Exposing Satan's Playbook The Perry Stone

27). After hearing their sister was raped, Simeon and Levi went after the men and slew an entire tribal family. Jacob was so upset at one point that he told his sons, “You . . . make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land” (Gen. 34:30, KJV ). Gideon led three hundred men into a battle to defeat the huge Midianite army, yet following the victory he used a golden offering to make an ephod, causing Israel to worship the golden image (Judg. 8:27). Other failures fill the Bible, such as Samson’s weakness with Philistine women (Judg. 14–16); of David being a “Peeping Tom,” which led to an affair in the palace (2 Sam. 11), and of Solomon’s lust for women, which led him to assemble seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3), with the result that these strange women turned his heart away from God (vv. 1–4). The many moral and spiritual challenges of these early patriarchs and kings were not the result of generational curses causing the difficulty and failure, but they were simply the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19–21) and the struggle with the carnal nature (1 Cor. 3:1–4). It is easy for a fallen believer to blame his trouble on the devil, but many times it’s not a devil that’s on them but the flesh that is in them. Individuals who are deep into the teaching about generational curses often believe that everything negative is caused by a curse. I have met individuals who deal with anger issues in their family, and they remind people, “It’s just a generational curse.” Others struggle with adultery and use the excuse: “It’s part of the curse in my family lineage.” It is possible for people to become so entrenched in this curse concept that they cease to take