VISITING THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATIONS

12/1/17

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; Ex. 20

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; 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

18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Numbers 14:

8 ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Deut. 5

All of us have a history from where we’ve come from. We all have parents that have birthed us, and some have had healthy homes while others have grown-up with just one parent, or have suffered a series of various abuses and set-backs. We all have various genetic ties with our parents as well as our grandparents, uncles, aunts, and generations going back even further.

Some of these characteristics and ties are good ones like kindness, servitude, and compassion towards people, and other traits can even be malevolent. We know from the verses above that when people from our past did evil practices such as necromancy, satanic worship, or had partaken in other heinous acts, can and have influenced other generations. But even a grandmother that was prone to worry and self-doubt, may plague a grandchild many years later.

I am aware of certain tendencies from the far past that could be evident in my own life. I also know of those attributes which one would consider as something of a positive nature as well. These types of things are characteristics that somehow are embedded in our personalities, chromosomes, and nature.

But even with any possible generational ties from former members from our past, many of the flaws in our natures come from us and not from anyone else I believe. It can become very popular in many Christian circles to lay the blame on sin from generations past instead of looking deep within us. Some go and pronounce all kinds of spiritual gyrations thinking that this will rid us of any malady from the past. But just like the prophets of Baal who danced around in spiritual frenzy, nothing happened when they contended with the prophet Elijah at Mount Carmel.

When we look at the parable of the sower we see that there are many things that can affect the soil where the seeds fell along the pathway. (our mindsets and heart conditions.)

“Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” Matt. 13:3

The seeds that fall upon good soil can certainly yield a healthy crop of spiritual life and goodness. But weeds and other debris can infiltrate into our lives very easily through other means if we aren’t careful or aware of their influences.

About twenty years ago, my wife and I, along with some friends, went to a conference that included a minister that had a very dramatic and miraculous ministry. People would come forward and as he began to pray for them, he claimed that he saw various cords or hoses that projected from the backs of their bodies. He believed that these hoses were actual curses from generational ties. Some of these people had cancer, a missing lung, or a whole host of other missing organs or diseases. Also, during this time as he perceived these generational ties, he saw a new organ that the spirit of God was going to give to some of these people. Obviously, these types of things have been abused by some in ministry, but God is also a God of miracles and supernatural events.

These types of ties and curses can be quite insidious and they somehow can find their way creeping into people’s lives, but through the help of the Holy Spirit and persistence, I believe that one can find freedom and a sense of liberty. The enemy is a sly old fox and he will continue to attempt to circulate and embed things in us from the past, but we are meant to have a divine nature that is wrought in the image of God.

My wife had a sister who died of cancer several years ago. But the dominoes in her family seemed to fall in rapid succession from a series of strange events. A few years before her death, her daughter had died in an unusual car accident, and then after her mother’s death from cancer, a son also died from cancer. The only family member left is a son who has been in prison most of his life. I had always thought that something very strange was going on, whether it was a generational tie of some sort, or even a curse that had been placed on the family. Over the years I had spent hours in prayer concerning these things and had rebuked them in the name of Jesus.

Getting rid of generational curses is quite clear as seen see in Leviticus 26:40, which gives us a prescription that God gives the nation of Israel concerning how to break generational sins and curses: "

But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me … then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land."

Some have said that there are four different things that should come into place for us to do in regard for this. These are to repent, rebuke, replace, and receive an infilling of God’s spirit. In doing these four things then, those generational ties can be dismantled. But let us keep in mind the need of self-examination and give those things to God that are unpleasing to Him. Let us recognize that we live in a fallen world and the results of our fallen nature, still finds a way of creeping into our lives in insidious ways.

Stephen Hanson