Introduction
While in Romania at the close of a church service one
evening two years ago, I watched as a woman came forward for prayer for
her granddaughter. The little girl was about six years old, and had an
unusually short attention span – about two seconds. She was unable to stay
focused on any person speaking, even one that was two feet in front of her
face. Pastor Carl Fox anointed her with oil and began to pray. As I
watched and listened, the girl couldn’t sit still.
Carl prayed the words that the Lord gave him. They
included removing the curse of the bastard off the little girl. I watched
as the girl immediately stopped her wild agitation, and sat perfectly
still, her attention locked onto Carl’s face. She stayed that way the rest
of the evening, and is still delivered today.
I wondered. As a pastor of a small country church, and
an itinerant preacher in various countries, I had seen several deliverance
ministries, and participated in many victories helping people overcome
demonic manifestations. But never had I heard of such a thing as the curse
of the bastard.
Neither had Carl. We talked about it as we rode home
together late that night. He confessed that he had never heard of anything
called the bastard curse either, and he has been teaching and delivering
people from curses for over fifteen years. We each went our way at the
close of that ministry trip to Romania – he to his home in New Mexico, and
me to mine in Massachusetts. But neither of us forgot the incident.
A year elapsed, and the Lord began showing Carl the
Scriptures which mention the bastard curse. They appear in Deuteronomy 23
and Hebrews 12. In Deuteronomy, the bastard curse is noted to last for ten
generations, at least 400 years, keeping God’s children from being able to
come into the congregation of the Lord. In Hebrews, the same words are
used to signify those who are unable to receive the chastisement of the
Lord – they are called bastard sons. As a result, they are not able to
come to the place of obedience, rest, and growth as children of God.
Is there a connection, an application to the Body of
Christ today? Jesus Christ was accused of being a bastard. Why is this
such a singularly significant accusation? The flood of Noah was the
consequence of this curse on the earth. Why is it so acute an issue in the
heart of our heavenly Father?
The Holy Spirit began to release Carl to share what he
had learned so far. In various travels, he began to see that the bastard
curse was real, and surprisingly pervasive – both in the Scriptures as
well as in modern experience, though it remains very hidden in both. We
arranged for Carl to come and teach what he knew thus far in a series of
campfire meetings in my home area. I was prepared for the theory, but not
for the application that surfaced in those meetings.
At the close of the teachings, as we prayed together
for the bastard curse to be removed, many in attendance started weeping,
and those that weren’t weeping distinctly felt a great weight taken off in
the spirit. Those that wept knew of illegitimate circumstances within
their own kin. Those that felt weights removed, knew something had been
jettisoned from their generations past.
A week went by. In my spirit, as I evaluated the impact
on the people present, I saw a picture of a river full of logs. The logs
were slowly traveling downriver. They were tangled, and jammed in places
against the curves at the banks, though still moving slowly. Then I saw,
as in the old time photographs of explosive charges being set off to break
up the jams, that breaking the bastard curse off generational bloodlines
was breaking apart the logjams in people’s lives -- both individually, as
well as corporately in the church body.
In the weeks that followed, I continued to notice
dramatic reductions in offenses, an increase in reports from the people
and congregations present of more intimate experiences in prayer closets
with the Lord, and remarkable stories of how the Lord was breaking into
old anger and wounded-ness. It was clear that though these were people
that eagerly seek the Lord, and who loved the Scriptures, praise and
worship, yet there were still citadels that needed taking. These were
mature, serious Christians, many with Bible school backgrounds. Yet
underneath the surface there were still areas that needed tending. I am
convinced those areas would have stayed in place, immune from the
chastisement of the Lord, had not the legal bloodline bondage of the
bastard curse been broken from them.
The results of breaking the bastard curse off these
believers got my attention. I went to the Scriptures to study. On my next
engagement to preach in another part of the country, I shared what I had
learned, and at the close of the session, I broke the bastard curse off
those who had gathered. Immediately I noticed an identical result as when
Carl had taught in our campfire meetings – about one third of the group
wept, feeling the release of known illegitimacy in their family. The rest
felt a tangible release from unseen weights in their spirit which were
real. They knew something had been broken from their generations.
What is this bastard curse? How can it affect believers
today so dramatically, and yet be so hidden? Do curses really exist among
believers? If so, how can they be broken? Why have so many congregations
split over offenses, and why are sheep lost over offenses so easily? Why
is it that anger flares up and ruins so many relationships in the churches
today? Is it merely that we are all so immature in areas of forgiveness?
Why do the same offenses seem to come up over and over?
One of the major contributors to these questions lies
in the bastard curse which Scripture declares is the reason why believers
are cut off from the congregation of the Lord. This is a genuine problem
that exists even today. In words applicable to the church today, the
bastard curse affects the ability of believers to build a close fellowship
with the Lord, with the Father, and with other believers. In doing so,
this curse targets the free flowing of the Spirit of Adoption noted in the
New Testament – that Spirit which enables believers to cry out, “Abba,
Father.” Satan’s purpose is to prevent or destroy the intimacy of our
Father with His children, preventing them from having a close and personal
“Daddy” relationship.
In coursing through the material in this book, the
reader is invited to first consider the Scriptural evidence: both
doctrinal as well as through Biblical examples. It is surprising how
frequently the effects of this curse appear in the Scriptures. The
evidence is surprisingly widespread.
Freedom from the curse of the bastard has deep
implications for the practical deliverance of God’s people. This curse is
a noteworthy device of satan to manipulate behind the scenes in order to
keep God’s people from their rightful inheritance in the congregation of
the righteous. In teaching this material, the authors frequently encounter
believers who become aghast at the realization of how closely the bastard
curse comes to their personal experience. Thus we want to state very
plainly up front in this book that there is no intent to bring shame or
judgment. Rather it is the opposite: God wants His people set free from
this curse, and so do we! We must realize that there can be no setting
free where ignorance has prevailed.
This book is not presenting a new doctrine, nor
establishing a signature theory to package a new formula for deliverance
ministry. It is merely honing in on a root cause of many recurring
pastoral nightmares – the spirit of offense, and the wounding of the sheep
despite numerous and frustrating hours of counseling and teaching on
forgiveness, controlling the tongue, etc.
There is a root cause for these recurring problems, and
the weapons of our warfare against them are spiritual weapons. We cannot
war after the flesh, nor is our adversary our fellow believers. Rather we
wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and wicked
spirits in high places who use secretive, wily methods to pit believer
against believer through offenses.
As documented in this book, the bastard curse is one of
satan’s most refined tools to cause offenses. This curse is shown to have
had continuing and profound impact on the church, even as much or more as
it had on our Old Testament forbearers.
So please journey with us in these pages to identify,
understand, and overcome this weapon of the enemy, the bastard curse, and
enable God’s people to become set free. Our love for the Lord Jesus Christ
and His remarkable power to help His people overcome in these last days of
the church age propels the offering of this material for your
consideration and growth in ministering to God’s people.
May the Lord give us all grace and mercy to continue to
set captives free, and confirm His work in them with signs, miracles, and
wonders following.
Paul Norcross
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