She can't understand why she's got this stuff in her head, and we prayed for her, and I got her to acknowledge this generational iniquity, to forgive the Japanese soldiers who'd abused the grandmother, and the moment we did that, the demonic spirits manifested, and she was completely set free. So it's a very, very powerful story of this generational issue. Now, there are a whole number of areas from the generational background. One of the common ones in the west is freemasonry. Freemasonry will always open the door for demonic spirits. They're spirits of infirmity, they usually produce coldness in the emotions of men, lack of love and intimacy in the relationship, in the family, and they produce all kinds of spiritual blocks for people coming into the things of the spirit and going on with God - so generational iniquity and the curses that this brings.
The Bible's very clear, in the days of Nehemiah, he confessed not only his own sins, but the sins of the parents which had brought them into this place of bondage. So generational iniquity can open the doorway for spirits, particularly around the area of the occult, so you find sometimes children struggle from when they're very young with occult experiences. There is a generational factor involved there. The parents or grandparents or someone in the family line has made an agreement, they've worshipped an idol, or made offerings to an idol and come into agreement with it, or perhaps they have opened their life to divination, fortune-telling and spiritism, or perhaps they've engaged in some form of occult practice, or some sexual perversion. They've broken laws of God, and it's opened a door through which the demons now have legal access, so it's like leaving the door open, and there's wild wolves outside. They just keep coming in while the door stays open. The door has to be shut.
So when you're checking out, or working with someone, one of the questions I always ask, is when did this problem first begin? Many times you'll find, well it's been there all my life, it's been there since I was very, very young. So you have good indication then, that the likely cause or origin, is a generational iniquity or sin of some kind. When people pray, often God will uncover things in the family, and you become aware of issues that no one had talked about. In our generation no one talked about anything, but the stuff went on, and so it was all secret. The Holy Ghost was able to bring it out by word of knowledge and by revelation. That's why you can't do deliverance ministry without the Holy Ghost. He's the only one who can help unlock the generational iniquities and the bondages, and He'll do that by a picture, a vision or something will come to the person. He'll just bring it to mind what is the problem, when we ask Him to help. So for generational iniquity it is important that they be acknowledged, and repented of, and confessed, and the curses renounced, so the person can be set free.
The second thing there is patterns of sin or habits of sin. Sin always opens the doorways for spirits, so sin - what we do, not what someone else did, they are what we do - and so a range of areas to look for, that open doorways for spirits, are: hatred; a spirit of hatred. In 1 John 2:11, the person who hates his brother is a murderer. Unforgiveness; Matthew 18:35, Jesus said if you harbour unforgiveness in your heart you will be delivered to the tormenters, so unforgiveness is a crucial one. You would be amazed how many people do not feel hate for someone, and do not feel unforgiveness, but it's there, sitting in their life, and the Holy Spirit can bring it to the surface. Unforgiveness is a huge issue, it's a demand that someone pays me back. It's a demand for justice, and we need to let that go, and release it to the cross, and forgive and release others, as we have been forgiven.
Bitterness is another major root of sin, where people harbour resentment, and anger, and hostility against someone. It eventually becomes a deep root of bitterness. Hebrews 12:15, a root of bitterness will defile. Bitterness is a big problem that opens the door for demons. Anger is another one. Now remember, behind all of these sins there's usually events, there's something that's happened, that caused the person to feel hurt and grief and pain, then they've chosen to react by holding unforgiveness, rather than forgiving and so on. Rebellion is another one. In Proverbs 17:11, the person who rebels, a cruel messenger will be sent against him, so rebellion - often people rebel when they're rejected, so a young person who's rejected, one may become compliant, and another one may rebel, and be the black sheep of the family, because they just feel so rejected, and they're saying I'm not going to tolerate that, so they react in many kinds of different ways. Rebellion is a major one. Rebellion is seeking to impose your will over another, so it says it's like witchcraft.