I watch little TV other than cable. But last Saturday morning I was surfing my way across the channels to Fox News when a History Channel special on Wild West firearms caught my eye. As a kid I was fascinated by tales of 19th century life, especially Western TV shows and movies. And no icon of that era was better known than John Wesley Harding, an outlaw turned model prisoner, turned lawyer, and turned again to a killer. He was gunned down in an El Paso saloon just 42 years of age. It didn’t have to be that way. His father was a Methodist minister, and Harding was christened with the namesake of the famous, godly founder of Methodism. While in prison, he became the superintendent of the Sunday School, during his reformation years. But after a brief stint at normal, law-abiding life, he turned again to booze, prostitutes, and killing. He was shot in the back while drunk and rolling dice.
How do things like this happen? How can the son of a preacher man go so bad? Yet we see it all the time. People with hope and promise, and what we think is godly upbringing end up living in sin and self-destruction. The answer to this question isn’t really that hard to come by if you understand how curses work. (To learn more, read my book CURSE BREAKING: Freedom from the Bondage of Generational Sin. To order CLICK HERE.) In Harding’s life there were obviously blessings coming from his father. Perhaps not so obvious, perhaps hundreds of years and many generations prior, there was bloodshed and violence. Now that doesn’t mean that Harding was bound to become a killer. He could have made other choices. But what curses do is limit an individual’s ability to make good decision. Deuteronomy chapter 28 makes it plain that curses or blessings are the heritage of those whose ancestors walked in obedience to God or in rebellion to His Word. Being the child of Christian parents doesn’t ensure spiritual success. It’s a great start. But as we see with John Wesley Harding, it’s also necessary to make sold moral choices and break curses of one’s ancestors.
An encouraging word: DRIVE LIKE A MADMAN
“He drives like a madman(NIV).” That how Jehu’s enthusiasm was described in 2 Kings 9:20. He was a man on a mission to rid Israel of the wicked queen Jezebel. He was on his way to face this demonic monarch when a lookout described his haste. We need more men like that today. Not necessarily “madmen,” but determined men, men who are intent on facing down the devil and ridding him from every part of modern life. Let this be a day in which you find some way that Satan has hurt those around you; “drive like a madman” to approach the situation with unbridled enthusiasm and bring the love of God to those in need.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
