CURSES

generational or otherwise

Generational Curses

One of the most frequently-asked questions for this site is whether there is such a thing as a "generational curse". It seems some preachers have been making a big point of it lately. They've been offering people freedom from these curses. People write, asking, "what are they talking about?"

I must start by being honest about this. I don't believe in curses, generational or otherwise. As I see it, curses are mere superstition. What a curse means is that someone wants bad things to happen to you. They're calling on some force or supernatural being to punish you. It's a negative spell. In spells, it is said that the words are important, in that they are the key to unlocking the door to action. But they mean nothing unless the door is opened. The resulting action is powered by the speaker's emotions, which in the case of curses, is the desire to do harm to someone, which is by its nature a form of hate. Ezekiel told us that each generation would be held responsible for its own sins (18:19-23). Why then would God have us pay (or allow the Devil to make us pay) for someone else's sin (the hatred behind giving a curse) in an earlier generation?

In the ancient Jewish world, the religious leadership believed that undeserved curses would not work. In fact, an undeserved curse would instead affect the one would made the curse. Folk belief, however, was not so sure of that.

The idea of 'generational' curses fits the cultural mode of the ancient Greco-Roman world, where permanence was treasured. They would literally set it in stone : the curse would be inscribed on tombstone material or a lead plate, then be left at some place of death, like a cemetery, or occasionally a well or dedicated place for a mythological figure that gives the desired form of punishment. Lead and stone are record-keeping materials that last many generations.

Some Pentecostalist churches have very extensive teachings and ministries of deliverance from demons. In this worldview, demons are to blame for just about everything that goes wrong. One of the 'hot' items on their agenda nowadays is release from generational curses. According to this, even fully-believing Christians can somehow be living under a curse by someone from generations ago, and something must be done to end the curse. People used to live in terror over such things, fearing that the words themselves had some sort of power over them, but that was really just a satanic whisper into their ears, "you're powerless.... you're powerless...". Of course, as long as they believed it and acted according to it, they rendered themselves powerless. But the demonic realm has no such power of command, only the cunning to make you think it does. By rising from death, Jesus broke even what little power the demonic may have had of its own, (literally) once and for all. No power can bind what Jesus has set free.

Of course, this is not to say bad things are not handed from generation to generation -- inherited diseases and such. I have some behavioral traits that were characteristic of my great-grandfather. My grandfather learned them from him, and my father from grandpa, and me from dad. Some of these have caused me great anguish over the years. But they're not curses, imposed from the outside; they're things learned wrongly from the person who most shaped me, things that I can (and mostly have) changed. That's very different than a curse, in which an outside force or entity supposedly binds someone to evil happenings or to limits they can't escape. That assumes a kind of power the Devil does not have.

I hope that you, your pastor and church are not overrating the Devil and mere words. I ask that they start living in the freedom and vigor of the Holy Spirit. I pray they choose to look forward to God's Kingdom, not backward to the chains of deception.

One of the things pagan Europeans noticed about the first Christian missionaries to their land was how oblivious those missionaries were to the curses of their pagan priests. To the missionaries, the curses were just words; their mission was being done with the only real power, that of the Holy Spirit. The pagans were amazed. And eventually, converted.
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By the way : another of our most common email requests is that I show them how to curse someone or how to put a hex on someone. If that's what you're looking for, you should know that :

• hexes only work as far as the hexed person believes in the curse.
• God wants us to bless, not curse. (It has something to do with all that Jesus stuff about loving even your enemies.)
• your superstitious thinking leads you into a fantasy world where things do as you command.

Of course, I won't lead you to a site that would help you do such a warped thing as curse someone.

Cursèd letters!

Can this marriage be saved?

A reader writes :

>> HELP!!! [someone] put a curse on me that
>> neither me nor any of my offspring would ever
>> be happily married. Now, I'm on marriage #3 --
>> okay so far. My son (twice!) and eldest daughter each
>> had their marriages break up badly within a week of getting
>> married. Now my daughter from my second wife has announced
>> her engagement. I fear it's going to happen again. I just
>> can't let her go through what they (and I) went through.
>> How can I get the curse lifted, FAST?? And don't give me
>> any lip that it doesn't work, because obviously it does.

What's happened to you and your children didn't happen because of a curse. It happened because one or both parties refused to put their whole selves into the relationship, and that comes either from a poor choice of spouse or from being a poor choice of spouse, or both. They didn't do their homework on each other before getting married. They didn't take the time and effort to build trust and communication, or to learn to adjust to their prospective partner. They didn't find common interests. They didn't work at building up their partner with positive feedback. If they had, it almost certainly would not have broken up with such speed and anger. I hope your daughter is doing her homework right now. It's up to her to lay it all before God, to give her the insight to do it right. And there are no guarantees -- it could happen again. But if she does what she needs to do, it would become very unlikely.

A curse is just words, unless you make it into more. And as long as a curse gets the blame, the person cursed will not take responsibility to change what's going wrong.

To curse, or to bless?

Another writes :

>> Can a Buddhist pray to put curses on me, a Christian? If so,
>> how do I fight a spiritual battle in this situation?<

Someone who tries to use prayer to curse someone is not much of a Buddhist or a Christian. In fact, both the Buddhist way and the Christian way call on us to pray for other people's good, not for their harm. Historically, some adherents to each way have tried to bring back using curses at various times.

God does not operate that way, and is quite displeased with those who try to manipulate for hateful purposes the One who hears prayer. So I wouldn't worry about such a spiritual enemy -- by his trying to curse, he heaps hot coals upon his own head. For the one who places curses, there's no such thing as 'safe hex'.

Cursed by God?

a recovering addict writes:

> I am very sad that I ever offended our Holy Spirit. Can you
> please help me? Am I cursed forever?

Jesus rose from the dead. You're still sucking breath, aren't you? So to resurrect your relationship with God is not hard at all. You've given yourself back to Christ. So, no, you're not 'cursed by God' anymore (you never were - you and your drugs were cursing you). Once you let the Spirit do his thing in you, the past stuff is past. Your slate is clean! Time to start writing some good new things on it.

It is good that you feel the sadness of it. Remember that when you start trying to do things on your own power again. But don't think on it too much, there's too much ahead of you.

Deliverance From a Pastor

a church member writes:

> My pastor has commanded that I bring him my son, who is slow of mind and mumbles a lot. He says my ex-wife put a curse on the child that makes him that way, and says he will take the curse off so my son can think again. He wants to do this at worship in front of everyone, then teach my son alone at his house. What should I do? (My ex-wife is my son's mother.) <

(1) Don't do it. Your son is not slow because of a hex from your ex, but probably from a medical problem.

(2) Don't let your son be with the pastor outside of clear public sight ('public' doesn't include the congregation, in this case). You may have to worship at another church to keep that distance -- a church that will hold him in prayer and care.

(3) There are very, very few women who would curse their own wombling-child that way. If she did try to hex him, stay as far out of her life as you can. If she didn't, she'll be so angry at the pastor you won't have to worry about making him pay for this, for she'll make sure of it.

(4) Your son may need special teaching to help make up for lost ground, or at least help him live with his slow-working mind. Your local schools or charities for learning may be able to show you where to go.