Should Christians Fear Curses?
J____ wrote:
Hi again Mike,
If I may be so bold, I’d like a bit more of your wise counsel. It further concerns my friend’s girlfriend’s situation with a family curse. I’ve been approached by my friend to see if there is anything I can do to help his girlfriend’s mother. I’ve in the past in the church been on several deliverances and house cleansings, but I no longer feel they were of any use if the Holy Spirit of God is not there. The curse goes back to 1952 when she lived in Africa. Apparently there was a coven that was doing all sorts of abominations and mutilations and murders. The mother of my friend’s girlfriend was only 3 at that time. Her father was a big- time judge, and he was responsible for sentencing the gang to life in prison. Four of them were tribal witch doctors (Shamen), and she says her grandmother told her that they cursed the judge, her husband and the whole family. Now where that seems to hold some weight is in the amount of calamity that has befallen 3 generations since that day. The Judge died suddenly a short time after; the grandmother re- married and her second husband went bezerk and held the entire family in the house in a seige which ended in him shooting himself dead with a shotgun to his head. The grandmother re- married three more times each one failing. The trauma effected the mother in question very badly. Just recently one of the grand- daughters, my friend’s girlfriend has lost her 18 month old daughter to a mysterious illness in her sleep like a cot death, crashed her car nearly killing herself and then had to be rushed back into hospital for a kidney infection that put her in intensive care for three days. Her two brothers have emotional and psychological problems. There is more actually, but I think you get the picture, Mike. My dilemma is if I can be of help, what should I do. I think they are desperate for some sound spirit- filled advice and action, they’re all at their wits end as you can imagine. I am prepared to walk the extra mile if God wants to use me in this situation. Thanks for listening. Any advice as always is greatly appreciated. NONE THE LESS GOD’S WILL, WILL BE DONE.
J____
Hi J____,
Reading your e- mail it does sound like your friend’s girlfriend’s family is indeed under a curse. But I don’t know what you can do to help. So long as they believe in that curse they are under it. Here is why:
Eze 14:3 (a) Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face:
If that family believes that an evil spirit has cursed them, then “as they think in their heart so are they:”
Pro 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
Ezekiel reaffirms this Proverb in these words:
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart , and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
In other words, if we believe a lie, then the Lord will answer us according to how we think; “For as he thinketh in his heart so is he.”
Here is what you are up against:
Eze 14:8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I [ am] the LORD.
Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Now on the other side of the coin is this story:
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
So if we believe that we are cursed, then we are cursed. If on the other hand, we believe that God has given Christ all power in heaven and in earth, and if we believe that we are his elect, the apple of His eye, and that He is in us, then there certainly is no room for the spirit of the Adversary, the spirit of fear within us. If Christ is in us, then fear will vanish. If we give up our life, then we have nothing to fear because we have nothing to lose. On the other hand, if we strive to cling to our lives, we are not worthy of Christ, and He is not in us, and we are subject to fear.
1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
I think you are familiar with 1Pe 4:17, “judgment is now on the house of God.”
Now it all boils down to whether we have faith that Christ can cast out this spirit of fear. If we have that faith, it is a gift from God. If we realize that we don’t have that faith then we need to be like the father of the demoniac son:
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, [ Thou] dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26 And [ the spirit] cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
This man actually realized that his faith was not his faith; it was all of God.
But there is another very revealing truth in this story: “And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.”
The deliverance from our idols of our hearts “tears us sore” and leaves us “as one dead.” It is an excruciating experience to be delivered from an evil spirit. To give up “all that is in the world; the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life” is to give up on this life entirely and to become “as one dead.”
The Bible specifically denies that there are ‘generational curses.’ It is only nine chapters later in this same book of Ezekiel:
Eze 18:1 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
Eze 18:2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
Eze 18:3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
“The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him;” it will not be on his son. Now if the son is also wicked, then his wickedness will be on him, but it will not be because of the sins of his father.
If we continue to have faith in the curses of some helpless evil spirit then Christ will answer us “according to our faith,” or as Ezekiel puts it “according to the idols of our heart.” Remember, when the unclean spirit is gone out, if the Holy Spirit and its Truth do not replace that spirit, it comes back and brings with it seven even more insidious spirits.
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Unless and until your friend’s girlfriend’s mother puts her faith in these consoling and truthful words of Christ, she will be under this curse. When she believes these words then she will be delivered:
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
“I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” You see how very impotent is the evil spirit. It is the evil spirit that is really under our curse. He is under our feet, and not the other way around.
You say,
“I think they are desperate for some sound spirit filled advice and action, they are all at their wits end as you can imagine.”
“Spirit filled” is scripture filled:
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth [ Greek – gives life]; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
I will pray with you that God will give your friend’s girlfriend’s mother the faith to believe these words of our Lord and defy her belief that she is under a curse. But this will do her no good if she remains in Babylon. I’m pleased that you are “willing to walk the extra mile,” but don’t confuse your willingness to help with “casting your pearls before swine.” If these brothers and sisters are asking you about God’s Word, that is a good sign. But if they simply want a demon exorcised, then that is a bad sign. Believing in this curse is simply symptomatic of an even deeper spiritual problem. It is a symptom of a spiritual Babylonian foundation which is built upon weak and shifting sand. When she comes out of Babylon then she will also know the truth of these words of our Lord. These “words are a [ new] spirit” which that evil spirit will find when he returns to his old home. He will not “find it empty.”
Mike
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