Prophecy – With Salt

This article  considers whether the concept of “generational curses” (also called “family strongholds”) is consistent with Biblical principles.

Some popular TV evangelists/teachers/deliverance ministers believe that certain sins are bound into a family and the resulting “curse” causes the children for several generations to repeat the actions that their parents committed. They use several Old Testament Scriptures to “prove” their teaching (Exodus 20:4-6; Deuteronomy 5:8-10; Exodus 34:6,7; & Numbers 14:17,18). As an example, I offer a quote from Don Rogers’ “spiritual warfare” website.

Generational curses are judgments that are passed on to individuals because of sins perpetuated in a family in a number of generations.  Generational curses are similar to original sin curses because they can be passed down on a generational basis.  They differ in that generational curses do not impose eternal judgment.  They bring judgment or bondage during an individual’s life, reducing the quality of life, until that individual addresses the sin issues that put the curses into place.

I do NOT agree! A closer reading of the Scriptures above reveals that all of them are stating the fact that God’s MERCY far exceeds His wrath (a 1000 generations of mercy vs 3 or 4 generations of wrath). Just a simple reading of the Scriptures seems to refute the doctrine of generational curses. There are many issues that I could present but rather than repeating what others have already written, I will just elaborate on the content of other sites where the error of the generational curses doctrine is exposed.

Jason Dulle and I disagree about the Godhead (he accepts the oneness doctrine while I hold the trinitarian doctrine) but Jason is clearly a godly Christian scholar. He has written an excellent discourse on the error of “generational curses” (found here.)  In his  article, Jason offers several convincing proofs that such “curses” have no effect upon a child of God. Here is a short summary of those proofs. Visit Jason’s site to read the entire article.

1. First, notice that the curses are on those who hate God. This means that if there is such a curse, then it NOT for a person who does not hate God. It is a great comfort, that unless I hate God, any such curse has no effect upon me.
2. All that would be necessary for us to be in the “mercy” rather than “cursed” category is to find ONE relative in the past thousand or so generations that loved and obeyed the Lord. That almost CERTAINLY assures us that we are NOT cursed in such a way!
3. God is the active agent behind these curses. Even though some teach that these “curses” are from the devil, the SCRIPTURES state that God is active here. And, if God has cursed someone (or some family) then to “deliver” them from God’s curse would mean that we have to change God – not likely to happen!
4. The empirical data contradicts the idea that children pay for their fathers’ sins to the third and fourth generations, and that the children are destined to repeat the sins of their fathers. Many godly men in the Bible (and in the present) had evil fathers (and visa versa) but the ancestor’s sin (or blessedness) was not “passed on” to them.
5. Jesus’ statement in John 9:3. Our Savior said that the parents of the man blind from birth had not caused his situation but it happened to enable God’s glory.
6. Ezekiel 18:1-4 counters the idea that God punishes the children for the fathers’ sins. This portion of Scripture EXPRESSLY DENIES THAT SUCH A CURSE EXISTS!

The point of Ezekiel 18 is to establish – once and for all – that every individual is responsible to God for his or her individual sins and NOT for those of their ancestors or children.

Ezekiel 18:1-4,

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2  ”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’?

3  ”As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.

4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well asWilliam Shifflett’ the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

That seems pretty clear to me!

There are others who offer other points of conflict between this doctrinal error and the Scriptures. William Shifflett offers three additional points on his web page here.

Some teachers point to the scientific evidence that the children of child abusers tend to become abusers themselves. At some level, that is learned behavior. Our sub-conscious self controls much more than we realize. But the cause is psychological or even physiological – certainly not spiritual (i.e., a “curse”). A curse is supernatural and requires supernatural answers. Whereas a physical issue can be resolved by physical means.

In any case, as children of God, we are covered by the redeeming blood of Jesus. Compare Galatians 3:13:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

So, no matter whether there are generational curses or not — when I accept God’s forgiveness (purchased by Christ our Redeemer), I am released from any curse that might have been upon my life! Praise God!!

Having concluded that the concept of “generational curses” is not Biblical, the next article will return to the understanding of God’s judgments.

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