Blessing or Curse

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. DEUTERONOMY 30:19

Of all Derek Prince’s books, Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose has probably done the most good and caused the most unease. It has been read by great numbers of people who felt that something invisible was holding them back, and many testify that it helped them. It has also been criticised, by careful believers, for opening a door to fear and superstition. Both reactions are understandable. This chapter tries to set out what Prince taught, what is solidly scriptural in it, and where the reader should go more slowly than he did.

Two words the Bible takes seriously

Prince began with a simple observation. Blessing and curse are everywhere in Scripture. God blesses Adam and Eve; He curses the serpent and the ground. He promises to bless Abraham and all the families of the earth through him. The law of Moses ends with long lists of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, set before the people as a choice between life and death.

And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. DEUTERONOMY 28:2

Modern Western Christians, Prince argued, have largely stopped thinking in these categories. We talk of luck, of genes, of circumstances. But the Bible speaks of blessing and curse as real, spiritual realities that affect people and families. He wanted his readers to recover that seriousness — and above all to recover the good news that in Christ the curse has been dealt with and the blessing opened to all who believe.

The curse borne at the cross

That is the centre of the book, and it connects directly to the divine exchange of chapter five. Christ was made a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on us.

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. GALATIANS 3:13

Here Prince stands on the firmest ground. Whatever curse lay upon us because of our sin — and Paul says that all who rely on the works of the law are under one — has been borne by Jesus on the tree. The believer is not under condemnation. He has been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. EPHESIANS 1:3

Where curses come from

Prince went further. He taught that curses may come upon people from several sources: from God, as the consequence of disobedience; from involvement in the occult and idolatry; from words spoken against a person by others; from careless or bitter words people speak over themselves; and from the sins of previous generations. He offered a list of recurring troubles in a person’s life or family — patterns of breakdown, chronic illness, barrenness, poverty, accidents and the like — which he suggested might indicate that a curse was at work. And he taught a pathway of release: acknowledging Christ’s work on the cross, confessing any known sin, forgiving others, renouncing contact with the occult, and asking God specifically to release one from any curse.

Much of that pathway is simply good Christian practice. Confession, forgiveness and the renunciation of the occult are plainly commanded, and many people have been helped by doing them seriously for the first time.

Where to go more slowly

But three parts of the teaching need careful weighing.

The first is the teaching on generational curses. Prince drew on the second commandment, where God visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. But Scripture itself seems to guard against the way this verse can be misused. In the time of the exile the people had a proverb blaming their troubles on their fathers, and God through Ezekiel forbade them to use it.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. EZEKIEL 18:20

Families do pass on patterns — of behaviour, of wounds, of sin — and it is wise to recognise them. But the believer is a new creation in Christ. He is not condemned for his ancestors’ sins, and he should not live in fear that some unknown forebear has left him under a spiritual sentence.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

The second is the list of symptoms. Chronic illness, financial trouble, marital breakdown and accidents have many causes: the fallenness of the world, our own choices, the choices of others, and the mysterious providence of God. When the disciples assumed that a man born blind must be suffering for someone’s sin, Jesus corrected them.

Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. JOHN 9:3

To read every trouble as a sign of a curse is to lay a heavy and often false burden on suffering people. It can also turn Christians away from ordinary means — medicine, counsel, wise financial help — that God gives.

The third is fear. Some who have followed this teaching have become preoccupied with curses, anxious about words spoken against them, and suspicious of their own families. That is the opposite of the gospel. The proverb says a curse without cause shall not come, and the believer in Christ lives under the hand of a God who keeps him.

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. PROVERBS 26:2

Choosing blessing

The title of Prince’s book makes the right emphasis: You Can Choose. The last word of the law is not the curse but the call to choose life. And the New Testament turns the whole matter outward. We are not only to receive blessing; we are to give it — even to those who curse us.

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 1 PETER 3:9

Prince taught that words matter, and he was right. Parents who speak over their children, husbands and wives who speak over one another, believers who speak about their churches — all are either blessing or cursing. The simplest application of this chapter may be the most searching: stop cursing, and start blessing.

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. NUMBERS 6:24–26

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read Galatians 3:13–14 until you can say it from memory. Thank God specifically that Christ bore the curse for you.

2. If you have ever been involved in occult practices, confess and renounce them before God, and destroy any objects connected with them.

3. Listen to your own speech this week — about yourself, your family, your church. Note where you curse rather than bless, and change one habit.

4. If you have been living in fear of curses, read Ezekiel 18 and Romans 8:1 slowly, and let them settle you.

5. Speak a blessing, in words, over someone in your family this week. If you are a parent, begin to do this regularly.

6. If a pattern of trouble runs through your family, seek wise help — pastoral, medical or practical — as well as praying about it.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You were made a curse for me, and I thank You. Whatever stood against me, You have taken on Yourself.

I renounce every dealing with darkness, known and unknown. I forgive those who have spoken against me. I choose life, and I choose blessing.

Deliver me from fear. Let me not see curses where You have not sent them, nor look for enemies where there are only sorrows to be carried.

Teach my tongue to bless — my family, my church, even my enemies. Make me a channel of the blessing of Abraham. Amen.