July 24, 2015

 

 

Greetings, salutations, blessings, etc.! Good Morning! Ready for the day? OK. So grab your coffee, folks. Yeah, I know. Gotta finish letting it steep so it has the right taste, and all of that. I’ll wait. Ready?

 

Remember the “…according to its kind..” statements that recur throughout the account of Creation in the book of Genesis? That’s the law of Genetics. You don’t put two people together and get something different, you get another person. And it requires male and female – not male and male or female and female.

 

To quote a hilarious brother in the Lord, Jesse Duplantis, “God didn’t create Adam and Steve, He created Adam and Eve.” He didn’t create Eve and Esther, He created Adam and Eve. You know what I’m saying, right?

 

I appeared several years ago during a 700 Club segment with a geneticist whose name (I’m sorry to say) I’ve forgotten. He was the author of several books on genetics, and a scientific researcher with some history under his belt. What I remember the most about the discussion was his statement that “no respectable geneticist tolerates the theory of evolution. The laws of genetics clearly refute evolution.”

 

But we’re not here today to discuss those laws of genetics. I want to talk about an entirely different aspect. This is an aspect that affects every single one of us today.

 

Let me illustrate.

 

Warren “Bones” Bonesteel and I were discussing some time ago our respective family histories. In fact, he posted on his website some of the research he had done on his own family lineage. We got into some of the family characteristics that have been passed down.

 

I've shared some of this in time past but for example, for something like a thousand years of the documented and recorded history of the Capener family, we have had ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and musicians in every single generation. I can go back, for example to 1523, when my umptieth great-grandfather, John Capener, was one of the first (if not the first) vicar of St. George’s Cathedral in Brockworth, England. For something like 400 consecutive years, I’m told that a Capener served in a pastoral capacity in that church.

 

My great-great-great grandfather, Daniel Capener, was a vicar there, as well as being Chief Musician to the English court. His son, also named John Capener, was both a minister of the Gospel, a musician, songwriter, served as a musician in the court of Queen Victoria, and married one of her ladies-in-waiting. He shortly thereafter left England with his brother, William, and moved to the United States, where he pastored a Presbyterian church. He ultimately moved to Wisconsin (after another pastoral stint in Cleveland) where he began farming, and opened up a violin shop. One of my cousins in Michigan still has one of the violins that he made.

 

One of John’s sons, Alfred (my great-grandfather), ministered in a Congregational church. His son, Howard, ministered in a Methodist church. His son, Alvin (my father) built and pastored numerous churches for the Assemblies of God throughout Alaska, along with a church in Ilwaco, Washington (and I've shared some of those stories with you in past Coffee Breaks). I’ve been in the ministry for most of my life.

 

You get the picture, don’t you? Both natural and spiritual genetics are in play in our family. Although I can’t prove it yet with any documented evidence, family tradition suggests that our family descended from Jewish Christians who fled the Roman persecution in the first or second century, along with a fair number of other Jewish Christians, and settled in the region of France we know as Normandy. My first English ancestor left Normandy to help William the Conqueror in his conquest of the British Isles.

 

What we do know is that for as many years of documented family history we have on hand, there has been a love of the Lord Jesus Christ.  That is spiritual. There is a blessing – an aspect of spiritual DNA – that has passed on down with each successive generation.

 

In the natural, the fact that each successive generation has been musical – and as far back as I can look, we can see musicians of great skill and repute, songwriters, composers and instrument makers – is a part of our family’s natural genetics. Although I was never much at the violin, I have cousins whose talents and skills equal the best violinists I’ve ever heard in my life. I play lots of instruments, but my forte is the classical or flamenco guitar. My younger brother, Howard, is likewise a versatile and brilliant musician. Those musical skills are trained and practiced, to be sure, but there is a genesis in our DNA that made it all possible. Were it not for the blessing of the Lord, and the laws of genetics that have provided gifted abilities, you wouldn’t see those skills.

 

Consider, for a moment, the blessing that gets passed on down from generation to generation: a blessing that comes with that spiritual DNA. I don’t want to take the space here to reprint all of Deuteronomy 28:1-14, but the essence of it is this: if you take heed to the Lord, obey Him, love Him, and follow His commands, you will be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed in your comings and goings. You will see your enemies defeated before you. God will command blessing upon you, upon your warehouses and surpluses, and in all your labors. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself. And so on, and so on, and so on, for a thousand generations.

Those blessings continue on in your generations because of the obedience of your forebears. You become the recipient of blessings that you didn’t earn or do anything to deserve because of the obedience of your ancestors to the Lord.

 

We have seen it in our family, in generation after generation. The promise of the Lord to “establish you as a holy people to Himself” can easily be seen in the successive generations of our family who have been so blessed. Where did it all start? I have no idea at this point, but a thousand generations – if you calculate 20 years to a generation – equals 20,000 years. I can track maybe 30 – 40 generations of our family; and it is obvious that the blessing of the Lord existed well beyond that period.

 

It is spiritual DNA. It is spiritual genetics. The laws of genetics demand that each successive generation reproduces after itself. If the beginning is blessing and prosperity, each successive generation is blessing and prosperity. If the beginning is love and honor for the Lord Jesus Christ, each successive generation holds that same love and honor for Him.

 

That’s not to take away from individual responsibility in each generation. We all have free choice. We can break the chain of blessing for ourselves by disobedience. By the same token, we can break a chain of curses for ourselves and our successive generations through the power and authority of Jesus Christ that comes into our lives and alters our DNA.

 

Take a quick look at Deuteronomy 28:15-68. It is an outline of the curses that come upon each successive generation through disobedience to God, through hatred and disdain of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the worship of other gods. The list of curses is more than three times longer than the list of blessings.

Those curses are equally a part of a person’s DNA – both natural and spiritual. Your labors are cursed, your storehouses are cursed, your fields are cursed, the fruit of your body is cursed, your mind is cursed, you become subject to every disease imaginable, you are liable to become the servant or slave of others, working for a pittance, never prospering financially, etc., etc., etc.

 

Here’s the catch with the curses, however. Those born into a cursed lineage can sever the curses; and -- under the Law of Moses -- with one exception, the curses never last for more than four generations. The exception is for bastards: children born out of wedlock. That curse was extended to the tenth generation.

 

Again, however, it is a curse that can be broken. When it comes to the laws of Spiritual Genetics, there is one overriding law that supersedes all others: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy soul.” Do that, and you have the authority available to break every curse inherited from previous generations – not only for yourself, but also for your children, your children’s children, and each successive generation thereafter. You have the authority and the empowerment to seize the blessings of God for yourself and each successive generation.

 

Consider even the fact that before Jesus came with the New Covenant (a Covenant that fulfills, surpasses and exceeds that of the Old Covenant with the Law of Moses), generational curses were easily broken. Ezekiel takes this up in his prophecy.

 

Ezekiel 18:19-23: Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

 

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

 

Thus the laws of Spiritual Genetics apply both under the Law of Moses, AND in the New Covenant we have in Christ Jesus. Let me address, for a moment, an aspect of genetics that relates back to what I have shared in previous Coffee Breaks: Words!

 

When I speak, what comes forth from my mouth has creative power. I have the power within my lips to set events in motion, both creatively and destructively. I can speak blessing to my children – and I most certainly do, DAILY – and create within them the desire to progress in their relationship with the Lord. I can bless them, and create within them the ability to prosper, to be in health, and to take authority over all of the obstacles they come up against. (I remind you of last week's story about our son, Joshua, and the lessons he's been learning concerning his speech.)

 

If I’m careful in the way I speak, I can set in their DNA the future of their children, their children’s children, and their children for each successive generation.

 

Here’s the opposite site of this quarter.

 

If I condemn my children for their mistakes, belittle them for their poor judgment, criticize the effort they put forth academically, spiritually, materially and in every other way, I still set in their DNA the future of their children, their children’s children, etc.

 

Understand? These are the laws of genetics. These are the laws of spiritual genesis. They are immutable. They are unchangeable.

 

Speak blessing, you get blessing. Speak curses, you get curses. Speak life, you get life. Speak health, you get health. Speak wholeness, you get wholeness. Speak discouragement, you get quitters. Speak doubt, you get unbelief. Speak criticism and belittlement, you destroy the soul.

 

One of the things I’ve discovered in the many years I’ve walked with the Lord is this: most folks who suffer from various diseases, chronic diseases, poverty or just continuous financial problems in general, do so because the words out of their mouths bring these things upon them. That, too, is genetic.

 

Lest you think I’ve totally lost it, let me explain. When it comes to genetics, there is always cause and effect. When it comes to the words of your mouth, it is generally genetic. When it comes to finances, health, etc., there are always the causes, and the effect.

 

How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, my grandfather was a diabetic, my father is diabetic, so I reckon I’m going to have diabetes.” It’s nuts! People speak curses to themselves because they believe that natural genetics plays a more important role in their health than spiritual genetics. Thus, they perpetuate the genesis of sicknesses and diseases in their lives by natural and spiritual genetics. They create for themselves the conditions that bring about those diseases by speaking them into existence.

 

There are many laws concerning finances, of course, but so many folks plan on poverty and financial problems. Despite the fact that there are spiritual laws that pertain to our finances that we can all implement, people don’t take advantage of them. They say to themselves, “I just can’t get a handle on my finances. I just can’t seem to get ahead. I’m always broke. Guess I’m doomed!”

 

There are lessons to be learned where basic financial principles are concerned, to be sure, but there is absolutely no reason for any Christian to live in poverty or to live on the bleeding edge financially when the blessings of God have been promised to His people.

 

Della and I have learned through practical application what the apostle Paul meant when he said, “I have learned both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.” When we resigned our positions in Alaska before leaving for Post Falls, Idaho (I was the Chief Engineer for the FOX television station in Anchorage, and Della was both the manager of Zale's’ largest jewelry store in the state, as well as being the assistant regional manager) we had been earning well in excess of $100,000 per year. Trouble was, we were struggling financially to make ends meet. The Lord began to teach us some fundamentals that absolutely reversed course for us.

 

For the next five years, we lived on a guaranteed income of $200 per month while we traveled and ministered throughout the northwest and Canada. We lived better than we had ever lived. We were able to get totally out of debt, purchase a Cadillac (it was used but had less than 40,000 miles on it) for cash, and began to clean up old debts filed in bankruptcy when I lost a business. One of the major contributing factors to our turnaround was that we changed the way we spoke. We stopped talking about how broke we were. We stopped talking about always being in debt. We started confessing what God’s word said about being blessed, prospering and being in health.

 

What we speak, how we speak, and what we believe when we speak literally sets in motion some of the most creative power in the universe. We were created in the image of God. Part of that creation includes His power to speak things into existence.

 

Once again, quoting from Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…..” There is a spiritual genesis to the words we speak.  It’s time we understand the laws of genetics and begin to apply them with that understanding and wisdom in our lives.

 

Wheww..!! Didn’t mean to get quite so lengthy today, but maybe this will give you something to chew on and profit by in the weeks and months to come. Enjoy the rest of your coffee break. See you next week.

 

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). Once again, the number to call for healing is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#.

 

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific. That conference number is (559) 726-1300, and the access code is 308640#. We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.

 

 

Blessings on you!