18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith,[a] and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow[b] that woman[c] Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce[d] My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.[e] 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their[f] deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.
24 “Now to you I say, and[g] to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will[h] put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—
27 ‘ He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’[i]—
as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star.
29 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’ (Rev. 2:28-29, NKJV, from BibleGateway.com)
Above we find the words of Jesus to his “corrupt church” as the editors of the New King James Bible describe it. This Church became corrupt because its members knew, had intimate, carnal knowledge of, the deep things of Satan. This knowledge, says Jesus, came to them through toleration of and fornication with the Jezebel spirit, the satanic spirit of wickedness which animates the Church of Thyatira.
The demonic spirit of Jezebel becomes known by two specific traits, she teaches and seduces God’s servants (Christians) to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Jesus also calls Jezebel a “prophetess.” She is a prophetic spirit and the church she animates is the “prophetic church.”
Sexual immorality reveals itself in Thyatira in many forms and, of course, includes actual sexual conduct. Some major prophets of this church, like Paul Cain, have been exposed and revealed as living in wanton sexual indulgence. Others, like Ron Oja, preach that they have grace to watch movies with heavy sexual content and even use explicit sexual imagery in their “prophetic” teachings. (I once personally rebuked Ron Oja for doing this and he told me he repented. Later, in 2004, he came to my home to teach, must have forgotten I was the one who rebuked him, and said the same things again. I have had no fellowship with him since then. Stephen Jones also spoke at these meetings. He hung on every word that proceeded from Ron Oja’s mouth, as if Oja has something revelatory to say. He did not. Oja speaks from a demonic spirit. In this past year I have also discontinued reading Stephen Jones’ teachings because the Spirit in me bears no witness to their truth.)
Another way this spirit manifests itself in Thyatira comes through its “worship” of God. Her worship leaders stand as the most seductive in all Christianity. Come into one of her services, like one at International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and you will almost immediately begin to feel this spirit move upon you. Professional and near-professional musicians and singers call out like gods and goddesses 24 hours a day, “Come to me you simple men who cannot discern spirits. Come to me and I will show you spiritual wonders you have always longed for and dreamed about!” These musicians and singers come on stage in almost any type of attire. No sense of the holiness or majesty of God displays through their performances, only a lust for more of this intoxicating spirit which they exude. (My wife and I were intimately involved with music ministries in three manifestations of the Church of Thyatira for at least one decade, including Mike Bickle’s Metro Christian Fellowship and Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Kansas City in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The other church was New Covenant Fellowship in St. Louis, led by Mike Bickle when we first attended there in 1979 and later by Bryn Jones and Mike Stevens. The same problems existed in New Covenant Fellowship as in later churches we attended, but we were new Christians and too immature to discern the issues.)
Primarily Thyatira’s spirit of sexual immorality shows itself as an unclean, lawless spirit. It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. The cry of “grace, grace” with its resultant license to sin stands unassailable in Thyatira. The mantra “do not judge” rallies its ranks for, they say, “you have no right to judge my actions or spiritual works,” forgetting that Paul says the spiritual man judges all things.
I still remember talking to Mike Bickle*, then head pastor of Metro Christian Fellowship** in Kansas City in 1989 or 1990, before he founded IHOP a decade later. I told him that he needed to preach about God’s Law. He said, “I know, but the LORD told me that the people are too cranky to hear it.”*** I was later named an elder in this church and then, in late 1993, after serious warning dreams and continuing refusal to preach about God’s Law and his holiness, my wife and I left this church. We were literally concerned that if we stayed there our children, who were just coming into their teen years, would become seduced by the sexual immorality we were already hearing about in youth events. 1993 marked the end of the first phase of God’s revelation of Thyatira to us, but that revelation was just beginning.
When we left Metro Christian Fellowship in 1993 we had no clue that we had been members of a church of Thyatira. We did not understand the real marks of that church. We did not even understand what Paul meant when he condemned the Corinthians for eating food sacrificed to idols. We thought that “vague” concept related to obscure practices that only ancient pagans could do. Little did we realize that we ourselves had been sacrificing food to idols for years. It took God seven more years just to begin making us understand this.
*I do not name names here because I think that somehow I am better than these people I name. Like Paul, I do not even judge myself with respect to this question. But, also like Paul, I do judge spiritual matters. The time has come for the House of God to be judged. God’s people must understand why judgment comes.
**Metro Christian Fellowship is the church where prophet Bob Jones became known and popular in the 1980’s. He later fell into disfavor there because of a “prophetic” and “sexual” indiscretion which occurred together.
*** Just yesterday, March 28, 2014, I heard a good report about a video teaching by Mike Bickle from September 2013 wherein he espoused looking to God’s Law for moral direction. This is good news for those who attend International House of Prayer and others affected by Mike’s teaching. So long as we keep looking to Jesus he will correct us of our errors and lead us in the right way. I pray for God’s blessing of truth for Mike and his ministry, and I pray for the others I have named here that they will repent and go on with God. And, by no means do I consider myself already perfect. But, I do attempt to discern the spirit of things, whether of God, men, or demons, by the grace of God and the earnest of the Holy Spirit he has given me.
