Leviathan Spirits, Jezebel Spirits, Hierarchies of Demons -- What Are They, Really? What Should Christians Think?
Spiritual Warfare Made Simple, Chapter 10, Part 3
[Note: The next few blog posts will each contain part of Chapter 10 in Spiritual Warfare Made Simple. This is a big chapter, dealing with many misconceptions in spiritual warfare. It’ll be a lot easier to digest as a blog post in smaller bits.]
Misconception 3: Leviathan Spirits and Jezebel Spirits
Two wildly popular ideas in spiritual warfare are Leviathan spirits and Jezebel spirits. Commonly, Leviathan spirits are said to embody confusion and chaos. Jezebel spirits are said to embody lust and pride. Sometimes, they inflict their victims with these characteristics. Other times, they oppress their victims with them.
The problem is that the Bible knows nothing about Leviathan spirits or Jezebel spirits.
The word “Leviathan” only appears once in the Bible, at the end of the book of Job, in reference to a large sea creature. It bears no connection to demons, chaos, or confusion.
There are two women in Scripture called Jezebel, but the name never refers to a demon, and the Bible never says that there is a “Jezebel spirit” behind the two women.
Many who teach about Leviathan or Jezebel spirits are well-meaning, Jesus-loving teachers. They repeat these ideas because they believe them to be true and want to equip the body of Christ to fight the enemy.
But the danger is that Christians will believe there are super-powered demons running about who need extra work to remove.
Invariably, when I’ve worked with someone who believed they had one of these spirits, they were depressed. They didn’t believe these demons would leave by normal means.
Remember: you have dominion. If you believe the devil’s lies, you’ll act as though they’re true.
If you believe that you’re afflicted with a Leviathan or Jezebel spirit, and you believe that it won’t leave — it won’t. Not because the demon is powerful. But because you, in your dominion, believe it is too powerful to drive out.
Another danger is assuming that Jezebel and Leviathan spirits are responsible for people’s actions, instead of the people themselves. Always remember: the person is the one with dominion, not a spirit. If a person is acting like a Jezebel or Leviathan spirit, it’s because, at some level, they are choosing to – not because they’re being overwhelmed.
To be clear: a demon could be at work in these situations. But it’s just a demon. It’s not a super-demon. It doesn’t take any extra work to cast out.
Command the demon to leave in Jesus’ Name. Send it to the Lake of Fire. If they don’t go, use Transformation Prayer to find the Solution keeping them in place. Let God speak truth to it, then watch the demons go.
Don’t pay any special attention to Leviathan or Jezebel spirits. They aren’t special. They are only lies from the devil intending to trick you into surrendering your dominion so they can stay and wreak havoc in your life.
Misconception 4: Hierarchies of Demons
This is a similar idea to the one above. Essentially, it claims there are hierarchies of demons, where stronger demons require more work to get rid of.
This, again, is a lie from the devil. The New Testament knows nothing of hierarchies of demons. Jesus simply casts out every demon He finds. The disciples and early Christians don’t worry at all about various kinds of demons.
Why should they? The Scriptures declare: “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 ESV).
It doesn’t matter how far up the hierarchy a demon is. It doesn’t matter how many demons there are.
You could be facing ten thousand of the highest-ranking demons — and the Holy Spirit of God in you is still greater than all of them combined.
The highest-ranking demon, the devil himself, has no power over you unless you believe his lies. If you know the truth, and you live it out, he cannot touch you.
Yet some will push back with the demon in Matthew 17. Jesus’ disciples struggle mightily, but they cannot cast a demon out of a young boy. When they asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast it out, Jesus tells them, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 NKJV).
Some will claim this verse indicates different “kinds” of demons, and that the stronger kind only comes out by prayer and fasting, not by casting it out.
The problem with that idea is that Jesus does not pray or fast. He simply casts it out.
When Jesus said it requires prayer and fasting, He wasn’t giving them an instruction manual. He was echoing what He said one verse earlier, that the disciples could not cast it out “because of your unbelief” (Matthew 17:20 NKJV).
In the chapter immediately before this, Jesus told His disciples for the first time that He needed to die to fulfill His work as Messiah. It shook the disciples so deeply that Peter rebuked Jesus openly.
The disciples didn’t expect Jesus to die. They expected Him to live forever, to reign as Messiah on the throne in Jerusalem from now until eternity. The news of His impending death crippled their faith.
To say it in the language we’ve been using in this book: they no longer submitted to God.
They didn’t want to submit to a Messiah who died.
Because they had stopped submitting to Jesus in their hearts, they could no longer resist and demon and cause it to flee.
They didn’t need prayer and fasting to gain extra spiritual power to cast out a super-demon. They needed prayer and fasting to recover their faith and choose to submit to Jesus once more.
Don’t believe the devil’s lies that his demons exist in hierarchies with ranges of power.
Believe the truth that the Spirit of God in you is greater than all demons combined, and no matter what kind of demon you face, the One is you is always greater.
And He is the One who gave you your dominion.
This post comprises the second part of Chapter 10 of my book Spiritual Warfare Made Simple. We’ll cover the entire book in this series of blog posts, along with additional content and Q&A. If you’d like a permanent copy for yourself or a friend, you can grab the ebook or paperback here!
