Introduction

Greetings, everyone. Let us examine the twenty-first chapter of Exodus. Chapter twenty-one records a series of seemingly chaotic events: whose donkey or ox gored someone to death; two people fighting, one injuring the other. Following the interpretive principles of Chinese Mingding Destiny theology, it is difficult to find a central theme in this chapter. What is the main point? It is indeed challenging, as this chapter appears quite disordered.

However, one thing is clear: the events recorded in chapter twenty-one are not positive. For instance, living to the point of selling oneself into slavery; living to the point of killing someone else’s ox; living to the point of being gored by an ox; living to the point of violent conflict with parents, resulting in assault; living to the point of being consumed by greed and engaging in human trafficking. Would you consider these good things?

People often quarrel with one another, using stones or fists. Does this sound like the army of God? Does the army of God engage in such behavior daily? Can you understand this? Actually, if you do not understand, neither do I, nor does God! What is the problem? The previous chapter discussed the most basic bottom line for the army of Jehovah. Now, can everyone uphold even this basic standard? No, they cannot!

In the process, a large number of people fall into curses. This cannot be ignored. This group of people is always subject to curses, and when cursed, things go wrong! When things go wrong, they must be dealt with. From this chapter, we can see that people cannot keep the law! They cannot even uphold the most basic standards, so what else is there to discuss? Nothing. Therefore, the theme of this chapter is difficult to find because it is not explicitly stated in the Bible.

What kind of theme can we identify? It is the specific manifestations and handling of curses. Does this seem accurate? It seems so, doesn't it? The bottom line is not upheld, resulting in problems. Jehovah God is not joking; being cursed will inevitably lead to trouble, without a doubt. Therefore, the manifestation of a curse is: living to the point of becoming someone else's slave! Do you find this world interesting? Some people live to the point of developing cancer; some live to the point of developing ankylosing spondylitis; some live to the point of being in car accidents! Some live to the point of paralysis. There are many such occurrences! The world is chaotic!

Do you want these things to happen to you? If you do not want these things to happen to you, if you do not want to live to the point of becoming someone else's slave, then fear God properly! In fact, not only Buddhism has the concept of karma; in the Christian faith, Jehovah God has long made the principle of cause and effect very clear: you reap what you sow, do you understand? Therefore, people live out various outcomes, and God cannot harvest what you have sown for you!

So, no matter how capable our God is, He cannot solve the problem of what you sow. You must eat what you sow! If you sow a pile of dung, I am sorry, you will eat that pile of dung! And it is not just sowing one pile and eating one pile; you must know that sowing seeds of blessing yields a hundredfold harvest, and sowing seeds of cursing also yields a hundredfold! You sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, do you understand? It is all multiplied several times, dozens of times, hundreds of times.

So, if you sow one pile of dung, you will have to eat a hundred piles of dung! Is this not deadly! Do you understand? God will not eat this stuff for you; you can only eat it yourself. This is what the Bible says. But God is full of grace and mercy, so He gave us Jesus Christ to bear our curses. Jesus bore our past curses. If you continue to sow curses after Jesus has borne your curses, you will eat the curses you have sown yourself. Remember, do not misunderstand.

This is why many Christians live in curses. Living in curses is definitely not a joke! We must understand why people live to the point of becoming slaves. Although the Bible records that if you become someone else's slave, you should be released in the seventh year, what if you become someone else's slave again in the eighth year? You cannot survive!

Curse One: Poverty

Why do some people live to the point of becoming poor, while others live to the point of becoming rich? This is crucial! For example, if God tells you to keep the Sabbath and you do not, if God tells you to tithe and you do not, what will you do then? Once, a middle-aged professional came to the church and cried, very sadly. I asked him what was wrong. After hearing his story, it felt like all the misfortunes in the world had befallen him.

He was in the investment and financial management business, investing tens of millions at a time! The projects he chose, including various types of projects, did not all make money, but overall, they were profitable. However, the profits went to others; he managed the money for them. But when there were losses, they refused to bear them themselves and wanted him to pay. Is this not unlucky? Very unlucky!

Later, there were a pile of troubles at home. He was also sued in court, and it was discovered that his work did indeed have flaws. He eventually lost the lawsuit. Then, the upstairs neighbors renovated, moving their toilet above his bedroom. When he went home and lay in bed at night, he could hear the sound of the flushing toilet, which was very disturbing. He also sued them in court, but he did not win. What can you do if they want to move the toilet? I felt sorry for him; he was really unlucky.

I was also compassionate and prayed for him. As soon as I started praying, the Spirit of God spoke, saying that these were all curses he was suffering! I knew very well that the curses came from God. How did the curses come about? He sowed them himself! I asked him if he tithed, because he had been a Christian for many years. He said he did not. Actually, it was not that he did not give offerings at all, but that he gave them all to the poor. My goodness! Do you understand? What belongs to God should be brought to God's temple. If you give it to the poor, is that still an offering? What does the Bible say? Bring the offerings to God's temple. People who are ignorant are truly ignorant! He even argued with me about it for a long time.

Do not just look at how pitifully he cried; he is also very capable of attracting curses! Why should I argue with him? If he believes that giving to the poor is an offering, then he can continue to be cursed and do whatever he wants. I will not argue with him about these things. Later, I realized why some people live to the point of becoming poor, while others live to the point of becoming rich: it all depends on the words blessing and cursing.

Blessing and Cursing, two words in English, two terms in Chinese, are very important! When we read what is recorded in chapter twenty-one, if a person is blessed, these things will not happen. But if a person is cursed, these things cannot be stopped, so there are many unfortunate phenomena! For example, why do people become slaves in other people's homes? Because they cannot repay their debts and have to sell themselves. But our God has abundant grace; after you have worked for six years, you can come out in the seventh year. But has the released person's mindset changed? If it has not changed, and he has to return in the eighth year, is that not even worse? Too terrible! So God gives you six years to reflect on the results. Has the person reflected? No, he still does not take God's grace seriously.

Brothers and sisters, if you lose money in investments, if all your money is gone, know that you are under a curse! If you continue to love money, if you still value money greatly, if you still live the same way, then you deserve it! I tell you, if people do not repent, they will never recover! Why do you say that? If I do not say that, will you change? You are still arguing with me. Even if I do not say that, he is still living under a curse! If people do not repent, there is no way out! Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must know that the results people live out are all sown by themselves.

I recently ministered to a cancer patient. I understand the mental state of cancer patients very well. For cancer patients to be healed, they must deeply repent, repent as if scraping the bone to remove poison! You see, you often remember the evil of others, but you forget all their kindness. I ask you, can they not have shown you any kindness? It is impossible; there must have been some! But we cannot remember it; we only remember the evil of others. Is this not attracting curses?

If someone says something unpleasant, you hate them to death. But why do you not think about why you had to make them say something unpleasant? Is that not right? I advise everyone, if someone says something unpleasant, think about whether you deserved it! Why? People often live in a very spiritual state. If the demons behind you can use a word spoken by someone around you to sting you and make you uncomfortable, the demons will be very happy. Why do people not overcome? People do not overcome because they are petty! They just like to collect garbage.

Sometimes I say: A thousand good things, ten thousand good things, one bad thing negates everything! In the past, I ministered to many such people. Now I have become thick-skinned. Do you know what it means to be thick-skinned? It means I can withstand pressure! When I minister, I do not expect any return from people. I give them grace, and that is it. I never morally kidnap them. If I were to be calculating, it would be really uncomfortable! A thousand good things, ten thousand good things, one bad thing negates everything. I am very surprised why people are like this? So ungrateful, it is difficult not to be cursed! Slowly ponder what I am saying. Let us start to sort things out. The first curse is poverty. Poverty is definitely a curse, but think again, although poverty is a curse, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Some people go to other people's homes to be slaves, and as a result, they meet a good master and are willing to stay there. They do not want to leave; they just want to serve the master. This is also a very good thing. If people think clearly, however they live is still living. It is better to stay in this house than to go out! For example, Joseph was sold into slavery, but Joseph had God with him. Is being a slave still a curse? No! This also needs to be distinguished. After all, there are not many people like Joseph!

But we must never rely on Joseph being sold into slavery to judge blessing and cursing. Instead, we must see whether this person has God's presence. Just like Joseph was sold into slavery, but he later became the prime minister of Egypt. Would you say that Joseph was cursed or not? You must look at the problem with a long-term perspective. You will find that spiritual people can turn things around no matter what situation they face. Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt, second only to one person and above ten thousand people.

Curse Two: Murder

"Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death." (Exodus 21:12-14)

The second curse is murder. Murder is very interesting. Many people kill impulsively. After killing someone, they realize, how could I have killed someone? This is a curse! As a result, they themselves will be put to death. How is murder brewed? It must be because they hate that person to the bone. As they hate, they are controlled by demons, and in a moment of impulse, they kill the person. As a result, the curse comes upon them. Not only does it come upon them, but it also comes upon their descendants for three to four generations.

Do you know that if our ancestors for three to four generations have committed murder, there are many problems in the family now! This is the specific manifestation of a curse. How is this curse brewed? I tell you, it is because people do not love God. If people do not love God, they will kill someone in an instant. You may ask, is the person who was killed also under a curse? Yes. These things are constantly fermenting. Brothers and sisters, you must know that although murder is cursed, not everyone who kills is the same. This is a clear interpretation of the previous chapter. If it is God who tells him to kill, then it does not count. You will find that God is very interesting; He will judge in this way.

Curse Three: Cursing Parents

"Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death." (Exodus 21:15)

How can the relationship with parents become like this? It is not clear whether it is the parents' fault or their fault. Anyway, everyone has problems. Everyone has problems, but they still do not follow God's words to implement them. As a result, they hit their parents. In fact, many times, parents should also be beaten, but it is not your turn to beat them. If you beat your parents, you will be cursed. Parents who are beaten are also cursed. Where does cursing parents come from? It comes from the Ten Commandments. That is to say, the Ten Commandments are the bottom line. If you accidentally break the bottom line, many things will be out of control. Jesus Christ has accomplished a great grace for us, and we must never forget it. Why do people still commit these things even after having God's grace? It is because they do not love God in their hearts; they love the world. So as they walk, they walk into curses.

Curse Four: Human Trafficking

People cannot be sold; we must know this. Because people are too precious, but people do not treat people as the most precious. You must know that even people who are cursed cannot be trafficked; they cannot be treated arbitrarily. Trafficking people is for making money. Greed and loving money like life are very evil things. People love money to the extreme in this life, and they spend their whole lives making money. They treat money as their life, even thinking that life is not as valuable as money. As a result, they dare to do anything and sell anything. As they sell, they sell drugs and sell people. As a result, they will be put to death. If people do not put you to death, God will also put you to death.

Curse Five: Contention with One Another

"If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows." (Exodus 21:22)

Because people contend with one another, God has to arrange ways to solve these things. For example, after the fight, one is beaten half to death, and one is beaten to death. Or people use sticks to beat male and female slaves, and if they beat them to death, they will be punished. Does this look like the army of Jehovah God? Not at all! It looks like a mob. What are people fighting for? Probably for money or for trivial matters. For example, because the snow in front of your house was swept in front of our house, and I swept the snow back to your house, the two families started fighting because of this. If there are guns in the house, they will also be taken out to shoot at the other's house. How big a deal is it to sweep more or sweep less? Finally, God's rules are life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Curse Six: Being Gored to Death by an Ox

"If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten; but the owner of the ox will not be held responsible." (Exodus 21:28)

If I continue to talk about these things, it is meaningless. I do not want to see these things happen either. If you see in the process of serving that their chickens have been stolen, their cattle have been led away, or their cattle have been gored to death, or they have dug a well and not covered it, and someone falls into the well and they have to claim compensation, or some people walk and touch porcelain, etc., these are all spiritual things. Because God gives people many rules! It is best if these things do not happen to you. Once they happen, you must understand that the curse is at work. I ask you, will people who love God encounter these things? People who love God rarely encounter these things. I encourage everyone again to be a person who loves God. I often say a word: Demons will not mistake people, and demons will not find the wrong people. The same is true for diseases. Only we ourselves are mistaken.

Conclusion: Fear God

Whether we are serving or being served, if these things happen in our homes or on ourselves, do not be calculating there. Whether it is your cattle or your people, these are not good things. I hope everyone does not encounter these things. Such things may happen to you, and your life will be marked with a period. This is why I say we must fear God. We must learn to fear God!

If we do not fall from the bottom line because of loving the world, how can we encounter these things? Those who are protected by God, those who love God, those who keep God's commandments, will not live in this state at all. The army of Jehovah God should not have these things, but should be protected by God. But what if they have them? Then do what this chapter says. How important it is to love God with all your heart!

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare, from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked." (Psalm 91:1-8)

"Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)

What is this passage mainly aimed at? It is not aimed at cats and dogs, shouting and calling, God, save me from the snare, save me from the deadly pestilence. But it is aimed at those who love God with all their heart. Brothers and sisters, think about it. There are many who shout every day that they love God with all their heart, but how many truly love God? Not many. Whenever I see this scene, my heart is cold, but it does not matter. Are we not constantly moving towards the direction of loving God?

I believe that more and more brothers and sisters will move towards the direction of loving God with all their heart, and more and more brothers and sisters will come out of the curse and become people who love God with all their heart. They will fully see God's grace and protection, and also see the punishment of the wicked. Remember, never blame this or blame that. Only blame ourselves for not coming out of the curse. When you encounter things, you must first reflect on yourself, instead of thinking that you are doing well. If you are really doing well, you will not encounter these things.

May God bless everyone!