BLESSINGS OR CURSES
The Bible opens a door to the invisible realm, which is not
material but spiritual. The forces at work in this realm exercise a continuous
and decisive influence on events in the visible (material) realm.
The word “Bless” or “Blessing” occurs more than 410 times in
the Bible.
The word “Curse” 230 times.
Blessings and curses may
extend to families, tribes, communities or whole nations.
Once released, they continue from generation to generation
until they are cancelled.
The
main vehicle for blessings and curses is words:- (there are many other vehicles)
This is the BIG question we have all asked ourselves----the
one word answer is :- IGNORANCE
6
My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a
priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will
forget your children.
The following 2 passages incorporate the
principal knowledge that billions of people have ignored for more than 3500
years (that is how long this Divine instruction has been around). More so today
than ever before! Note the exact passage is written twice, in 2 different books
of the 5 most important books of the
Old Testament. This must be very significant!
Think of a lawyer’s legal restraint document
when you read it-Twice!
4 You shall not make
for yourself an idol, whether in the form of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the
iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject
me,
8 You shall not make
for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
9 You shall not bow
down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,
punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth
generation of those who reject me,
Beware of all the modern religions that have
icons, statues, images or any artistic representation of any deity or object of
worship or relic of religious practice.
Beware of things in your house that might just
represent other gods!!!!!!
25 The
images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the
gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by
it; for it is abhorrent to the LORD your God.
26 Do not bring an
abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like
it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.
15 Since
you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb
out of the fire, take care and watch yourselves closely,
16 so that you do not act
corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure--the
likeness of male or female,
17 the
likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird
that flies in the air,
18 the
likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that
is in the water under the earth.
19 And when you look
up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of
heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that
the LORD your God has allotted to all the
peoples everywhere under heaven.
Basically anything material (visible) that is an object of worship
OR represents a pagan god in the spiritual (invisible)
realm is forbidden!!!(It can curse you)
The definition of pagan (
Note the New Testament scripture. Note also
how debased worship may become among pagans, starting with humans and moving
down the animal kingdom to slithering reptiles.
20 Ever since the
creation of the world His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though
they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;
21 for
though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but
they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise,
they became fools;
23 and they exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds
or four-footed animals or reptiles.
We were all created with free will.
We all have a choice. Nobody can make us
choose, not even God.
It is up to each one of us to make this
choice! When determining our destiny, no other choice we may make in our lives
can be more important!
19 I call heaven and
earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
23 Note then the
kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but
God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you
also will be cut off.
Deuteronomy 28 details these blessings and
curses (LISTEN & OBEY----CHOOSE!!)
Without faith and
obedience—no blessings. This is not magic.
1
This entire commandment that I command you
today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in
and occupy the land that the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.
Deut 28
1 If you will only
obey the LORD your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am
commanding you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations
of the earth;
2 All these
blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the LORD your God:
12 The LORD will make you
the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the
bottom--if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am
commanding you today, by diligently observing them,
5 Now therefore, if
you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession
out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine,
27 My sheep hear my voice.
I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal
life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 That
my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out
of the Father's hand.
Physical
(visible) manifestations of the
invisible realm.
Blessings- Exaltation, health, reproductiveness, prosperity, victory, God’s favour.
Curses- Humiliation, barrenness,
unfruitfulness, mental & physical sickness, family breakdown, poverty,
defeat, oppression, failure and God’s disfavour.
(All
the quoted verse numbers are found in Deuteronomy 28)
15 But if you will not obey the LORD your God by
diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding
you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:
Madness driven mad (28, 34) confusion heart, mind (20, 28)
trembling
heart-anxious mind (65), anguish of soul-despairing heart (65)
Plagued
with diseases (21), consumption or wasting disease, severe burning fever,
inflammation (22), incurable boils, tumors, festering sores, incurable itch
(27), blindness (28), your knees and legs with painful boils (35), severe and
lingering diseases (59), diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will
cling to you. (60), every other kind of sickness and plague (61)
Barrenness (gynae problems)
Cursed
shall be the fruit of your body (womb) (18)
41 You
shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall
go into captivity.
Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of parents to
their children and the hearts of children to their parents,…..
17 Cursed
shall be your basket and your kneading bowl……..
29 you shall grope about at
noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be unable to find your
way; and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help.
30 You shall become engaged
to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but
not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit.
31 Your ox shall be
butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be
stolen in front of you, and shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be
given to your enemies, without anyone to help you…………
47 Because you did not
serve the LORD your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance
of everything,
48 therefore
you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and
thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your
neck until he has destroyed you.
Prosperity is a blessing:---------
6 And God is able to
provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough
of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
29 you
shall grope about at noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be
unable to find your way; and you shall be continually abused and robbed,
without anyone to help.
History suicides,unnatural or untimely
deaths.
All over Deuteronomy 28:------
20………..until you are destroyed and perish quickly,…….
21………until it has consumed you………
22…………..they shall pursue you until you
perish.
24……….until you are destroyed.
26 Your
corpses shall be food………..
33…………abused and crushed,
45All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking
you until you are destroyed,
48…………..has destroyed you.
51…………until it has made you perish.
61……….will inflict on you until you are destroyed.
2 Like a sparrow in
its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere. (where there is a curse, there is a cause)
Exodus 20,4 Deut 5,8!!
(don’t make an idol, in the form of anything,
from anywhere and bow down to
it. Deut 7,25-
even if you don’t bow down to it, but others do -don’t bring it into your
house!)
The strongest cravings of human nature are the
desire for Knowledge and the desire for Power. The only 2 sources of
supernatural knowledge and power in the universe are God or Satan. If the
source is not from God (legitimate) then it is from Satan (illegitimate).
Because Satan’s kingdom is dark most people are not aware of the true
identity of what they are doing.
2 Tim 2:25……………..God may perhaps grant that
they will repent and come to know the
truth, 26 and that they may escape from the snare of the devil, having been
held captive by him to do his will.
Spiritual adultery!
Proverbs 5
3 For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is
smoother than oil;
4 but in the end she is bitter as
wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go
down to death; her steps follow the path to Hell.
6 She does not keep straight to the path
of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7 And now, my child, listen to me, and do
not depart from the words of my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her, and do not
go near the door of her house;
9 or you will give your honor to others,
and your years to the merciless,
10 No one shall be
found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practices
divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer,
11 or one who casts
spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead.
16 "Cursed be
anyone who dishonors father or mother."
1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for
this is right.
2
"Honor your father and
mother"--this is the first commandment
with a promise:
3
"so that it may be well with you and you may
live long on the earth."
8 And whoever does
not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith
and is worse than an unbeliever.
Oppression and Injustice (especially against the weak and helpless-foetus)
18 "Cursed be
anyone who misleads a blind person on the road."
19 "Cursed be
anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice."
24 "Cursed be
anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret."
25 "Cursed be
anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood."
Deut 27
"Cursed be anyone who lies with:-
20 his father's wife,……
21 any animal……
22 with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or
the daughter of his mother…
23 his mother-in-law……
18 You shall not lie with a
male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
4000 years ago God made a choice that has
affected all subsequent history. He was looking for a man who would meet His
conditions so that he might ultimately become a channel of God’s blessing to
all nations. He chose Abraham!
Genesis 12
2 I will make of you
a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you
will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those
who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed."
9 …… Blessed is
everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you."
In 4000 years, no individual and no group or
nation has ever cursed the Jewish people without Divine retribution.
5
This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is
the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose
heart turns away from the LORD.
6
He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places
of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
Intellectual education above character building
Psychology above discernment
Program above the leading of the Holy Spirit
Reasoning above the walk of faith
Laws above love
2
The only thing I want to learn from you is
this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing
the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
3
Are you so foolish? Having started with
the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
5
Well then, does God supply you with the
Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by
your believing what you heard?
18 But if you are led by
the Spirit, you are not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful
nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
20 idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions
21 and envy; drunkenness,
orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like
this will not inherit the
22 But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Beware of what you keep confessing with your mouth- eg-if you
always say “I am sick and tired of—“ you will become
both sick and tired!
11:9 With their mouths the godless
would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.
12:18 Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of
the wise brings healing.
15:4 A gentle tongue is a
tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and
those who love it will eat its fruits.
5
So also the tongue is a small member, yet
it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
6 And
the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of
iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is
itself set on fire by hell. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father,
and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and
sisters, this ought not to be so.
Do not be party to any of these practices! We
can find these practitioners everywhere in our modern society. Astrology
columns in magazines, mediums, hypnotists and magicians on TV, reflexology,
iridology, fortune tellers etc etc available
everywhere!!!
New
Testament Law and Old Testament Curse of the Law.
This is a debate of immense magnitude and one
of much controversy in the modern Church. Read what the Word (knowledge) says!
22 If a man guilty of a
capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree….,
13 Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written:
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
14 He
redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of
the Spirit.
A divine exchange took
place in the Spiritual (invisible) realm
on The Cross!
Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven
Jesus was wounded that we might be healed
Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we
might become righteous with His righteousness
Jesus died our death that we might share His
life.
Jesus became poor with our poverty that we
might become rich with His riches.
Jesus bore our shame that we might share His
glory
Jesus endured our rejection that we might have
his acceptance as children of God.
Jesus became a curse that we might receive a
blessing.
It is fruitless to debate the issue, read what
Titus says:-
9 But avoid stupid
controversies, genealogies, dissentions, and quarrels about the law, for they
are unprofitable and worthless.
2 Tim 2
25 ………..God may
perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, 26 and that they may escape from the snare of
the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
2
The only thing I want to learn from you is
this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing
what you heard?
3
Are you so foolish? Having started with
the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?
5 Well
then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your
doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
Blessings can come from anointing.
10 And Moses took the
anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and
sanctified them.
11 And he sprinkled thereof
upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, both
the basin with its stand, to sanctify them.
12 And
he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify
him.
16 The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which
we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
What did Jesus have to say about the law and
choice (obedience)?
17 "Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish
but to fulfill.
18 For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter,
will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
19 Therefore, whoever
breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the
same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and
teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless
your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Read the fourth last verse in the entire Bible
(sounds like Old Testament!)
Powerful warnings for the final word or
closing statement!
18 I warn everyone who
hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will
add to that person the plagues described in this book;
19 if anyone takes away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person's
share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this
book.
from Dr. Richard Albrecht