Human life at every level - individual, family, and society is in great distress these days. It is increasingly frustrating as time passes. Many suffer grave physical ailments and mental diseases and resort to medical remedies. The number of sterile couples and suicides continues to increase. Mental ailments are widespread. Terrorism has overrun the world. In Kerala too, showcased as God's own country, terrorism seems to have a diabolic grip. Many are getting crushed under the weight of economic slump and indebtedness.
Why is it that human life is in so much grief and despair? Though science has made great progress, man does not seem to enjoy peace and serenity in life; his problems remain as unresolved and puzzling as ever. Many comfort themselves as fate and God-given; some consider it as human suffering. But does God really want man to have this suffering? In other words, does God give man suffering? No is the unequivocal answer.
The Word of God is emphatic: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."(Jere.29:11)
God wishes man to have hope and welfare.
God makes clear - that those things that ail, torment, and destroy man - His image, are not according to God's script. On the contrary, God wishes man to have hope and welfare. If so, why do people suffer? The Bible calls these, curses. God only blesses; He does not curse. "If you heed these ordinances, by diligently observing them, the Lord your God will maintain with you the covenant loyalty that he swore to your ancestors; he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. You shall be the most blessed of peoples, with neither sterility nor barrenness among you or your livestock."(Deu.7:12- 15).
These are God's promises which encompass the worldly as well. Sterility, sickness, and economic depression are not from God.
What are Curses?
Curses are satanic interventions that inhibit a person from enjoying the blessings of God. A sin is a personal doing and if a person dies without genuine repentance then that sin becomes a curse on his/her children. Sins of parents fall on children as curse and not as sin.
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Gal .3:13). It is because of the existence of the curse that Christ became cursed; He redeemed us from the curse of the law. Law is God's law. They are His commandments revealed to us through the Word of God. Therefore, every Word of God is a commandment. One should not think that the Ten Commandments alone are God's laws.
Every Word of God given to us is a Commandment of God. Curses of law are curses that came through law. Since law consists of God's commandments and every Word of God, curses come from the Word of God. How do curses come from the Word of God? Curses originate from the sin caused by disobedience to the Word of God. If one man's violation of the law is a sin for him, it becomes a curse on his children. It was from this curse that Christ redeemed us. Some allege that the proclamation of a 'curse' is a trap to snare the innocents. In fact, it is the converse that is true; i.e., proclamation on the non-existence of 'curse' is to take an 'ostrich-like attitude'. It amounts to avoiding our responsibility.
What is a solution?
The very acknowledgment of the existence of a curse contains the seeds of a solution; rejection leads to the highway to damnation. To negate the existence of a curse some people take recourse to the Word of God itself especially John 9:1 onwards. When Jesus opened the eyes of a blind man, his disciples asked: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him"(Jn 9:2-3).Since Jesus asserted that it was not due to his or his parents' sin that he became blind, the argument that 'children would be punished for parents' sin' is false.
Those who argue on the basis of this episode may bear in mind that Jesus healed other blind, deaf, and dumb by casting out evil spirits from them. For instance: "Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute, and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see"(Matt.12:22). Another instance: "After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, "Never has anything like this been seen in Israel"(Matt.9:32-33). These two incidents testify that Jesus healed them by casting out evil spirits.
Then why do dead/evil spirits possess a person?
These two people must have been possessed by evil spirits from birth. Take another episode. In Mark 9:14-29 Jesus heals an epileptic boy. The boy's father said that he had been possessed by a dumb spirit from childhood. It has dashed him many times to water and fire to destroy him. "And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth (Mark: 9:20). "When Jesus saw a crowd running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you spirit that keeps the boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again! After crying and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so most of them said, "He is dead."(Mark 9:25-26). Why did an evil spirit possess the boy in childhood? Usually, an evil spirit possesses a person for two reasons:
- Person's sin, and
- Sins of the ancestors.
A person becomes possessed on these counts only. If evil spirits could possess anybody then the whole of humanity would have been possessed. While some people are possessed by evil spirits, others in the same position are not. But this is not due to anybody's merit. It is the ignorance to discern evil spirits from demons that some tend to assert that children would not be punished for the sins of their ancestors.
Who are these evil spirits?
Evil spirits are the souls of those who died in sin, living under the slavery/hegemony of the devil and Satan, the ancient dragon. However, demons are the fallen angels. A perception of this could be obtained from a careful reading of the Bible. On how the souls of the dead become evil spirits, I shall write later. In the Book of Lamentations, it is written: "Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities." (Lam: 4:7). Yes, the Word of God says that children bear the iniquities of the ancestors who have sinned. 'Slaves rule over us' means that slave souls -evil spirits rule over us. This is particularly true in this generation.
The biblical tradition is that the devil/Satan is behind man's every suffering. He works using evil souls who are capable of influencing all and possessing some. Evil spirits are behind hereditary diseases, family problems, suicide, mental disorders, epilepsy, various physical ailments, paralysis, adultery, alcoholism, murder, hatred, homosexuality, riots, natural disasters and many others. Evil souls are the media through which curses are transmitted down the generations.
Heredity influences the birth of morons and disabled children. The influence of evil spirits behind chronic abortions has been recognized. However, after undergoing 'binding prayers' many such victims of abortion have given birth, instances of and witnesses to such cases are many. The father of the epileptic boy reported that he had been possessed by a soul. It was an evil spirit - an epileptic, deaf, and dumb soul in the ancestry of the boy. This is a curse. Ancestors, who died in sin, remaining unredeemed, become slaves of Satan. Through blood relations, genes and ancestry, they influence children and subsequent generations. This is the real curse.
About Spirit In Jesus Ministries
'Spirit in Jesus' is the anointing that Jesus received from heaven, at the time of his baptism in the river Jordan.
