Epeshians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,but against the rulers,against the authorities,against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”

 

PRESENT DAY EXAMPLES OF GENERATIONAL CURSES IN ACTION

 The Kennedy Curse.  We first became aware of this with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but it came into the news again with the tragic death of his son, John Jr.  The media calls it a family curse and even if they don’t understand it, they are absolutely right.  Actually prior to President Kennedy, there were others who died before their time; and there have been other deaths in his family between his death and his son’s.  They may not know exactly what it is, but it seems obvious that there is a force in their lives that is bringing destruction and is being passed from one generation to the next.  Without someone in their family standing up and breaking that curse in the name of Jesus and through the blood Jesus shed on the cross, it will continue.  These tragedies didn’t happen because the Kennedys are bad people, but because of something that landed on them.  The iniquity or curse was transferred from generation to generation.

A horrible incident happened with a man who kidnapped and murdered three young women in Yosemite Park.  It was later revealed that years before his younger brother had been kidnapped and held captive for seven years by a child molester.  The young man finally broke free and was returned to his family, but he brought those spirits of perversion and violence with him, and they were transferred to his older brother.

Why is there a growing need for prisons nationwide?  Because an inmate may get out, but he doesn’t change.  The majority of them will go back to prison.  Not only will they return, but the same iniquity that brings them there will also cause their children and grandchildren to end up in prison.  This is why the need for prisons keeps growing in the United States.  Not only are the inmates not changing, but the iniquity in the inmates passes to their children and their grandchildren.  Like father, like son.

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF GENERATIONAL CURSES IN ACTION

As a Canaanite, Rahab was under the curse of the Canaanites that began generations earlier when Noah got drunk and his son Ham “saw the nakedness of his father” (Genesis 9:22)  Whatever perverse act occurred while Noah was drunk, in the end Noah declared that Canaan, Ham’s son, was cursed (See Genesis 9:18-25)  Rahab broke the curse that was on her family through their ancestor Canaan by sparing the lies of the men of God.  The cord of scarlet Rahab put in her window when Israel attacked was a symbol of the delivering power of the blood of Jesus.  (See Joshua 2:14-21)

2 Samuel 12:9-13, “… now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house”

 David repented for committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband, but because of David’s sin, a curse landed on his family.

The “sword” referred to a curse of destruction, desolation and death on David’s family.  One son, Ammon, raped his own sister.  Another son, Absalom, rose up in rebellion against his own father (See 2 Samuel 13:14; 15:4-12).  God forgave David’s sins when he repented, but the curse of his iniquity was passed on to his family.  The wives and the children did nothing to deserve the curse, but they suffered from the curse that was passed on to them as a result of David’s iniquity.

The reality of spiritual transfer or of iniquity passing from generation to generation is not only found in the Bible, it’s found all through life itself.

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When you look at your family history is there a pattern?  Is there a common thread of sickness or circumstances that goes from generation to generation?  In this study we will look at how the iniquities of one generation are passed on to future generations.

THE NEED FOR DELIVERANCE

In today’s society, many Christians don’t believe they need deliverance.  They think that deliverance means people screaming and demons manifesting all over the place.  They believe that being born again is all that they need.  But you still see that man or woman of God fall into sin.  When you see a priest molest a young boy … when you see a preacher addicted to drugs …. When you see a man of God dead from a drug overdose … when you see Christians getting divorced and remarrying like the rest of the world … when you see Christians suffering from addictions to pornography and other sins of the flesh, you know there is a strong need for deliverance among the body of Christ.

Salvation addresses the need for the spirit to be reborn and to conform to the image of Christ.  However, many of us still need to be delivered from the issues in the soulish realm.  Jesus said in John 10:10  that he came to give us abundant life.  It is almost impossible to live life to the fullest and enjoy the type of freedom that we should be enjoying if we are in bondage.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Hosea 4:6 

God says “My people”. He didn’t say the unsaved, the bad guys or those of false religion, but God’s people.  They’re the ones being destroyed for one reason:  Lack of knowledge.

Our spirits may be born again, but many of us still suffer because our souls have not been refreshed.  We are born again Christians, but some of us are still in bondage.  We are in bondage to depression, anger, insecurity, drugs, alcohol, food and a host of other things.  The reason so many Christians fall into sin is because they need deliverance of the soul.  That doesn’t mean we will never, ever sin or be sinless.  It just means that we will  SIN LESS.

When Christians say “We don’t need deliverance, because we are Christians and we are supposed to be free”, it’s because they have very little knowledge of spiritual things.

Remember when Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave?  He was alive but still bound in the grave clothes.  Jesus commanded the bindings to be loosed so that Lazarus could be free to walk.  Lazarus would be symbolic to a Christian needing deliverance.  They are alive in Christ but still bound by issues in the soulish realm.  Jesus wants that same kind of freedom for you.  It’s one thing to be raised from the dead, but we have to be delivered from those things that keep us bound.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Hosea 4:6

CURSES ARE REAL

Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.  John 8:32

It’s not the truth that sets us free but the truth we know or the truth we understand and act on that sets us free.  The first thing we need to understand is that curses are real. If you talk about curses in Africa or the Navajo reservation, in Fiji, or South America or the Caribbean, most people will understand what you are talking about.  Stories have been told for centuries about witch doctors, black and white magic, voodoo and the bizarre supernatural happenings that take place in certain parts of the world.  However, in Europe and North America, people are predominantly logical, western-thinking people.  They don’t understand spiritual cause and effect, and they prefer to use scientific, practical ideas to explain everything.

How does the devil get a door into our lives to begin a family or generational curse?  There has to be a gateway through which a curse enters.

Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.  Proverbs 26:2

If we don’t understand how we got into these situations, then we won’t know how to get out of them.  Events in life are not just accidents or random unfortunate happenstance.  There is an unseen spiritual side to everything that happens in the visible physical world.  We may not see gravity, but we see its effects, we may not recognize curses, but we experience the consequences of them.

When you go to the doctor, before you are seen, you have to fill out a form.  It asks questions like, “is there any history of cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, drug addiction, mental illness, etc. in your family?”  It asks for your family’s entire medical history.  Doctors need to know this so they can quickly get to the root of your present physical problem and help you avoid health problems in the future.  They ask so you can get healed and stay healthy, not to scare you or condemn you.

Likewise the Great Physician, Jesus, wants us healed and healthy.  So he asks “Is there any history in your family of anger, divorce, suicide, poverty or some other problem you seem plagued with but can’t get rid of?”  Jesus teaches us in his Word that certain problems in our lives may be caused by iniquity in our family’s past.  He came to make us every bit whole.

I am not saying that EVERY problem is as a result of a generational curse or any other curse.  Some problems are caused by our own poor life choices.  However,  ??

You see God’s people being destroyed in all areas of their lies – in their families, their finances, their will power, their health and in their relationships with other people – because they do not recognize curses.  There are all kinds of things the devil tries to bring upon God’s people through curses.  The curse may not be drugs or alcohol.  The curse may be a disease.  Why is it that individuals with a family history of cancer, heart problems and mental illnesses tend to suffer from the same exact problems?

The curse can be poverty.  There are people who give offerings and who also tithe, but every time they start to get ahead, the devil steals whatever God was bringing into their lives.  The curse can be divorce.  Some people are divorced four, five or six times.  Then their children get divorced and the cycle of broken marriages and broken families is repeated.  It is not because they are bad people, but because this iniquity is passed down from generation to generation.

We must recognize the source of evil as well as the provision God made to break the power of the enemy.

The thief does not come except to steal, kill and destroy.  John 10:10

The purpose of the enemy is clear, but we need to know what God has for us.  What does God want to give us?

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.  3 John 1:2 

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.  John 10:10

We do not need to be afraid of curses, but we need to be able to recognize them and learn how to destroy these works of the devil in our lives.  Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to empower us to do the same.

THE SUPERNATURAL DIMENSION

There is a dimension beyond the natural.  There is a dimension that brings water out of a rock.  There is a dimension that puts gold coins in fish’s mouths.  There is a dimension that causes blind eyes to see.  There is a dimension that causes the dead to rise.  There is a dimension that turns ex-drug addicts and dope dealers into preachers and men and women of God.  There is a spiritual dimension beyond the natural that can override the natural.  There is a spiritual dimension that cannot be explained away through science or “logical” reasoning.

In our western mind-set, we can accept the fact that someone is paying a price because of something THEY did.  We understand that a man reaps what he sows.  What we’re not taught is that we may also reap something sown by our family many generations ago.  The unrepentant sins of our forefathers are called “iniquities” and are still in circulation concerning us.

NO CURSE WITHOUT A CAUSE – A SPIRITUAL FORCE AT WORK

Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight.  Proverbs 26:2

Why does this person go through so many divorces?  Why is this person always angry? Why are they always so depressed?  Why do they have an eating disorder? Why are they suicidal? Why are they always poor? Why is this child always out of control? Why is this curse on this person’s life?  Where did that come from?

A curse doesn’t just float around in the atmosphere and then for no apparent reason, land somewhere.  There is something that directs a curse to a person, city, church, or nation.  That curse is guided by a spiritual force.

There is a reason why a child grows up to become an alcoholic.  There is a reason why an abused child becomes an abusive parent.  There is a reason why a young man ends up in prison.  There is a reason why a person goes through divorce after divorce.

David repented for committing adultery with Bathsheba and then murdering her husband, but because of David’s sin, a curse landed on his family.

SOULS IN NEED OF REPAIR

Most of us think that when we receive Jesus as our Savior, we are automatically going to live perfect, trouble free lives.  Unfortunately, that’s not true.  I have heard it explained like this:  “The church is like a body and fender shop – various wrecks in various stages of repair.”  We come in with all kinds of problems that have to be sorted out.  We need to know how to deal with certain strongholds that surround us.  We need deliverance.  We need breakthroughs.

Why do I need deliverance if I am saved?  Because you are still living in the flesh.  Deliverance deals with your flesh. It is the way out of your fleshly lifestyle.  Once the power of God has delivered you from that flesh, you are totally free to worship and enjoy the blessings of God.

Miracles deal with the soul, the spirit and the flesh.  When one has a miracle, everything is completed.  Jesus always says the same word to them “go and sin no more” after every miracle he did.  Why?  Because when you sin, your flesh is yielded to demonic powers and then the curses come upon the flesh.

Events and circumstances of your past that are holding you in bondage cannot be changed, but your future can be changed.  You can be changed from the inside out!  God wants only good things for you, but  most of all, He wants to set you free.  Then you’ll be able to receive and experience His richest blessings and be a blessing to others.  You can’t change your past, but you can change your future.

God wants to give you …

Beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  Isaiah 61:3

He will turn what once looked like a burned-out forest into a snow capped mountain!  God will give you freedom where there was bondage.  He will give you blessing where there was a curse.  And through you, a blessing can pass on to your entire family for generations to come.  Today, all curses in your life can be broken forever.

IDENTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING GENERATIONAL CURSES

Let me briefly explain what a family or generational curse is.  The first time the word iniquity is used in conjunction with generational curses is in Exodus 20:5.

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 upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.  Exodus 20:5 

The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.  Jeremiah 31:29 

‘The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.  Numbers 14:18

“Like father, like son” The reason we don’t question remarks like these is because iniquity has been passed from generation to generation since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.  Romans 5:12

When Adam sinned, his iniquity was passed on to all mankind.  This would be considered the original generational curse.  This spirit of iniquity becomes a force on the inside that causes us, and generations after us, to bow or bend to its destructive nature.  A spirit of iniquity could be in your life because of something you did, or it could also be something that has landed on you because of something a member of your family did years before you were born and this transgression (sin) was not confessed and forgiven.

Some examples of this would be, if there is an unnatural anger in the family, Dad or Mom may have had it, now their children have it.  If Dad or Mom or even the grandparents had a history of divorce, their children may be facing a divorce.  This spirit of iniquity, in this case, divorce, passes on from one generation to the other.

Iniquity can come in many forms:  drug abuse, poverty, eating disorders, repeated abortions, spouse abuse, child abuse, divorce, suicide, children being born out of wedlock, etc.  There is no limit. But I assure you that Jesus always comes and sets free those who are bound.

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:36

Destructive personality traits and behavior patterns, addictions, suicidal tendencies, divorce, sickness, depression, anger and dysfunction can usually be traced back through a person’s family history.  Statistics have shown that a person who was physically or emotionally abused as a child has a strong probability of becoming an abuser as an adult.  Children of alcoholics who hated their parents’ behavior often become alcoholics themselves, and the list of examples goes on.

There are men and women with great ambitions, talents and promise for success who just can’t seem to get ahead.  Their lives consist of repeated failures in business as a result of a spirit of poverty or failure.  Situations like these beg an explanation.  I believe there is a spiritual reason that’s the determining factor.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12

Anger, drugs, divorce – and the numerous battles we face in life are spiritual in nature.  These are spiritual strongholds that get into our lives and into our families.  Unless we know how to identify them and get rid of them, they will stay with us, grow and be passed to our children and our children’s children.

Do not be deceived.  God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  Galations 6:7

“Like father, like son, he’s just like his dad” or “she is just like her mom”.  That’s what the world says, but the Word of God says that the iniquities of the fathers (parents) are visited …

“Upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation” Exodus 34:7

Generational curses, curses that are handed down from family member to family member, generation after generation, have been around since Adam’s disobedience.  Who was the first sinner?  Adam.  Who was the first murderer in the Bible?  Adam’s son Cain.  Who was the second murderer  Cain’s decendant, Lamech.  Why?  Because of the iniquity that passed down through the generations of Adam’s offering. (See Genesis 4:8, 23).   The family tree has you, your father’s side and your mother’s side.  There is a 4 generation cycle of you, your  mother, your father, their mothers and fathers, and their mothers and fathers, or your grandparents.

This is not to place blame on the parents or grandparents either but to identify our true enemy.  Our battle is not against flesh and blood.  Our battle is against principalities, and powers, and rulers of darkness in high places.  (Ephesians 6:12)

DEFINING FAMILY, FAMILY TREES AND FAMILIAR SPIRITS

A family can be as small as a husband, wife and children or can be a church family.  A family can also be as large as your city or state, or even a nation, including the president and government officials.

Certain families have certain characteristics, certain cities have certain characteristics and certain states, nations and nationalities have certain characteristics.

Family:  “Familiar” spirits.  These are spirits that know you.  They’re part of the family, from your past, from your father’s house.  You did not fall from the skies.  You have a family tree.  Everyone has a family tree.  You look like someone in your family in the past.  You behave like them. You talk like them.  Everything about you is a template of your family’s traits.  That’s why the Bible talks about “familiar spirits”, the word “familiar” means it comes from your family, it is something familiar about you, these spirits know you better than you know yourself, they know when you were born, they know how you grew up, they understand the things that make you who you are, familiar spirits is a part of the family.  Jesus says a man’s enemy is part of his own household.  That means the key that the enemy has against you is something from your past, from your father’s house.  So the enemy knows things about you that the enemy uses against you and until you know what those things are, how to identify them and how to renounce them and cast them out, you will continue to be bound by them.

Your family tree.  What you don’t know about your family tree is what the enemy will use as a stronghold.  This is where he hides and keeps all his ammunition waiting for you because he knows most people are not ready to stand against him and every iniquity of your forefathers is still in circulation concerning you.

During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.  2 Samuel 21:1 

The famine that came upon the land came because of something Saul had done.  Saul had been dead for years yet what he had put in motion in the realm of the spirit was still affecting his country.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Hosea 4:6

David was a man after God’s heart … yet when it comes to women, he would kill a man and take his wife.  You don’t know David’s history.  David’s family lineage, since King Solomon, had a lineage of womanizers and seducers.  Hence it is not surprising that David continued the iniquity of his forefathers that was passed down to him by committing adultery and murder.

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.  Exodus 20:5

A generation has a 60 year cycle.

On each side of the family tree, you have you, your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, etc.  So on each side, for example, you may have about 20 people, so that’s a total of 40 people on both sides.  Everything these people did since birth, every unforgiven sin and iniquity they carried out is still in circulation.  All these people are tied to the root of your family tree.  It doesn’t matter whether or not you knew them or met them.  All their iniquities are still in circulation and are being passed from one generation to the other.

If anyone of them had done anything against God, worshipped any idol, practiced any witchcraft, committed any evil act, anything done against the council of God, anywhere they did not honor God, what happened is that a seed of iniquity was sown and that seed of iniquity passes from generation to generation.

SINS, INIQUITIES, TRANSGRESSIONS

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me.  Exodus 20:5

The word iniquity appears in the Bible over 300 times.  I believe God wants us to know that apart from Jesus and the understanding that His blood has set us free, iniquities are passed down from the fathers and mothers to the children and to the children’s children.  The iniquity inherited by the children is passed down through a curse that is not the result of something the children did but the result of something that happened in their forefathers’ lives and then landed on them.  Could it be that something happened in our grandparents lives and because of that, a curse landed on us?  If so, we then inherited a family curse.

Our fathers sinned and are no more

[they died], but we bear their iniquities.  Lamentations 5:7 

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me.  Psalm 51:5

You and I inherited the iniquity of our forefathers.  Through conception, weaknesses were passed down to us.  We inherited the faults of our parents.

There are two kinds of seeds.  Seeds of transgression are sins you commit.  When you  disobey God’s word, you’ve transgressed against God.  You’re responsible.  You did it.  If you do not confess those sins and repent of them and seek forgiveness from the Lord, your  transgression now becomes your children’s iniquity.  If you sin against God and do  not repent of it, you may not immediately receive the punishment on earth, sometimes you may not receive earthly punishment at all in some instances, but you will be separted from God for eternity.  There are two sides of punishment.  There is one on the earth and there is one in the life after death.  If you die without repenting of your sins, your children not only inherit your earthly material possessions, they also inherit your unrepented iniquities. The Holy Spirit of God has enmity with sin, therefore, that seed of iniquity must be destroyed by the blood of Jesus through confession and repentance.  If your forefathers did not repent of their sins, they become iniquities and are passed down from one generation to the next until someone in the subsequent generations breaks that iniquity.

IT CAN BE ENDED – POWER TO BREAK THE CURSE

Family curses, generational curses, the iniquity of parents passed down to the third and fourth generation.  Sound depressing and hopeless?  It’s not.  Every time the devil brings a problem, Jesus has already brought an answer.

There are many who want help and deliverance but don’t know where to turn.  They have not heard that the blood of Jesus Christ can set them and their families free of generational curses.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  James 5:16

We are to confess our faults lying beneath the surface, confess the cracks we are covering with a certain type of personality, and confess the earthquake pressures that could bring destruction at any moment.  The concept of confession is very difficult for some Christians to grasp because we have the misconception that we’re supposed to be perfect from the moment we get saved.  It shouldn’t be hard to confess our faults to each other because all of us have things in our lies to which God is trying to bring deliverance and spiritual healing.  Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean that we are without fault.

When we look at the Old Testament meaning of iniquity in its context, we see that iniquity is a spiritual force that pressures us and drives us to bow or bend under its destructive nature.  From the New Testament, we see that to be delivered of iniquity, we must speak the truth, name the iniquity for what it is, confess the fault and declare that the blood of Jesus Christ has set us free.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free … if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:32, 36

With every sin committed, whether by themselves, by their great-great grand parents, by their city or by their nation, there is a spiritual curse yoked to that sin.  As Christians, we also need to do more than get born again and receive forgiveness, we need to receive deliverance and break those generational curses.  Unless your prior family members from generations ago were perfect, sin-less saints, you need deliverance.

The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross cleanses us from our sins.  He will not only forgive us of our sin, but He will break the iniquity that goes with that sin.  It’s important to understand that a Jewish person could always have their sins forgiven, but they could never have the curse of their sins broken.  Sacrificing animals cleanses them from sin, but only Jesus can cleanse sin and break iniquities.  King David and his family were a prime example.  David was forgiven, but the curse of hi sin was passed to his family.

The iniquities of our fathers must be dealt with through deliverance and breaking of generational curses over our lives and those of future generations.

Jesus shed his blood so that we could not only be forgiven of sin, but healed of inner iniquities, which are bruises and wounds of generational sin that drive us to perpetuate the sins of our ancestors.  Only the blood of Jesus provides forgiveness and a new way of living.  When we are born again, we receive forgiveness for our sins.  But then we need to plead the blood of Jesus over our lies to banish the iniquity too the wilderness and walk in freedom.

Sins and iniquities are two different things.  We must confess our sins and receive forgiveness first and then shut the back door to keep them from re-entering again.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.  Then he says, I will return to my house from where I came out and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept and garnished.  Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.  Matthew 12:43-45 

The moment we receive Jesus, every force of darkness that’s coming against our life flees.  It goes t7o that desert place looking for a place to rest.  Our sin is washed away and the cause of the spiritual curse flees to the desert place.  But it comes back later, looking for an open door.  Even though our lives have been swept and garnished, blood washed and cleansed, if it finds that we don’t understand spiritual curses and we’ve left a door open, it comes back in and is worse than it was before.

You see this happening in many Christian families.  A person comes out of a sinful lifestyle, they get saved, they go into the ministry or they get involved in their church, and they raise their kids in church.  Then when the kids hit the teenage years, hey go out and do the same things the parents used to do, only many times worse.  We stand in awe and ask “what happened?”  What went wrong  Our kids were raised in church, but they’re doing exactly what we were doing before we got saved.  That’s because we swept the house and we haven’t shut the door through the blood of Jesus and realized that we have to break that family curse.

The wages of sin is death.  Romans 6:23

Today you are the tabernacle of God and the blood of the Lamb of God once and for all, has been shed to forgive the sin and break the curse.

PRAYER POINTS FOR DELIVERANCE FROM GENERATIONAL CURSES

Heavenly father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I plead the blood of Jesus over my body my soul and spirit, tonight I ask you Holy Spirit to visit me tonight, right here, right now and every BUT in my life remove it O Lord.

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  John 8:36 

FURTHER STUDY 

“Free At Last” by Larry Hutch

SCRIPTURAL NOTES

 

John 9:2-3

And his disciples asked him, saying, Teacher, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Mark 5:1-13

Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.  2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”

8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?”

And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus[c] gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

Now, I bet people thought this man was insane out of his mind.  In today’s world, he would have been placed in a mental institution and treated with drugs and given psychiatric help, none of which would have helped his situation because his problem was not physical or mental, it was spiritual.  Jesus immediately knew what was wrong with the man. He had demons.  He had spiritual problems.  Jesus didn’t hesitate to cast the demons out and the man became whole again.

This man was under a curse.  There are blessings and there are curses.  There is no in-between, no gray area.  Demon possession and these types of spiritual problems are NOT blessings, hence they are CURSES.  Jesus broke the curse over this man’s life and cast out the demons.

Many will declare that there is no such thing as a curse because they do not understand spiritual things.  They only understand what their natural minds can process.  There is a supernatural dimension to be reckoned with.