Chapter One
Discovering The Basis For the Evil Tree
Some years ago, when I was on a church staff, a man desperately in need of help came to me for counsel. We will call him "Peter" to protect his identity. Peter had lived an extremely rough life. He had been involved in almost every conceivable kind of sin and now had a large number of repulsive habits. However, in the first session, I discovered that Peter had recently made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. Great! Peter was a Christian. My first step was to begin to establish Peter in the foundation of who he was in Christ.
Then Peter began to explain that he had been trying desperately to break his sinful habits. The enemy still had control over Peter through these habits. Although Peter tried his best, he had continued to fail. He kept doing the very sinful acts that he did not want to do. I discerned that Peter was also infested with a multitude of demonic spirits. One could envision that Peter had a snake pit full of snakes within him. I listened to Peter's struggles, tried to give him some encouragement, and prayed with him. Then I set up another appointment with Peter for a few days later.
Discernment is necessary and good, but discernment alone may not always be sufficient to meet the need of the hour. We are often creatures of habit. My discernment with Peter was that he had a great number of demonic spirits. Counseling experience dictated that deliverance would be the first order of business. I had the thought of spiritually charging the individual in the name of Jesus and casting out evil spirits to the right and to the left. However, I felt a check in my spirit. This called for much earnest prayer. Through the prayer, God said, "You are not to go into deliverance with this individual." If one does not enter into deliverance with the individual, what can he do to get rid of all those obvious evil spirits? The Holy Spirit said, "Do you remember what Jesus said about the good tree and the evil tree?" Although I remembered something of what the scripture said, I looked up the passages of scripture and reviewed them. The Holy Spirit then led me through the following thoughts. Jesus said that a good tree produces good fruit and an evil tree produces evil fruit. This person was a Christian, therefore, he had a good tree growing in him. Peter had an earnest desire to produce good fruit. Nevertheless, Peter also had a big crop of evil fruit indicating there also had to be an evil tree.
How does one destroy an evil tree? Just picking the fruit will not have lasting results. One can cut off the limbs, but they will grow back. One can saw off the tree at the trunk, but in time it will come back by the roots. One must discover where the roots are, dig them up, cut them, and then the tree will naturally die. When Peter came into my office, I explained the revelation that God had given me through prayer. I took a pencil and a sheet of paper and drew an outline of a tree and explained the process. I then drew some circles on the tree explaining to Peter that these circles represented the evil fruit. Then I asked Peter to name his evil fruit (sin habits). I put the names for the evil fruit in the circles on tree. The next step was to explain that the roots to the tree would be the sin habits of his forefathers (parents and grandparents). I then drew some lines at the foot of the tree representing the roots of the tree. Peter gave a list of the sin habits of his parents and grandparents. In a matter of minutes Peter began to see the relation between the sin habits of his forefathers and his own sin habits. This has not been the case only with Peter, but with almost everyone with whom I have worked in this area of counseling. The inherited relationship with the forefathers is obvious. I also explained that these were generational curses and that Peter's forefathers had passed them along to him. I also explained that Jesus became a curse for us when he died upon the cross. I explained that we should make a profession of faith declaring that the curses are broken through the work of Jesus upon the cross.
Through confession, forgiveness, repentance, and a breaking of curses Peter was set free. Peter's countenance changed dramatically in less than thirty minutes. The face that had been like stone became soft and also radiant. A short time later Peter moved to another city where I was unable to do any personal follow-up. However, I received two delightful reports back that Peter was doing very well.
The next several pages of this book will give an overview of breaking generational curses and overcoming sinful habits. However, the following chapters will give a more detailed study of the subject.
As a Christian counselor, I often have people come to me with various kinds of problems. People frequently bring up the problem of habitual sin. Quite often the people who come to me are Christians. Many of these people faithfully read their Bibles, attend church, and pray. Some are even in positions of church leadership. Generally, they have a sincere desire to live a holy life, a life that is above reproach. However, they have one or more areas in their lives in which they have had continual failures. They want to do right, but they find themselves declaring with Paul, "For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Romans 7:18-19). They become discouraged, depressed, and sometimes even wonder if God has saved them. They raise the question, "How can I feel this way, keep on failing, and still be a Christian?" Many Christians that I see have even suicidal thoughts to varying degrees. They see no end to the battle. They see no victory.
As a counselor, I must recognize there are many factors that contribute to these kinds of problems. There is no one, absolute, cure-all. When I teach a course on Principles of Christian Counseling, I explain that I only give the Biblical principles. The individual counselor must rely upon the Holy Spirit for application of the principles. Only the Holy Spirit can tell us which principles to apply and when to apply them.
Actually, counseling is often like having a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces scattered before you. The pieces represent the Biblical principles that need to be applied in the life of the counselee. It is absurd to think by fitting two pieces together that you complete the puzzle. However, I usually have some general steps in my mind when I counsel someone in this area. I normally begin by determining if they are in Christ. I will lead them to make a faith commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord if they have not done so. The next step is to build upon this foundation and help them understand who they are in Christ. Then I lead them into inner healing for emotional hurts. On various occasions, I may need to lead them through steps of deliverance. This depends on the specific needs of the individual. Again, I stress the importance of the leading of the Holy Spirit and not the specific order of steps.
The next step is very important. I lead the person through the breaking of generational curses. I usually begin by explaining the scripture which teaches that God visits the iniquity of the Father upon the children unto the third and fourth generations (Exodus 20:5). Iniquity is more than just sin, but it is the tendency toward sin. This would include tendencies toward pornography, adultery, alcoholism, witchcraft, overeating, fear, bitterness, homosexuality, rage, greed, pride, lying, and cursing.
There is a spiritual analogy in the book of Ezekiel of Jerusalem's abominations. "Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite" (Ezekiel 16:3). Canaan is symbolic of sin and bondage. The Amorites and Hittites were sinful people. The LORD reveals, "And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all" (Ezekiel 16:4). Jerusalem was still spiritually connected (by the umbilical cord) to the sins of her parents. This is a picture of the bondage of iniquity passed from one generation to another. The cord to the forefathers' sins needs to be cut. The contamination needs to be washed from the child. Salt needs to be applied for purification. Then the child needs to be clothed. In like fashion, we need to cut the generational roots. We need to be washed by the water of the Word, salted with truth, and clothed in righteousness. Then we become acceptable in the eyes of others.
Jesus used the example of a good tree and an evil tree. "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:16-20). We should understand that a good tree is Jesus. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:1, 5). The good tree has the purpose to bring forth good fruit. However, there may also be an evil tree that is growing within us that is producing evil fruit.
What does one do with an evil tree? Destroy it! How does one destroy an evil tree? We destroy the evil tree by discovering where its roots are and severing them. The roots are the iniquities of the forefathers that have been passed along to us. We cut the roots by a declaration of faith in what Christ did through the cross event. We must recognize, "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). Knowledge is great, but we must also make a profession of faith based upon the knowledge.
Therefore, I lead counselees through confessing and forgiving the iniquities of their forefathers. They must also confess, repent, and seek forgiveness of their own participation in the sins. Then through the understanding that God has delegated his authority to us, I lead them to declare that each curse is broken by the name and blood of Jesus. In conclusion, they are to declare that the old tree is dead. To reinforce this procedure of breaking the generational curses, I often turn to the book of Romans, Chapter Six. Paul writes that we are grafted together with Christ in his death and in his resurrection. Paul emphatically states, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6). The body of sin is considered the evil tree. Paul continues, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11). We are to consider the old tree dead, then begin to focus on the life of the new tree. I have seen many people overcome sin habits through the application of this revelation of scripture.
Brenda is a young lady who faced breaking numerous generational curses associated with Satanism. The following is part of her testimony:
"Breaking generational curses also brought much more freedom to me, although it was the most uncomfortable thing we did in my counseling sessions. Many physical illness symptoms arose each time - such as nausea and seizure symptoms. But once the curse was broken and the demons associated with it were rebuked in the name of Jesus, I felt a release and a new level of freedom in Christ was gained.... God has brought more healing to me in a little over 1 year than seeing the best psychiatrists available for 10 yrs."
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