Hereditary Curse, curse breaking and the like…
This is not a new topic, but it has been gaining momentum in Brazil, which is surprising given that it has been gaining ground in historic churches, too.
It emerged in the United States in the eighties, but in Brazil it has been strongly expanded by pastor Helena Tannure, among other pastors (mostly women who spread and preach this doctrine). I do not want to take away the merits, pride or honors of these women, on the contrary, when researching them, one notices people of credibility and character. Reputable ladies and some even grandmothers.
The topic of breaking hereditary curses or liberation from ancestral curses, or even healing and liberation seminars always brings content with convincing speeches and scriptural texts, yes, it is biblical, but anti-gospel. And with this document I will explain why.
I assume that in the Gospel of Christ, not everything that is working out means that it is right. That testimonies or sporadic situations of success in these matters is not doctrinal proof, just as Paul's healing handkerchief was an exception, just as Peter's shadow was an exception, just as Jesus said that there were many widows in Israel but only one received miraculous sustenance through Elijah, and just as there were many lepers in Samaria but only Naaman was healed. In other words, God has the freedom of exception, because the Spirit is free, but we cannot transform the exception into indoctrination.
God asked Moses to make a bronze serpent to heal those who looked at it, after being bitten by serpents in a state of rebellion. First, it was a prophetic act to the Son, second, an exception, which the people did not understand, because in 2 Kings 18, Hezekiah needed to destroy this bronze serpent because the people offered offerings to the object, because they transformed an exception into a doctrine.
Therefore, no testimony can nullify or ignore the manifestation of God's power, because He is free, however, no form other than the Gospel and what the apostolic church left us can be doctrinal, this practice is a syllogism.
Can we have something biblical but anti-gospel? YES! A drastic mistake TODAY is to look at the scriptures with Christ as the end only, or even worse, not looking at Christ. In Christ we have the clear revelation that in Him everything existed, pointed out, fulfilled. Before, it was provisional and/or prophetic until Christ. Now, we have the revelation of Christ, according to Paul, the fullness of time. Therefore, we must look at all the scriptures with Christ as the BEGINNING and the END. Read everything from Christ, and the conclusion of everything ends in Christ. Beyond that, if it is doctrine, it is anti-gospel. If it is information, it is only a historical effect or for another period that is not for the Church of the Lamb.
The text cited for these occasions from the Old Testament speaks of disobedience, and the continuation of this disobedience to the law of God given to the Hebrew people, so primitive and simple the interpretation that because it is the Old Testament I will not go into the merits so as not to extend (some other if necessary), in the new covenant it is mainly cited Matthew 23:29 onwards, it is clear in the narrative that the Pharisees - religious people of the time who, through false morality and spirituality, "worshipped" prophets of the ancestors, even though they (their ancestors in this case) killed them, but they continue to not accept, understand the relationship with God, and therefore the "sin" of their ancestors would fall upon them.
The sin of not receiving the Messiah, Christ. As it relates a series of items, and so many “woes” that that generation of Jews would feel on their skin, as in fact happened and fulfilled part of the “woes” in the year seventy after Christ.
In addition to mentioning the house of David, God's displeasure in visiting iniquity to the fourth generation, etc. In other words, points of the law, or exceptions. Let us go to the Gospel, to Christ, because He is the authority we have for this doctrine.
Paul in Galatians warns us…
“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. This was so that through Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
In Colossians…
“And you, who were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our sins. He canceled the handwriting of ordinances that was contrary to us, having taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed the authorities and powers of evil, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them all by the cross. … “
In Corinthians…
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Yet…
That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them; and he committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Yet…
He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Like countless other New Testament texts. A practical example is the family of Jesus himself, because in the genealogy of Jesus we have prostitutes, adulterers, murderers, idolaters, genocidal, child-killing, incestuous, wicked people... and the Son of God comes from this genealogy to prove that the Christ – God incarnate – Died – Resurrected – cancelled on the CROSS every hereditary curse for those who believe in the offering of his blood, his sacrifice.
Accepting the breaking of the curse for those who confess Jesus and serve Him is like nullifying the cross of Calvary, it is nullifying the sacrifice of the lamb. We do not need the breaking of the curse in our genealogies, we need to believe in faith once and for all what was done in our favor.
I cry out like Paul in the face of this movement
O foolish ones! Who has bewitched you? Was not Jesus Christ clearly portrayed as crucified before your eyes? I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by faith in what you heard? Are you so foolish that, having begun with the Spirit, you are now trying to be perfected by your own efforts? Was it in vain that you suffered so much? If indeed it was in vain! Does he who supplies you with his Spirit and works miracles among you do these things by works of the law, or by faith in what you received?
On the other hand, what to do with our children? How to explain behaviors – sins replicated for generations?
What are we? We are the environment in which we live, from a behavioral point of view.
The actions of parents and their character are easily replicated by their children, because a child who lives in an environment of debauchery has this practice as a common act. This is called behavioral replication, in addition to fear, which has a stronger power than the devil to prevent us from living God's best.
A wise man once said, fear enters through the door, faith goes out through the window.
A practical example is that it is very common in a family where the grandmother was divorced or had an unhappy marriage, to replicate this behavior in her daughter, granddaughter, etc. This is common in many areas, from the behavioral practices of the grandmother who did not know how to teach her daughter and who had the same relationship behavior as her mother, because it was the common sense of the family, that is, she simply learned this way, a behavioral pattern in relationships. Or even due to fear, fear of not working out in the marriage because the mother did not work out, traumas, among many other psychoanalytic factors, that a good therapy gives more results than prayer campaigns and liberation seminars.
These seminars and campaigns transfer behavior – personal character to the devil.
It has nothing to do with a hereditary curse, but rather with a change of mind, behavior, and when the Gospel enters into this, it truly heals the individual, because there is a change of mind.
Even though familiar spirits act in certain families, yes, there are principalities and powers that understand families, cities, nations, etc. The legion of demons in the Gadarenes themselves prove this when they said they did not want to leave that region, etc. Even if this is the case, such a thing is annulled, erased by Christ, when he confesses Christ. After meeting Jesus, the Gadarenes did not need a healing seminar or to break the curse, they just needed to return to their family, because in the cradle of the family that expresses care and love, the right measures have the power to heal any bitter soul.
Our children are our replicas, simple as that.
I remember a book by Charles Spurgeon – “The Prince of Preachers” (19th century) in which he dared to preach in a seminar for workers for all of Western Europe on the theme: “Save the children”. Where he warned pastors and preachers to give importance to children, with the utmost truth in saying that salvation has to reach children and not wait for it to reach them when they are young or adults, that our children must be saved while they are still children, waiting for them to become young to decide for Christ can be too risky and that they would be saved with the constant teaching of the Word of the Gospel, calling at the time for all of Europe to organize their Sunday school classes on Sunday mornings exclusively for children.
These words by Spurgeon make me look at ourselves and our children. How much importance do we give to their spiritual lives? We don’t get together with our children to study the Bible. We don’t want to wake up early on Sundays and take them to Sunday school for our own rest and comfort. We don’t want to spend our Saturday nights relaxing until dawn, and we forget about them in the morning. How many of us worry about our children aged five to twelve, knowing that the word of truth dwells in them, and that they have already been cleansed by the words that Christ spoke to us. YES, these topics and seminars are so successful even though they are anti-gospel because we want to blame our ancestors for what is our responsibility, and worry about saving our children for Christ.
We want the best school, sports, English, swimming, we are proud of our children's good grades, intelligence, and happiness, but few of us worry about saving our children for Christ. We think it is a natural process, a consequence of the environment. NO! Those who are born into the evangelical cradle need to be saved as children. Youth is too tempting for those who have not yet had a real encounter with Christ.
Finally, let us give maximum importance to the children's department, it is the most important in the church. And I am the fruit of Sister Romilda, who at the age of five taught me to memorize "Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." She made me recite it by heart because I still could not read during worship, and that never left my head. And for everything in life, for all the sins of youth, finally, I knew that YOUR word is a lamp unto my feet. I am not afraid to say that the church and sometimes parents place religion, the moral practice, and behavior of an evangelical or religious person, in categories more of fear than conscience, but Sister Romilda showed me salvation through the simple word of the Gospel when I was still a child.
We need seminars with parents and children more than ever, conferences and meetings with parents and children, but with the truth of the gospel as a light that illuminates our minds, so that we do not transfer guilt and fears to our children.
Fabiano Moreno