"Now, to the Church in her fourth phase the Head of the Church writes: "I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." (Rev. 2:20)
The original Jezebel was that heathen woman of Phonecia, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, who was married to Ahab, king of Israel; and who brought with her into Israel her idolatrous worship — which was but a worship of the sun, under the forms of Baal and Ashtaroth, or Astarte.
She brought with her also four hundred and fifty priests of Baal and four hundred of Ashtaroth, — eight hundred and fifty in all.
This original Jezebel caused King Ahab to be worse than he otherwise would have been, as it is written: "There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." (1 Kings 21:25)
And now this Jezebel is cited by the Lord as the illustration of the corrupt, deceiving, destroying power that worked against His Church in her fourth phase.
It has been pointed out and made plain, that it was in the time of the third phase of the true Church that the papacy was formed.
It is therefore certain that this warning to the true Church in the fourth phase of her experience, against the seductions of "that woman Jezebel," has direct reference to the workings of the papacy in the period following the formation and establishment of the papacy.
The two things especially singled out by Christ in His letter to His Church, concerning which He warns against the seductions of this Jezebel,
---are fornication,
---and the honoring of idols.
*And we have seen how that the continuous war of the papacy upon marriage — directly, the marriage of the clergy; and thus indirectly the marriage of all — filled Europe with fornication.
*We have also seen how that by a war of more than a hundred years, the papacy established the use of images, and, therefore, of idolatry, as an essential part of Christian worship.
---Another specification concerning "that woman Jezebel" is that she "calleth herself a prophetess." A prophet or prophetess is a spokesman, or mouthpiece for God: one especially commissioned to speak the words of God." (Ex. 4:15, 16; 7:1; Deut. 18:18)
*This is precisely the claim of the papacy: that she alone is the interpreter of the Scriptures, the infallible channel of the divine will to men.
That characteristic of the original Jezebel, manifested in her ruling the king and stirring him up to do more than the usual evil of kings, and more than he would otherwise have done, is seen displayed throughout the whole course of the papacy after her establishment as a world-power; and is specifically fastened upon her by the Scripture in describing her as "the woman . . . which reigneth over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17:18)."
A.T.Jones
The original Jezebel was that heathen woman of Phonecia, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, who was married to Ahab, king of Israel; and who brought with her into Israel her idolatrous worship — which was but a worship of the sun, under the forms of Baal and Ashtaroth, or Astarte. She brought with her also four hundred and fifty priests of Baal and four hundred of Ashtaroth, — eight hundred and fifty in all.
This original Jezebel caused King Ahab to be worse than he otherwise would have been, as it is written: "There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." (1 Kings 21:25)
It has been pointed out and made plain, that it was in the time of the third phase of the true Church that the papacy was formed.
It is therefore certain that this warning to the true Church in the fourth phase of her experience, against the seductions of "that woman Jezebel," has direct reference to the workings of the papacy in the period following the formation and establishment of the papacy.
The two things especially singled out by Christ in His letter to His Church, concerning which He warns against the seductions of this Jezebel,
---are fornication,
---and the honoring of idols.
*And we have seen how that the continuous war of the papacy upon marriage — directly, the marriage of the clergy; and thus indirectly the marriage of all — filled Europe with fornication.
*We have also seen how that by a war of more than a hundred years, the papacy established the use of images, and, therefore, of idolatry, as an essential part of Christian worship.
---Another specification concerning "that woman Jezebel" is that she "calleth herself a prophetess." A prophet or prophetess is a spokesman, or mouthpiece for God: one especially commissioned to speak the words of God." (Ex. 4:15, 16; 7:1; Deut. 18:18)
*This is precisely the claim of the papacy: that she alone is the interpreter of the Scriptures, the infallible channel of the divine will to men.
That characteristic of the original Jezebel, manifested in her ruling the king and stirring him up to do more than the usual evil of kings, and more than he would otherwise have done, is seen displayed throughout the whole course of the papacy after her establishment as a world-power; and is specifically fastened upon her by the Scripture in describing her as "the woman . . . which reigneth over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17:18)."
A.T.Jones