Deuteronomy 28:22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Please note that some of the manifestations of this curse resulted in SICKNESS!!! Now, everybody wants to quote Galatians 3:13 and assume that upon the new birth you automatically inherit this blessing in manifestation in your life.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.
What the church has missed for years is that just because you have received something spiritually and legally doesn't mean you will automatically manifest it physically.
Now listen, saints, if this verse came to pass immediately upon the new birth, we would never see sickness that was caused by disobedience to God's Word. You see, many diseases today are caused by sins... your's or your parent's. If what I am teaching you is true, we will be able to expose the devil and some of his pathways into our bodies.
We will begin to understand how he brings sickness into our lives. If you dismiss the reality of a generational curse, you have just closed the door on this entire field of sickness and disease. And if a generational curse or sin is the cause of your sickness, what are the chances you will be free?
I know what some smart person is saying right now. "Jesus made me free." Yeah right! I know he made you free legally and spiritually. However, how do you account for the ridiculous number of sick Christians in this world? Our problem has always been moving from the legal to the experiential in Christianity.
Do you know that there are over 600 genetically inherited diseases? What do you think genetically inherited diseases are? Have you ever given thought to the possibility that some may be the outworking of a generational curse? Do I have your attention yet?
You know, when I started working in the field of deliverance; God quickly showed me that demons got in some people because of the sins of their ancestors. Some people laughed at me, but those who work in the deliverance field know different, don't you?
I often asked myself the question, "Why did God teach me the deliverance field first before I began to learn about the healing field? I know the answer to that question now. You see, no one will ever be the way God wants them to, unless they are aware of this aspect of ministering. For many sicknesses are rooted in the spiritual realm and some are caused by demons. Moreover, if the church does not get their head out of the sand, many more of our people will remain sick and die prematurely. I, for one, will not stand by and let the Devil abuse God's people in this area any longer.
Generational curses result in some diseases. Now, I'd like to try to handle, though I'm not sure if space will allow me, a verse of scripture that many use to prove that there is no such thing as a generational curse in our day and time.
Some teach it was all handled in the atonement. It is true that in the atonement and our acceptance of Christ, we are saved. However, NO ONE enters into all the varied provisions of salvation simultaneously. It is normal and expected for a Christian to progress from stage to stage, from one provision to another.
I Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Now, let me give you the verse that many use to disprove the reality of a generational curse.
Ezekiel 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.
Now, we must remember that a seemingly contradictory scripture must be understood in light of the many clear scriptures on the same subject. The problem with using this verse to prove there are no generational curses is that you must ignore the context and dozens of other clear scriptures to do so.
If you read the context beginning with verse 1, we find that God asked Ezekiel about a proverb being circulated. The proverb (The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge) must have been well known in Israel because Jeremiah also quoted it. (Jeremiah 31:29-30.) The proverb's point was that children were suffering because of their parents' sins.
True, Jerusalem was suffering, but as stated in the proverb, the people thought they were suffering not because of their sins, but because of their parents' sins. So these people were blaming God for punishing them unjustly.
God saw that this false proverb had to be refuted. Yet, as with all false doctrines, a half-truth in the teaching made it seem plausible. In the Ten Commandments, God indicated the He was "a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me." (Exodus 20:5) This same truth was repeated in Exodus 34:6-7 and Deuteronomy 5:9.
Blaming others for their misfortunes, the people were denying their own guilt. This was wrong because every individual is personally responsible to God. However, like people do today when they don't want to own up to their own shortcomings, they shift the blame to someone else.
This is using God's Word to prove you are suffering for some reason other than your own SIN. When you refuse to take responsibility for your life, God's hands are tied, and you will receive that which you sow.
You see, in the book of Ezekiel, all God was trying to do was to get Israel honest by way of the prophet. They were in a very bad way because of their disobedience. Read Ezekiel 16:15 - 29 if you don't believe me.
In spite of their proverb, "The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," God still could save them from death of the invasion and captivity if they repented and took responsibility for their actions. God never gave up on them in spite of their hardheartedness and disobedience.
Israel had charged God with unrighteousness, but God now turned the tables. "Is it not your ways that are unjust?" (Ezekiel 18:29; Job 40:8) Ezekiel reminded Israel of the responsibility for sin borne by each member of the nation. ( I will judge you, each one according to his ways.)
If Israel fell, it would be for the sins of her own generation. Because of this, the nation needed to repent if she hoped to escape. Israel needed spiritual renewal. The people needed to get rid of their offenses and get a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26). The life or death of the people depended on their individual responses to God. Those who continued to rebel would die; those who repented and turned from sin would live.
Look at verse 32.
Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure, in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Can it be any clearer? It's not honest to pull a verse out of context to try to prove your denominational theology. What is worse than that is, if a generational issue is the cause of a sickness or problem, telling people that curses don't exist any longer will DOOM that soul to torment and possibly early death.
For, if generational curses are not real, we will never deal with them as the cause of the problem. At best we will deal with the symptoms the rest of our lives, being scolded by uninstructed ministers and told to renew our minds and believe God.
Hosea 4:6a My people are destroyed for lack, of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge...
My prayer is that you don't reject the knowledge of God.ÿ
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NLT indicates the New Living Translation, NAS indicates the New American Standard version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, NJB means the New Jerusalem Bible, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.