Author Profile

Paul Cox

Paul Cox Dr. Paul L. Cox was born in Wellington, New Zealand. After receiving his B.A. in History and English from Pepperdine University he taught 8th grade history, English, and Reading.

His graduate education was completed at the American Baptist Seminary of the West and the California Graduate School of Theology. In 1971, he began serving as a full time Jr. High minister at the First Baptist Church of Downey, Ca. In 1977 he began a 20 ministry of serving as a senior pastor in three Baptist churches and one independent church. As a Baptist minister he served as president of the Minister’s Council for the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest, President of the Evangelism Committee for the American Baptist Churches Pacific Southwest, member of the Ordination Council of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest, member of the Personal Committee of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest, member of the General Board of the American Baptist Churches USA, and member of the Bioethics Committee of Doctor’s Hospital in Montclair, CA.,

Paul L. and Donna Cox are currently the co-directors of Aslan’s Place, a ministry center in Hesperia, California dedicated to bringing freedom and wholeness to the wounded and captive. Aslan’s Place is a ministry that trains and equips the body of Christ in the ministry of spiritual warfare and the exercise of gift of discernment.

As a result of their heart for the nations, Paul and Donna have had the privilege of ministering in the United States, Argentina, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Great Britain, Singapore, and the Czech Republic.

Paul and Donna Cox now live in Hesperia, California. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Aslan's Place
18990 Rocksprings Rd.
Hesperia, CA 92345
mail: office@aslansplace.com | Web: www.aslansplace.com | Phone: 760-947-7881

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Revelation of the Depth - Dr Paul Cox

When we publish a new prayer, people often ask, "When did you write the prayer?" I do not write the prayers; they are written in our schools as a cooperative effort of all of the people there. Virtually all of the revelation that has been received has started with either me getting some sort of spark, a word, a dream or an impression which is then fleshed out and developed in our school or it starts with a word from someone else. In this case, Dale Shannon had a dream three years prior to the new revelation. In the dream, I was talking to her from heaven. She saw a grid and was instructed to go in and disconnect something. I said, "You have to be a minor." Then another prayer minister asked her, "Are you a minor?" She said, "No, I am over 21." "Then you can't go in."

Later, she had a vision in which she had a yellow helmet with lights on the hat like a miner's hat. She was to dig for the answers. She got the word, “cash-in, cash-in, there are veins of gold that need to be uncovered," and she realized that it was not a 'minor' in terms of being under twenty-one, but a 'miner' to dig in the depths.

In 2008, two years later, we still did not understand what the dream and the word meant. In that year Mimi Lowe, one of our intercessors from Canada, got this word. “It is now. Paul, Paul, we give you authority to tear down the strongholds. Find the keys beneath the ground, go deep, deep, deep, they are underneath. You are going to uncover the enemy's strategy, the hiding place of the enemy. Just like a miner. Go underground and dig deep, it is there. Numbers, strategies, ledgers. Numbers, strategies, ledgers have been hidden. You will tear down more financial strongholds. It is time. It is time that finances are released. There are vaults. You will be given the combination. When you open up the vaults, information is going to come gushing out."

Then I remembered a dream in which I was in New York, in Manhattan. I saw the end of a railroad line and the bumpers that are at the end of the track. I reached into a well and pulled my grandson out by his hair and he was healed. We now understand that the well represented the depth. In the physical reality, my grandson, Cody, was born with a cystic hygroma on his face. This resulted in a surgery that affected the symmetry of his face. The dream seems to indicate that his healing will be a result of understanding the depth.

The depth is mentioned in many places in the Bible. Look at Romans 8:38, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing…" It would appear that the height and the depth are created beings. What more can we find out about the depth - let’s explore the depth?

Proverbs 25:3, "As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of the kings is unsearchable." Jonah 2:2, "You help me from the depth." Depth can be understood as "of Sheol." Ephesians 3:17-88 has to say, "That Christ may dwell in your heart through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and the depth and the height."

We began getting some new understanding that in the depth there are places that are good and places that are not good. One of the places that is not good is Sheol. As a Baptist pastor I would teach on all this. During those years my basic belief was that Sheol was the place of the dead in the Old Testament and by the time we get to the New Testament this changes to an enlarged understanding that after death, non believers go to hell and believers go to heaven. I do not believe that anymore. I believe that Sheol is a place where parts of our soul can be trapped because of what we have done or what others have done to us.

After the revelation continued, we had a pastoral couple come for ministry. One of our intercessors had a vision of us going down into the depths where parts of this man and woman were trapped in Sheol. I was able to discern how they were trapped in Sheol. We asked the Lord to remove them and I could feel the bondage come off.

Next, I received a call from my daughter, Corrie, who had just been to the doctor where they had done a sonogram of her abdomen area and discovered she had a cyst. She wanted me to come over and pray for her which of course I was happy to do. I had this brand new information about Sheol so as I was praying for her I said, "Lord, take her out of Sheol.” The next day she was back in the emergency room for tests, after which she called and said, "Dad, I'm healed." I said, "What?" She said they took another sonogram and they could not find the cyst anymore. I was thinking, "This works."

Just after the revelation of the star this year, we received another word that tied the revelation of the star to the revelation of the depth. "It is a light field, a light field, a force field, a fiery field, a battle field. A bright star; we are moving towards the bright star at a slower speed. It is a light force. We are going inside the star; we are now in the depth."

As we began to explore the depth, the Lord upgraded our armor—it appears we need greater protection there. It is very strange, but it is a new set of armor that feels to me like I am enveloped in humidity and it is clammy. There was also ringing in my ears. Others have also experienced the same sensation. As we enter the depth it feels as if we are going down.

Dale Shannon then received another word about the depth. "It is a different type of suit, it's a miner suit (here is the miner again), miner gear. Put it into the car, like a mine shaft car. Dig, dig deep. There are tools down there. I am transporting you through time and space. Take the tools and take the equipment. There is more depth to learn. You have only scratched the surface. There is more, more, more. There is gold in these veins. Mine the gold, mine the treasure. You will bring it back to the surface, coming up. You will take this treasure back. He is putting inside of us a lightening rod, a shaft of light inside of each of us. You will reflect and seek His light. You will speak His light. You will taste His light. You will know His light. Transverse the light." Perhaps this speaks of the treasure in Isaiah 45:2-2, “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, I Am the God of Israel.

Then we received this word. “Yahweh, Yahweh, you are all builders, you are makers with Yahweh as co-creators. Your wealth, your treasure has not been rejected. Miners, miners, you must be a miner for the heart of gold. There is a fine line between heart and mind. Where is your hope stored? What is it for? Heart and mind to become builders and makers, a co-creator. It is time to find the time to know, hear and believe, taste and see; you become a miner for the heart of gold. Buy gold refined in fire. Heal the heart, heal the mind, heal the man, heal the land. Dig deeper, come up higher to be a miner for the heart of gold."

It was 2009 and we were in Collingwood, Canada when my friend, Larry Pearson, had this amazing, amazing word. Listen carefully to it because it is absolutely amazing, and just blows my mind. "We are now at the bottom of the ocean. It is about a mindset. If we only dwell in the mindset of the river, we stay in our own personal anointing. We need to move out into the ocean, in the depth, lose our lives and surrender all and enter in and cross over into the mindset of the ocean. Then we will have the mind of Christ. If we only dwell in the mindset of the river, we will lose what is in the depth. Enter into the mindset of the ocean; you will have the mind of Christ. It is the voice of many waters. It is the voice of many waters coming forth from the depth of the ocean from the mind of Christ not from the mind of man. It is time to come out of the river and go into the ocean. It is time for the mind of the ocean. It is time for the ocean liner. No longer time for personal ministries and empires. Personal ministries, empires, and anointing will be submerged. Have I not given dreams of the tsunami? I am the tsunami. You will never figure me out. Why do you lean on your own understanding to figure Me out? Your natural man cannot comprehend the things of the Father. Your thoughts are not My thoughts, your ways are not My ways. It is time to bow low that He might be lifted high. Your thoughts are not My ways. I am bringing forth a depth of Me, a depth of Me. I will be the tsunami of great glory and great power to and through My yielded bride and sons. The hirelings are being fired. The sons and daughters will rise with a depth of God in their eyes. Is there a depth of our souls that are not? He is trying to rewire the house from 110 to 220. Galatians 2:20, no longer I, but Christ. Acknowledge that you are dead. Why would you die daily when you are dead? Choose to obey the word and take up the cross daily. I have baptized you into the depths. Quit trying to die when you are dead in me. I went to the depths to take you into My depths. Record yourself dead for He has done it. Not by might, but My Spirit. As in the days of Noah there was a flood. I will flood the earth with fire and renewing fire. There is a renewing and restoring fire. I will judge evil. I will restore and bring back the garden. I will bring back your identity in glory. As it was in the beginning, it will also be on earth again. Bring back the depth of the garden (Is the Garden of Eden in the depth?) I will split forth the Adamic way of the mind of men. I will split and divide asunder that which is tares and wheat so that out of the depth comes the redeemed, the last Adam, the redeemed, the One New Man. Mark this day, heaven and earth will witness, holy congregation. This day in the Spirit something is being recorded, a recording in heaven. In the depth is deeper revelation, deeper commitment, deeper love.”

In 2009 we also received this word. "I show you a mystery. The hidden depths of God are here. The mystery of the power of God of ages long ago. The hidden mysteries created long ago. There is a mystery of knowing Him face to face in the origin. Deeper still there is a hidden treasure to be revealed."

Then Dale Shannon had another dream, “I go into the ocean to swim (the depth). The water is so shallow and I search for deeper water and I cannot find it. I swim parallel to the beach and then I swim opposite the beach going out as far as I can looking for deeper water. I finally hit a plastic wall. I find that I am in a movie set. The ocean is not real but manmade and there is no depth or width. I hit a plastic wall that was painted to look like it went into the distance." We realized that the Lord was giving a revelation of Sheol. So let’s look at a couple of passages on Sheol. Genesis 37:35. In this passage Jacob is morning the supposed loss of his son, Joseph. "All of his sons and all of his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted so he was very sad and said, 'for I shall go down to the grave (that is really to Sheol) in mourning.” Next, Psalm 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into Sheol and all the nations that forgot God." Psalm 30:3, "O Lord You brought my soul up from Sheol. You have kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit."

Picture a place called the righteous depth which is where we are to be as Christians. However, because of the fall of man, the enemy was given portions of the depth. These ungodly places are identified in Scripture; Sheol, the pit, the snare, the trap, the net, Hades, Abaddon, death (as in the place of the living dead), utter darkness, deep darkness, and the outer darkness. It appears that parts of our soul, mind, emotions and will can be trapped in the ungodly depth while we are still in the land of the living. That is why David says in Psalm 27:13, "That I might know You in the land of the living."

Another intercessor had a poem about the depth and the star—it’s sort of like a Dr. Seuss rhyme. "There is a star, a star upon Thars, which gives off light both near and far. Dimensions it knows throwing beams oh so far. Yes it circles and circles both near and so far. It appears as the darkness bringing light from above, setting free the captives, captives from birth, giving them freedom, new hope, and new birth. It shatters walls, glass partitions and more. It opens up portals and heavenlies too for My grace to pour in afresh and anew. It rearranges vibrations and it clarifies sounds, bringing healing and health as it resounds."

How do we end up in the ungodly depth? Let me summarize scriptures. Let's say someone comes and criticizes me and I accept that criticism in an unhealthy way. At that point I get put into the ungodly depth. I realized that my experience in the church where the membership came against me so violently resulted in me being put into dark places in the ungodly depth. Also, by those same words those people speak, they will find themselves put into the ungodly depth.

I have come to believe that this is the place where the enemy grabs parts of us and torments and torture us. It is the place where all sorts of condemnation, guilt, shame, and rejection is being empowered because we are multidimensional people. It is also possible that this is why some people hear voices.

Is it possible that we are picking up what is happening to many people in the ungodly depth? Perhaps it is here that we are being bombarded all the time with thoughts that are not correct. As this happens over and over again we ask ourselves, “Why do I feel like this?" It may also be that this might explain why at times we meet certain people and we immediately do not like them. Perhaps something is going on in the depth that is affecting you.

However, we are meant to be in the Godly depths which I believe are the depths of revelation and the depths of God’s love.

I checked for cubes on a couple of teenagers and found that many do not seem to be trapped in the ungodly depth. Perhaps we have found an explanation for why scripture speaks of those of old age going down to Sheol. I think this is what happens when there is a point in life where we stop dreaming and we start buying into the lies that this is all there is. We start accepting untruths that are being spoken about us. At some point we end up putting ourselves into the ungodly depth or being put into the ungodly depth.

The ungodly depth seems to be made up of many locations: sheol (Hades in Greek), snare, trap, net, darkness, deep darkness, outer darkness, pit, mire, fear, forgetfulness, grave, and death (The grave and death may be places where parts of people who are alive may be trapped. Scripture seems to indicate that there are levels in these places.
I was in New Jersey ministering and had a sense that the person was in a cage. When I felt the cage, it was a woman who had dissociative identity disorder. It felt like two ping pong balls were circling above my head but I did not know what that meant. Meanwhile, someone was upstairs praying and they reported that they saw the person in a bird cage. I was amazed as this is exactly what I had discerned. It was then I first discerned celestial beings. Since then I have discerned celestial beings many, many times. When I feel righteous celestial beings, it feels like three ping pong balls circling my head, like when they draw the lottery with those balls flying around.

Celestial beings are mentioned in Jude 8: “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.” They are really the doxa, which means the glorious ones or, in another translation, celestial beings. I asked the Lord what this meant and his answer was wonderful. The celestial beings are living light rays. Light is a living being. They are the glorious ones.

So our question was, "How do we get out of Sheol?" The Lord said to us, "You must go through the star and follow the glorious ones, and they will take you into the ungodly depth and take you out and set you free."

Backtracking a bit, let me tell you a vision that my friend, Persis Tiner, had for me. Keep in mind that this was before we had any information about the depth. She said, "You are walking across a bridge, like the Golden Gate Bridge. The Lord said you can keep on walking and you will continue and you will be alright or you can jump." I said, "Well, I'll jump. That’s simple." I did not realize at the time that when you jump you go into the depth.

So now, in our meetings, if the glorious ones are present we take a leap of faith and jump by praying “Lord Jesus, I repent for accepting the evaluation of others, for allowing others to determine where I should be. Lord, I realize that this has happened in my generational line also. But, I declare Lord that I want to see You in the land of the living. I am tired of living the way I have been living. Lord, I follow now Your glorious ones through the star into the ungodly depths and Lord please pull every part of me out of all parts of the ungodly depths. I declare that I will be seated with Christ in heavenly places. I will be seated in the godly depth, the godly width, the godly length, and the godly height. I will be a revealed son and daughter of the Most High God. I will take my place as the One New Man with Christ as the Head.”

Following is the prayer the Lord gave us to specifically remove us from any ungodly place in the depth. It my prayer that the Lord will bring you to new levels of freedom in your walk with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Special thanks to Teri McPherson for transcribing my talks on the Star and the Depth. Her prayer ministry contact is Destiny Connections, PO Box 1248, Paulden, AZ 86334. destinyconnections@q.com (928) 636-2272.

Also thanks to Barbara Parker for doing the initial edit on the transcription. Barbara Parker’s prayer ministry contact is 949-830-2252. Info@standinginfaith.org.

Prayer to Release one from the Ungodly Depth - Dr Paul Cox

Father, I repent and renounce for myself and my family line for all sins that have brought on the consequence of being entrapped in the ungodly depth, Sheol, the pit, the snare, and the trap and have kept me bound and unable to fulfill my God given purpose.

Father, have mercy on me, for I have endured much contempt and ridicule. Lord, break off the contempt and ridicule that has been put on me by the proud. Wash me from the arrogance and arrogant ways that brought the contempt upon me.

Lord, forgive me for not forgiving those who have come against me and entrapped me. I choose now to forgive those who have spoken contempt against me, and I release them to you.

Lord, on behalf of myself and my ancestors I repent for making vows, covenants, and promises to You and others which I broke. Lord, even as I have repented and You have forgiven me, in Your mercy, please cancel these promises, vows and covenants. Lord, please break off any evil or ungodly consequences of these broken vows, promises and covenants.

Lord, I choose to cancel and forgive all broken vows, promises and covenants made by others to me and members of my generational line. I trust in Your words that You will repay. I now choose to forgive them freely and release them.

I repent on behalf of myself and my generational line, for all those who forgot, or turned away from You God, and for all those who even though they saw Your awesome works, they were ungrateful and unthankful, and complained instead of thanking You and being grateful for all You have done. Lord, please break off these consequences from me and my generational line.

I repent and renounce for all those in my generational line who tried to ascend above the stars or above God.

I repent for all generational fear, especially the fear of man, and I repent for all those who ran from fear, thus causing them to fall into the pit.

I repent for all those in my generational line who caused conflict, strife, or disunity, especially in the body of Christ.

I repent for myself and those in my generational line for pride, arrogance, deceit, anger and fury. I repent for all generational adultery, harlotry, immorality, sexual perversion, ungodly bloodshed, and for all murdering of the innocent. I repent for those in my family line who used ungodly seduction, enticement or allurement to lead the upright and the righteous astray.

I repent for all those who had foolish lips and did not watch the words of their mouths.
I repent and renounce on behalf of myself and my family line for all who cursed father or mother.

I repent and renounce for myself and my family line for hatred, racism, and slavery. I repent for putting others in the ungodly depth by hating, despising and discriminating against them because of different skin color, culture, gender, and beliefs. I choose to forgive those who came against my family line because of different skin color, culture, gender, and beliefs. Lord, break the consequences of these sins off my family line and restore love that goes beyond racial, cultural, economic, gender, and diversity boundaries.

Lord, please break the consequences of these sins off of me and my family line, and Lord, please remove me and my lamp from any ungodly secret place, deep darkness, and from any ungodly lions’ eyes.

Lord, please release me from any ungodly contracts that my ancestors or I agreed to and entered into that have brought me into the spirit of poverty. I pray that You would redeem what the devil has taken away and restore to me Your riches and Your glory.

Lord, I repent for and renounce all generational curses that come with seeking worldly riches. Lord please restore me to seek riches in You alone. I repent for myself and my family line for robbing the poor, swindling, gambling, cheating and using witchcraft to gain wealth. Father, I repent for myself and my generational line for being greedy to gain wealth, power, knowledge, titles, position, mantles, and wisdom from any source other than from You.

Lord, I renounce and repent on behalf of myself for all those in my family line who were destroyed through lack of knowledge because they did not seek You, Your knowledge and Your wisdom, and for all those who did not seek your guidance in their walk, their business, their work, their ministry, their family or other circles of influence. Please remove my family and ministry from any ungodly depth, pit, trap or snare. Please restore to me all the blessings, and benefits that have been held in the ungodly depth for my family line.Lord, I declare that the enemy will now fall into the trap and snare he had set for me.

Lord, I repent and renounce for myself and all those in my family line who did not walk in true spiritual unity, but allowed bitterness, jealousy and envy to be in our midst, causing us to fall into a trap and a snare. I repent for all those who did not guard their friends and family or the body of Christ and watched them fall into ungodly depths.

Lord, on behalf of myself and my ancestors, I repent for casting an evil eye on others because of envy and jealousy, thus placing them into ungodly depths. Lord please remove and restore any parts of me that were placed in ungodly depths due to the evil eye.

Lord, on behalf of myself and my ancestors, I repent for all ungodly passivity that caused me to come into agreement with unjust accusations, ungodly perceptions, ungodly images, word curses, limitations, gossip and slander that were sent against me or anything that belongs to me. Lord, please disconnect me from all these and cancel them. Lord, I now choose to come into agreement with Your perception of me.

Lord, in your mercy, please break off any ungodly work of my hands. Lord, I repent and renounce on behalf of myself and my family line for worshiping foreign gods, idols, and ungodly beings putting me in ungodly depths, especially through drugs and the spirit of pharmacia. Lord, please remove any part of me that has been trapped in the dimensions and cleanse it in Your blood.

Lord, I repent and renounce for myself and my family line for uttering false prophecies, ungodly prayers, witchcraft curses, or incantations that have placed me into any ungodly depths. Please remove all consequences of these actions.

Lord, please disconnect me from any ungodly physical touch, trauma, or assault that has trapped any part of me in ungodly depths.

Lord, I repent and renounce on behalf of myself and generational line for all those who committed acts or harbored emotions that would place us into any ungodly depth. I repent for all dishonest or unjust covenants made by my ancestors or me. I forgive those who committed injustice against us, and who brought false accusations against us.

I repent for myself and my ancestors for all fear of man, for not caring for the widows and fatherless, and for declaring that no one would restore us from the pit, Sheol, Hades or any ungodly depth. I choose now to believe and declare that You are the one true God and will restore me.

Lord would you now rescue me and my family line from any and all places in the ungodly depth that trapped us, and restore us to Your True and Righteous depth and height- Your plumb line.

Father, in Jesus name, my desire is to be rightly related to You, to have all that You intend to give me and to receive everything that is in my inheritance. I ask You to open my eyes, and correct my perceptions. Show me how to work out my salvation daily. Show me what to let go of and whom to extend forgiveness, so my position will change. Lord, I repent for self-righteousness and wrongly judging others. Lord, please remove the shackle from my left leg.

Lord, I repent for myself and my generational line for denying miracles, power, and the resurrection that You purchased. Lord, remove any balls and chains on me, take me out of any whitewashed sepulchers, and set me free from the grave.

Lord please shatter the glass walls of deception and ungodly perception that keep me from hearing, speaking, and seeing clearly with Your perception.

Lord, I repent for not acknowledging that the sins of my ancestors and their belief systems affect me today. I repent for blind ignorance and passivity keeping me from taking the kingdom by force. I choose to awaken to righteousness. Lord, please give me a heart of humility and position me rightly before You.

Lord, fill my heart with Your love and give me a revelation of who You are and what my walk is supposed to look like.

Father God, I repent for putting others into the pit through judgments, selfish ambition, and jealousy, especially against my brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, I repent for choosing to live in the victim mentality.

I repent and renounce on for all idolatry and ungodly worship of man, man’s ways and not truly worshipping and exalting You, Lord God.

Lord, please disconnect me from the ungodly star, and ungodly elders that are holding me and chaining me to the pit, and take off the ungodly cummerbund, the knots and cords that have trapped me there.

Lord, please break off, shatter, destroy, remove and cut off any witchcraft which has empowered my entrapment in any of these ungodly dimensional places such as Sheol, death, fear, Hades, the snare, ungodly depth, perdition, the pits, the darkest place, utter darkness or the deep darkness. Lord, I repent and renounce on behalf of myself and my generational line for all those who used seduction, or any sexual practice as a means to entice and entrap people into ungodly dimensions.

Lord, remove me from the deep darkness of Sheol, the ungodly depth, fear, the snare, the trap, perdition, the pit, the darkest place, utter darkness or the deep darkness. Lord, please remove me from the snares, traps and nets that have bound my soul, my spirit, my body and my health in the ungodly depths.

Sacrifice the Leader – Dr. Paul L. Cox

The Leader as Sacrifice

A survey of 4,665 Protestant minister leaders showed that 58 percent felt that the work of the church seemed futile or ineffectual. Reverend Roy Oswald, a behavioral scientist and authority on clergy burnout, believes that one of every four clergy is burned out and another 25 percent are under great stress and may be on their way to burnout. Even though no comparable study has been made of the laity, I believe that the feelings of frustration and burnout among the laity parallel those of the clergy.

Pastors who have been in the ministry for any period of time and leaders of all kinds find these concerns familiar. Due to the powerlessness of feeling ineffectual, many grow discontent and reconsider the advisability of a lifelong commitment to a leadership role. After frustrating years of service, many find themselves burnt out and willing to say “goodbye” to their leadership position which they once considered the one great dream of their lives.

The consequences of this exodus are especially grave – draining the leadership pool of the Christian church. The effect on those who are in leadership positions in organizations and on their families causes deep suffering and results in a silent, private crisis. If any leader is driven to quit, it results in wasted years of preparation and squandering the investment of congregations and educators who helped to support and train them in preparation for leadership. While observers notice this flight from leadership, it also affects young people who are in the process of deciding if they will take the risk of entering any role of leadership in the church or other organizations.

Cause for Conflict

Leaders give-up for many reasons. Some struggle with lack of fulfillment. Others feel inadequate and unable to make a difference. Many feel overwhelmed by the unreasonable time commitment required. Each of these elements contributes to discouragement. These conflicts can cause the burden of leadership to feel like an
overpowering, crushing weight. Ongoing conflict adds to this heavy burden. When one conflict piles atop another, it can finally compel a leader to call it quits.

Why do conflicts develop between leaders and others? There are probably as many reasons as there are situations. However, a common thread which characterizes many such conflicts may deserve more attention.

Can you imagine that in conflict the Christian leader may– as a spiritual leader – bear the weight of sins – become a sacrifice – for the unresolved sins of those who he has
leadership over? Once this sin has been deposited onto the leader, that leader is then treated as the sacrifice on the altar. The leader is either consumed as a sacrificial lamb or becomes a scapegoat.

Several years ago a couple called me to intervene in a marital dispute. Fortunately, they quickly reconciled. After the fact, they lost interest in the ministry. Six months later, they turned against me. Their accusations included poor management, poor preaching, and irrelevant worship services. Having been members for decades, their criticisms swayed others. Finally, they left the ministry.

What happened? I become the sin bearer. They deposited their sin onto me and then chose to separate themselves from their sin.

Prepared for Consequences

Conflicts between leaders and those they lead will continue. When one resolves, another disagreement crops up sooner or later. How will the leader respond?

The leader who understands some of the dynamics that take place in this relationship, gains strength and steps away from those who crater and dropout. With preparation and increased understanding, the leader prepares himself for the possible consequences of receiving confidential information.

Since the follower is a companion or co-worker in the struggle, he needs to appreciate the dangers involved in revealing information to a leader. If the follower does not feel forgiven by Jesus Christ, he may desire to place his sin on someone else. The leader could be elected to bear the sin. Awareness of this possibility could prevent disruption in the life of any organization.

Avoid Be coming the Goat

Steps to protection:

This book helps you gain a Biblically based understanding of the human need for a sin bearer in the form of a sacrifice or scapegoat.

You will experience a growing understanding of the relevant psychological principles that are active when a leader talks with a follower, concentrating on those dynamics that would increase the possibility of a leader becoming a sin bearer.

This book offers suggestions on how a leader can help a follower not to treat the leader as a sin bearer.

Arm Yourself. Be armed with knowledge.
Inside these pages you will find:

• A study of the Biblical understanding of the concept of a sin bearer.

• A survey of some of the dynamics that can take place between a leader and a follower.

• Practical ways for a leader to avoid becoming a sin bearer.

• Steps a leader can exercise when a follower projects his sin.

Get the Answers from the Book

In Scripture, the key questions have been answered. This knowledge can be yours. These questions and others can be answered.

1. What is the Biblical understanding of a sin bearer?

2. Why are there two models for a sin bearer in the Old Testament?

3. Why is Jesus the final sin bearer?

4. How can a leader help a follower accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?

5. Why does a follower sometimes choose to project his sins onto a leader?

6. What steps can a leader take to prevent a follower from projecting his sins onto a leader?

7. How can a leader train a follower to accept forgiveness from the Lord?

8. How does a follower project his sins onto a leader?

9. Which interpersonal dynamics set a leader up to become a sin bearer?

10. How can people be educated to assist others in dealing with sin issues in their lives?

11. How does prayer help individuals to internalize forgiveness?

12. Which listening skills should a leader develop in order to avoid becoming a sin bearer?

Understand the Language

Be further prepared by understanding the terminology. Here are several terms which will be used repeatedly.

• Atonement - the act of satisfaction given for wrong doing or injury.

• Conflict Management - the process of working out a relationship between two or more persons who seek goals that cannot be simultaneously attained under the prevailing conditions.

• Forgiveness - to give up resentment or the desire to punish.

• Karpman Triangle - a transactional analysis model that sees three roles that are assumed in an interaction or communication that is used to provoke or to invite others to respond in specific ways, thus reinforcing the child's early psychological positions. These three roles are persecutor, victim, and rescuer.

• Projection - the process of unwittingly attributing ones own traits, attitudes or subjective processes onto another.

• Defense Mechanism – operates unconsciously, so that which is emotionally unacceptable in the self is unconsciously rejected and attributed to or projected onto others.

• Sacrifice - is the act of offering the life of a person or animal, or some object, in propitiation of or homage to God.

• Scapegoat - a goat over whose head the high priest of the ancient Jews confessed the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement, after which it was allowed to escape. Within this study, the scapegoat will be seen as a person, group, or thing upon whom the blame for the mistakes or crimes of others is thrust. Following the sin “inoculation”, the scapegoat leaves or others

Why Pray Genereational Prayers? - Dr. Paul Cox

I must admit that I have frequently asked myself, “What is so important about praying written generational prayers?” After all, at the point of placing our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved. What more needs to be done? I am not the only one who asks this question. Over the years, many have suggested that we should not have to pray written prayers, and even that praying them is unbiblical.

Others have also questioned whether we should repent for generational issues. I have been told, sometimes in hateful ways, that this also is unbiblical and certainly not necessary. Many would say that “the work was finished at the cross of Christ and nothing else needs to be done. The matter is settled. We already have all we need. No more praying about generational issues is necessary.”

Now, here is the crux of the issue. For twenty years, I have ministered to hundreds of people. Through generational praying and leading others to pray written prayers, I have seen believers transformed by the power of the Lord. This transformation has led to a deeper level of intimacy with Jesus Christ and new levels of freedom. So, how do I reconcile this apparent contradiction between the finished work of the Cross and what I have seen in ministry over the past twenty years? The Bible, not our experience, is our ultimate authority. At any point where experience and the Bible disagree, the Bible wins. I believe that and I practice that. So, what does the Bible say?

Here are the fundamentals. We are saved by grace.

Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Our works, in our Christian life, verify that we really are saved.

James 2:17-20: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Having established that we are saved by grace and our works verify our salvation, what part do we play in this process? Some argue that we have no part. It is true that salvation is the work of Christ alone. Even our coming to faith is made possible by the drawing of the Holy Spirit. The book of Romans clearly indicates that sanctification is a process; it is accomplished through the working of Christ in us, transforming us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So the question must be asked again, “Do we have any responsibility in our transformation from glory to ever-increasing glory?”

I believe the answer is yes. We do have a responsibility in our transformation from glory to ever increasing glory. Look at Philippians 2:12-13:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

The key phrase to examine is “work out your own salvation.” What does this mean? It certainly does not mean work for your salvation. Scripture is clear that salvation comes through faith and not through works. We must understand what this “working out of our salvation” means.

This issue is foundational to what I do in ministry, the resoning behind publishing a book on prayers. If there is no scriptural mandate for this kind of ministry, then pursuing it is error. With this in mind I would like to give an extended quote from the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. I am aware that it is a little tedious and will take some concentration on the part of the reader! However, if the importance of a believer’s part in maturing, in “working out our salvation” cannot be settled, then this book is meaningless! With this in mind, here is a section from the theological discussion of Philippians 2:12.

But, the Biblical concept of salvation is not thus restricted to justification; more commonly what is in view includes God’s redemptive work in its totality. Thus, while in a very important sense, we have already been saved (Eph. 2:5, 8; Titus 3:5), in another sense, we are yet to be saved (Rom. 5:9–10; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5; 2 Tim. 4:18). Calvin rightly claims “that salvation is taken to mean the entire course of our calling, and that this term includes all things by which God accomplishes that perfection, to which He has determined us by His free election.” Because salvation in its entire scope necessarily includes the manifestation of righteousness in our lives, it follows that our activity is integral to the process of salvation; we can never afford to forget the juxtaposition between verse 9 (“not of works”) and verse 10 (“for good works”) in Eph. 2. In the particular context of Phil. 2, the out workings of the believer’s personal salvation take the form of corporate obligations within the Christian community: the duty of seeking the good of others.

For those who admit the soteriological thrust of the passage, the tendency is to define verse 12 by means of verse 13 (or verse 13 by means of verse 12), that is, to tone down human activity by appealing to divine grace (or vice versa). One may, for example, so emphasize the truth that God does not force us to act against our will, that as a result, grace is restricted to little more than spiritual aid: “God will help us along, but it’s really up to us.” Conversely, fear of legalism may lead us to a more or less passive understanding of sanctification: “Our responsibility is simply to rest in God’s grace, to let Him work in us.” The text itself, by its very juxtaposition of those two emphases, cries out loudly against any such attempts at resolution. And the point here is not merely that both the human and the divine are stressed, but that in one and the same passage, we have what is perhaps the strongest Biblical expression of each element.

Note first Paul’s concern with human activity. Although several New Testament verses place considerable emphasis on the role of human responsibility in salvation (cf. esp. 2 Pet. 1:10, “for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble”), none puts it so bluntly as Phil. 2:12. The very choice of the verb katergazomai is notable. Chrysostom explained this compound form as indicating “with great effort, with great care”; though the evidence speaks against seeing such a nuance in the verb itself, we should not completely overlook the fact that this ancient Greek speaker perceived the term as emphatic. Bauer’s “achieve, accomplish” brings us closer to the distinctive nuance of the verb; he rightly places Phil. 2:12 under the second heading, “bring about, produce, create.” It is impossible to tone down the force with which Paul here points to our conscious activity in sanctification. The thought should give us pause: our salvation, which we confess to be God’s from beginning to end, is here described as something that we must bring about.

For all that, our dependence on divine activity for sanctification is nowhere made as explicit as here. To begin with, God’s work is viewed as having a causal relation to our working (gajr, gar, for); our activity is possible only because of divine grace. Second, the syntax is emphatic: Paul says not merely “God works” (ho theos energei) but “the One Who works, the working is God” (theos . . . estin ho energon . . . to energein). Third, the divine influence is said to extend not only to our activity but to our very wills—a unique statement, though the idea is implied in other passages (e.g., John 1:13; Rom. 9:16). Calvin comments: “There are, in any action, two principal parts, the will, and the effective power. Both of these [Paul] ascribes to God; what more remains to us to glory in?” Fourth, the apostle reinforces our dependence on God’s sovereignty with a concluding reference to “his good pleasure”, a distinctly theological term used to describe divine grace.

The point is that, while sanctification requires conscious effort and concentration, our activity takes place not in a legalistic spirit, with a view to gaining God’s favor, but rather in a spirit of humility and thanksgiving, recognizing that without Christ we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5), and so He alone deserves the glory.

God’s working in us is not suspended because we work, nor our working suspended because God works. Neither is the relation strictly one of cooperation as if God did His part and we did ours so that the conjunction or coordination of both produced the required result. God works and we also work. But the relation is that because God works, we work. All working out of salvation on our part is the effect of God’s working in us. . . . We have here not only the explanation of all acceptable activity on our part, but we also have the incentive to our willing and working. . . . The more persistently active we are in working, the more persuaded we may be that all the energizing grace and power is of God.

Let me summarize this excerpt. First, it is Christ who works in us both in salvation and in transforming us after salvation. Second, we have a part in bringing our salvation to completion. Third, our part is in the context of the church, the redeemed body of Christ.

What is stated in logical form in Philippians is illustrated in story form in the book of Joshua. The Lord clearly states that the land of Israel has been given to the children of Israel.

Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I said to Moses. Joshua 1:2-3

Verse three delineates an important condition for receiving this gift. The land which has been totally given to them must be possessed by them. Joshua 1:3 says, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.” The children of Israel have a part in possessing the land. They cannot simply cross over the river Jordan, set up camp, and wait for the coming of the Lord. They must possess their possessions. How do they do this? They must “walk” out their responsibility. “Every place that the soles of your feet tread, I have given to you!”

In other words, they must come against the strongholds in the land, take them down, and possess the land. This is a picture of the Christian life. We come into the Promised Land, that is, the Kindgom of God, through the blood of Christ. The word Jordan actually means “to spread judgment.” As we walk through the River Jordan, judgment does not touch us because it has been held back by the power of the Lord. We enter into the land and begin to take down, through the power of God, the strongholds in our lives. God does His part and we do our part. Our part includes the use of spiritual disciplines as well as being intentional about getting all the deliverance from the old nature that we can. That is where generational prayers come in.

I understand from personal experience that those who do not believe in generational deliverance or in praying written generational prayers will not be satisfied by any reasoning or evidence. After I had been ministering deliverance for several months as a Baptist pastor, several of the deacons came to me to express their concerns. Some of our discussions became very intense! Finally, one deacon said to me, “Well, if this is really true, then where is the fruit?” The point was well taken. To show him the fruit, I scheduled a Sunday evening service where several people who had been significantly helped by prayers for generational deliverance gave testimonies of what the Lord had done. The evening was very powerful. For over two hours, person after person came to the microphone and shared how the Lord had touched their lives. The testimonies were particularly meaningful because I had ministered to some of these people for nine years before I started doing deliverances. Clearly it was the ministry of deliverance that had made a difference!

After the service, that same deacon came to me and said, “I do not care what all those people say, I do not believe in this ministry.” At the following deacon meeting, the debate continued. Finally, in frustration, I said to the board, “If you do not want me to help these people, then you help them!” I was shocked by their response. They all raised their hands and said, “We can’t.” Here was the real heart of the issue. Those who do not believe in this ministry not only do not believe in it, but they also have no answers or alternative solutions to offer believers who continue to be in pain. Their only answer is their own personal Biblical and theological response to the concept of praying for people.

All of this should not be a surprise to anyone who knows the Bible. Jesus also encountered religious people who came against His healing and deliverance ministry. One of the most shocking scriptures in the Bible is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.

What is so shocking? Here is Jesus raising someone from the dead. Think of the joy of Lazarus and the joy of those who loved him; but, the religious people do not see this. All they can see are their own agendas and beliefs. Truth is not the issue! Their only response to the raising of Lazarus from the dead was to plot Jesus’ death.

The deacon meetings at my Baptist church finally culminated in congregational meetings. The debate seemed endless! Finally, I decided I had to leave the church. I can remember a conversation right after the meeting. I turned to a friend and said, “All I have ever wanted to do in ministry is to help others. Now, that I am finally able to really help people, the deacons won’t let me.” I walked away crushed. But the Lord was not finished with me or with the ministry of deliverance. His heart is to see His people set free. In obedience, I have followed His calling on my life. Years later, the fruit is evident. The Lord has been faithful. Yes, there is resistance, but lives are being changed.

2 Corinthians 3:18
Relating to the study of salvation
Moises Silva, Philippians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005).
iv John 11:43-53

What’s all this “Generational” Stuff? - Dr. Paul L. Cox

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them [idols]; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

We believe the issue of generational iniquity is best illustrated in the familiar story of Cain. Let’s review. Cain and his brother Abel brought a sacrifice to the Lord; Abel’s sacrifice was found worthy in God’s eyes, while Cain’s was not. This story marks an important distinction between sin, rebellion and iniquity. When Cain became angry, sad and dejected, the Lord said to Cain, “Sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” In response to this, Cain did three things. First, and perhaps most profoundly, he departed from the presence of the Lord. Next, he convinced his brother to come out to the fields, where he killed him. Lastly, when the Lord asked him where his brother was, Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” And after this answer, the Lord cursed Cain.

We may define sin simply as separation from God, and Cain’s “departing from the presence of the Lord” exemplifies this. In the Old Testament, the law required sin offerings for such things as coming in contact with a dead animal carcass or a dead body, so we can see that sin occurs from actions as simple as taking our eyes off God and going astray; there is not necessarily any malicious intent. Rebellion, on the other hand, occurs when we knowingly do that which God has commanded us and charged us not to do, when we “do it anyway.”

For generational issues, however, iniquity becomes our primary concern, and Cain’s answer to God exemplifies iniquity. The Lord asks Cain, “Where is your brother?” and Cain does not say, “Lord, I have sinned greatly, for I have committed murder upon my own brother.” He does not even respond rebelliously, “Listen, I know it’s against the rules, but I killed Abel, so could we just get this punishment thing over with, Lord?” Instead, he replies, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain gives an answer that distorts the truth; he chooses not to confess the truth with contrition, nor to tell the truth, albeit without remorse (like the second example response), but his response is crafted to cover his sin and rebellion, and thus evade consequences altogether. Thus, we may define iniquity as a twisted response to God. The Hebrew word avown is translated here as iniquity, and this word comes from the root word avah, which Strong’s translates as “do amiss, bow down, make crooked, pervert.” God curses Cain for his actions, and Cain replies, “My punishment is too great!” The word translated as “punishment” is actually avown; so Cain is quite literally saying, “My crookedness is too great,” where ‘crookedness’ may refer to either his own crooked ways, the punishment that comes with them, or both. Thus, it is quite literally this crookedness, this twisting of the father’s that is visited upon the sons in the sense of the curse, the punishment, but also in the sense of the distorted response.

Let’s get some perspective. The Father sent His Son Jesus to atone once and for all for our sins on the cross. He bore the weight of all our sins, and He became a curse for us, so that we might have freedom. He has conquered sin once and for all. He alone could bear it. The victory is His. If we can become as Paul described, so that “it is not me who lives, but Christ in me,” then we can carry His victory in us. We believe the Father “visits the iniquity of the fathers on the sons” not because He has a heart to burden people, but so that they may be confronted with this twisting of the truth, rise to the challenge and overcome it, not through our own righteousness, but through the righteous sacrifice of the One Who lives in us (that is, Jesus). We believe this occurs so that the sons may be presented with this wrong response, perceive this sin, and be given the opportunity to “master it” that their fathers squandered. Rev 3:5 says the following:

Thus shall he who conquers be clad in white garments, and I will not erase or blot out his name from the Book of Life; I will acknowledge him as Mine, and I will confess his name openly before My Father and before His angels.

The reward is promised to be great for those who persevere and learn to overcome.

That’s So Old Testament!

Yes. That is exactly where it is.

Consider this question: What is a Testament? The American Heritage Dictionary defines it this way: Something that serves as tangible proof or evidence. It comes from the Latin word testis, which can be translated roughly to mean “witness.” Who or what does the Old Testament give evidence of? Who or What is it a witness to? You’re probably already rolling your eyes, because of course it is God that the Old Testament gives witness to. But don’t shrug this aside; it’s the reason we still carry all those pages around in our Bibles. The testament may be old, but as for the God it testifies of, HE IS still the same. He does not change. If doubt still lingers about the relevance of the Old Testament, consider Luke 16:31, wherein Jesus gave us some stunning words in His parable about the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus:

But Abraham said, “If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.”

Those are probably not particularly comforting words.

Those who find themselves echoing the objection about generational iniquity being confined to the Old Testament probably consider Gal 5:3-4, which says this:

If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.

Much of the Old Testament (though not all by any means) describes God’s commands to the Israelites, in other words, the law. Paul exhorts us here not to try and work out our salvation through the law. But even in the Old Testament, God expresses contempt for songs, offerings and festivals because of the people’s attitude. All of these were in keeping with the law. The Lord almost killed Balaam for having a wrong attitude and being spiritually insensitive, even though he was following the command of the Lord.

The law was created to give witness to God, to His holiness. It was created to guard us from sin before we put faith in Jesus (Gal 3:24). It was also created to produce guilt in us, which would, in turn, reveal to us our inability to produce right standing with God through our own efforts (Gal 3:19). For that, we need a Savior. Jesus lived his life in perfect submission to the law, so that we would not place our faith in the law, but in the One who fulfilled it. Again, He said, “I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” Through Him, we can live in harmony as Paul describes in Eph 2:20:

We are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. (Bold added for emphasis)

God can change and has changed His commands in keeping with His time or season. Acts 11 describes how He repealed the commands to only eat the flesh of certain animals just before the first Gentiles received the Spirit. In the verse above, Paul fervently urges the brethren against circumcision. To use an exaggerated example, we would certainly strain ourselves if we tried to simultaneously worship the Lord with joyous shouts and clapping, mourn with loud crying and moaning, and receive Him in quietness and rest.

But the part of Exodus 20:5 describing generational iniquity has no command. It’s not the law. It is not even an impersonal, categorical description of how God’s legal system works, such as, “The wages of sin are death.” Exodus 20:5 describes God! Read it again:

…for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

This describes not the law, but a characteristic of God’s ways and His justice. The Lord loves righteousness right now just as much as He did in the days of Adam. He still does not despise those with a contrite heart and a broken spirit. And although He sent Jesus to be a friend to sinners and release us from its bondage, He still hates sin. What He tells us to do may depend on context, but His character does not change.

Lest there be any confusion about the subject of generational sin in our New Covenant times, consider the words of the Lord in Luke 11:47-51 (Amplified):

Woe to you! For you are rebuilding and repairing the tombs of the prophets, whom your fathers killed. So you bear witness and give your full approval and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they actually killed them, and you rebuild and repair monuments to them…So that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be charged against and required of this age and generation.(Bold added for emphasis)

Clearly, Jesus is explicitly telling us here that as these sons faced the sins of their fathers, they could be held accountable for them according to the way they responded. The Pharisees chose to honor the prophets in much the same way that they honored Jesus; they honored Him with their mouths, but their hearts were far from Him. The word hypocrisy comes from the word for “actor,” or “play-acting.” The honor of the Pharisees was an act. They performed this act so that they would be seen honoring Jesus and the prophets; they were courting the favor of the people and seeking to be esteemed by those who loved Jesus and the prophets. They loved the honor of men, and they loved for men to bow down to them in public.

Deep generational iniquity was being passed down from their fathers, and they chose to treat the outside; they were coating that sin and sealing it in with a thick lacquer of whitewash. I know the following sounds cheeky, but rather, I mean it quite literally and sincerely: if you have issues with a generational paradigm, please take them up with the Lord. Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin, so until the day arrives when the Lord allows you to accept a generational paradigm on faith, we will have to live in patience according to Romans 14:3:

The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.

Until that day, we’ll just have to believe in a great God, Who is above and beyond all the ways of men, and accepts all kinds of people just for having faith in Jesus Christ.

Okay, I get the idea, but…so what?

So we know that iniquity can be passed down through the generations (thus the term, “generational iniquity”), and we have a very vague idea of what it looks like. We can conceive a seemingly infinite number of scenarios that might indicate the presence of generational iniquity. Generally, though, we look for patterns of destruction and devouring that occur pervasively and repeatedly throughout a family. From here, we do something which we call, “identificational repentance,” a big term that simply means we:

1.) perceive, through the Spirit, the presence of the twistedness, the iniquity,

2.) identify with those in our family line who fell into this sin (as in Dan 9),

3.) confess it as sin,

4.) place that sin in the hands of Jesus on the cross, and

5.) turn away from it and turn back to God (repent).

We also ask the Lord to remove the curses and consequences that resulted from that iniquity. In other words, the process is the same process of repentance described repeatedly by the prophets, and for that matter, by Jesus. The only wrinkle unique to identificational repentance is that we intentionally choose to identify with those in our family line, rather than being like the Pharisee who says, “Thank you, God, that you didn’t make me like that sinner.” God expresses His heart for this repentance clearly in Leviticus 26:40:

But at last, my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.

In this way, we can “work out our salvation through fear and trembling.”

We must be careful, however, as we walk through this process, to rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for we cannot conquer iniquity through our own power or might, but only by His Spirit, Who is released to us through our faith in Jesus. I write this as an aside, but please, let my words implore you to understand this as the primary and the most important caveat of all. Do what you must to get this imprinted; picture a drill sergeant; imagine the sound of thunder booming through these words as you reread them:

***Rely on the Holy Spirit***

So, long story short: identify with those who committed the sin, and repent, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I emphasize this again because we cannot manipulate God. He is indeed Jehovah Raphe. He is indeed healing. He is the liberation we seek. But we cannot force His hand by our actions, our formulas, our procedures, or our protocols into acting in a particular manner. He does it because He wants to, because He is our Father and He loves us so much He sent Jesus to bear all the weight that we cannot. He does not act because we found the secret formula to force His hand, or because of our own merits, but because of Who He Is.

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