FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP-ED BY DR. D. ROBERT KENNEDY
I do not know if you have observed it, but I am D. Robert Kennedy, and I bear part of my father’s name, Robert N. Kennedy. But there is a curious reason that I started to use my second name in 1969 rather than my first name.
Presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy had died in 1968, and as I traveled in North America as a book salesman, I found the name worked for commercial reasons. Besides my complexion, many people assumed that I was connected to the late Robert F. Kennedy, and often enough, the question “How did you get that name?” surfaced. At such times I would let them know that it was my father’s name, and then I would introduce my reason for being at their door as a salesman.
Let me not say more on the curious reason I used the name, but when my wife and I had our first son, we named him Robert D. Kennedy (Robert III). And he named his first son Robert I. Kennedy (Robert IV). Robert IV says that if he has a son, he will name him Robert V because the name has a lot of significance to him.
He thinks that we are certainly blessed. I affirm him, although, at times, I wish we had a little more resources to bring the comfort we need in this world. But on deeper reflection, I have to admit that we are truly blessed. That was how my father would say it before his passing away a few weeks before his 105th birthday. If we would say, “God is good!” he would respond, “No, God is better than good; God is great!”
Despite the financial limitations when we were growing up, as a family, we are thankful that we have not suffered the kinds of calamities that have led many persons to argue that there seems to be something called “the Kennedy curse.”
The Kennedys of Massachusetts, whose prominence and power have transformed the American landscape, have been said to be under a curse. “The Kennedy Curse” refers to a series of premature deaths by accidents, assassinations, and other calamities involving members of the Camelot family.
Researchers have raised the question of who might have put a curse on the family? A book released by Les Williams, “The Kennedy Curse: Shattered,” claims that there is no Kennedy curse but simply an overpowering patriarch who pushed his children to extremes.
Williams states his claim thus: “Joe Kennedy (who) raised his children to believe that they were better than anyone else and that they had to win, every time and at any cost. His obsessive, driving ambition would influence the decisions his children made, and the way they lived their lives and this controlling, overbearing approach would have disastrous consequences for the family over the years.”
Some individuals have argued that there is no real reason to think there is a curse or an answer for the exact person to have cursed the family if such a curse existed. On the other hand, others had argued that there is a curse and that it began when father Joe Kennedy, the family’s patriarch, and his wife Rosemary, the matriarch, of the family, decided to submit their young Rosemary Kennedy to an experimental brain surgery that went drastically wrong. (Collman, Ashley. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3332512/Rose-Kennedy-talks-daughter-s-lobotomy-banning-crying-cursed-clan-weigh-children-week-recently-uncovered-interview.html)
They wanted her to be as perfect as they thought their other children were, but due to her brain condition, she was not to be, and they were going to force her to be. The brain surgery made her worse than she had been, and there goes the curse for many.
I am not interested in the curse on the Joe and Rose Kennedy family. But it has been argued that there are many families in which one might trace incidences and coincidences in ways that make it seem that there is what many social scientists have named “Generational curse.”
A generational curse has been described in different ways. One description states that the term generational curse refers to a negative cycle of behavior patterns, practices, or mindsets transmitted from generation to generation. Another states that a generational curse is believed to be passed down from one generation to another due to rebellion against God. So if your family line is marked by divorce, incest, poverty, anger, or other ungodly patterns, you are likely under a generational curse.
My take on the generational curse is that all of us in the families of the earth are under a generational curse. The reason is that the Scripture makes clear that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We were conceived in iniquity and brought forth in sin from our mother’s womb (Psalm 51:5).
That says we inherit many traits and preferences from our parents that aren’t always a positive influence on ourselves or others. When we acquire a sinful habit or belief that negatively affects our lives or those around us, this is known as a generational curse. It is the shadow side of behavior passed down through the generations. We read in the Proverbs that “The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just. (Proverbs 3:33 NKJV)
However, if you are feeling frightened and frustrated about the reality of the generational curse, let me make you aware that the Scripture is clear that where there is the generational curse, there is also the generational cure.
Here is one note of it from the writings of the apostle Paul, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned… For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:12-21 NKJV)
What sweet assurance. No family on the earth has to continue under any curse, for God has offered a cure. If you are ready for a deep dive in biblical studies, look at the story of families in the book of Genesis and notice how God sought to break the curse in the families of Adam by the birth of his third son, Seth. Then the effort was followed by the birth of Enoch, and the righteous Lamech the father of Noah, who built the Ark in which his family was saved. After the Flood, the effort continued with the calling of Abraham to whom God made the promise that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Yes, the curse upon families can be cured, if someone in the family is willing to make the critical decision of bringing the family under the merciful hand of God. If you want your family curse to be cured, seek the Lord, call upon his name, obey his commands, and worship him and him only. (Deuteronomy 6:13; Luke 4:8)
