I said, “Well, the white man didn’t know anything about smoking tobacco, either—until they connected with the Indians. I wonder which caused the greatest problem: alcohol or tobacco?”
He got really mad at me and said that was not true. So I asked him, “Are you calling me a liar in my own home?”
He replied, “No, but it just is not true.”
I responded, “Well, you’re drunk and you’re not very polite, so hit the road. Get out of here!” He was belligerent.
A week later, he came back and he said, “Preacher, I have to tell you, I’m sorry.”
I said, “For what?”
Then he answered, “Because you told the truth and I called you a liar.”
The interesting thing about this incident is that we became friends. I discovered he was a medicine man. Over a period of time, I talked to him about Jesus Christ. He confessed Jesus as Lord and renounced all his practices of witchcraft. At this time, he was born again into the family of God, delivered from the power of evil, and healed in his body. He even brought several friends to me so they could get the “whole works” too!
But, when he fell back into alcohol, he came back to our place drunken and belligerent. I told him he had to leave until he sobered up. The next day we found feathers stuck all over our property in the manner of Indian witchcraft. He had laid curses on us, because he didn’t know anything else. That was just his way of doing things.
Have you ever wondered why American Indians have historically had a much lower tolerance for alcohol than white settlers? Many become alcoholics and don’t have to drink very much to get drunk. I believe the curse is in their blood—I say this with all respect, because I have dear friends who are American Indians.
There are also certain things that are unique about the Russians and the Germans, as well as other Caucasian groups. Here in the United States people tend to classify all white people together, but they are really distinct white races. These races come from different parts of Europe and you often encounter different curses on them. Some people wouldn’t want to call them that, but it’s true!
When I look at the curses that came on this land because of slavery, I see that they caused a war that we still have not recovered from in some areas of the country. I believe the bitterness is still there. Also, many blacks have not truly received freedom. The situation, in which blacks in Africa sold their brothers and sisters into slavery, and the subsequent enslavement in this country, brought many curses on them, both in Africa and America. We see this in the gangs on the streets of America today.
But what about the good things in life? Do you ever wish something would go right for you? How many times have you desired to have good relationships with people and something keeps messing you up? Have you ever read books about when bad things happen to good people? How would you like to read a book about how good things could happen to bad people?” God wants to turn the bad into good in my life and He wants to do it in yours.
My story is only an example to help you, the reader, understand that I am just like you—probably worse—and God has used me, and is using me, to help people come out of conditions that are out of control in their lives. There’s no way I could have been good enough to deserve His favor. If there is anything in this book that speaks to you, to your situation, and helps you to get free, all the honor and respect and glory belong to God and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way to be rescued from man’s sinful condition! He is our freedom and our peace. Look for Him and you will find Him; ask Him and you’ll receive; open yourself up to Him and He will communicate with you and you with Him. God says that if you don’t ask, you don’t receive. So, what’s wrong with asking? Nothing! It’s great, because He does answer!
This book is all about turning bad to good and many things more! So, put on your seat belt and take a ride with me. I pray you’ll never be the same after this trip and you will walk in God’s blessings all the days of your life!
Chapter 2
The Journey to Blessing
I was out elk hunting on a nice, warm, sunny day. My gun was probably ten feet away from me, lying on the ground, because I was not paying attention to the elk. I was just having a good time talking with the Lord! I was enjoying the sunshine on that nice fall day in the rugged mountains of the Gila Wilderness near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Untouched by human hands, God had made the beauty that surrounded me. I could feel His presence there. At that point, in my ministry I was seeing great results when I broke curses, but I didn’t really understand a lot of things. I started talking with God about the issue of curses, where they come from, and what they are.
“Well,” He said, “a curse that’s causeless cannot land. However, if you’re in disobedience, that’s when you’re open to being cursed.” He stated that basically to stay away from being cursed you have to always obey. He asked me if I had ever met a Christian who always obeyed. “No, I have not,” I said, “especially me!”
He pointed out to me some buzzards that were circling. They had been circling for about an hour out over the canyon in front of me, in the air currents. Then He said, “That’s the way curses are. They’ll hang around for a long time waiting for a chance to come in.” He said, “Eventually they’ve got to go back to where they came from, if they can’t come in.”
Later, I found this verse in Proverbs that states this principle:
(Proverbs 26:2) As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.
A few days later, I had a vision. In this vision, I saw a big wall between mankind and evil. As I looked, I could see evil spirits constantly coming and going through the wall. When I looked closer, I saw that the doors all had locks on them. I knew that those locks were God’s protection. So, how did the spirits keep coming and going? I looked even closer and saw that the evil spirits each had a key that let them through!
So I asked God, “Why do these evil spirits have keys?” He answered, “The keys are curses that give the spirits legal authority to come in. There are many kinds of keys: some are inherited—or generational—curses, some are self-imposed, others have to do with behavior, when people disobey the words I have given them.”