Plague Transfer

This is one of the topics under a series I am starting today- “understanding the New Birth”. This series seeks to bring every believer to the perfect understanding of the higher life that has been provided for them in Christ Jesus. They are truths that are not in agreement with the physical mind because they are not physical realities but spiritual realities.

What Jesus came to show mankind was the physical presence of a spiritual reality in order to call men into a higher level where without seeing a thing they can believe it because He has said it; It is a state of living supernaturally by God’s word.

This is a series for those who have experienced the new birth (saved), if you are yet to join this family of victorious ones, you can do so now by asking Jesus into your heart, believe that He died for your sins and gave you His righteousness.

So, I crave for your humble recipient of God’s word as I begin to share; that you make the scripture alone and not the experiences you see around or yours as a benchmark to understanding these issues.

The first topic under the series is if a curse can be transferred from parents to a man who is now in Christ.

I have been in prayer meetings and church events where the prayers are directed towards recovery of glory and it becomes more complicated when the prayers are raised in this manner: “God! Cancel every curse transferred from my father or mother’s house that is disturbing my life”. Obviously, the belief is that the supposed congregation is going through one problem or the other as a result of a curse or a plague in the family blood line that runs through the family and by implication also, to the person. Sometimes it is prayed in order to forestall such occurrence from taking effect in the nearest future.

I was recently in such a meeting and the preacher gave varieties of examples of how this works through his personal experience and also from the scriptures. Interestingly, sighting of examples validates a narrative in the minds of the listeners. It doesn’t end at that most of the time; those who advocate for this existence of “plague transfer” go further to buttress this point with a scripture to validate it.

“Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities” Lamentations 5:7

The scripture above has always been the anchor scripture to validate that belief everywhere I have heard people being taught on the subject. Let us take the journey from the familiar to the unfamiliar having seen where the thought takes root from.

The book of Lamentations is a funeral song, written for the fallen city of Jerusalem. The book portrays the truth that God had promised judgment upon sin and Judah had been foolish enough to put God to the test. God opened them up to wrath and it became as though hell was let lose upon them; so they cried that the sins of their fathers was charged on them without them giving cognizance to their own inadequacies. It was a line of lamentation.

This was the belief of those who experienced this wrath of God as at that time; a payment for their father’s sins. It became a general phenomenon to see the wrath of God on their disobedience as a punishment from their father’s undoing. This belief killed their sense of responsibility to go before God in reverence for what they have done that their prayers turned to asking God to help them shift their gaze to Him, when they could easily turn to Him (Lam 5:21). It went on until it got to the time God had to speak by the prophets on how this statement never emanated from Him.  It was a statement that came out of human reasoning and conclusion which God had to deal with anyway.

“What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, say: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel” Ezekiel 18:2-3 

Obviously, the above scripture makes it clear on God’s stance on the issue. Let’s just assume it was true there was a visiting of the father’s sin on the children, the God of heaven clearly canceled it. Now, there is an earlier statement made by men and there is a countering statement made by God, why then should reference be made to words of men to keep you in a fix? Why is this part of the scripture not shared with you to hold onto in prayers?

Apparently, this was a time sin was still the nature of man, a time there was no mutual relationship between man and God; a time God visited the people through intermediaries; a time there was no Jesus, but, God says the word that a curse runs from a father to the child shall no longer be used. So, this means even in the old covenant this was no much of an issue. Note that Israel represented those who are seen as God’s very own, so how did this word resurface now in our time?

That was just to open your eyes to the scripture always used to have the minds of those who ingest this belief troubled. It’s easy when we learn to see from the bible before we believe some words and invest in prayers. The danger of wrong believing is grave, for as a man thinks in his heart so is he.

Having established that, I will be going much deeper into this in the new birth, its implication and how it applies to you in this new covenant.

“But, there are physical proofs I know and even seen some trait of this in my life” I hear you ask silently? Let us look into all of these as we continue next week, however, not all that is visible is living.

Enjoy your week ruminating on this, inside of God’s word.

Be Innovated

Olufemi Ibitoye