THE CURSE

Deu 11:26 "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God,...

Prov 3:33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.

CURSES ARE PUNISHMENT FROM GOD

IN NT TIMES GOD DOESN'T CURSE

Mat 5:44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

CHASTISED BUT NOT CURSED

Rev 3:19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.

When God permits his children to go through the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock and his hand on the thermostat.

WE ALL DESERVE TO BE CURSED

Rom 3:22-23,...for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

CHRIST BECAME A CURSE FOR US

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"-- 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

CHRIST TOOK OUR PUNISHMENT

Isa 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.

MISFORTUNE COMES TO ALL AT TIMES

I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In Block Number 3 of the accident-reporting form, I put, "Poor Planning", as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient:

I am a bricklayer. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a ten-story building. When I completed my work, I had about 500 pounds of bricks left over. Rather than carry them down by hand, I decided to lower them to the ground in a barrel by using a pulley which, fortunately, was attacked to the side of the building at the tenth floor.

Securing the rope at ground level, I went to the roof, loaded the 500 pounds of bricks, then went back down to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of bricks. I weigh 135 pounds. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forget to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.

In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming down... this explains the fractured skull and broken collarbone. I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two-knuckles deep into the pulley.

Fortunately, by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of my pain. At approximately this same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground... and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel now weighed approximately 30 pounds.

Since I weigh 135 pounds, as you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met that barrel coming up again! This accounts for the two fractured ankles and lacerations of my legs and lower body.

The second encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain and unable to stand... watching the empty barrel ten stories above me... I again lost my presence of mind... LET GO OF THE ROPE

IN NT TIMES CHRIST GIVES ATTENTION TO THOSE WHO NEED IT

1 Cor 12:22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, 24 whereas our seemly members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Mat 25:44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

SOME THINK SICKNESS IS PUNISHMENT FROM GOD

John 9:1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.

1 Tim 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.

"If God causes man to be sick, sickness must be good, and its opposite, health, must be evil, for all that He makes is good and will stand forever. If the transgression of God's law produces sickness, it is right to be sick; and we cannot if we would, and should not if we could, annul the decrees of wisdom."

Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), U.S. founder of the Christian Science movement.

SICKNESS DOESN'T COME AS PUNISHMENT

1 Pet 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

2 Cor 2:11 in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

SICKNESS IS NOT FROM GOD

Mat 9:32 And as they were going out, behold, a dumb man, demon-possessed, was brought to Him. 33 And after the demon was cast out, the dumb man spoke; and the multitudes marveled, saying, "Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel."

Luke 13:16 "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

DEVIL USES SICKNESS FOR:

You're sick because you don't have faith or you sinned.

You can't serve God while sick.

"Man's mind is so formed that it is far more susceptible to falsehood than to truth." Desiderius Erasmus

2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

If a person is openly attacked, he can defend himself, If he is tempted, he can make a choice. But if he is deceived, he doesn't even know anything is wrong.

Satan will deceive us about how powerful he is - or how weak we are. he will attack when you are alone or when you are in a weakened condition.

Monkey trappers have a clever method of catching their prey. A number of gourds are filled with nuts and fastened to a tree branch. Each has a hole just large enough for the monkey to stick his paw into it. When the hungry animal discovers this, he grasps a handful of nuts, but the hole is too small for him to withdraw his clenched fist. And he doesn't have enough sense to open up his hand and let go in order to escape, so he is easily taken captive.

Tells you Christ don't love you.

1 Tim 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

Accuses the sick to discourage them.

"If you were a Christian you wouldn't be sick."

THE ANSWER - RESIST THE DEVIL

James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Christ can show you he cares.

We learn to depend more on God.

We can do more sick with His help than we can well without it.

2 Cor12:7-10, And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me - to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

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