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Release from Demonic Oppression: Diagnosis Demons

 

This is the 23rd article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. To access the rest of the series, click here.

 

Have you ever sensed the presence of a demon or evil spirit? How did you do it? Was it a feeling? Something said? Something you saw? Were you sure about what you discerned, or did you merely have a suspicion? Being able to accurately discern the presence and activity of the demonic in people’s lives is a very important aspect of helping them find freedom. Trying to cast out what is not there is an exercise in frustration and confusion. Failing to discern a demon can leave it in place to continue its harassment of the individual.

Demons in general prefer to be hidden. They also sometimes can be quite bold. I remember once when a young man looked me in the eye and said that the demon in him was going to jump on me. I suppose he did this to try to intimidate me in some way, but it didn’t work. Demons use fear and intimidation when they can no longer hide. One deception is for them to pose as being too strong for the ordinary follower of Christ to handle, but we will get to that in more detail in a future article on how to cast them out.

There are two general approaches to diagnosing the presence of demons.  The first is to assume that demons should be the first thing we look for as a cause of sinful behavior or oppression. The opposing view, which I prefer, is to look for demons last of all, unless there is some reason to think otherwise. In my experience in counseling, demons are rarely the main event. They may seek to block or distract us from continuing along the road to genuine healing and deliverance. I also believe that demons get blamed for things that are more rightly attributed to the “flesh,” a lack of proper repentance and teaching, embedded lies, unhealed pain, and generational issues.

Demons, however, often lurk in the midst of the snarls of interconnected bondage issues, and we should not be surprised to find them.

In fact, I have had more dealings with demons while engaging in Personal Prayer Ministry than at any other time. This is because PPM goes to roots of bondage, where demons try to hide.

One of my most humorous episodes with a demon occurred just after my opening prayer in a ministry session. The person awaiting ministry clearly heard in his spirit a voice say, “I am not going to leave either!” We both laughed and cast out the spirit, deeming that the Lord was showing us that it was time for it to go. Probably the most interesting deliverance in my experience took place over the phone. A demonized person I had never met called to ask if I cast out demons. We talked a bit and set up a time to get together in person. (This man had attended one of our small groups; so, it was not totally “out of the blue.”) Before ending the call, I asked if I could pray for God’s protection over him until then. As I prayed in English, I felt a strong desire to pray in tongues. I asked him if that would be okay, to which he readily agreed. As I prayed in the Spirit, he began to manifest evidence that he was being delivered. He was choking and gagging and knew instinctively that the Holy Spirit was setting him free. The most interesting thing to me was that I was not consciously exercising my authority in Christ for his deliverance, but I suppose that I must have been praying for it or commanding it as I spoke in an unknown heavenly language. (Romans 8:26-27) It was obvious that the Holy Spirit wanted it out immediately. Before that, I did not even know it was possible to cast out a demon while praying in the Spirit. Afterward I witnessed another person get delivered as I prayed in tongues, but that was after I commanded the demon to leave in English. It was one of those recalcitrant spirits who protested having to leave.

But how do we know when we are dealing with a demon? Some people (a la Pigs in the Parlor) believe demons are behind nearly every affliction known to man. I reject this notion, preferring to limit myself to demons identified in the New Testament. However, I must admit that once when ministering to a woman who had been unable to quit smoking, I asked her if it would be okay to check out the possibility of a demon being behind her addiction. I did not think it was, but recently someone had encouraged me to consider the possibility, and I thought it would be worth a try. She agreed; so, I asked Jesus to reveal to us if a demon was involved. My wife and I commanded any evil spirit present to manifest itself somehow so we would know. Amazingly the woman immediately had a terrible taste in her throat. We concluded that this was God answering our prayer. We cast it out, and she stopped smoking immediately. I suppose God had a good laugh at my expense, but I still don’t go looking for demons behind every affliction and addiction.

I always depend on the Holy Spirit to reveal to me whatever I need to know, since I am not clever enough to figure it out on my own. This has been the secret to whatever success I have experienced doing PPM over the years. I know it is his ministry, not mine.

I try to be alert for clues that there might be demonization, and, if I find any, I then ask the Holy Spirit to show me clearly what is going on. We don’t want to make a mistake, and here is why. If we try to cast out a non-present demon, the person will get no relief. This may cause the person to draw one of a couple of wrong conclusions. They may think the demon is too strong for Jesus, or they may think deliverance in general does not work. Lastly they may lose confidence in our ministry to them. None of these is good. We also should never offer anyone the false hope that simply casting out a spirit will solve all their problems. The “flesh,” which is much more difficult to deal with, remains, and it cannot be cast out.

As a matter of covering all the bases, it is good to routinely ask if the person we are counseling has ever dabbled or practiced the occult. In fact, before engaging in PPM, I ask those who will be receiving ministry to complete an extensive application which asks these sorts of questions up front. There is no sense waiting until you are far into ministry before finding out crucial details.

Occult involvement will often open the door to demonization. It is the devil’s realm powered by the demonic.

Once my wife and I were ministering to a woman who complained of never having been able to speak in tongues. I felt impressed to ask her if she had ever been involved with the occult. She said that she had practiced witchcraft. I asked her if she had ever repented and renounced that sin. She told us that she did not know she needed to. We led her through the process and cast out the associated evil spirit, during which she said it felt as if there were a huge anvil on her chest. When that spiritual pressure lifted, she experience deliverance and started speaking in tongues immediately. My advice is to always suspect demonization when there has been occult involvement, which includes a vast array of things from Ouija boards to palm reading, from tarot cards to seances, from witchcraft to Satanic worship, and the list goes on. The application form I use covers most everything.

Discerning demons is a gift of the Holy Spirit and part of the ministry of Christ. It is intuitive and works differently in individuals.

I know a minister who said she could “smell” demons. Some “see” them by the Spirit. You may simply be able to know that they are there intuitively. Sometimes I am able put the puzzle pieces together to ferret out one. Then I like to ask the Holy Spirit to confirm it. I often command the evil spirit, if it is there, to manifest itself in some clear way under Christ’s authority and oversight, without making a scene; so that we will know. Demons must obey our commands given in Christ’s name. Sometimes I know for sure that I am dealing with a demon, but at other times I move forward on the reasoned guess that we are dealing with an evil spirit, asking for Holy Spirit confirmation. Each person has to gain experience by doing the ministry. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I also like to pray for Jesus to reveal the true nature of the demon, especially if the person regards it as a friend or helper. The woman I mentioned in a previous article who had the “friendly” spirit of death did not want to let it go until Jesus showed her how ugly and evil it was. Then she was ready. People need to have their eyes opened to spiritual reality. Satan loves to appear as an angel of light. The Holy Spirit will bring the demonic into the light where the evil is exposed and can be properly renounced.

In summary, we trust the Lord to show us when we are up against demonic oppression and to give us his strategy for getting rid of it. Remember, it is God’s ministry not ours. He is the one with the wisdom, authority, and power to get the job done. We are his representatives or ambassadors. In my next article, I will write about various kinds of demons we may encounter.

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Release from Demonic Oppression: How Do People Become Demonized?

 

This is the 22nd article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can read the other related articles by clicking here.

 

How do demons gain access to people? Can they simply “jump on” someone? Are we helpless before them? Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves and free ourselves from their oppression? These are all good questions that I will attempt to answer in this and future articles.

Thankfully demons cannot randomly demonize anyone they choose.

God is sovereign, and the devil can only operate with God’s permission. (Read the Book of Job.) If demons could oppress anyone and everyone at will, we would see significant demonization everywhere. In general, God protects us from Satan and his minions, but certain things can open the door to demonic oppression.

Demons are all around us for sure, but for them to be able to significantly oppress us, they must somehow gain access to us. God’s protective barrier must be breached. Solomon gave us from insight into how this can happen.

He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. Ecclesiastes 10:8 (NASB)

In general, we or someone who has protective authority over us must break through God’s protective wall by sinning to open the door to demonization.

Adam took the lead in this, but our ancestors and living members of our families, along with other authority figures, whom God gave to protect us, sometimes fail miserably at their responsibility and actually facilitate those under their care to suffer oppression.

Demons gain access to harass people in a number of ways. If we think of them as flies, it can be helpful. (Interestingly, one of the devil’s names is Lord of the Flies or Beelzebub.) Flies are attracted to putrefaction and wounds. Where these two things are present, flies usually will be on hand. One can spend his time swatting flies or treating what attracted them in the first place. Over the long haul, the latter course of action will be the most effective.

One way to think of this is that demons look for a wound, a “nest,” or a “hook” in people to set up shop. Because unhealed traumatic inner pain is so devastating, it cries out to be resolved. If we do not find healing in Christ, demons often come knocking to offer their version of assistance.

I can offer a couple of examples from my own ministry experience.

A certain young man was abandoned as a baby and treated horribly by significant adults in his life. As you can imagine, he developed a deep seated rage. He eventually realized that he gained a certain level of notoriety and prestige of sorts when he allowed himself to be taken over by rage and became violent. He was physically quite strong. A spirit of rage became his “trusted friend” and “helper.” I remember telling him that he was going to need to let go of that and start trusting God to be his protector. At that point and into the known present, he has been unwilling to make that transition. The “nest” this demon settled in was composed of the pain associated with abandonment and abuse coupled with the lie that rage was his only hope of being someone significant. I suspect that he was not the first in his family line to make this connection with a spirit of rage.

Another example was a woman who unwittingly was exposed to a spirit of death, most likely when her mother took her to see a spiritualist who channeled demons. During a particularly painful time in her life, she would console herself with the thought that, if things got bad enough, she could always escape through death. This is one of the perverse ways the devil seeks to “solve” our problems. When we identified the spirit, she was initially hesitant to get rid of her longtime “friend,” not realizing how malevolent it was. It had been a sort of “safety net” for her. We asked the Holy Spirit to reveal to her the nature of this spirit, which he did on the spot. Once she made the decision to renounce it, we commanded it to leave, and she was set free. She told me later that she was amazed at how free she felt afterward. This evil “friend” had been with her a long time, weighing her down in ways she hadn’t realized. The devil usually wants to remain hidden from view, operating in darkness.

In addition to trauma, certain personal sins can be gateways to demonization.

Involvement in the occult is especially sinister. This can be something seemingly innocuous as children experimenting with a Ouija Board or Tarot cards. Likewise, sexual activity with demonized people can open the door to oppression. In general, if we abandon ourselves to sins, we run the risk of demonization. Unfortunately, we can also be demonized when others sin against us. Sexual and other forms of abuse by adults may open the door to demonic oppression in its victims. I know this does not seem “fair,” but the devil does not care a bit. He is what may be called an equal opportunity oppressor. When parents and other trusted adults fail to be protectors of those under their care, but instead open a doorway to evil in their homes, children may be scarred for life. After all, the entire human race came under the devil’s “thumb” because of the sin of Adam. Conversely, we experience freedom because of the obedience of Christ.

Sometimes demons are passed down generationally.

I remember working with a woman who was experiencing recurring nightmares. During ministry, I discovered that her grandmother was trying to recruit her to take up the family tradition of witchcraft. She renounced any such involvement and claimed her freedom in Christ from this torment. The nightmares stopped immediately.

A great first step in getting rid of demons is to remove what gave them access in the first place.

A way to look at this is to imagine that we have a front and a back door to our hearts. If we kick demons out of the front door without locking the back door, what good have we done? (Matthew 12:43-45)

The first step toward gaining freedom is to close and lock the back door, the place where demons gained access to our lives in the first place. This means we must first deal with bitterness, personal sins, generational sins, lie-based strongholds, and traumatic pain. Then we will be ready to be set free.

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Release from Demonic Oppression: Introduction

This is the 21st article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can read the other related articles by clicking here.

 

In the New Testament, there is no word for being “possessed” by a demon. Regrettably, some Bible translations refer to demonization as possession, but the Greek word used is daimonizomai, which simply means to be demonized. All sorts of arguments have arisen as a result of using the inaccurate idea of demon possession to prove that believers in Christ cannot possibly be possessed or owned by an evil spirit because God owns, possesses, and inhabits every believer.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NASB)

I fully agree that God does not share ownership of his children with the devil.

However, if we approach this issue using the actual Greek word, daimonizomai,  it becomes clear that we are not talking about possession, but oppression.

Jesus taught us that the devil’s agenda is to kill, steal, and destroy. He does this work primarily through deception and fear. When Jesus walked the earth during his itinerant ministry, Peter tells us that the core of his efforts went toward releasing people from demonic oppression.

"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38 (NASB)

In this verse the word translated “oppressed” literally means “being under the power of.” This is a good way to describe demonization; although, not everyone Jesus healed had a spirit of infirmity. Some were just sick, but sickness is itself a manifestation of sin’s curse and the devil’s domain.

The devil seeks to use people to accomplish his purposes. He works to deceive us into aligning with his God dishonoring quest. Interestingly, demons have a desire to inhabit people. In my opinion, this is most likely due to two reasons. First, God created us to be temples for his Spirit. Demons wish to spoil what belongs to God. Secondly, human bodies are pleasant and useful habitations for demons, giving them a place of “rest” and providing them with the means to act out their destructive desires.

Demonization can take many forms, anything from a person crawling around on the ground as a snake to being harassed in the mind by oppressive sinful thoughts and temptations. It can also include a vast array of physical problems, which Jesus commonly addressed during his public ministry – deafness, inability to speak, crippling arthritis, and epilepsy, just to name a few. Demonization can also manifest itself as it did in the Gadarene demoniac, who lived in constant agony, alone among the tombs, cutting and generally hating himself and his condition. His pain was so great that, when he saw Jesus, knowing our Lord could set him free, ran to him and begged for help. Paul encountered and set free a young woman who had psychic abilities that came from being demonized by a spirit of “python” which used her as its mouthpiece.

During Jesus’ day, it was not uncommon to encounter obviously demonized people. Today we generally lock such persons away in institutions or heavily medicate them into a stupor. Nevertheless, many others suffer in less obvious ways. One of the devil’s chief weapons is deception. He has managed to convince a great many people that evil spirits are not even real, but were used by primitive peoples to explain medical and mental problems they did not understand.

Believers who hold that the Bible is the inspired Word of God cannot dismiss the reality of demons.

In addition, if we wish to help people get free, we should not quickly conclude that Christians cannot be oppressed by demons. I have seen evidence of such oppression far too often to pretend it does not exist. When our theology does not match reality, something is wrong with our doctrine. My goal in these articles is to help us to properly understand the scriptures regarding demonization in order to help people find freedom in Christ.

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Jesus, the Healer of Our Souls

This is the 20th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling.
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:1-3 (ESV)

So far I have covered how deeply embedded lies and generational devastation contribute to bondage.

Deep unhealed wounds and the associated traumatic pain can also interfere with our experiencing all that Jesus died to provide. This article looks at how the Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

As a matter of review, the devastation experienced because of unconfessed and unforgiven generational sins and their attached judgments is overcome through actively claiming and applying what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. I covered this in my previous article.

Lie-based strongholds are defeated through our recognizing and renouncing any lies we have believed and replacing them with promises and truths from the Bible. The truth sets us free from the power of the lie. (John 8:31-32) We must learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit to guide us through this process.

When it comes to deep pain, however, neither the authority of the resurrected Christ over all generational devastation nor the bondage breaking power of the truth is the complete answer.

Deep traumatic pain requires the healing touch of Jesus.

Identifying what component of bondage is at work in a person allows us to apply the proper remedy.

The Relationship between Inner Hurts, Embedded Lies, and Demonic Oppression

By way of review, all sin and bondage is lie-based. Sin began because a satanic lie was spoken, believed, and acted upon, which opened the door to a lifestyle of sinful independence with its resultant pain and destruction. When we encounter pain in our lives, we usually attempt to understand and make sense of it in order to protect ourselves by using the carnal (unspiritual) mind (the sarx or “flesh”). The carnal mind lacks wisdom and weaves for itself another layer of deception. The lies we believe, when acted upon, can introduce even more pain, setting the cycle in motion once again. Demons often take advantage of this state of affairs and may present themselves as our “friends” who are trying to help. Demons look for a “nest” of lies and pain to set up housekeeping. Sometimes they rely upon some sort of “hook” in our souls, such as involvement in the occult. Such demonization may go back generationally. I hope it is becoming clear to us why deliverance from bondage needs to address all four of these interrelated areas.

Identifying the Presence of Inner Hurts

Hurts and wounds of the soul are carried on the inside of a person and may be invisible except for how they affect us.

Their presence is often revealed by exaggerated emotional responses, bizarre behaviors, and irrational thinking. When our reactions are out of keeping with the provocation, inner hurts and associated lies are likely beneath the surface. Where there is smoke…

In the process of asking the Lord Jesus to set us free from inner hurts, embedded lies, generational devastation, and demonization, it is usually a good idea to begin where the pain is the greatest.

In fact, the reason most people even seek out help is because the pain has become unbearable. A good practice for each of us when we experience emotions that are not from God’s Spirit is to ask the Lord what is going on inside us. If we listen to the Spirit, he may reveal to us bondage breaking truth and provide healing. This has happened to me.

Healing from inner hurts usually involves the complete package of deliverance. We repent for known sin, identify and claim freedom from generational devastation, ask Jesus to heal our pain and replace lies with truth, and cast out any attached demonic influence in Christ’s name and authority. (Demons are not always part of the problem, however, and should not be addressed unless they are discerned with the aid of the Holy Spirit.) Unless we use this broad approach to deliverance, we may leave key components to bondage in place.

Usually our pain has an historical basis and is directly connected to events we experienced, to words spoken over us, or to attitudes expressed to us. None of these things has the power to bring us into bondage unless we believe some lie as a result. Jesus experienced all sorts of negative things in his life, but never reacted sinfully and never came into bondage.

For example, when a parent fails to love his or her child properly, it may break the heart of that little one. As a result, depending on the personality of the child, the response might be to become afraid, depressed, angry, or maybe just shut down emotionally in an attempt to wall out the pain. Lie-based strongholds are often generated as we try to understand and cope with our pain. We may come to believe that we have no personal worth, because our parents did not value us enough to live with us, spend significant time with us, or speak affirming words to us. We may feel shamed and think there is something inherently wrong with us, causing everyone who is important to us to eventually leave. As you can imagine, believing such things triggers corresponding behaviors that can be a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, we may expect to be rejected; so, to protect ourselves from that pain, we reject the other person first. These hurts must be healed, and the lies must be addressed and replaced with God’s truth. The generational side of things usually needs to be addressed as well.

At times we need to consider that some events have produced a deep level of hurt in an entire group of people. Think of what happened at Wounded Knee when the US Army massacred an entire Indian village. Dee Brown wrote a book entitled Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which communicates some of the pathos attached to that event. A once proud people was reduced to living in poverty on reservations supplied by a government that systematically lied to them, destroyed them, and divested them of their territories over several decades. You would have to ask a Native American what kind of pain still remains and how has it affected both mental health and personal fulfillment and happiness. Poverty, hopelessness, and alcoholism run rampant on reservations. This is a generational inner hurt accompanied by generational lies and probable demonization.

Unless these past injuries are properly addressed, we may be hindered in moving forward with life. Jesus can heal us from the pain associated with our personal, group, or family past, too.

Binding Up the Brokenhearted

How does Jesus bind our wounds and heal our broken hearts? When Jesus launched his public ministry, he clearly told his followers what its focus would be by quoting the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Isaiah 61:1 (ESV)

The poor in this passage are those who have been so reduced by their neediness that they crouch and cower. Captives are those who have been conquered and made prisoner. The oppressed are people who have been “broken to pieces,” and part of their breaking has been the rending of their hearts. Many people have hearts that are thoroughly broken. They often are incapable, without proper mending, of feeling emotions properly or trusting God completely. Faith comes from the heart, and if the heart is broken, how can we feel or trust fully? That is one reason why the healing ministry of Jesus is so needed.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 (NASB)

Jesus endured the crushing pain of abandonment, false accusation, betrayal, fear, powerlessness, rejection, invalidation, and confusion. All the common maladies of the soul fell upon him as armed bandits might fall on an innocent, defenseless traveler. Jesus offered no defense but, full of trust in his Abba Father, went to his death as a sheep to the slaughter, as the Lamb of God.

The crushing Jesus experienced provided for our well-being and healing.

Jesus is not indifferent to our pain. He experienced it for himself and knows exactly how to heal it. In fact, he has already paid the price for our healing and restoration, but we must go to him, just as the woman with the issue of blood relentlessly pursued Jesus until she touched the hem of his garment and was healed.

Finding healing in Christ begins with the understanding that he cares, loves, and feels deeply for us. He knows about our pain – how it feels, where it came from, and what it has done to us. He also paid the price in his own soul and body to provide our healing.

If we will believe that Jesus is God the Healer, Jehovah-Rapha, and believe that he has already paid the price for our healing, and if we will come to him in faith, asking him to heal and restore us, we will experience healing at his hands.

Likely this pursuit of healing will require us to revisit the memories of when these things happened to us, reopening old painful wounds and unsealing long repressed pain. We will need the courage to allow ourselves to once again feel that pain and ask Jesus heal us. This has been labeled “inner healing” or “healing of the memories.” It is simply recognizing that our pain has an historical origin of which Jesus is aware. He was there when it happened; although, we knew it not. He knows what it felt like, what we were thinking, the lies that were set up in our hearts, etc. He also knows exactly how to set us free because he is the Wonderful Counselor! (Isaiah 9:6)

If we take these painful memories to him and ask him to speak his healing words of truth to us, the results will be amazing. He is far more willing to set us free than we are in coming to him.

Some of us were so deeply hurt that it will take a great amount of bravery and trust in Jesus to allow him to reopen the doors to the hidden places in our hearts. This is what blocks many from the pursuit of freedom. But Jesus can be trusted completely. He will be careful and tender with us on our journey to freedom. Just as surely as he delivered the woman at the well in Samaria from her pain in John Chapter 4 and set the adulteress free from her condemnation and pain in John Chapter 8, he will do the same for us. He is the Healer of our souls.

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Practical Prayer Steps to Overcome Generational Devastation

This is the 19th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can browse the other related articles by clicking on the link in the above sentence.

 

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live. Isaiah 58:12 (GW)

Here are some practical prayer steps we can take to experience freedom from long standing generational devastation.

  1. With the aid of the Holy Spirit, prayerfully identify and bring to the Lord any observed repeating generational devastation in our family line. This includes behaviors, beliefs, addictions, diseases, embedded lies, traumatic hurts, and demonization.
  2. As a representative of our families and on behalf of our families, repent for any known ancestral sins and ask Jesus to release our families from any looming judgment associated with past unconfessed and unforgiven sins. (Note: We are not asking Jesus to forgive our ancestors personally. We are asking forgiveness on behalf of the family still alive, who may bear the brunt of judgment against those past sins.)
  3. Repent of any personal participation I may have had by committing the same sins.
  4. Claim Christ’s victory over generational sins, judgments, and the resulting devastation for ourselves and our families. Remember: Jesus already won the victory at Calvary. (Galatians 3:13-14) We are tapping into that victory by faith. When our faith couples with God’s promises, God’s power is released.
  5. Declare Christ’s victory over embedded lies and pray for truth to permeate the family, setting us free. (John 8:31) (Note: The way we help others find freedom from embedded lies is the subject of another article.)
  6. Declare Christ’s victory over traumatic hurts and pray for his healing to touch every wounded area. (Note: This is covered later in another article.)
  7. Declare Christ’s victory over every form of demonization and ask for specific deliverance over family members. (Note: I will cover this in detail later.)
  8. Ask the Lord to bless us and our families in a way that directly contravenes the observed generational devastation. For example, if rage has been a problem, ask the Lord to make us gentle and patient. If poverty has been a generational problem, ask the Lord to prosper us and help us become generous givers.
  9. Thank the Lord for setting us free, even before we may observe any behavioral change.

When I minister to people for deliverance from generational devastation, I try to go through these steps for every identifiable generational issue. Usually this process is outwardly uneventful, but occasionally the person receiving ministry may have an emotional response which indicates the presence of an embedded lie or traumatic wound. It is possible to encounter demonization when going through this process as well. We may not realize the extent of how Christ is setting us free until later, when we realize we did not react as we had before. I have seen significant deliverance by praying in the way described above, and I encourage you to give it a try.

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Overcoming Generational Devastation: Standing in the Gap

This is the 18th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. The associated articles can be found by clicking on the link in the sentence above.

 

The Victory Has Been Won!

I have heard many people pray something like this when helping a person dealing with the effects of generational devastation: “I break the power of (you fill in the blank for the sin, curse, or devastation) in Jesus name.” I cringe at such prayers; although, I think the Lord graciously honors them.

My understanding of the gospel is that it is a proclamation of who Jesus is, what he did for us, and what he will yet do. It is an announcement of victory over Satan and his forces, including sin, sickness, death, and the traditions of men. It includes an invitation to repent, be forgiven, receive eternal life, and become God’s completely reconciled child. It also includes the expectation that anyone who accepts the gospel will follow Christ as his disciple and be part of his missionary army of disciple makers. (If you wish to read more about the gospel, click here.) For this reason, I believe our prayers over people suffering generational devastation should be more of a prophetic pronouncement of their liberation, based on Christ’s finished work, along the lines of Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; Isaiah 61:1 (NASB)

Jesus taught us that we have what some people call the power of binding and loosing. The idea is that we have authority in Christ, which is enforced by the Holy Spirit, to bind and loose people. Here is what Jesus said.

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19 (NASB)

Without delving into the details of what is meant by binding and loosing, the point I wish to make related to what we are studying is the following:

  1. We have authority from Christ to declare that people have been set free.
  2. This authority is based on what Jesus has already accomplished for us.

This takes all the pressure off of us in this matter.

Our only job is to stand by faith in the victory Jesus has already won.

But let me caution you here: anyone who does this should prepare for battle. The devil does not like to let his prisoners go any more than Pharaoh wanted to allow Israel to leave Egypt.

Standing in the Gap

The mental picture associated with standing in the gap is someone who becomes part of the wall where it is broken down and gets between the enemy and the people under attack – a sort of mediator or savior, a hero, a knight in shining armor. In the Old Testament, many cities had defensive walls for protection against enemies that often roamed the countryside. Broken down walls became the symbol of abject defeat and humiliation because enemies could come and go unhindered, leaving the people defenseless. When people find themselves in such a situation, they need a rescuer to rebuild the walls and stand in the breach during the process. Nehemiah was an Israelite who was consumed with a desire to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian army. The words below describe his heart in the matter and illustrate perfectly what it means to become a “repairer of the breach” or an intercessor, a person who stands in the gap for others.

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, 2  that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3  They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire." 4  When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5  I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6  let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned. 7  "We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8  "Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9  but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' 10  "They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. 11  "O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man." Now I was the cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NASB)

Nehemiah was granted permission by the king to carry out this momentous task. He met with fierce opposition every step of the way. It required great courage and wisdom for him to begin, continue, and finish the task. Along the way, he instructed his men to build and be ready to defend against threats of attack from Israel’s enemies.

When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. 16  From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. 17  Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. 18  As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me. Nehemiah 4:15-18 (NASB)

Standing in the gap means that we choose to be someone who takes responsibility for standing by faith upon God’s promises for the benefit of ourselves and our family, or others, so that generational devastation will be stopped in tracks and God’s blessings will begin to flow.

It means we are ready and willing to endure whatever attacks may come our way. It will be worth it.

True Heroes

Those of us who have never been in combat cannot know what it is like. Saving Private Ryan made an attempt to recreate the horrors of D-Day. I cannot measure how successful the movie was in doing this, but it did give me a new appreciation for the soldiers that helped win our freedom and the enormous price they paid on that fateful day. Soldiers did not get to choose whether they were to be in the first wave or land later in the day when the worst was over. Those whose lot it was to be among the first paid for it with their lives, but their courage and determination pushed back the enemy, making it easier for succeeding waves of troops to push their advantage forward. The progress made that day was minuscule in terms of ground gained, but major in terms of obstacles overcome. It would be wrong to compare what they did on D-Day to what General Patton’s tank forces did later in relation to ground gained in a day. I imagine you see where I am going with this.

Those who volunteer to be the first in their family line to stand in the gap against long standing generational devastation are like those soldiers on D-Day. They deserve our admiration, encouragement, and support. Those who succeed will establish a new family legacy built on Christ and are true heroes.

The Devil’s Smack Down

Whenever some long oppressed person tries to stand to his or her feet in resistance, the oppressor usually tries to intimidate that person with a vicious retaliation. The devil tries to dissuade all would be intercessors by fiercely attacking them. When Moses announced to the enslaved Israelites in Egypt that God was going to rescue them, the first thing that happened was that Pharaoh retaliated, making their lives even more miserable.  This was very discouraging, and it required Moses to stand by faith for the people. He had God’s promise. That was enough for him. It must be enough for us, too, when the devil tries to smack us down.

Spiritual warfare is real. If you don’t yet believe it, try sharing the gospel. Try breaking loose from generational devastation. Try leading a church or a worship team. Try being a disciple making parent. You will quickly find out. Our warfare is not against people. Ultimately we must make a stand against spiritual forces of evil, who may use people.

We are able to fight by faith by standing on the what Christ has already done. We start off as victors in this warfare.

Our job is to stand in his victory against every counter attack.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:10-13 (NASB)

As Winston Churchill so famously said and demonstrated:

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Those who make the decision to become family heroes by standing in the gap against generational devastation need to adopt these words for themselves. We are able to stand with the help of almighty God.

The next article will give steps we can take to secure our families’ freedom in Christ.

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Hello, Elephant in the Room

This is the 17th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. The rest of the articles in this series can be found by clicking on the link in the previous sentence.

 

Those who argue that there is no need to address generational devastation at all in light of the New Covenant usually use Ezekiel 18 as a proof text.

"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity?' When the son has practiced justice and righteousness and has observed all My statutes and done them, he shall surely live. 20  "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:19-20 (NASB)

Properly interpreting and applying this passage in a New Covenant context is the focus of this article.

In order to understand Ezekiel 18’s impact on the subject of generational devastation, it is necessary to separate judicial judgment and sentencing from the law of sowing and reaping.

For example, if a father is a drug dealer and is apprehended by the law, his children will not go to jail with him. However, they will be negatively impacted by his incarceration. This is simple enough to grasp. The children will suffer the absence of their father in the home, with all that means – lack of income, lack of presence, lack of affirmation, lack of discipline, lack of wisdom and guidance, and lack of protection. The negative effects of the father’s imprisonment may last for a lifetime or even generations, especially if the sons in the family buy into the lie that their lot in life is to follow in their father’s footsteps. Or the daughters may accept the embedded lie that they are not loved and cannot depend on men. The poverty that will likely accompany the loss of their father may limit the children’s access to many things in life and may tempt them to try to better their situation illegally. Also the absence of a father may contribute to the proliferation of the single mom household pattern, which is all too prevalent today. Many low income communities are experiencing this type of generational devastation.

Children often suffer generationally; even though, they are not judicially sentenced for their father’s crimes.

The mechanics of reaping generational devastation, as described above, consists largely of the planting of deeply embedded lies in the hearts and minds of children which often persist into adulthood. In addition, it involves the creation of traumatic and painful wounds in the hearts of children, which, left unhealed, can negatively influence decision making and behavior into adulthood. It may also involve demonization, since people, especially young children, may be tempted to befriend evil spirits posing as imaginary friends and “helpers.” This may sound strange, but it happens a lot and will be covered later.

But let us consider Ezekiel 18 from another angle. Even though God commands us not to punish children in courts of law for the crimes or sins of their fathers, God may do so in his heavenly court.

We have that from no less an authority than our Lord Jesus himself.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,30 and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'31 "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? 34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! Matthew 23:29-38 (NASB)

Jesus wept over the children of Jerusalem, knowing that they would reap the whirlwind of God’s judgment, when it finally fell upon the nation in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans. Those children in his hearing would be somewhere around 37 years older when judgment came. They would be the adults in positions of power and influence at that time of reckoning. Children who not even yet born were “in” their fathers when their fathers sinned. Children who were alive when their fathers sinned, as was the case with the children present when Jesus spoke the words above, still reaped the consequences for what their parents did – the judicial punishment for killing the Messiah. The only way out was for them to repent and renounce the evil deed, which is exactly what happened on the first New Covenant Pentecost.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified." 37  Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 38  Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." 40  And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" 41  So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.Acts 2:36-41 (NASB)

Those who responded in faith to the Gospel message, were released from the awful prospect of being judged by God after death for rejecting and killing the Messianic King, but they still lived in a land that was under God’s judgment, because the vast majority of the leadership and populace refused to acknowledge their awful sin.

Unrepentant sin, even that of long dead ancestors, demands that God’s justice and judgment be released. When a person dies, their guilt does not evaporate. It gets passed to succeeding generations, who often replicate and participate the sins of their fathers.

When children do not renounce the sins of their fathers, according to Jesus, it puts them in agreement with their forefathers.

It’s not enough for descendants merely to say, “I did not do it.” From God’s point of view, we did do it, indirectly, perhaps, in and through the actions of our fathers.

As I pointed out earlier, this is hard for a Westerner to swallow; yet, if we are to be biblical in our thinking, we must.

God requires repentance from us on behalf of our fathers, which is one of the first steps in undoing the effects of generational devastation.

The Bible gives us numerous examples of this very thing. (E.g. Nehemiah 9:2; Jeremiah 14:20; Daniel 9:16-21)

In addition to forgiving those who repented, Jesus warned his forgiven followers to flee Jerusalem when they saw God’s wrath in judgment approaching. (Matthew 24:16) As is usually the case, I suppose that there were some who did not heed Christ’s warning and were caught up in the destruction of Jerusalem. Those who did obey escaped. Lot’s rescue from Sodom and Gomorrah was a Old Covenant picture of this. Sometimes, however, descendants cannot escape. An entire nation may get caught in the trap of reaping the whirlwind of God’s judgment. I fear what may be ahead for the USA for the horrific sin of slaughtering over sixty million innocent babies! May God have mercy on us and turn this nation back to him!

Summary

In conclusion, Ezekiel 18 states a principle that human courts of law should not judicially sentence children for the sins or crimes of their parents. However, in God’s heavenly court, when it comes to the judgment due our sins and the sins of our ancestors going back to Adam, this is only true for those who come under the New Covenant through believing the Gospel message and declaring allegiance to the risen Lord Jesus. Jesus took our guilt and punishment upon himself.

Believing the Gospel, however, though it releases us from condemnation to the lake of fire, does not necessarily release us from reaping the consequences of parental and personal sins.

God’s judgment looms over unconfessed and unrenounced generational sin. If the people and leadership of the United States were to suddenly reverse course regarding legalized abortion, repenting, confessing, and renouncing that sin, would that be enough to avert judgment? Only God knows the answer, but it will surely go better for those who do, especially at the final judgment.

Ezekiel 18 does not absolve children from reaping the non-judicial consequences of their forefathers’ sins. Suffering, embedded lies, traumatic pain, and demonization can devastate families for generations, unless someone decides to stand in the gap. God is raising up intercessors who will approach God’s throne on behalf of their families to ask forgiveness and release from any previous sins and looming judgments, and to pray for blessings to be released in keeping with God’s purposes in the New Covenant. Will you be one of those people? I will show you how in the next articles.

"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. Isaiah 58:12 (NASB)
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Overcoming Generational Devastation by Faith

This is the 16th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can access the rest of the articles in this series by clicking on the link in the previous sentence.

 

Having identified the nature and source of generational devastation, this article will show how Christ has already broken the power of the curse of the Law and why we must apply his victory to our lives by faith.

Paul wrote the following declaration of victory by our Lord.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"— 14  in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14 (NASB)

Jesus’ death by crucifixion proved biblically that he was under God’s curse. That is how the Jewish leaders regarded it. They thought that he deserved a blasphemer’s punishment, since he claimed to be the divine Son of Man prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14. (Matthew 26:64) Paul further explained the theological import of his becoming a curse on our behalf in his Second Letter to the Corinthians.

He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

Jesus identified himself with our sin. It was as if he were personally guilty of committing all the sins of mankind. The accumulated guilt fell on him, which apparently included the experience of being separated from the Father. This is a mystery that we try to understand and explain as best we can, realizing that we no doubt fall short. But we need some sort of handle to grasp theologically, and Paul gave us one.

The amazing transaction that Father God provided through his Son’s death and resurrection was that Jesus took upon himself the guilt and punishment for our sin and provided us with his perfect and proven righteous standing with God.

He “became” us, so to speak, and now we who believe are joined to him in the Spirit.

He became “one” with our sin, and we become one with him and his glorious relationship with Abba!

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:15-16 (NASB)

This also is a mystery, one we joyfully accept. In fact, isn’t all of life a mystery? Even the most educated scientist, if he or she is honest, will admit that we still know very little at all about this thing called life. We know even less about eternal life, since we have only experienced a foretaste of it as yet. The important thing for us to grasp, as far as this article is concerned, is that Jesus took our sin, guilt, and punishment upon himself and provided us with his right standing with his heavenly Father. Then why on earth am I even writing a series of articles on how to deal with generational devastation? Hasn’t this already been taken care of by the Lord?

The Requirement of Standing by Faith

A careful reading of Isaiah 53 reveals that the same Hebrew verbs are used to describe how Jesus bore our sins and how he carried our sicknesses and diseases. If the first is true, then so is the second. If our sins are forgiven, then we are also healed. The logic is inescapable. This is confirmed in the New Covenant scriptures.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NASB) 


When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. 17  This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES." Matthew 8:16-17 (NASB)

I imagine you see where I am going with this. Even though Jesus already paid the price to provide for our healing, people still get sick, even Christians. When we do, we are instructed to pray for one another for healing.

Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15  and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. James 5:14-15 (NASB)

If we used the thought process of those who deny the need to intervene in cases of experienced generational devastation, we would simply tell the sick person, “You don’t need prayer. You have already been healed.” This theology would lead us to disobey the clear biblical command to pray for the sick. Any time our theology encourages us to disobey God, something is fundamentally wrong.

When we pray for the sick, we apply our faith in the finished work of Christ to the present need. When we pray for people experiencing generational devastation, we do the same.

We live is a world that is still largely afflicted with the curse of the Law associated with Adam’s first sin. Even though we have been rescued from eternal death and destruction, we still have to face physical death and sickness. But we do so in light of what Christ has already won for us and in the hope of the resurrection.

We live in a tension between what has already been done in Christ eternally and what remains to be completed in our experience. That is why we need faith.

Experiencing what Christ already has accomplished for us often comes with a battle. That is why it is called “overcoming.” If Satan cannot keep us from believing in Jesus, he will do his best to prevent us from being effective and fulfilled in our service to him.

Even though our “old man” has been crucified in Christ and sin shall no longer has dominion over us (Romans 6:6,14), we still must apply our faith in his finished work on a daily basis in our battle against sin. Sin still has the power to tempt us, even though Christ’s victory is complete.

The ongoing battle does not negate Christ’s victory. It is an opportunity for us to live by faith.

When we encounter evidence of ongoing generational devastation in an individual or family which has confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, it is important first of all to teach that Christ has already conquered the curse of the Law. It is also necessary to show how to apply this truth in a practical way in order to experience the freedom Jesus died to give us.

To conclude, an ongoing struggle against sin does not negate Christ’s victory over sin. A battle against sickness does not mean Christ failed to defeat sickness and death.

Likewise, a fight against generational devastation is not an admission that the curse of the Law still has power over us. Instead, it is an opportunity to stand by faith in the finished work of Christ against that which seems to contradict his glorious victory. It is our fight of faith and our opportunity to overcome.

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The Law of Sowing and Reaping

This is the 15th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can read the rest of the associated articles by clicking on the link above.

 

God’s righteous judgment upon sin, which is called the curse of the Law, is part of the reaping attached to the sowing of sin. As Paul put it, “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

Sin has consequences, and all of them are bad.

Paul also wrote:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Galatians 6:7 (ESV)

Sowing and reaping works for good and for bad, which is reflected in God’s proclamation to Moses in Exodus.

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7  keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7 (ESV)

This passage brings into focus the generational or corporate nature of judgment.

Personal Sin Carries Corporate Consequences

The old saying that the evil I do in private only hurts me is simply not true.

For example, in the time of Joshua, when Israel was in the process of conquering Canaan, God place a ban of destruction on the city of Jericho. He warned the Israelites that no one was to take any of the loot for themselves. It all belonged to God. Achan decided to secretly disobey God by stealing some silver, gold, and a Babylonian garment. In so doing he brought judgment upon the entire nation. (Joshua 7:1) When his sin was eventually exposed by God, he and his immediate family were sentenced to death by stoning. Achan’s private sin brought terrible consequences upon others in his family. Furthermore, his disobedience resulted in many Israelites outside of his family being killed in battle. The entire nation suffered because of one man’s secret sin.

There are no lack of historical examples of corporate “reaping” for the “sins of the fathers.” The USA endured a horrible Civil War, which many believe was a form of judgment against the injustices connected to slavery. Many of those who suffered and died in the conflict never owned slaves or approved of the practice; nevertheless, they were caught up in the conflagration that engulfed the nation. Many citizens of Germany, most of them old men, women, and children, including those who likely opposed the Nazis’ crimes, died in the horrific fire bombings inflicted by Allied bombers, as the horrible suffering inflicted on the rest of Europe returned upon Germany with a vengeance. The common people suffered greatly for the decisions and deeds of their leaders. The Israelites who lived in Babylon during the captivity never may have participated in idolatry, but they suffered the consequences of their forefathers’ disloyalty to God.

As Jeremiah wrote:

Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities. Lamentations 5:7 (ESV)

Need I go on? Can we agree that innocent people often reap judgment and experience the consequences of other people’s sins? Can we agree that innocent children sometimes suffer for a lifetime because of the sins of their parents or other adults? Alcoholism and sexual, emotional, verbal, and physical abuse inflict pain upon the immediate family that often reverberates for many generations. Abuse engenders abuse. Hurt people hurt people.

Sins usually produce negative consequences that extend generationally, unless their destructive effects are somehow neutralized.

Forgiveness and Prayer Do Not Necessarily Stop the Reaping Process

Imagine that a suicidal person climbs to the top of a bridge and, full of hopelessness, jumps. On the way down, in a flash of insight, he realizes that he made a big mistake and asks God to forgive him. In Christ, his forgiveness is instant, but it will not stop the law of gravity from bringing about his sudden demise. Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily undo the sowing and reaping process. Another way to say this is that God can remove the eternal consequences of our sin without removing the temporal ones.

Another example might be a murderer who asks for and receives forgiveness for his crime, but this does not bring back the dead person or remove the loss from the grieving family. It also will not stop the wheels of justice from imposing a proper judgment against him in the court system. We can be forgiven in heaven but reap judgment on earth.

I have witnessed praying mothers wringing their hands because their children repeated their same mistakes, despite their prayers. The beat goes on. By itself, prayer does not have the power to undo the sowing and reaping principle. The same is true when it comes to weight loss or any number of health related issues. We cannot break all the rules for maintaining healthy bodies and expect God to overrule the law of sowing and reaping just because we pray. What is true in the natural realm is also true spiritually.

Praying for a Crop Failure or a Crop Transformation?

I have a friend who once prayed that God would bring about a “crop failure” with regard to what he had earlier sown in his life. We all laughed, but it was a good thing to do. We have a very encouraging verse to lean upon.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. Psalm 103:10-13 (ESV)

If God returned “tit for tat” to us according to our sins, we would all be dead by now. I think it is altogether proper to pray for mercy when it comes to sowing and reaping; nevertheless, we must realistically face the fact that God has put this law into effect.

Notwithstanding, we do have an ultimate weapon against this relentless law. We can have complete confidence that Romans 8:28 has the power to turn everything in our favor, even when we are reaping the consequences of our own foolishness and sin.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30 (ESV)

God is able to take what we reap because of sinful sowing and work it out for our ultimate good and his glory. This trumps everything!

When we praise God in the midst of whatever suffering or confusion we may be enduring, even if it is our own doing, it honors God and opens our hearts to see things from his perspective. It helps us grasp what he is doing in the midst of it all – how he is working it out for our benefit and his glory.

Praise in the midst of suffering is one of our greatest spiritual weapons.

We may not be able to obtain a crop failure, but we can see God transform something painful into something beautiful and God honoring.

Nevertheless, we must be realistic, God’s working out our difficulties for good is not always easy or pretty. King David spent many years reaping the consequences of his adultery and murder. He was forgiven, but the ongoing consequences were real, painful, and extremely costly for him, his family, and the nation of Israel. We do indeed reap what we sow.

The Awful Prospect of Looming Judgment

One of the great deceptions people fall for is the false sense of security gained from delayed judgment.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11 (ESV)

Things have continued to go well in this country, to a great extent, since Roe v. Wade was passed and the killing of unborn babies was legalized. That does not mean we have escaped God’s judgment.

God’s judgment against unforgiven sins committed by our ancestors and our nation’s leaders and people may still be looming on the horizon, waiting for God’s timing to release it.

Jesus, the Author of the New Covenant, proclaimed the following just before offering himself for our sins.

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48  So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49  Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51  from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Luke 11:47-51 (ESV)

He knew that his coming sacrifice of himself as God’s Lamb would provide forgiveness for sins, even the sin of putting him, the Messiah, to death, for those who would choose to repent and believe the Good News. Nevertheless, God’s justice would roll on and result in the smashing of the rebellious Jewish nation under the wheel of Roman might. Jesus warned his followers to flee the city of Jerusalem when they saw God’s judgment at the door. If they failed to extricate themselves from the city, they would reap the consequences of covenant betrayal along with the unrepentant perpetrators. (Matthew 24:15-23) History tells us that the Christians followed our Lord’s advice and escaped when the Roman army approached. They understood the nature of sowing and reaping.

The blood of over sixty million innocent babies slaughtered in government sanctioned abortion clinics cries out to God for justice. Will the prayers of those who oppose this practice undo the terrible law of sowing and reaping? Will the USA escape the judgment of God that looms? Discerning eyes can see storm clouds on the horizon. Our nation’s leaders have been leading us down a road to destruction for many years. Those who have participated in the crime of abortion may be personally forgiven by Christ, but judgment still looms over the nation, just as it did over Israel. God will not be mocked. What we have sown, that shall we also reap as a nation.

Until that judgment arrives, we still have hope for mercy, however. As followers of Christ, we can still cry out to God for mercy and ask him for crop failure. We can repent on behalf of the nation, asking God to turn the tide of injustice and immorality. We can plead with him to turn the nation to Jesus.

Just as we have an individual and a national identity, we also have an individual and a family identity.

The unconfessed sins of our forefathers may be looming over the family line.

I believe it is our responsibility to confess and forsake these sins, as living representatives of the family, and thank God for releasing the family from any inherited judgments and claim God’s blessings that are ours in Christ. (Galatians 3:13-14)

Abraham stood in the gap for Sodom and Gomorrah and for his nephew’s family who lived there. In the end, only Lot and his daughters survived, but that was better than everyone perishing. I wonder who will escape generational devastation because we stand in the gap?

In conclusion, generational sins and their attached judgments can affect not only the sinner but also his family, community, and nation. The law of sowing and reaping has a big part to play in this process. As believers, we recognize that we are personally forgiven for our own sins in an eternal sense, but we may still reap negative consequences for what we have done. We can trust God to turn even the worst situations into something that will bring him glory and work for our good. (Romans 8:28)

We can also pray (proclaim, declare) for ourselves and our family to be freed from any passed down family and corporate judgments (curses). (Galatians 3:13-14)

In the next article I will lay out in more detail the foundation of how we can experience freedom from generational judgments based on Christ’s finished work. I hope you will continue with me.

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Overcoming Generational Devastation: Lessons from DNA

This is the 14th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can find the rest of the articles by clicking on the link above.

Western society is intensely individualistic. The idea that we might be corporately responsible, guilty, or subject to punishment for sins committed by others in our family lineage or group chafes against our Greek-based logic and world view. Old Testament people, however, saw things differently. Perhaps they had more common sense.

Common sense observations tell us that people often suffer because of the sins of others.

For example, if a father commits a crime and goes to prison, he suffers as does his entire family. Some of this suffering likely will impact future generations. When children do not have a father present, it causes damage. Grandchildren may suffer from a lack of proper fathering because their own Dad did not get fathered as God would have intended. This is a clear example of the sin of a father being passed down in unexpected ways.

Old Covenant people understood and believed that they were linked to the blessings and the sins of their ancestors and their nation.

We can see this clearly in a variety of passages. Below I list a few in which various leaders and prophets confessed their own, their forefathers’, and the nation’s sin to God.

Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. Nehemiah 9:2 (NIV) 

O LORD, we acknowledge our wickedness and the guilt of our fathers; we have indeed sinned against you. Jeremiah 14:20 (NIV) 

O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. 17  "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.  Daniel 9:16-17 (NIV)

Is this merely an Old Covenant concept that was done away with in Christ, or do we have the same sort of corporate responsibility before God today?

Lessons from DNA

There is a very interesting passage in the Letter to the Hebrews that has a lot to say about generational sins, guilt, judgments, and devastation.

One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10  for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Hebrews 7:9-10 (ESV)

When Abraham paid tithes, all of his descendants paid tithes. This is a profound statement that should make us rethink things. Negatively, when Adam sinned, all of his progeny sinned. (Romans 5:19) On the positive side, when Jesus rose from the dead, all of his spiritual descendants through the new birth rose from the dead. (Ephesians 2:5-6) In the natural world, a similar process works in our bodies that is based on DNA.

I believe God uses the properties of inheritance through the genome to reveal to us a spiritual principle called identification.

Physically, all of us are the sum total of the DNA inherited from all our ancestors. Each male inherits Y-DNA from his father going all the way back to Adam. Males and females inherit mitochondrial DNA from their mothers going all the way back to Eve. The rest of our genome comes from others in our line. If we go back to our great-great grandparents, we have a total of sixteen persons contributing to our make up. This means that in a sense we were “in” those sixteen individuals and their forefathers when they lived their lives here on planet earth as they were obeying, disobeying, or simply ignoring God.

Theologically, the principle of identification means that our identity is connected to Christ in a very real way.

Paul called this being “in” Christ. What was and is true for him, excepting his divinity, is ours through our unity or identification with him. Christianity would not provide a way for us to overcome sin, Satan, death, and disease if we were not identified with Christ. It is not enough to be merely forgiven through Christ’s dying as our substitute. True victory lies in his living his life in and through us via the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 2:20) We are forgiven because he paid the penalty for our sins. We are justified because we have been given (in Christ) his actual right standing before God. We are children of God through the new birth which provides us with God’s “spiritual DNA,” so to speak. We have the ability to live for God because he lives in and through us.

Simply put, if not for identification, we would not be saved.

But identification also was the cause of our needing salvation. Our identities are linked to fallen Adam’s prior to the new birth. Just as surely as we were “in Christ” when he walked the earth in complete harmony with and obedience to the Father and in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, did miracles, died a sacrificial death, and rose again in glory; so, we were in Adam when he betrayed God in the garden. We cannot have it only one way. Either both are true or neither is true. Thankfully, both are real!

This forces us to conclude that the guilt-justification paradigm for understanding what Christ did for us on the cross is inadequate.

His dying as our substitute, taking our guilt and punishment upon himself, does not tell the whole story. In a very real way, our salvation is more about “Who’s your Daddy?” than anything else. From whom do we derive our life, our makeup, and our inheritance? Is it from Adam or God the Father through the new birth?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)

We inherited Adam’s “sin nature,” the inborn propensity to sin, via our natural birth. Along with this spiritual inheritance comes a plethora of other things that are handed down regarding physical attributes, inclinations, giftings, etc., along with inherited guilt, since in Adam, we all sinned.

Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19 (NLT)

Likewise, the new birth is what gives us new life in Christ and a wonderful spiritual inheritance. So then, the idea of corporate guilt is not such a strange idea after all. Neither is the concept of corporate righteousness that we enjoy in Christ as the church. The bigger question, then, is how did Christ deal with this enormous weight of corporate guilt that infected all of humanity? Is there anything left for us to do? I will look at these two questions in coming articles.

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