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We have read scriptures in our text that are from the very end of the Bible both in location and in terms of dates written, and are conspicuous because of their placement. Intended as warnings for the Early Apostolic Church at the end of the first century, they yet refer to people who lived hundreds and even thousands of years before. Jude warns the church of false prophets and people among them that are not sincere and states "they have gone in the way of Cain, ran greedily after the error of Balaam, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah." Addressing the church of Thyatira around A.D. 100, Jesus tells them "I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel to teach and seduce."

That the Early Church would be warned against such likes of Cain, Balaam, Korah, and Jezebel is startling seeing that all four are characters of the Old Testament who have not breathed on earth for centuries before! Cain met his end in the book of Genesis. Both Balaam and Korah lived and died in the book of Numbers, and Jezebel died in the time of Elijah in 2 Kings chapter 9. And yet here at the end of the New Testament age, we find warnings about a "Jezebel among you" and references to people in the way of Cain and Balaam and Korah fellowshipping with the church.

The explanation of such passages is easy to understand and yet troubling when grasped. Jezebel has not resurrected in person to live again, but her spirit has come to rest upon a new body in the later era. Balaam has not been raised up from the dust in which he fell, but the same spirit of greed and evil that gripped and consumed him has come to rest upon a new victim in the Apostolic church. The men and women have died, but their spirits with which they were controlled and driven has not died and has moved on through history to find another carrier. And so the attitude that arose to kill an Abel and come against Moses and fight Elijah had arisen to fight against Jude and Peter and Paul and the Early believers. People die, but evil spirits never do, and so temptation and opposition to God's kingdom comes in predictable cycles because it is the same spirits at work in every generation. Simply put, the spirits of Cain, Balaam, Korah, and Jezebel are obviously and somberly "old spirits that never die."

I said that such a revelation was "troubling" because if such spirits manifested themselves and fought against the church of God at the beginning of Grace, then most certainly they will resurface among us at the end of Grace. If such spirits fought against Paul and Peter and Jude and John, then they will arise to face the Spirit-filled believers of today. The carriers and infected people that were in Jude and John's mind's eye when they wrote their epistles are long dead for thousands of years and yet we must be mindful of the fact that the spirits and attitudes that so affected them are alive and well and looking to come against the church of the living God today. Toward the end of his life, Solomon said:

There is truly nothing new under the sun. Is this not true? As much as everything as changed, really nothing has changed and it's the same cycles of sin repeated in every generation. It's the same old vices in a new package.

Each new generation screams "we're unique and we're different and we're a fresh new voice" and yet their decisions and actions are wearily predictable and similar to every generation that has passed before. The cycle of sin goes on and on from generation to generation and yet it is the same old that has always been. Human nature has not changed, therefore the tactics of the devil, your adversary, has not changed. Old spirits that never die enjoy a new day in the sun because unsuspecting people allow them to resurrect their attitude and agenda within their life. And it all goes to prove that the Bible is more relevant today than it ever has been! Because everything repeats: but it's no accident because even though it may be a new generation, the spirits at work and the nature at work are still the same!

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One such spirit that keeps showing up, Jude said, was the "spirit of Cain." It is one of the oldest spirits and yet continues to find a place to rest and prosper among those who would be a part of what God is doing. Cain, you may remember, became a God reject when he failed to offer a blood sacrifice as God had required, and then when reprimanded for his disobedience, rather than repent and correct his behavior and actions became sullen and angry and struck out against his brother Abel who had simply done what God asked.

So what is the spirit of Cain? It would be a casual attitude toward the exactness of the Word of God. It would be bringing a sacrifice of convenience instead of doing whatever it took to do exactly as God had said. And it would show itself further by attacking those who simply do what God has commanded rather than in seeking repentance and a positive change.

The Spirit of Cain is often prevalent today. When people casually approach the commands of scripture with "I've obeyed somewhat what He has said, there is no need to get it exactly right" then we see are seeing a revival of that old spirit that never dies. When people care more for their comfort and their schedule rather than exactly and precisely obeying all that God has instructed, we are seeing an old attitude in a new body. There is a prevailing attitude among modern-day churchgoers that God must fit into their schedule and God must accept whatever they are willing to bring. If one service and five minutes of lip service is all that they choose to bring to God, then they feel as if He ought to be lucky that they gave Him that! If they have obeyed this command and that command, and have come to offer some sacrifice, "how dare that God would nitpick and find fault and hold me to everything in His Word." If they have gone through some religious motion or action, then "how dare God would require that they precisely obey every jot and tittle of His Word."

One of the most prominent features of the spirit of Cain is the casualness in approach to the Word and commands of God. The Word of God is not very important to Cain, and certainly is not the driving feature of his life. I am troubled by people who take the preaching of the Word of God lightly. "That is just the opinion of the preacher, and I can take it or leave it." You certainly have choice whether to receive the Word or not, and certainly if it is simply a normal human opinion, be choosy in your response. But what if what the preacher is preaching is not his idea and not his words, but rather the pure Word of God. The fact that God has chosen to use an earthly messenger does not change the power of it's source or it's truthfulness! In fact, God will always use an earthly messenger. He has chosen "through the foolishness of preaching to save them that are lost." He had ordained that "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Most Bible scholars believe that God gave the commands of blood sacrifice to Adam and it was through Adam that the command was passed on to his sons. If that is true, then the spirit of Cain is "this is just the ramblings of a man and I'll go through the motions of obedience, but it's really no big deal." A casualness to the Word of God: that's the Spirit of Cain.

But let me remind you that your opinion of the messenger does not change or alter the need to obey the message in the least. If the postman hands you an important document from the bank, then you may not like the postmen or respect him, but yet you understand that he is just the messenger and that the message that he handed to you must be followed and obeyed because it's authority comes from the author and not just the deliverer. So it is with preachers. Your opinion of the human element matters little if the preacher is preaching the Word of God, because it's authority does not come from the messenger but from the power of it's author! If a preacher is preaching the Word of God, then we would do well to take that message seriously rather than blow it off as just "some windbag's opinion." As Cain found out, God will hold you responsible for a message delivered through a messenger. We should take the Word of God much more serious than is popular to do so!

And the funny thing about people who bring a sacrifice of convenience is when anybody, even God, points out that they are lacking rather than repent and obey what God has said, they begin to try to tear down someone who has just simply obeyed God at face value. "Why attack Abel, Cain?" He hasn't taunted you or done nothing wrong to you. He has just obeyed the Word of God. When people are corrected in their motives or in their lifestyle and they immediately say "well so and so has issues and so and so is a hypocrite and they are fake and yadda yadda" they begin to tear down someone who is simply doing the Word of God, then that is a sign that a person has become a carrier of an old spirit that has been around a long time. When you would rather point to someone else's so called "faults" rather than admit and change yours, the Spirit of Cain has found a new home in this age!

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Another spirit that never dies, Jude says, is the spirit of Korah. Korah was a cousin of Moses who led a rebellion against the Godly leadership of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness in the book of Numbers. We often preach about Korah as the sin of rebellion against the man of God and in a general sense, that is true. Korah and his sidekicks, men named Dathan and Abiram, mumbled that they were just as able to spiritually lead Israel as Moses and Aaron and decided to prove it by offering incense before the Lord. The end of the account is found in the 16th chapter of the book of Numbers and ended with the families of the usurpers being swallowed by a great crevice that opened up in the earth, and the leaders who had approached the tabernacle to sacrifice to God met Him in a greater force than they desired when a fire of judgment roared out from the inner room and consumed them. When the people murmured that the leaders of their insurrection had been killed, God caused a plague to break out among the crowds that killed 14,700 people before Aaron was able to make a sacrifice to atone for the people.

What most people fail to realize, however, is what was the cause of Korah's rebellion in the first place, and that is the key to identifying the spirit of Korah today. The rebellion against the man of God was the end result of the spirit, but the cause was a blame that is revealed in the following verse, spoken to Moses:

This is a remarkable verse because you may remember that the children of Israel were wondering around and dying in the wilderness because of their own unbelief when they came to the edge of the Promised Land. God had used Moses to lead them to the edge, and then they had believed the report of doubt and had refused to enter in. And so their uncomfortable spiritual condition in the wilderness is the direct result of their own actions and yet here they blame it on Moses, their leader. "You took us out of the Promised Land." "You have led us here to die." Therefore, from this we learn that the spirit of Korah at it's roots is the blame on the spiritual leadership for a lack of the promises of God in your life.

The Spirit of Korah often rears up today. I have seen saints rise up against a pastor and blame him for the lack of revival and the lack of growth and the lack of blessings in their life or a lack of the supernatural. Such unrest tends to result in someone who is not called to be the spiritual leader of the church trying to take the reins from the God-called and destruction and the judgment of God is usually the result. But lest such a spirit should arise up in our congregation, let me remind you that the man of God can lead you to the edge of the Promised Place, but he cannot make you enter. The man of God can lead you until you are one step away from entering into the promises of God, but at that point, it becomes your responsibility whether or not you respond with faith and enter in or doubt and return to living in a spiritual wilderness. The man of God is called of God to bring you to that place of decision, but then that decision to be blessed and to receive the promises of God for yourself is up to you!

But I have seen the preacher preach people to the edge of holiness and right living and the people respond with doubt and refuse to enter in. I have seen the preacher bring people to the edge of revival and the supernatural and yet their lack of willingness to trust God and obey Him and reluctance to truly sacrifice for the kingdom of God kept them out in the wilderness. And the problem is that such people tend to begin to blame the man of God for their spiritual state. And so they begin to attack him rather than deal with the true issues of their heart. Remember when you hear a Korah who says "if the pastor or so and so minister would let us, we'd have true revival" that if the preacher is preaching to you the Word of God, then the reason that you are not having revival is because of your own unbelief or unwillingness to submit everything or be completely sold out. And when such a person raises their voice, they are in affect admitting that they have refused to enter into the promised place of God and are looking for someone to blame. Don't ever buy into the lie that the preacher is holding you back. If you are in a spiritual wilderness then it's probably because of your own doubt and unbelief! Go read the story of King Saul and David and tell me that God will not kill a leader and raise up another one if the problem is in the leadership. If the pastor is the cause of a lack of revival, God will remove him without your help. And if God has not done that, then we as saints must come face to face with the fact that we are the deciding factor of how much God can do in our church. Admit it as much and allow God to increase your faith, but whatever you do, don't let the spirit of Korah to have a body to work through in this present time, because the spirit of Korah is an old spirit that never dies!

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Yet another spirit that never died, again according to Jude, is the spirit of Balaam. It is interesting to note that not only does Jude warn against such a spirit but also John in receiving the Word of the Lord for the church in Pergamos wrote that God said to them:

How strange that two men of God would identify such an old spirit in their midst, and yet it must have been one of the most strongest opponents to the true church of God in that day. And the spirit of Balaam is not yet dead in our age as well.

Balaam's story is largely told in Numbers 22-24 and he is the most famous because God spoke through a donkey to warn him of his wrongdoing. Not that it mattered, because Balaam eventually continued ahead and went against God's wishes because of "money." What had happened was Balak, the leader of the Moabites was alarmed at the passing by of the tribes of Israel and decided in his superstition that he wanted them "cursed" by a prophet. Balaam obviously had a reputation for being able to be hired to do anything "in the ministry" and so Balak hired him with the promise to pay him if he would curse the children of Israel.

When Balaam offered sacrifices and tried to curse the children of Israel, the true Spirit of God came upon him and caused him to instead speak blessing and promises! God allowed a false prophet to feel the true anointing just long enough to be unable to prophesy harm to His people! When Balak refused to pay Balaam for blessing his enemies, Balaam tried again and with the same result. A third time ended with again the Spirit of God blessing Israel and cursing Moab rather than the opposite result and in this time God used the false prophet Balaam to prophesy about the star that would accompany the Messiah's birth, the only such prophecy in scripture. And it came from the mouth of a false prophet in a moment of true anointing!

And yet the desire for money was so great, that Balaam came back to Balak and devised another way to curse Israel through temptation. Balaam said "we cannot bring a curse of God upon God's anointed, but we can cause them to bring the curse of God upon themselves" and so he barbecued near the camp of Israel much meat that had been first offered to idols and then sent the promiscuous and sensual Moabite women among the Israelis and invited them to come and dine. The combination of eating meat offered to idols and sexual sin caused God to bring a plague upon Israel, and finally Balaam got his money!

The enemy knows that he cannot cause God to curse you directly, and so he knows that if you are to be cursed, then he will have to get you to bring the curse of God upon yourself by disobedience to the Word of God, and that is why the tempter comes with the temptation of sin!

But the spirit of Balaam is alive and well today and is the instigator of such attacks on the church! The world is full of prominent preachers and "prophets" who will say anything and preach any doctrine as long as they have the crowds and as long as they are made rich and given a comfortable lifestyle. They are talented and there are times, when the true Spirit of God may speak through them, but who can know when this is, because they will prophesy whatever anyone desires for monetary gain!

There is a difference between "being used of God" and "using God" and don't ever forget that distinction. Some people "use God" to make money, to get famous, for their need of power and they will preach part of the Word of God knowing that He will respond to genuine faith in their audiences and perform a work. But rather than allowing God to use them to build His kingdom and proclaim truth, they become like Balaam, bidding themselves to the highest bidder and using whatever influence they gain by the few true works of God in their ministry to lead people to whatever the current and popular doctrine of the moment is, and to whatever will bring them the most revenues. Rather than allowing themselves to be used of God to preach truth and proclaim all of His Word, they use God to promote whatever agenda is the most prosperous even if that agenda promotes a worldly lifestyle that ultimately leads to destruction for those who obey.

I understand God can use a donkey and anybody else that will surrender themselves but for a moment, and that means that God can bring some good even through a Balaam eaten up with greed every once in a while. But at the same time, we must guard ourselves against such a spirit, because make no bones about it: such a spirit is the enemy of the true church of God.

And if you will permit me to be somewhat strong for a moment and yet receive it gently, let me say that I would rather you almost watch anything on television than TBN because there is no greater show of the spirit of Balaam than among those people. They'll pray for you as long as you send in a contribution to their ministry. And yet their ministry is held to and governed by the censors of the channel. They avoid certain New Testament truths about salvation and holiness because it contradicts what "is popular" and would cut down on their viewership and therefore their extravagant earnings. They have no contact with their audience, do not know their names, never fast for their soul, never counsel them in a moment of darkness, never visit them in the hospital, take no responsibility for their eternal well-being and yet will preach whatever is "status quo" as long as you send in your money. Such is the spirit of Balaam. Unfortunately I can identify more of those personalities than I care to name as people that once held the Apostolic truths that we hold so dear and yet compromised and changed their message for the seeking of money and fame. These are people that I have known and met and been influenced by the Spirit of God moving upon them in a service and through their message, and yet they sold out the Apostolic message because it didn't fit in with the "current thought" of Christianity and it was more profitable to compromise. Oh, money is not everything; neither is fame! But the pull of the Spirit of Balaam is strong on some even today. It's an old spirit that never dies!

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It is John that mentions the Word of the Lord identifying yet another spirit that we must guard against and yet lives on: The spirit of Jezebel. There is perhaps no other female that so corrupted and influenced Israel in an evil way than the woman known by this name. Ironically, the name "Jezebel" means "chaste and sexually pure" and yet she was the exact opposite of her namesake.

Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon and going against God's command, Ahab married her and made her queen of Israel. Ahab was a weak man and Jezebel used her powers of seduction and strong will to control him and to ultimately run the nation of Israel. She elevated Baal worship to the national religion and made it illegal to worship Jehovah God. Her influence was great and tremendous upon God's people. Baal was commonly worshiped through sexual parties of group promiscuity and the moral level of Israel disintegrated to the most basest levels. Jezebel was famous for open sexuality and idolatrous worship through sensual means. It was she that reintroduced to a new generation of Israeli women, that Egyptian practice of painting the face to appear sexually alluring and of immodestly revealing the body to seduce and therefore gain control over the men and bring them to the immoral level of Baal worship and promote their appetite for such wanton sexuality. Jezebel's attack was so strong that she might have completely conquered God's people if it had not been for a strong prophet Elijah who dared look her in the face and denounce her open sexuality and flagrant rebellion to the Word of God. Through the word of Elijah and a few other men of God who were willing to defy her, God brought a fresh revival of repentance and the destruction of this evil king and queen.

Jezebel's tactics are prominently revealed when Jehu came into the town intent on tearing down the altars of Baal. The scriptures say:

Upon hearing that someone was coming to destroy her, Jezebel "painted her eyes" and then "adorned her head" and after fixing herself up with add-ons and such to make her fifty-year-old self more seductive, she looked out the window. No doubt, she intended to appear sexually inviting to Jehu and accepted him to take the bait, but he simply looked up and said "who is on my side" and to her shock two of her own servants through her out of the window to her death.

Fast forward several hundreds of years and in instructing the church in Thyatira, Jesus says:

That same spirit had risen up in the Apostolic church, and it is rising up again today and I fear the greatest detriment to the kingdom of God. The spirit of Jezebel that teaches our women are not "pretty" unless they are made up into appearing in an alluring state of sensuality, and that they are not "attractive" unless they immodestly reveal the body is alive and well today. And there are men that are just as guilty of it as women because they are carnal men who are drawn to such displays of open sexuality and push their wives and daughters to adorn themselves like that. Woe unto the women who would allow the spirit of Jezebel to guide their lives, but even more so woe unto the men who would become its pawn!

Let me read a very unpopular scripture that you will never hear read on television because most of the women there don't obey it. Let me read a scripture that is "out of style" in today's Christian church, and yet if somebody doesn't get the boldness of an Elijah and proclaim it as truth, the spirit of Jezebel will destroy the church from the inside out! Paul wrote:

He said that Godly women should dress modestly. Not with "braided hair and gold" emphasizes that simply fixing your hair attractively is fine, but women should not mix it with gold to form a seductive appearance. They are to not rely upon pearls and jewels and expensive clothing for their "good looks" but rather should be attractive because of their godly works. Let me read you another "unpopular scripture" that you should know is in the Word of God:

The woman's beauty should not come from the outward things such as the fixing of hair a certain way, the wearing of gold and jewelry or the wearing of a certain type of clothing, but rather we should put on the "hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit," which is precious to God! Let me read it in the NIV:

"Oh preacher, you're trying to put a bunch of rules and regulations on us." No, I'm not reading you a list of cans and can'ts, but rather simply trying to point out a Biblical truth from the Word of God that is largely ignored because it sharply contradicts the spirit of this age. The most prominent spirit in our society is that of Jezebel. We are so bombarded with sexual themes, that we have become callused and ignorant of them. Never has America blessed such a level of nudity. Never has a culture been so sex-crazed. And never has it infiltrated the church of the living God as it has today. The spirit of Jezebel is an old spirit that never dies.

I cannot give you a list of rules on your personal appearance, but rather I simply ask a question of every female here, and then every male based upon these scriptures. To the female: do you not feel "pretty" unless you wear a certain kind of clothes or apply certain extra things to your body? If so, then who told you were naked in your lack of beauty? Was it God's Word, or was it a spirit of this age? To the male: do you find yourself more attracted to your wife or daughters or women when they dress in a more provocative way with additions and nudity? If so, who is it that you have allowed to define "beauty?" Is it the fashion of the world, or is it the things that God counts precious? All of you can define whether something is wrong or right for you simply by answering the question: "is this attractive to me because of the influence of the spirit of God, or because of the influence of the spirit of Jezebel in our society?" Just a thought.

God's charge against the church in Thyatira was that "you allow Jezebel to stay among you." Not a particular person, but rather a spirit was allowed to stay in the church that promoted sexual themes and open sexuality. As our society becomes more and more godless due to a lack of sexual morality, the church cannot sit idly by and allow Jezebel to influence standing for truth. We must guard ourselves lest we entertain that same spirit which is old but never dies!

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I have brought to you four spirits that plagued the Early church and that are trying to infiltrate every true Apostolic church today. Let us take stock lest we submit and surrender and become the embodiment of the spirits of Cain, Korah, Balaam, and Jezebel today. But there is another Spirit that will never die and is older than any spirit of evil: the Spirit of God. It is a Holy Spirit. It is a right Spirit. It is the Spirit that if it is in us and lives and reigns will like cause us to be resurrected and changed in a glorious moment at Jesus' return. Let us allow the Holy Ghost to be the definitive and controlling spirit in our lives! If we do, then even if we die, we shall live again!