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Curses and Spells
What Does the Bible Say
about Curses and Spells?
Roger
Barrier
FOUNDER, PREACH IT, TEACH IT
Dear Roger,
What does the Bible say about
cursing and spells? Can a person be cursed? And by cursing I mean, when someone
says something bad is going to happen to you... that kind of cursing, cursing
your future.
Sincerely, John
Dear John,
In the Bible curses and
spells are forbidden practices.
"Let
no one be found among you who sacrifices their 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; because
of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those
nations before you." (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). NIV
To
curse is to wish that bad things happen to someone or to something.
On the
other hand, to bless is to wish that good things happen to someone or to
something.
When we think of curses
many of us immediately think of Voodoo. We picture someone pushing pins in
little dolls which represent those they hate so that bad things can come upon
them. We think of persons casting spells.
However, Voodoo is much
more than that.
Voodoo a religion
practiced chiefly in the Caribbean countries, especially in Haiti. It is a
mixture of Roman Catholic rituals and the animism and magic of slaves from West
Africa.
In voodoo God rules over
a multitude of local deities and deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate
with dreams, trances, and ritual practices.
We have
become de-sensitized to witchcraft, curses and spells in today's culture.
One Sunday evening I had
this terrible sense of dread that I would never see another Sunday. The sense
of death was overwhelming. Each day was agony.
I was peddling furiously
on the exercise bike Thursday evening when the phone rang.
One of our counselors had
just finished a session when a woman confessed that she and her friends in a
witches' coven had prayed a death curse on me the previous Sunday night.
I was overcome with
relief. I now knew the spiritual battle I faced, and I knew how to handle it.
I climbed off the bike,
fell to my knees and prayed for the Holy Spirit to cancel any curses or demonic
attacks placed against me. I asked Him to build a hedge of protection around me
to protect me from any evil Satanic intention to harm my family or me. The
dread disappeared.
I have no doubt that we
can postulate a number of theological frameworks to reconcile the experiences
like those I mentioned above with Biblical truth.
One
well-known theological construct that guarantees Christians that they need not
worry about curses and Satanic attacks because "... nothing can
separate us from God's love" (Romans 8:37-39, and "greater
is He that is in us (the Holy Spirit) than he who is in the world (Satan)” (1 John 4:4).
This theological
construct assures us that God's love for us is never in doubt and that the Holy
Spirit is greater than Satan.
Therefore, we need not concern
ourselves with things like curses and spells and Satanic interference. Upon
closer examination, however, what these verses don't declare is that we are
free from all of Satan's attacks and demonic curses.
My theological construct
(and you certainly don't have to agree with it) is that we face a constant
spiritual battle. We do need to be concerned with such things. After all, Peter
reminds us:
" Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist
him, standing firm in the faith … " (1 Peter
5:8-9).
We must consider that we
have a demonic adversary who has a backpack full of dirty and deceitful
spiritual tools designed to inflict harm and destruction upon unsuspecting
Christians.
God gives us a number of
spiritual tools to resist, incapacitate and frustrate Satan in his attacks against
us. I will mention them momentarily.
If we define
"curse" as wishing bad things to come to someone or to something then
I suppose that we can consider the death threats I've received over the years
as curses. I own two bullet-proof vests. No one told ever me told me that I
would need even one. Death threats aren't over in one week.
I remember preaching for
over six months in my new vest while living in fear that Bill J would make good
on his threat to kill me. He was angry with me for allowing his wife to give an
offering to our church. Unfortunately, I was not the only one he was cursing.
One night Bill J began a
murder spree that killed two men in a nearby town, and was on his way to our
home to kill again when the police encircled him and he committed suicide in
his car.
The police found 9 guns
and 400 rounds of ammunition in the front seat--and a bazooka at his house.
Fortunately, this undeserved curse did not come to rest on me.
Few of us have curses as
dramatic as Bill J had for me and eleven others.
However, let's assume
that there have been times when we have hurt or disappointed people. Depending
upon how much we hurt them and their ability to forgive, they may consciously
or unconsciously wish harm upon us.
The
Bible is full of cursing. The word "curse" appears almost 200
times in the Bible. Therefore, it is a significant issue for us to address.
The Bible begins with God
Almighty doing a lot of cursing.
We don't read three
chapters into Genesis before God Almighty began to curse. He cursed Satan for
tempting Adam and Eve into sin (Genesis 3:17).
He indirectly cursed all
mankind when He cursed the ground so that weeds would sprout and man would work
hard and sweat profusely in order to make a living from the cursed earth (Genesis 3:17-19).
In Genesis 4:10-12 God placed a curse upon Cain for killing his brother. All
of these curses were well deserved.
As we read through the
Bible we quickly discover that God provided blessings to those who obeyed Him
and cursed those who disobeyed Him.
To curse is to wish that
bad things happen to someone or something. God cursed only as a punishment for
not obeying him.
On the other hand, to
bless is to wish that good things happen to someone or to something. God
promised blessings to those who carefully followed His commands.
Deuteronomy
27-30 is a great example of the God Who both blesses and curses.
In Deuteronomy 28 God announced to Israel that if they fully obeyed His commands
He would pour out great blessings upon them.
They would receive the
following blessings: safety in travel; healthy children; bountiful crops;
increased livestock, abundant food; victory over enemies; full and overflowing
barns; success with all of their endeavors, successful investments; abundance
of rain; and primacy over all other nations.
It doesn’t get much
better than that.
On the
other hand, God was just as determined to bring curses upon Israel if they
ignored His commandments: "However, if you do not obey the Lord your
God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you
today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you" (Deuteronomy 28:15).
God is
not the only one in the Bible who pronounced curses. Most of the curses in the
Bible involve one person cursing another.
Noah cursed his son Ham
when Ham peeked at him while he was drunk and naked (Genesis 9:18-27).
Shimei cursed and spit on
David as David was fleeing Jerusalem ahead of Absalom's army of rebellion.
Shimei was upset because David took over the Kingship from the family of
Saul (2 Samuel 16:5-8 and 1 Kings 2:32-46).
Joab wanted to kill
Shimei on the spot; but David stopped him by admitting that the curse was
deserved. (By the way, David never got over the curse. As he laid dying he
asked that Joab sever Shemei's "white-haired head" from his
body).
Intriguingly, Mrs. Job
tried to get Job to curse God and die (Job 2:9;19:17).
Satan
prompted Mrs. Job's pleading to her husband. This was Satan's backhanded
attempt to force Job to curse God.
Before we go any further,
let me share with you the spiritual tools I use to protect myself from Satanic
attacks--including curses. Perhaps you will find one or more of these practices
helpful in navigating the spiritual waters of life.
First and foremost, I
pray for God to encircle me with a spiritual hedge of protection to insulate me
from any personal or demonic designs. After all, if God put a hedge around Job
that Satan couldn't penetrate without God's permission, then He can erect one
around me.
I
pray Job 1:10: "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his
house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land."
I want the protection and
I want the blessing of prosperity as well.
Next, I
try to keep my life righteous and holy so that I open no door and give no
opportunity for any curse to debilitate me in any way. I pray Proverb 26:2: "Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
an undeserved curse does not come to rest."
Then, I try never to
leave the house spiritually naked. I want to be clothed in the armor of God
against any spiritual attack. I pray Ephesians 6:10-17:
“Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of
God, so that … when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the
belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with
which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions.” NIV
In addition, I think of
people who have hurt me. Instead of wishing them evil and harm, I try to pray
for their blessing and prosperity.
After
all, Jesus instructed us in Luke 6:28 to: "Bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you."
You see, if we curse
those who've hurt us then we put ourselves in danger of Christ's judgment.
Jesus
said in Matthew 5:22: "But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a
brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a
brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says,
‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."
Finally,
with gratitude, I remember that sin has placed the entire world under a curse.
All of us have "sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23).
We know that payment for
our sin is death (Romans 6:23; Deuteronomy 21:23).
Fortunately, when we
receive Christ as Lord and Savior, Jesus dies in our place on the cross. He
takes the curse of death for us and the curse against us is now underserved.
Death no longer rests upon us (Galatians 3:13).
I have tried to deal with
some of the practical out workings of curses.
I have shared some the
biblical foundations and practices regarding cursing. I hope that reading my
response may give you more insight into the Biblical reality concerning
curses.
Sincerely, Roger
Dr. Roger Barrier, founder of Preach It, Teach It, is a well-known
author and sought-after conference speaker. Roger has taught thousands of
pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders in 32 countries worldwide.
He is the featured pastor of
"Ask Roger: Ask a Pastor" on Crosswalk.com, the largest Christian
website in the country. He partnered with Intimate Life Ministries and also
regularly teaches national leaders for CRU and various other mission
organizations. Dr. Barrier began preaching at the age of 13, and he shares his
3,000+ sermons with you on Preach It, Teach It. Preach It, Teach It currently
has eight million visits in 221 countries and territories.
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