“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live” Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)
God has given us a choice: accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and receive the inherent blessings that come with it, or reject the Son of God, which attracts an inherent curse and the consequent expulsion into the fiery pits of hell. Beloved, your choice of life is not only beneficial to you, it also has generational consequences. Exodus 34:7 (NLT) says, “I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations…But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected – even children in the third and fourth generations.” It means that our life is not only the total sum of our choices, but it also sums up the lives of our generations.
A biblical generation is forty years, and since God promises to lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Him and obey His commands (Deuteronomy 5:10), we are guaranteed forty thousand years of blessing for our generations. If we decide to disobey His commands, for one hundred and sixty years, our generation would be a proverbial football of the devil; save and except they make a conscious choice to break out of the generational curse by submitting their lives to Jesus.
Dereck Prince, author of the book, ‘Blessing or Curse, You Can Choose’ wrote, “God ordained that Israel’s occupation of Canaan would confront them with two diametrically opposite alternatives: a blessing for obedience or a curse for disobedience. Between the two, there is no middle ground. No other option is open to them. From then onward, every Israelite who entered Canaan would either enjoy God’s blessings or endure His curse”.
In summary, the author stated that Christians are under the same covenant relationship with God. Under the New Covenant, just as under the Old Covenant, God offers the same two alternatives: either blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience. He further stated that there is a great delusion among Christians, which satan carefully fosters, that there is some great possibility of a third option. Neither the Old Testament nor the New offers any such option.
Beloved, there is no mention in the Bible of any place called purgatory – a place that allows the sinful souls of the departed to be cleansed of the consequences of their sins so that they can be completely pure and ready to enter into God’s presence. This is a demonic philosophy that implies that one can live a sinful life and still enter the Kingdom of God. You cannot! Repent of your sins, and you will be saved. Choose Life!
Read: 1 Kings 3:14; John 1:4
Bible Reading Guide: Proverbs 27:15-22; Hebrews 11:1-16; Ezekiel 22:23-31; Ezekiel 23
