I recently saw a video clip of false teacher Kathryn Krick claiming to free a woman of the “generational curses” of abuse, and it was difficult to watch. The woman was obviously hurt, sad, and noticeably emotional. And here was Krick, exploiting this poor woman for personal gain, while claiming “power” over the evil spirits that have entered her as a result of her childhood abuse.

I’m not going to link the video in here as the victim doesn’t need to be exploited any further. But seeing the clip did open my eyes. This false doctrine needs to be dealt with. It’s one of the most soul-damning, harmful false doctrines rampant in the Word of Faith movement masquerading as Christianity.

The generational curse doctrine teaches that an ancestor’s sin gives demons a “legal right” or “authority” over their descendants. This curse supposedly remains active until someone else with a higher authority—like Kathryn Krick—is able to locate its source and break the curse.

The curse is broken through confession, renunciation, deliverance, and other specialized rituals that only the “deliverance minister” can administer.

Some of the common terms you will hear from deliverance ministers who teach the general curse heresy are identical to the jargon you hear in witchcraft: Bloodline curses, Ancestral or familiar spirits, Legal rights, Open doors, Soul ties, Inherited bondage.

And that’s for a reason.

The generational curse heresy places the blame of things like addiction, divorce, anger, sexual sin, depression, anxiety, suicide, infertility, miscarriage, cancer, poverty, recurring accidents, premature death, family conflict, and abuse on curses rather than on sin—or the people who commit the sin.

When these kinds of problems appear repeatedly, the generational curse heresy assumes that an evil spirit must be moving through the family’s bloodlines. Things like learned behavioral patterns, genetic traits, and even the consequences of sin are turned into this superstitious explanation.

One of the primary texts the generational curse teachers misuse is part of the 2nd Commandment in Exodus 20:5:

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

They will similarly misuse Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9.

But God’s warning about “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children” is about His judgment on covenant Israel rebelling against Him, and extending through generations that continue in the same rebellion. Exodus 20:5 plainly states, “of those who hate me.” It does not say demons are granted legal cursing rights over innocent descendants. And it certainly does not prescribe a ceremony for breaking such curses.

The generational curses doctrine doesn’t differentiate between guilt itself and the consequences of sin. But the Scriptures do. Deuteronomy 24:16 clearly teaches that each individual person will be held accountable for their own sin—the guilt rests on the person who committed the sin.

Of course, an ancestor’s sin can certainly have devastating consequences for their descendants. Alcoholics can cause suffering and poverty in their families, and often those learned destructive behaviors can be passed down. But those are not inherited demons, nor is it guilt being passed down. Each person is responsible for the sin they choose to commit.

Of course, the obvious question at this point becomes: what about original sin?

Yes, Scripture does teach that because Adam sinned, all of humanity fell and are now born sinful. And Romans 5:12-19 establishes Adam’s federal headship over all mankind.

But original sin does not teach a generational curse theory that demons are granted rights of a particular family’s bloodline, nor does it teach that a grandfather’s spirit of alcoholism, a grandmother’s spirit of poverty, or a relative’s spirit of abuse is transmitted throughout that family’s bloodline until Kathryn Krick or some other whacko is able to identify or break that curse.

More often than not, the generational curse doctrine turns real human suffering into spiritual contamination. A person who is suffering from abuse is told that as a result of that abuse, they have now “opened a door” and allowed their abuser’s evil to enter into them. The victim then must bear the added guilt and shame placed on them because of the sins committed against them.

Same for sickness and disease. Victims of disease are told to search deep within themselves for “ancestral sin” or poor people are told that their suffering is because of a curse that has entered them. Women who repeatedly miscarry are told that their family is spiritually contaminated. And even people suffering from depression, anxiety, or trauma are demonized rather than dealt with appropriately.

It often has the opposite effect as well. When a person is caught in unrepentant sin, they will often be told that their problems aren’t the consequences of their own sin but rather due to generational curses or demonic bondage.

Because of this, true repentance and faith are replaced by deliverance rituals. Instead of confessing and mortifying sin, renewing the mind by studying and obeying the Scriptures, and receiving accountability within the local church, a person seeks an exorcism.

The “spirit of anger,” “spirit of lust,” or “spirit of addiction”—and one of the most popular now, the “Jezebel spirit”—becomes the explanation for sin that we are commanded to repent of. Yes, demonic activity is a real thing, but Scripture does not permit us to substitute moral responsibility with a patron demon for every sin.

The generational curse doctrine teaches that the one suffering from the curse must search through their ancestry to find the source of the curse. And because nobody knows the full extent of their ancestor’s sin, the search can never truly end. This just becomes evidence that another “door” remains open somewhere.

Without true repentance, continued temptation to sin means another spirit must be present. Persistent sickness and disease mean that the source of the correct ancestral sin has not yet been located. And the cycle continues.

And of course, this leaves them with the belief that Christ’s work on the cross was insufficient and has left them under a hidden spiritual dilemma that requires a specialized deliverance minister to identify and diagnose.

This gives false teachers like Kathryn Krick enormous power. They supposedly possess the discernment to locate and detect these invisible spirits, communicate directly to them, revoke their “legal rights,” and pronounce the victim free. But if the problem continues, which it always does, the victim returns for another session rather than questioning the false teaching.

But Christ alone is sufficient for those suffering under the weight of their own sin or even the consequences of another person’s sin. In the Scriptures, we find that Christ has redeemed His people from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). God delivers us from darkness (Colossians 1:13–14).

Christ has canceled our debt that condemned us and disarmed all of the rulers and authorities (Colossians 2:13–15). Those who are in Christ are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38–39).

While we may suffer and experience the consequences of other people’s sin, inherit genetic traits or physical conditions, or even battle against habitual patterns of sin we’ve learned from previous generations, we are not spiritual hostages to our ancestors’ “demons.” And we certainly do not need a whacko like Krick or any other self-appointed deliverance apostle, to break that curse, reverse the formula, or close any “doors” that might have been left open.

Christ has already accomplished all that we need, and His grace alone is sufficient.