Generational curses QUESTION from Faith on January 31, 2003 I have a lot of questions but they all relate to spiritual warfare. Is there a way to discern between people or families afflicted with mental illness versus something of a more spiritual nature? I have come to think that one of the distinguishing factors is whether there is just a long line of illnesses such as depression or if there seem to be many bizarre occurrances or situations which accompany them.
Here are a few examples. In my own family, my mothers side is plagued with people who suffer from depression to schizophrenia. However, my mom's mother also lived to see her husband, two sons and a younger brother die young. My sister lost the father of her baby to a bizarre accident and also recently a friend of hers. I have always known my mother's paternal grandmother was a repected astrologer. I recently found out my mom's father was a mason and so is my mom (she belongs as an honorary member but does not attend any meetings.) For most of my life I have struggled with nightmares and an overall feeling of opression, almost like with everything I should have going for me, things always get messed up. I have always had a feeling of overwhelming sadness and despair about things. I decided I can't take it anymore and began praying and wanting to know God more intimately. This has helped immensely, as situations that used to really bring me down I have had peace about lately.
Enough about me, back to the question. I also know someone whose family has a history of mental illness. Even my friend in question. They are Greek Orthodox and two of his uncles have schizophrenia. One is legally considered not responsible for his actions. He claims to be psychic, says he has conversations with Satan, and even went to live at a monastery but once he arrived, they turned him away. They did not like that he claimed to speak with Satan. The other uncle of his went nuts one night and the story goes that 4-5 police officers could not subdue him. Now my friend admits he was treated for manic depression in the past. But, he also says his house is haunted (I have seen and heard the things as well, I am not kidding I heard voices and people walking around his house when no one is there.) His mother came over and prayed and blessed the house. Anyway, this friend of mine also has a problem with pornography and says he was molested by a male relative (not either of the crazy uncles) as a kid. All I know is that every time I am around him especially at his house, I feel dark and gloomy.
I just want to know how you know for sure whether something is depression or if there are spiritual forces at work. I have prayed to renounce any ill-effects of masonry in my own family. We have had just too many wierd things happen. My family laughs and calls me a holy roler but to me this stuff is very serious. I can't dismiss it as coincidence when a family has this much tragedy. We've had more than our share.
I feel safe and very protected personally because I pray and can feel when my spiritual resolve is slipping. I am more diligent of it now that I am older. I just want to know your feelings on families that have suffered lots of wierd tragedy or when you have more than one case of serious mental illness. Could demonic forces be at work?
Sincerely,
Faith
ANSWER by Mr. Joe Meineke on February 4, 2003 Dear Faith, Thank you for your questions. There is little medical doubt that mental illness can run in families. There certainly does appear to be a genetic link. Much of what you have explained seems to fall within what one might expect in terms of heretitary mental illness. You also mention things that appear to involve spiritual issues as well. Indeed most often spiritual issues piggyback already existing problems. We sometimes cannot discern which came first, the chicken or the egg, the mental illiness or the demonization. Much of the time we cannot necessarily know for sure even if the spiritual element is even present -- symptoms of demonization and symptom of medical or psychiatric conditions are often very similar. Certainly, the presence of generational involvement in dangerous practices, such as the ones that you've mentioned (astrology and masonry), are factors that need to be taken into consideration since these practices can be doorways for the demonic to enter. Couple these facts with tragic, and perhaps suspicious (or even supernatural), events that seem to plague a particular family, and we may have grounds to at least suspect a spiritual/demonological element. The bottom line here is that there is no easy way to determine which is the case and thus we cannot jump to conclusions epecially without knowing the full facts of the case. We can, however, go ahead and pray for the fmaily or the individuals involved just in case there might be a demonological element. Such prayers are always beneficial. If a spiritual element does exist, the prayers will hopefully take care of that. If a spiritual element is not present, the prayers are still helpful in asking for God's will concerning the healing of the person's illness. We recommend that all Christians pray prayers concerning Ancestral sins. In your particular case you know that your ancestors have been involved in ungoldly practices. Thus you, each of your children if you have any, when they are old enough, should pray a prayer to renounce any ancestral sins. This will help to close the door to any generational curses or demonizations. Thos prayers can be found in our Spiritual Warfare Catalog linked below. It does sound to me that your family and the family of your friend could benefit from Spiritual Counseling. These issues are serious and should be dealt with, but the individuals involved must come forward and ask for help themselves. You, however, can pray for them. We have prayers in the SW Catalog specifically designed to pray for family members and for friends. Please check out the SW Catalog and the Help Section of the SPCDC Center linked below. If you need more specific help for yourself or further advice in how to pray for your family and friends let us know. God bless you, Joe Meineke Assistant to Bro. Ignatius.
For Assistance with Spiritual Warfare problems please go to our How We Can Help You page. For a direct link to sample Spiritual Warfare prayers see our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog Back to Index Page