body of Christ in the U.S. and Thyatira alike?
Hebrew and Greek Terms / Definitions
- desire #H8669 “tshuwqah” – to desire, longing, crave. Context of Gen 3:16 is both to desire her husband in positive aspects of intimacy (not just sexual), and to “desire” his position.
- vexed #H2198 “za ep” angry, enraged, no humor
- guild – webster’s definition[1] – an organized group of people who have joined together because they share the same job or interest. an association of people who made or sold goods in the Middle Ages. Think – associations, societies, unions, organizations, chambers
The green is the author’s notations in the verses below. Bold text added for emphasis
Who is Jezebel – Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of Ethbaal (or Ithobaal I), the King of the Sidonians from modern day Lebanon. Her father was a monarch; and a high priest worshipping Baal, Asherah and other demonic gods. Jezebel grew up in an environment where religious and political power were deeply intertwined. She, like her father, was fiercely devoted to Baal and Asherah. She was highly educated, used to privilege, was authoritative and used authority and power to gain her goals – She was a: Satan worshipper, witch, idolatrous, murderer, intimidator, deceiver, manipulator, dominator, seductress, schemer, revenger, briber, envious, false accuser, ID thief, etc
How did she gain control over Israel – Married King Ahab ~mid-9thCentury BC – to cement political and economic alliances – a marriage outside God’s commands, instructions and will (but God permitted it)
The unbreakable curse in Gen 3:16 is not Jezebel
But, Jezebel uses the curse for her advantage
Gen 3:16 ESV – “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire (tshuwqah) shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
Gen 4:7 ESV – “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.”
- This curse is NOT Jezebel – it’s the challenge to embrace the husband’s role as leader of the home / family
- “desire” is the same word used in Gen 4:7 is the other time “tshuwqah” is used in OT
- The curse in Gen 3:16 is not breakable, but we can resist it
The demonic spirit of Jezebel was around before the Princess Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal
Operating through ungodly control always causes problems, delays, difficulties
Gen 27:5-6, 8, 12-13 ESV – “5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, … 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. … 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.””
- Ungodly control hinders, delays and blocks God’s plan for us and our generations
- Rebekah didn’t trust God and interfered with God’s timeline
- Rebekah and Isaac had “favorites” – their partiality caused ungodly competition / division
- Rebekah used ungodly control to command, deceive and manipulate outside her AUTHORITY
- She cursed herself, her family and sons
- Curses of isolation, rejection/exile, hatred (Esau hated his father & brother), etc
- Esau’s Bloodline – father of Edomites – Edomites didn’t let Moses go down Kings Highway, Herod’s line was from Edom, God forbid Israel from destroying them; David brought them under his rule
- Jacob – father of Israel. Repentance brought a name change
Toleration of evil always leads to delay and destruction
Compromise and toleration of Jezebel always bring delays and destruction of people and nations
1 Kings 16:29-31 ESV – “29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.”
1 Kings 19:1-3 ESV – 1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
1 Kings 21:5-9 ESV – 5 But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” 6 And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.'” 7 And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. 9 And she wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people.”
- Ungodly alliances are not to be tolerated – personally or governmentally
- Passivity in leadership denotes UNGODLY CONTROL – one is under ungodly control
- Why was Ahab’s evil greater than the others before him?
- Ahab suffered from passivity, depression, jealousy, covetness, ungodly governing
- Jezebel operated via manipulation, intimidation and domination
- How is this happening today in your life – where are you using ungodly control or under ungodly control?
- “GET REAL” examples – murder, assault, molestation, bribery, revenge, abuse-all forms, teasing, bullying, seduction, retaliation, lying, fear, bearing false witness, mind games – “gas lighting”, passive-aggressive behavior/sarcasm, etc
Jesus Christ does not tolerate Jezebel
And, neither should we – the US has a strong ungodly spirit over the nation – don’t agree with it
Rev 2:18-22 ESV – 18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,”
- Thyatira was a business/trade center – w/ active guilds – the guilds served Greek gods too
- Jesus knew the Thyatira’s Church’s works, and the good works – former better than the latter but….
- What did the Christian’s in Thyatira tolerate – JEZEBEL; there was a strong ungodly spirit over the area – the US is more politically impactful over the globe then Thyatira – Christians tolerate it
- Both physical and spiritual adultery
- Describe how we personally and nationally tolerate / accept Jezebel
- How do church leaders manipulate members?
- What can we do about it Men of God?
Last thoughts and considerations
- Ungodly control is sinful
- When men are spiritually passive at home, wives rise up to fulfill the husband’s role
- The demonic spirit Jezebel was on the earth before Jezebel & embodies ungodly control
- Don’t confuse Godly control with ungodly control – Jesus modeled Godly control / leadership
- Parents have Godly control over their children, husbands / fathers at home, leaders at work over workers, business owners over businesses, leaders over nations, states and communities
- Manipulation, Intimidation and Domination are pillars of Jezebel / ungodly control
- Repent of past ungodly control – done to you (identificational repentance) and by you
- Forgive others who manipulated, intimidated and dominated you in an ungodly manner
- Church leaders – pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, apostles, youth leaders should be held accountable for any form of manipulation, intimidation, and domination
Additional verses for self-study
1 Kings 18:4-13 ESV – 4 and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” 6 So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. 7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” 8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.'” 9 And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. 11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”‘ 12 And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth. 13 Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?”
2 Kings 9 – Ahab’s blood line destroyed, Naboth avenged and Jezebel executed
[1] Merriam-Webster.com Simple Definition, s.v. “guild,” accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/simple/guild.
