Generational Curses

There has been a lot of talk lately and even books written about the need to cleanse ourselves from things in our past that still affect us. Some people in the Christian community call these things bondages, and believe they have been handed down from parent to child for several generations … hence the name generational curses. I'm speaking about Christians, not just the average everyday adult who was raised in the normally dysfunctional environment of the average home.

I realize we all have what I call baggage that we carry along with us as adults. It can stem from abusive parents, fighting in the home, divorce; some even have things such as rape or incest that have shattered young lives, creating sick memories some people will never get rid of no matter what they do. They just move on and live with it.

So, that being the case, the books and all the teaching came along with good intentions. But … as a believer in Christ, I don't believe we should drag up all the old hurts, past mistakes and sins that were committed before we became Christians. How will it help your relationship if you dredge up things you did before you married your husband or wife? There are some things that only your Saviour should know about. Besides … He already knows and He loves you anyway.

If it's under the Blood of Jesus, He has already cleansed and washed away all your past sins, mistakes and failures … why try to drag them back up? It won't do you any good because they're not there anymore … unless you want to keep them there.

Another item that some people in the church identify as a problem is called "soul ties" which generally have to do with past love affairs or some type of sexual relationship that wasn't right and subconsciously keeps coming back to haunt you. I don't know if soul ties are even real. It sounds to me more like the devil bringing condemnation to your soul for the purpose of maintaining your ties to him.

Psychologists teach that one of the reasons for waiting till marriage to have sexual relations with the opposite sex is that every time you have sex, subconsciously your mind goes back to your very first sexual partner. I believe that's why God said being sexually intimate makes you one flesh with that person; and guess what, three in a marriage will not work. You will still be tied to that other person in your psychic unless Jesus sets you free from your past.

Okay … now I want to look at what the Word of God has to say about generational curses and where this term came from. The only thing we are cursed with that can be passed on and is passed on from generation to generation is not really iniquity or sin. It is Adam's sin nature that has been passed on to each new generation. That is a spiritual law decreed by God.

The phrase "generational curse" is a misunderstood thought from the Old Testament that says … the sins of the fathers can be passed on to the children.

The thought comes from one of the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:5 … "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, (idols) nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me …"

"Visiting the iniquity" doesn't mean passing on the sin from father to son. Visiting the iniquity or sin of the fathers upon the children is implied only … if the children walk in the steps of their fathers. Why? Because no man can be condemned by God for a crime of which he was never guilty … see Ezekiel 18 below.

The sin of idolatry is the iniquity or sin spoken of in this verse and by visiting the sins of idolatry refers principally to national judgments of God. By God withdrawing His protection, the idolatrous Israelites were delivered into the hands of their enemies … to the third and fourth generations successively. This was the generational curse God brought upon or visited to the fourth generation.

These national judgments, that continued from generation to generation, appear to be what are meant by the words in the text, "Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children," etc.

This curse didn't just happen; it says God made it happen. If you believe this curse is still true today, then you are saying God is still actively judging us under the Law. That cannot be true. God no longer judges under the Law since Jesus fulfilled all the Law, and became a curse for us.

Besides that … an innocent person will never be treated as if he were a transgressor, by a just and Holy God.

Some six to eight hundred years after the Law was given, Ezekiel declares how God is now going to handle these so called generational curses.

Ezekiel 18:1-3 … "The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying …
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?
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel."

God is saying in verse 3 … He would no longer visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. (My translation)

Eze. 18:19 … "Yet say ye, Why doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live."

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 son shall not be punished for the sins of the father, nor shall the father be punished for the sins of the son. Each soul, whether parent or offspring, will only be judged by God for their own personal sin. If repentance of a sin … stops judgment for that sin, and it does; how can that sin or the curse of that sin still be passed on?

Concerning generational curses and soul ties of which I am not an expert; (I know nothing about them personally) but from what is in the Word, I therefore conclude … that Satan is the accuser of the brethren; that he is the one who keeps bringing up your past sins, failures, etc., not God.

Jesus has done all that needs to be done. His work was complete; you can't add anything to it. We don't cleanse our own souls, Jesus does. Jesus set you free from the curse of the Law.

The Apostle Paul states in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 … "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Don't allow anyone to tell you something else must be done; that you need to be delivered from the past ties or have your soul cleansed. Jesus has already done all that for you with His Cleansing Stream; His blood that ran down the cross. If you are in Christ Jesus, you have already been washed by the water of the Word and all things have become new. Believe it and act like it.

I would be doing the Word of God injustice, if I were to conclude … that Christ's death on the cross was not sufficient; that God the Father sent Jesus to only go part of the way; that Jesus didn't pay the full price for sin; that just a little more cleansing or deliverance is required; that we must somehow add to what Jesus has done to be completely set free.

Well, I say … if Jesus didn't do enough, then it won't get done.



Comments welcome.