Can A Christian Be Cursed?

Can a Christian be cursed? What does the Bible say about this?

Curses and Blessings

We know that God promised great blessings to the nation Israel if they would obey God’s laws, but as we know, they fell into idolatry time after time and then fell into the hands of the enemy. So obedience would bring blessings while disobedience would bring curses. Listen to what God said through Moses in warning the nation of Israel: “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full” (Deut 11:13-15). So blessings are very biblical but then God says, “Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you” (Deut 11:16-17). The summary is God gave Israel a choice; “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known” (Deut 11:26-28). We know from the Bible that Israel fell under the curse of God because of their disobedience, but does this mean a Christian can be cursed?

Being Blessed

The Word of God promises to those who believe and obey, “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut 28:2), and so if anyone obeys God, it says “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Deut 28:8). Just as it was said to Israel, God would also say to us who believe that “when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you” (Deut 30:1), and God has “set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deut 30:19). God, as a good, benevolent Father, is “ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing” (Psalm 37:26). God does not “did not delight in blessing” (Psalm 109:17), but rather, blessings upon His people. God actually is so good that He sends the rain on the just and the unjust, which means, God blesses even those outside of the faith, but not as much as those who believe. We have every spiritual blessing there is (Eph 1:3), unlike any other people on the planet, and why the psalmist wrote, “Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15).

Being Cursed

I have had so many people contact me that are worried that their non-saved family members have placed a curse on them because of their belief in Christ and in the Bible, but that is actually a blessing to believe in God. Let me ask you, “Is there any power to someone who is not saved placing a curse on a Christian?” They can say they have placed a curse on them, but they have no supernatural power to curse their life. As we have read, that is God’s choice and it’s based upon how we live, not by what others say. In fact, the one who is placing the curse is actually the one who is cursed because they have rejected the only name by which they can possibly be saved (Acts 4:12). If someone has said they have placed a curse on you or someone you know, warn that person that they themselves are cursed by God. Why would I say that? Because it is written: “For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye” (Zech 2:8). It’s like God is saying, “You mess with them, you mess with Me!” The “apple” of the eye was considered the pupil and is one of the most vulnerable parts of the body. Without it, we’d be blind, so for those who mean harm to God’s children, He takes it very personally. Yes, this was written to Israel, but the same application intended for them is just as relevant for us today (Heb 13:5). Warn that person who thinks they have the power to curse is cursed themselves because anyone who rejects belief in Jesus Christ is cursed and will end up in the worst of all possible situations (Rev 20:12-15; 21:8). Humans have no power to curse anyone except themselves and that is by rejecting Jesus Christ. That’s the greatest curse that anyone could ever have on them. They cannot conjure up special powers or potions or a curse upon someone because they have no power to bring it about…but God does…and they better know it!

Conclusion

Has someone cursed you? Then be afraid…afraid for them! Pray that God might grant them repentance and faith in Christ. I want to remind myself, and perhaps you, that we cannot take these blessings for granted. If we’re being unthankful and ungrateful, we might lose some of these blessings, although not the greatest blessing of all (John 3:16; Eph 2:8-9). Let’s you and I not think too highly of ourselves and remember what God told Israel about their being chosen by God (like we have been): “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut 7:6-8). We weren’t special. We weren’t large in number. It was only because of God’s love that He chose us “out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Isn’t that amazing grace!