ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on July 20, 2001
**Dear Mrs Teresa: **
**Your story is cut off, but from what I can gather your story sounds a LOT like a situation of a spirit of Jezebel. It sounds like your friend, the priest, was probably under the influence of the Jezebel spirit. The two women you described are probably the source. In nearly every parish there are at least one or two women with a Jezebel spirit who cause great problems in the parish and with the pastor. **
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on October 9, 2001
Dear Mrs: Teresa:
The situations you are relating are standard fare for the Jezebell Spirit. This insidious and grotesque spirit has infected many parishes. It usually attaches itself to women (and there are specific reasons for this), but men can be affected too.
In situations like this we need to remember that only God can deal with this. Sometimes we just need to back off and get out of harms way and retreat into prayer.
Prayer is the most important weapon. Prayer is what the Jezebell spirit does NOT want you to do. The tactic of the Jezebell spirit is to get a person upset and frustrated and intangled in parish intrigue and political struggles to the point that one’s prayer life suffers. When that happens, STOP, RETREAT, PRAY. Pray for this Parish Priest. He is obviously under severe pressure and harassment from this Jezebell Spirit. Pray for his fortitude and courage to stand up against these forces that are bringing the parish down. He can do a lot to rid the parish of this spirit by spiritual warfare prayer in the name of his priestly ministry and by taking control over the actions of these women and firing them from their positions of influence. He needs to remember that he is the boss, not them. Pray, pray, pray. That is the main weapon.
Here is an excellent web site on spiritual warfare.
saint-mike.org/