The Lies of Generational Curse Deliverance
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.
One of the central precepts of Generational Curse teachings is that breaking a curse will essentially fix all the problems a person is plagued by. This includes sickness, financial problems, barrenness and divorce. Yet on closer inspection we discover that the teachers themselves are inconsistent in these assertions.
For example Larry Huch says one of the most common curses is divorce. Huch also says it was Benny Hinn who encouraged him to share his “revelations” about Generational Curses. And yet Hinn, whose own marriage recently failed, had an affair with twice divorced Paula White in 2010. One wonders whether Huch offered to help them break the curses that were plaguing their marital lives.
Regarding sickness we find the contradictory assertions of Chuck Pierce. Pierce is a colleague of Peter Wagner who became convinced with the help of Cindy Jacobs, another proponent of Generational Curse theology, that he had an illness which was the result of a Generational iniquity. Yet after this curse was broken Pierce continued his struggle with illness. He shares his story regarding a trip to Nigeria with Dr. Wagner.
“When communion was served,” he writes, “they invited anyone who was sick to come forward. I was the first in line. I felt a curse of infirmity leave my body when I participated. I cannot say that I have never been sick again, but what has happened is that a power to resist sickness is now resident.”
I am forced to ask how the power to resist sickness is resident if one continues to be sick. Further how many unsaved people might we find who are the picture of health without making any confession of or having a curse broken from off their lives. Is there a double standard here for believers?
Finally the contradiction resident here is found especially in Word of Faith guru Marilyn Hickey’s comments about the improvements in Nehemiah’s circumstances after he confessed the iniquity of his forefathers. Here are her comments at length below.
“Nehemiah confessed the sins of his fathers. He recognized the mystery of iniquity at work in his bloodline and realized he had the same bend his fathers and the nation of Israel were of. After Nehemiah’s prayer, the King of Persia let him go back to rebuild the walls and gates and made provision for building supplies. They finished building in 52 days and the most prosperous time that Israel had was the next 400 years.”
The mistakes here are so numerous that one must ask how anyone can claim with a straight face to be speaking revelation from an infallible God. Let me summarize below.
- The mystery of iniquity she refers to has nothing to generational curses it is a New Testament reference to the antichrist. (2 Thessalonians 2)
- Over four months passed between Nehemiah’s prayer and his request of the King to go to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:2, 2:1)
Chapter six verse fifteen is in the month Elul which is another four months later, or six months from the time Nehemiah received his commission. Further it was only the wall that was rebuilt in 52 days not the city itself. Nehemiah 7:4 says, “Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.” This tells us that in spite of claims from Mrs. Hickey the people in Jerusalem were still in peril.
- The claim that the most prosperous time in Israel’s history was the next four hundred years is just plain wrong. There is wide agreement that the book of Malachi was written a decade or so after Nehemiah’s record. This is followed by 400 years of silence on God’s part, until the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus.
The implication that breaking a curse will fix every problem in life is simply wrong. Jesus’ own words were that we would have tribulation in the world (John 16:33) and He did not add unless you break the curses.
Generational Curses
The Fallacy of Generational Curses (Pastor's Article of 12/18/2009)
Generational Curses and the Grapes of Wrath
Confessing Generational Curses and Iniquities
