CHAPTER SEVEN

The Rotten Seeds of Bullying

Nothing springs up from the earth unless a seed was first planted, either by humans
or by nature. Bullying doesn’t just happen out of the clear blue sky. People bully,
but ultimately bullying originates from satan, who plants seeds of hatred in the
hearts of people. Parents plant seeds of prejudice in the hearts of their own
children. They teach them to hate and persecute others of different ethnic origins.
The devil uses television, radio, the Internet, and mass media culture to teach kids
that violence is cool and it’s only wrong if you get caught.

The Lord has His wheat field of responsive souls who will let His Word take root in
their hearts and enter into eternal life. But the devil has his own crop of tares,
wicked souls interspersed among the righteous. At present the Lord lets both “grow
together” (Matt.13:30). But the day is fast approaching when God will order His
angels to bind the wicked into bundles to throw into everlasting hell fire. Satan’s
crop of violent, evil men will finally be dealt with once and for all.

Satan has also sown tares of hurt in the hearts of wounded bullying victims. It’s
time for God to pull up the weeds of destruction out of people’s hearts and plant
words of encouragement in them.

Bullies live by the Law of the Jungle, where might is right and the meek are weak
dead meat. Gangs gather to tear apart one lone victim, just like a pack of dogs
proves how tough they are by ripping up a tiny kitten. Adults who force vulnerable
children to attend schools where bullying is tolerated are literally throwing those poor
kids to the lions with no one to defend them.

Ever since Adam’s sin introduced death and disorder into God’s harmonious earth,
the animal kingdom has been a dangerous place where you pay a high price for
being weak. Tougher, bigger beasts get rewarded for being able to overpower gentle
lambs. But does God reward human beings for acting worse than wild animals? Yes,
but it’s a negative reward.

Ezek.34:16: will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven
away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was
sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment (divine
punishment).

God promises to heal and restore those of His people who are sick, hurting or scared
away by bullies. But He promises only destruction to bullies who use their strength
and resources to hurt others.

Bullying is spiritual rape, the desecration of a human soul made in the image of God.
I sensed satan living and working through Butch, who hated me like a mad dog and
DAILY threatened me on the school bus, using the filthiest insults imaginable. He
and his buddies reinforced fear into my life daily and repeatedly. This gave satan’s
oppressing spirits an entrance into my life. I had to be set free from their control
through prayer ministry. I hold Butch and many other hateful bullies responsible for
bringing me under bondage to spirits of fear, oppression, and depression. Like a vile
rapist forces his way into a helpless woman’s body, ripping it and tearing it as he
goes, satan’s demons use bullies to FORCE their way into a victim’s soul and spirit
area to damage it and take possession of it. Still think bullying is harmless kiddie
stuff?

The Lord of Hosts Shall Roar From On High

Psalms 7:10-13; Chapter 22: 149:6-9; Isaiah 24:19-22

You're a survivor if you've come this far

Though inside you feel all battered and scarred
Because for you school just wasn't cool
But God in His Love would say to you:

I brought you through fire, flood and pain

To help you learn to love again
You felt like a desolate desert place
A sun-scorched soul without any rain.

You felt those fingers pointing at you

Because it was cool to be mean and cruel
You didn't have lots of glamor or money
But I didn't think what they did was funny.

You were put on a thorny pedestal

To torment and mock with cruel cat-calls
Outnumbered you dodged a hail of abuse
Because it wasn't cool to care about you.

Like a leper you were hated and shunned

Made the butt of laughter and fun
Pointedly picked to be the last
When sides were chosen for balls and bats.

But it was you I chose, not they

They're just too proud to come in from the rain
Turning their backs on the beckoning Ark
Those wild dogs won't come
To be saved by My Son
They just chase their prey and bark.

You broke their gang-banged beauty mold

By being unique, by being you
Incapable of shedding tears
Those snakes injected the poison of fear

With pointed, deadly devil's fangs

They made you die to happy things
They withered away your soul inside
That pack of dogs took vicious bites.

Protect me from the lion and the bear

Cried the Psalmist, whom I saved from despair
Deliver me from the ravening dog
Be very near me when I call.

Though ten thousand gather against me

O Lord of Hosts, be my Victory
Send warring angels of fire and light
Against my foes take up the fight.

Impede their progress on their dark path

Let liars be caught in their own traps
Deliver Thy darling from the lowest hell
Redeem me out of the snare where I fell

Out of this nightmare hell of a Pit

Dug by my foes where in darkness I sit
Forgotten by all but remembered by Thee
Make haste to come deliver me.

If they think I've forgotten they make a mistake

For in wrath the earth itself I shall shake
The blood of the slain, the martyr's pain
I bring to the forefront of My docket again

As I shout My displeasure from My Throne on High

Ye are but men! In My wrath I shall cry
Your land is defiled by innocent blood
Again and again you've spurned My love.

You've rejected the cleansing of My blood

Again it is time for the cleansing flood
To wash away every loathsome trace
Of vile persecutors and their weapons of hate.

My arrows are readied upon My bow

Ordained against haters of God below
To strike at the heart of My enemies
Who will not allow Me to set them free

From being slaves of satan My foe

Who keeps the wicked beneath his control
Rejecting life, they've chosen to die
My Holy Word they taunt and despise.

It isn't just you those bullies have bullied

They've rejected My Son in word, thought and deed
They've pledged allegiance to the devil below
So into the Lake of Fire they'll go
With all the evil seeds they've sown.

But you who have nestled beneath My wings

And fed on holy eternal things
Shall shine as stars in heavenly places
As all your scars My love erases.
 Naked, Shamed and Exposed

One dream I had illustrates the trauma caused to a child’s soul through teacher
misunderstanding and/or bullying. In seventh grade, one teacher blamed ME for
being bullied. My mother and I put together a plaster of Paris Social Studies project:
a Roman Temple and a clay “bust of Julius Caesar”. Maybe the bust looked a bit
comical, but the two of us had done our best with what we had. I had to carry
everything to school with me on foot. I was unfortunate enough to stumble and drop
the columned “temple” onto the sidewalk. I had to present the mess as was, since
there was no time to salvage the situation.

The teacher, “Mrs. Barton”, had no sense of humor. She shook her head and said,
“Some of us don’t have much to give.” She turned to another kid and said, “but YOU
were fortunate (in abilities, etc.).

In that particular dream I was wearing the same thin nightgown I wore in bed. I was
back in Mrs. Barton’s Social Studies class, sitting at a desk. I looked around at the
other kids who were all dressed up for school. Oddly enough, although American
public school kids don’t wear uniforms, the other kids wore uniforms which consisted
of a tie, a sweater, and a couple more layers underneath. I keenly felt my own lack
of clothing. There was only one whisper-thin layer between me and an evil-eyed
world. I was afraid the teacher would notice this and announce my nakedness to the
whole class. Hadn’t teachers always done that to me before? Maybe there’s a
sweater I could wear to fool the teacher, I thought. I reached behind me, but there
was no sweater draped over on the back of my desk. I remembered the ruined class
project and woke up.

The lack of protective clothing symbolizes the vulnerability I felt. I felt continually
exposed to glaring, prying eyes of scorn. There was NOTHING to shield my heart
from abuse. Everyone else was clad in basic human dignity. The sweater worn by
the other kids symbolized the warm acceptance they all felt for each other. For them,
school was a “warm and fuzzy” experience of normalcy. Their neatly pressed shirts
symbolized a world orderly and “nice”, a smooth, wrinkle-free garment of
conformity which never “made waves”. The tie spoke of being on a leash, being
gagged and controlled by the status quo. The pastel, muted shades of the other kids’
clothes spoke of refusal to be bold in standing for the right, and a desire to fade into
the crowd, whether the crowd’s opinion was right or wrong. The absence of a
sweater on my chair back symbolized my vulnerability to foes behind my back. My
own garment was pale blue, but it was so thin I felt like everybody could see my
nakedness underneath. The washed-out color spoke of my soul, so drained of life
and unable to boldly fight for survival. The thinness of my garment symbolized the
transparency of my feelings, and the fact that all my weaknesses and imperfections,
real or imagined, were open for all the world to see.

Mrs. Barton’s insensitive comments bruised self-esteem which was already down in
the toilet. Another teacher who didn’t like me much had also left her mark on my
life. On the very first day of school “Mrs. Hutton” asked me some pointless
questions I didn’t have ready answers for. I felt like everybody was staring at me,
hoping I’d look stupid. The class laughed. A sudden, inexplicable terror seized my
soul. I burst into tears. The teacher got mad and decided to take revenge on me
for letting tears escape my eyes. She called my dad at work, and told him I’d “acted
like a baby”. Did that woman think I’d PLANNED to let my eyes leak and make a
spectacle of myself? I wouldn’t have gone through that shame and embarrassment
for a billion dollars!

Parents, don’t EVER just automatically take the word of an adult over that of your
own child. Besides damaging your precious relationship with a family member who
has been loyal to you in good times and bad, you are showing partiality toward an
outsider who may not even like your child. That’s right. Some teachers will LOVE
your child, others could care less, and a very few might feel hostile toward him/her.
It’s teachers like that who need to learn a lesson in Compassion 101. And if they
don’t, the law of sowing and reaping could ensure that what “goes around comes
around” (see Gal.6:7; Rev.13:10). People who abuse their position of authority to
intimidate the friendless and the helpless will have to answer to God for it.

I’m no dummy. I’ve got a decent IQ. Not to brag, but I was awarded the ONLY “A”
in my college English 101 class. Despite the fact my third grade teacher, a hostile-
looking woman, called me a “stupid kid”. But even if I’d had an IQ of only 2,
NOBODY, not even the President of the United States, has the right to scare little
kids and call them stupid! EVERY person on earth has been given worth and
potential by almighty God, and no one is ever a failure as long as they are faithful to
do what God has called them to do. A lot of the time the failure rests with the
teacher for writing off a kid whose personality type differs from theirs. If a teacher
wants to intimidate the weak, he/she should quit teaching and become a bill
collector!

I sort of shrugged that teacher’s comment off. After all, adults sometimes got into
“bad moods”, and at the time I didn’t really think kids were full-fledged people who
deserved respect. I’m all for discipline of kids who deliberately misbehave. But
hostility toward children who “don’t gel with” the teacher is inexcusable. That’s no
different from what goes on in many adult workplaces: A grumpy colleague is rubbed
the wrong way by a cheerful type and sets out to “wipe that smile” off their face via
psychological abuse or “put-downs”. My own daughter liked school better than I did.
She made good friends throughout her school years and had no serious problems.
And she was blessed with the ability to learn most any subject easily (even math,
which I hated). She had some absolutely wonderful teachers. They appreciated the
fact that she liked to befriend shy classmates and was very bright.

But even if my daughter had been painfully shy like me, or even had learning
difficulties, a powerful sermon would have been preached if any teacher had called
her “stupid” or insulted her human dignity in any other way.

If you get any complaint about your child, CALMLY listen to both sides before forming
a judgment. Don’t just automatically assume the teacher is always right, especially if
you speak with them (or see them) long enough to wonder if a personality conflict
might be the root of the problem. A crabby, sarcastic teacher may not like a mild-
mannered child. It doesn’t matter that the teacher is thirty years older than the
child. Years alone do not confer worth or wisdom on a person (Eccl.4:13). It is
wrong to “have respect of persons” in forming judgments in issues of right and
wrong (Prov.24:23). I had committed no sin. I did not choose to suffer that sudden
panic attack in seventh grade. Satan brought it on me, through manipulating the
circumstances, and through a spirit of fear (2 Tim.1:7). But it was I, and no one
else, who paid the penalty for a panic attack I couldn’t control. For the rest of that
year I was tagged as a reject. When I get to heaven, I will not only tell Jesus how
much I love Him, I will also tell Him how much I hate the devil who sorely tempted
and tried me on earth. Even there, I will continue to plead for God’s righteous
vengeance to fall upon satan and his evil kingdom of darkness.

Fear seizes hold of people like a vicious assailant. People don’t choose to be afraid,
anymore than they choose to get their legs shot off on the battlefield. I’m reminded
of the story of General Patton, who slapped an American soldier for “cowardice”. The
poor guy had been shell-shocked out of his senses. Any guy whose rational faculties
had been shorted out by involuntary head-to-toe tremors could hardly have been
expected to shoot straight at the enemy and might have been more of a hindrance
than a help in Patton’s battle. But all Patton could see was the man didn’t have a
gaping chest wound or shattered limbs. Only his soul was shattered and that didn’t
count as being wounded. Even if there was a WILL to “go out and kill Germans” to
please Patton, the noise and terror of the battlefield overpowered the soldier.
Patton scolded the soldier for being a *&!*% coward, and said that if he didn’t hurry
up and get back to the battlefield, he’d shoot him himself. Then “Old Blood and
Guts” slapped him in front of everybody in the infirmary. Patton ordered this
weeping, broken man to be sent back to the front lines where the battle was hottest.
Kick somebody who’s down. A good photo op for Patton, the mighty war hero.

The same standard you hold others up to, will be used by God to judge you
(Matt.7:1-2). Those who browbeat others for failure had better hope their own
battles never surpass the limits of their own health, strength and courage.
Hopefully, Old Blood and Guts never felt like jumping out of the frying pan into the
fire himself.

When a kid gets off on the wrong foot at the beginning of the school year, he/she
feels ruined for good! Bullies are two-legged Pitbulls who need to sink their fangs
into SOMEBODY. They NEVER let you live a bad “first impression” down, even if it’s
somebody else’s fault.

I was (barely) born again at the time and had NO training in the Bible, and nobody
to turn to for help. Naturally I’d smolder with resentment when someone said
something mean. Sometimes I’d snap back, but generally I’d keep my resentment
bottled up inside (it accumulated). Those who unjustly hated me made the most of
every excuse to torment me. The kids even poked fun at my handwriting when I
wrote something on the blackboard. Over the years I’ve experimented with different
styles of writing, but my natural handwriting slants sharply to the right. It reminds
me of a racer who runs leaning forward so he can reach the finish line quicker. I felt
like I was getting nowhere, and I was nothing but a joke.

Mrs. Barton would take points off in her grade book if your test papers weren’t
properly signed. My grades went so far south they landed in hell. I was so
depressed and scared I COULDN’T learn, despite my high I.Q. Survival was all my
brain cared about back then. Each day you didn’t get your crummy test paper
signed she subtracted two points from my already pitifully low score. All the months
I suffered in her class NOT ONE offer of extra help or even one suspicion that I was
too depressed to learn anything. Just mockery from her and indifference to what
went on in her own class. If she’s dead by now she probably found out how God
graded HER, and the points He subtracted from HER score!

Mrs. Barton even mocked the pictures I sketched to make my miserable day go by
quicker. Certain kids wouldn’t leave me alone and were continually picking at me.
But I was the one who’d get the blame. Toward the end of that miserable year I was
finally put in isolation for most of the day in the library. I had to sit in a chair while
some mean-looking teacher guarded me. A few kind girls stopped by to see me, but
I felt so numb I hardly noticed their presence or responded to them. It felt like my
soul faculties were shutting down one by one, in much the same way the functions of
the body shut down before physical death. If my body couldn’t escape that torture
chamber called “school”, at least I could deaden my emotions, much like a bear
hibernates to survive the long, harsh winter. I never told my parents how I spent
those long days, parked in a chair and staring into space.

After so many months of humiliation and ridicule for letting my hurt feelings leak
out, I was AFRAID to feel emotions anymore, lest they be criticized by a hostile
world. I felt absolutely dead inside, unable to love even kind people. The abuse had
gone on so long I felt like any nice gesture was too little, too late. Gone were the
days of jump ropes, dolls, and playground fun. Early adolescence was an initiation
into the REAL world, where life was a sordid, scary, sick game of meanness and
manipulation. Growing up immersed me in a war against unearned enemies who
struggled to steal away from me basic human dignity. At twelve I was too well-
developed for my height of five foot one. I felt like a broad-shouldered, clumsy oaf
who didn’t fit in anywhere and never should have been born. All I wanted was to be
the happy, skinny kid I used to be, and for daily life to be uncomplicated and fun
once more. If that’s immaturity, I guess I was guilty of it. Suspicion became a part
of my nature because I felt I could trust no one, much less love them.

Lots of Christians say you should just love your enemies back instead of being angry
with them. True, if you’re strong enough to do it. But that’s an unlikely response
after so many months (or years) of being told in countless ways that you’re a big
sack of * * * *. How can you manage to love anybody else if people have poured so
much hatred into you that you can’t even love yourself? Christians say it’s a sin to
love yourself. Jesus didn’t teach that. He said to love your neighbor as much as
yourself, not more than yourself (Matt.22:39; Mark 12:31). If you harbor self-
hatred, you can’t love your neighbor either. You’re to love yourself because God
loves you, with a proper self-esteem. That’s not the same as being an arrogant
airhead who brags about how wonderful you are. It’s acknowledging that when God
made you, He put special qualities inside you which are dear to Him. As human
beings made in God’s image, we’re so valuable to Him He sent Jesus to redeem us.

Reflecting on these things, I know what Jesus meant when He said it was necessary
to “become as a little child” in order to enter into the Kingdom of God (Matt.18:3).
Jesus didn’t mean for adults to go out and skip rope. He meant that He values
childlike honesty and simplicity in our relationship with God and others. If we tell
someone we love them, it should be unfeigned (honest) love without underlying
ulterior motive (I Pet.1:22). Teenagers learn a lot of “people skills” at school, how to
play it cool to keep off the bottom of the heap and get respect from popular kids who
get that way by being walking billboards for Western consumer culture. A girl will
love the big football star...until his dad gets laid off and the boy can’t even afford
McDonald’s anymore. A girl will buddy up to an unpopular girl, just to gain her
confidence. Once it is discovered that the unpopular girl shops at K-Mart instead of
Hiphop Boutique, the first girl breaks off the “friendship” and runs back to her real
friends with fresh gossip and giggles. And the knives come out for the feast.

Don’t tell me I’m making a mountain out of a molehill. Even the New Testament
recognizes that nothing more serious than icy ostracism is a serious punishment.
Jesus told His disciples to ostracize believers who refused to repent of sins
committed against their brethren (Matt.18:17).

What did Paul the apostle have to say about the use of ostracism?

I Cor.5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is
called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a
drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

What did Paul call this type of ostracism, which was used to correct a man who slept
with his own stepmother?

2 Cor.2:6: Sufficient to such a man is this PUNISHMENT, which was inflicted of

many.

Notice, Jesus did not say to beat up on a believer who sins against his brother. Paul
did not say to throw rocks and spitballs at the adulterer. All they commanded was
that the guilty reprobate be shunned. No one in the church was to socialize or to eat
with them! In addition to the physical and verbal abuse I suffered unjustly, almost
every day I sat at an empty lunch table, no one to talk to or enjoy life with. Kids
went out of their way to make sure I had a whole row to myself during assembly. I
was subjected to PUNISHMENT I’d done nothing to earn, except to be a mild-
mannered individual who couldn’t hide her fear well enough. Kids I’d never done
anything to hurt froze me out. They put me to an open shame. And what they
sowed, they’ll surely reap from Almighty God.

Big Bully Cain: A Harvest of Sin

When Adam sold out to satan by disobeying God’s simple commandment, he got
more than he bargained for. Eve was seduced by satan into eating the fruit first. I
can picture Adam groaning in despair as what she’d done sunk in. He knew that Eve
was now doomed to die. Perhaps Eve sank to her knees begging Adam to partake
also, so that she would not be alone in her exile from the Garden, driven out into the
inclement world without his companionship. For whatever reason, Adam made a
deliberate decision to disobey God by conforming to the contrary will of another
human being. Thus he incurred an immeasurable loss for himself and for all his
descendants.

In the Garden there was harmony among all creatures and with their Creator. There
was no warfare or death in that Paradise. All of Adam’s needs had been met there.
He’d been free of all the hassles and hazards known to our world. But he’d chosen
to reject God’s rule over his life.

In that moment of infamy, Adam traded the sinless nature of God in his soul for the
nature of satan. The Bible declares : The heart of man is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked. Who can fathom it (Jeremiah 17:9)? Sin had introduced a
previously unknown consciousness of nakedness and shame. I believe that prior to
Adam and Eve’s sin, there had been such a glow of the Glory of God surrounding
them that there was no awareness of nakedness. There must also have been a
traumatic sense of having been stripped of innocence itself, and feeling exposed in
their sinfulness before a Holy God.
Steal, kill, and destroy. Satan had engineered Adam and Eve’s loss of fellowship
with God in Eden. He’d already begun to kill their physical bodies. Untold
destruction had been wrought in their psyches. The sin nature had embedded itself
in the very genetic code of man, to be passed down through countless generations.
Adam lived to witness the outworking of this hereditary sin nature when his son Abel
became the world’s first homicide statistic, slain by his jealous brother Cain. The
story is recorded in Genesis 4:1-15.

Evidently sibling rivalry existed between these two young men, at least in Cain’s
heart. Cain approached God in a spirit of competitiveness, while Abel’s attitude was
one of contrite faith toward God. Blood sacrifice was what God required as an
atonement for sin, for without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of
sin (Hebrews 10:28). God’s penalty for sin is death. The soul which sins shall die
(Ezekiel 18:4b). Romans 6:23 says: The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. His own sinless soul was made an
offering for sin on our behalf (see Isaiah 53:10). Had Christ committed even one sin
during His lifetime on earth, He would have disqualified Himself from paying the
penalty of our sins, and God could not justly have forgiven one sinner.

It would yet be many centuries before Christ would come to earth to die for Abel’s
sins. In Old Testament times, animal sacrifices were offered up as temporary
symbolic substitutes, or, as one preacher put it, “promissory notes” until final
payment for sin was made by Christ. These sacrifices were counted by God as acts of
obedient faith, anticipating His appointed time when Christ Himself would die as the
Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Cain must have heard these truths at the knee of Adam, his sadder but wiser father.
But evidently Cain refused to take consolation in this mercy of the Lord. Most likely
he rankled over the expulsion of his parents (and hence, himself) from the delights
of Paradise. Humankind had been sentenced to a life of grueling toil, aging, sorrows
of innumerable kinds, and eventual physical death. I can picture the cogitations of a
mind like Cain’s: Who does my dad think HE is, teaching ME how to run MY life,
after the way HE struck out? I could have kicked back and sipped cider under an
apple tree all day! In any event, I wouldn’t have had to toil like a mule day in and
day out just to eat! Life sure is a drag, thanks to good old Dad. I’ll placate God in
my OWN way, not Dad’s. And if God doesn’t like it...well, TOUGH!

What a thorn Cain must have been in the hearts of his penitent parents. Surely the
rebellious nature of their eldest son was a poignant reminder to them of the sorrow
their own disobedience had brought to God. The treacherous Absalom would bring
such anguish to his father King David many centuries later.

Flashing his cheesiest smile, Cain brashly approached the stone altar he had erected.
Proudly he brandished his gift to God, a conveniently bloodless heap of fresh farm
produce he’d cultivated from the cursed ground. My, he thought, won’t God be
thrilled with MY donation? Much more than He’ll be with Abel’s! The very
idea...presenting a pile of raw, bloody flesh to the Almighty! His finer sensibilities
will surely be offended.

Cain misread God, if he’d bothered to try to understand Him at all. The faith of Abel
is commended by God in Hebrews 11:4: By faith Abel offered to God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he gained God’s assurance that he was
righteous, God approving of his gifts; and by faith he, though dead, speaks.
But God wasn’t pleased with Cain’s self-styled offering, or his insubordination. It
was Abel who’d been obedient, humbly casting himself by faith upon the mercy of a
Deity offended by sin. Abel entertained no delusions about the utter depravity of the
human nature he’d inherited from Adam, his father. He realized that only with God’s
help could it be held in check. He knew that man, in spite of his best efforts, falls
short of the Glory of God (see Romans 3: 23), and that sacrificial blood must be shed
to cover his sin from God’s sight.

The hard-hearted Cain couldn’t have cared less. Like most people he considered
himself no better or worse than any other human, hardly bad enough to merit God’s
attention. He refused to see his sin nature in the light of God’s unfathomable
Holiness. Unlike his brother Abel, Cain was not accounted by God as righteous.

Cain’s “sacrifice” was an exercise in futility. God noticed how Cain glowered as the
smoke from his offering refused to ascend heavenward, how the fire fizzled out no
matter how much he fanned it and blew on it.

Why are you so angry, Cain? And why that pout on your face? If only you’d done
what you were supposed to, you would have been accepted by Me. But because you
disobeyed me, sin is even now lurking at your door. It wants to dominate you, but
you must overcome it (Genesis 4:7).

Cain seethed. He resented anybody, God included, telling him what to do. He
refused to repent of his own perverseness, for his heart was hardened toward God.
He didn’t want any advice from the God he was supposedly sacrificing to. How dare
God be so picky, He was lucky to get anything at all from cool Cain! Cain was
determined to run his turf his own way.

This headstrong young man couldn’t stomach following the godly example of his
younger brother. Far be it from him to obtain one of Abel’s choicest lambs to offer up
as the blood sacrifice demanded by God. Cain was ticked off. Why didn’t God
appreciate this gorgeous pile of veggies, or all the sweaty toil that had gone into
wresting his offering from the earth? Cain’s super-sized ego was deflated. Upstaged
by his bratty little brother! Oh, the stinging humiliation of it all! The Top Dog must
not lose face; this insult must not go unavenged.

On the pretext that Cain wanted a private word with him, Abel was lured out to a
secluded field, away from the eyes of his parents. But God saw everything. He
witnessed the full savagery of the lethal blow dealt Abel by Cain, the first murderer.
Soon Abel was lying in a pool of his own blood.

Jealous rage turned to fear. Up until then, no human had ever died. Cain shook that
lifeless form lying limply at his feet. He shouted at it. No response. What could be
done now? His dad would go ballistic. He might even do the same to HIM if he
found the grisly evidence. So Cain became the first undertaker and buried the body
in a hastily excavated grave. The earth received Abel’s lifeless corpse. But his blood
cried out to God, Who knows every sparrow that falls to the ground.

In I John 3:12, the Holy Spirit gives the apostle John insight into Cain’s motive for
the murder. This verse is included in a discourse on loving one another, John’s
trademark teaching.
John contrasts the malignant attitude of Cain with true Christian love. He instructs
us to be:Not like Cain, who was of that wicked one (satan) and killed his brother.
And why did he kill him? Because his own deeds were evil, while his brother’s were
righteous.

Cain served the prince of darkness, as all bullies do. Abel had walked in the Light,
and this Light had shown up the sinister workings of Cain’s soul. But Cain’s
premeditated crime did not succeed in snuffing out the Light, or make his own
burden of guilt weigh any less heavy upon him.

Barely had Cain finished conducting Abel’s no-frills funeral when he heard an
entreaty from heaven: “Cain! Cain! Where is Abel, your brother?”

Ever a cool dude, Cain shrugged, “How should I know? Am I my brother’s keeper
(Genesis 4:9)?

But God was not to be put off. “Cain! What have you done? I hear your brother’s
blood crying up to me from the ground, clamoring for vengeance. The very same
earth which opened her mouth to receive your brother now abhors you. From now
on, you will enjoy no success in farming. The earth will refuse to yield a crop to you.
A homeless wanderer you will be upon the earth.”

Abel had become the first saint martyred for the sake of the Truth, as many millions
in the future would be. His death was due to persecution for righteousness’ sake,
rather than bullying for cosmetic shortcomings. God has, throughout the ages,
permitted such martyrdoms to occur. This is a matter far different from being
targeted because you wear a cheap brand of clothes. I believe that in all other
cases, protection from physical harm can assuredly be sought for through the
intervention of God.

Cain manifested these traits of a typical bully: a vicious temper, a callous heart,
contempt for authority figures, a driving need to be Top Dog. Now he had been
reduced to being a homeless vagabond. For the remainder of his life Cain would
wander and scavenge for his sustenance, always peeking over his shoulder and
worrying that some younger, stronger punk would bump him off. Bullies are like
that. These predators restlessly range, seeking approbation from some and
victimizing others, always fighting any who could pose a challenge to their position
as Leader of the Pack.

Let the bully beware. It is a dangerous business to glorify the attributes of satan as
being “cool”. We live in an amoral (frankly, immoral!) society. Nothing’s a sin,
except bucking the trends. But God doesn’t conform to this ugly world. He declares
in Malachi 3:6: I am the Lord, I never change. In God’s court of law, terminal
bullying carries a terminal penalty, with no time off for good behavior.

But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and perverts, and MURDERERS, and the
immoral, and practitioners of witchcraft, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
place in the lake which burns with fire and sulfur; this is the second death
(Revelation 21:8).

Unearthing Some Hidden Worms

I am going to put forth a theory which may seem incredible, and downright
politically incorrect, but which, in the light of Biblical revelation, makes much sense
to me. I am leaving no stone unturned in my quest to help to set satan’s captives
free from oppression. I will elaborate on one insidious, little acknowledged channel
satan uses to gain entrance into a person’s life to oppress him, apart from anything
the victim himself has done: generational curses.

Time and again the Biblical patriarchs would utter prophetic words over their sons,
foretelling what lay in store for them, and their descendants in particular. Some sons
would receive greater blessings from their fathers than others. Occasionally, a
negative prophecy would be given a son who had done something to anger his
father. Thus, the descendants of the wayward son would bear the consequences of
his ancestor’s misdeed! When the Patriarch Israel spoke a blessing over each of his
twelve sons, he disinherited Reuben, who would have received the double portion
blessing of the firstborn son. Why? Because Reuben had slept with one of his
father’s wives (Genesis 49:1-4).

The Origin of Bigotry And Feelings of Racial inferiority

Genesis 9:20-27

The aftershocks of the Great Flood hit Noah hard. No one on earth was still alive but
his wife, his three sons, and their wives. His extended family had perished, along
with all his neighbors. Before him lay a surreal landscape of broken trees and bones
of the dead. Noah felt the weight of a new responsibility as head of the human race.
Noah cringed from memories of that awful flood, beginning with that dread day the
promised judgment began. Noah could still hear formerly skeptical neighbors
banging on the door of the Ark, crying in fear. But Noah couldn’t open it because
God had shut it. All Noah could do was cry for them, even as he thanked God for his
own deliverance.

As the Ark bobbed and pitched on the churning waves, there were times Noah’s
sleep left him. Noah, a preacher of righteousness who had preached his heart out,
with only seven souls saved to show for his long years of proclaiming the judgment
of God. Had Noah done his very best to urge his godless neighbors to turn from their
wicked way and be saved?

It’s hard to be the one everyone looks up to, especially when you yourself need
someone to tell your own troubles to. A burden shared is a burden halved, but Noah
didn’t want to burden his loved ones with his own anxieties and regrets. Surely wine
could comfort his heart. So Noah planted a vineyard and harvested his vintage.
Noah was a prudent man who seldom stumbled. But this time the wine was too
strong and Noah was too weak. All he could do was sleep it off in his tent, away
from the eyes of his family.

Noah was the only man God had counted as righteous, head of the only family He’d
deemed worthy to spare from the Judgment of the Flood. Noah and his wife were
old. Only their sons and their wives were still alive and able to repopulate Planet
Earth. But Noah held an honorable position, a venerable elder saint who did his best
to lead and guide his family in the ways of holiness. Noah surely did not want his
family to see him in this humiliating state, and to lose respect for him.

Noah fell into a foggy sleep. From far away came a loud guffaw. Oh no, he thought.
Someone’s walked in on me. Noah tried to fumble for his cloak, but his shaky hand
wouldn’t obey him. He felt his cold, naked vulnerability. The laughs grew louder.
Through fluttering eyelids, Noah thought he saw the flash of a fleeing form, then the
dripping of rain. Not more rain! Or was that laughter? Nobody likes to be laughed
at, especially the Patriarch of the whole human race, who had already endured
decades of derision from ungodly neighbors who could not understand why an ocean
liner was being built so far from the coast, in a world where rain had never before
fallen.

Noah could barely move his head. But it came to him. Noah knew whose laugh that
was. No one else was capable of such a shrill laugh, which reminded Noah of a crow.
That strident voice could surely awaken the dead. Immobilized by his wine, Noah
could only hope no one else would come in. But in his cloudy confusion he could
discern two faceless shapes coming closer. This time Noah felt no fear. One of the
figures softly whispered: “Quickly, brother. Do not look behind you. Now lower the
cover carefully. Let’s hurry away before father awakens.”

At least they weren’t laughing at him. Noah felt fabric fall across his torso and legs.
He groaned, knowing that his first visitor had gotten an eyeful.

Subsequent questioning revealed that Shem and Japheth had been informed of
Noah’s inebriation, and also of his nakedness. But what really kindled Noah’s wrath
was the motive of the informer. For some perverse reason, Ham had wanted to
discredit his dad in the eyes of his brothers, to debunk Noah’s testimony that he
alone had been found righteous upon the earth.

Such crass betrayal merited severe punishment. Some people in future fallen
civilizations would be the ruling elite, while its humblest inhabitants would be slaves
to serve those on the top rungs of society. Right then and there it was decreed who
would be at the bottom of the pecking order. Who but the progeny of the
treacherous Ham?

Ham’s youngest son Canaan, had had nothing to do with his dad’s mischief. Yet the
dire prophecy of slavery was pronounced upon him, not his father Ham. And it was
never meant for Canaan’s brother Cush, progenitor of the black African peoples.
Noah said: “Cursed be Canaan. A servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God
shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be
his servant.”

Ham’s two brothers Shem and Japheth, along with their wives, must have been
horrified by Noah’s sentence on the son of Ham, and looked differently upon Ham’s
entire clan from that day on.

Many diverse ethnic groups sprang from Ham, as recorded in Genesis 10:6-20, I
Chronicles 1:8-16, Psalms 78:51, and chapter 106:22. Ham’s illustrious grandson
Nimrod, was fathered by Cush, ancestor of all the black nations of Africa. Nimrod
was called “a mighty hunter before the Lord”. He founded the City of Babel, later
known as Babylon, where pagan mystery religions flourished. Babylon was located in
modern-day Iraq.

Perhaps Nimrod felt alienated from his Creator because of Noah’s dire edict. Indeed,
the Tower of Babel was a gigantic monument to human ego, not a tribute to the
greatness of God. It was there that God thwarted the world’s first space program
by dividing mankind into diverse ethnic groups speaking their own tongues.

The North African peoples and Assyrians sprang from Ham, as did the Canaanites,
Egyptians, and Philistines. Many believe that ethnic Gypsies (the Rom) descended
from Ham.

The Canaanites were composed of many diverse tribes (i.e. Hivites, Jebusites,
Girgashites, Amorites). At the time of the Exodus, they were flourishing in the Land
of Canaan. But God was furious with them because of their practice of child sacrifice
and other gross sins. God was determined to drive the Canaanites out of the
Promised Land, and rid it of their immorality. So the Lord commanded the Israelites
to wage war against them and wipe them out. He declared the City of Jericho
accursed in His sight (Joshua 6:17). When the walls of Jericho fell, only the harlot
Rahab and her family were spared, because she had shown her faith in God by
helping some Israelite spies escape detection. She dwelt among the Hebrews, and
became an ancestress of King David and Jesus Christ. Thus, through faith, Rahab
was accounted as righteous by God, and did not suffer the fate of the other
Canaanites (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Likewise, Ruth the Moabitess became a
worshipper of the One True God. She found favor in His sight, and was also in the
lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5-6).

The various peoples of the Holy Land, including the Moabites, Amalekites, and
Philistines, eventually ceased to exist as identifiable ethnic groups. In spite of
many centuries of exile from their own land, God has preserved the Jews as a
distinctive people; but their ancient enemies, the Philistines, assimilated into other
nations. God Himself declared that He would be at enmity with the Amalekites
throughout all generations, until they were utterly destroyed, because they had
ambushed the Israelites as they fled from Egypt (Exodus 17:14-16; ISamuel 15:1-
3). By contrast, the neighboring Kenites were spared, because they had been kind
to the Israelite refugees ( I Samuel 15: 6).

Although the Edomites were, like the Israelites, descended from Abraham’s son
Isaac, they likewise lay under God’s curse. The entire Book of Obadiah, and Ezekiel
chapter 35 tell of God’s anger against the Edomites, who bullied God’s people when
the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem, and carried the Jews off to slavery.
The Edomites mocked the Jews’ plight, hindered their escape, and returned fugitive
captives to the Babylonians. For their many sins, God promised them utter
destruction. One preacher said that if he knew he belonged to such a doomed race,
he would get out of it through placing his faith in Christ, and being spiritually grafted
into the Family of God (Romans 3:28-29; 11:13-24).

The Egyptian civilization was one of the most scientifically advanced of the ancient
world. But Egypt oppressed God’s people and fell beneath the judgment of the Ten
Plagues of the Exodus. Egypt later came under the heel of the burgeoning Roman
Empire, and has never regained its former glory. God’s promise to Abraham has
helped shaped the destiny of nations: I will bless them that bless thee and curse
them that curse thee (Gen.12:3).

As for the Gypsies, many of them were brutally persecuted by the Nazis and put into
concentration camps, alongside the Jews. The Nazis considered all other races
inferior to the so-called Aryan race. They turned a blind eye to those Scriptures
which declare that non-Jewish believers are grafted into the Tree of Israel by faith
(Rom.11:17-21).

If Noah could only have foreseen the abject misery which lay in store for countless
millions throughout the centuries! Perhaps he might have pleaded with God to spare
those people affected by his prophecy. No wonder Scripture exhorts saints to bless,
and curse not (Romans 12:14). I believe that careless words spoken in anger give
satan an open door to do his dirty work. Parents, watch what you say to your
children. Never give them up as hopeless, but ever speak gentle words of
encouragement and godly love to them. Noah was the spiritual head of his family
upon earth. Spiritual headship carries with it a strong measure of authority and
responsibility. I just don’t think Noah foresaw all the multiplied millions of hapless
souls doomed to centuries of spiritual and societal oppression. The enemy is pleased
whenever we, however unintentionally, turn a blind eye to his destruction of others.

The Lord has shown me that there is a subconscious area of our souls which can be
warped by the lies of the devil, even if our conscious minds are totally ignorant of
negative impressions recorded there by heredity or personal experience. I believe
that just as the sin nature is inherited, that other ill effects of the Fall of man have
been passed on, including racial prejudice. Many people cannot seem to overcome
deeply ingrained hostilities toward other races, no matter how well they’ve been
taught God’s truth.

All of mankind is descended from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Each of us has a direct patrilineal (father-to-father) descent from just one of these
men, although most of us could probably trace indirect lines of descent from all of
them, and over thousands of years an incredible amount of racial mixing has taken
place!

It’s just plain ignorant to say only one racial group has ever been enslaved. A great
proportion of the ancient Roman Empire was comprised of slaves. There were
German slaves, British slaves and Greek slaves, many of them with porcelain white
skin and fair hair coveted by their dark-haired owners. Before the Exodus set them
free, even God’s Chosen People, the Hebrews, were slaves.

Abraham, founder of both the Jewish and Arab nations, took his wife’s Egyptian
maid Hagar as a concubine, in order to produce a male heir. Ishmael, son of the
slave girl, would have been Abraham’s heir, had the Patriarch’s lawful wife not
produced a son of her own. Isaac was the one who inherited Abraham’s wealth. But
God also promised to bless Ishmael, son of the bondwoman, because he too was
Abraham’s son. Today, Ishmael’s descendants, the Arabs, sit on billions of dollars
worth of oil deposited beneath the sands of the Arabian Peninsula. Many Jews are
also materially wealthy, and the spiritual riches of the Kingdom of God were first
entrusted to them.

Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Israel, grandson of Abraham. He was taken by
slave traders to Egypt, where through divine Providence, he attained to the highest
office in the land, under Pharaoh. He married the daughter of the Egyptian Priest
of On. They had two sons.

Eventually Joseph was reunited with his father Jacob, whose name had been
changed to Israel in Genesis 35:10. As he looked on, his boys jointly received the
blessing of the first-born son from their dying grandfather (Joseph’s half-brother
Reuben had forfeited this birthright inheritance through sin). Israel laid hands on
their heads, and formally adopted them into his family, possibly because of their
Hamitic heritage (Israel himself was descended from Shem; hence a Semite).
Joseph’s two sons were promised national greatness.

Despite the fact Noah’s curse was pronounced on Canaan, Ham’s youngest son, and
Canaan’s descendants were Hittites and Egyptians, not sub-Saharan Africans, the
portentous words spoken against Canaan were used as an excuse by “Christian”
white slave traders to justify doing the devil’s work. Over the centuries, black
people have suffered the cruelest oppression possible. Millions were kidnapped from
their homes in Africa, branded and caged like animals. Evil slave traders packed their
human cargo like sardines in foul, dark holds of ships, where many sickened and
died. In America and elsewhere in the “civilized world”, the survivors were stripped
of their basic human dignity and sold at auction like cattle. African-American slaves
endured insults, harsh punishments, enforced illiteracy and backbreaking toil till
death set them free. Only the hope of a better life in heaven brightened their bitter
days. Oppressed field hands sought comfort in the singing of spirituals.

Even after the Emancipation Proclamation bestowed de facto freedom upon African
Americans, their lot was hardly improved. Following the Reconstruction Period after
the Civil War, southern states enforced “Jim Crow” laws to prevent the betterment of
the black man’s social and economic condition. In Dixieland, a white man could
rape, injure or even kill a black person without fear of retribution from the white
legal system. I still remember those shocking news telecasts of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s,
which showed bigoted white policemen attacking Civil Rights demonstrators with fire
hoses and snarling dogs. I remember seeing the filthy rest rooms reserved for
African-Americans at “filling stations”; how they were barred from restaurants and
white churches, in spite of St. Paul’s teaching that all believers, regardless of
nationality, are one in Christ Jesus.

If you boasted of having an Indian ancestor in your family tree, your neighbor might
smile and say: “I believe my granny was one-quarter Cherokee.” You might even be
admired for claiming kinship with that other oppressed race, which was nearly
exterminated by “racially superior” invaders whose lust for land and gold made
them willing to kill for it. Racism rejects variety in God’s creation. That code of white
racism is limited only by the “Pocahontas clause”. All non-Anglo-Saxon ancestry
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF a bit of Native American heritage is looked down on by
bigots. Pocahontas was a historical Indian princess whose life has been glamorized
in film and legend. Indians who wanted only to mind their own business and get on
with their lives were reviled and lynched by white settlers. Whole tribes were wiped
out by merciless white soldiers who slaughtered entire villages of women and
children while their men were away hunting. Talk about cowardice and cruelty! Yet,
the white man has admired the Indians’ brave warriors so much that cities, parks
and states have been named after them.

However superficial the honor, the Indian is at least immortalized in American place
names, and a few of their words have been assimilated into the English language.
Every office holds a powwow to decide who’s highest on the totem pole. But where
is the honor for the black man who donated free labor to build America into a
superpower? Who brags about having a cotton picker in their family tree? I read of
one blond, blue-eyed boy who got barred from a school in Mississippi because he
was one-sixty-fourth black!
Much blood and many tears were shed in the long struggle to secure the civil
liberties of African Americans, and to give them legal protection against the brutality
of prejudiced policemen and courts. But love cannot be legislated. Many are still
bound by traditional hurtful attitudes. I believe that racial prejudice is an inherited
instinct, much more than a deliberate choice, and needs to be overcome by the
Power of Christ in us. By the same token, gnawing feelings of inherent inferiority
experienced by people of any ethnic group (regardless of color) need to be healed
by the Power of the Blood of Christ. The Curse upon Canaan, or any other suspected
curse, must be repudiated by the Prayer of Faith! All those who are saved by the
Blood of Jesus have been grafted by faith into His own lineage (Rom. 11:16-24). We
Christians have a right to be free from any curses incurred by any of our ancestors,
known or unknown. The entire Book of Obadiah pronounces God’s judgment and
curse upon the descendants of Edom (Esau). Yet even this curse can be overcome
through faith in Christ and His shed blood.

Just as words of judgment proclaimed the problem, we as Christians can, by Spirit-

empowered words, escape the effects of ancient curses. Christ’s victory on the Cross
vanquished the powers of darkness (Col.2:15). But we must claim Christ’s victory
on our behalf for it to be effectual in our personal lives. Born-again descendants of
any oppressed ethnic group have the right to declare themselves liberated by Christ
Jesus Who died for people of all nations. That is God’s Emancipation Proclamation.
When we become believers, we are grafted into Spiritual Israel, through our union
with Christ. Thus, we are under God’s blessing, and not His displeasure. If you are
born again into God’s family, you must see yourself as God sees you, not as some
spiritually blind bully sees you.

This same principle applies to any type of curse you suspect may have affected you
or your ancestors. People of all nationalities have unwittingly been the victims of
generational curses. Many have gone to their graves without ever being able to
overcome unexplainable feelings of inferiority, chronic illness or misfortune, or
bullying from others who seem to despise them for no reason whatsoever. Through
the Blood of the Lamb we can be set free from such satanic spirits of oppression.

I remember a prayer we offered up in church on behalf of President Reagan, who

had just survived an assassination attempt. More than a century before, the Indian
chief Tecumseh had uttered a curse which decreed that every U.S. president elected
in a year ending in “0” would die in office. Reagan had won his first term in 1980. Up
until then, this curse had never failed to work. But we all decided enough was
enough, and Ronald Reagan was going to survive his term in office. I believe that
what makes curses effective is the power of satan enforcing them, not the words
themselves. As Spirit-filled believers, we need to take authority over all the works of
darkness, and rebuke the devil.

I have prayed in the Spirit for victory over any and all generational curses which
might have given rise to satan’s oppression in the area of bullying, or other
misfortunes I suffered over the years. I feel stronger and more at peace. I have a
healthy perception of my worth to God which I didn’t have in my nightmare years.

At this time, I feel led to pray with those of you who have reason to think you have
been oppressed by the devil through the outworking of any kind of inherited curse.
As you read this prayer and make it your own, it will be just the same as I were
there in person offering it up on your behalf. Whichever words apply to your
situation, offer them up to the Lord by faith. Join me now in calling upon the Lord to
deliver you.

Prayer For Deliverance From Generational Curses

Dear Heavenly Father, we stand on specific promises of Your Holy Word. Many
centuries after that dark pronouncement upon Ham, You declared in Ezekiel chapter
18 that You judge us as individuals, not as groups. You promised that the son shall
not be held responsible for the sins of his father, neither shall the father be liable for
the sins of his son.

We thank You, dear Father, that in Christ, there are no longer any racial or ethnic
distinctions to create hindrance to receiving Your blessing. Christ has given all of us
the right to be free in Him. And yet, the devil is always reluctant to vacate places of
authority which he has usurped in the lives of people.

We plead the power of the Blood of Jesus over the life of the reader who has suffered
racial harassment. Right now we claim that the enemy will no longer be permitted to
enforce any curse against this person. May your precious child will know that as
You look at him or her, You will see only Christ, the New Life within. We ask that this
beloved saint will be the object of Your continual care, and that deeply ingrained
strongholds put in his or her life by satan’s lies will be utterly torn down. We ask that
all the chains in this soul would be broken, and this dear one would live in the light of
the knowledge of being one of a son or daughter of God.

Through faith in Christ this person is innocent of any sins his ancestors may have
committed, or any idolatry his ancestors may have participated in. Please send
warring angels to contend with any foes who would come against this person who
has taken refuge in Christ Jesus. Where there was bondage before, let there be
glorious liberty in Christ. Amen.

Satan Wars Against Abraham’s Seed

When Jesus was being tried before Pontius Pilate, His enemies among the Jewish
religious leaders incited a mob to stand before Pilate’s judgment seat and demand
that He be sentenced to die on the Cross. Pilate feared that troops might have to be
called in to forcibly restore order, and the wrath of the Roman Emperor would
descend upon his head if he failed to pacify the crowd. Frustrated, he dipped his
hands into a basin of water and declared: “I am not responsible for the death of this
innocent man. This is YOUR doing!”

In that awful moment the mob sealed the destiny of their nation: “May His blood be
on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:24-25). Thus, Christ was rejected by His
own nation (John 1:11).

It is reasonable to suppose that the mob itself had Christ crucified out of ignorance.
Those people had been deceived by self-serving religious leaders. Because they had
blindly put their trust in the opinions of pompous, well-educated men, they had no
compunctions about uttering that curse. Since, in their eyes, Christ really was guilty
of blasphemy, they honestly didn’t think the curse would take effect.

Scripture indicates that some of the religious leaders who condemned Christ were
deceived by satan and it was possible for them to be forgiven. St. Paul himself fell
into that category. But those authorities who deliberately lied to the mob bore a
fearsome degree of guilt before God. They knew they were lying, but didn’t care
that they were hindering others from entering into Life Eternal. Earlier, these
depraved men had received a chilling rebuke from Christ Himself: They lay under the
most terrible judgment of God, because they knew from fulfilled Scripture and from
observing the miracles and godly nature of Christ, that He was indeed the very Son
of God. And yet, in order to preserve their own place in the pecking order, and to
avoid crossing the Romans, they had denounced Him unjustly, even maligning the
Holy Spirit within Him. Because they had knowingly slandered the Spirit of God,
they were beyond redemption. Blind leaders of the blind, those wolves in sheep’s
clothing had misled their people to the point where they even pronounced a bitter
curse upon their own progeny.

But Jesus had given the Jews clear warnings. Most of Matthew, chapter 23 deals
with Christ’s scathing denunciation of scribes and Pharisees whose hearts were
corrupt in the sight of God, and who were leading others down the path of
destruction. He foretells their mistreatment of His disciples, and the punishment
which they would suffer for it. He even said that the guilt of all the righteous blood
ever shed, from that of Abel to the Prophet Zacharias, would be laid upon those
living in His own generation. He lamented that the City of Jerusalem had rejected its
own time of salvation from God, and they had refused His protection from divine
judgment. Because of this, Jerusalem itself would be leveled in A.D.70 by the
Roman general Titus, after a terrible siege. Some Biblical scholars think that had the
Jews accepted Jesus as their Messiah at that time, that somehow He still would have
been offered up as a Sacrifice for sin; and, following His resurrection, the glorious
Kingdom of God on earth would have immediately commenced. But it has been
delayed for nearly 2000 years.

Throughout history, the Jewish nation has been victimized. After the Romans drove
them out of their promised Land, they fled to other nations for sanctuary.
Everywhere they went, they endured persecution, harassment and hatred. Jews were
forced to live in ghettos, and prohibited from engaging in most trades. Whenever
disease epidemics or other misfortunes struck the community, Jews were made the
scapegoat. At such times, they would be driven out or slaughtered, and their homes
destroyed. The Crusaders, bloodthirsty bigots who had not one speck of the Love of
Christ in their hearts, killed to show fidelity to false religion. They murdered
thousands of Jews and Arabs “to defend the faith”. Those butchers insulted our Holy
Savior by calling themselves by His Name. They seem to have forgotten God’s
explicit warning to those who would harm Abraham’s descendants: I will bless those
who bless you, and curse those who curse you (Genesis 12:3).

The atrocities against the Jews continued over many centuries, culminating in the
unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. European “Christians” were wrongly taught
that the Jews were “Christ-killers”. How absurd! Those of later generations had no
part in the travesty of justice which took place before Pilate’s judgment seat. One
might as well blame modern Italians for the leveling of Jerusalem in A.D.70!

I believe satan takes advantage of it when the Church fails to pray for the Jews.
Much trouble has resulted from general lack of knowledge about what motivates the
devil, who appears before God to accuse people of sin (Job 1:8-11; Zechariah 3:1-2;
Revelation 12:10). Because the Jewish nation would not accept their Deliverer,
satan immediately seized upon those words uttered by the hostile mob to give him
an excuse to afflict generations of Jews. Only fervent prayer in the Name of Christ,
the Deliverer of Jew and Gentile alike, could have stopped satan from harming
Jewish families. It is the responsibility of every head of a family to, by faith, place
the Blood of the Lamb over his household as God’s protection from the Angel of
Death (Exodus 12:1-13; Hebrews 9:11-15; I Peter 1:18-19). Christ is the Lamb of
God (Isaiah chapter 53; John 1:29). His Blood shields unperfected saints from the
wrath of a righteous God. Only through Christ can we approach the Throne of God
(John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 10:19-20). We are to render the Son honor,
even as we do the Father (Psalms 2:12; John 5:23). Through extolling the greatness
of Christ the Lord, “the Enemy and Avenger” is restrained, and we have peace in our
lives (Psalms 8:2).

If You Are Jewish

Now I would like to pray for your protection from the devil, who is the adversary of
God’s Chosen Nation.

Dear Heavenly Father, I give You thanks for this dear Jewish friend who has read this
far in my book. He or she is not seeking help from other people, but from the Living
God. You have united all believers in Christ Jesus, and torn down the wall which
once separated us. All Christains owe a debt of gratitude to Your Chosen People the
Jews, through whom the Redeemer came, and who faithfully preserved the
Scriptures through many centuries of persecution.

Dear Lord, this one has been oppressed by enemies, maybe even persecuted for
being Jewish. We know that the devil is behind this strife, and he won’t stop
harassing Christians and Jews alike until he is cast into the deep Abyss. But the
person reading this cannot be held responsible for what was done to Christ 2000
years ago. He or she genuinely wants to please You and fulfill the destiny you’ve
mapped out for their life. Please help them to see that Christ loves all who seek the
truth with a sincere heart, whether Jew or Gentile.

I as for Your mercy and protection upon the life of this precious reader, and over all
his or her family, circumstances, and possessions. Give this precious one a special
touch of Your healing and restoring power, that all the damage the enemy has done
might be remedied. Where there was adversity, let there now be assurance of Your
blessing. Let Your Holy Love be shed abroad in the heart of this one, and dispatch
Your warring angels to defend him or her from all the attacks of the devil. In Jesus’
name, Amen.

Occultic Bondages
Leviticus 19:31; 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Isaiah 8:19;
Acts 16:16-18; Galatians 5:20;Revelation 21:8

Involvement in occult activities is another way in which satan gains access to a

person’s life. If the shadowy world of the occult didn’t sometimes yield temporary
relief from problems, it would have few devotees today. Although most people are
ignorant of the actual power behind the occult, their ignorance does not protect them
from ultimately having to “pay the piper”. The devil never dispenses his favors for
free! Anyone who has ever won the lottery or won the heart of a lover through
occultic practices has actually received the supernatural assistance of satan’s
demons, and the devil considers that one to be in his debt! Although the powers of
darkness have worked to bring temporal wealth and “love” to an individual, the
enjoyment of those things will ultimately end in tragedy if God’s deliverance is not
sought, and the person is not released from the power of satan, who is more ruthless
than any gangster when it’s time to collect his fee.

When King Saul felt overwhelmed by the vast forces of the Philistine armies, he
sought God’s help, but God wasn’t listening (I Sam.28:5-6). God had become Saul’s
enemy (I Sam.28:16). And no wonder, because not only had Saul stubbornly
disobeyed God’s orders and tried to kill David, he massacred a whole city of priests
who had given help to David (I Sam.22:11-19). Saul had everyone killed, including
women, children, and newborn babies. After all the evil he’d done, why should Saul
have expected God to bail him out of his own mess? So Saul turned to a witch to try
to conjure up the spirit of Samuel the prophet (I Sam.28:7-25). Saul got only a
strong rebuke from Samuel, who was permitted by God to really appear to him.
Samuel warned Saul that he and his sons would join him in the netherworld the very
next day. That prediction came true (I Samuel chapter 31).

Dabbling in the occult is strictly forbidden by the Word of God. Occultic practices
iinclude: New Age philosophies such as medtation, visualization or affirmation,
performed as a means to supposedly create your own reality in a god-like fashion;
Fortune telling; Consultation with mediums (people who receive messages from evil
spirits posing as departed friends or relatives of the client); Witchcraft, either black
or “white” (God considers both equally bad); Divination, Astrology, Transcendental
Meditation; Yoga Philosophies; ESP (Extra-sensory perception); The I Ching,
Hypnosis, Tarot cards, Water witching, Consultation with Phone psychics, Palmistry;
Eastern Religions, and any other quasi-religious practices which conflict with the
clear teachings of Scripture.

Don’t Ever Bully Yourself!

You, as a believer, are the apple of God’s eye. It is just as wrong to insult yourself
as it is for a bully to do it. One day I got irked at myself for being careless at the
stove. “What an idiot I am,” I murmured. Immediately I felt the anger of God
directed at me, and I knew I had to repent. It was then I more fully realized just
how highly He esteems me, and how precious I am to Him. I am His treasure, and I
am to have a proper love even for myself.

Job’s Comforter Counselors

Even counselors are human. But insensitive, inept ones are nothing but Job’s
comforters (check out the Book of Job if you’re unfamiliar with the concept). They’ll
try to assign the blame to you for having to suffer the trial of bullying in the first
place. But don’t buy that lie of satan, who can deceive even religious people. Don’t
ever let anybody convince you that YOU’RE to blame for the bullying! Unless you
committed aggression against the bully first, that’s untrue. Bullying is ALWAYS
inexcusable! My full figure and frizzy hair did NOT make it OK to bully me! I
recognize bullying as a problem originating not with flesh and blood, but with evil
spirits of the air ( Ephesians 6) The devil is just as capable of singling out beautiful
people, as well as plain people, for abuse. Only God knows how many high school
beauty queens have been pressured to “put out” because why else would she wear
heavy makeup and provocative clothes, etc.

About 8 years after I fled high school I went to a minister and told him how horribly
I’d been treated in school, and about depression caused by bad memories. He asked
me what I could have done to feel better about myself. I told him I’d starved myself
to lose weight after fleeing my high school, straightened my hair, plucked my
eyebrows thin, ad nauseum. He asked: “Why didn’t you do that before?” If I’d had
the guts, I would have told him what he was really saying was: Those bullies had
every right to harass me because only skinny boy toys with spindly arms and sleek
shiny hair have the right to self-respect in satan’s world! But I just went along with
him because in my eyes, he was the Bible expert and was higher on God’s totem
pole. Besides, hadn’t he cleared a slot in his busy schedule to counsel me about my
nightmares and flashbacks?

In eighth grade I put on some pretty coral lipstick. It didn’t win me any extra friends.
I never said anything either good or bad about my own looks. But this evil devil who
sat in the desk in front of me still acted mean and nasty, though I’d never done or
said anything to him. He said, “You think you’re somethin’, just ‘cause you started
wearing that lipstick. He said my hair looked like sage brush. He spat at me. Bet
that little creep went to church every Sunday like most of the vile hypocrites at that
school. This is a fine example of how trying to “improve your looks” doesn’t make a
dime’s worth of difference. If they’ve already designated you as THE one to pick on,
come hell or high water, it’s gonna stay that way till the cows come home.

I say this to every Christian woman who feels she’s forever under the scrutiny of
other churchgoers who have bought into the world’s lie and made it part of their
gospel: Don’t take it any more! Say to yourself and to others: “I have a right to BE
the person God made me, and in the Name of Jesus I REFUSE TO COME (or stay)
UNDER BONDAGE TO BABYLON’S ABOMINABLE BEAUTY INDUSTRY! IT DOES NOT
BELONG IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD! Beauty bias is sanctified sexism, plain and
simple.

I wish I had a nickel for every time some Christian told me I was sinning against the
Lord because I still had to fight bad feelings that resurface every now and then, and
still had to contend with old fears. “Look at all the Lord’s done to bless you,” they
might say. “There’s no excuse for the way you feel, Pat. Even the Bible says fear is
a sin.”

Well, it’s a good idea to clarify what sort of fear God considers sinful. I believe the
kind of fear that disgusts God the most is moral cowardice_refusing to stand for
righteousness and defend the weak in a wicked world where good is called evil and
evil is called good. Many days I went to school with knots in my stomach, braced for
yet another battle. But at least I gritted my teeth and went to that stinking hellhole
every day. The fear God counts as cowardice was committed against me day in and
day out. Unless I found somebody willing to sit with me, there were 5 vacant chairs
at my six-seater lunch table every single day. I lived in the Bible Belt, and
conservatively speaking, at least 10% of the cafeteria crowd must have been born
again. At least one or two in my P.E. class must have been born-again believers.
God could not find anybody willing to thumb their nose at the Cult of Cool and dare
to be seen eating lunch with me, or peep a protest when I was always the last to be
chosen for teams. Sure, they’d go to some steamy jungle mission field and die for
Jesus, but they wouldn’t dare walk a few feet over to my table and enjoy my
company. They might have professed Christ, but it was the devil pulling their strings
at school!

For the first time in my life I noticed an odd inconsistency in John Chapter 20. This
is the story of men who have just witnessed the Miracle of the Ages and yet, their
old fear still has a hold on them. Jesus has just been crucified by His enemies, and
His bereaved disciples are petrified that the Jewish leaders who betrayed Christ to
the Romans were out to get them, too. In verse 19 we read: Then the same day at
evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and
saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Notice. Jesus doesn’t rip into those guys because they’re hiding behind locked doors.
He doesn’t disown them in disgust. He comes to bless them with His peace. In verse
22 He says: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. I believe that is the moment the disciples
were spiritually born again, because in Acts Chapter Two they were filled with the
Holy Ghost, the Blessing of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. No one can be saved
without the Presence of the Holy Ghost abiding in him, but there is a Second Blessing
of the overflow of the Holy Ghost, which gives holy boldness and an anointing for
power to serve Christ in this ungodly world.

The shocker is in verse 26: And after eight days again His disciples were within
(shut indoors) and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and
stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Despite getting a visit from Christ after His miraculous resurrection from the dead,
those same disciples again secluded themselves behind locked doors for fear of the
Jews! Once again, Jesus doesn’t scold his men for being afraid to face their foes and
for hiding. Instead He blesses them! If Christ had been like the rest of us, He might
have gone over to pay Annas and Caiphas a visit and settled the score with those
scoundrels for betraying Him to the Romans. If Christ had used the strength of His
glorified body to punish his religious archenemies for fighting against His Kingdom
and hindering so many from entering into Life Eternal, the disciples wouldn’t have
had to stay in hiding. The religious leaders would have been way too scared to mess
with them ever again once Jesus finished dealing with them!

A common misconception is that once we’ve received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,
we should never again admit to being afraid. But even Jesus Himself felt what we
feel, so He could have compassion on us (Luke 22:28; Heb.4:15). He wrestled with
His own fears in the Garden of Gethsemane just prior to His Crucifixion. In Matthew
26:39 He pleads with His Father that if it be possible, to spare Him the bitter cup of
suffering he must drink. Fear had to be conquered before Christ could offer up
Himself for our sins. Jesus had been anointed by the Holy Spirit before His own
earthly ministry (Mark 1:9-10). This Blessing did not put an immediate end to
Christ’s conflicts and troubles; it empowered Him to engage in spiritual warfare
against satan and ultimately defeat him.

In Acts Chapter Two the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost after tarrying for
ten days in the Upper Room. Peter gained a new boldness in preaching the
Resurrected Christ and warning sinners of God’s coming judgment. But that doesn’t
mean Peter never again felt afraid. In Acts Chapter 4 we find the apostles feeling
intimidated because the enemies of Christ have just threatened them with bodily
harm unless they stopped healing the sick and preaching Christ. In verses 23-31
they hold a prayer meeting, asking God for courage to continue preaching the Truth
of the Gospel even in the face of enemy opposition. Once again they receive a fresh
infilling of the Spirit, and renewed boldness.
This tells me that waging warfare against the father of all bullies is a lifelong
business. It is heartless and ignorant to accuse a trial-weary Christian of sin just
because he admits he is still at war with a devil who tries to paralyze him with fear.
God asks only that we avail ourselves of His power and courage to fight satan, not
give in to him.

Victims get chided for “overreacting” to verbal abuse. Some say it is harmless and
you should just shrug it off. But it’s easy to be philosophical about somebody else’s
suffering, isn’t it? Why is it that people take physical suffering seriously, but think
emotional hurts are a figment of the imagination? Bullying, even protracted, severe
verbal bullying and social ostracism, is emotional murder! Bullies destroy their
victim’s ability to love and receive love. Suppose a political dissenter is kept in a cell
and starved of food. He will feel acute hunger the first few days. But once the
stomach gets used to being empty, the sensation of hunger might dull to the point
where it is hardly noticeable anymore. The person still needs food, but what if he
decides to just reconcile himself to the idea of dying and treats his deprivation of
nourishment as a hunger strike to protest his ill treatment? Apathy toward food sets
in as the hunger striker focuses on other things to keep his mind off eating. It is
possible to starve to death by teaching yourself to think you no longer need food.
The day comes when the jailer brings a huge plate of steak and eggs to the starving
prisoner. The prisoner responds: “Don’t need it no more.”

A kid who has been stepped on, ridiculed, snubbed and ostracized for years will
begin to deliberately shut others out, if only to protect himself. He has only learned
that his overtures of friendship will only be thrown back in his face because “he’s got
cooties”. “Get away!” and “You’ve got the mange!” finally take their toll to the point
where the bullied individual begins to resign himself to permanent social starvation.
It is even borne stoically. But it means a part of that person shrivels up and dies.
Things which move others to laughter and smiles will leave him stony-faced and
unresponsive, because he has been emotionally murdered by bullies. Worse yet,
even when the teacher persuades the others to make positive moves to build bridges
with that person, it might be too little too late, especially if the bullying victim is also
estranged from God. After so many years of having the rug pulled out from under
him to make him feel like an idiot, the bullied kid no longer trusts the motives of
others. Loving and caring have died and only cold cynicism remains.

Kids might be good as gold around the teacher. But watch out for comments passed
outside the bathroom stall or out in the hallway when Teach ain’t lookin’!” One girl,
“Sandy”, laughed and joked with her friends just outside the bathroom stall I was
in. “She’s so dumb,” I heard. I felt hurt, humiliated and angry. I had said nothing to
her, and she had started it, knowing I was in the bathroom. I came out and used
the only defense I had to turn the comment against her: “At least I get good
grades.” Her answer: “I can get a girl friend.”

And what kind of friends did Sandy have, but foul-mouthed backstabbers like she
was? I definitely was not blessed at the time and my life was a dark pit, but was
Sandy really better off than me? Sure Sandy had more pals than I did, but how long
would their “friendship” have lasted if she’d developed a heart and a conscience?

Words wound. Seemingly little things can kill. You used to get peanuts on the plane,
but peanut allergy is taken so seriously now that they aren’t handed out by flight
attendants anymore. Warnings are pasted on food packages that peanuts might be
lurking inside. Just think of it. Just ONE teeny-weeny peanut can send some people
into throes of agony or even cause death. And one cruel word too many can be the
last straw for a kid who’s sick of life.

When was the last time somebody with a hypersensitivity to bee stings was rebuked
for overreacting to a nasty sting? Most individuals find a bee sting a minor
nuisance they can live with till it goes away after a few days. All they’ve gotta put
up with is a sore red spot on their arm, maybe even a slight swelling. But they can
get on just fine with their daily lives. But you have the occasional individual who will
swell up like a balloon and nearly die from a bee sting. Yet nobody finds fault with
such allergy sufferers because they can see the harm that’s done by the little bee.
What annoys one person kills another.

When a rattlesnake bites the puncture marks it leaves are very tiny. In and of
themselves, those marks wouldn’t be much worse than stabbing yourself with a
sewing needle. But it’s the venom that does the snake’s dirty work for him. As you
watch the bite victim swell up, turn purple and lose consciousness, there is visible
evidence of harm, so you wouldn’t tell him to get a grip on himself and snap out of
it. To those too blind to see, only the visible is real. But I know I am much more
than flesh and blood. Long after this body is dust my spirit will live on and on. My
soul will survive eternity, full of zeal for the things of God.

Veterans of the High School of Hard Knocks are like that person hypersensitive to
bee stings. Being torn down time and time and time again can make them people-
shy and supersensitive to verbal poison injected into their eternal souls by satan’s
kids. Satan is called a serpent (snake) in the Bible (Rev. 20:2). Jesus Himself called
His own enemies vipers (Matt. 12:34). The viper is an extremely venomous snake,
common in the Middle East. Like begets like. Bullies, satan’s children, are also
deadly dispensers of hate. They speak with the tongues of vipers (Psalms 58: 3-4).
The Psalmist declares that even from the womb the wicked are estranged from God.
They do not belong to Him, and they are of their father the devil. The Bible says
they are from beneath (John 8:23,44). How ludicrous, to suppose that the eternal
soul of a person is less real than the body which shall die and return to the dust, and
the hurts inflicted on it are inconsequential, just because a bleeding soul is not
visible to the naked eye!

Proverbs 11:9 declares that it is possible for someone to destroy his neighbor with
his mouth! Words can heal and words can destroy! But how many smug pastors
have told some hurting soul: “That’s just your rebellious flesh nature reacting to
nothing. Grow up! You know others in the world are suffering much worse
persecution than you are! Repent of your bad attitude toward the tiny little trials
God sends along for your own good!”

So the devil’s deadly snake bites, inflicted by his wicked children, are transformed
into gifts of God, eh? Well, I have news for such Job’s comforters! I John 3: 8 tells
me that Jesus came to DESTROY the works of the devil, not sanctify them! In
Matthew 7:10 Jesus asks his followers whether any decent father would give his child
a serpent if he prayed for a fish. If you get a serpent and your counselor insists that
you give thanks for it instead of complaining about it, tell him your Heavenly Father
isn’t in the habit of sending you serpents (bullies), and when you get a gift, you
should thank the appropriate giver! What’s more, you aren’t on speaking terms with
satan, so why should you give thanks to him anyway?
A counselor might try to get you to reason away the spiritual attack as if it were
purely a mind over matter problem instead of a spiritual battle against the enemy.
I’ve tried it on myself, not to be boastful, but to neutralize the enemy’s venom and
clear my sense of perspective after an enemy attack. “Pat,” I’d say to myself (or
others might tell me this) “how many mean people have ever written a book? Lots
of them can’t even read!”

The Psalmist David was a very cerebral guy. He was a brave warrior, a poet, a first-
class musician, and a natural-born leader of men. The young girls of Israel had sung
his praises after he killed Goliath. David must have had a MENSA-level I.Q., and his
enemies knew they didn’t. David knew he was gifted and anointed by God. But he
also had his moments of desperation. In I Samuel Chapter 25 a rich sheep rancher
named Nabal insulted David when he asked for food to keep himself and his men
from starving to death in the wilderness. What else could David do? Back then there
wasn’t a McDonald’s on every street corner.

If anybody deserved a free lunch David did. He had protected Nabal’s livestock from
predators. He had restored the honor of Israel by risking his life to defeat the giant
Goliath when everybody else was too chicken to come out of their tents. Not only
did David have to flee from a paranoid king who’d put a contract on his head, he had
to hide out in a sun-baked desert with enemies on his tail and zilch to eat! Nabal
called him a runaway slave who didn’t deserve any of his precious food. Not even a
drop of his H2O. The nerve of that grubby-fisted, penny-pinching Scrooge! David
blew his cool.

I don’t know about you, I’d freak out too if my blood sugar crashed from acute carb
deprivation and somebody treated me like trash on top of it. I’d probably get mad
enough to strap on my sword like David did and go pry more hospitality out of Nabal.
But thank God, somebody with some good sense came along and stopped David
from making a big mistake that would have derailed his future: taking his own
vengeance on crabby Nabal needlessly. Not only did Abigail, Nabal’s prudent wife,
provide sweet fig cakes to restore David’s depleted body, she spoke sweet words of
positive affirmation which restored David’s sense of self-worth as someone precious
in the sight of God. There would be no wars on earth today if every world leader
was as sane and sensible as Abigail!

I don’t really think God overlooks verbal sins. Like all others, He keeps a meticulous
record of them. Did you know that children who cursed their parents could be put to
death for it in ancient Israel? Exodus 21:17 says: He that curseth his father or his
mother, shall surely be put to death. In the margins, that word “curseth” means to
“revile” or scold harshly with bitterness and hostility. Leviticus 20:9 says: For every
one that curseth his father or his mother shall surely (not maybe!) be put to death:
he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

I can hear it now: “Cool it, Pat, that’s old testament. Jesus is way too sweet to
endorse those barbaric standards.” But turn over to the beginning verses of
Matthew chapter 15. Jesus is rebuking a bunch of Pharisees who would rather honor
their own man-made traditions than obey the commandment of God. The religious
police are quibbling over whether people was hands before they eat. But Jesus is far
more concerned about a prevailing social problem of his day (and ours): Instead of
using their money to properly care for their aging parents, people were pressured to
fork over the dough to the religious leaders instead. But in verse 4 Jesus reminds
them of how sinful it is to abuse your parents when He says: But God commanded,
saying, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, He that curseth father or mother, let
him die the death.

One popular TV show features dysfunctional families, and their family storms are
televised before the nation. The most horrible language imaginable is spewed at
exhausted, frustrated parents by snotty kids who curse at them for asking them to
straighten up their room, or turn their music down, or go to bed. The cringing,
weepy mother is cursed and called a bitch (and sometimes worse). Dishes and
punches get thrown by kids who know corporal punishment is against the law.
Teenage terrors kick, bite and swear at father and mother while they trash the
house.

I’d get tough with those little tearaways! Why should they be allowed to threaten
the well-being of the rest of the family? If they were too old (and way too big) to
pick up and carry into a “time-out room”, I’d make a few phone calls and make other
living arrangements for them till they stopped acting like wild beasts, and
apologized and cleaned up the mess they’d made. You might feel like throwing an
abusive youngster out of the house, especially if they’re endangering the safety of
others. But it would be illegal and counterproductive to do that if the brat is still a
minor, with nowhere else to go. The only option for kids who won’t respond to a firm
rebuke or receive prayer for God’s help might be to have trained professionals take
responsibility for your unruly child. If you live in the U.S. you can search the Internet
to find out about Christian homes for wayward youth, where the Word of God is
taught and Biblical discipline is still legal (at least in some states). As a last resort
you might have to hand them over to child welfare officials to protect yourself or
your other children. But every step of the way submit to Christ and plead His Blood
over your home, and soundly rebuke the devil in the Name of Jesus! Whatever is
necessary to protect your home, pray for the guts to do it. You may hate to part with
your troubled child for awhile, but your home must not be a chamber of horrors for
everybody else in it!

My daughter has never once in her life said she hated her parents. Not once has she
ever hit us or cursed us, not at any stage of her blessed life. All her life she has
gone out of her way to pour out love on us in countless ways. And, in case you’re
wondering, she always did this because she enjoyed it, not because she was scared
not to! When she was small she would surprise us with little homemade cards
telling us how dearly she loved her parents. Because she has been so good to her
father and mother, she will reap God’s blessings (Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16; Eph.
6:1-3).

When my daughter was in the first grade she received a “super citizen” award for
befriending a little Laotian girl who had no other friends. But her greatest award is
still to come. I believe that God will forever honor my daughter in heaven and on
earth as a keeper of the Fifth commandment: Honor thy father and thy mother.
Truly the Lord rewards you when you pray for His blessing and watchcare to be
upon your son or your daughter, and that should start in the womb before they are
born. Those who don’t lean on the Lord to watch over their children and give them
guidance in raising them must lean wholly upon themselves_and the arm of flesh can
fail.

God has shown a tremendous amount of forbearance with incorrigible young people,
in granting them space to repent that was unheard of in ancient Israel. In His eyes
their cruel disrespect is worthy of death.
Rom.1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity;
whisperers,
Verse 30: Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS,
Verse 31: Without understanding, covenantbreakers, WITHOUT NATURAL
AFFECTION, IMPLACABLE, UNMERCIFUL:
Verse 32: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

That’s God’s honest opinion, though most think it’s a bit extreme. Still think verbal
abuse of parents and others is just a nit-picking peccadillo?

Some church counselors just smile and tell you you’re overreacting, and it’s all your
fault your child is so terrible, because you don’t always return “love” for the little
tyrant’s abuse, even if he or she is bigger than you are!. All such critical counselors
are is Job’s Comforters, spiritual butchers who think they’re chalking up brownie
points with God by carving you into tiny little pieces. Why not ship your restless kids
over to their quiet, tidy home for a sleepover? Those holier-than-thous would
change their tune in a hurry, and their armchair “religion” would fold like a stack of
cards!

An insensitive counselor sees your cries of pain as sins to be laid to the charge of
you, the victim, who “needs to repent” because you can’t suffer in silence, much
less give God thanks for your trial! No wonder so many hurting, alienated souls are
ditching the insular, out-of-touch “church” as being irrelevant to their lives! With
Job’s comforters for friends, who needs enemies? If a bullying victim or domestic
violence victim can’t confide in another Christian who understands his or her hurt,
where on earth can they go to find a sympathetic ear? A fortune teller? A bar?

Next time you go to a Christian counselor to help rebuild your shattered self-esteem,
pick one who will pin the blame squarely where it belongs: on the bully and his
father satan, not on you!

What Does GOD Think of You?

Whose opinion matters anyway? That of your loving Heavenly Father or that of lost
sinners whose minds are messed up by their father satan? You should put far more
faith in what God the Holy Spirit has to say to you through inspired words of
Scripture than the lies the devil speaks through the foul mouths of his children. If
you have been born again by faith in the atoning Blood of Christ, you have gained
mightily in status. You have been spiritually united to Jesus Himself by the power of
the Holy Spirit. You have even been made one Spirit with Christ the Lord (I Cor.
6:17), and you are accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6). And what does God have to
say about Jesus, His Beloved, that Blessed One in Whom you have hidden yourself
by faith? God the Father says in Matthew 3:17: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I
am well pleased. Well, it’s clear logic. If you have been accepted in the Beloved,
you are part and parcel of that One in Whom the Father is well pleased. The whole
wide world might thumb its nose at you because you’re bald, or freckled or fat, but
God your Heavenly Father is well pleased with you because you’ve got the only
connections that count in His sight, that of being connected with Christ, with the Holy
Spirit, and by adoption as His Son or daughter, with Him! When He looks down upon
you from heaven, He beholds the perfection of His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have been given another word of prophecy to share with you. This was given by
the Lord for my edification during a difficult time in my life:

The Devil’s Jackasses

Job 30:1-8; Psalms 3:6-8; Eccl. 9:18; Jere. 8:2;9:22; 25:33;
Dan. 12: 2-3; Zeph. 1:17; Malachi 4:3; Matt. 21:42-44; Luke 20:17-18

How long will ye be held in bondage to lies out of the mouth of the pit of hell, saith
the Lord? It is satan who is impressed by numbers. He is that wicked one who
boasts that sheer force of numbers will finally win the war of the ages for him and
secure for him My Heavenly Throne: First, at the Battle of Armageddon, finally at
the Battle of Gog and Magog when he musters all the wicked soldiers of all the
rebellious nations against My Holy City. But I will not panic even then, when the
number of the enemy is as the sands of the sea. Fire from My mouth will come
down from out of heaven and destroy them all, saith your God. I, Who have the
power to create mankind, also reserve the right to destroy men who refuse to repent
before the Day of Judgment. Jesus is the Rock of Salvation to those who embrace
Him by faith, but He is also a Rock of Retribution to those who reject His kind offer of
forgiveness through His shed blood. And surely the day shall come, saith God, that
that same Rock over which the brutish, hardened unbeliever stumbled with fall upon
that one to grind him to powder in My Day of Judgment.

I am One God, and if ye have trusted in the precious Blood of My Son to save you,
you are My children. My opinion of you ought to carry far more weight than the wild
brays of a multitude of jackasses who are nothing but dummies serving their father
the devil. Only the best and the brightest populate My Kingdom, and satan knows it.
As stars of righteousness, My saints shine with My holy brightness. The devil must
settle for the dregs of humanity to populate his foul kingdom: the drunkard, the
thief, the fornicator, the child molester, the rapist, the school bully. They pour
poison into the atmosphere of this earth like a nuclear plant with no safeguards will
foul the air and the water with noxious emissions. Bullies belch out verbal flatulence
all the time because a jackass wants to make as much noise as possible to make
sure the world notices him or her. Evil men will not let Me renew their minds in
righteousness so they are not capable of building anything of eternal value; only
things of destruction, rot and ruin.

It was YOU who were chosen last when you were in high school. But on the day of
judgment I will not even grant bullies the dignity of being chosen at all_they shall be
relegated to My reject heap to be bundled up by My angels for destruction in My
trash incinerator: the Lake of Fire. In the sight of My pure eyes, unrepentant,
hardened citizens of hell are of no more worth than dung beneath the feet of the
righteous.

I am offended that you would be impressed by a multitude of foul mouths whom I

have appointed to eternal destruction because of their unbelief and rejection of the
Truth, and that you would and put more credibility in the braying of a thousand wild
jackasses than in the opinion of One God Who hath called thee by name and set His
eternal seal of approval on you!