Wormwood = Spirit of Bitterness

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This is a look at the Star Wormwood as a spiritual event, not a physical one.

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Guest Author

DJ Maxwell

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“The third angel blew [his] trumpet, and a huge star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it dropped on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— And the name of the star is Wormwood. A third part of the waters was changed into wormwood, and many people died from using the water, because it had become bitter” (Revelation 8:10-11, Amplified Bible).

I believe there is spiritual darkness (principalities and powers) that wars against believers as we read in Ephesians 6:10-13.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (NKJV).

There are several evil/demonic spirits that gravitate to and are under the direction of Jezebel, Leviathan and Wormwood.

Within Scripture, these named principalities and powers (evil spirits)  wreak havoc on the human condition (the flesh and soul).

Think of demons as having “personalities” and you’ll recognize them better, but there are degrees of personality with “manifestations” and “strongholds” on/over a person.

They can erupt and hide, but they can grow stronger over time. However, in the name of Jesus, they can be bound and cast out (Mark 16:17, Luke 10:17-19).

 

§ Jezebel: control, rebellion, seduction, selfish, possessiveness, unclean and other related sexual spirits

§ Leviathan: “monarch over pride” – arrogance, ego, treachery, vanity, jealousy, haughty, and stubborn, un-teachable

§ Wormwood: bitterness (which is rooted in un-forgiveness) – frustration, resentfulness, judgmental, anger/temper, hate and violence

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Spiritual Warfare

Demons can grow stronger over time with a secular environment cultivating them.

Believers are to put on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) – fitted and worn every day to combat with this spiritual war that rages against our flesh and soul.

I’ve experienced the oppression of demons (pride, bitterness, anger, seduction, selfishness, control and other spirits), then expelling them from myself by the authority He gives us. In the past year, I  expelled such spirits from a few other people too – thank you Lord!

Recently, my close friend expelled a  Jezebel spirit (rebellion), from his teenage daughter. Her deliverance from this vile/rebellious spirit was so obvious/evident that a social worker/counselor assigned to her care became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ after observing the positive change in the girl’s temperament and countenance. Her "personality change" came after her father’s 40 minute deliverance prayer one evening over a cell phone!

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Marianne has posted many topics on Jezebel. Each one is worthy of your reading and application.

§ Jezebel is the evil queen (1^st Kings 16-21 and 2 Kings 9) and a

prophetess of Baal. She is the spiritual warfare nemesis of Elijah (prophet of God).

§ Jezebel and the worship of Baal (sexual perversion, control/rebellion) are spoken in the same breath. She ruled King Ahab, influencing the idolatry pollution of the children of Israel with pagan worship practices. She continues to pollute the church (believers) today (Revelation 2:20-23).

§ She is also the adulterous woman in Proverbs. This spirit is working in “the world” (represented by Babylon and/or Egypt).

§  Jezebel is evident in women, men and even children.

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This evil spirit of control /rebellion is noted in Revelation chapter 2 as an antagonist/enemy to the church of Thyatira (which represents many believers) in the last days.

There is a direct correlation between Jezebel, Wormwood and the Church.

“But I have this against you: that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess [claiming to be inspired], and who is teaching and leading astray my servants and beguiling them into practicing sexual vice and eating food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she has no desire to repent of her immorality [symbolic of idolatry] and refuses to do so…Take note: I will throw her on a bed [of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to pressing distress and severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers and repent of their doings…And all the assemblies (churches) shall recognize and understand that I am He Who searches minds (the thoughts, feelings, and purposes) and the [inmost] hearts, and I will give to each of you [the reward for what you have done] as your work deserves. He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches)” (Revelation 2:18-29, Amplified Bible translation).

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Jezebel is bitter!

Now, please take note of these verses within Proverbs. There is something deep with a person bound by this Jezebel spirit.

Bitterness took root, opening up the door to control, seduction and revenge.

“The lips of an adulterous woman [rebellion, the world] drip with honey. Her kiss is smoother than oil, but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, as

sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet descend to death. Her steps lead straight to hell” (Proverbs 5:3-5, NKJV with commentary).

With this brief spiritual warfare background in mind (trusting you read Marianne’s postings on Jezebel), please consider the spiritual warfare regarding Wormwood : The Spirit of Bitterness.

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Evidence of Wormwood’s Work

The account of Job’s struggle (aka spiritual warfare) is renowned.

Job not only had to deal with the spirit of Leviathan (monarch over the children of pride with in chapters 3:8 and 41).

Job complains about bitterness too!

Do you know anyone who could say something like this or feel this way?

“As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling, who looks for the reward of his work, so am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise and the night be gone?’ And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day… My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more…He shall return no more to his house; neither shall his place know him anymore. Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord]!

…When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint, then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones” (Job 7:1-15, Amplified Bible translation).

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There is something at war with Job’s soul and flesh. Job was in the mists of spiritual warfare, battling Wormwood (bitterness) and Leviathan (pride)!

Satan attacked Job with two powerful “principalities and powers” because God gave Satan access to do so.

This was to test Job’s faith – his reliance upon God and not take his wife’s advice: “Renounce God and die!”

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Job overcame and was victorious. God knew Job’s heart, while under intense spiritual warfare he would remain faithful – all the way to the end. Job “overcame” and was rewarded with much more than Job had before. God rewarded Job for overcoming! (Sound like Revelation 12:11?)

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Now, please read these verses of Lamentations 3. The writer is much like Job. It is a description of the effects of the “great star, burning as a torch” in the souls of men and women during the last days. God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth – and for some believers (see Revelation 2 and 3), maybe it is to “Repent”.

“I am the man who has experienced suffering under the rod of God’s fury. God has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.

He beat me again and again all day long. He has

made my flesh and my skin waste away. He has broken my bones. He has attacked me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me live in darkness, like those who died a long time ago. He has blocked me so that I can’t get out.

He has put heavy chains on me. Even when I cry and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my way with cut stones and made my paths crooked. He is like a bear waiting to ambush me, like a lion in hiding. He has forced me off the road I was taking, torn me to pieces, and left me with nothing. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He has shot the arrows from his quiver into my heart. I have become a laughingstock to all my people. All day long they make fun of me with their songs. He has filled me with bitterness.

He has made me drink wormwood. He has ground my teeth with gravel. He has trampled me into the dust. My soul has been kept from enjoying peace. I have forgotten what happiness is… Remember my suffering and my aimless wandering, the wormwood and poison.

My soul continues to remember these things and is so discouraged… I said, ‘I’ve lost my strength to live and my hope in the Lord.’ Remember my suffering and my aimless wandering, the wormwood and poison. My soul continues to remember these things and is so discouraged” (Lamentations 3:1-20, God’s Word Translation).

This man has Wormwood running through his veins!

God allowed this evil spirit to do the work, bringing this man to “repent” and seek Him.

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How does this apply to Revelation?

In a matter of months, during the Great Tribulation period (last 3.5 years of Daniel’s timeline), Wormwood will be thrown into the water.

^“And the third angel sounded, and there fell from

heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of the waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (Revelation 8:10-11, American Standard Version).

Here is my interpretation of these verses.

§ Mankind is made of water (mostly) and dust.

§ There is a physical death and a spiritual death.

§ The river represents inter movements of the soul. The Holy Spirit is represented as a river of life. The Holy Spirit is the water that quenches the dry, trusty soul (the woman at the well). The Lord says in Revelation, 22:

“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life freely” (New King James Version).

§ This particular “great star” of Revelation, is the evil/demonic spirit of bitterness and one of the1/3 of stars, which fell from heaven with Lucifer (Revelation 12).

His rebellion established darkness,  and all those stars captured by his prideful rebellion became his spiritual warfare agents/minions/workers of inequity that battle our flesh and soul (spiritual warfare of Ephesians 6).

Well, my interpretations of the end of the age and His very soon coming (Matthew 24) are presented within Heaven Awaits:

“How do the Sheep Prepare”

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“Signs of the Heavens”.

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You may disagree with my interpretation of the end of the age and His soon coming after reading “How do the Sheep Prepare” and “Signs in the Heavens” (Matthew 24, 25 and Revelation 12). Okay.

You may conclude that the falling of this great star, Wormwood, is not relevant to you because you are going to be “raptured” before this star falls. Okay.

Or, you have concluded this star will not fall upon you or any believer because believers are not appointed to God’s wrath. Okay. But, if you hold to the “not subject to wrath” position, please consider these verses from Romans chapter 2, which are also written by Paul.

“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:3-11, American Standard Version).

Then, there is Revelation 22:18-19, which is for everyone without respect of persons (believer or unbeliever).

^“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of

the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (NKJV).

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Physical vs. Spiritual Wormwood

You may conclude that this “star” is a physical event and not spiritual warfare.

Wormwood would be an asteroid or comet falling upon the waters, polluting the water that leads to death.

Maybe this represents a nuclear reactor fracture, heating up the core and water that runs into the surrounding waters (Tokyo 2011, Chernobyl 1986). The result is spoiling water and soil, killing and destroying life in its path.

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I don’t think so, and here is why.

Please read Revelation Chapter 9:1-11 for another "star" that falls upon the earth.

This is clearly not physical/visible but spiritual/ demonic.

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The name of this "star falling from heaven" is the principality/power over the bottomless pit, Abaddon (named in verse 11).
This "star" is the king/ruler over the "locusts" described in verses 3-10.  Those locusts are demons from where Abaddon is the ruler – the Abyss.

Abaddon is the destroyer (Proverbs 27:20). But these locusts (demons) cannot kill the humans, as the men/woman pray for rocks to fall upon them.

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Wormwood is from the principality and power corner of the universe that brings Abaddon – one of Lucifer’s chief rulers (principalities and powers). Abaddon is another one of those stars cast out/down with Lucifer.

Consider these verses in regards to “stars” and you will see a pattern: Isaiah 14:12-20, Daniel 8:9-11, Jude 1:13, Revelation 6:13 and 12:3-4. I trust you will conclude that it is more likely the stars of Revelation are not a comet or an asteroid but demonic.

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Revelation contains a great deal of spiritual warfare language – principalities and powers -coming to earth (allowed by God), carrying out wrath – much like the Death Angel released over Egypt.

The Death Angel (could that be Abaddon the destroyer?) passed over the children of Israel (with the blood of a lamb, per God’s protection), killing the first born of Egypt (the un-righteous).

Therefore, it is my interpretation that the evil/demonic spirit of Wormwood will fall upon anyone’s soul holding bitterness, rooted in any un-forgiveness and resentment towards others.

Those souls holding bitterness receive all the more from this “falling star”.

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What are we to do?   Where do we turn?

As His children, believers in Christ the Lord – the Word made flesh, Wisdom of Proverbs and the King of Righteousness, Prince of Peace – please think about these verses within Amos.

The writing of Amos is prophetic and has some relevance to the end of the age/last days.

“Seek the Lord [inquire for and of Him and require Him] and you shall live, lest He rush down like fire upon the house of Joseph [representing the ten tribes] and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel [the center of their idol hopes]. You who turn justice into [the bitterness of] wormwood and cast righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) down to the ground, seek Him Who made the [cluster of stars called] Pleiades and [the constellation] Orion, Who turns the shadow of death or deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth—the Lord is His name” (Amos 5:6-8, Amplified Bible).

Pay close attention to the Wisdom of the living Word, our Lord:

“Fools make a mock of sin and sin mocks the fools [who are its victims; a sin offering made by them only mocks them, bringing them disappointment and disfavor], but among the upright there is the favor of God. The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish” (Proverbs 14:9-11, Amplified Bible).

Hebrews 12:15 gives us this Truth and it is written to “believers”. This message is for the wise virgin.

^“Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look

[after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it” (Amplified Bible).

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Wormwood is deadly to the soul. Within the letter to the Ephesians, where we are call to put on the Armor of God, fighting those principalities and powers – Paul writes in chapter 4 verse 31 this warning to all believers.

“Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind)” (Amplified Bible).

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Application

Regardless of positions (Pre-Trib rapture and subject to wrath positions), I implore you to inspect your heart (hardness and impenitent?).

No matter what our position or interpretation of the end of the age and His soon coming – our Lord said we are to forgive those who hurt us.

Forgive – as He has forgiven you for all your sins, faults, disappointing actions/thoughts and behaviors no matter how big or small.

Now, read and carefully, considering your heart and His words.

^“For if you forgive people their trespasses [their

reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15, Amplified Bible translation).

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Could you be treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God with un-forgiveness? Is there a bitter root to cut out?

Is Wormwood already present within you and it is now time to “repent” before the great star falls on the waters (souls)?

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The act of forgiveness rejects, overcomes, and defeats the evil spirit of bitterness. Your testimony (forgiveness, grace/mercy) and the Blood of the Lamb overcomes “he” and his minions (Revelation 12:11).

You do have a choice – forgive or hold un-forgiveness. Therefore, ascertain your response to the forgiveness of wrongs/sins of others towards you.

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All evil spirits hamper or restrict the work of the Spirit.   Joy and peace, and the gifts of the Spirit, which comes to those that love the Lord and obey His commandments (wise virgins), are critical in the last days. Our vessel is to be filled for us to be a wise virgin (Matthew 25).

I offer this prayer – a template for to you consider with a soft heart, seeking a closer relationship with God through Jesus Christ and extending yourself in a new, refreshing way to others.

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A Prayer of Forgiveness

“Father God, I reverence You as God. I believe You sent Your son, Jesus Christ, to redeem me from sin and death (eternal separation from You). I believe Jesus gave up His place with You in Glory, took on human form, taught and ministered to all people who would receive Him and submitted himself to unjust punishments (Philippians 2).

I believe Jesus, died on a cruel cross like a common criminal to absolve the debt of my personal sins, the iniquities of my forefathers and the sins of the world. I thank You for raising Jesus from the dead to live forever as my Great High Priest (Hebrews 9-11).

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Search me Lord for holding any un-forgiveness, bitterness, hatred, anger and desire for retaliation to towards anyone (Psalm 139:23).

You have told me in Your Word, that to be forgiven, I must forgive (Matthew 6:14-15).

I choose to obey Your Word (Matthew 19:17, John 14:14-21).

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Father, I plead the work of the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, as a blessed covering and authorization to come before You in this matter. I declare and confirm my forgiveness to:

§ Each and every person, living or dead, who has in any way hurt, disappointed, betrayed, failed, abused or caused unjust pain to me.

§ Every institution, organization or authority that has caused undue hardship in my life because of unfairness, thievery or deceptiveness.

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Father, I wait now for You to bring to my mind, through the Holy Spirit’s ministry, any specific person or situation I need to forgive so that my sin is removed it as far as the East is from the West.

I will to forgive: (Pause here, listen to what the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Then, specifically forgive each person or situation.)

Lord, I ask that Your wisdom envelops my mind as I take steps along the narrow path You place before me. Led me not into temptation but deliver me from evil. I repent, (turning from my selfishness/rebellion to your commandments) to walk in a new direction – along the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23).

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Today, show me where and how I can help others, speak words of encouragement, kindness and demonstrate Your love that You freely give to me (Ephesians 4:32).

Thank you Father God for all the blessings that You provide me and those in my care.

In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.”

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As Paul wrote, this is my prayer for you:

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13, NKJV).

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