Reading through the Bible has been a huge eye-opener especially for someone like me. Sometimes you read a passage of the scripture and you'll be like "bless me Holy Spirit, you just need to speak to me right now cause I don't understand a thing I just read."

Overtime, understanding became much easier when you pray before reading the word of God; when you see God's word as it is and not just some literature books by Shakespeare or Kenneth Hagins or Joel Osteen. ☺ Whispering some words from Psalms like "the entrance of your words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple" really shed light and breath understanding on God's words in our hearts.

Moving ahead, I've come to the realization of some misconceptions many still live with, tracing its root to the Bible. One of such misconception is what I'm writing about today - the soul that sinneth.

I was having a conversation with someone during the week and she was saying something about children bearing the consequences of the sins of their parents and even grandparents. She talked about one of her friend in particular who was being told by some "men of God" that her problems can be traced back to the sins committed by her parents years ago. During the conversation, she was then asking me lot and lots of questions, "is it fair?", "what is that even supposed to mean?"

Then she proceed to read from some passages in the scripture to backup her questions. First, she read from Exodus 20:5 "... for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." She also read from Numbers 14:18, "The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

This piece is for the lady and every other person reading and still caught in the web of confusion of these passages.

We cannot read these passages by themselves. Anytime there is an unclear passage, we must read other plain passages so that we can clarify the unclear.

To start with, those who are too young to know good from evil cannot be responsible for knowing and obeying God.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 16:10-12 ".... wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then shall thou say unto them, because your father have forsaken me, and have walked after other gods and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, yea walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart, that they might not hearken unto me."

What God is saying is that if a father misleads his family, the family will pay for it but each will have to pay for their own sins even though the father could have prevented many of his sins that his children and grandchildren would fall into had he led his family in obedience to the law of God.

God is not punishing the children for their fathers sins but they are feeling the consequences and having to pay for them. This deals with those children who would follow their father's example of disobedience because each one of us is ultimately responsible for our own sins and this is what Ezekiel 18 says from verse 20, "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."

David plainly says that we are born into a sinful state and it even begins at conception. Every human being ever born, except for Christ Jesus, has sinned. You don't have to teach a young child how to lie or take something that's not his or get angry. They are born with a sinful nature. No one had to teach them. We are naturally sinners at birth and we earn our wages - eternal death (Romans 6:23)

HHowever, here's the goodnews. God is love and He shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, we have now be saved by Him from the wrath of God.

Conclusively, don't let anyone deceive you by telling you you are bearing the consequences of sins committed by your father. Yes, our fathers might have sinned. Yes, we were born sinners but Christ died to take all our sins away. Need I remind you that if you've accepted Christ into your life and your ways are right with God, you're free from the bondage of sins and its consequences? That you're free from every generational curses?

Sadly, if you're yet to repent and turn to Christ, God's wrath is still on you. Why not change that today and have the wrath of God removed from off of you forever. Confess your sins and ask Jesusto come into your life to be your Lord and saviour.

The Soul That Sinneth, It Shall Die..

http://www.sundayspiritualdigest.com/2016/09/the-soul-that-sinneth.html?m=1