[the subject that] I want to deal with tonight
is how to pass, from curse to blessing I'll say that once more, how to pass, from
curse to blessing. I believe that this message can be of tremendous help to
many of you here tonight. I believe I've proved this over the past
years. That this message can change, change lives, communities, churches and
even nations. I believe there are many of you here tonight who are fighting,
something that you don't fully understand in your own life. Some kind of
frustration, something that, every time you are about to succeed, intervenes and
keeps you from success. Something that holds you back from being a complete
person. From being completely free, from being able to serve the Lord the way you
would wish to. From leading a life of real victory. I believe in many cases, the
problem that you're fighting with. That you've never diagnosed, you've never come
fully to grips with. Is that there is a curse over your life. I'd like to tell
you first of all, a little of how I myself was led into this truth. Some
years ago in a Presbyterian Church in America. I was conducting a deliverance
service, I'd come to the end of my message and had not yet begun to
minister. I was standing behind the pulpit and on the front row on my left. I
noticed a family, father, mother and teenaged daughter. And as I glanced at
them, it seemed to me the Holy Spirit said to me. There's a curse over that
family. I had no other reason, except that it seemed to me, the Lord showed it to me.
So I stepped from behind the pulpit, went up to the father and said to him "sir I believe
God has shown me that there's a curse over
your family. Would you like me to revoke that curse and release you from it, in
the name of Jesus ?." and immediately he said "yes". I had no idea at the time, why
he had so immediately accepted that statement. So I stepped back behind the
pulpit and said a short, simple prayer. Breaking the curse over that family and
when I said that, in the name of Jesus. Although I was not in contact with any
of them, there was a visible, physical reaction, in each of them. When I broke
the curse. Then I noticed that the girl, the
teenaged daughter. Had her left leg in a cast, from above the thigh to the bottom
of the foot. So I went back to the father and I said "would you like me to pray for
the healing of your daughter's leg?". and he said "yes", but he said "you need to know
that she's broken it three times in 18 months and the doctors say it will not
heal" . Now today, if I heard that one statement. That a person had broken the
same leg, three times in 18 months. I wouldn't have any other need, to know,
that there was a curse over that family. Well because the leg was in a cast. I
said "all I can do is just hold the cast in my hands and pray". and I did and
prayed a simple prayer. Now the story's more complicated. But I'll tell you that
just the main outlines. Shortly afterwards, I got a letter from the
father. Thanking me for what had happened and saying that when they went back the
next time to the clinic to have the leg x-rayed. The x-ray showed that it had
healed and she was soon out of the cast. Now as I meditated [thought about] on that
experience. This thought came to me. God showed me
there was a curse over the family and led me to break the curse. Before he
permitted me to pray for the healing of the daughter. Why? My conclusion was. That
she could not have been healed, until the
curse was revoked. In other words, the curse was an invisible barrier, that kept
her from the blessing that God wanted her to receive. And then God began to
deal with me about this whole matter of blessing and curse. And as I turned to
the scripture. I was amazed at how much the Bible has to say about it. And how
little has been preached, in most of the places and congregations that I'm
familiar with. Then I'll tell you an up-to-date testimony which I heard when
I was in South Africa. In November of last year. I met a Jewish lady who's a
believer in Jesus, saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. And she told me and Ruth
this testimony personally. She was a very highly qualified, executive secretary. And
under the influence of some teaching that she'd heard. Christian teaching, she
prayed to get the best paid job in her profession in Cape Town. And she got it.
And she found herself working for a man who was a president of his own
particular business and she soon discovered that this man and all the
executives in the company were in some strange kind of cult. That was led by a
woman prophetess and in a little while, her boss said to her ,"our lady guru",
whatever you want to call her, "has pronounced blessings over all of us. We'd
like you to type them out for us." When she started to type them, she
discovered that they were anything but blessings, as a committed Christian
she didn't feel free to type them. So she went to her boss and explained the
situation and said "I just don't feel free to type these". And the boss was very
gracious and he said "I'm sorry, but I didn't realize it would go against your
conscience. Of course we wouldn't ask you to do that." Now I don't know exactly what
happened next. But my guess is, that this lady guru heard about this incident.
And prayed some kind of a prayer for this executive secretary,
which wasn't really too good a prayer. Anyhow
almost immediately after that. This lady began to develop acute arthritis in both
hands. And her fingers curled up and became absolutely rigid and stiff. She
couldn't bend them, she couldn't do anything in her profession. And the pain
was agonizing. She couldn't sleep at night. She couldn't sleep in the same bed
with her husband, because every time he moved, the movement of the bed
caused such pain in her fingers that she couldn't sleep. She went to a
professional in this realm, a doctor and he diagnosed it as rheumatoid arthritis.
Well a friend of hers, another Christian lady. Had heard my three messages that I
mentioned here this evening." Curses, cause and cure" and brought the cassettes to
her friend, the executive secretary, to listen to. And they got through the three
cassettes. To the end of the third, where I lead people in a prayer of release
from any curse over their lives. At that point the cassette jammed. It wouldn't go
forward, it wouldn't go back, and it wouldn't eject. Now that's totally
supernatural situation. But the lady who brought the cassette said, "well as a matter
of fact, I typed out this prayer of release". and I had the typed version with
me "I'll ask you to read that instead." Well this Jewish lady was pretty
sophisticated and she really didn't believe very much in curses. She thought
they were something medieval. She'd listen to the cassettes just to please
her friend. And at first she didn't want to read this prayer of release. But
eventually she agreed with her friend to read the prayer. And as she read it out
loud and it doesn't more than three or four minutes. Her
fingers uncurled, became completely free, the pain ceased, and by the time she had
finished reading the prayer of release. She was perfectly healed. She then went back
to the same doctor and had him check her. And he said, medically you are totally
healed. That came only by one thing, was no prayer for healing. All there was, was
this prayer of release from a curse.. All right, now let's look at the Bible, and
see what it has to say about blessings and curses. First of all there's a lot in
the Bible about them. You'd be surprised how much there is. Both blessings and
curses are usually expressed in words. Either spoken words or written words. But
those words are not normal, ordinary words. They are words that are charged
with supernatural power. And the power may be the power of
God or it may be the power of Satan and one of the features about both cursings
and blessings is when they come. They usually continue from generation to
generation to generation. So that a person who is experiencing either
blessing or cursing may not easily discern where it comes from. Because it
may be in the past, even hundreds of years. Interestingly enough I was
teaching on this in Adelaide and we had a dramatic response there. And a lady
wrote me a letter afterwards, her ancestors were from Scotland, they were
from a clan called Nixon. And she knew, she had the historical evidence, which
she gave me a photocopy of. That because of clan wars between the Scots and the
English in the 16th century. The Bishop of the Church of Scotland had put a
curse on that clan. And she realized that, how many centuries later, four centuries
later. Things were happening in her family which were due to that curse that
went back more than four centuries. Now you can be raise your eyebrows and look
surprised but I'm going to show you biblical examples of this.
So curses and blessings are words that are charged with supernatural power.
Maybe the power of God, maybe the power of the devil. They are words which
impinge on people's lives and to a large extent determine their destiny. And most
often they will go on from generation to generation even for thousands of years.
Now if there is a curse on your life I want to say right out tonight God can
give you a solution. He has provided a solution, but let me first of all give
you an overall picture of this situation. First of all let's take a couple of
examples of blessings. The first is in Genesis 22 where
Abraham had just been willing to offer up his son Isaac in response to the
Lord's requirement. And then at the last moment, the Lord provided a ram to be
offered instead of Isaac. And then the Lord spoke to Abraham from heaven and He
said, in Genesis 22 verse 16, "by myself I have sworn" says the Lord "because you
have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son. In blessing, I
will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your seed or your descendants,
as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your
descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. Notice that the blessing
was going to go on, to Isaac's descendants. And then it says "in your
seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my
voice." It's very important to notice the reason for the blessing. Because Abraham
obeyed God's voice. That is the basic reason for the blessing of God. Then if
you look on a little further in Genesis chapter 27. You find how Isaac blessed
his son Jacob. But the strange thing is, if you remember the story, that Isaac
thought he was blessing Esau. Who was the firstborn. But while Esau was hunting the
venison which Isaac had asked for, Rebekah,
Isaac's husband, substituted Jacob. Who was her favourite son. And in order to get
away with the deception, because Isaac was blind, she dressed
Jacob up in Esau as clothes. And cooked a kid of the goats instead of the venison.
Serving it up the way her husband liked it and took the skin of the kids of the
goats and wrapped them around Jacobs neck and arms.
So that he would seem hairy like Esau, because Jacob was a very smooth man and
Esau was a very hairy man. So along comes Jacob pretending to be Esau and Isaac
checks and says "are you my son Esau" and Jacob says "yes I am". He told a lie and
then Isaac blessed him. And this is the blessing, I'll read it beginning of verse
24 "then he Isaac said are you really my son Esau", [ he must have felt there was
something strange] , and he said "I am" and Isaac said "bring it near to me and I
will eat at my son's game so that my soul may bless you". Think you have to say
that Isaac was a little bit carnal. He wanted his stomach filled with his
favorite food before he could pronounce the blessing. I ah, years ago I gave a
teaching on how a wrong attitude to food corrupted the family life of Isaac!. I
wish I could do it today but I cant. [ reading ] so
he brought it near to him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. Then
his father Isaac said to him come near now and kiss me my son. And he came near
and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his clothing [ remember it was Esaus
clothing ] and blessed him and said surely the smell of my son is like the smell of
a field which the Lord has blessed. Therefore may God give you of the dew of
heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let people
serve you, and nations bow down to you, be master over your brethren, and let your
mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you and
blessed be those who bless you. Understand that blessing was tremendous
in its scope and it went on from generation to generation. Now a little
while later, in comes Esau with the venison. Tries to offer it to his father
and his father realizes he's been deceived. And that he blessed Jacob when
he thought he was blessing Esau. But listen this is Issacs reaction, in
verse 33, when he discovers the deception. Then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said
Who where is the one who hunted game and
brought it to me. I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him, and
indeed he shall be blessed. Isn't that amazing
because Isaac thought he was blessing Esau. But he knew the words that he'd
pronounce didn't come from himself. You understand. It was a prophetic blessing
and because it was prophetic he couldn't unsay it. So Jacob got the
blessing, Esau didn't. But I want you to see the nature of blessing. That it's
supernatural. It's not just a wishful thought. It's not
just kind sentiments. It's something that is supernaturally empowered and
determines people's destinies. That's true alike, of a blessing and curse. Now,
we're going to turn to the opposite theme, Curses. First of all I'd like to
turn for a moment to proverbs 26 verse 2 proverbs 26 v 2 - "like a flitting sparrow,
like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause, shall not alight." That's very
important. If there is a curse there's a cause for it. And in many cases, in order
to be released from the curse, it's important to discover the cause. The
curse never comes, causeless. Now I'm going to look at some sources of curses.
Different sources of curses. First of all God Himself, God has many
times pronounced a curse, on nations, on individuals. It's one of God's severest
forms of judgment. I'd like to look first of all at the calling of Abraham in
Genesis chapter 12. This is where God called Abraham when he was still called
Abram. To go out from his city, Ur of the Chaldees and so on. And there is
actually seven stages to this call. If you look in Genesis chapter 12 verses 1
through 3 "now the Lord had said to Abraham get out of your country, from
your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you". Now
note the Sevenfold calling of Abram. number 1 I will make you a great nation
number 2 I will bless you number 3 I will make your name great number 4 you shall be a blessing number 5 I will bless those who bless you
6 I will curse him who curses you and number 7 in you all the families of
the earth shall be blessed that's the Sevenfold call of Abraham and God's Sevenfold destiny for Abraham. But
notice the sixth one, is a curse on
everyone who curses Abraham. "I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him
who curses you." And you see that goes for Abram and his descendants, Isaac, Jacob,
Israel and the Jewish people. That's a very important point for all of us to
see. When God calls a man to a special task, that man becomes the target of
satan's enmity in a special way. And so God built in a protective clause for
Abraham. He said "I will curse him who curses you." What's that in modern
language?, what is it that curses the descendants of Abraham. What's the word
we use, anti-semitism. That's right. So you see, God curses anti-semitism. In
other words anti-semitism brings a curse from God.
That's God's protection of the Jewish people and you surely have to agree
they've needed it. So there's one factor, maybe that affects the life of some of
you. Maybe you, or your parents, or your ancestors, have been enemies of the
Jewish people. You've spoken against them you've criticized them, you've cursed
them. Understand that will bring a curse on you, and your life. Now I'm going to
explain to you, how you can get free from that curse. Well that's just one example
and then in Deuteronomy 27. God ordained that when Israel came into their
promised land. They were to pronounce upon themselves, 12 curses if they
disobeyed God in certain respects. It's found in Deuteronomy 27, beginning in
verse 11. Moses commanded the people the same day saying, "these shall stand on
Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you've crossed over Jordan, Simeon, Levi,
Judah, Essica, Joseph and Benjamin. And these
shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse. Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan
and Naptale. They couldn't enter into the promised land, without being exposed to
both a blessing if they were obedient. And a curse if they were disobedient.
There was no way into the promised land but through that. And then twelve curses
are listed. Now we will not go into them in detail but I'll just read the first.
"The Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel,
cursed is the one who makes any carved or mold an image, an abomination to the
Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen and sets it up in secret and
all the people shall answer and say Amen. All Israel had to invoke upon
themselves a curse if they became involved in idolatry, in worshipping
false gods. Or in what we call, in modern English, the occult. That's the first and
primary cause of curses in people's lives. Is involvement in idolatry, the
worship of false gods, and the whole realm of the occult. And in Exodus
chapter 20 verse 3 the first commandment the Lord said "I am the Lord your God, you
shall have no other gods beside me, you shall make no graven image to worship.
And he said if you do I will require it of the three following generations. It
will not only be visited on you, but on the three subsequent generations. So you
understand that you may be struggling with something in your life here tonight
which is due to your grandfather, or even your great-grandfather, or your
great-grandmother or some other ancestor. You see how important it is to I diagnose
and identify the problem. I'll just summarize the other main causes of
curses listed here in Deuteronomy chapter 27. First of all, as I've said,
idolatry and false gods. Second dishonouring parents, and that's very
very important. I don't doubt that there are some of you here tonight who have
problems in your life because your attitude to your parents is not right.
Remember the first commandment with a blessing is the opposite. "Honor thy
father and mother that it may be well with thee and that thou may live long
on the earth." I want to tell you in all my experience in Christian ministry. I
have never met a person who dishonored father and mother and had it well with
them. Never, I don't believe such a person exists. It
automatically exposes you to a curse. Now I don't mean, you have to agree with your
parents or even do everything they tell
you to do. That depends on the way your parents are living. But you have to honor
them as your parents. It's the first commandment with a promise of blessing.
You understand, I don't know how many people I've met, whose lives have been
straightened out , when they straightened out their attitude to their parents. And
I, I, think of others who never did it and who never were blessed. I think of one
member of my family, whose dead. He died of cancer at the age of 40. His, he was
saved, baptized in the spirit and served the Lord. But he never enjoyed the
blessing of God, because he never put right his relationship with his mother.
Who was a Spiritist, so he had all the problems you can imagine. But he could
have escaped from them, if hed dealt with his relationship with his mother.
See I'm not talking about theories. I'm talking about things, that I know, from
experience. The next reason for curse is illicit or unnatural sex. Any form of
unnatural sex brings a curse. Any form of homosexuality or bestiality, will bring
a curse. Also, sexual relationships with members of your family, that are outside
the permitted range. And today we have to acknowledge the fact that there are
millions, of children who are victimized by their fathers in the area of sex. Then
the fourth main reason is injustice to the weak and helpless. In my whole series
of tapes I deal with the fact. That American Indians in the United States,
placed a curse on the White House. Because the American government
regularly broke its treaties with the American Indians. And believe me they know
how to curse, they surely do. That's why from 1860 until 1980, every president
elected in the 20th year, died in office. You can trace that back to two things,
the American government's unfaithfulness to the American Indians. And the fact
that Abraham Lincoln, who was the president elected in 1860. Permitted
a Spiritist seance to be conducted in the White House by his wife. Who later
ended in a mental institution. So you see how this thing, just doesn't affect
individuals. It affects whole Nations. Now I believe that the same would have
happened to President Reagan. As you know he was attempted, an attempt was made on
assassinating him early in his presidency. But just before he took the
oath as president, a group of us in a large meeting, combined in prayer and
faith and released him from the curse. Not just him, but broke the curse over
the presidents. You see how near the curse came to being fulfilled. The bullet
lodged within one inch of his heart. But I believe that was God's in a sense
vindication of the prayer that released the curse, you see. I hope you can see
that this is no abstract theory. This is something that affects lives of people
and nations everywhere. Then another completely different kind Jeremiah
17 verses five and six, "Thus says the Lord
cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm or his strength
whose heart departs from the LORD" and this is the curse, listen "for he should
be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land which is not
inhabited". See that's typical of a person under a curse. Everybody else is getting
the rain, the blessing, the prosperity, but he, in the midst of it all, lives in a
parched land and never sees it. Why ? Because it's a curse. What's the cause of
that curse? Cursed is the man who trusts in man, makes flesh his arm, relies
on human ability and material resources. and whose heart departs from the LORD. Now
I believe that curse rests over many Christian churches. Which have tasted of
the grace of God, known what it is to be blessed by His grace. But then have
turned away and begun trusting in their own efforts, their own intelligence, their
own religion, they'd made flesh they're arm.
The blessing of God has lifted, and in its place a curse has come over those
congregations. I've preached in many congregations but I was assured were
under a curse. And you struggle and you fight and you preach. But there are very
few results, until the curse is dealt with. Without turning there, in Zechariah
5, Zechariah had a vision of a scroll that contained curses on both sides. One
side was on the one who stole. And the other was on the one who perjured and
swore falsely in the name of the lord. And if this curse entered into the houses of
people and destroyed their houses. See a lot of houses are destroyed because a
curse has come in. Families are broken up because of a curse. I wonder how many New
Zealanders would be under a curse if you included all those who stole and
perjured themselves. How many are not honest in their tax returns. Do you realize
that that could bring a curse on you. I tell you, in the United States it would
include a lot of people and many of them would be churchgoers. Now the next area
of sources, is men representing God. We just take a few, the first is Joshua. In
Joshua chapter 6 and verse 26. After the children of Israel had miraculously
captured the city of Jericho. Joshua pronounced a curse on anybody who would
rebuild it Joshua 6:26 then Joshua charged them at
that time saying "cursed be the man before the Lord, who rises up and builds
this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn and with
his youngest he shall set up its gates. Think you found the New International
Version says. He shall lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn and at the
cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.
now that was pronounced roundabout 1300 or so before Christ. Roundabout 800
before Christ. A man did that thing. We can read about that in first Kings
chapter 16 verse 34. first Kings chapter 16 verse 34. In his days, the days of a
king Ahab. Which is approximately four or five hundred years later. In his days
Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his
firstborn. And at the cost of his youngest son
Segub he set up its gates. According to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken
through Joshua the son of Nun. So 500 years later, the curse pronounced by
Joshua. Was worked out in that man who rebuilt the city. It cost him two of his
children. Can you imagine the doctors of that day, trying to find out the cause of
their death? No obvious medical reason they just pinned away. Can't find any
virus, no known medical diagnosis, and yet they die. The doctors didn't know that
the cause went back five hundred years. See, to a curse that had been pronounced
by a man of God as a judgment on a city. Which God determined should never be
rebuilt. Can you see, that you may be dealing with things in your life. Of
which the cause, can go back hundreds of years.
Another example, is David's words in his song after the death of Saul and
Jonathan. In 2nd Samuel chapter 1 verse 21. And I have to say, if you can take it
in the right way. David was a tremendous curser. I don't mean in the sense we'd
use it today, but he pronounced some hair-raising curses on some people. I
mean you read some of the Psalms. It makes your blood run cold just to think
of it. I see that's part of the Ministry of a man of God. Men of God not merely
bless they also curse.
All right this is what he said in this beautiful song about Saul and Jonathan.
Second Samuel chapter 1 verse 21 O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew,
nor let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings, but the shield of
the mighty is cast away there. The shield of Saul not anointed with oil. Is it, does
it make sense, to talk to mountains. Or do you think that's just something strange.
Well I want to tell you, those words were spoken about 1000 years before Christ.
And we're now nearly 2,000 years after Christ. You can go to the mountains of
Gilboa and there is no green vegetation on them still today. Trees and vegetation
will grow on every other mountain all around. And the government of Israel,
which is very keen on reforesting the country, has tried to plant trees on that
mountain. And they wouldn't grow. What's the reason? Words spoken by David three
thousand years ago. And the visible evidence is still there in the Land of
Israel today. That's real, if you don't, we don't need
to turn there, but you remember the prophet Elisha had a servant named Gehazi.
Gehazi disobeyed Elisha ran after Naman and after he'd been miraculously healed.
And asked for money and clothing and hid it from Elisha. And when he came back
Elisha said "didn't my spirit go with you?" and then he said this "the leprosy of
Naaman the Syrian cleaved to thee and thy seed forever" and
Gehazi went out a leper as white as snow.
What was that the result of ? A curse, pronounced by a man of God. Turn to
the New Testament and Jesus in Mark chapter 11
beginning at verse 12 now the next day when they, that's Jesus and the disciples
had come from Bethany. He was hungry and seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves.
He went to see if perhaps he would find something on it. And when he came to it
he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. Now I believe,
I'm not going to say for absolute sure, That in that type of fig tree. Before the
figs come. There's a small kind of round thing that comes first, which the Arabs
call nafal. Which means, that which falls. Jesus was not so un reasonable as to
expect figs when it was not the time. But he did come for the nafal. But that the
teaching is, that if a tree doesn't bring forth the nafal, the first preliminary
thing. It will not bring forth figs either. So Jesus knew that that tree was
fruitless and what did he do? He spoke to the tree. Does that make sense? In
response Jesus said to it "let no one eat fruit
from you ever again" and his disciples heard it. I'm sure they thought our master
is just a little bit, Oh gone a little bit too far. Going on now
to verse 20. Now in the morning as they passed by they saw the (frig) fig tree
dried up from the roots. 24 hours later that tree was totally dry. And Peter
remembering, said to him, "Rabbi look the fig tree which you cursed has withered
away". Notice he said to Jesus you cursed it, that was the result. Jesus said "have
faith in God". And if you like to look just for one other passage, parallel
passage in Matthew 21 verse 21 the same story says in verse 20 well when the
disciples saw the tree they marveled saying, how did the fig tree withered
away so soon? Jesus answered and said to them "assuredly I say to you if you have
faith and do not doubt you will not only do it what was done to the fig tree". what was
done to the fig tree? It was cursed. But he said you can also speak to a mountain.
But notice he authorized them to curse things. He said you will not only do what
is done to this fig tree. I tell you the power we have, if we could but realize it
is frightening. hmm We're really rather like Moses when God
called him to go back to Egypt and deliver Israel. He said I don't have
anything what can I go with. And the Lord said to
him "what's that in your hand?" he said "a shepherd's staff".
the Lord said "throw it on the ground". What happened? when it touched the ground It became a snake and Moses ran from the very thing he'd been holding in his hand
you understand. And God said that's all you're
going to need is your staff, go back to Egypt and do the job. You see a lot of us
are like that, we're holding a staff in our hand, we don't realize that if we
throw it on the ground it can turn to a snake. Let me tell you a story, it's a
true story. About 1965 I was associate pastor in a church in Chicago and right
on the corner, flush with the Church. Wall-to-wall with the church was
a saloon, a pub, whatever you call them here. Not only did they sell alcohol but
it was a place of prostitution and a place of drugs, illicit drugs. And we were
having a prayer meeting in the church sometime in October. And I was on the
platform, one of those leading the prayer meeting. And without premeditation, I
stood up on the platform and I said "in the name of Jesus I curse that pub"
that saloon. I didn't think much more about it. Just about Christmas time, I
think just after Christmas at 4 a.m. there was a phone call in our house.
Brother Prince the church is burning would you like to come and see it ? Well I,
it's very cold in Chicago and when at 4:00 a.m. it was probably 20 degrees
below zero. I thought no I really don't want to go and see it.
Then I thought, if I don't show any interest in the church burning people
would think I'm pretty indifferent. So Ruth, umm, my first wife Lydia and I, got
into the car and drove down and when we got
near it. There were the flames up in the sky and the smoke rising in billows. But
when we got there. We discovered it wasn't the church. It was the liquor
store, the pub. But the wind was blowing off the lake, Lake Michigan. And you call
Wellington, Windy City. Let me tell you, Chicago is also called Windy City. It's
very similar in that respect, and the wind was blowing the flames right onto
the church. And as we got there, the wind changed 180 degrees and blew the flames
in exactly the opposite direction, away from the church. The result was the the
pub was completely destroyed and the church suffered nothing but smoke damage.
And the Fire Chief of the Chicago Fire Brigade said to one of the elders he
said "you people must have a special relationship with the man upstairs."
But that, you know what what was that that was the result of ? A curse. When I
saw what had happened I thought brother Prince you better be pretty careful how
you pray from now on. I didn't, I was like Moses, I was scared by what I had in my
hand, you understand. All right, now another source of curses and this is
very important. Is people with relational authority. God has so ordered human
society, that in certain situations, one person has authority over another person
or persons. The most obvious example is a father who, according to the Word of God,
has authority over his family. Whether people like it or not. Whether they fight
it or not. Is absolutely unimportant, the fact is, he has authority over his family.
If he doesn't use it, that's his problem. Another person who has authority is a
husband over his wife. They're very closely related. The Bible says God is
the head of Christ, Christ as the head of the husband, the husband is the head of
the woman. Women's libbers can say what they like about it. But the fact remains
it's true. And they can't change it by objecting to it. And I'm not anti women. I
think that's obvious, never has been my problem. [ light laughter ] I'm, ah ,umm, better not get into that. [ stronger laughing ] Well where are we, let's take the the case
of Jacob and his family.
Jacob had served for a long time, more than 14 years with his uncle Laban. He'd
acquired two wives and two concubines and 11 children. And then he decided to
flee back to the land that God had promised him. And he fled secretly,
because he was afraid that his uncle Laban would claim his wives back. You
understand or his daughters back, who were Jacob's wives. Well Laban pursued
after him and eventually caught up with him. Quite near the boundary of the land
of Canaan. Now when they fled, Rachel, who was the daughter of Laban and the
second wife of Jacob, stole her father's household Gods (idols). Now first of all,
he shouldn't have had a household Gods. And
secondly, she shouldn't have stolen them. But she did and Laban was extremely
angry because his household gods had been taken. His little images you know
that protected him etc etc. You know the kind of thing that people keep. Which is
totally against the will of God. So Laban catches up with Jacob and he says "why
did you take my daughter's without saying goodbye". And he said "I was afraid
you'd take them back" and Laban said "well secondly why did you steal my household Gods ?" Now Jacob did not know, that Rachel
had taken them. And Rachel succeeded by a very typically feminine ruse from
allowing Laban to discover where they were. So Jacob was very indignant because
he'd been accused of stealing his father-in-law's Gods.
And he hadn't done anything with them. And so he said just this one verse
about the household gods in Genesis 31 verse 32. "With whom ever you find your
gods do not let him live" but the Hebrew says "let him not live". You understand now,
that's a curse. "let him not live". And it was pronounced
by Jacob, the husband of Rachel. And he had authority over Rachel. It was not an
empty word, was a word that was charged with his authority. You know what
happened? You know the story. The next time Rachel had a child, she died in
childbirth. See, Jacob had pronounced the destiny of his wife. Now this comes very
close (to) home. Another person as I've already mentioned is a father. Second to
the blessing of God, the most desirable thing in life, is a father's blessing. And
one of the things to be feared most is a father's curse. Now many fathers have put
a curse on their children without knowing it. And I know this cuz I've
dealt with so many, And helped them out of it. See a father can have, say three
children. The first is clever, the third is clever,
but the middle child is not really so bright. So the father doesn't like the
middle child. You know what I've noticed about parents. If there's one child they
don't like, it's usually the one that's most like themselves. I think they don't
like what they see of themselves, in that child. So the father says to this child,
you'll never make good, you'll never succeed. Your brothers are clever but
you'll be a failure all your life. You know what that is ? It's a curse. And you'd
be amazed how many people struggle all their way through life.
Because of a parental curse pronounced upon them. Another kind of person that can
pronounce a curse is a teacher. Because a teacher has authority over his or her
pupils. And again, it may be that a teacher in the early years, has one pupil
whom she really just can't get on with. You know, there's some kind of
personality clash. And she says things like that. You you'll never learn, you
just will never learn to read, you just haven't got it, you'll never succeed.
What's that ? It's a curse. And again, I've dealt with people who have had to be
delivered from a curse, pronounced by a teacher. There's many different, another
person who can do it as a pastor. Because a pastor has spiritual authority over
his congregation. Suppose a pastor has a clash with a member of the congregation.
That person leaves, maybe in a bad spirit. The pastor says wherever you go you'll
never succeed, till you put things right with this church you'll never get on
anywhere. Do you think pastors ever talk like that ? Believe me they do. You
know what that is ? It's a curse. Religious groups are terrible about that.
If you break away from some groups, they will automatically put a curse upon you.
And believe me, that's not something, that is of no consequence. It's real. We've got
to go on. The next category is a very common one. Self-imposed curses. Curses
that people pronounce on themselves. We'll go back to the story of Isaac and
Rebecca. You remember that Rebecca had persuaded Jacob to steal the blessing. Or
to get the blessing. I wouldn't say exactly steal it but, cheat his way into
the blessing. Now Jacob was smart and he said in Genesis 27 12 perhaps my father
will feel me and I shall seem to him to be a deceiver
and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing. And his mother said to
him "on me be thy curse my son". It'll come on me, not on you. She pronounced a curse
on herself. Later on in the chapter she said to her husband
Isaac. She complained about the wives that Esau had married. Who were the
daughters of Heth. And she didn't approve of them. Actually they have a saying in,
amongst the Jewish people. I don't know whether you've ever heard it. About a
Yiddish mama. A Jewish mother, who basically, seeks to determine the whole
course of her family, her children, everything. There's a story about one
that was in a theater. And she said "is there a doctor in the house ?" And this man
stood up and she said "boy do I have a daughter for you". If you if you've never
met the type, but they're not only found amongst Jewish people. They're found
amongst all races. The mother who runs everybody, plans everybody's life,
determines whom everybody should marry. Well Rebecca already wasn't getting
things the way she wanted them. And she said this to Isaac in verse 46 "I am
weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a
wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land.
What good will my life do to me !". You see she pronounced a double curse on herself.
She said I'm weary my life, what's the good of living. I might as well die. And I
cannot tell you, how many people we've dealt with. Who've pronounced a curse on
themselves by saying "I wish I were dead." What's the good of living. I'm not going
to make it. You don't have to say that very often, it's like an invitation to
the spirit of death. And you don't have to give many invitations. He'll come in.
We've seen scores of people delivered from the spirit of death. In one meeting
in Northern Ireland in November last year. I prayed collectively, for the
people that needed deliverance from the spirit of death. In an audience of about
2,000 people and about 50 people received simultaneous deliverance. And most
of them were young people. How does it come in. This attitude hopelessness, no
good living, what's life got to offer to me, I might as well be dead. Brothers
and sisters it's a terribly dangerous thing to say. You're really pronouncing a
curse on yourself. And you know how busy the devil is, to trick you into saying
that. You sometimes say it for very inadequate reasons. In a fit of pique or
discouragement, but you're settling your own destiny. One other tragic example
from the New Testament. Familiar I'm sure to most of us. Matthew 27, Matthew 27
verses 24 and 25. The scene of the trial of Jesus by Pontius Pilate. Verse 24, when
Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising.
He took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying "I am
innocent of the blood of this just person you see to it" and all the people
answered and said "his blood be on us and on our children." What's that ?
It's a self-imposed curse. And you really cannot understand the history of the
Jewish people over the last 19 centuries. Until you see that one major factor in it.
Is a self-imposed curse that goes on from generation to generation to
generation. " His blood be upon us and our children." Where "our children" in that
context means our succeeding generations. It's tragic,
terrible. The next source of curses is men representing Satan. Witch doctors,
now don't laugh at me but I think I know what it is in Maori, tohunga, is that
right.? Now well it's, every language has that word. Believe me and they are
experts at cursing, that's their profession. And they're not, they're very
skillful. They know how to do it. In East Africa when I was principal of a college
for training Africa teachers. One of my students, from a certain remote mountain
area, told me this story. He said in his village two families quarreled and one
family went to the witch doctor. Paid him a kid, a goat, and said put a hex on the
other family. The witch doctor said all right, at at midnight on a certain night
a jackal will cry in the village and the son of that family will die. And at
midnight on that night, a jackal cried and the son died. If he didn't die of
anything its as if he died of sheer fright. You
understand. Ruth and I were in Zambia last year. And one of the ministries that
we have is praying for barren women who can't have children. And so out of this
large crowd of about 7,000 people we called for women in that condition. About
400 women came forward for prayer. And before we prayed for them, we asked the
interpreter, to ask them, "how many of them had been to a witch doctor to get a
potion to enable them to have children .? And there were only two that didn't
raise their hands out of 400. See if you know parts of Africa, they are totally
dominated by witch doctors. Everything in their lives is controlled by the unseen
spiritual power of witch doctors. When we came with this message there, about the
release from the curse. It was one of the most dramatic changes I've ever seen in
people. After they had listened to my teaching and said the prayer after me.
Those people were visibly transformed. Up to that time, you hardly saw them smile.
From then on there were some of the happiest
people I've ever seen. The change was like from night to day. And one
well-dressed man obviously a well-to-do man, when I walked down from the platform.
He came up and rubbed himself in the dust. Which is their way of expressing
appreciation and honor. And he said through the interpreter "I've been a
wretched man all my life. I've been in continual pain for years"
he said "now I'm free, I have no more pain and I'm happy." And his face was radiant.
And the only thing that had happened was, we'd release him from the curse. See
we've become so civilised in some places. That we've lost touch, with some things,
that are very real. But they're still real, even if we don't believe in them.
You can say you don't believe in viruses, but if you get one, you'll get sick. The
example, we don't need to go into detail, in the Bible, is Balaam, the witch doctor.
Yeah, the king of Moab knew he couldn't defeat Israel in war. So he hired Balaam,
and said, come and pronounce a curse on them. Because I know, the one you is curse is cursed and the one you bless is blessed.
That's typical, most African tribes before they
go into battle, they'll get the witch doctor to put a curse on their enemies.
Then they believe they'll be able to defeat them. And that does perhaps not so
far away as Africa. All right, two more and we are coming near the end of this
part. Another source of similar problems is what I call, soulish prayers or
utterances. And I just like to turn very quickly to James chapter 3. I am trying
to make this brief, but I want to make it complete. Because some of you may not
have another opportunity. James chapter 3 verses 14 and 15
"but if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts. Do not boast
and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above but is
earthly, sensual, demonic." Well James is talking about two kinds of wisdom. And he
talks about one, that's not God's wisdom. And he says it has three characteristics
its earthly. Then he says in Greek, it's soulish. It's the expression of the soul
not of the spirit. And when it's that, the next thing it is, is demonic. And I'll
tell you, that there are some people who
pray for you, that you'd be better off without their prayers. That sounds
shocking, but you see some people, if you're a preacher for instance. They've
got their own ideas of what your ministry should be. And where you should
go. And they'll try to pray you there and it may not be at all, the will of God. But
you have this pressure against you every time you try to do certain things
which, what they are praying against. Or people may just sit and talk about you.
Christians, criticise one another, talk about one another, run one another down.
That generates a negative power, that's released against the people you talk
about. I'm not going to go into this in detail but I could spend an hour on it.
Understand it's very important to know where your problems are coming from.
Sometimes they're coming from people quite close to you. There have been men
who have been sick for years, because their wife had a death wish for them.
Understand. There's a lot of things in the human soul that we don't fully
understand. It's got a lot of power for good or evil. If it's under the control
of the Holy Spirit it will be for good. But if it's under other forces, it can be
just as powerful, for evil. And finally, in this section. Another source of these
problems is what I call, unscriptural covenants. in Exodus 23 verse 32
God warned Israel about the nations whose land they were about to enter. They
were all wicked, idolatrous nations. And God said to Israel "you shall make no
covenant with them nor with their gods." You see if you make a covenant. Which is
a very solemn agreement, with evil people. Who are under the power of evil forces.
You come under the power of those evil forces. Now there are particularly true
of secret societies. In America for instance, the Klu Klux Klan. And worldwide
the Freemasons. I just have to tell you that that is a sure road to disaster for
your descendants. I can't, estimate the number of crippled, or
retarded, unhappy children, whose problems go back to a parent in the Freemasons.
You can do what you like about it. But I'm telling you, the consequences are ordered
by God. And you can't change them. You are
not free to make a covenant with people on the basis of anything, but the
covenant that's made in the blood of Jesus. That's a very powerful, binding
covenant. But evil covenants are also powerful and binding. Now let's look
briefly at the forms that blessings and curses take. If you want to study this in
detail there's one chapter that's devoted solely to it. It's chapter 28 of
the book of Deuteronomy. It's got 68 verses. The first 14 verses deal with
blessings. And the remaining 54 verses deal with curses. And when you read that
list of curses I think you should want something else. And the source of both
blessings and curses is clearly stated and I'll read them both. Deuteronomy 28
verses 1 & 2. "Now it shall come to pass if you will diligently hearken to the
voice of the Lord your God. To observe carefully all his commandments which I
command you today. That the Lord your God will set you on high, above all nations
of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you,
because you hearken to the voice of the Lord your God." What is the basic cause of
blessings? It's listening diligently to the voice of God and doing what he says.
That's why God blessed Abraham, He said "because you have obeyed my voice." And
then it says "all these blessings will come upon you." Really you don't need to
chase the blessings. What you need to do is
meet the conditions. God will take care of the blessings. And then in verse 15 and
onwards we come to the curses. "But it shall come to pass if you do not obey
the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his Commandments
and his statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come
upon you and overtake you." What's the cause of the curses.? Not listening to the
voice of the Lord and not doing what he says. It's very very simple, basically. Now
if you want to you can read through that whole list of blessings and curses for
yourself. Excuse me. But I will give you, my very brief summary, and you check for
yourself. Don't just take it because I say. Here's my summary of the blessings.
Exaltation, being lifted up. Health. Reproductiveness, reproducing in every
area of your life, your family, your farm, your animals, everything, prosperity.
Victory and God's Favor. I'll read that once more. Exaltation, Health, Reproductiveness,
Prosperity, Victory and God's Favour. One of the simple statements of blessing
is "you'll be above only and not beneath you'll be the head and not the tail." And
I sat down and worked that out once. And I thought what does it mean to be the head
and not the tail ? And it's like this, the head makes the decisions, the tail gets
dragged around. So which end are you ? the head or the tail ? are you making the
decisions ? are you taking the initiative ? are you determining the way things happen ? Or are you at the mercy of
circumstances ?, under financial pressure, health pressure, family pressure ? Being
just dragged around, if you're the tail it's a curse. If you're the head, it's a
blessing. Now let's look at the summary of the curses. And as I say this is 54
verses, so the summary is brief. First of all Humiliation, second Failure
to reproduce in any area of your life. Barrenness is a curse, without any
qualification. Mental and Physical sicknesses, family breakdown, divorce,
alienation of children and so on, poverty, which is a curse, not a blessing. If you
think poverty is a blessing why do you work so hard to get rid of it ? And if you
think sickness is a blessing why do you go to the doctor to get rid of it ? Why
involve that poor doctor, in fighting against God, and removing the blessing
from your life. Defeat, oppression, failure and God's disfavor. I'll give it to you
once more. Humiliation, failure to reproduce, mental and physical sickness,
family breakdown, poverty, defeat, oppression, failure, and God's disfavor.
Now I'll give you my own little list. Which is just based on personal
experience and observation over the years. I made it independently of that
chapter 28 of Deuteronomy. It's interesting how close they are. I have
seven things, seven factors in people's lives. Which when I discover, lead me to
conclude that they're probably under a curse. Number one, mental and emotional
breakdown and especially emotional breakdown. Now if it just happens once,
in one life, there could be other causes. But if it is a thing that recurs
frequently in a family. You can be sure that family is under a curse.
Number two repeated or chronic sicknesses. Especially without clear
medical diagnosis. When you go to the doctor and he says it's one thing. You go
back six months later, he says it's another. Or you have a pain and nobody can
find out why you have a pain. But you have a pain. And especially again if
these things run in families. I would say almost certainly, that family is under a
curse. Third, repeated miscarriages and related female problems. And Ruth and I
have come to the place. If women come for that
kind of prayer. Which we pray for very frequently. Once we hear the diagnosis we
simply treat it as a curse. We don't even do any investigating and we have seen
scores of people dramatically changed. Number four the
breakdown of marriage and family alienation. And let me just say one thing,
that I can't take time to treat. Witchcraft is home breaker number one. Wherever that
power comes to work in a family it will ultimately break up the family.
Number five continuing financial insufficiency, especially where the
income appears sufficient. You know there are lots of people who always have
enough money. But it's never enough, you know that. You might be one of them.
Well, you begin to check. I got a letter from a lady in the United States a couple
of years ago. She said, I think my husband's
family is under a curse. She heard my teaching. So I wrote back and said "tell
me why you think your husband's family is under a curse?' And this was the answer
I got she said "well my husband's estate runs into hundreds of millions of
dollars and our annual income is a million dollars and we never have enough
money." I said I'm convinced. That's so
characteristic. See if there's a curse over your life, nothing ever really works. And
you can be highly educated and qualified to succeed, but you never quite break
through to success. Number six, accident-prone and when I
meet that. I really don't look any further. You see, that is a statistically
diagnosable condition. If you are accident-prone an insurance company will
put up your insurance premiums. See simply on that basis. And number seven, a history
of suicides or unnatural deaths. And I hope I can say this without being
offensive, but if you want to look at a very conspicuous family. That bears all
the marks of a family curse. It's the Kennedy family in America. Now we come to
the punchline. The practical. How to pass from curse to blessing. First
of all you have to understand. Full provision has already been made through
the death of Jesus on the cross. That's the way that God has made provision for
every human need. Including this one. If you look in Galatians chapter 3 verses
13 and 14. Galatians 3:13 and 14 Christ has 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. That, in order that, the blessing of Abraham might come upon the
Gentiles in Christ Jesus. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. Notice the exchange. The death of Jesus on the cross, the
atonement. Was an exchange in which all the evil do to us, came upon Christ. That
all the good due to Him, might be made available to us. Whatever aspect you look
at. He was wounded that we might be healed. He died that we might have life.
He was made sin that we might be made righteousness. He was rejected that we
might be accepted. And here He was made a curse that we might enter into the
blessing. That's the basis of God's provision for the problem that I've been
speaking about tonight night. And you'll notice that in that verse 13 the word curse
occurs three times. Christ has redeemed us from the curse, having become a curse
for us, for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Brothers
and sisters, if a curse is so real that Christ had to be made a curse on the
cross for us. Then don't entertain the thought that there's no reality in a
curse. God wouldn't have made provision, at such cost, for our deliverance from a
curse. If there was nothing to be delivered from. You understand. But it
took the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ to provide deliverance from
the curse. So that's the basis of deliverance. All our deliverance, has to be
based on faith in what Christ has done for us on the cross. Just as we are made
righteous because he was made sinful. So we can receive the blessing because he
was made the curse . You see the law of Moses said in Deuteronomy 21:23 anyone
who's hung on a tree becomes a curse. So every Jew who knew the law of Moses. When
they saw Jesus hanging on the cross. They knew that he had been made a curse. Thank
God, the reason why he was made a curse
was that we might be delivered from the curse. See that. Now you need to bear in
mind. That after you've been delivered you still have to go on meeting the
conditions. Which are, what ? Listening to God's voice and doing what he says. Very
simple. And that's in the New Testament. Jesus said in John 10 verse 27 "my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me." So that's the prescription for blessing. But
in order to live in blessing, if there's a curse over your life. You must first be
redeemed from the curse. You must be delivered. Now through the death of Jesus
it's already legally ours, you understand. He's already obtained it for us. What we
have to do, is move from the legal, to the experiential. We have to get it working
in our lives. Now I want to tell you, how to do that, all right.
The legal base is already there. God doesn't have to do anything more. We have
to appropriate what God has done for us. Very often we need to ascertain the
cause or the source of the curse. Not always, but very often. And that's why I
spent quite a long while. Going over the various possibilities. Because I was
trusting the Holy Spirit to speak to many of you. And open your eyes, as we
prayed at the beginning. That you could see, suddenly, the reason why you've
struggled all your life. You understand, maybe it'll come by supernatural revelation,
many times it does. Now I'm not saying you have to know.
But in many cases, God wants us to know what we are being delivered from.
How it came upon us. If God shows you, then you act on what he shows you. Now
the process of release. The basic pattern is stated in four words which begin with
re, this just happens to be so. Recognize, Repent, Renounce and Resist. Recognize your
problem and it's cause. Repent of anything that ever opened you to it.
Renounce the curse. And Resist every attempt of Satan to keep you under the
curse. Okay recognize, repent, renounce, resist. Now more, in more detail.
Specific steps, first of all establish a clear scriptural basis. I've given you
one, Galatians three 13 and 14 "Christ has redeemed us from the curse
having been made a curse for us". There are other scriptures which I'll just
mention. Ephesians 1:7 " in him we have redemption through his blood"
Colossians 1:13 and 14 "God has delivered us
from the domain of darkness and translated us
into the kingdom of the son of His love" 1 John 3:8 a beautiful short Scripture the
second half of the verse "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that that he might destroy the works of the devil. and Luke 10:19 "behold I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means
hurt you." That's good news. Alright now this is
what you need to do. Very simply, confess your faith in Christ because He's the
high priest of our confession. Commit yourself to obedience,
because that's the condition for continuing in blessing. Confess any known
sins of yourself or your ancestors. Like my aunt was a fortune teller or my
grandmother was in Christian Science or my father was a freemason. Many, many
different possibilities. And you have to identify yourself with the sin in your
family, that brought it upon your family. You understand, you confess it on behalf
of your family. Forgive all other persons and maybe the very person that was the
cause of the curse. Because if you don't forgive, unforgiveness is a barrier to
the answer to your prayer. Jesus said when you stand praying forgive if you
have anything against anybody. Okay that leaves out nothing and nobody. Remember
forgive this is a decision it's not an emotion
simply it's tearing up the IOUs. number six to renounce all contact with the
occult or with secret societies and get rid of contact objects.
You cannot keep in your house anything that in any way binds you to the occult.
Images, charms, Buddha's, Ouija board, tarot cards. A whole host of things. Moses
warned Israel. He said if you take an accursed thing into your house you
become accursed like the thing. huh I think of a lady judge in the United
States who was miraculously healed when I prayed for her. She'd been in pain for
ten years, night and day with an intestinal problem. She had adhesions
and her insides had been sewn up with plastic clips and when God
healed her. Not merely did he take away the pain and heal the adhesions but he
removed the clips. That's that that's that what you'd call a miracle. But the
interesting thing is in a sweepstakes she earned a free holiday in Mexico. So
she and her lady friend went, came back and the next day they phoned Lydia and
me and they were in desperation. They said this lady tried to commit suicide.
She tried to drown herself in the bath last night.
Come over quickly, so Lydia and I went over. They said we don't know what's
happened, everything was wonderful I was saved, I was healed. Ah I said "you've been
to Mexico ?" They said "yes." I said "did you bring back
any souvenirs ?" And they thought for a while. they said "yes." I said "was any of
them , in any way connected with religion ?" and they said "well yes, one of them was a portrait of the Sun God." And I said "you
better get rid of it, and now." And that dear lady judge got up, went down to the
basement, broke it in small pieces in the next five minutes and when she did that there was no more problem. You see she had
exposed herself by bringing an accursed thing into her home. Ruth and I were in Norway
this past summer and I was invited to talk on spiritual warfare. And how many
of you know what the word troll means ? mm-hmm well it's a Norwegian word it's
the Norwegian word for a witch. And I will tell you Norway is permeated by
trolldom, I mean they have trolls in every shop window in Oslo. And I had to
tell those dear people if you have a troll in your house you are asking for
trouble. One lady came up to me in tears afterwards, said "I just want to thank you
after all these years I understand the problems in my house." She was a
well-educated, spiritual woman but she didn't realize that she had forbidden
fruit in her house. And finally step number seven release yourself in the
name of Jesus. Because that word of god says whatever we release on earth shall
be released in heaven, all right. Whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven. Now I'm going to give you those steps again and then we're going to do it. number one establish a clear scriptural
basis. number two confess your faith in Christ. let me say if you've never done
this before and you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior you can get to know
him when you do this. I'll word the prayer in such a way, that if you were
unsaved when you started to pray you'll be saved at the end okay. Thats not
difficult, it doesn't take God half a second to save somebody. Alright confess
your faith in Christ. number three commit yourself to
obedience. number four confess any known sins of yourself or your ancestors. Now
when we come to doing that I'm going to lead you in a general statement and I'm
going to give all of you opportunity, quietly, to yourself, to make the
appropriate confession. You don't have to do it outloud. Okay we'll have a pause
while you do that. Number five forgive any other persons
who ever harmed your wronged you. And again, I'll lead you in the general
statement. then I'll give you time to name Uncle Harry or the pastor of my
church, or my schoolteacher or my wife or my husband. All right it's usually the
people closest to us, that it's most important to forgive, all right. You don't
have much problem with the milkman, but the man who shares your bed that's your
problem. All right number six renounce all contact with occult objects or
secret societys. And again we'll give you a little pause. understand when you've
done all that, you are legally entitled to full release from every curse over
you or your family. And when you've said the prayer, as the
representative of Jesus Christ here tonight, under the authority of the local
leadership, for whom I thank God. I will say a simple prayer breaking every curse,
okay. I cannot break the curse, if you haven't met the conditions, you
understand that. So that's up to you. Now when we say this and this happens,
nothing dramatic may happen, you may not feel any immediate change at all, or on
the other hand. Sometimes the results are quite dramatic. Sometimes people fall
down, sometimes they are released of some evil spirit and a scream or something
else comes out of them. Whatever happens don't focus on the manifestation, focus
on the reality of Christ and your prayer. But if there are manifestations don't
let them upset you. If you're the one with the manifestation, just thank God
that you're getting results. And if you're next to somebody, it's her problem
or his problem, not yours. Don't get distracted from your problem. Okay now I
think it would be good if we were to say this prayer together. Now nobody
here has to say this prayer. It's entirely voluntary, but I'm always glad
to say it, I've said it dozens of times, and I'll always like to make absolutely
sure that everything is clear in heaven above me. I find it's a real privilege to
say the prayer. So what I'm going to do now is, I'm going to ask you to stand and
I'm going to lead you in this prayer. Okay I suggest that you say it out loud, not very loud, but aloud enough to hear
yourself. So that you know you've said the prayer. and remember you're not
praying to me. You're praying to the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay
I want you to say these words now. Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are the
son of God ( crowd repeats ) and the only way to God. That you died on
the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I renounce all my sins
and I turn to You Lord Jesus, for mercy and for forgiveness and I believe you do
forgive me. And from now on I want to live for you. I want to hear your voice
and do what you tell me. In order to receive your blessing Lord
and to be released from any curse over my life. First of all I confess any known
sin, committed by me or by any of my ancestors or others related to me. Now
just put in anything that you need to confess in that context, just quietly
between you and God. Just let the Holy Spirit show you what you need to specify. Okay we're going on now. Lord I thank you
that I believe you have forgiven everything that I've confessed and Lord
now I want to say that I also forgive all other persons. Whoever harmed me or
wronged me. I forgive them all now as I would have gone forgive me. In particular
I forgive, and now you name the persons that you need to forgive, to yourself. But
be as thorough as you can. Now we're going to continue furthermore
Lord I renounce any contact by myself or any related to me with
Satan or with occult power in any form. Or any kind of secret society. Also Lord
I commit myself to remove from my house any kind of occult objects
that honor Satan and dishonor Jesus Christ With your help Lord, I will remove them all And now Lord Jesus I thank you further
that on the cross you are made a curse that I might be redeemed from the curse
and might receive the blessing. And because of what you did for me on the
cross. I now release myself from every curse and every evil influence and every
dark shadow over me or my family from any source whatever. I release myself now
in the name of Jesus amen. Now Lord because of your peoples prayer
tonight, I as your representative, break every curse that has been over any of
these lives or any of these people. I revoke those curses now and I release
them from them, in the name of Jesus the Son of God. In his all prevailing name I
declare these people released. Satan I declare to you that you have no more
claims, no more access to their lives, to their families, to their businesses, they
have been lifted out of the domain of darkness and translated into the kingdom
of the son of Go d's love. thank you Lord Jesus, we praise you Lord, we give you the
glory we give you the thanks. Amen thank you lord thank you Lord Thank you Lord Jesus Praise your wonderful name. Praise your wonderful name. Lord Jesus we give you thanks we give you prasie Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen thank you Lord Thank you Lord Thank you Lord amen Now I'd like you to do one more
thing. It's be good to make your confession to God. But it's also good to
make a confession to another human being. So wherever you are, I suggest you turn
around to somebody near to you, look them full in the eyes and say "Jesus Christ is
Lord" all right. Praise God, if there's one thing that really upsets the devil its
praise of Jesus. Okay if he's still hanging around anywhere. Just dispel him
with a time of praise.
