Expert: Mel and Guyna Horne - 8/1/2008

Question
QUESTION: If curses come from sin and are passed down from one generation to another, doesn't the blood of Jesus, if you've accepted Him as your Saviour, cancel them out over your life?

ANSWER: Hi Gayle,
  In a number of verses, the Lord refers to "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation]." (Ex. 34:7, Ex. 20:5, Nu. 14:18, Deu. 5:9). [All scriptures KJV unless otherwise noted.]
 The word "visiting" is from Heb. "paqad", and means "to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for".

 This was the case in Sodom and Gomorrah. Each generation was teaching evil to the next generation and there was no one righteous in the two cities except for Lot.  Curses do not come without a cause (Pro. 26:2).  Corrupt trees cannot produce good fruit (Mat. 7:16-20).
 According to God, the cycle of evil doesn't change for three to four generations. But this is counted from every generation, therefore only God can break it by terminating those involved.  He did this to the whole world at the time of Noah because there was no break in the evil.
 They had 100 years to repent, during which Noah was building the ark. No one did.  He sent angels into Sodom and Gomorrah to see if there were any righteous other than Lot. There wasn't.

  There is a difference between the curses for sin, and the death penalty for sin.
The penalty for sin is death not curses. Eze. 18:4, 20.

"The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." (Eze. 18:20).
As this verse shows, God does not count the death penalty against anyone for any sin other than their own.

As you said, Christ's blood covers our sins, if we repent of them and accept Christ as the Lamb who sacrificed himself for us.

The curses, or effects of sin are another matter.  Even though Christ promises to forgive sin, he nowhere guarantees to remove the effects in our lives.  If we murder someone, and repent, he will forgive us.  But if caught and prosecuted, we will still serve time in prison or be executed by officials (unless there is divine intervention).  If we destroy brain cells with legal or illegal drugs, he will forgive us if we repent, but he does not promise to restore our brain cells to their previous condition.  If your father is known in your community as a thief or sex molester or murderer, the people in your community may even forgive him if he is rehabilitated, but they will never forget it, and the victims of his crimes may not forgive.  And the neighbors will remember to the 3rd or 4th generation in some communities.
Some sins can affect health in our children and grandchildren.  So it is not a matter of God seeking revenge on future generations.  It is a matter of automatic results for some sins, affecting future generations.

We hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Mel and Guyna

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So are you saying that some curses can remain for both the sins of our forefathers and sins of our own?  Does not repentance and asking for forgiveness (for both our forefather's sins and sins of our own)open the heart of  God to forgive and remove a curse?

Answer

Hi Gayle,

 We try to always answer promptly, but our computer was attacked and almost crashed.  We were unable to get online for four days and even then, still had bugs popping up for another day.  So we apologize for not answering your last follow-up question more promptly.

You asked “ So are you saying that some curses can remain for both the sins of our forefathers and sins of our own?  Does not repentance and asking for forgiveness (for both our forefather's sins and sins of our own)open the heart of  God to forgive and remove a curse?”

God does not refuse genuine repentance (Eze. 18:21-23). This is illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32).
Also,  “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” (Mat. 18:11). Christ went on to give the example of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the lost one (v. 12-14).

The point is, that forgiveness of sin with the nullification of the death penalty (Eze. 18:4, 20) and, the removal of the physical or mental effects of sin, are two separate issues.  We visit people in jails and prisons every week who have repented of their sins, but they are not getting out of jail anytime soon, unless there is going to be some kind of divine intervention (e.g., Acts 12:1-17).

We also know people who have inherited genetic diseases, from parents or grandparents, and who have been anointed for healing and yet, are still not healed.  Diseases are certainly curses. Curses do not come without a cause (Pro. 26:2).
The apostle Paul had a physical problem of some kind.  The indications are that it was a problem with his eyesight, since he often had others doing his writing. He said that God refused to remove the problem (2Cor. 12:7-10).
Sometimes curses remain as a means of helping us to perfect our character (v. 9, and Rom. 5:1-4, also the book of Job).

We hope this helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask. Again we apologize for the delay.  And thank you for your kind words of appreciation.

Sincerely,
Mel and Guyna