Satan's power and curses - What we can do!

kelly · Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2002 3:32 pm Post subject:

Since the mention of curses has been made, it seems to have made us a little uncomfortable. We all like to hear about forgiveness and love, we don't like to hear about the darker side of our spiritual battle. The good news though, is that we can overcome! God is stronger than the enemy! We need to know what we are dealing with, however, so we can overcome in Jesus' name. See, the spiritual battle runs on laws. In the book of Job, for instance, satanisaliar had to ask permission from God to inflict curses on a sinless man. He doesn't have to ask permission to do so in the life of a sinner. If we do something that opens the door to the enemy, we give him the right to interfere with us. The problem with this is not that we can't overcome, but that we don't overcome. Too often we don't recognize what brought on the curse in the first place, so we never break those bonds, we never tell the enemy to go, therefore we are allowing him to stay in that area of our life. Once told to go, he has to flee, but if we remain ignorant to our sins, or the sins of our forfathers (which aso can bring on a curse), then he can stay.

Some examples of ways we allow curses to enter into our life is through forms of witchcraft (which isn't always the black cat and cauldren we picture). Current witchcraft practices are tarot card and palm readings, ouija boards, and magic of any sort. If anybody participated in any of this, you could have opened a door at that moment where the enemy snuck in. Also sins of our forfathers, such as involvment in occult religions, could bring the enemy into your family (the sins of your fathers will be brought down to farther generations until it is broken). Sexual sins (probably the most common sin) also opens doors wide open for the enemy to enter. When you become sexualy involved with someone, you form soul ties to that person and his/her sins can rub off on you. Drugs, lying, stealing, etc. are also all doorways. These are all legal doorways allowing the enmy to enter. ALL WE HAVE TO DO TO BREAK THESE BONDS, CLOSE THESE DOORWAYS, IS RECOGNIZE WHAT DOORS WE MAY HAVE OPENED, CONFESS THEM, SEEK FORGIVENESS, TELL THE ENEMY IT'S TIME TO GO NOW, AND ASK GOD FOR HELP TO KEEP THAT DOOR CLOSED AND BE CLEANSED IN HIS BLOOD! It can be that easy! Search back into your past...what could you have done that may have allowed satanisaliar to enter? Did your parents sin? Confess your sins and thiers, ask forgiveness, command satan to leave (we have that authority in Jesus!), and ask God for help in being set free. You just might see and feel a breakthrough! I have so much more information on this topic, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. This was just curses in a nutshell, but it is that simple! Cool

SAM · Veteran Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 2047 Location: Chicago

Kelly,

I'm not uncomfortable with it, as I said before it is not something I have sought out or have heard about even from other believers. Something I'm not fully understanding from your perspective.

It's still not quite making sense to me, especially to ask forgiveness for other people's sins. I truly feel they can only confess their own.

Let me think on it for awhile.

kelly · Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2002 10:12 am Post subject:

To be very honest here, I don't see how I am giving more power to satan than he deserves. Satan is capable of doing damage. His ways are destructive and we shouldn't underestimate him either. He can bring on sickness, negative thinking, on and on. Once we take the authority of Jesus' name, however, he does turn and flee. If we don't take control though, satan can turn us upside down...

As far as seeking forgiveness from others sins, God says many times in the Bible that the family pays for the sins committed by thier forfathers, even by the "camp". If you are, or have been, under the covering of a sinful person (parent, pastor, husband) you need to break that tie, ask forgiveness if you have fallen into any of thier sins, tell satan to go in that area (sexual sin, worship of other god's, etc.), and ask God to set you free. The point I was trying to make is, you may be suffering under the covering of another's sins, most especially if that person was close to you and/or had authority over you. This may be happening and you don't even know it!

I encourage everyone to question thier pastor on the issue of generational curses. Every pastor should be knowledgable on this issue, and if they are not, find another ordained man of God and ask him. I am not a pastor, I am only sharing what I have come to understand and have experience in. I am more than willing to keep sharing and I look forward to learning from each other, but if you are confused or doubtful, please check up on it with your own pastor Smile

In Christ's love, Kelly :inlove:

Davep · Veteran Joined: 02 Apr 2002 Posts: 463

Duplicate

Davep · Veteran Joined: 02 Apr 2002 Posts: 463

This reminds me to the roadrunner cartoons when I was a kid. In which Wil E Coyote would chase the roadrunner off a cliff and then keep running thinking he still had solid rock underneath him to stand on. There are many good intentioned people and pastors who are like Wil E Coyote, who are going way beyond the intent of scripture. Everything is now reduced to scripture sound bytes. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness their end will be what their actions deserve. 2 CO 11:14

Curse(Heb. alah, meerah, qelalah, Gr. katapa). The reverse of "to bless." On the human level, to wish harm or catastrophe. On the divine, to impose judgment.

A curse is not a magic spell. satan loves to twist scripture. Remember when satan tempted Jesus, he attempted to use scripture against Jesus, and Jesus used scripture to rebuke satan. ( Luke 4:1-13 ) If satan used scripture against Jesus, you can expect him to use it against you.

Generational Curses
"A popular, though aberrant teaching holds that problems in the life of a Christian - including sickness, poverty, natural disasters, and etcetera - can all be due to a curse spoken many generations ago. Often, believers in this theory are involved in an equally aberrant variety of spiritual warfare, with an unhealthy and unbiblical emphasis on demons. Very prevalent in the Word-Faith movement, as well in today's controversial renewal and revival movements."

Spiritual Warfare
Some Christians approach this issue incorrectly, either placing too much emphasis on it, or adding extra-Biblical teachings and practices.

Many adherents of the Word-Faith Movement as well as many in certain renewal and revival movements are, for various reasons, enamored with the concept of spiritual warfare. Inspired by - and often using the terminology of - Frank Perretti's fiction, legends like King Arthur's Roundtable, and movies such as Braveheart, they "rebuke demons," "bind Satan," and "take control of cities and situations."

Extra-Biblical
Literally: "beyond the Bible."

Teachings, concepts and practices claimed to be supported by or taught in the Bible, but which are based on incorrect interpretation. In hermeneutics, the study of the methodological principles of interpretation, this is known as "eisogesis" (super-imposing a meaning onto the text), as opposed to "exegesis" (drawing the meaning out of the text).

In some movements (e.g. Word-Faith and today's controversional revival groups), extra-Biblical teachings are called "revelational knowledge"

Word-Faith Movement
Word-Faith teachers owe their ancestry to groups like Christian Science, Swedenborgianism, Theosophy, Science of Mind, and New Thought--not to classical Pentecostalism. It reveals that at their very core, Word-Faith teachings are corrupt. Their undeniable derivation is cultish, not Christian. The sad truth is that the gospel proclaimed by the Word-Faith movement is not the gospel of the New Testament. Word-Faith doctrine is a mongrel system, a blend of mysticism, dualism, and gnosticism that borrows generously from the teachings of the metaphysical cults. The Word-Faith movement may be the most dangerous false system that has grown out of the charismatic movement so far, because so many charismatics are unsure of the finality of Scripture.
-John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos, p. 290

Are Christians Cursed?
We must first be very clear God is in charge. The danger in the blessing and cursing teaching is that Christians will get the idea that life is a dualistic battle between them and the devil with God sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see if we get the right revelations, and make the right utterances to scare off the devil. If not, he simply lets the devil put curses on us because hundreds of years ago, unknown to us, pagan idolaters had done their thing on the property we now own. Current faithfulness to God would not help in such a case. Likewise if a great-grandfather was a notorious sinner, we may be under an unknown curse and the devil has every right to attack us, whether or not we are Christian. This view clearly gets us away from the central theme of the Old and New Testaments, which is our relationship with God.

Read the entire review of -Are Christians Cursed?

Generational Curses -
Oftentimes when a passage is unclear it is used to support false teachings. Because when many Christians are unsure of the meaning of a passage, they are less able to discern erroneous teaching based on the verses in question. This is surely the case for the popular teaching on generational curses that is based on the Biblical passages cited above. Many popular books published in the last thirty years claim that Christians are subjected to unknown generational curses that have detrimental effects on their lives. The writers of the books offer their special knowledge that can break the curses.

In this article we will examine the Old Testament passages about generational curses. By careful exegesis centering around the whole counsel of God, we shall show that these passages do not support the idea that Christians are cursed because of the sins of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We shall also make it clear that these verses do not teach that demons have the right or ability to inhabit Christians because of generational curses nor that Satan has the right to inflict curses upon Christians because of ancestral sins. On the contrary, Christians have the “blessing of Abraham” because of their relationship to Christ.

Read the entire analysis -Generational Curses

Additional Suggested Readings
Demons, Demons Where are the Demons - By G. Richard Fisher

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good - 1 TH 5:21
:alien:

SAM · Veteran Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 2047 Location: Chicago

Thanks for all of the input and info Dave. I had started doing some further research, but time has not allowed me to dig in further. Great stuff!

kelly · Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2002 11:42 am Post subject:

Very, very interesting. I am printing out the articles mentioned and will read and pray on them. This contradicts the teachings of many pastors...I myself have to admit to having been set free from a fear of prayer after breaking a curse, also being set free from an addiction to sex after breaking what I was taught numerous times was a curse put on my family by my grandmother, passed down to my aunt, passed down to me, a passed down sin of sexual addiction. How was I set free from my very debilitating (and very real) fear of prayer and from my sexual addiction after coming against these "curses" and telling the enemy to go? And how do you explain the fact that I suffered from the same weakness and sin that my grandmother and aunt suffered from when I wasn't even around them? You pose just as strong, and just as opposite a post than mine! Let's see if we can come to the bottom of this. Wink

Davep · Veteran Joined: 02 Apr 2002 Posts: 463

Kelly

These trains seem to pull into the station from time to time. The bible is a finished work, even if I or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one the apostles and Jesus preached to you, let him be eternally condemned. Do not go beyond what is written, then you will not take pride in one pastor/man over or against another
- GAL 1:8
- 1 CO 4:6

Why do sins seem to repeat? There are no unique sins, we all share some of the same sins with each other. Is it any wonder then that within families we would also share similar sins.

Look at racism, that is a teaching past down from generation to generation. And how is it broken, with knowledge, and God's soften of your heart to accept the logic of that knowledge.

Your verse is right on
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge.

webacus · Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2002 4:41 pm Post subject:

Dave

Wisdom and resources... thanks. Smile

Good Stuff.

kelly · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2002 8:56 am Post subject:

Hmmm...these articles are presenting some very good biblical disputes against the popular teachings of curses. I am reading them now and praying for discernment and wisdom. I was taught, when my daughter was diagnosed with juvenile rhaumatoid arthritis, that it was from a curse somewhere in my family. I was accused of bringing on this curse, my ex-mother-in-law (she was a witch) was blamed, on and on. I have spent the last year with my husband trying to come against every "curse" we could think of. I find it very interesting that just as we leave this church, this new knowledge is presented to me. I am starting to believe that we were under a covering from the church that may have been inhibiting our growth. We have been praying for wisdom, growth and discernment for a year now, and we heard the Holy Spirit tell us to press on and let go of this particular church. We have been prophesied that God has big plans for us and I believe God is trying to prepare us for it. He began by removing us from this church. Now He is cleansing us of any unGodly teachings we may have received. This is happening very fast for us, but thank God! We are teachable and I will post again after I finish these articles. :inlove:

SAM · Veteran Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 2047 Location: Chicago

Kelly,
I have been praying for you and your husband that the Spirit would touch your hearts, eyes and minds. It appears he has been doing his work!

Davep · Veteran Joined: 02 Apr 2002 Posts: 463

Kelly

This topic was an extremely valuable experience for me, and probably every one who not only posted, but simply chose to lurk and read.

You have taken the step to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. - RO 12:12 (paraphrased)

A very good teaching ministries is Ligonier Ministries. R.C Spoul is a teacher and pastor. He concentrates, on explaining not preaching. I am a Doubting Thomas, thank God for those who have put in the countless hours of Bible study, to help those of us who haven't . . . yet. These people have seen that, and done that. They have learned Hebrew and Greek to understand the original spoken and written languages used in the Bible. And they are careful to not go beyond what is written.

You can listen to archived radio shows, by going to past radio broadcasts
Renewing Your Mind

kelly · Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2002 2:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your prayers and for the information. Like I said, I am starting to see that we may have been under a not so Godly covering in this church and we are coming out from under it now. This issue on curses is the only controversial one we have faced. I have only spent a year and a half in this church, I came from a very annointed and spirit-filled church before this, so I have a solid background. My husband, however, has been in this church for 20 years. His eyes are opened to following God's will and he is teachable as well, but he has a harder time of it. He has bonds to this church and has never been taught any differently. He has been brought up with thier doctrines, which aren't all "off", but this one issue of curses seems to have been. We still have alot of reading to do and we want to pray on this and study it for a while. I believe this is God. As we leave this church, we have come under the discipleship of an older, much respected couple and we have found this board. I believe God is speaking to us, teaching us, preparing us, and it is an exciting time. We have both had a few prophecies spoken over us, by different pastors and such, the same prophecy, but it was hard for us to accept and realize. Now we see it happening! This is a season of preparation for us and we are open to it! Please keep us, particularly Jason, in your prayers. His prophecy is to become a great man for God (prophecied three different times that I can remember off hand) and he is having the harder time with breaking off from his old church and thier covering. Again, I will post as I finish with these articles on curses. This is one area that was unknown to me until one year ago. I am glad I brought it up!

Davep · Veteran Joined: 02 Apr 2002 Posts: 463

cvd63 · Newbie Joined: 24 Apr 2002 Posts: 1

That Dave guy is very up on things and a wealth of information. I admire him. How does he find the time to do so much research. :p Great topic and excellent conversation piece. I am going to do some digging on this one myself and post some thoughts to see what others think.

Thanks all!

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