Authority Figures

Authority Figures

Both blessings and curses are part of a vast, invisible spiri-tual realm, which affects the lives of every one of us. One central and decisive factor in this realm is authority. Without a grasp of the principles of authority, it is impossible to understand the realm of the spirit or to function effectively in it. The twentieth century has witnessed an almost world-wide revolt against forms of authority that have generally been recognised by the human race for millennia. Major areas of social structure that have been affected include the family, the church and the various branches of secular government. People often assume that this revolt has changed or abol-ished these forms of authority, but this is not so. The principles that govern the exercise of authority are as objective and universal as the law of gravity.

A person in an attitude of revolt may decide to reject the law of gravity and to jump out of a window on the tenth floor. But his rejection of that law in no way changes or invalidates it. He will still fall to his death on the sidewalk below. The same applies to the laws that govern the exercise of authority. People may ignore them or reject them, but the course of their lives will still be determined by them, whether they recognise it or not. Throughout the universe there is one, and only one, su-preme source of authority: God the Creator. God does not normally exercise His authority directly, however, but dele-gates it to others of His choice. After Jesus rose from the dead,

He told His disciples, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."(Matthew 28:18)

Since that time, God has placed all authority in the hands of Jesus. But Jesus, in His turn, delegates to others the authority He has received from the Father. Thus authority throughout the universe may be pictured as an extremely strong cable, descending from God the Father to Jesus. In the hands of Jesus, the cable is separated into countless smaller cables that reach to persons whom He has appointed - both angelic and human - in various parts of the universe. One term used in the Bible to denote a person who exercises authority is "head". In 1 Corinthians 11:3, for instance, Paul writes:

But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

By this analogy of headship, Paul depicts a "cable" of authority which originates with God the Father, descends to Christ and from Christ to the man who fills the role of husband and father in a family. By virtue of this relationship, the man is the appointed authority in his home. In human social relationships, the husband/father is the primary example of a person appointed to exercise authority. However, there are many other commonly recognised author-ity figures: a ruler over his people; a military commander over his soldiers; a teacher over his pupils; a pastor over the mem-bers of his congregation. God alone has absolute authority. All other forms of authority are subject to limitations of various kinds. Delegated authority is valid only within a given sphere. A ruler's authority, for instance, is normally limited by the laws of his nation and does not extend to "private" areas in the lives of his subjects.

A father's authority over his family does not permit him to infringe the laws of the secular government. A teacher has authority over his pupils only within the limits of school life. A pastor has authority over his congregation only in matters that are governed by the form of religion which the congrega-tion has accepted. All the above examples are generalities. For complete accuracy, it would be necessary to add many other qualifica-tions and restrictions. Also, there could be cases where two forms of authority overlap, giving rise to conflicts. The ex-amples given are sufficient, however, to establish the basic principles that govern the exercise of authority. It is commonly assumed that whenever authority is abused, it is automatically cancelled. This may happen in extreme cases, but normally it is not so.

Authority in some form is a basic necessity for any kind of social life. Authority that is abused may inflict many hardships, but even so it is better than the alternative, which is anarchy'. In many population centres today, the air that people breathe has become so polluted that it is dangerous to health. God does not for this reason, however, remove all air from that area of the earth's surface. Even polluted air is preferable to no air at all. Similarly, even abused authority is better than anarchy. One important way a person may exercise authority is by blessing those under his authority. Genesis 27 records the tremendous importance that both Jacob and Esau attached to the blessing of their father Isaac. And with good reason, since the history of their descendants has been determined ever since by the words Isaac spoke over each of them at that time.

Nor is Isaac an isolated exception. On the contrary, all through the Bible, the blessing of a father is considered second in importance only to that of God Himself. Implicit in the authority to bless, however, is the authority also to curse. Blessing and cursing can never be separated from I Webster's Dictionary defines anarchy as: 1. The complete absence of government 2. political disorder and violence; lawlessness 3. disorder in any sphere of activity one another, any more than heat from cold or day from night. This means that persons with authority may exercise it in one of two ways: to bless or to curse. The same authority that makes a blessing effective makes a curse equally effective. One dramatic example is provided by the family life of Jacob. Genesis 31 records how Jacob, with his two wives, two concubines and eleven children, departed by stealth from his Uncle Laban in Mesopotamia and set out to return to the land of Canaan. Laban, however, with a company of his relatives, set out in pursuit of Jacob and overtook him in the mountains of Gilead.

There followed a confrontation between them, in which Laban accused Jacob of stealing his teraphim (household images, or "gods", used for divination and supposed to "pro-tect" a home from evil forces). What Jacob did not know was that Rachel, the wife he loved most dearly, had secretly taken the images. Consequently, Jacob reacted indignantly to Laban's accusation. He chal-lenged Laban to search all his family's belongings, and then -to protest his innocence - he added what was in effect a curse:

"If you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live." (Genesis 31:32, NIV)

Laban did proceed to search all the belongings of Jacob's household, but Rachel succeeded in keeping the teraphim hidden. Nevertheless, the words of Jacob's curse were charged with a husband's authority. They were equivalent to a sen-tence of death on the person who had stolen the images. The fact that Jacob did not realise that his words were directed against Rachel did not prevent the curse from taking effect. Shortly afterwards, in giving birth to her second son, Rachel died in labour. (See Genesis 35:16-19.) Such is the authority of a husband, either to bless or to curse! It should be added that, by taking possession of false "gods", Rachel had trespassed in the area of idolatry and of the occult. Thus, by her own action she had already forfeited God's protection and exposed herself to the curse that inevita-bly follows occult involvement. Here is a clear example that the laws governing blessings and curses are - in their own sphere - as real and as objective as the law of gravity.

They work, whether people recognise them or not. In God's plan for marriage, husband and wife become "one flesh", thus merging their separate identities in a new unity. On this basis, a husband naturally includes his wife in the authority they share jointly over their children. Failing to do this, the husband may become arbitrary or despotic. Today, however, it is more common for a husband to go to the opposite extreme by reneging on his responsibilities to his wife and children, and even abandoning them completely. In such circumstances, the wife is left to carry on her own a burden that should have been shared by the two of them together. The result is frequently a complete breakdown of the whole family structure. All credit should be given to Christian wives who find themselves in this situation, but by faith, prayer and the grace of God successfully carry the extra burden that has been thrust upon them. In the case of Jacob, he did not realise that the words he had uttered were directed against Rachel. In our contemporary culture, however, it often happens that a husband knowingly and deliberately directs bitter and crushing words against his wife. Let me give you a typical example. Mary, who never received any domestic training from her mother at home, marries Jack,. a business executive with a quick temper. Mary never succeeds in serving meals that are tasty or attractive. For a while, Jack exercises self-control and contains his impatience. Finally, he blurts out his frustration: "I'm sick of the way you serve our meals.

You'll never learn to cook!" He repeats this - with variations - on many subsequent occasions. From then on, Mary's hands tremble whenever she brings food to the table. Meals become an ordeal from which she longs to escape. After some years, the marriage breaks up. But the curse pronounced by Jack follows Mary through the rest of her life. Although talented and successful in other areas, she never does learn to cook. Whenever she finds herself in a kitchen, something dark comes over her that inhibits her natural ability. There is only one solution for her: to recognise the fact that her husband put a curse on her and to seek the release God has provided. It also transpires, however, that Jack has pronounced a curse on himself, without knowing it. From the time he says, "I'm sick of the way you serve our meals," he begins to develop chronic indigestion, for which physicians can find no natural cause or cure. Just like Mary's inability to cook, Jack's indiges-tion follows him to the end of his days. Obviously there could be many variations to the story of Jack and Mary. Mary's problem might be overweight. Jack's comment would take this form: "You just don't have the willpower that it takes to lose weight. You'll be fat for the rest of your life."

Or again, Mary might be one of those women who do not know how to handle money. Her budgeted amount runs out before the week is up. She never succeeds in balancing her chequebook. Jack might give vent to his frustration by saying: "A ten-year-old could handle money better than you do. You don't deserve to prosper. You'll be struggling for the rest of your life." Picture another couple: Jim and Jane. Jim's language is more brutal than Jack's. He frequently closes bitter arguments by saying, "I hate your guts!" In the years that follow the inevitable divorce, Jane requires surgery in the area of the abdomen for three successive conditions, none of them di-rectly related to the others. The correct diagnosis for all three of Jane's problems is stated in Proverbs 12:18: There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword... It required the surgeon's scalpel to deal with the invisible wounds that Jim had inflicted by his bitter words. Words such as Jack uses against Mary - or Jim against Jane - proceed out of moods that may range from impatience to anger to rage. Usually there is demonic pressure behind them.

They are like barbed arrows, tipped with poison. Once they penetrate the flesh, the barbs make it difficult to pull them out. Yet if they are left in, the poison spreads on the inside. Greater even than the authority of a man over his wife is that of a father over his children. This is the most basic of all authority relationships. It is actually an extension of the eternal relationship of Father to Son within the Godhead. Just as a father's blessing has measureless potential for good, so a father's curse has a corresponding potential for evil. Sometimes such a curse may be uttered deliberately. More often, perhaps - as in the relationship of a husband to his wife - a father may speak words to a child that are not deliberately intended as a curse, but nevertheless have exactly the same effect. Each of the following examples is a composite of elements I have encountered in real-life situations. A father has three sons.

The firstborn is welcome just because he is that - the firstborn. The youngest has unusual talent and an outgoing personality. But the middle son has neither of these factors in his favour. He broods over misun-derstandings, but tends to keep his feelings to himself. Fur-thermore, the father sees in this middle son aspects of his own character which he does not like, but has never been willing to deal with in his own life. He finds it less painful to condemn them in his son than in himself. As a result, the middle son never has a sense of his father's approval. In the end, he no longer tries to win it. His father interprets this as stubbornness. More and more frequently, he vents his disapproval in words such as: "You don't even try! You're lazy! You'll never make good!" Little does he realise that he is pronouncing an evil destiny which may easily follow his son through the rest of his life. I could not count the men I have encountered personally whose lives have been blighted by negative, critical, destruc-tive words spoken by a father.

Out of these encounters I have learned that such words are, in reality, a curse. The passage of time does not diminish their effect. Men past middle age may still find their lives blighted by words a father spoke to them in childhood. The only effective solution is to deal with them specifically as a curse, and to apply the remedy which God has provided. As with the case of Jack and Mary, or Jim and Jane, there are many different variations to such a situation. A father who is skilful with his hands, for example, may have a son who is unusually late in developing manual dexterity. After the son has bungled various practical tasks assigned to him, the father exclaims, "Your fingers are all thumbs!" or, "You have two left hands!" The father may speak these words jokingly, not in anger. Nevertheless, they make a permanent impact on the son. Thirty years later he is still embarrassed or diffident every time he is confronted with even a simple practical task. This continues to be an area of his life in which he never succeeds.

Yet his root problem may not be so much lack of skill as lack of confidence. He has never rebuilt the confidence which his father unintentionally destroyed in childhood. Daughters, too, like sons, may suffer from the effects of a father's negative words. A teenage daughter, for instance, acutely conscious of her acne, spends hours each morning in front of her mirror, struggling to cover the blotches with various types of skin cream. Her father, waiting to drive her to school, is increasingly irritated by her failure to be ready on time. One day, when the daughter is later than usual, his irritation explodes. "You're wasting your time in front of that mirror," he barks. "You'll never get rid of your pimples!" Twenty years later the daughter - now a married woman with children of her own - is still struggling vainly to cover up her acne. Bitter, angry words - whether spoken by a husband to his wife or a father to his child - are usually the outcome of a period of growing inner tension. It is like a whistling kettle placed on a stove to boil.

At first, the tension builds up inwardly, without any outward indication. But when the water inside reaches the boiling point, the steam is expelled and the whistle is blown. After that, there is no way to recall that whistle. The only remedy is to take the kettle off and cool the water down. For a Christian, this means turning to God with an urgent, inward prayer: "Lord, I'm beginning to lose control, butt yield my spirit to You. Will You please take control?" Otherwise, when irritation and anger continually build up inside a person, they will ultimately be expelled, like steam, in hurtful, wounding words. The curse that accompanies them is like the whistle. Once it has been uttered, there is no way to recall it. Then the only solution is to recognise that a curse has been uttered, and seek God's help to revoke it. A mother, too, has authority over her children, which is either shared with her husband or delegated by him. Some-times, however, a mother is not content with the exercise of her legitimate authority. Instead, she exploits her children's affec-tion and loyalty to gain illegitimate control over them and to direct the course of their lives.

Another example of "witch-craft"! This becomes particularly evident when her children come to choose their mates. If the mother approves of their choice, she is all sweetness. But if she disapproves, a totally different side of her character appears. In the section that follows, a husband and wife each relate their experiences resulting from a curse pronounced by the wife's mother at the time of their marriage. They describe, first of all, the effects that the curse had on each of them; then how they became aware of the curse and took the scriptural steps to be released from it.

Husband

Living under a curse is like living in a vapour. The effects can be seen, yet it is without clear form and substance. Even though you may experience success, you feel only frustration and hopelessness. For me, the blessings of God always seemed somewhat remote and unattainable. I often knew the Lord's presence and moved in the spiritual gifts, yet satisfaction in ministry and life always seemed just out of reach. My wife and children had nagging health problems, and finances were continually short (even though we tithed, gave regularly and lived frugally). Though I knew clearly the ministry to which God had called me, I could not move into it. Most of my work seemed to end with just a measure of fruitfulness. I could start things, but couldn't complete them. I seemed to be facing some kind of invisible resistance. This struggle went on for years. Then one day I found myself explaining the situation to a group of fellow ministers, including Derek Prince. They discerned a curse coming on my family from my mother-in-law. I will let my wife explain:

Wife

Early in my marriage I spent two days in prayer and fasting. I felt the Lord showed me that there was a curse in my family. My husband and I were newly baptised in the Holy Spirit and had never even heard of such a thing as a curse. Our experi-ence, as we have sought to become free, could be compared to peeling layers off an onion. This curse revolves around a spirit of witchcraft that has operated through the women in my family, especially my mother. My family was churchgo-ing, moral and quite "normal", but the witchcraft worked subtly to undermine the authority of the men in our family, while manipulating the other family members. I was not aware of the extent of my mother's control until I became engaged. As my loyalty began to switch to my future husband, I could sense her growing resentment. That was when my mother said, "He'll never make any money and you'll have to work the rest of your life."

All through the years of our marriage I have laboured against that "curse". I was determined to "show her" by not working in an outside job, but I was, in fact, controlled by it because I wasn't free to have a job! Also, my husband and I could never visualise ourselves as prosperous, and we have had contin-ual financial problems. Then, shortly after I married, my mother said, "You know you're not a strong person physically." I felt as if someone had hit me on the head! What she said was such a shock to me because I had never perceived myself as a weak or sickly person. On the contrary, I had always been healthy and athletic. So I began to think that perhaps I had been wrong, and really wasn't strong physically... Subsequently I have battled a lot of physical ailments, some of long duration. I also struggled because I was responding to my own husband and children in some of the same ways my mother did. This left me with a sense of hopelessness. How could I get completely free from this curse? Witchcraft had exercised control in several generations of my family. It seemed the spirit associated with it truly believed it had the right to dominate me and, in fact, it believed it owned me! Whenever I would be ministered to for deliver-ance this spirit would whisper to me that I couldn't really be completely free.

I blamed my mother... Through a slow, "layer-by-layer" process of revelation and deliverance I came to see that my enemy is not my mother. I have forgiven her, and acknowledged the curse of witchcraft that had been influencing both of us. Since having ministry specifically to break these curses, I have had to learn to battle old thought and habit patterns. Now I daily confess with confi-dence: "Through the sacrificial offering of Christ on the cross I have been purchased out from under the curse and have entered into the blessings of Abraham, whom God blessed in all things" (Galatians 3:13-14). Christ has redeemed me from the curse!

Husband

After prayer for breaking of curses, there was a distinct "clearing of the air". The changes have been neither dramatic nor immediate, but they have been real. There is a sense of direction in my life. There is progress. I feel that I have a scriptural degree of control over my life and that I can take my rightful place in my family. I can also see productivity and fruitfulness as a result of my labours. Most important to me, there is hope. The nebulous darkness of the future has been replaced by excitement and joy at what God is doing. The "fog" is clearing! It is important to see that the wife's mother was not aware of all the effects that her words had on her daughter and son-in-law. She herself was the prisoner of a spiritual force that came from her own family background. Quite possibly it had affected that family for many generations.

The mercy of God provided a way of release from its control. School life is another area in which authority relationships are important, although the authority of a teacher over pupils is not so clear-cut as that of a parent. Negative words spoken by a teacher to a pupil may have the same blighting effect as if they had been spoken by a parent. For instance, a teacher may become exasperated by a pupil who is inattentive and slow to learn, and blurt out words such as: "You'll never be able to read properly!" or, "You always get things the wrong way round; you'll never succeed!" In all probability, the teacher is unaware of the danger of such words and will never see the result they produce on the pupils in later life. Yet I have met grown men and women who have been struggling for the rest of their lives against the effect of words spoken by a teacher in school. I recall one dedicated Christian lady who had been haunted for forty years by a sense of inferiority going back to a remark by a teacher who had told her, "You're shallow!" In fact, it would have been difficult to find anyone to whom this word was less applicable.

Examples have been given above of the potentially blight-ing effect of words spoken by people who have authority proceeding out of a relationship. The specific relationships -chosen merely as examples - were those of a husband, a father, a mother and a schoolteacher. There is one characteristic thread that runs through the various ways in which these authority figures expressed themselves. It can be summed up in one brief phrase: "You'll never prosper - or succeed!" Surely it is significant that Moses, in describing to Israel the outworking of "the curse of the law", used precisely the same words:

You shall not prosper in your ways. (Deuteronomy 28:29)

For my part, whenever I hear a person using such words, I am always on my guard against the possibility that a curse is being uttered. Religion is another main area in which authority is vested in people who hold certain offices. Consequently, their words have a potential for good or evil which corresponds to the authority of their office. For many centuries in Europe, one main weapon used by the popes of the Roman Catholic Church was their papal "ban" (that is, curse), which they would proclaim on all whom they deemed to be heretics. It would be impossible to write an accurate history of Europe without taking into account the effects of this papal ban. Even rulers of nations feared it more than an actual declaration of war. In the Protestant section of the church, no person has ever achieved an authority equal to that of the pope.

Nevertheless, wherever there is ecclesiastical authority, there is always the possibility of its misuse. Even the pastor of a small "independ-ent" church, with a mere handful of members, can speak words that are, in effect, a curse. I am reminded of a man with excellent business qualifica-tions - let's call him Frank - who came for counselling. He had spent ten frustrating years in which nothing went right for him and he was barely able to support his wife and family. I asked Frank if anything had happened in his life at the point when things began to go wrong for him. His mind went back to a period when he and his family had been attending a small independent church. After various disagreements with the pastor, they had withdrawn their membership. Since the family was one main source of the church's in-come, the pastor reacted out of fear and insecurity. The final exchange between Frank and the pastor was acrimonious - on both sides. Finally the pastor closed by saying: "God put you in this church. If you leave, you'll be out of His will. Nothing will ever go right for you!" Sure enough, from that time on, nothing did go right for Frank. Fortunately, when he understood the cause of his frustrations, he was able to release himself from that pastoral curse. But first he had to forgive the pastor and put things right between them.

After that, the course of Frank's life changed for the better. Frank's case is not exceptional. I have met an astonishing number of people who have been through similar experiences. Almost invariably, the pastor has taken the same line: "God put you in this congregation. If you leave, you'll never pros-per!" (Note those familiar words!) But thank God, He has provided a solution - for both parties to the dispute. In 1985, while ministering in Australia, I was confronted by the effects of an ecclesiastical curse that had persisted for more than three centuries. A lady - whom we will call Margaret -heard me teach on the theme of blessings and curses. At the end of my message, recognising clear evidence of a curse at work in her family, Margaret stood, with many others, and repeated the prayer of release. Later, she sent me a letter giving the background of her case. Her ancestors were from Scotland, from a clan called Nyxon. In the 1600s this clan had been involved in border wars between the Scots and the English. As a result, the Bishop of Scotland (who was appointed by the English) had pronounced a curse on the entire Nyxon clan.

Margaret enclosed a copy of the curse, which decreed, among other things, that the mem-bers of the clan should be hung, drawn and quartered2, and their entrails fed to the dogs and the swine. After the clan had been defeated in battle, this sentence was duly carried out on those members who were captured alive. Two years later, on my return to Australia, I met Margaret briefly. Later she wrote this letter: Thank you so very much for praying for me and my family, and for delivering God's prophetic word to us while here in Melbourne. You asked if our family had changed since the release from the curse. I did not have time to tell you when we spoke, but, yes, my whole family - my husband, my two daughters, aged 24 and 23, and my son, aged 21 - have all come to know the Lord over the last two years and now we have joined a full gospel church here in Melbourne. What astonishing testimony to the power of a curse! It had followed Margaret's clan through three centuries, and Marga-ret's branch of the clan right across the world, from Britain to Australia. Once the curse had been identified and revoked, the invisible barrier that kept God's blessing from Margaret's family was removed, and her entire household entered into salvation.

This naturally raises the question: How many other families are being kept from salvation because of an unrecognised curse? 2 They were first hanged, then their corpses were dragged through the street by a horse or some other animal, and finally cut up into four pieces.