What does the Bible say about generational curses?
Are you suffering from one of the following problems?
This teaching of generational curses has gained prominence in some Christian circles in the last 30 years.
No matter what version of this doctrine is being pedaled, one of the core verses used to support it is Exodus 20:4-6
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
One ministry’s commentary on this verse is:
“Generational curses are curses assigned to an individual(s) based on the sins of his/her parents. The person’s parents, not himself, are the cause of curses assigned to him/her. A person gets punished for the wrongs of the parents. Such are called generational curses. They can manifest in personality traits, sin issues or emotional or physical sicknesses or diseases…”
Another ministry states:
“When a person has sinned, that sin stands in need of being confessed. If the person doesn’t confess it, then his children must confess it in order to break the generational pattern. Like an “outstanding” debt, the person’s sin “hangs out there,” impacting his descendants, until it is addressed through confession and cleared away.”
The bottom line of generational curse teaching is that you can suffer negative consequences because of the sins your ancestors committed. These consequences might take the form of personal misfortunes, the tendency to follow in the sins of your fathers, or even a demonic spirit that is transferred to an infant because of doors opened by the parents.
Is this what the Exodus passage is saying? (for more on interpreting Exodus 20:5, see my other article)
The context of the verses is idol worship. The passage does lay a foundation for the devastating affects of idol worship. More than any other sin, idol worship has the tendency to bring destruction on successive generations. Idol worship was a contagious practice – especially in terms of the children following in the same idolatrous rituals of their parents. If the parents of a family did not pass on to their children the knowledge and commands of the only true God, the children were likely to stray from serving God. God took idol worship very seriously, addressing it in the first two of the Ten Commandments. The covenant with Israel was a conditional covenant based upon Israel’s commitment to serving God and obeying his commands. While the covenant provided atonement for sins – the sin of idolatry resulted in destruction.
“But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish.” (Deut. 30:17)
Idolatry was unique among the sins an Israelite might commit. While a person who committed the sin of theft or lying could find restitution through the sacrifices, an idolater was one who completely turned from serving God, rejecting both God’s commands and God’s provisions for forgiveness.
God’s covenant with Israel was likened to a marriage commitment. The heart of this covenant was loving God (Deut. 6:5, 30:16)
With this background in mind, we are better equipped to discern Exodus 20:4-6. This is a warning against entering into idolatry because idolatry is an infectious sin that can easily become part of the family and be passed down to the children. However, the “visiting” of this iniquity – or the punishment for the sin – is not perpetuated upon innocent children, but on the succeeding generations who hate God – or those who break covenant with God and serve other gods. On the other hand, lovingkindness is promised to those who love God – or to those who continue to observe God’s covenant and cling to Him.
There are several important questions that must be asked of the Christian who wonders how this passage might apply to him/her.
1.) Does God’s punishment for sin involve a curse that gives the children a tendency to struggle in the same sins as their parents? No. When God brought hardship on the Israelites as a punishment/curse for their sins, it was intended to get them to turn from their wickedness and serve God. God’s curse for sin doesn’t involve a tendency to want to continue to sin in the same way. The tendency to continue in the parental sins of idolatry is already a part of the human nature. The urge to continue in the sins of the parents doesn't require any supernatural assistance from God or Satan.
2.) Do the children incur punishment just because their parents were disobedient?
No. The children who were punished were not innocent. The children were only punished like their parents when they hate God – when they continue to live in the rebellion of their parents. While the children might have been set up to fail because of the bad example of their parents – they ultimately had the ability to say yes or no to their parents sins.
3.) Does the punishment involve the transferring of demon spirits from parent to child? There is no explicit or implicit mention of demon involvement in families in Exodus 20:5 – so it would be wrong to base any such doctrine on a verse that says no such thing. While I would not rule out the possibility that a demon spirit could attach itself to a family and work evil in successive generation – this should not be confused with God’s punishment for breaking his covenant. Overall, there aren’t any scriptures in the Bible you could point to that indicate that demon spirits are involved in family lines or are passed along to babies in the womb. The closest concept in the Bible is that of familiar spirits (Lev. 19:31). God warns against getting involved with familiar spirits. Some have interpreted this to mean “family” spirits – as in a spirit that attaches to a family and is passed on like a bad inheritance. However, the term "familiar spirit" simply refers to spirits that one is "familiar with", or that one attempts to communicate with.
So what about verses like Leviticus 26:39-42?
“Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away. But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”
Why are they suffering for both their sins and the sins of their fathers? When trying to discern how verses like this apply to Christians today, we must remember that God’s relationship with the nation of Israel is different from how God relates to believers today. God dealt with Israel as a nation, as a collective whole. When God sent the Babylonians to punish Israel for its idolatry and rebellion, there were certainly some who suffered who were innocent of idolatry. Throughout all Israel’s history, there was a remnant that remained faithful to God despite the culture of idolatry around them – yet even they were dragged into captivity because of the sins of the majority. This was because God’s covenant was first and foremost with the nation – not with each Israelite individually. God punished Israel as a nation when they turned to idolatry and forsook the covenant. God does not deal with Christians in the same way. God establishes His covenant with each of us individually through Jesus. We are held responsible for own actions, not for the actions of our race, tribe, or family. It is a big mistake to assume that every interaction between Israel and God is a perfect parallel of the relationship between a Christian and God.
God spoke of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:29-30.
"In those days they shall say no more:
‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge."
God spoke of a time when God’s law would be written within the individual – when God would establish his covenant with individuals, not with nations or people groups.
Jeremiah dictated this prophecy to Israel during the time of their Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah’s successor--Ezekiel-- gave a very similar prophecy in Ezekiel 18 – also during the time of Israel's captivity.
"What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: "'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.” (18:2-3)
People were quoting this proverb because they thought they were being unjustly punished for the sins of their fathers. It was the idolatry of their fathers that caused them to grow up in Babylon as captives. While it is true that the sins of their fathers put them in an unfortunate condition – God made it clear that each man is ultimately responsible for his own sins – “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct.” (vs. 30)
God says in Ezekiel 18:19, 20 “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.”
There is a difference between suffering consequences for the sins of the fathers and being punished for the sins of the fathers. Nobody would doubt that a child will suffer from the sins of the father who gambles the family’s wealth away, but that child is not being punished by God for the father’s sins.
The Ezekiel passage is a clear rebuttal against the doctrine of generational curses. Each of us are held accountable for our own beliefs and behaviors. Even though we may experience negative side effects from the bad behavior of our forefathers – we are not judged for their behavior; there is no outstanding debt hanging over our heads because of their sins; God does not require us to make restitution for their sins; and there certainly isn’t any spiritual law that causes children to have a propensity to sin like their parents. If there were, God would not be able to use the illustration in Ezekiel of a righteous son who observes the behavior of his wicked father and decides not to do the same. We are each responsible for our own actions, and we can decide to live differently than our ungodly ancestors.
So what do proponents of the generational curse teaching do with Ezekiel 18?
I have heard several responses.
1.) The most egregious was spoken by Larry Huch – a popular tv preacher. (article here)
Larry quoted the proverb in Ezekiel about the sour grapes, leaving off the part where God says He is against it. Larry quoted the proverb in the positive, as if it was teaching a sound biblical truth. He neglected to say that God was against the proverb.
2.) I heard another minister explain that this passage is only dealing with the eternal consequences of sin. She said we don’t bear the punishment for our father’s sins as far as where we will spend eternity – but we can still be cursed in this temporal world for our father’s sins. The problem with that view is that the people were in fact discussing temporal consequences when they quoted the proverb. They were mourning the consequences of their captivity, not where they would spend eternity.
3.) Others don’t seem to be aware that this passage is in the Bible. In an email correspondence with a minister who deals with generational curses, I presented to her the Ezekiel 18 passage. She responded by telling me “I would have to study this one out to understand who it is said to, why etc.” It didn’t sound like she had ever considered this passage and how it might contradict her doctrine.
One pastor affirmed to me that God is not holding the sins of the father’s against us, but Satan is a legalist – and Satan will try to enforce the curse over us even though Jesus has paid the price to break the curse. In his words, we need to appropriate the work of the cross to cancel the attack that Satan is bringing against us. My question is this: since when is Satan a legalist? Since when does Satan abide by the rules? Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He doesn’t operate according to God’s laws – he is a master at breaking them. If Satan were truly a legalist, he would never have any ground to bring any attack against us – because legally we are freed from the curse of the law and made completely righteous like Christ. Satan has as much legal ground to attack and condemn us as he has to attack and condemn Jesus. Proponents of generational curses advocate that the sins of our fathers give Satan legal ground to attack us – but that is certainly not the case. All attacks on us are illegal – because we have been declared innocent, being free from both the Mosaic Law and the curse of the Law.
The notion of Satan requiring legal ground to harass us seems to stem from Job. In Job, God allowed Satan to inflict Job with physical and emotional pain. From this we get the impression that Satan can only do what God permits him to do. No matter what God’s overall purpose in allowing these attacks was, they were not legal attacks. God calls Job “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job did not deserve to be attacked. He did not open any doors to the enemy. This was divinely permitted for a specific purpose – which led to Job’s benefit in the end.
It is true that God blocks some attacks of the enemy but allows others. Paul tells us that God “will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (I Cor 10:13) This simple statement implies that God blocks some temptations but allows others through. Does he allow temptations because Satan has a legal right to tempt us? No, he allows temptations that he knows we can overcome. Like any trial God permits, it is so that we can grow in faith and learn to overcome the flesh.
The proposed role of Satan in generational curses brings up an important question: Does the curse originate from God or from Satan?
If the generational curse attacks are coming from Satan and not from God, they need to be dealt with in a specific way. The advocates of generational curses say that we should confess the sins of our fathers to break the curse over our lives. They advocate repentance as the key to breaking the "inherited" curses. This is a good approach if the curse is coming from God. Repentance restores right relationship with God. However, if the attack is coming from Satan, resistance is required, not repentance. Certainly if we are struggling with sins like our fathers did, we ought to repent of them to walk in freedom – but that is because you are guilty for perpetuating the sin – not because you are under a curse because of your father’s sins. Generational attacks like poverty, sickness, or business failures should be resisted, not repented of. Does it make sense to repent if you get sick or lose a job?
In reality, verses like Exodus 20:5 teach that God is the one doing the visiting/cursing/punishing for sin, not Satan. This leads to the all important question: does God still hold curses against us after we receive the payment of Jesus who became a curse for us? I'll answer with a resounding NO.
In conclusion, what is the problem with believing in generational curses? One minister asked this question to me: “I would ask you to consider, who would not want to simply in faith pray prayers asking for forgiveness of past sins (of your forefathers), and your own now as well, for the release of blessing in your generation? Satan wouldn’t want you to. So if there is no need, all sins of past generations are under the blood. Nothing lost nothing gained.”
In essence she was telling me that if generational curses are real, Satan is the one who would want to keep me in the dark regarding them. Therefore, I should try and break the generational curses – because if they are real I will gain blessings, but even if they are not real, it doesn’t hurt to try.
Really? Is that the approach I should take? I should pray prayers and recite curse-breaking formulas that might be contrary to scripture just in case its true, just to make sure I’ve got my bases covered? I understand I’m taking this to an extreme when I say this, but should I also wipe blood on the doorpost of my home just in case that still has a positive effect on my Christian life? Should I carry a rabbit’s foot or bury magic stones in my backyard just in case they are helpful too?
In a profound confession, one teacher of generational curses revealed the greatest problem with believing this doctrine. He admitted that Satan might try and convince us we are under a generational curse when we are really not. Why would Satan do this? The same reason he tries to condemn us for sins that we have been forgiven of. Satan will use any tactic he can to get us to feel damaged or less than complete in Christ. He wants us to go on wild goose chases trying to figure out which ancestors sinned to help explain why we have a certain problem. He wants us to think that the spiritual deck of cards is against us. He wants us to think we still need to do something to be free instead of realizing that we are already freed from every curse through Jesus’ death on the cross. (Gal. 3:13)
Are you suffering from one of the following problems?
- Continual financial problems
- Chronic physical or mental illnesses
- Multiple or repetitive accidents or injuries, particularly of the same type
- Chronic strife or arguments or problems with interpersonal relationships
- Chronic torment
- Poor eating or sleeping habits in infants or children
- Failure to thrive in young infants or sickliness
- Business failures, single or repeated
- Inability to conceive children or multiple miscarriages
This teaching of generational curses has gained prominence in some Christian circles in the last 30 years.
No matter what version of this doctrine is being pedaled, one of the core verses used to support it is Exodus 20:4-6
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
One ministry’s commentary on this verse is:
“Generational curses are curses assigned to an individual(s) based on the sins of his/her parents. The person’s parents, not himself, are the cause of curses assigned to him/her. A person gets punished for the wrongs of the parents. Such are called generational curses. They can manifest in personality traits, sin issues or emotional or physical sicknesses or diseases…”
Another ministry states:
“When a person has sinned, that sin stands in need of being confessed. If the person doesn’t confess it, then his children must confess it in order to break the generational pattern. Like an “outstanding” debt, the person’s sin “hangs out there,” impacting his descendants, until it is addressed through confession and cleared away.”
The bottom line of generational curse teaching is that you can suffer negative consequences because of the sins your ancestors committed. These consequences might take the form of personal misfortunes, the tendency to follow in the sins of your fathers, or even a demonic spirit that is transferred to an infant because of doors opened by the parents.
Is this what the Exodus passage is saying? (for more on interpreting Exodus 20:5, see my other article)
The context of the verses is idol worship. The passage does lay a foundation for the devastating affects of idol worship. More than any other sin, idol worship has the tendency to bring destruction on successive generations. Idol worship was a contagious practice – especially in terms of the children following in the same idolatrous rituals of their parents. If the parents of a family did not pass on to their children the knowledge and commands of the only true God, the children were likely to stray from serving God. God took idol worship very seriously, addressing it in the first two of the Ten Commandments. The covenant with Israel was a conditional covenant based upon Israel’s commitment to serving God and obeying his commands. While the covenant provided atonement for sins – the sin of idolatry resulted in destruction.
“But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish.” (Deut. 30:17)
Idolatry was unique among the sins an Israelite might commit. While a person who committed the sin of theft or lying could find restitution through the sacrifices, an idolater was one who completely turned from serving God, rejecting both God’s commands and God’s provisions for forgiveness.
God’s covenant with Israel was likened to a marriage commitment. The heart of this covenant was loving God (Deut. 6:5, 30:16)
With this background in mind, we are better equipped to discern Exodus 20:4-6. This is a warning against entering into idolatry because idolatry is an infectious sin that can easily become part of the family and be passed down to the children. However, the “visiting” of this iniquity – or the punishment for the sin – is not perpetuated upon innocent children, but on the succeeding generations who hate God – or those who break covenant with God and serve other gods. On the other hand, lovingkindness is promised to those who love God – or to those who continue to observe God’s covenant and cling to Him.
There are several important questions that must be asked of the Christian who wonders how this passage might apply to him/her.
1.) Does God’s punishment for sin involve a curse that gives the children a tendency to struggle in the same sins as their parents? No. When God brought hardship on the Israelites as a punishment/curse for their sins, it was intended to get them to turn from their wickedness and serve God. God’s curse for sin doesn’t involve a tendency to want to continue to sin in the same way. The tendency to continue in the parental sins of idolatry is already a part of the human nature. The urge to continue in the sins of the parents doesn't require any supernatural assistance from God or Satan.
2.) Do the children incur punishment just because their parents were disobedient?
No. The children who were punished were not innocent. The children were only punished like their parents when they hate God – when they continue to live in the rebellion of their parents. While the children might have been set up to fail because of the bad example of their parents – they ultimately had the ability to say yes or no to their parents sins.
3.) Does the punishment involve the transferring of demon spirits from parent to child? There is no explicit or implicit mention of demon involvement in families in Exodus 20:5 – so it would be wrong to base any such doctrine on a verse that says no such thing. While I would not rule out the possibility that a demon spirit could attach itself to a family and work evil in successive generation – this should not be confused with God’s punishment for breaking his covenant. Overall, there aren’t any scriptures in the Bible you could point to that indicate that demon spirits are involved in family lines or are passed along to babies in the womb. The closest concept in the Bible is that of familiar spirits (Lev. 19:31). God warns against getting involved with familiar spirits. Some have interpreted this to mean “family” spirits – as in a spirit that attaches to a family and is passed on like a bad inheritance. However, the term "familiar spirit" simply refers to spirits that one is "familiar with", or that one attempts to communicate with.
So what about verses like Leviticus 26:39-42?
“Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’ sins they will waste away. But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”
Why are they suffering for both their sins and the sins of their fathers? When trying to discern how verses like this apply to Christians today, we must remember that God’s relationship with the nation of Israel is different from how God relates to believers today. God dealt with Israel as a nation, as a collective whole. When God sent the Babylonians to punish Israel for its idolatry and rebellion, there were certainly some who suffered who were innocent of idolatry. Throughout all Israel’s history, there was a remnant that remained faithful to God despite the culture of idolatry around them – yet even they were dragged into captivity because of the sins of the majority. This was because God’s covenant was first and foremost with the nation – not with each Israelite individually. God punished Israel as a nation when they turned to idolatry and forsook the covenant. God does not deal with Christians in the same way. God establishes His covenant with each of us individually through Jesus. We are held responsible for own actions, not for the actions of our race, tribe, or family. It is a big mistake to assume that every interaction between Israel and God is a perfect parallel of the relationship between a Christian and God.
God spoke of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:29-30.
"In those days they shall say no more:
‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge."
God spoke of a time when God’s law would be written within the individual – when God would establish his covenant with individuals, not with nations or people groups.
Jeremiah dictated this prophecy to Israel during the time of their Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah’s successor--Ezekiel-- gave a very similar prophecy in Ezekiel 18 – also during the time of Israel's captivity.
"What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: "'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.” (18:2-3)
People were quoting this proverb because they thought they were being unjustly punished for the sins of their fathers. It was the idolatry of their fathers that caused them to grow up in Babylon as captives. While it is true that the sins of their fathers put them in an unfortunate condition – God made it clear that each man is ultimately responsible for his own sins – “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct.” (vs. 30)
God says in Ezekiel 18:19, 20 “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.”
There is a difference between suffering consequences for the sins of the fathers and being punished for the sins of the fathers. Nobody would doubt that a child will suffer from the sins of the father who gambles the family’s wealth away, but that child is not being punished by God for the father’s sins.
The Ezekiel passage is a clear rebuttal against the doctrine of generational curses. Each of us are held accountable for our own beliefs and behaviors. Even though we may experience negative side effects from the bad behavior of our forefathers – we are not judged for their behavior; there is no outstanding debt hanging over our heads because of their sins; God does not require us to make restitution for their sins; and there certainly isn’t any spiritual law that causes children to have a propensity to sin like their parents. If there were, God would not be able to use the illustration in Ezekiel of a righteous son who observes the behavior of his wicked father and decides not to do the same. We are each responsible for our own actions, and we can decide to live differently than our ungodly ancestors.
So what do proponents of the generational curse teaching do with Ezekiel 18?
I have heard several responses.
1.) The most egregious was spoken by Larry Huch – a popular tv preacher. (article here)
Larry quoted the proverb in Ezekiel about the sour grapes, leaving off the part where God says He is against it. Larry quoted the proverb in the positive, as if it was teaching a sound biblical truth. He neglected to say that God was against the proverb.
2.) I heard another minister explain that this passage is only dealing with the eternal consequences of sin. She said we don’t bear the punishment for our father’s sins as far as where we will spend eternity – but we can still be cursed in this temporal world for our father’s sins. The problem with that view is that the people were in fact discussing temporal consequences when they quoted the proverb. They were mourning the consequences of their captivity, not where they would spend eternity.
3.) Others don’t seem to be aware that this passage is in the Bible. In an email correspondence with a minister who deals with generational curses, I presented to her the Ezekiel 18 passage. She responded by telling me “I would have to study this one out to understand who it is said to, why etc.” It didn’t sound like she had ever considered this passage and how it might contradict her doctrine.
One pastor affirmed to me that God is not holding the sins of the father’s against us, but Satan is a legalist – and Satan will try to enforce the curse over us even though Jesus has paid the price to break the curse. In his words, we need to appropriate the work of the cross to cancel the attack that Satan is bringing against us. My question is this: since when is Satan a legalist? Since when does Satan abide by the rules? Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He doesn’t operate according to God’s laws – he is a master at breaking them. If Satan were truly a legalist, he would never have any ground to bring any attack against us – because legally we are freed from the curse of the law and made completely righteous like Christ. Satan has as much legal ground to attack and condemn us as he has to attack and condemn Jesus. Proponents of generational curses advocate that the sins of our fathers give Satan legal ground to attack us – but that is certainly not the case. All attacks on us are illegal – because we have been declared innocent, being free from both the Mosaic Law and the curse of the Law.
The notion of Satan requiring legal ground to harass us seems to stem from Job. In Job, God allowed Satan to inflict Job with physical and emotional pain. From this we get the impression that Satan can only do what God permits him to do. No matter what God’s overall purpose in allowing these attacks was, they were not legal attacks. God calls Job “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job did not deserve to be attacked. He did not open any doors to the enemy. This was divinely permitted for a specific purpose – which led to Job’s benefit in the end.
It is true that God blocks some attacks of the enemy but allows others. Paul tells us that God “will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (I Cor 10:13) This simple statement implies that God blocks some temptations but allows others through. Does he allow temptations because Satan has a legal right to tempt us? No, he allows temptations that he knows we can overcome. Like any trial God permits, it is so that we can grow in faith and learn to overcome the flesh.
The proposed role of Satan in generational curses brings up an important question: Does the curse originate from God or from Satan?
If the generational curse attacks are coming from Satan and not from God, they need to be dealt with in a specific way. The advocates of generational curses say that we should confess the sins of our fathers to break the curse over our lives. They advocate repentance as the key to breaking the "inherited" curses. This is a good approach if the curse is coming from God. Repentance restores right relationship with God. However, if the attack is coming from Satan, resistance is required, not repentance. Certainly if we are struggling with sins like our fathers did, we ought to repent of them to walk in freedom – but that is because you are guilty for perpetuating the sin – not because you are under a curse because of your father’s sins. Generational attacks like poverty, sickness, or business failures should be resisted, not repented of. Does it make sense to repent if you get sick or lose a job?
In reality, verses like Exodus 20:5 teach that God is the one doing the visiting/cursing/punishing for sin, not Satan. This leads to the all important question: does God still hold curses against us after we receive the payment of Jesus who became a curse for us? I'll answer with a resounding NO.
In conclusion, what is the problem with believing in generational curses? One minister asked this question to me: “I would ask you to consider, who would not want to simply in faith pray prayers asking for forgiveness of past sins (of your forefathers), and your own now as well, for the release of blessing in your generation? Satan wouldn’t want you to. So if there is no need, all sins of past generations are under the blood. Nothing lost nothing gained.”
In essence she was telling me that if generational curses are real, Satan is the one who would want to keep me in the dark regarding them. Therefore, I should try and break the generational curses – because if they are real I will gain blessings, but even if they are not real, it doesn’t hurt to try.
Really? Is that the approach I should take? I should pray prayers and recite curse-breaking formulas that might be contrary to scripture just in case its true, just to make sure I’ve got my bases covered? I understand I’m taking this to an extreme when I say this, but should I also wipe blood on the doorpost of my home just in case that still has a positive effect on my Christian life? Should I carry a rabbit’s foot or bury magic stones in my backyard just in case they are helpful too?
In a profound confession, one teacher of generational curses revealed the greatest problem with believing this doctrine. He admitted that Satan might try and convince us we are under a generational curse when we are really not. Why would Satan do this? The same reason he tries to condemn us for sins that we have been forgiven of. Satan will use any tactic he can to get us to feel damaged or less than complete in Christ. He wants us to go on wild goose chases trying to figure out which ancestors sinned to help explain why we have a certain problem. He wants us to think that the spiritual deck of cards is against us. He wants us to think we still need to do something to be free instead of realizing that we are already freed from every curse through Jesus’ death on the cross. (Gal. 3:13)
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