To the 3rd and 4th Generations (Poem)

We’ve all heard of ‘generational blessings and curses’.

Perhaps you have heard of them both in and out of churches.

While one makes us smile, the other makes us all cringe!

How do ancestors’ acts upon our lives infringe??

With 7 references to such generational trends, ¹

The Bible pleads: ‘Make generational blessings your friends.

Avoid curses that across generational lines leap!’

How does what our ancestors sow impact what we may reap?

God told Abraham that for 4 centuries,

His seed would suffer slavery drudgeries.

For their iniquities, Amorites would not yet be judged,

Therefore, away from the Promised Land his seed
would be nudged. ²

Ahhh!

The make-up of Abraham’s seed destined for slavery,

Were descendants of brothers who committed treachery,

Against Joseph, Jacob’s favored and righteous son. ³

Were brothers’ sins ‘visited upon’ those yet to come??

Many other examples to us are displayed,

Lessons from The Bible’s pages, to us relayed.

Both positive and negative examples unfold,

Righteousness and sinfulness, generationally scrolled.

The Bible reveals spirits are eternal beings,

Just as we are, but a body they are lacking.

Good, bad or ugly, they desire to be a mentor.

To express their nature, they need us, an Earth actor.

Earth realm, planting field where things procreate.

Physical or spiritual, they …‘mate’.

Physical things populate: Roots grow when in hosts
seeds germinate.

Spiritual things propagate: Roots grow when in hearts
seeds penetrate.

While righteousness and sinfulness have roots, spiritual,

We are more impacted by our choices, consensual.

Like sponges, from people, we absorb, then emulate.

Thus, with spirits that spawn their acts, we associate.

In days ‘of old’ families were much tighter than now.

Generational impacts were high. Can you see how?

Today, with families much looser than then,

We are more influenced by strangers and friends.

Sins that traverse generational lines,

Result from exposure to devils’ shrines.

Exposure not resisted by your generation,

Means the same curses and judgments one day it will own. ⁴

Thus…

Beware and be careful with whom you associate,

Since so much, if not all of life, spirits saturate.

In your associations, one spirit will dominate,

And in your life, that spirit will …celebrate!

~o~

He who walks with wise men will be wise,

but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

(Proverbs 13:20)

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¹ ‘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…’ See: Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 5:9 and 24:16, 2 Kings 10:30, 2 Kings 15:12, Jeremiah 31:29-30, Ezekiel 18:1-4

² Amorites is the collective name for Canaanites, an ancient people who dwelt in the land of Canaan. See: Genesis 15:16

³ See: Genesis 37

⁴ ‘Fathers shall not be put to death for their children nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16) Some may misinterpret this verse as annulling the above verses (in footnote #1), but note well: judgments on generational sins need not necessarily be the death penalty. Death is but one type of judgment.