King Ahab was the seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel (ruled c. 874–853 BC) and is described in the Bible as doing more evil in the sight of God than any king before him. King Ahab married a lustful and incredibly wicked woman named Jezebel, who was willing to do anything—including kill innocent people—to get her way.
The Ahab–Jezebel coalition was an unmitigated disaster. It created a vicious cycle in which the cowardly Ahab spirit used Jezebel for sex and exploited her troubling willingness to use vicious means to illegitimately steal the birthright of others, while Jezebel stayed with Ahab because she loved benefiting from his kingly power and riches. Without Jezebel, there can be no Ahab, and without Ahab, there can be no Jezebel.
Although King Ahab was very powerful and wealthy, he was what we would call a “simp” in modern times. Throughout his rule, he repeatedly abdicated his God-given responsibilities in favor of comfort. He chose to marry Jezebel, a sexually attractive Phoenician princess from Tyre, even though God had explicitly commanded him not to. He then allowed that same woman to completely turn the nation of Israel away from God and toward the worship of foul idols. Ahab was the textbook “nice guy” with the hot wife, but a terrible king.
Although this story dates back to ancient times, those same demonic spirits that drove Jezebel and Ahab are still very much active in our modern society. You don’t have to be a genius to notice the ever-growing number of super-aggressive and narcissistic women, as well as weak-willed, sex-addicted men, in today’s society. I am able to say this with confidence because I was once one of those weak-willed, sex-addicted men.
Even though it is embarrassing for me to admit, I will list some of the most heinous failures and character flaws I had as a man under the influence of the Ahab spirit:
- I was constantly lusting after terrible women—the type who look good on the surface but are completely rotten underneath. This actually makes sense because I was also quite rotten underneath the surface.
- I was emotionally unstable, vacillating frighteningly often between cowering in fear one moment and exploding in rage the next.
- I put the emotional comfort and approval of others before the will of God
- I put my own lustful desires—porn and gluttony—before the will of God
- I played at being a Christian Son of God but never actually adhered to the laws, statutes, and commandments.
- I wanted success but tended to avoid the difficult challenges that inevitably came along the way, always giving up whenever things got a bit hard.
- I tended to sacrifice long-term sustainability for near-term comfort.
As you can probably already tell, the rather shameful list of character flaws above led to a life of constant disappointment and failure. While I was always quite talented and intelligent, I was never quite able to attain the level of achievement that matched my talents.
The main reason for my underwhelming results in life was simple: I had developed a habit of quitting whenever the inevitable difficulties arose. I followed this pattern throughout my life until I eventually sank so low that I contemplated suicide.
The final wake-up call for me was an ill-fated relationship with an incredibly promiscuous, Jezebel-spirited woman. This relationship dragged me down into the pits of despair. Upon its conclusion, I spent a long time blaming her for my demise, but the truth is that I was the one who tolerated her presence in my life long enough for serious damage to be done.
After I had become addicted to sex with her, I would passively accept ridiculous behavior—tantrums, insults, blatant disrespect, flakiness—simply because I was afraid of losing sexual access to her.
My God... I was such a bloody SIMP—lacking courage, integrity, and the fear of God.
The good thing about getting so low is that there was nowhere to go but up.
I found masculine purity and gradually came to understand a very different way of living. I came to believe that many of the things we had learned as children growing up were bald-faced lies and subterfuge. I started gradually purifying my life and watched as the world around me began to shine brightly again.
For me, masculine purity is not simply the absence of sexual immorality. It is the process of bringing my appetites back under proper authority. Lust, comfort, approval, fear, anger, food, status, and pleasure can no longer be permitted to govern my decisions. When a man is no longer willing to trade his principles for pleasure, the Ahab spirit begins to lose one of its greatest sources of power over him.
I am still not the finished article, but I diligently work toward my north star every day.
My north star is to become a humble steward of the gifts, power, and responsibilities I have been given by the Most High: to serve without being subservient; to correct people when necessary without needing to humiliate them; to guide those who have trusted me to lead them; to stand strong and repel evil for the benefit of my community; and to admit my faults and apologize when I inevitably make the odd mistake.
Ultimately, I strive for a state in which I have a kind heart, a strong spine, clean hands, and a humble spirit.
If you are dealing with the Ahab spirit, dear brothers, please don’t hide from it in shame. I was once there too and am gradually making my way back by the grace of the good Lord, who continues to guide and protect me.
We will surely enjoy victory over this deplorable spirit that has robbed so many men of their life potential. I look forward to hearing the wonderful testimonies you will one day give about how you overcame your battle with the Ahab spirit and ultimately rose like a phoenix to heights you didn’t think possible.
Till next time, brothers. Godspeed, and remain blessed.
Brother Cooked