What is the “Jezebel spirit?” Some have likely pondered this question in the wake of recent drama surrounding controversial Pastor Mark Driscoll.

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Radio host and author Dr. Michael Brown told CBN the “Jezebel spirit” is tied to a demoniacal figure in the Old Testament named Jezebel.

“Jezebel is arguably the most wicked woman in the Bible,” Brown, host of Line of Fire Radio, said. “She was a Phoenician princess and an ardent worshiper of [the Canaan and Phoenicia god] Baal.”

He continued, “She married King Ahab, and together they helped bring Israel down into deep idolatry. And of course, she had a great battle with the Prophet Elijah.”

Brown said Jezebel, whose evils are documented in 1 Kings and 2 Kings 9, was “associated with idolatry” and also with “being seductive” and with witchcraft. Thus, when people speak about a “Jezebel spirit,” these are the types of issues they’re typically referencing.

Many believe Jezebel was the driving force behind much of the wickedness seen in these Scriptures and in Israel at the time. King Ahab is often presented as going along with these evils rather than resisting.

“When we refer to ‘Jezebel’s spirit,’ the reason that we come up with the idea is that she’s mentioned again in the New Testament,” Brown said.

Watch him explain:

He referenced the note seen in Revelation 2 to the Church in Thyatira. Despite exhibiting “love and faith,” this church faced a harsh rebuke from Jesus.

“I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet,” verse 20 reads. “By her teaching, she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”

The text continues in verses 21-23, “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So, I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

It’s unclear whether there was another person named Jezebel with these same qualities or whether the name was given because someone had “led people into sexual immorality and worship of idols,” Brown said. Regardless, he explained what people mean when they use the term.

“When we refer to a Jezebel spirit, what we mean is the same demonic powers that operated through her — seductive, leading into idolatry, emasculating, et cetera — those same demonic powers operating today,” he said. “Look at these things that are happening from radical feminism to abortion, because, in the ancient world, idols are often associated with child sacrifice, to porn and seduction, to the emasculating of men, et cetera. Put these things together; it’s Jezebelic.”

Brown even wrote a book on the topic a few years back, “Jezebel’s War With America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide.”

As CBN News recently reported, Driscoll most recently used the term “Jezebel spirit” during a now-infamous speech before the Stronger Men’s Conference at the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Missouri.

“I want to be very careful with this — and it’s not what I want to say,” Driscoll said during his speech. “But the Jezebel Spirit has already been here. The Jezebel Spirit opened our event.”

He continued, “This is a rebuke and a correction of no one. This is an observation. Before the Word of God was open, there was a platform; it was a high place. On it was a pole, an Asherah, the same thing that’s used in a strip club for women who have the Jezebel Spirit to seduce men. In front of that was a man, who ripped his shirt off like a woman does in front of a pole at a strip club,” he told the men as an air of discomfort seemed to fill the space.”

He was presumably referring to stuntman Alex Magala, whose performance at the conference sparked debate. Pastor John Lindell, who hosted the conference, initially booted Driscoll from the stage, and a disagreement — along with social media furor — followed.

Read more about the back-and-forth here.