Echoes of Jezebel: Modern Warnings from Ancient Judgments
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I discuss Ezekiel 13’s severe judgments against false prophets, especially women who claimed divine authority to speak in His name. I warn that modern figures who say “God told me” repeat this danger. I urge believers to avoid such teachers, to trust Scripture, and to rely on the Holy Spirit for truth.
In reading Ezekiel 13 I am once again struck by the majesty, sovereignty, and power of God. In this chapter God soundly condemns prophets who speak in His name things He has not said, nor did He send them.
The false prophets are condemned with promises of judgments, especially woman prophets, beginning in verse 17. He pronounces breathtaking woes upon them! It’s a fierce chapter.
After I read it, I was pondering why false teachers today feel so free to speak words God never said? I know they are not unaware of these passages in the Bible. I know they read them. Maybe not focus on these woes too long, but they know. So why? Do they believe this will not happen to them? That they are somehow special, and can escape? Or that they can convice God they should not be punished?
Here are just a few sections of the chapter. I’d urge you to read the entire chapter to get the flavor of it. It is really quite astounding.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing!” (Ezekiel 13:1-3).
They are following their own spirit, did you catch that? And we know the unsaved person’s spirit is full of sin and depravity. God calls them foolish and pronounces woes. Woe is serious.
Woe: Hoy!!! is an interjection. It is a short utterance, usually only one word that more or less comes forth with great force. It expresses great emotion and can be an interjection of warning or distress. It represents a thought transformed into a feeling and expressed in a word—hoy, “woe!” The word can also be translated “alas, ah,” or even “ha!” Hoy is used regularly in lamentations, songs, and poems written to remember or commemorate a tragic personal or national event (Jer. 22:18). Source: Holman treasury of key Bible words.
The women prophets fare no better:
“Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who are talking like prophets from their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all wrists and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature to capture souls! Will you capture the souls of My people, but keep the souls of others alive for yourselves? 19For handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, you have profaned Me to My people, to put to death some who should not die, and to keep others alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies.”” (Ezekiel 13: 17-19).
Notice this: false prophecies capture souls.
Notice this: false prophecies profane God.
The people should have known better. God rarely bestowed prophetic ability on women. Deborah, Huldah, Miriam were briefly endowed with the ability to prophesy. Otherwise, such instances were rare. The Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. Commentary explains-
daughters—the false prophetesses; alluded to only here; elsewhere the guilt specified in the women is the active share they took in maintaining idolatry (Ez 8:14). It was only in extraordinary emergencies that God bestowed prophecy on women, for example on Miriam, Deborah, Huldah (Ex 15:20; Jdg 4:4; 2 Ki 22:14); and in the last days to come (Joe 2:28). The rareness of such instances enhanced their guilt in pretending inspiration.
Key phrase here: “The rareness of such instances enhanced their guilt in pretending inspiration.” So when you see these women today running around saying God told me, like Beth Moore has done for years, or Sarah Young writing all those ‘devotionals’ allegedly directly from God, if any of these older ladies or younger Bible teaching women say ‘God told me’, RUN. If you have been feeling left out because it seems everyone hears directly from God but you don’t, and you wonder what you’re doing wrong, DON’T. Praise the Spirit for protecting you from these woes that will surely come upon these Old Testament, New Testament and today’s false prophetesses.
Remember, it’s not just an Old Testament problem. Revelation 2:20 promises punishment upon the false prophetess ‘Jezebel’ who “calls herself a prophetess”, meaning, God did not call this woman to speak for Him, she adopted the prophetic mantle herself. Always a bad move. Doing so profanes God and causes woe for one’s self.
Many of these women today who carelessly utter ‘God told me’ statements and prophecies, would never call themselves a prophetess. They couch their prophecies and utterances in humble sounding verbiage and platitudes such as ‘check the scriptures yourself”. But how can I check the Bible to determine of their statement is correct when it comes from outside the Bible? Do not be fooled. The end will come for these Jezebels and it won’t be pretty. Stay far away or you will become collateral damage, as Jesus promises will happen to ‘Jezebel’s followers in Revelation 2:23.
Read your Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate it to your mind. Listen to your pastor and ask the Spirit to apply his words to your heart. Watch videos or audio from old timey preachers and be encouraged. There is no need to listen to vain women pronounce lies from their lips pretending they are God’s words. Stay on the narrow path and be blessed to receive His promise to be standing on Jesus’ right hand on Judgment Day.
