Thoughts for another day

May 16, 2012

Today's verse: Exek. 18:4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Across many retreat centers there're many preachers, even famous ones, preaching on various subjects, one being generational curses (the subject of our reflection) involving sins of our fore-fathers.  They preach saying they're cursed because of the atrocious sins they committed like idolatry, witchcraft, etc. and these curses coming down, generation to generation are believed to block God's blessings.  When a healing session is held and a person desperate to be healed isn't healed, he goes to the preacher asking why.  Many preachers  rather than say that healing is in God's hands and He decides who is to be healed, tell them they may have some unforgiven generational curses in their lives, so they can't be healed.  The poor man is plunged into despair not knowing how to get rid of these 'generational curses' so they can be free.

While there're many great men and women far better than me, and competent to speak on this, I speak not on my own but the Word of God in facing this contentious issue and first I'll take our Word above which should banish any fear in the heart of a man on generational curses on himself and his family.  In Ex. 20:5 is given the first idea of this concept where God speaks of visiting the sins of the fathers on his children even to the third and fourth generations. It's further stressed in Ex. 34:7, Nu. 14:8, Lev. 26:39, Deut. 5:9 and elsewhere.  But later, in many verses e.g. Deut. 24:16, 2 Ki. 14:6, Jer. 31:30 and our above verse, God has revoked the mandate where the children suffer for the sake of the sins of the parents.  Perhaps the notion of generational curses came through Lam. 5:7 where the people said, "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne (been punished for) their iniquities."

Sadly, the generational curse theme is still echoed and not by ordinary people but by preachers themselves forgetting that the great Sacrifice of Jesus has taken away any curse that may be upon His people.  Paul says, 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” Gal. 3:13 and of course Jesus Himself says, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  Let's remember that Jesus' Sacrifice has covered a multitude of sins and has swept away every curse and every principality from our lives.  If you're not healed during a miracle service, don't worry, it's not because of a generational curse, and I'll remind you of what Jesus said in Jn. 9:3 when they asked Him, 'who sinned' saying,  Yea“It wasn't that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.'', you may have a sickness that persists but keep trusting.  Keep aside all false talk and rely on God, and I'm sure His power will be displayed in your life.  Amen.