Confessing Generational Curses and Iniquities
By William Shifflett
For more on Generational Curses,
see Pastor Shifflett's book Friendly
Fire. Excerpts, more details,
and a
video trailer are on the
Friendly Fire page.
The book is
now available from Amazon and
Tate Publishing and
as an e-book
in theAmazon Kindle Store at both
the
US and UK sites.
Central to the teaching of Generational or Ancestral Curses is the idea that to break a curse a person must confess the iniquities of their forefathers. Consider these comments from Marilyn Hickey.
“Iniquities can only be broken by confessing them,..”
“When you read Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9 you may be surprised to find that this godly man identifies with and confesses the sins and iniquities of his forefathers.”
“Had David not confessed, a generation curse of iniquity would have continued in his bloodline, and God would have had to destroy his seed.”
She also quotes Leviticus 26:40 for support:
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,”
What she doesn’t tell you is that there are only four verses in the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments where these two words appear together. One is Leviticus 26:40 above, the others from the King James Version are:
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel,” Leviticus16:21
“And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.” Nehemiah 9:2
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Selah. Psalms 32:5
So what’s wrong with this assertion that sins and iniquities must be confessed in order to break a Generational or ancestral curse? Plenty as you can see below.
- None of these four verses mention a curse or the breaking of one
- None convey an immediate improvement in the circumstances of life which is often presented as the motivation for breaking Generational Curses
- Psalms 32 connects iniquity with sin whereas the Generational Curse Teaching makes a distinction between them. Consider these comments from the Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:
“ The most basic meaning of 'awon is "iniquity." The word signifies an offense, intentional or not, against God's law. This meaning is also most basic to the word hatta't, "sin," in the Old Testament, and for this reason the words hatta't and 'awon are virtally synonymous; "Lo, this [the live coal] hath touched thy [Isaiah's] lips; and thine iniquity ['awon] is taken away, and thy sin [hatta't] purged" (Isa. 6:7). —
In this passage from Isaiah 6:7 using the same two words found in Psalms 32 both sin and iniquity are cleansed simultaneously not in separate acts which are purported as necessary to break a Generational Curse.
CONCLUSION:
There are no passages in the Bible that clearly teach that the sins and iniquities of previous generations must be confessed before healing, success or prosperity can occur.
Generational Curses
The Fallacy of Generational Curses (Pastor's Article of 12/18/2009)
Generational Curses and the Grapes of Wrath
The Lies of Generational Curse Deliverance
