Imprecatory Prayers do you believe in them? Have you ever prayed them?

[jubileeLEE]

I've just experienced, not for the first time God answer an imprecatory prayer. I've seen people manipulating people into sin. Telling them not to listen to me regarding living a godly life. They say it is not necessary & they go out of their way to make sure others do not listen to me. I've seen people who were excited about following God & growing become embarrassed becaused of the pressure brought to bear on them. They especially love to convince people that I am not living a consecrated life but I am in actuality a lesbian, even though not one in practice, I love to undress women & imagine having sex with them. I hope this is not too graphic but it is what I've been going through.
I've prayed for years for their repentance & for God to bring them to shame. You would not believe all I've been through. I left my small island nation but that has not stopped them from similarly contacting people here where I am still surrounded by island people to keep this up. It's like Paul, wherever he went the religious people would find out where he was & get on a boat to follow & cause him trouble. Whenever people were listening they would rile them up against him. I wish I had the impact of Paul not just the suffering.


Anyway, there are a few times when things got extremely difficult for me. There was a point when my life was truly in danger, I kid you not. People were threatening me & acting like it was the will of God because the pastors would give their approval & probably a government job or promotion. During really difficult times I would fast, many times 40 days. It seems I was always fasting. There is not one time when I fasted crying out to God to save me that someone in this mob did not pass away. Never the people I thought should leave the planet, it seems the most influential. Until last week.


I always prayed to God to let me know whenever judgement fell on anyone involved. I'm now out of the Bahamas & in the US. I still feel their effects to a point. I mean the police are not riding behind me laughing every time I go outdoors. The main person that instigated all of this was a woman who I once thought of as my best friend. We went to the same high school, she joined me at my church, she got to know my family & slept by her family. So she was most effective to tell people she knew me & misrepresent every thing I said & every intention behind it. My abstinence was simply due to the fact I did not like men touching me. I was odd in the Bahamas no matter what church you go to. It is unheard of, women get everything through their sleeping partners.

She started trouble with my family & church & everywhere I went. She was extremely charismatic & a born leader. People gravitated to her. She was very good at manipulating people & getting close to those in authority, which she always did. Every pastor, government leaders, managers etc.. She gained a lot of friends & money, travelled around the world every few months. She would love to visit me wherever I was to let me know how great her life was & how I should learn to submit - the word they loved to use. Compromising she said was just learning how to get along with others. I could not go anywhere & she did not find a way to contact me, even here in Florida. I turned down any invitation to communicate she meant only evil. She was a sociopath & loved causing pain & feeling a sense of power over others.

I just constantly brought this up to God that she would not leave me alone & begged Him to answer. Let me know when You do, Father, was my prayer.
I was drawn to this article in the news that did not really interest me but it kept bugging me. After seeing it again last week I decided to find more info on this small engine plane crash. It was on the island of Mayaguana where she was born & I visited with her. There are few families there so the last names I could usually connect with someone I knew. I looked to see that she had died in a truck that the planes' wing hit with her husband & stepmother. She had so many friends her funeral will be huge. However, she will never find out where I am again. The dead have no knowledge of what is going on in the land of the living. I think right now she is finding out how true her salvation was.


Now, do you think that is mean or just facts. Over ten years of this woman bothering me. It was far too long & spoke to her to show her that the pastors approval does not amount to salvation. As David mourned for Saul, I cried all day & feel like crying again, now. Heaven was not her home.

 

[stormdancer0]

In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us to "Pray for those who persecute us, do good to those who despitefully use you."

Jesus, I believe, would not approve of this sort of prayer. I know some of the Psalms are like this, but when we pray, we should be giving thanks, asking for forgiveness, blessing God, and asking Him to bless us and others.

We had a coven of witches down the street from our church who were meeting the same time our women's prayer group met. They were specifically trying to hinder our prayers. We would pray that God would turn the curses back on the ones casting it, and other such prayers.

But we didn't break the power of that group until we began praying, "Lord, bless these women. Give them health, wealth, and happiness. Give them knowledge and acceptance of You, Lord Jesus. We want to pray them into Your family."

At that point, the group had no more power over our church, and broke up.

 

[cjrwells]

I admit I was a little disturbed by this post. I have heard people say someone messed with them and then a few days later that person was run over by a train, went insane, or something else happened to them. I have also witnessed people who did someone wrong and it came back on them really hard. However, I am disturbed to hear of these things and I have to believe there were other elements in play rather than God just killing a person because they did one person wrong. Perhaps they were in a perpetual state of disobedience or reprobate. I don't know. I do know we are to pray for our enemies and we are to forgive them.

 

[stormdancer0]

Well, if God killed off everyone who misused someone, we'd all be dead. I don't think I'd ever brag that "Someone did something to me, and two weeks later, his daughter died. God made him sorry that he hurt me." (I know people - pastors, even - who have bragged stuff like that.)

May God show others the same mercy He has shown me. And may I show the same mercy in my prayers that God has offered me.

 

[Seeking His Presence]

May God show others the same mercy He has shown me. And may I show the same mercy in my prayers that God has offered me.

This is where a "Like" button similar to Facebook would be great. I love what you've said here Stormdancer.

We came out of a very difficult situation in the last place we were in. I know for a fact that the intercessory team there are praying against us to the point of putting curses on our family. You'll notice that I haven't called them a church: that's because I believe they have actually become a cult, and that is by every definition of the word.

The fact is that we have recently started praying these prayers of blessing for them just as Stormdancer did with the witches coven. I'll be watching with interest to see how things turn around, but even if they don't I know that we are living as Jesus called us to live and that's all that matters to us.

 

[stormdancer0]

This is where a "Like" button similar to Facebook would be great. I love what you've said here Stormdancer.

We came out of a very difficult situation in the last place we were in. I know for a fact that the intercessory team there are praying against us to the point of putting curses on our family. You'll notice that I haven't called them a church: that's because I believe they have actually become a cult, and that is by every definition of the word.

The fact is that we have recently started praying these prayers of blessing for them just as Stormdancer did with the witches coven. I'll be watching with interest to see how things turn around, but even if they don't I know that we are living as Jesus called us to live and that's all that matters to us.

Be sure you include in your prayers that you forgive any hurt they may have caused, and repent of anything you may have done or said that made the problem worse. Sometimes we try to help and end up making everything worse.

I'm glad you've taken that step, away from cursing and towards genuine blessings. We need to remember that when we bless people, we are imitating God, who blessed us before we knew Him.

 

[mjmcmillan]

I had to look it up. Google "Imprecatory prayers" and see what turns up. Others see this, and it isn't a good witness. The idea of a pastor asking his flock to pray that God might kill the President, for example-- somebody might want to re-think that one for a number of reasons, not least of which is the aforementioned terrible witness it gives to others if we pray such things. Unintended-- and not well thought out-- consequences need to be considered too.

I'm pretty certain that my ex-wife had some choice curses for me when we divorced-- at her insistence. I should be sleeping in a car right about now and eating from dumpsters if she had her way, and maybe I think of that now and then when I sleep in the van after having eaten something from a truck-stop-- for real, it goes with the territory of the job I do these days. Strangely, it never occurred to me to curse her back, it seems the stuff Jesus and Paul had to say about doing good to those who abuse you, praying for those who curse you and so on stuck at least a little. At least enough to make sure any evil came from one side and not the other at any rate.

Jesus calls us to bless and do not curse, not to return evil for evil to any man, but to overcome evil with good. Don't worry about seeing to it that evildoers are cursed-- God already knows all about it and unrepented sin will get its just reward at the Judgment, you can count on that. In the meantime, who knows but that your good witness-- forgiving someone who has injured you in some way, for example-- may cause someone to seriously re-consider things and so be saved?

 

[jubileeLEE]

No answer yet to scriptural references given? A prayer is a prayer. A whole church praying against you will accomplish nothing. My parents talked of this all the time, they were both crazy. They never stayed in any one church & always thought that every hardship no matter how minor was some form of spiritual work against them. It gave my stepfather an excuse to be a loser & not take care of her or me. I tried to encourage them to get psychiatric help but they would not listen & got worse. I've met other people with the same traits.
When the bible refers to us doing evil it is speaking of the opposite of righteousness or doing something against His will. When the bible says, God does evil or curse, it means the opposite of prosperity or blessing. The bible consistently in the Old & New Testament says God does both. Also, consistent in Old & New is the way God uses His people to voice His blessings & curse. I think the bible is clear that we ought not to take things in our own hands. The example is given in the New Testament of Elijah 'praying' for drought in accordance with the Word of God & it happens. Many people died during this drought & resulting famine. It was God that did it, yes or no? Why repeat this in the New Testament if God has changed? God is the same yesterday, today & forever. When the 'prophet' (and the bible says he was a prophet) Balaam tried to curse Israel, God was against him. When the disciples wanted to curse the Samaritans, Jesus rebuked them. However, He, Jesus, told His disciples to 'shake the dust off their feet' when a town did not receive the message :
11 But if any place refuses to welcome you or listen to you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.” 12 So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God.
The term meaning to disassociate from, to cut off. Paul uses a similar word, taken from the same root word in Romans 11:22 when he writes of the goodness and the severity of God;
Romans 11:22 (KJV)


22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

So, what about this 'character' of God, is this a blessing or curse?

 

[stormdancer0]

I'm sorry about your parents, Jubilee. But still, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and bless those who curse you. Also, we are to not return evil for evil. Why? Because we are children of the God of love. If you have such anger in your heart that you want to curse someone, then you do not have much room in your heart for God. Blessings and cursings should not come out of the same mouth.

If God wants to curse someone who hurt you, that is His prerogative. We are not to curse.

The best thing you can do is pray that they will be blessed with the knowledge of Jesus Christ in their heart. Once they have this blessing, they should be repenting of hurting you before long. You have lost an enemy and gained a brother or sister.

You don't have to like them, even if they become Christian. But you are supposed to show God's love to all people, friends, family AND enemies. They will know we are His by our love.

Love is always a better response than hate. Sometimes it seems like an impossible response, I know.

 

[Alithis]

yes storm dancer -- great words amen .

 

[Catherineanne]

I've just experienced, not for the first time God answer an imprecatory prayer.

God does not grant our curses, and he does not kill people on demand. Whoever answered that 'prayer', it was not him.

People die every day. They do not die because we tell God to punish them for treating us badly. People may be petty and vindictive, God is not.

The very idea of even thinking about offering such a prayer to the Living God makes me feel sick, to be honest. The spiritual results of such animosity on the person doing the praying don't bear thinking about. It is likely to be the very opposite of refining pure gold from the rock of our lives; imprecation will rot our souls from the inside. Don't even think about it.

May the Lord have mercy on us all.

 

[Alithis]

God does not grant our curses, and he does not kill people on demand. Whoever answered that 'prayer', it was not him.

People die every day. They do not die because we tell God to punish them for treating us badly. People may be petty and vindictive, God is not.

The very idea of even thinking about offering such a prayer to the Living God makes me feel sick, to be honest. The spiritual results of such animosity on the person doing the praying don't bear thinking about. It is likely to be the very opposite of refining pure gold from the rock of our lives; imprecation will rot our souls from the inside. Don't even think about it.

May the Lord have mercy on us all.

nice post - pity about the signature

 

[Catherineanne]

nice post - pity about the signature

Why, thank you.

How very kind.

 

[jubileeLEE]

You are all ignoring scripture. I doubt you read all the posts because you are not answering directly any of the scripture references given. God is not a part of the hippie movement that has so infiltrated the church & caused an explosion in Calvinism. He does curse & He always uses a person to speak His will. He does punish for sins. The only right response to sin is repentance. The problem with the church now is that so many people have been told only about how God loves them & they should accept His love & forgiveness without being told they need to repent of their sins. So, there is a large number of people who think they are saved but they are not. The truth is the bible says God is an enemy to sinners, those who live in disobedience to Him. Thessalonians says outright those who oppose believers make themselves 'hateful' to God. I'm barely awake & this response is not adequate but I'll be back.

 

[Catherineanne]

You are all ignoring scripture. I doubt you read all the posts because you are not answering directly any of the scripture references given. God is not a part of the hippie movement that has so infiltrated the church & caused an explosion in Calvinism. He does curse & He always uses a person to speak His will. He does punish for sins. The only right response to sin is repentance. The problem with the church now is that so many people have been told only about how God loves them & they should accept His love & forgiveness without being told they need to repent of their sins. So, there is a large number of people who think they are saved but they are not. The truth is the bible says God is an enemy to sinners, those who live in disobedience to Him. Thessalonians says outright those who oppose believers make themselves 'hateful' to God. I'm barely awake & this response is not adequate but I'll be back.

I am not a Calvinist, I am an Anglican. What you are advocating is very, very dangerous.

Cursing other people has NO place in our faith. Even St Michael himself declined to speak a curse against Satan, and said only to him, 'May the Lord rebuke you.'

If it is not safe for angels to curse, then it most certainly is not safe for any of us.

JUDE 1:9 (1611 KING JAMES BIBLE) Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the deuill, he dispute...

 

[mjmcmillan]

You are all ignoring scripture. I doubt you read all the posts because you are not answering directly any of the scripture references given. God is not a part of the hippie movement that has so infiltrated the church & caused an explosion in Calvinism. He does curse & He always uses a person to speak His will. He does punish for sins. The only right response to sin is repentance. The problem with the church now is that so many people have been told only about how God loves them & they should accept His love & forgiveness without being told they need to repent of their sins. So, there is a large number of people who think they are saved but they are not. The truth is the bible says God is an enemy to sinners, those who live in disobedience to Him. Thessalonians says outright those who oppose believers make themselves 'hateful' to God. I'm barely awake & this response is not adequate but I'll be back.

You have ignored most of the New Testament, it seems to me. Didn't Jesus tell us to return evil for evil to no man? Didn't both Jesus and Paul say that we should overcome evil with good? I can think of only a few places in the New Testament where I read of an apostle "calling down a curse" on someone-- there is no record that Jesus did it-- and in the cases where an apostle did it there was a specific reason for it. Ananias and Sapphira had sold some land, held back part of the proceeds and tried to present their offering as the whole of the sale-- Peter called them out on this-- for lying to the Holy Spirit-- and they died. Other cases involved a man who went blind because he resisted and one who got leprosy, if I remember right-- but these last were temporary cases, not permanent, for standing in the way of God's purposes.

Shortly after my last post here I was called out on another run, and that of course gives me time to think. One question that comes up about this is this: If you pray that God should kill someone you're angry with, how are you functionally different from the red witch (look that up if you don't know what a red witch is) who calls upon the powers of darkness to destroy her enemies? It's an important question, we are not to use the weapons of the enemy to defeat the enemy.

Now I have to cleanse my mind of the thought of acting as "The Godfather", giving a contract to the Death Angel so he'll rub out someone I don't like. Maybe make the person an offer that he can't refuse. If not that, then at least take the cotton out of my mouth so I talk clearly, eh?

 

[amadeus2]

Jesus did give an example of cursing the unfruitful:


"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away." Matt 21:19


But... are we all prepared as Jesus was prepared? Are we able to see and understand what Jesus was able to see and understand?


Jesus having a perfect discernment could see that there was no hope for this tree. It was already effectively dead as it had no edible fruit.


When our discernment is similarly "right on the money", then we can also curse those who have no hope remaining to them.


If we are able to recognize that someone has committed an unpardonable sin (blasphemy against the Holy Ghost) then a curse might be in order, but again who among us has the discernment that Jesus had? Even if we had such discernment, why would it be our job to apply a curse to the person? Certainly not because it happens to be us that the person is persecuting.


"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Rom 12:9


What God has done and what Jesus has done was done from a place of knowledge. We usually do not have such knowledge. Without certain knowledge that a person is beyond hope and that it is our job to act as the instrument of God's vengeance, are we not likely to find ourselves judged by the following verse?


"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Matt 7:2

Then again think on how Jesus rebuked His own followers for suggesting punitive punishment against the Samaritans:

"And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.

And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.

And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village." Luke 9:52-56

 

[jubileeLEE]

I answered most of these things already & so have others. You are taking my words out of context for the most part. I'm going to see if anyone is going to read the other posts before I respond & posts the same thing again & again.

 

[mjmcmillan]

I have to know. It's a bad habit of mine, asking questions like this when something like this comes up.

How much of this "Imprecatory Prayer" stuff has to do with carrying out the Judgment of God, which may be justified IF God Himself commands it, and how much of this has to do with personal vendettas against people you have a beef with?

I've troubled myself with looking up "Imprecatory Prayer", and to be quite honest way too much of it looks like the person making the prayer is asking God to carry out a personal vendetta-- in essence, making God a "Holy Hitman". There is absolutely no way such a prayer can be justified, and in fact it won't surprise me at all to find that a high percentage of those prayers never get answered--- at least in this world. Don't be surprised if you find that God is not pleased with such prayers at all.

Right now as I write this, we have people praying that God should assassinate the President. I am not making that up, you can easily find it for yourself. Just go to Google Images, and there you'll find printed T-Shirts asking that very thing. Now, I'm as conservative Republican as they come and I sure think this nation made a mistake electing this guy, but praying that God should bump him off may be going a bit too far.

If God calls on you to pray against a person so that judgment may come that's one thing. On the other hand, if you're asking God to rub out somebody because they said something bad about you, maybe y'all oughta re-think it a might.

As they were nailing Jesus to the cross, He said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".

When Stephen was being stoned to death, he said "Father, don't hold this sin against them".

That sure sounds far different than "They said bad things about me, Father, make them extinct".

Special note: "Forgiveness without repentance" sure sounds like what Jesus and Stephen were calling for. The Roman soldiers who put the nails into Jesus weren't in the mood to do much repenting, and the Jews who were stoning Stephen weren't in a repentant mood either--- and yet both Jesus and Stephen were asking forgiveness for their persecutors. Hmmmmm.........

 

[jubileeLEE]

Exactly, God will not answer it if it is not His will. I answered your questions already, I believe, mjm.