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 Breaking Curses, Including Breaking Generational Curses (book by Eric Gondwe)
Chapter 4. Three Sources of Curses: God, People & Self-Infliction Three Sources of Curses: God, People and Self-Infliction Where do curses come or originate from? There are three sources of curses: - Curses from God: Using his law and from the Original Sin,
- Self-inflicted or self-induced curses – through negative talk, utterances, words, and confession that is self-directed,
- Curses from people - through outward expressions that include face to face dialogue, written statements, and prayers.
Notice that Satan is not among the sources of curses. Some people like Rebecca Brown believe Satan curses people. This is not biblical. No wonder such people are so obsessed and preoccupied with Satan. They are constantly on the defensive over his assumed powers and trying to directly fight him with their own assumed authority. My book on spiritual warfare, titled Major Spiritual Warfare Principles: Biblical Do’s and Don’ts of Warfare, covers on such matters. Satan cannot curse. He can only influence us to fall under God’s curse or fall under a curse from fellow people. Above I outlined the barrier Satan has on directly being able to curse people. I said spirits do not have physical bodies. They cannot express themselves in the physical realm. Curses have to be physically expressed orally or in writing. 1. Curses from God: Using His Law and from the Original Sin There are two broad categories of God’s curses: - Curses from the Original Sin (appropriately classified in the bible as the fallen nature, the corrupted nature, the flesh),
- Curses from the breaking his law (the curse of the law).
Understanding the difference of the two types of curses from God is key to ensuring we do not easily label some unpleasant and undesirable matter as a curse from God. The nature from the Original Sin is what we innocently inherited from Adam. God cursed Adam and consequently all humanity after he sinned in the Garden of Eden. The whole world, including us God’s children is under the curse of the Original Sin. Such a curse is better called the fallen nature, the corrupted nature, the flesh, and so on. It is hardly, if ever, referred to as a curse. The fallen nature is what makes us imperfect physically in our physical health and physical looks, and spiritually in our minds, understanding and behavior. Thus under this corrupted nature that came through the Original Sin even our understanding is not perfect. Accordingly we now can burry the issue about the fallen nature being a curse. It is among the seven unpleasant and undesirable matters covered in the previous chapter. We can now move on to God’s valid curses that are brought upon us through our own input, not through Adam. Such curses are normally called the curse of the law. For God to pronounce curses may be a bit of a puzzle. It may seem so since one of the conditions for a curse to operate is that it needs to find expression in the physical realm, verbally or in writing. God is Spirit and thus has confined himself to the spirit realm. How then is God able to pronounce his curses in the physical realm? God had to find a physical vessel to express his blessings and curses. Being God he could still overrule whatever conditions he sets. But he chose to operate within his rules of operation even on curses. So he found physical vessels to express his blessings and curses. He used his human servants, particularly Moses, to put his words in writing. The main contents of his words on blessings and curses are found in the Books of the Law. These are the five books of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy). The Jews refer to them as the Torah, which means teaching or instruction. In this case the teaching is the teaching of the law. Orthodox Jews (Traditionalist Jews) like in the ancient days still read portions of the Torah every Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath). They follow the following instruction from God: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go,” Joshua 1:8-9. Thus God’s curses are based on his written law or covenant he made to us. They are not just random curses God throws out. They are based on violations of his word. His blessings and curses are according to all that is written in the Book of the Law – God’s word. The book of Deuteronomy has the major details about God’s law with consequences on each side - good consequences for following it and bad consequences for violating it. In this respect a curse is a punishment for violating God’s instructions. Thus for committing a sin God brings a curse or an unpleasant and undesirable matter into a violator’s life. Anything that is harvested as a result of committing a sin can be appropriately called a curse. This does not mean God loves this game of placing curses or unpleasant and undesirable matters into people’s lives. For Christians and unbelievers alike the unpleasant and undesirable matters are intended to capture their attention to seek to remedy the problem. They are his rod of discipline. It’s like an illness. When a person is ill he/she won’t just sit by and endure the sickness, particularly if it’s serious enough. He will seek medical attention to resolve or cure the illness. In God’s eyes this is what unpleasant and undesirable matters in form of curses are for. They’re intended to inform us to make amends or changes over our wrongs (sins). In fact God does not go on a cursing rampage over every wrong we commit. Please read the following scripture about God’s love: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust,” Psalm 103:10-14. God’s curses are primarily called the curse of the law because the curses are assigned in connection with breaking the law or God’s word. The curse of the law comprises of numerous curses from which God selects and assigns an individual who has violated some of his laws. God’s curses are sometimes called the curse of God because God is the one that assigns the curse. The individual who willfully chooses not to follow or ignorantly fails to follow God’s statutes in his word finds himself in a trap. It’s therefore not an arbitrary curse that God assigns just because he feels like placing it on someone. It is based on an individual’s obedience or disobedience to God’s statutes. Someone may say we have been freed from the curse of the law. This is very true. We have been freed from all its ritualistic regulations and the animal sacrifices we had to make to pay for our sins. Jesus became our one-time sacrifice and paid the price for the consequences of being under it. And so on. More on Christ’s work is covered in Chapter 7 “Breaking Curses from God: No.1 Source of Curses.” This chapter focuses on the curses from God and their consequences even on believers. Being freed from the burden of being under the Old Testament law did not mean we now received a license to sin with no consequences whatsoever. The bible is clear about this. That’s why we received the Holy Spirit to help us live holy lives. When we reject the promptings of the Holy Spirit not to sin we move into a risky area. The bible says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps whatever he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit will reap eternal life,” Galatians 6:7-8. So what we can say about the Old Testament law is that though it may not apply to us in its strict sense its principles still apply to us. The rituals, sacrifices and condemnation it carried no longer apply to us. But its principles of sowing and reaping still apply to us. The Old Testament law was actually a shadow of the things that were to come. What was to come was Jesus and the resulting law of the Spirit written in us: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ,” Colossians 2:16-17 (emphasis added). Jesus came and for those of us born again we now have the unseen law of the Spirit at work in us. “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit,” Romans 8:2-4. Why was the old law done away with? The answer is right above: “In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us,” Romans 8:4. So the righteous requirements of the old law are still required by the new law. The requirements for righteousness in the old law failed to be fulfilled by us. All humanity did was perform endless rituals without being convicted to live uprightly. More content available in the Second Edition of the book: Click here to acquire it 2. Self-inflicted curses “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit,” Proverbs 18:21. Remember a curse is an outward expression of ill will or misfortune. And who is a bigger expert at making ill statements more than people to their own selves? In fact, this is a far bigger cause of problems among people than curses from people. The number one source of curses remains God. This does not sound nice but that’s his way of responding to sin. It’s his way in the Old Testament and in the New too as was covered above. The beauty about being in the New Testament (New Covenant) era is that through Christ we don’t have to go out and sacrifice animals to pay for our sins. In addition the sacrifices were insufficient to provide atonement or payment for the sins committed (Hebrews 10:4-10). Now “there is no longer any sacrifice for sin,” Hebrews 10:18. In the New Covenant Jesus became our sacrifice, our one time sacrifice. This means when someone sins or wrongs God all that God requires is repentance with no animal sacrifices. In addition God did more for us to enable us not to keep sinning. He put his law in our hearts. “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” Hebrews 10:16. But more on this in Chapter 7 “Breaking Curses from God: No.1 Source of Curses.” Let’s move on to this section’s topic on self-inflicted curses. Nobody in their right mind would knowingly wish ill on themselves. Thus when someone assigns a curse on himself/herself it’s nearly always as a result of ignorance. The person assumes he/she is just uttering mere words. In the realm of the spirit there are no mere words. That’s why we’ll be judged not just by our actions but even over the words we said. “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned,” Matthew 12:36-37. Through negative talk, utterances, words, and confession that is self-directed people curse themselves. God made our words to have creative powers. Just as he created everything from nothing by speaking it into being he assigned the same power over our words. More content available in the Second Edition of the book: Click here to acquire it 3. Curses from People The curse from people is just as it says - curse originating from people. It comes through outward expressions that include face to face verbal dialogue, written statements, and prayers. A person uttering a curse may be a known person to the individual, an unknown person, or even someone in the occult. The motive for uttering the curse may vary. It may include a deliberate desire to wish evil against a person, it may be as a result of a conflict and misunderstanding. It may also stem from carelessness and ignorance of the “curser” who assumes he/she is just uttering mere words. Whoever the source of the curse is and whatever the motive for cursing the five conditions outlined in the previous chapter must all apply for a curse to have any effect on the victim. Thus curses from people are based on outward expressions of ill will or misfortune towards someone. They are not just bad thoughts, feelings of anger or hatred towards someone. Curses are not telepathic or psychical. My other book on breaking spells deals with overcoming matters on telepathy, the psychic and tapping into the spirit world. It’s titled, Breaking Occult Spells: Protection from Witchcraft and Occult Influences. Neither can curses be received through a dream, vision, apparition, or any spiritual phenomena. They can only be expressed in the physical or earthly realm, not spiritual realm. Until such mental or any spiritual phenomena are physically uttered whether verbally or in writing they cannot result in a curse. Curses have to be expressed in the physical realm for them to have any weight. Until such mental thoughts are physically uttered they cannot result in a curse. This outward expression includes face to face dialogue, written statements, prayers of ill will or misfortune against someone. Prayers of ill will are directed to God, seeking him to punish a person(s) or object. This was common in the Old Testament where they had physical enemies around them. They would pray to God to punish their physical enemies. It was “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” Matthew 5:43. In the New Testament it is, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:44. There are exceptions, though exceptions do not invalidate the rule. For example Jesus made proclamations of ill will against the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Mathew 23 for instance is the chapter of the seven woes: “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees...” In another example, Paul had Hymenaeus and Alexander among others “handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme,” (1 Timothy 1:20). He did not go to Satan and say “here are these guys, you can have them.” He prayed to God to have them be tormented by Satan. It’s possible that this was for a season after which Paul prayed for their deliverance. It says, “so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.” Paul’s motives were pure: to have them learn not to blaspheme. Once they leant not to blaspheme God it is likely they were rescued. The issue of praying against others ought not to be entertained in the body of Christ. Neither should we be making proclamations of ill will against others and calling them “woes.” It’s not fitting to use exceptions in scripture and make them the norm. In the late 1990s while in Nairobi, Kenya I went to a church that I later discovered used such teachings. They prayed against their enemies, seeking God to reign terror on their lives. On the day I woke up I went to seek help over family conflicts –had major differences with siblings. A prominent person there said my enemies will scatter because God says he curses those who curse us. Wha-a-a-t!! I wished for peace and understanding in my family not woe and destruction against them! That was the last time I ever set foot there – after three years of zealous dedication and military style submission. God did later resolve the family conflicts in a loving way. And I got my brains back. Never again will I blindly accept teachings without using the mind of Christ inside of me. The bible says we have the “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) powered by the Spirit of God who lives in us. If we just swallow everything others say whether in church, in books, and so on without any inner analysis we could easily fall for erroneous teachings. My lesson is being shared with the burden to equip fellow believers in growing to exercise their personal responsibility in their Christian lives. If you’re in Nairobi, Kenya you may be curious what church this could be that I had a good lesson from. It’s my hope and prayer that they’ve now aligned themselves with scripture on this area. The church is called Winners’ Chapel. During the three years with them they were also heavy on the out of context prosperity gospel. As a young newly saved Christian such teachings matched so well with a business degree (MBA) I was studying at the time. Never questioned their obsession with material wealth until this cursing experience. Their headquarters is now in London, UK, once in Lagos, Nigeria. They’ve many branches in many African countries and a few in North America. Some have labeled Winners’ Chapel as a cult implying they worship Satan. Such statements only show spiritual immaturity, arrogance and disregard for church history. Christian history is littered with shocking misinterpretations of scripture worse than those embraced by the likes of Winners’ Chapel. Think of slavery, denial of basic (and biblical) rights to women, abusive church authority, oppression of non-Christians, including oppression of the Jews, and so on. Where these churches that embraced teachings that misinterpreted scripture all cults worshipping Satan? Deceived: yes. False prophets: some. Devil worshipping: no. Even today the body of Christ is so diverse that with a judgmental mentality we’d easily label each other cults over differences and misinterpretations on minors. More content available in the Second Edition of the book: Click here to acquire it Breaking Curses, Including Breaking Generational Curses:
i. INTRODUCTION: Breaking Curses, Including Breaking Generational Curses
Chapter 1. What is a Curse and the Nature of Curses? (What are curses?)
Chapter 2. Five Conditions for Cursing Words Before Resulting into Curses
Chapter 3. What Curses are Not: Matters that do not Constitute Curses
Chapter 4. Three Sources of Curses: God, People and Self-Infliction
Chapter 5. Can Satan Bring Curses? Can Satan Curse People?
Chapter 6. The Nature of Angels: God’s Angels and Fallen Angels
Chapter 7. Breaking Curses from God: No. 1 Source of Curses
Chapter 8. Breaking Curses from Self-infliction: No. 2 Source of Curses
Chapter 9. Breaking Curses from People: No. 3 Source of Curses
Chapter 10. Breaking Generational Curses: God’s Traditional & Non-Traditional Ways
Chapter 11. Deliverance from Unforgiveness Curses by Overcoming Unforgiveness
Chapter 12. Deliverance from Family Curses: Breaking Family Curses
Chapter 13. Familiar Spirits: Eliminating Myths from a Biblical Perspective
* Breaking Curses Book References
* Breaking Curses Book Index Breaking Curses, Including Breaking Generational Curses (book by Eric Gondwe)
©2013 Eric Gondwe
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