Breaking Generational Curses

The concept of inherited curses goes back to the Mosaic Law, in which the Lord warned that He would visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations  (Exodus 20:5, 34:7 et.al.). The natural outworking of children being trained in, or subconsciously adopting, the sins of their parents is undeniable. But the spiritual dimension of these curses reveals that there is a supernatural cause/effect relationship, that opening the door to evil by agreeing with the lies of the devil has an invisible spiritual reality. 

Generational curses are a special case of the more general curses that were articulated by Moses (Deuteronomy 27:15-26) and woes warned by Jesus (Luke 7:24-26).  Unequivocally Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:10-13). Hence the primary means of redemption from the generational curses is that any descendant who believes in and receives Jesus as their savior is freed from this law. [Of course, younger generations are free to choose their own sins, not from their ancestors’ heritage - for that they are solely answerable - Ezekiel 18:4.] But what of the spiritual heritage of being insensitive to God’s voice and leading? Besides the humanly modeled parental behaviors such as pride, avarice wrath, lust, envy, gluttony, and spiritual sloth, does the Holy Spirit hold grudges against children? I think this question puts the issue in the wrong stocking. 

C. S. Lewis wrote a short section on being close to God, which a later editor paired with part of Psalm 73:

For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

That I may tell of all Your works.

 Psalm 73:27-28

C. S. Lewis’ words: “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?” (Mere Christianity, Book IV, chapter 4))

Other Scriptures reinforce this concept. 

• Jesus told His disciples “ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27)
• Jesus also said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
• The warning, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” (Hebrews 10:25)

The juxtaposition of the themes of the blood of Jesus and intimate, personal relationship with Him seems odd. How can a dead person interact with the living? But that is on a purely natural level. In the spiritual eternity of God, the death of Christ becomes the doorway to connection with God. We remind ourselves and celebrate this supernatural, transcendent reality every time we take communion. 

This is the key to breaking the generational curse. It is not in the words of a prayer invoking the blood of Jesus, nor in the rote recitation of the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, but in the continuous exercise of a relational interaction with God the Father, as an obedient and affectionate son, made possible through Calvary, that the curse is nullified. The core of the generational curse is the transmission of this lack of relationship. And this applies to all of us, regardless of the number of generations between us and Adam. The cure for all the curses is to remedy this root cause.

A Biblical approach to judging politicians?

Does the Bible allow rulers to exercise arbitrary authority without censure? A long story....

The first Biblical mention of human authority is in Genesis 1&2, in which God gave authority to Adam over the plant kingdom (2:15-17) and the animal kingdom (1:26&28; 2:19-20). Implicit in this account is the context.  Eden was a perfect garden. Apparently God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening (3:8) and since He called for Adam, we might reasonably infer Adam usually walked with Him (until the fall).

Of course, we also know that because of Adam’s disobedience, caring for plants would become tedious labor, not  the labor of the joy of loving plants, but of pulling weeds. (Genesis 3:17-19, 23) The effect of Adam’s sin on his authority over animals was not immediately identified, but it is plain that wild beasts became a source of fear and danger. Despite the fall of man, many human occupations involve caring for, tending, and controlling both plants and animals. Farmers, gardeners, landscapers, environmental scientists, and many others plant, fertilize, weed, and prune vegetation both for food and beauty. Ranchers, veterinarians, zookeepers, and pet-owners care for animals and control them. Either kingdom left to itself would run amok.

God later told Moses to appoint judges to interpret and apply His law, and gave instructions for kings. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) When Israel demanded that Samuel appoint a king for them, he repeated God’s warning. (1 Samuel 8:10-17) Although David was a man after God’s heart, it was downhill after him; the history of Israel demonstrates both the blessings of godly rulers and the consequences of rulers who lead the people to rebel against God. (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)

There are many dimensions of Biblical standards for those in authority; even David did not meet all of them. But in the New Testament, Paul told his readers to obey, serve, and honor those in authority (Romans 13:1-7). Separately he told them to pray for them with a specific outcome in mind: that they may live in peace (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The primary historical and prophetic narrative in the New Testament is the failure of rulers to exercise authority under God’s commission, leading ultimately to their judgment. (Revelation 6:15-17) 

But what of our present day? The founders of our nation, and the most illustrious leaders since then, held a very strong Christian Faith. They were not infallible. The Civil War had running competition of theological narratives regarding slavery. Few in the 19th century said that the standard of right and wrong was separate from Christian and Biblical values - that is a modern fiction - but argued over interpretation.  At the core of government and political dysfunction, then as well as now, are unmentioned questions: how well do those in authority walk with Jesus in the quiet of the day, hear His voice, learn His will, and share His holiness? 

This line of thought leads to another. Who are we to question leaders, or they to question each other on this score? How well do we individually if we are questioned like this? If we do indeed retreat to the wilderness to be alone with God in the secret place, what then is our attitude towards others? After we experience just a bit of His holiness in our time with Him, dare we judge another? Our leaders may not measure up to our standards, but in the fear of God we should tread lightly in judging them. Perhaps we should pray that He not remind us publicly of how we have failed to meet His standards. 

Does this mean we should never judge anyone, as Jesus commands in Matthew 7:1, and hence no one should ever be accountable? Obviously, since the Lord told Moses to appoint judges, there is an earthly accountability. The New Testament balance is probably best captured when Paul told his readers, “... if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) Two elements: gentleness (humility) in correcting; and self-awareness of the risk of sharing in like sin. John told his readers that the only limitation to seeking restoration is for mortal sin, which  he does not further define. (1 John 5:16)

Since the world rejects Christ, His ways,  and His kingdom (which is evidenced by its behavior), He will return in power and will judge it, as He is the only one qualified to pass judgment in love and holiness. (Revelation 20:11-12) What happens in the world in the meantime, apart from God’s kingdom, is likely to resemble the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Practical predestination and free will

The opposite of free will is not predestination, but God’s sovereignty. C. S. Lewis explains predestination in his essay, Miracles:

“When we are praying about the result, say, of a battle or a medical consultation the thought will often cross our minds that (if only we knew it) the event is already decided one way or the other. I believe this to be no good reason for ceasing our prayers. The event certainly has been decided—in a sense it was decided ‘before all worlds’. But one of the things taken into account in deciding it, and therefore one of the things that really cause it to happen, may be this very prayer that we are now offering. Thus, shocking as it may sound, I conclude that we can at noon become part causes of an event occurring at ten a.m. (Some scientists would find this easier than popular thought does.) The imagination will, no doubt, try to play all sorts of tricks on us at this point. It will ask, ‘Then if I stop praying can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes has been the fact that you are asking such questions instead of praying. It will ask, ‘Then if I begin to pray can God go back and alter what has already happened?’ No. The event has already happened and one of its causes is your present prayer. Thus something does really depend on my choice. My free act contributes to the cosmic shape. That contribution is made in eternity or ‘before all worlds’; but my consciousness of contributing reaches me at a particular point in the time-series.”

Thus, predestination misconstrues how God and time relate, which is easily misunderstood because we live in time and He does not. The harder question is this: if God is sovereign, how can we have genuine free will to obey Him or, more importantly, to defy Him? The answer seems to be, because He sovereignly respects our choices. 

But why? Why does a sovereign God allow us free will? Adam and Eve wanted to choose for themselves, instead of accepting God’s choice. They wanted to be like God. (Genesis 3:5-6) The builders of the Tower of Babel planned a tower to reach heaven, in their own power, not trusting God to get them there. (Genesis 11:4-6) God allowed these choices to be made, but limited the consequences of ambitious choices. Not that amateur gods could supplant Him (even Satan could not do that!), but in mercy He did not allow the fruit of errant free will to ripen fully.

Why did God create humankind with free will? We cannot discuss this meaningfully because God is beyond our comprehension, the uncreated creator of the universe. However, He revealed His nature and character in the Incarnation of Christ. In this context, we can choose for ourselves or accept His choices; we can try to exert power of our own, or trust that He will use His power on our behalf. Ultimately, it is His universe. 

Even if we complain or say it is unfair, justice is a concept He gave us and commands us to observe. (Genesis 18:25, Zephaniah 3:5) He apparently finds our struggle to overcome human frailty and temptation, to be like Him in nature and character, so desirable that He created the universe so it would happen. And we succeed only when we receive His grace. What does this say about our future? It is entirely up to the participants, not predestined. Do we trust God enough to do what He says, to ask Him what He wants? Grace is readily available to all who ask, but will never be forced on anyone. There is no predestined outcome. But there is a sovereign and omnipotent God who says, in effect, to receive His grace, or we will reap what we sow. As Solomon wrote, The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

To focus on predestination is to miss the primary point. Consider the Virgin Mary. We often see her as a young, sheltered girl to whom an angel was sent to announce to her that she would bear the Messiah. But isn’t it much more consistent with God’s modus operandi that she had an active life of faith as a child? My inference is that while growing up, she knew His voice, interacted with Him and talked with Him frequently, did what He asked, and learned that she could trust and lean on Him through experience. So that when the time came, even though the virgin birth was miraculous, she was prepared to trust God and continue her daily walk with Him. I think this is the only way she could have raised Jesus as a child. This was not predestined, but simply her loving God as the basis of her life. 

So how should we respond to this rather theological question? If believing in predestination encourages or causes us to accept what is wrong, especially in our own life, then James’ advice is to obey God and resist the devil. (James 4:7) Perhaps it takes the form of honoring others when you really are unhappy with them, for the sake of Christ and others (Romans 13:7), or abstaining from a lawful activity because it is a stumbling block for others. (1 Cor 8:7-13) Believing in free will does not free us from God’s sovereignty in the practical outworking of our daily lives. Obeying and trusting Him is a decision that must be made afresh every day.

Tribal Hearts - Nations and Cultures vs. Jesus

Natural human  loyalty to one’s own group - tribe, peer group, economic or social class, political party,  etc. - directly conflicts with the gospel of Christ. The twelve tribes of Israel lost their distinctive identities during the diaspora, but the thousands of human language and culture groups around the world present a two-fold challenge. The first is that Jesus told His disciples that He would not return and the present age would not end until the gospel has been preached to every nation. (Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:10). (More on this later.) The second is that every person must value his or her connection to Christ above all other identifications, including that of ancestry, language, culture, peer group, social class - any competing loyalty. 

Although Paul identified his credentials for potentially boasting in ancestry and tribal identity (2 Cor 11:22, Phil. 3:5), he wrote to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28, NASB). He elaborated with respect to his own identity to the Philippians: 

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. [Philippians 3:8-11, NASB].

The key point is that there is nothing meritorious in God’s eyes about tribalism; it is a residual of the Tower of Babel curse (Genesis 11:7-9). God judged humankind for wanting to be like God by confounding their language; sadly, we humans came to love the judgment. Later, God mocked the Israelites’ ancestor worship (Jeremiah 11:10) even before the Incarnation. Any version of Christianity that does not call believers to leave ancestor worship and tribal loyalties does not bring them into the direct connection of knowing Christ experientially (as Paul exhorted, above), however wonderful its doctrine and practices. 

We know that tribalism will persist until Jesus’ return. (Matthew 24:30). The mention of the worship of Christ by every tribe at the time of the end and in heaven (Revelation 1:7, 5:9, 7:9) illustrates God’s final triumph over the sin of Babel. That is why the gospel must be preached to every nation. But it also reinforces the necessity that we must derive our identity from Jesus - who He is and what He calls us to be - through direct experience with Him. Our political allegiances must fall away in the light of the eternal Son of God, or we will perish with them. (Revelation 6:16).

Verboten Reconciliation

At the end of the Civil War, a number of key leaders chose the path of reconciliation. Jay Winik details the leaders and the decisions they made in his book, April 1865: The Month That Saved America. In the present day, we do not fight internally with weapons that kill, but with words that tear asunder the social fabric. When the current process ends (as it must, eventually, one way or another) will the nation be permanently divided? 

An eloquent plea can be found in the peace prayer attributed to St. Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;  

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love. 

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.  

Such a prayer may well express the heartfelt desire of many on all sides of political rancor. But there is a problem. It is verboten. It is politically incorrect to express Christian thoughts, ideas, or sentiments in political life. In some contexts, the courts have ruled it illegal and unconstitutional.  

This cultural norm has even more poisonous implications than current politics in Washington, D.C. We have rejected and excluded from our nation’s public life the only possible source of life itself. We are rejecting the very Gift of Christmas, Him of whom the angels sang “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward men.” In accepting the lie of the devil that Jesus has no place in public discourse, we have condemned our public forum to separation from Him, into the outer darkness of divine separation.

Overcoming the Curse of the Sins of the Fathers

As I watch my peers age into the final retirement from life, I cannot escape the observation of how closely the law of cause and effect tracks with Moses’ warning that the sins of the fathers would be visited on the children to the third and fourth generation. (e.g. Numbers 14:18: The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; ) There is nothing mysterious about the children of an abusive or narcissistic parent having crippling self-esteem issues or lacking normal relationship skills —  these being natural consequences in the psychological realm. 

Consequences in the natural realm are equally obvious. Illegitimate children historically were scorned or shunned or worse, despite no fault of their own. In ancient times the children of debtors might be sold into slavery to satisfy the debts of the father. Habits of men, such as drug use, criminal activity, or sexual promiscuity, are often inescapable for children growing up seeing them as normal.

God promises similar inheritance in the spiritual realm. Deuteronomy 5:7-9 is the clearest statement of His punishment for idolatry. The first and second commandments carry the warning of spiritual cause and effect, linked to God’s nature and character. There is evidently an invisible but powerful spiritual dynamic that transmits spiritual adultery - worship of false gods - to descendants. 

And yet, there is also the possibility of redemption even under O.T. Law. Deuteronomy 24:16. Jeremiah 31:29-34 goes even further, promising a new covenant, written on our hearts, in the context of transcending the law of generational curses. 

What happens, all too often, is that children grow up with optimism that hard work will build their lives, not recognizing the curse that clings. The curse was in fact broken through the blood of Christ on the cross (Galatians 3:13),  but His Blood must be applied to our lives individually through identification  with Christ. Not just once through a declaration of faith (the starting point), but daily through a relationship with the risen and ascended Christ. Not just a generic petition or statement of faith, but a discussion with Him of the specific issues of our life, our unique struggles, and His specific will for our life. It is through this (and the discipline/discipling that He applies — Hebrews 12:5-11) that we are changed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18), and at the end of our earthly journey, will have shed the baggage of our forebears’ sins, going back four generations. 

The alternative approach, most sadly, is to trust in God’s forgiveness and continue to live out the lifestyle and choices of our forebears and our own worldly decisions.  The consequences cannot be avoided forever. As we reap them later in life, we cannot pretend to not see the truth of Virgil’s observation: facilis descensum Averno.

The Scriptures are clear on this point. Striving against sin (clearly our own sin, regardless of generational curse) involves not only the shed blood of Christ in the spiritual realm, but pain in the natural and psychological realms on our part. Self-denial. Grief over consequences of our actions. Payment in the physical world. We can’t purchase holiness, but when we pay a price for sin it helps motivate us to change our ways. The first verse of “I’d Rather Have Jesus” captures this mindset.  But deliverance from original sin, from the curse, only happens if we choose to actively work for it. And it is in this context that the power of the Holy Spirit overcomes the curses we inherit from our forebears, going back to Adam.

Guerrilla Redemption?

When at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee did not dispatch his army into the field to wage guerrilla war against the North, he chose the road less traveled. The choice of unconventional warfare would have been easy to justify on the surface - continued struggle for their righteous cause, hope that will to fight would soon crumble in the North. The colonists had engaged in it as part of the American Revolution. Instead, he chose the hard path of reunion and reconciliation. Many before and after him have chosen to fight.

When does guerrilla warfare become terrorism? It is oft quoted that one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. We certainly have modern examples in the Mideast, Northern Ireland, Somalia ... the list is endless, of causes that have degenerated from political advocacy to pure terrorism motivated by hatred. The unforeseen consequence of beginning a campaign of unconventional warfare is that most of the time it devolves. To engage in a sustained guerrilla war is to take the position that one’s cause is so important, so righteous, that everyone must be deprived of any kind of stability and social peace unless the rebels can get their way (or until they are annihilated to the last man). Rebel fighters choose this for both themselves and their enemies, but also for their own families.  

It sounds simple (perhaps obvious) to say that such people have been duped by the devil. He is the ultimate source of evil. Look at the choice that he and the rest of the fallen angels made. Being in the presence of YHWH and experiencing His glory, they chose to rebel. And this knowing that the consequences would be defeat, and ultimately eternal imprisonment in the lake of fire. In the meantime, they inspire humans to follow them into ultimately futile rebellion, bringing chaos to humanity, justifying evil in the service of some “higher” cause. (Terrorists are far from the only purveyors of evil, but often the most brazen.)

How is the human condition different than the angels? Simply this. We live (for now) in time and do not know the future. We have free will and can choose good or evil and then change our mind. Evidently, because the angels knew with full certainty the consequences of rebellion and choose it anyway, they are beyond repentance and redemption. But God so loved the world that He sent His uniquely begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. We are reconciled to God not because we negotiated a peace treaty, but because He paid the price for our sins, our evil choices, and delivers us from their consequences and power, through the blood of Jesus. And we have in this life the freedom to repent and choose!

What does this mean for the current political animus in our capitol? Is reconciliation possible? If there were a revival, perhaps. If Billy Graham were to rise from the dead to hold evangelistic services at the Capitol and the White House, if the Holy Spirit were to come with power, if self-righteous pols were to repent, it might be possible. Realistically, to quote Virgil, facilis descensum Averno. Grace to the politician who proves my skepticism wrong, by revealing God’s glory.