Cursed Be...

Many people – including many Christians – are cursed! I know that sounds way out, but it’s not. It’s a reality. A large percentage of believers – the majority, probably – are blithely unaware of it.

There is a precept that goes back thousands of years, which affects them even today. It is recorded in Genesis:

Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you (Gen 27:29).

“What’s that got to do with us now? That promise was uttered by Isaac to Jacob. It doesn’t apply to Christians today. We are absolved from all that Old Testament stuff. We are free in Christ – totally free from the curse of the law, like Paul told the Galatians (Gal 3:13).” That is what many think, but they’re missing something vitally important.

WHY did God say that everyone who cursed Jacob would be cursed by God? Because access to God – and the truth of God at that time – was with Jacob and His descendants, as portrayed symbolically in his dream of the ladder to heaven (Gen 28:12-17). So, everyone who did not want to be at peace with Jacob, was actually also not wanting peace with God. Jacob represented God, as did Abraham his forefather.

You can see the selfsame promise also given to Abraham (Gen 12:2,3).

Abraham was a prophet (Gen 20:7).

Why So Many Are Under A Curse

Jesus reiterated the same precept with different words:

He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me (Luke 10:16).

That should send shivers down the spine of all who have disdained God’s prophets! Those who speak for God, as His prophets, are actually the ones most opposed! In the Church, I mean; opposed by believers!

On 19th August 2005, after giving me three dreams, God said this as I was waking up:

"Whoever resists your words resists Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me.”

Tragically (for them), the majority of Christians resist the prophets whom God has raised up to fulfil the work of Elijah in this end time.

People don’t like change. They don’t like to be told where they are wrong and need to make radical changes to their lives or to their thinking.

The ones who resist most are church leaders! They throw out the prophets and slam the door in their face, excommunicating them for ‘good measure’.

Pride, self-will and rebellion are at the root.

Causes of Curses

A curse can have variable intensity. Essentially it is the absence of the blessing God prefers to give. But He doesn’t prevent people going the way they choose. Everyone has to choose. What God said to Israel of old applies to everyone else during their lifetime:

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days (Deut 30:19,20)

If you reject God, either in whole or in part, demons take the place of His Spirit in your life. It’s like pouring water out of a jar. Air comes in to replace it.

People can be cursed because of:

N              Sin.
N              Ignorance and deception.
N              Subservience to church hierarchy.
N              Lukewarmness and apathy.
N              Pride.
N              Other wrong attitudes or desires.

Jesus came to reverse the curse. And, today, He works through the five-fold ministry gifts to restore what Satan has stolen. Chief among these (not in a hierarchic sense, because human hierarchy is an evil that should not be tolerated in the Church) is the prophet.

But because human nature is:

...deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jer 17:9.)

...people resent and reject prophets.

I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jer 17:10).

That’s why so many reap a curse.

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord (Jer 17:5).

That reveals the root cause – inner motivation.

The trouble is, it’s easier to reject what is right. It’s harder to crucify the inner desire or urge. It’s hard to say no to what is wrong when it is far more appeal- ing to your emotions to protect your pride!

Watch and Pray

One fundamentally important command from Jesus to all disciples is to watch and pray (Matt 26:41).

We all need to scrutinise our attitudes, our inner motives, our desires. This is not just vital prior to taking Passover (1 Cor 11:28), for the reasons stated (11:29, 30), but also on a daily basis. Why?

Pursue peace with all people and HOLINESS, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14).

Most Christians are simply not pursuing holiness. Most are pursuing selfishness.

Herein is a reason many fall. They are not taking Jesus’ words seriously. They think they can just drift into the Kingdom. They are content with themselves the way they are, and they foolishly assume that God must be content with them too. What a deception!

One fiery dart the devil uses to defeat countless others is resentment. That’s why it is written:

Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this MANY become defiled (Heb 12:15).

Watching involves listening carefully to the Spirit. It necessitates being sensitive to God’s feelings, not our own. God will speak to us when He is not happy with our behaviour or attitudes. But where believers are too self-centred to ‘hear’ what God is saying, often the next avenue God will use to reach them is via a prophet. If they won’t listen to God’s Spirit and won’t heed the exhortation of a prophet, calamity is the next means God will use to try and reach these ones He dearly loves, but dearly yearns for them to change.

One day we were meeting together and a visitor was with us who was not dealing with inner hurt for which they harboured resentment – that dreaded root of bitterness that the devil claimed as his entry point. This person was then finding fault with others, instead of dealing with the fault within.

I was given a scripture. It was where Jesus said:

Judge not [meaning, don’t try to condemn others] that you be not judged [condemned]. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged... [those who harbour unforgiving attitudes against others will not be forgiven by God].

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? (Matt 7:1-3.)

It’s quite a widespread problem, and so hard for many to counter. Where people have been hurt, the more they have been hurt, the harder it is for them to relinquish their bitterness or hate. But you must. Jesus won’t accept you otherwise (Matt 6:15).

You grieve His Spirit if you don’t forgive from the heart.

The visitor was not willing to renounce this sin. The next time they came, the same scripture was given again, amongst the various things God gave us through His Spirit. It seemed strange to me at the time and I wondered why we had the same text yet again! It was only later that I realised why, and found out the problem.

The person was not watching and praying. Oh they were praying – of a fashion. But where you don’t deal with the wrong inner attitudes, those prayers become ineffective. You might just as well talk to the cows in the field. They will have more sympathy for you than God! He hates hypocrisy! (Matt 7:5.)

God spoke twice. The person didn’t heed. God rejected them, according to His biblical principle (Titus 3:10). He is always true to His Word! It is errant humans who are not true to it, who cause problems!

The person went from bad to worse. Demons took over.

There’s very little you can do to help such self- willed people.

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has rejected you... (1 Sam 15:23).

God has to let such people eat the fruit of their own ways. They have welcomed demons into their lives. If they want that sort of company, they will have to live with such vile spirits, and suffer accordingly.

Peter reminds us that one of the functions of suffering is to urge us to put away sin (1 Pet 4). It is to humble us if we are not humble.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet 5:6).

Where people exalt themselves, all sorts of problems erupt! Pride was the first sin. Lucifer lifted up himself. He became self-willed, arrogant, resentful, bitter. One sin led to another. There was now no containing it. He had thrown the dice. He had made his decision. He reaped the curse, and it follows him wherever he goes.

Too many people follow the same course. And, followers of Jesus, who should know better, are either too asleep, too lazy, or too stubborn to care!

They have left their First Love (Rev 2:4). They are travelling the road to spiritual death.

Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you (Rev 3:3).

In this context, Jesus is not coming to bless, but to remove whatever you formerly had! (Luke 8:18.)

Malcolm B Heap, April 2006