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CURSED OR BLESSED

A STUDY IN BLESSINGS AND CURSES FROM THE BIBLE

PREPARED

BY

JOE

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SECTION 1 - BLESSINGS AND CURSES

Release from The Curse Study

Introduction

The theme is “Release from the Curse.” And this contains truths which God has been teaching me

largely, I would say, in the last five years. Truths which have revolutionized my own life and the

lives of countless other people to whom I’ve been privileged to minister this truth. In some areas

where I’ve ministered, when I have asked people at the end of the message if they want to avail

themselves of what God offers through this truth, I would say ninety-five percent of the people

have responded. And we have seen the most dramatic changes in people.

I remember speaking in Zambia in central Africa several years ago now. I taught this theme and at

the end a man came up to me, and Africans are basically not wealthy, but he was a well dressed,

educated man. He threw himself on the ground at my feet and would have kissed my feet if I would

have allowed him to. Then he stood up—and he was probably about forty years of age—and he

said, “All my life I’ve been in pain and I’ve been miserable. I haven’t known one happy day.” But

he said, “Since I prayed that prayer with you, everything has changed in me. I’m totally free from

pain, I’m a different person.”

So, this is a message that has power. It’s appropriate to turn to Galatians 3:13–14 as a basis for this

message. Galatians 3:13–14:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is written,

Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the

Gentiles in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Those verses reveal an exchange that took place when Jesus hung on the cross. It states in the Old

Testament in the book of Leviticus that anyone who dies by hanging on a tree is a curse. And so

when Jesus hung on the tree that was the cross He became a curse. What took place was a divinely

ordained exchange which is clearly stated in these verses. Jesus took upon Himself the curse, every

curse, due to us that we might be redeemed from the curse and enter into the blessing which God

has prepared for His people. So there is a very simple practical exchange. Jesus became a curse

that we might receive the blessing.

In order to make this real to you I invite you to join with me in saying that. And I’d like you to use

your hands; your left hand for the bad thing, your right hand for the good thing. Watch me once

and then we’ll do it together. “Jesus became a curse that we might receive the blessing.” Okay?

Now remember, your left hand is opposite my right so don’t get confused by me. And don’t hit

your neighbor on the nose but just do it tactfully! Are you ready? “Jesus became a curse that we

might receive the blessing.”

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What I’m going to do now is explain to you the nature of curses and blessings. These are two major

themes of Scripture. I think the word bless in various forms occurs about 600 times in the Bible.

And the word curse probably nearly half that number of times. But I have learned by experience

that most of God’s people are not really familiar with the nature of curses and blessings. I believe

it’s the purpose of God that through the redemption in Christ we should be released from curses

and enjoy the blessings. But wherever I travel I find many of God’s people who are enduring curses

when they should be enjoying blessings. One main reason is they don’t know how to recognize

what’s a curse and what’s a blessing.

The second reason is that even if they recognize it they may not know how to be released from the

curse and entered into the blessing. So let me begin by offering you a simple definition of blessings

and curses. Both of them are vehicles of supernatural power. It’s very important to understand

we’re not dealing with something that’s purely natural. It goes beyond the natural. They are

vehicles of supernatural power for good if they’re blessings, for evil if they’re curses. And one

characteristic feature of them is that very frequently they’ll continue on from generation to

generation. Often until somebody knows how to cut them off if they’re curses. The result of that

is that many people—and some of you are here tonight—are enduring in your life consequences

of things that may have taken place many generations ago. And you have to trace your problem to

its source and take the appropriate action in order to be released.

Biblical Examples of Blessings and Curses

Now, the vehicles of blessings and curses are usually words. They may be words that are spoken,

words that are written or simply words that are pronounced inwardly. However, both curses and

blessings can be transferred or transmitted by objects, by physical objects. So it is not always just

a question of words. To take a very simple example: In the communion that we celebrate as

Christians, Paul says the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the body of

Christ? So, through that cup, which is a physical object with the wine in it, God transmits to us a

blessing.

In the Old Testament there were various examples of curses transmitted by objects. But particularly

under the Law of Moses, if a woman was accused of being unfaithful to her husband there was a

specific test. The priest would take her to the tabernacle, write out a curse and then wash off the

words of the curse, the ink, into a cup of water. And the woman would be compelled to drink the

water and pronounce the curse upon herself. If she was innocent nothing would happen to her. Her

husband would never be free to accuse her again. But if she was guilty there would be disastrous

physical consequences in her body. I merely give that as an example of a curse transmitted by

something that is physical. In that case, a cup of water.

Derek's Personal Example

Now, I have come into this truth by personal experience. I hardly ever preach on anything that is

mere abstract theory. Nearly everything that I’ve ever taught has been related in some way to

things that have happened in my life. This is particularly true of this message. I want to give you

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three personal incidents that gradually alerted me. I didn’t come into this just in one moment; it

was a gradual process of unfolding truth. And I think God supervised my education by permitting

me to have certain experiences and deal with certain cases that opened my eyes to these things.

Going back to the end of the l960s when I was living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with my first

wife Lydia, I had inherited from my maternal grandfather various Chinese pieces of art and culture.

The way that came about, just as a matter of history, is that my grandfather who was an officer in

the British Army was the officer commanding an expeditionary force that the British government

sent to China in l904 to suppress what was known as the Boxer Rising or the Boxer Rebellion.

And he returned with various items that he’d acquired in China. In due course, through my mother,

some of these passed by inheritance to me.

Among them were four gorgeous embroidered dragons, each one on a separate piece of material.

I mean, the colors were gorgeous. I learned from somebody who knew a little bit about Chinese

culture they were Imperial Dragons because they had five claws. Ordinary dragons just have four

claws but Imperial Dragons have five claws. And I really was very close to my grandfather so

these meant a lot to me. When we set up house in Fort Lauderdale I had these four dragons framed

on our living room wall. But after a while the Holy Spirit began to trouble me. Have you ever been

troubled by the Holy Spirit? Do you know what we do first? We shrug it off and we say that’s

nonsense, He wouldn’t do that. Anyhow, the Holy Spirit would say to me, “Now, in the Bible what

does the dragon represent?” Well, I knew the Bible well enough to be able to know the answer to

that. The dragon represents the devil very clearly in Revelation 12:9 and so on. Well, then He

would say to me, “Is it appropriate for you as a servant of Christ to have on the wall of your living

room something that advertises the devil?” Well, you know, I struggled with this for a little while

and I said, “All right, God, you win. I’ll get rid of the dragons.” And I did.

Now, I didn’t do that with any motive except obedience to God. But the results were quite

remarkable. Up to that time I had been just getting by financially. I traveled and preached and

received honorariums. And they covered our needs but we had no real surplus. Also, there were

certain strange things happening even in my family. I was finding it difficult to communicate with

my wife. Then I was entitled to an inheritance from my parents, a very substantial sum of money,

and because of various irresponsible acts by other people the inheritance was interminably held

up. Now, I just got rid of the dragons but I began to realize that my whole level of prosperity had

changed. I didn’t do anything different but the next year my income doubled without my making

any changes.

Then I received the inheritance, it was released. And my first wife and I were able to purchase a

house which was a rather big step of faith for us but we felt very clearly directed by God to

purchase that house.

Now I’m not just preaching prosperity because, I mean, I think that has to be very carefully

qualified. But prosperity with a purpose. We moved into that house, we lived in it for nine years

and we sold it for more than three times what we paid for it. With the money that we obtained my

second wife Ruth and I were able to build a home in Jerusalem—which is very expensive. God

provided the finance through the sale of that house. That was not something we had planned. I

didn’t have any conscious intention, but I realized that a dark evil force had invaded my home

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through those dragons. And until that force was expelled and dealt with I could not go on in the

fullness of God’s plan for my life and ministry.

One interesting thing was I didn’t even know what God had for me that I was being kept from, you

see? I’ve seen this is true in many peoples’ lives. When people are dealing with a curse they don’t

know what they would be like to be freed from the curse. They can’t picture it.

Other Examples of People Released From Curses

A Cursed Family

Well then a little later I was ministering in a church, a Presbyterian Church somewhere in what

they call the Midwest of the United States. I had finished my message and I was standing behind

the pulpit. I didn’t quite know what I was going to do next and I saw a family on the front seat on

my left: father, mother and teenage daughter. And as I looked at them I felt the Holy Spirit said

there is a curse over that family. I hadn’t preached on that, I wasn’t thinking about that and I didn’t

quite know what to do about it. So I just waited and it came very clearly again “there is a curse

over that family.” So I stepped up to the father and I said, “Sir, I believe God has shown me there’s

a curse over your family. Would you like me to release you from it in the name of Jesus?” I really

had no experience, I was just moving out in faith. He immediately said, “Yes.” I learned later from

him that there had been so many disastrous things happening in his life and in the life of his family

that he accepted the fact there was a curse. Then I prayed a short simple prayer out loud releasing

the family from the curse. When I said “In the name of Jesus”, there was a visible, physical reaction

in each member of the family, although I was not touching any of them. So I stepped back and

then I noticed that the teenage daughter had one leg in a cast from the top of her thigh to the bottom

of her foot. So I went back and said, “Would you like me to pray for the healing of your daughter’s

leg?” He immediately said yes but he said, “You ought to know she’s broken the same leg three

times in eighteen months and the doctor said it will not heal.” Well, if I heard that today that

somebody had broken the same leg three times in eighteen months I wouldn’t really doubt that

there was a curse in operation, but it was new to me. I said, “All I can do is just pick the leg up in

my hands and say a simple prayer”, which is what I did.

A few weeks later I got a letter from the man thanking me and saying specifically that when they

went back with the daughter to the clinic to have the leg x-rayed, the x-ray showed that it was

healed. And very shortly afterwards the cast was taken off.

But as I meditated on that I realized this: That the curse which God had showed me over the family

was a barrier to the healing of the daughter’s leg. Until the barrier was removed, prayer for the

healing of her leg would not be effective. And this is a principle that I’ve seen now hundreds of

times that a curse over a family or over an individual can be an invisible barrier that keeps away

the blessing that God intends those people to have. In my case through the dragons it was the

blessing of financial prosperity and release to God’s will. In the case of this girl the blessing was

the healing of her broken leg but the curse was the barrier.

Miriam's Story

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After that I began to teach on this and I made some tapes, including a series of three messages

called “Curses: Cause and Cure.” And these began to circulate and I began to get remarkable

testimonies of what was happening not just to individuals but to whole congregations. One of the

sets of three tapes found its way to South Africa. And a little later Ruth and I were there ministering

in South Africa, we were in Capetown, and we encountered a Jewish lady who had met the Lord

Jesus and acknowledged Him as her Messiah and her Savior. She told us firsthand this story, we

got it straight from her. She was what they call an executive secretary, very highly qualified. She

had a very well paid job with a man who was the president of his own firm. After a little while she

discovered that the president and all the executives in the firm were in a strange cult under a lady

guru. Then the president asked her if she would type out some blessings that this guru lady had

pronounced on the executives. When this lady began to type them she realized that they were

anything but blessings as far as Christians were concerned, so she went to her boss and said, “I’m

sorry but I don’t feel free to type these blessings.” The boss was gracious, he said, “I’m sorry. If I

had known it was against your conscience I wouldn’t have asked you to do it.”

That was the end of that.

Now we have to supply something by inference. But I am sure that the lady guru heard about this

secretary that wouldn’t type her blessings. And who knows what she did? She may have prayed or

she may have pronounced a curse. But from that source it really wouldn’t make much difference

which it was. Within a few weeks this lady secretary, I’ll call her Miriam—it wasn’t her name.

Miriam’s fingers began to go stiff and curl up and set and in a short while they were extremely

painful and she couldn’t bend them. She said you wouldn’t believe the pain. She had to sleep in a

separate bed from her husband because any time her husband turned over and the bed shook the

pain was unendurable in her fingers. She went to a specialist who X-rayed them and said it was

rheumatoid arthritis. She was, in a sense, a crippled person.

Another lady, a Charismatic lady, had received these three cassettes of mine and felt that this lady

Miriam ought to hear them. I don’t think Miriam was really very excited about them, she was a

rather sophisticated lady and I think the thought of curses was something remote and medieval in

her eyes. Anyhow, this other lady prevailed so they sat and listened to the three cassettes. And at

the end of the third cassette I lead people in a prayer by which they release themselves from any

curse over their lives. At the point where the prayer began, the cassette jammed. It wouldn’t go

forward, it wouldn’t go back and it wouldn’t eject. That is not purely natural. So Miriam said,

“Well, then I can’t say the prayer.” This indefatigable lady said, “Oh no, I have the prayer typed

out! I’ll bring that.” So she persuaded Miriam, I think rather against her own judgment, to read

this prayer. Now, you could read the prayer within three minutes, it wouldn’t take as much as that.

So Miriam just dutifully read the prayer and in between the time she began reading the prayer and

the time she finished, her fingers and her hands were totally released. There was no trace of

arthritis. She went back to the doctor, he confirmed medically the healing. What I want to

emphasize is this. She was not praying for healing. It wasn’t in her mind. She was simply releasing

herself from a curse. But when the curse was broken there was no more reason for sickness, you

see? Another example of the invisible barrier.

Forms of Blessings

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Now I want to deal out of scripture with the forms that blessings and curses take. There is one

particular chapter in the Old Testament which deals exclusively with blessings and curses. How

many of you know which it is? Deuteronomy 28. All right. It’s got fourteen verses of blessings

and fifty-four verses of curses. Now, we can’t go into that because of time but I suggest if you’re

concerned, that at your own convenience you study that chapter carefully. I’ve studied it many

times and I’m going to offer you my summation. But please exercise your own judgment as to

whether you think this is accurate or not.

Here is my summation of the main blessings and the main curses. As a matter of fact, really, they’re

exactly opposite to one another.

Here are seven blessing:

Number one, exaltation means being lifted up. You’re no longer living under things.

Number two, a word I had to coin, reproductiveness. I couldn’t find one normal English

word. But a person who is in the blessing of God is fruitful in every area of his or her life.

Number three, health.

Number four, prosperity or success.

Number five, victory.

Number six, Moses said you’ll be the head and not the tail.

And number seven, you’ll be above and not beneath.

When I was studying that some years ago I asked the Lord what’s the difference between

the head and the tail. I feel He gave me a simple answer. The head makes the decisions,

the tail just gets dragged around. So which way are you living? Are you making the

decisions? Are you in charge of the situation? Or, are you simply being dragged around

like a tail by circumstances and forces that you don’t understand and you can’t control? If

you’re a tail it’s very possible you’re under a curse.

I’m not saying every one of those blessings is due to this cause but that’s for you to

discern. There’s only one expert in this field and his name is not Derek Prince. It’s the

Holy Spirit. He’s the one who has to show you personally. I can preach the general truth

but you have to get the specific application from the Holy Spirit.

Forms Of Curses

Then let’s look at the curses, and they’re just exactly the opposite.

Humiliation

Failure to reproduce or barrenness. I would say basically barrenness is nearly always in

some way associated with a curse.

Number three, sickness of every kind. And if you read Deuteronomy 28, I mean, there is

no sickness that is left out by the time you’ve come to that list.

Number four, poverty or failure.

Number five, defeat.

Number six, you’re the tail and not the head.

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And number seven, you’re beneath, not above.

You’ve probably heard about the two Christians who met. One of them said, “Well, how are you

doing, Brother?” And he replied, “Well, under the circumstances I’m not doing badly.” And the

first Christian said, “Well, what are you doing under the circumstances?” You should be above

and not beneath.

Over the years, independently of this list, I made a little list of indications that to me alerted me

that I was probably dealing with a curse. I only say probably. And I made this independently of

Deuteronomy 28 but it’s amazing really how close it is. I happen to have a list of seven. I want to

be very clear I’m not saying if you have one of these it’s absolutely sure you’re under a curse. You

need to examine the possibility and seek God. But if you have several of them, the more you have

the greater the possibility that you’re under a curse.

Here’s my little list:

Number one, mental and/or emotional breakdown. Where people fall apart, that’s a

phrase that’s used today. They say he or she just fell apart. That’s what I’m talking about,

emotionally, mentally or both.

Number two, repeated or chronic sicknesses. Especially if they’re hereditary because,

you see, curses pass from generation to generation. Also, in situations where doctors cannot

find any normal cause.

Number three, what are called female problems. Barrenness, a tendency to miscarry, and

problems with menstruation. Ruth and I have dealt with so many cases like this that

wherever a person comes for prayer in that category, we just simply act on the basis that

it’s a curse. In fact, we have come to the place where we really feel often we’re wasting

our time to minister to the sick without first teaching them how to be delivered from the

curse. We once called for a line-up of people with female problems and in the middle of

the line was a man! So when he came up I said, “What’s your problem? How can you have

a female problem?” He said, “My problem is depression, and that’s female!” However, I

didn’t accept his statement.

The next one, a breakdown of marriage and family alienation, where families fall apart,

where marriages break up, where children are alienated from their parents, brothers from

sisters. Very, very probably a curse at work.

The next one, financial insufficiency. I want to be careful how I say this. I don’t think that

poverty for a short period—it may be a test that God is putting us through. But if you’re

always short, if you never have enough, if you’re always scraping, I think you very

probably are under a curse.

Then the next one is what they call accident prone. In other words, you’re one of the

people that always has an accident, you know? This is kind of objective because insurance

companies will check on you and they’ll give you a higher premium if they classify you as

accident prone. I mean, that’s not natural to be the person who always breaks your ankle

when you step off the curb or your wife always slams the car door on your finger or

whatever it may be. Or, it’s always your eye that a little bug flies into. I mean, it’s not

natural if it’s always going on.

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And then finally, in a family a history of suicides or unnatural deaths. If there’s a

frequency of those things in a family.

Let me just very quickly go through that again: Mental and/or emotional breakdown, repeated or

chronic sicknesses—especially when they’re hereditary, female problems, breakdown of

marriage/family alienation, financial insufficiency, accident prone and in a family, history of

suicides and unnatural deaths.

Now, that doesn’t cover everything. So I try to give also what I call a general picture because there

are lots of things that could be the result of a curse that are not in that list. And this is what I’ve

come up with as a result of dealing with many different people. You could say a curse is like a

long evil arm from the past. And you don’t know how far back. It’s stretched out and every time

you’re just about to succeed or get to where you want to be, this evil arm trips you up and you

have to get up and start again. You get so far and you’re tripped up again. And that really becomes

the story of your life.

You’d be surprised how many people have told me stories like that. And so many times they said,

“Well, the same thing happened to my father or my grandfather. In other words, it seems to run in

our family.” Or, another simple picture is a dark shadow from the past over your life, shutting out

the sunlight of God’s blessing. You can see other people walking in the sunlight and you know it’s

there and real, but somehow the sun very seldom seems to shine fully on you. So, if any of those

apply, you need to be seeking God as we continue with this message for the Holy Spirit to show

you what your particular need or situation or problem is.

No Curse without A Cause

In Proverbs 26:2 the writer of Proverbs makes a very important statement. He says:

“Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.”

In other words, if there’s a curse there’s always a cause. There’s something that caused it. My

experience is in helping people that very often it’s helpful and sometimes necessary to discover

the cause before you can deal with the curse. I’m going to take now some time to deal with Biblical

causes of curses.

Let’s go to Deuteronomy 28 for what I would call the primary causes both of blessings and curses.

And fortunately they’re very simple. The first two verses of Deuteronomy 28 says this:

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey 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

high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come upon you, and overtake you,

because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

That’s a translation which I think is followed by most modern translations, but the Old King James

used to say “if you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God.” And in Hebrew, that

phrase is formed by repeating the word listen. If you will listen listening—that’s emphatic—to the

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voice of the Lord your God, and do what He says. So very, very simply the primary cause of all

blessings is listening to God’s voice and doing what He says.

Now the primary cause of all curses is exactly the opposite. In verse 15 of the same chapter:

“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.”

So what’s the cause of curses? Not listening to God’s voice, not doing what He says. So there

basically you have the two root causes. The cause of blessing: listening to God’s voice, doing what

He says. The cause of curses: not listening to God’s voice, not doing what He says. I want to tell

you right now that if you are released from a curse, in order to remain in the blessing you will have

to fulfill this condition: you’ll have to listen to God’s voice and do what He says. If you go back

to not listening and not doing, you’re liable to come under a curse again.

Causes of Curses

Click on the Listen icon to hear Derek's teaching or click to on the Words to read.

God Himself

Disobedience

Treachery

Injustice to the Weak or Helpless

Illicit or Unnatural Sex

Anti-Semitism

Trust in Man

Perjury

Stinginess Toward God

Preaching False Gospel

God's "Mouthpieces"

Relational Authority

Self-imposed

Unscriptural Covenants

Servants of Satan

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Abominations in the Home

God Himself

There are also in the Bible a number of different sources and specific causes for curses. We’ve

dealt with the general one, now we’ll deal with some specifics. The first source of curses—and

this may surprise some of you—is God Himself. There are many curses in the Bible which God

Himself pronounces. Probably one of the most common forms of God’s judgment on disobedient

people or nations is to pronounce a curse on them. And then as the curse is worked out, that’s the

outworking of God’s judgment. Do you understand that? God both blesses and curses.

So we’re going to deal, first of all, now with curses that proceed from God Himself. And there is

one supreme cause which is stated in Exodus 20:3–5. This is the first part of the Ten

Commandments. Let me say before we read the greatest and most common cause of curses in

peoples’ lives is breaking the first two commandments. In fact, I’m inclined to believe you cannot

break those commandments without coming under a curse. Now let me read those words.

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

But the Hebrew means just as much beside me. It’s not a question of having the Lord as the main

god and other gods as well. He says, “I am the Lord and beside Me there is no other god.” So, you

must not acknowledge any other god except the true God.

And the second is what we would call idolatry.

“You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven

above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow

down to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of

the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”

Notice that’s the specific feature of a curse, it goes on for at least three and probably four

generations. Think of the billions of people on earth all of whose ancestors worshiped idols for

countless centuries. Think of the pile-up of curses that there is. Travel in Southeast Asia. In my

opinion it’s scarcely worth ministering in Southeast Asia if you can’t deal with the subject of the

curse because basically ninety-five percent of all the people there are under a curse. That’s not to

say that they’re bad people. I think they’re wonderful people. But there’s something from the past,

you see.

It’s very important to see that having another god besides the one true God includes every form of

occult practice. I cannot take time this evening to go into all the possible forms of the occult,

because they are almost countless. But whenever you go to a source other than the true God for

things which you are free only to seek from the true God, whatever source you go to you are

actually making your god. So, if you go to a fortune teller for information about the future which

God has said you shall not receive through that channel, through that fortune teller you’re making

the power behind that fortune teller your god. You play with a Ouija board. If you get involved in

all sorts of occult experiences or cults that deny the truth of the Bible. In all those things you are

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making a god who is not the true God. So, it’s very important to say this, the curses pronounced

for the breaking of the first two commandments cover every form of occult.

Now, the Lord says up to the fourth generation. If you do a little arithmetic, go back four

generations. Every one of us has thirty ancestors. How many of us can say for sure that none of

our thirty ancestors were ever involved in the occult? Maybe a few of us can, I don’t know. I

certainly couldn’t.

To give you a very simple example of this. A good many years ago I was in a typical home prayer

meeting which was the kind of thing that was going on in those days. I just found myself next to a

young man of about twenty or so. I said to him, I suppose the Holy Spirit prompted me, “Have

you received the Holy Spirit?” He said, “Yes, but . . .” And whenever a person answers that

question yes but, you know what the but is. “But I don’t speak in tongues.” And it seemed to me

he really wanted to speak in tongues. I wasn’t trying to force him. I didn’t argue with him but the

Lord prompted me, I said, “Did you ever go to a fortune teller?” He thought and he said, “Yes,

once when I was about fifteen. But I only did it for a joke, I didn’t mean anything by it.” I said,

“You did go.” He said yes. I said, “You know, God forbids that kind of thing.” He was a little

reluctant to acknowledge that but he did. I said, “May I lead you in a prayer in which you confess

that as a sin and release yourself from its consequences?” He said all right. I think he only said it

because he just wanted, you know, to get me off his back. So I led him in a very simple prayer,

“Lord, I confess as a sin that I went to that fortune teller, et cetera.” I didn’t say another word to

him, put my hand on his shoulder and prayed for him. He immediately began to speak fluently in

an unknown tongue. In a few moments he was just lost. You see, there was an invisible barrier that

kept him from the freedom of tongues. What was it? The occult. It’s just a simple example.

Disobedience

Now in Deuteronomy 27:15–26 we have twelve curses pronounced and when Israel went into the

Promised Land they had to pronounce all these curses upon themselves. If they disobeyed the Law

they automatically came under these curses. They couldn’t get into the Promised Land without. I

think it’s very much the same in a way when we come into a relationship with God, if we’re

obedient we come under the blessings but if we’re disobedient we’re in real danger of coming

under the curses.

I’ll just give you my little summation of the things on which the curses are pronounced in

Deuteronomy 27:15 and following. Number one, once again, idolatry, false gods. That’s always at

the top of the list. Number two, disrespect for parents. And this is repeated in the New Testament,

Ephesians 6:

“Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well

with you and you may live long on the earth.”

My personal conviction is any person who does not honor his parents never will have it well with

him, never. I can think of scores of examples of people. That doesn’t mean you can’t get saved,

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speak in tongues and go to heaven when you die. But there will be something missing in the quality

of your life until you adjust your relationship with your parents. That doesn’t mean you have to

agree with your parents or do everything that they say, but you have to respect them.

I think of another young man I dealt with. He had a very bad relationship with his father. His father

was dead, buried in a cemetery more than a thousand miles from where we were. When this truth

really penetrated he took a journey of a thousand miles to the cemetery where his father was buried,

went to the grave, knelt at it, confessed his wrong attitudes to his father, wept his heart out and got

up a different person. And from then the course of his life changed. I know that there are lots of

parents, especially today, you have a lot of reasons for having something against them. I understand

that. I say there are no delinquent children, there are only delinquent parents. Nevertheless, if you

want to have it well with you, you better do what God says. You can’t afford not to.

Treachery

Then the next, and we must go quickly, in this list is treachery against a neighbor. The book of

Proverbs says whoever rewards evil for good, evil will never depart from his house.

Injustice to the Weak or Helpless

And then injustice to the weak or helpless. Personally, I can’t think of anything more weak or

helpless than a baby in its mother’s womb. Personally, my conviction is anybody who deliberately

procures an abortion comes under a curse. I would never minister to such a person without dealing

with the curse. I want you to understand I’m not saying you’re cursed forever, please understand.

I’m telling you the problem because I’m going to show you the solution.

Illicit Sex

Then illicit or unnatural sex, especially incest. And again, I don’t know what the particular figures

are here, but in the United States it’s now estimated that one out of every four girls under ten has

been sexually molested and one out of every five boys under ten. I cannot think myself that it will

ever happen without a curse following it.

Anti-Semitism

We’re going on from this list, Genesis 12 we have God’s call to Abraham. We need to look at that

because it has something significant in it. God calls Abraham out, promises various things, and in

verse 3 this is the end of the call. He says to Abraham:

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“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.”

So there’s both a blessing and a curse. I believe that was necessary because whenever God singles

out a man to be blessed, that man becomes the object of all sorts of evil satanic forces. So God

incorporated a protection. He said to Abraham, “Anyone who curses you, I will curse.”

Now we won’t go on but in Genesis 27:29, that protection is extended by Isaac to Jacob in his

father’s blessing. “Cursed be everyone who curses you, Jacob.”

So you’ll see that line is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which became what nation? Israel, that’s right.

And what is the generic name for cursing or speaking against or abusing the Jewish people? Anti-

Semitism. In my personal opinion, Anti-Semitism almost invariably is followed by a curse for an

individual, for a nation. And if you look at the history of the last nineteen centuries, you see nation

after nation after nation that came under a curse because they cursed the Jewish people. Ruth and

I have a very good friend who is a Palestinian Arab born in Haifa, an American citizen who had a

dramatic encounter with Jesus some years ago. I led him into the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He

was a millionaire at the time.

After he was saved, listen to this, he became bankrupt. He had the sense to say, “God, what are

you telling me?” God said, “I’m dealing with your pride.” But God also showed him something,

that he and all his ancestors had regularly cursed the Jewish people. And believe me, I’ve lived

amongst the Arabs in Palestine. It’s normal, they all do it basically, with a few exceptions. God

showed him that if he would change that attitude he would restore his blessing. He repented and

asked God to give him love for the Jewish people. And he is a Palestinian Arab who is more pro

Israel than most Jews. And he’s now a multi-millionaire. See? How important it is to discover the

causes that are at work in your life.

Trust in Man

Then there’s another very important curse pronounced in the prophet Jeremiah which is just a few

short words, and I think often we pass them over without really appreciating their significance.

Jeremiah 17:5–6:

“Thus says the Lord; Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose

heart departs from the Lord. For he shall 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.”

Notice please that that’s a very good description of somebody under a curse. Blessings are all

around but he lives in a salt land. Rain falls everywhere else but it doesn’t fall on him. What’s the

cause of that curse? Trusting in man, making flesh your arm. But the scripture says whose heart

departs from the Lord. In other words, here is a man who’s known the supernatural grace and

blessing of God and then turns back to relying on his own efforts. Turned his back on God’s grace.

And that brings a curse.

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I ask you to exercise your own judgment. But I would say that’s the condition of the greater part

of the professing Christian church today. Almost all the major movements in the church that we

know of today, and I will not name any, began out of a sovereign supernatural visitation and work

of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise they’d have never made it in history. But most of them today, I would

say, have turned away from the supernatural grace and power of God and have started to rely on

their own efforts and what their own strength and ability can do. And on that count they are under

a curse. I think that’s one tremendous problem with the Christian church, that whereas we should

be in the blessing, because of disobeying Jeremiah 17:5, we’ve come under a curse.

Perjury

I’ll go quickly now, in Zechariah 5:1–4, Zechariah had a vision of a flying scroll and there was a

curse on each side of the scroll. One was a curse on anyone who steals and the other was on anyone

who commits perjury. And in the vision this scroll would go into a person’s house, take up lodging

there, and the whole house would disintegrate. See, that’s the nature of a curse. It doesn’t just

affect the particular area but it has a kind of corrosive effect all around it. So we need to consider

that. Next time when—I’m sure you do fill in an Income Tax Return—just bear in mind that if you

are dishonest you’re exposing yourself to a curse. Because I’m sure you have to say this is a true

return, et cetera, et cetera.

You know that at least in the United States nearly ten percent of the cost of retail goods is due to

insurance against theft. Just think of how different the situation would be if people didn’t steal.

Basically, that would be the answer to inflation. Can you see how real that curse is? That it affects

a whole nation.

Stinginess Toward God

And then in Malachi 3, I think we have to look at this. Malachi 3:8–10:

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, In what way have we robbed you? In

tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse; for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be fruit in my house, and prove me now in

this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour you out such

a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Now I’m not teaching all Christians ought to pay tithes. Because as I understand the New

Testament it’s not law, it’s grace. But I would suggest to you that grace should make us more

generous than law. We’re told we have a better covenant established on better promises. Do you

think on that basis we could offer less than the Israelites? But I’ll say this one thing. Stinginess

toward God brings a curse. It is very poor economy to be stingy with God. And I tell Christians

everywhere when the offering comes around, God does not need your tips. Really, if you stop and

think for a moment, just to tip God half a dollar or a dollar or fifty Pence or whatever it may be,

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don’t do it. You don’t have to give but you are giving to God. Actually, as I said, He does not need

your tips. There’s such irreverence in the church in this matter of giving. We should realize that

giving is part of worship and do it as worship. I’d have to say I’m British right to the core. About

my own nation Britain—I think Britain came under a curse because the British Christians basically

were stingy. Now, I thank God that’s changing. I think there’s a new day coming in Britain. I’ve

lived through that. I was a pastor for about nine years in England. The motto of the church board

in England is “You keep him humble, we’ll keep him poor.” And they certainly keep their side of

the bargain!

Preaching False Gospel

And then in Galatians 1, here is another tremendously significant statement that affects the church.

Paul is speaking about the gospel that was revealed to him supernaturally by Jesus. And he says in

Galatians 1:8–9:

“Even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached

to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any

other gospel to you than what you have received, let it be accursed.”

The Greek word there is anathema which has been taken over into the English language. The word

anathema means something so totally abhorrent to God that He will never have any dealings with

it. It’s totally shut off from Him. What is the cause of that curse? Preaching anything under the

name of the gospel which is not the truth of the gospel. When you put Jeremiah 17:5 and Galatians

1:8–9 together and apply them to the contemporary church, I think it’s marvelous there’s any

blessing left. And you add Malachi 3, cursed is the one who is stingy with God.

Brothers and sisters, do you know what we need to do? We need to repent. We need to change our

ways, we need to take God very seriously. There are a lot of different definitions of faith but I’ll

offer you just a very simple one. Faith is taking God seriously. Taking the Bible seriously.

I was five and a half years in the British Army during World War II. And I heard many, many

(quote) “chaplains” preach. I didn’t know the Lord and I didn’t know the gospel when I went into

the army. I met the Lord in the army. I cannot remember hearing one chaplain preach the gospel.

So this is a tremendous issue that confronts us.

Now, we have to close this session but we'll be continuing in the next one. I'll be carrying on

where I left off. I'll be dealing with other cause of curses. Then we'll come to the really important

part which is how to be released from the curse. So may I ask that you remain in a prayerful

attitude. That doesn't mean you have to not talk to your neighbour, but don't let the anointing

which is on you right now be dissipated because God has got a lot for you. He's got a lot for many

people here tonight. Don't cheat yourself out of it. Maintain an attitude that qualifies you to be

released from the curse and receive the blessing.

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God's "Mouthpieces"

Another specific source of curses is men who speak on behalf of God as God’s mouthpiece. There

are many examples of this in the Bible. We’ll only look at just a few. The first is found in Joshua

6:26 after Israel had captured and destroyed Jericho. Joshua, the leader of God’s people, and God’s

mouthpiece, pronounced a curse on anybody who would subsequently rebuild a city on that site.

In 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."

That’s a very specific curse, not a general curse. But the form that the curse would take would be

that the person who rebuilt Jericho, it would cost him the lives of two of his sons. I’m sure most

of the Israelites forgot that curse, it just receded into history. But about five hundred years later in

the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, a man did just that thing on which Joshua had pronounced a

curse. And this is recorded in 1 Kings 16 in the reign of Ahab. 1 Kings 16, the last verse of the

chapter, verse 34:

“In his days [that’s the days of Ahab] Hiel of Bethel built Jericho: he laid its foundation with

Abiram his firstborn, and with 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.”

The marginal translation says “at the cost of the life of his son.” Most modern translations follow

that.

So, the man who went against the curse pronounced by Joshua five hundred years earlier, it cost

him the lives of two of his sons.

I often think to myself what did the doctors of that day say when they were asked to give the cause

of death of these two young men? Would they have understood that it was caused by words

pronounced by a servant of God five hundred years earlier? One of the things this brings out is that

curses basically continue until something is done to cut them off. They’re self-perpetuating.

And then another remarkable example is found in 2 Samuel 1, a lament that David pronounced

after King Saul and his son Jonathan had been killed by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. In 2

Samuel 1:21 — now you need to understand the cause of David’s intense grief. It was not merely

that Jonathan was his dear friend or even that Saul had been killed. But it was the triumph of idol

worshippers over the people of the true God. Because the Philistines were idol worshippers and

when they found the bodies of Saul and Jonathan they mutilated them, cut off their heads, placed

them on the wall of the city called Bethshan and proclaimed it in all their idol temples. You have

to understand in those days when two nations fought, generally speaking, it wasn’t merely the

nations that were fighting but their gods were fighting one another. And when one nation was

victorious, it was a victory for the gods of that nation. And so what grieved David so much as the

servant of the Lord was that, in a sense, the idol gods had triumphed over the true God. And so he

pronounced this lament. And I’m sure he didn’t stop to think what he was going to say but it’s a

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remarkable lament about the mountains of Gilboa, because it was on Mount Gilboa that Saul and

Jonathan were killed.

“Oh mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, nor let there be rain upon you, nor fields of

offerings: for the shield of the mighty is cast away there, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.”

So David said let there be no dew, no rain, no fields of offerings. Those words were pronounced

about three thousand years ago. And in this century, after the Jews returned to their land, they

began to plant trees and recultivate every area. And they’ve been amazingly successful in growing

trees on their mountains. But when they came to Mount Gilboa they had totally unexpected

problems in making trees grow there. So the words of David pronounced three thousand years

earlier still affected the situation on Mount Gilboa at that time.

And then there’s another example in 2 Kings 5, we don’t need to turn there. But the prophet Elisha

had been used of God to bring healing to Naaman the Assyrian. He refused to accept any gift from

Naaman because he didn’t want Naaman to think he could pay for his healing. But Naaman’s

servant Gehazi thought that was a shame to turn down this offer, so he ran after Naaman without

Elisha knowing it and asked for money and clothing. Came back and hid it away, came and stood

in the presence of Elisha thinking that Elisha didn’t know, and Elisha said, “Did not my spirit go

with you when you ran after that man?” And then he pronounced this curse upon him. He said,

“The leprosy of Naaman [who had been healed] cleave to you and your descendants forever.” And

it says Gehazi went out from his presence a leper as white as snow, an advanced stage of leprosy.

And notice the curse was on his descendants forever.

See, what comes out of all these examples is the perpetuation of a curse until somebody knows

what to do to revoke it. You say can God’s servants curse in that way today? Well, Jesus cursed a

fig tree, you remember, in the New Testament. And the next day it had withered from the roots,

just one period of twenty-four hours. And when the disciples were astonished he said to them,

“You will be able to do what I did to this fig tree, and more.” He said, “You will remove

mountains.” Let’s leave out removing mountains for the moment. He said, “You can do what I did

to the fig tree.”

Now I relate this with some trepidation, but this is a personal experience. In about l965 I was part

of a ministry team in a church in the inner city in Chicago. Right flush with the church, wall to

wall on the corner was what the Americans call a saloon. I think the English call it a pub. But it

was a very wicked place. It not merely sold alcohol, it peddled drugs and it was a center for

prostitution. It was a very wicked place and it was right wall to wall with the church. Well,

sometime about October we had a prayer meeting in the church and I was on the platform as one

of the leadership team. And at a certain point without any premeditation I thought about this pub

and I thought it really is an affront to God that it should be right there just where the people come

into the church. So I stood up and I said, “I pronounce the curse of God upon that pub.” I didn’t

think anymore about. About two months later about 4:00 o’clock in the morning there was a phone

call, “Brother Prince, the church is on fire, do you want to come and see?” Well, it was the middle

of winter in Chicago, I mean it was about 20 degrees below. I didn’t want to go and see but I

thought, you know, if I hang around and just let the church burn without showing any interest it

will look bad! My first wife and I, we got in the car and we went there. Sure enough, not two

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blocks away you could see the flames and smoke. When we got there, however, we discovered it

wasn’t the church that was on fire, it was the pub. But, you know, Chicago is situated on Lake

Michigan. The wind was blowing off the lake and blowing the flames right onto the church. And

as we stood there and watched helplessly, the wind changed 180 degrees and blew the flames away

from the church. The next morning the pub was destroyed and the church had suffered nothing but

smoke damage which was covered by the insurance. And as I stood there and watched that I

thought, “God, am I responsible?” I mean, I wasn’t jesting. And I thought that is the outcome of

the words that I pronounced in that church about two months previous. You know my reaction was

I realized I had tremendous power committed to me. Not because I’m different, because every

Christian has that power. And my prayer was and is, “God, help me never to misuse that power.”

But I give that as an illustration just to prove that the things we’re talking about are not out of date,

they’re all relevant, they apply today.

Relational Authority

Now I want to go on to other sources of curses. The next one is very important and very little

understood by contemporary Christians. I call it persons with relational authority. That is, persons

who have authority because of a relationship. Now, authority is a very unpopular concept in many

places and parts of the world today but the fact remains it’s still real. Authority is not created by

man, it precedes from God. And there are many different relationships in which a person has

authority. You may or may not like it but a husband has authority over his wife in certain contexts.

Parents have authority over their children. Teachers have authority over their pupils. Pastors have

authority over their congregations, just to take a few examples.

Now, because of the authority relationship, words spoken by those persons to those under their

authority have special supernatural power. Whether they’re blessings or whether they’re curses.

And if you look at the Bible you’ll find that second to the blessing of God, the most important

blessing that any person could ever have in his life is the blessing of his or her father. That’s still

true today. I say to any of you whose fathers are alive, do everything in your power, everything

you can to obtain the blessing of your father. And your mother, but primarily your father. It makes

a lot of difference.

When I was saved I’m afraid I had a bad attitude towards my parents. I thought, “They’re not

saved, I’m saved; they don’t understand, I do understand.” I praise God He rebuked me for it and

He showed me that I could not expect His blessing if I didn’t honor my parents. And before they

died I had shown them the honor that was appropriate. I don’t believe otherwise I could have ever

enjoyed the blessing of God in my life and ministry.

HUSBANDS AND WIFES

I want to take an example of a husband who cursed his wife without knowing it and the results.

The story is found in Genesis 31. You’ll remember, some of you, that Jacob had been with his

Uncle Laban serving him. He’d married two of Laban’s daughters, he had become father to a pretty

substantial family and then the Lord directed him to leave Laban in Mesopotamia and go back to

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the land of Canaan. And he was afraid that if he told Laban he was going Laban would take his

daughters back. So he stole away secretly while Laban was busy somewhere else. But Laban and

his relative pursued after Jacob and caught up with him on Mount Gilead. And then there was a

confrontation. Laban said, “Why did you steal away and not let me say good-bye to my daughters?”

Jacob said, “I was afraid you’d take them from me.” “All right,” Laban said, “I can accept that.

But why did you steal my household gods?” The Hebrew word is terraphim, they were little idol

images that people kept in their homes to protect them against evil—which is a very common

practice to this day.

Now, Jacob didn’t know anything about the terraphim but his favorite wife, Rachel, had stolen her

father’s images. Now, that was a very bad thing to do because she shouldn’t have stolen from her

father. Second, she involved herself in the occult and that is always dangerous. This is what

happened. Verse 30 of Genesis 31:

“Laban says to Jacob, Now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house.

But why did you steal my gods? [terraphim] Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I

was afraid [that’s why I went]. For I said perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.

[And then he says] With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live.”

The King James says “let him not live.” What’s that? It’s a curse. Let him not live. Now, Jacob

didn’t know that he was talking about Rachel who was his favorite wife. Rachel succeeded in

keeping the gods concealed, Laban never discovered them. That ended that situation. But, within

a few years the next time Rachel gave birth she died in childbirth. Why? Because of the curse

pronounced by her husband. See? This is very real. You may not like it, I may not like it but that’s

the way it is. God has built certain principles into human life and relationships.

OTHER EXAMPLES

Now let’s consider a few other possible examples. And most of these are constructed out of

situations that I have actually dealt with but I kind of changed a little so I don’t expose the identity

of people. Let’s consider another possible example of a husband. This man is a business executive,

he’s busy, he’s financially successful, he’s a man with drive, he’s pretty ruthless. He marries a

woman who doesn’t know how to cook. Like so many young ladies today, she’s never learned

from her mother. And for a long while he endures his wife’s cooking but then he just can’t take

any more. And he says, “I’m sick of your cooking. You’ll never learn to cook.” And he probably

says it many times. What is that? It’s a curse. All right. What he doesn’t realize is he’s pronounced

a curse on himself, too. “I’m sick of your cooking.” So what happens? He gets indigestion. Doctors

cannot find any cure for that indigestion, he suffers from it till he dies. The marriage breaks up,

they’re divorced. The wife is a talented woman, she can succeed in every area except one—the

kitchen, that’s right. When she goes into the kitchen her body starts to shake, she gets all nervous

and she never can get it together. Why? The husband’s curse. Both of them endure their curse until

they die. See?

All right. Let’s take a father. This is perhaps the commonest of all. A father has three sons. The

first is the firstborn. Of course, he’s always welcome. The third, the youngest, is brilliant. But the

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middle one is neither firstborn nor brilliant. He has a lot of the same characteristics that his father

has. Have you ever noticed when people are bad and they’re bad in the way that we’re bad, we

like to take it out on them rather than ourselves. Have you ever noticed that? Parents, if you pick

on one of your children it’s probably the one that’s most like you if you knew it. What’s you’re

objecting to is what’s in you that you don’t like.

Anyhow, so the father says to the second son, “You’ll never succeed. You’ll always be a failure.

You’ll never make it.” What’s that? It’s a curse. And I’ve dealt with many men in their 40s and

50s who were still struggling against words spoken by a father before they were teenagers.

Or, let’s say the father has a daughter, 15. Like some young ladies of fifteen she has acne. And

the father has to drive her to school every day and every day she’s up there in the bedroom putting

things on her pimples. And so she’s late. And so the father gets exasperated and one day he says,

“You’ll never get rid of those pimples, you’ll have pimples for the rest of your life.” Fifteen years

later she’s a married woman with children of her own and she is still struggling with her acne.

Why? Because of a curse.

Or let’s take a mother. And this is actually a real case that I’ve been dealing with that I will not

give the identity. Her daughter always pleased her, she always did what she wanted. She was one

of those manipulative, controlling mothers. But then the daughter fell in love and married a man

that the mother didn’t approve of. And the mother said, “You’ll never make good. You’ll always

be struggling. You’ll never have enough.” I know the man. He’s a gifted man and a capable man.

But for at least a dozen years that was true. It’s only changed when I confronted them with the

reality of the source of their problems: the mother’s curse. Now there’s a new life opening up

before them.

Let’s talk about teachers. The teacher has a pupil who can’t spell. Maybe he’s got what they call

dyslexia. You know, you put the letters the wrong way around. “You’re silly, you’re stupid. You

just don’t try hard. You’ll never succeed.” I know teachers shouldn’t talk like that but sometimes

they do. What’s the result? A child, a boy or a girl that never can make it in life.

Ruth and I have a friend, a teacher said to her when she was a teenager, “You’re shallow.” She’s

now I think in her 60s or at least in her late 50s. We discovered that all her life she’s been struggling

against that statement “You’re shallow.” And the strange thing about it is if anybody doesn’t

deserve that statement, it’s that lady. She is far from shallow. But you see, there’s authority behind

those statements and that makes them powerful.

Usually speaking, there’s a demonic element. I’ll just show you one thing in James 3 which is very

important. James 3:14–15:

“But if you have bitter envying and self seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the

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truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, soulish, demonic.”

In other words, if your attitudes are wrong and your reactions are wrong and you speak, what’s

going to come out will have a demonic element in it. I’ve used this little picture. How many of you

know what a whistling kettle is? I’m sure most of you do. All right. So you have this kettle on the

stove and the water is getting hotter and hotter. And the moment the steam comes out, what else

comes out? The whistle, that’s right. The whistle is like the curse, you see? When the steam comes

the whistle comes. There’s only one way to prevent the whistle, what’s that? Take the kettle off

before it boils. So when, let’s say, a parent or a teacher or a husband is getting more and more

angry and frustrated and impatient, if you don’t take that kettle off the steam is going to come out

and the whistle will come out with it. You’ll say something cruel, hard, unkind, unjustified and a

curse will be released with it. Does that happen in our contemporary culture?

Self-Imposed

Then we come to another tremendously important area. Perhaps the most common of all, what I

call self-imposed curses. People pronounce curses on themselves. In Genesis 27 we have the story

of how Isaac was going to bless Esau and the mother Rebekah who is the first Yiddish yamama, if

you know what Yiddish yamama is, switched them and she got Jacob acting like Esau and claiming

the blessing. Jacob wasn’t reluctant but he was afraid and he said this in verse 11:

“Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth

skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall

bring a curse on myself and not a blessing. But his mother said to him, Let your curse be on me,

my son.”

She took on herself the curse that would have been to Jacob. It was a self-imposed curse. If you

go to the end of the chapter, just the last verse, you’ll find Rebekah beginning to use very negative

language about herself. Rebekah said 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 those who are daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

“I’m tired of living. What’s the good of living?” That’s a typical statement by somebody who is

under a curse. See? Never permit yourself to say that. Don’t make negative statements about

yourself. Don’t say I’ll never be able to do this. I never succeed. I’m no use. I’m a failure. I just

can’t take it anymore. And then you go on and you say I wish I were dead. I’d be better off dead.

Do you know what you’re doing? You’re inviting the spirit of death. And he doesn’t take many

invitations.

Ruth and I have dealt with countless people who needed to be delivered from the spirit of death

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because they’d invited it, they imposed a curse upon themselves. And we’ve learned one beautiful

verse that has helped hundreds of people. I’ll share it with you, Psalm 118:17:

“I shall not die, but live, and declare [or proclaim] the works of the Lord.”

If you have made a negative remark about yourself, if you’ve imposed something negative on

yourself, you need to revoke it by the positive. You see, as a remarkable example you know that

Peter denied three times he knew the Lord. Later on after the resurrection beside the Sea of Galilee

Jesus had a personal talk with Peter. And three times he said, “Do you love me?” He made Peter

affirm three times that he loved him. Why did he do that? Because Peter had to revoke the negative

statements he’d made before the crucifixion. See? So if we’ve said something negative and brought

some dark shadow over us, we need to revoke the negative and replace it by the positive. And this

verse is a perfect one. “I shall not die . . .” It doesn’t mean you’ll never die but it means that Satan

is not going to kill you before your time.

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” I think it would be good for all of us

to say that. The first time you say it after me. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the

Lord.” Now let’s all say it together this time. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the

Lord.” Once more. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Now saying that

may change the destiny of your life.

All right. Let’s go on to another example, the great tragedy of the Jewish history. In Matthew 27

Jesus is before Pilate and Pilate is willing to release him. We read in Matthew 27:24–25:

“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather 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? A self-imposed curse. The great tragedy of Jewish history. And by those words a

strand of tragedy was woven into Jewish history which was run for nineteen centuries. What a

lesson not to say the wrong thing about ourselves.

I pointed out to you previously that God had protected Abraham against curses. He said, “Anyone

that curses you, I will curse.” There’s just one area that God could not protect the Jewish people

from, from themselves. And that’s true in our lives many times. God can protect us from everything

except what we say about ourselves.

Unscriptural Covenants

Then we’re going on in the next common cause of curses. It’s what I call unscriptural covenants.

Exodus 23:32, in relationship to the people whom Israel was to dispossess from the land of Canaan;

that is, all of them. Idol worshippers, people who lived in total rebellion against the living God.

Moses said, Exodus 23:32:

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“You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.”

You understand, if people have false gods and you make a covenant with those people, you are

also making a covenant with their gods. Now, I’m going to say something that I trust will not

offend anybody and I say it simply because my desire is to help people. One extremely common

example of that in our contemporary culture in the western world is freemasonry. Because, a

person who becomes a mason makes a covenant with those who are masons. Freemasons will tell

you that it’s secret, but it’s not. In the l950s a book was published in Britain by an Anglican

clergyman named Hannah called Darkness Visible which sets out all the main rites and ceremonies

of freemasonry, and no mason has ever challenged that book in more than thirty years. When you

become a mason you have to pronounce a curse on yourself if you disclose the secrets of the

masons. And it includes things like having your tongue cut out, your right arm cut off and thrown

over your left shoulder, and your body being exposed in a place where the tides rise and fall twice

in every twenty-four hours. Those are self-imposed curses. Freemasonry is an idol religion. It’s

clear in the 32nd degree, the royal arch degree, which acknowledged and offers worship to a person

called Jabulon. Which is a combination of Jehovah, Baal and Osiris. And so the true God of the

Bible is joined together with two idol deities whom God has totally condemned. When you make

a covenant with that, you’re making a covenant with those gods.

I’m saying this on the basis of much experience. I cannot take time to relate all the experience but

I’ll simply relate one. In Australia about three or four years ago Ruth and I were ministering in a

church on Sunday morning and we were praying for people. A young woman came forward about

eighteen years old with a tiny little baby in her arms, for prayer for the baby. And you would have

said the baby was six days old but actually she told us it was six weeks old. We said what is the

problem and she said she won’t take any nourishment. So, as we prayed the power of God came

on this young woman and she went down on the floor. Ruth caught the baby out of her arms and

held it. As she lay on the floor, God gave Ruth a word of knowledge to the people who were

ministering to her. She said her father is a Freemason. Deal with that force. And the moment they

came against it the woman began to writhe and scream under the power of a demon. And as they

ministered, she was released with a prolonged scream. But the remarkable thing was the little baby

in Ruth’s arms released a precisely similar scream at the same moment. So not merely was the

mother released but the baby was released.

They came back that evening about six hours later and we asked the mother how the baby was

doing. She said she’d taken three full bottles since the morning. But I want you to see the fact that

the father’s participation in freemasonry had brought the curse upon the daughter and the

granddaughter. I mean, I do not have time but I can give you half a dozen other specific examples.

It affects the family, it affects the descendants, it affects the spouse, it affects the relatives. There

are other ways that this kind of curse can come in. Tribal societies, very commonly a baby or a

young person is initiated into the tribe by certain rites. Very often there are cuts made on the skin

or powder inserted under the skin. And that exposes that person to the curse that’s on the idolatry

that’s the focus of that tribe. Again, I could but I don’t have time to give examples.

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Servants of Satan

And then there are curses pronounced by servants of Satan. And there are various different words

for such servants in different languages. In English I think we call them witch doctors. In America

they call them medicine men. In Swahili it’s called umchawa. In the language of the Luo people

it’s called juowki. If I’m not mistaken, amongst the Mauris it’s called tomanga. It’s the same thing

in many different labels and guises. I want to tell you very frankly such men have real supernatural

power, don’t underestimate it. Don’t go, if you’re going to be a missionary, to some tribal people

and say Satan isn’t real, demons aren’t real, because they know much better than you that they are.

Your message is Satan is real but Jesus has more power. That they’ll listen to, especially if you

can demonstrate it.

I think I must give one example. Again, it’s from Zambia. This is given us in writing by the man

who was the witness of it. In an African Christian church two elders fell out with one another. And

this may seem strange to you but it’s quite common in Africa. The one elder went to the witch

doctor to get him to put a curse on the other elder. Okay? And when he did that the witch doctor

was very happy to oblige because it was a Christian. And this is what he did. He went out

somewhere into the bush, got some soil of a certain kind, brought it back, smeared it over a hand

mirror and then he said to the elder, “Now wipe the soil away and tell me what you see?” And he

looked in the mirror and saw the face of the man of whom he wanted to curse in the mirror. Now

the witch doctor said, “Take a knife and cut it through the mirror.” He did and when he did that,

blood appeared on the mirror. And when the elder returned he discovered the other elder was dead.

What would you call that? You couldn’t call it murder. Can you understand why the Bible prohibits

witchcraft? This story is given in perfect detail by a man who’s a missionary, he’s about seventy

years old and been a missionary ever since his boyhood. What I’m saying is don’t underestimate.

That doesn’t mean you have to be afraid. Jesus said, “Behold, I give to you authority over all the

power of the enemy.” He didn’t say the enemy doesn’t have power. He says, “I’ll give you

authority over that power.” That’s the realistic approach.

Let’s look at one example in the Bible, Numbers 22:4–6. This is the story of Balaam. The king of

Moab sent for Balaam who was a witch doctor. And a very powerful one and a very famous one.

And Moab said to Balaam in verse 5:

“A people has come from Egypt [that’s Israel]: see, they cover the face of the earth and are settling

next to me: therefore please come at once, curse this people for me; for they are too mighty for

me: perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom

you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

Now that was, in a sense, the regular practice in warfare—and still is among tribal societies today.

Not only is your tribe fighting another tribe, but your tribe’s gods are fighting their gods. And if

you can get the victory in advance, you win the battle. There’s a document somewhere in the

Middle East in which it records seventy-seven nations on whom the kings of Egypt have

pronounced curses. Because, if you can get your enemy cursed, then you can defeat him. That is

the principle. Just one interesting example because this is something that’s unfamiliar to many

westerners. In the conflict between David and Goliath, when David went out with his sling and no

armor, Goliath was angry and insulted and this is what happened. 1 Samuel 17:43:

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“So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine

cursed David by his gods.”

Do you understand? Before they joined in battle he invoked his idol gods and David replied, “I’m

not coming to you in my own name but in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.” See,

it was a fight between gods. And you know who was victorious. But I just want to point out to you

that Satan’s servants have power to curse. Again, I could illustrate it from examples of people that

we personally have helped.

Abominations in the Home

One final way in which a curse can come is stated in Deuteronomy 7:26. The previous verse says

about the inhabitants of Canaan:

“You shall burn their camp, the carved images of their gods. You shall not covet the silver or gold

that is on it. [And then it says in verse 26:] Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house,

lest you be doomed to destruction like it: but you shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it

is an accursed thing.”

So when you bring anything that’s associated with idolatry or the occult into your house, you’re

opening the way for a curse to come into your home. Again, this is something we deal with

frequently. I tell people after such a service as this if you believe you’ve needed deliverance from

a curse, you better go home and check what you’ve got in your house. Check if there’s anything

there that advertises any other god but the Lord Jesus Christ. My personal principle is I don’t want

anything in my home that dishonors Jesus Christ.

Let me give one quick example. We often have cases where parents tell us that the children don’t

sleep well at night, they’re restless, they cry, they’re frightened. One common reason for that is

that somewhere in that house is something which gives Satan right of access. You need to go

through your house from top to bottom, clean out anything that’s associated with the occult. Any

kind of superstitious thing. If you have horseshoes to ward off ill luck, that’s superstition. It doesn’t

ward off ill luck, it opens the door for Satan.

Click here to see a listing of common Occults etc. extracted from Derek Prince's book, Blessing

or Curse: You Can Choose!

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Occult Listing

This extract is taken from chapter 6 of the book Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose! entitled

"False Gods"

The following are some specific forms of the occult prevalent in our contemporary culture:

1. The power branch of the occult

Acupressure, acupuncture, astral projection, hypnosis, levitation, martial arts (those that

invoke supernatural spiritual power), mind control, mind dynamics, parakinesis, table-

tipping, telekinesis, “touch” healing, witchcraft.

2. The knowledge branch of the occult

Astrology, automatic writing, “channeling,” clairaudience (hearing “voices”),

clairvoyance, crystal balls, diagnosing by color therapy or a pendulum, divining, ESP,

handwriting analysis, horoscopes, iridology, kabbala, mediums, mind reading,

numerology, omens, palm reading, phrenology, séances, tarot cards, tea-leaf reading,

telepathy, “witching.” Also, all books that teach occult practices.

Also included under this heading are all false religions or cults that claim supernatural

revelation but contradict the Bible. Distinguishing between true and false in this realm is

like distinguishing between straight and crooked in the natural realm. Once we have

established a standard of what is straight, we know that anything departing from that

standard is crooked. It makes no difference whether it varies by one degree or by ninety

degrees. It is crooked. In the spiritual realm, the Bible is the standard of that which is

straight—that is, true. Anything that departs from the Bible is false. Whether it departs by

little or much is relatively unimportant. Some of the subtlest deceptions are those that

appear to differ only a little from the Bible.

Particularly dangerous are religions that misrepresent the Person, the nature or the

redemptive work of Jesus Christ. The New Testament, for example, presents Jesus as “God

manifest in the flesh,” but Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that He was a created being. Again,

Islam rejects the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God, and denies that He ever actually died

on the cross. Yet the atoning death of Jesus is the only basis on which man can claim

forgiveness of sins.

The following are some of the many false religions or cults that are active today:

Anthroposophy, Black Mass, Children of God, Christadelphians, Christian Science,

Freemasonry, Inner Peace Movement, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Dawn Bible Students),

Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), New Age Movement, Religious

Science, Rosicrucianism, Scientology, Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, Spiritualism,

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Theosophy, Unification Church (Moonies, One World Crusade), Unitarian Church.

Also, Eastern religions or cults, such as Baha’i, Buddhism, Confucianism, Divine Light

Mission, gurus, Hare Krishna, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism, Transcendental Meditation,

yoga.

3. The branch of the occult operating through physical objects, etc.

4. Amulets, ankhs (an ankh is a cross with a ring at the top), birthstones, charms (e.g., for

wart removal), crystals used for healing, hallucinogenic drugs, “heavy metal” rock records

or cassettes, hex signs, “lucky” symbols (e.g., inverted horseshoes), Ouija boards, pagan

fetishes or religious artifacts, planchettes, talismans, zodiac charms.

God’s estimate of those who are involved in the kinds of practices listed above is stated plainly in

Deuteronomy 18:10–13:

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices

divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium

or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and

because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.

You must be blameless before the LORD your God. NIV

Notice that those who engage in these occult practices are classed in the same category with those

who sacrifice their children in the fire to pagan gods. Under the Law of Moses, the mandatory

penalty for all such practices was death. It is important to recognize that books can be channels of

occult power. When the professing Christians in Ephesus were confronted through the ministry of

Paul with the reality of Satan’s power, their reaction was dramatic:

Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had

practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated

the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. Acts 19:18–19, NIV

The only appropriate way to deal with such occult material is to destroy it completely—by fire or

by whatever means may be most suitable—even though the value of the material destroyed may

be very great.

It has already been pointed out that the occult, like the "immoral woman," is constantly changing

its ways. Therefore, no final or exhaustive list of occult practices can ever be offered.

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The Cure

Now we come to the really important climax which is how to be released from a curse. I want to

give you some simple instructions. There’s a basic pattern which I teach people that consists of

four words, each of which begins with RE. Recognize, repent, renounce, resist. Recognize.

Recognize what your problem is. See why I’ve spent this time dealing with these things, to help

you to recognize your problem. All right. Number two, repent. Repent of anything that you’ve

done that exposed you to the curse. Number three, renounce. Declare that you are no longer going

to be subject to this thing. God told Israel don’t bow down before their gods. Don’t submit to them.

And we have a right as Christians to make the same, “I’m not submitting to anything that’s from

the other source. I refuse it. I renounce it. From now on it’s got no place in me.” And finally, resist.

And that’s something continuous. Keep on resisting. Keep on refusing to let that thing again have

any control over you. Let me say those words again. Recognize, repent, renounce, resist.

James 4:7 says: “Therefore, submit to God, [not to the enemy, not to demons but to God. And then

it says] resist the devil [and what will happen?] he will flee from you.”

What will he do? I didn’t hear you. [He'll flee!] That’s right. When you’ve met the conditions. All

right? But resisting is sometimes an ongoing process. It’s like if there’s a strong wind blowing you

have to keep the door shut. If you open the door the wind will come in. Then I say establish a clear

scriptural basis for your release. The best one is Galatians 3:13–14:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse, having become a curse for us, that we might receive the

blessing of Abraham.”

I’ll give you a few other scriptures. Ephesians 1:7:

“In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood.”

Colossians 1:12–14:

“The Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: He has

delivered us from the domain of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the son of His love:

in whom we have redemption through His blood.”

So through the work of Jesus on the cross we can be delivered from the domain of darkness—

that’s Satan’s domain—and translated, carried over into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It’s like there

are two territories and there’s a chasm between them. This territory is the territory of Satan, this

territory is the kingdom of God. But there’s only one bridge across that chasm and that’s the cross

of Jesus. If you take that bridge you can get out of this kingdom and into that kingdom—which is

where God wants you.

Then 1 John 3:8, the second part:

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“. . . for this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

To do what? Destroy the works of the devil. That’s why He came.

And then Luke 10:19, which I quoted earlier. Jesus said:

“Behold, I give to you authority over all the power of the enemy.”

So those are very clear scriptural bases. Then when you’ve established that basis, confess your

faith in Christ because Jesus is the high priest of our confession. It’s on the basis of your

confession, what you say about Him, that He acts as your High Priest.

Thirdly, commit yourself to obedience. You remember, how do we qualify for the blessings? What

do we have to do? Hear God’s voice, do what He says. So, when you’ve received your release,

make up your mind, commit yourself from now on I’m going to listen to what God says and do it.

The next step is confess any known sins. Either by yourself or your ancestors because the sins of

your ancestors can in some ways affect you. But there’s a difference. You are not guilty for your

ancestors’ sins but you’re affected by them. Do you understand? You are responsible for your own

sins. But in order to be fully clear, if you know that your ancestors were idol worshippers or

Christian Scientists or Mormons or let’s not go too long into the list, but something that’s totally

unscriptural; be released from it.

Then you need to forgive all other persons. Jesus said when you stand praying, if you have anything

against anyone, what did He say to do? Forgive, that’s right. Anything against anyone. That leaves

out nothing and no one. Unforgiveness in your heart is a barrier to the answer to your prayers.

Now, forgiving is not an emotion, it’s a decision. I tell people it’s tearing up the IOU. I don’t know

whether I’ve got time to tell this but I think of a woman. I was preaching on this, explaining how

many wives who’ve been mistreated by their husbands still suffer because they’ve never forgiven.

And I said it’s like this. You have in your hand a sheaf of IOUs from your husband. I owe you

love, support, honor, care, et cetera.

Those are perfectly valid, they’re legal. But God has in His hand up in heaven a sheaf of much

larger IOUs from you to Him. Now, God says we’ll make a deal. You tear up your IOUs and I’ll

tear up mine. But if you hold onto yours, I’ll hold onto mine. So, if you want to be forgiven you

have to forgive. You don’t have any options. Well, at the end of one message I hadn’t done

anything, just finished preaching. A young woman of about thirty, really sophisticated, smart

looking woman, marched right up the aisle to the pulpit. I wondered what she was going to do,

was she going to assault me or what. She looked me right in the face and said, “Mr. Prince, I just

want to tell you that while you were preaching I got rid of about $30,000 worth of IOUs.” Turned

around and walked out. I mean, I didn’t have to say a thing to her, she had got the message. I wish

everybody would get it that quickly! So you have to forgive other persons.

Then you must renounce all contact with the occult. Okay? By yourself or by your ancestors.

Again, you’re not responsible, you’re not guilty for what your ancestors did but it affects you.

Then you must get rid of all “contact objects,” the things I’ve been speaking about. If you bring

them into your house you bring a curse with them.

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Then when you’ve met those conditions you can release yourself in the name of Jesus. Jesus said

whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you release on earth will be

released in heaven. We’re going to do that in a moment but I want to show you where to go from

there when you’ve been released.

Then you have to confess and expect the blessing of Abraham because we’re released from the

curse that we may receive the blessing of Abraham. And so Ruth and I are going to make one of

our commonest confessions as a pattern to you.

“Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we have passed out from under the curse and entered

into the blessing of Abraham whom God blessed in all things.”

How many things? All. Do you want that blessing? God has provided it for you. Remember that

it’s the blessing of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it’s the Holy Spirit who administers the blessing.

That’s important. You’ve got to be friends with the Holy Spirit. See, if you grieve the Holy Spirit,

if you don’t honor the Holy Spirit, He withholds the blessing. He’s got the key to God’s storehouse.

If you want the treasures, make friends with the keeper of the storehouse.

And then, as I’ve said already, bear in mind that it’s in all things. You won’t get it all in one night

but you’ve qualified for it in one night, do you understand? If I can put it like this, some of you

are going the wrong direction. Tonight you can make a U-turn, start going the right direction. But

that doesn’t mean you’ve arrived. You’re on the way. You have to keep that direction, you have

to keep hearing and doing what God says if you want to continue in the blessing of Abraham. And

you have to keep making the right confession.

Conclusion

If you feel that in some way there’s the shadow of a curse over your life and you want to be

released, I want to lead you in a prayer of release. You remember the story I told you of Miriam

who read the prayer and was completely healed? I’m not promising you healing, that’s in God’s

hands. But if your sickness is directly due to a curse, if you’re released from the curse you qualify

for healing from your sickness. So, those of you that would like me to lead you, we just have a few

moments left. I’d like you to stand to your feet and then I’m going to lead you in a prayer. If you

feel there’s some shadow of a curse over your life, your family, your home. Let me say you really

can’t lose by saying this. I mean, you don’t have that much anyhow so is that right? Maybe. All

right.

Let me just very, very rapidly give you the steps I’m going to take you through. First of all,

we’ve established a clear scriptural base. I gave you the scriptures. Now, you need to confess

your faith in Christ, commit yourself to obedience, confess any known sins of yourself or your

ancestors. When we do that I’ll give you a few moments to confess them silently. Then forgive all

other persons, and I’ll give you a few moments to do a little forgiving. And then renounce all

contact with the occult by yourself or your ancestors. Commit yourself to get rid of all “contact

objects” and then release yourself in the name of Jesus. All right?

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Now, I’m just going to give you the words, you’re not praying to me, you’re praying to the Lord

Jesus Christ. And he’s the one that answers, not I. I don’t have the power, He does. All right. Say

these words after me.

“Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you are the Son of God and the only way to God, that you died

on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. That on the cross you were made a curse

with every curse that is due to me, that I might be redeemed from the curse and enter into the

blessing. Lord, I confess any sins committed by me or by my ancestors. I ask your forgiveness. I

also forgive every other person whoever harmed me or wronged me. I forgive them as I would

have God forgive me. I also forgive myself. I renounce all contact with the occult in any form and

I commit myself to get rid of any ‘contact objects.’ And now Lord, having received by faith your

forgiveness, with the authority I have as a child of God, I now release myself and those under my

authority from any curse over our lives. Right now, in the name of Jesus, I declare release. I claim

it and I receive it by faith. In the name of Jesus.”

Now begin to thank Him, that’s the surest expression of faith. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord,

thank you Lord Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now let’s make our good confession. Now I believe you’re fully entitled to say this. You know

what we’re going to say? Are you ready?

“Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we have passed out from under the curse and entered

into the blessing of Abraham whom God blessed in all things.”

Now just take a little while to thank the Lord, that’s the simplest expression of faith. Thank you

Lord Jesus. Thank you Lord. Remember, you’ve made the U-turn, now continue right in the new

direction.

God bless you. Amen.