By Joba Akinpelu
For I the LORD your God I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.(Exodus 20:5 RVS).
This verse has brought many a disquiet, many a worry, and many an anxiety. Yet, there is absolutely no reason why it should cause you any trepidation. Faithful ones often wonder why God should visit the iniquity of their parents on them! How can such mean vengeance be linked with a loving God?
But can God truly visit the iniquity of a reckless father upon his guileless child? Surely, that would be height of injustice! But alas, this erroneous view is widely accommodated. And of course, it is traceable to literal interpretation of the scriptures.
Now, this is where ignorance becomes fatal. For by assuming that every new born babe was “innocent” at birth, he laid a strong foundation that will always lead him to erroneous interpretation of the scriptures. But every child came heavily burdened with karma. Reason is that this is not the first time he lived on earth. Meaning that those errors were committed long time ago.
And until each person frees himself from those karmic burden through atonement, he remains spiritually bound to it. Therefore, every fresh reincarnation is a sacred gift from God for which we should be grateful, because it opens wide opportunities to correct old faults and shake them off. How this plays out shall be further discussed in chapter 13, which deals with forgiveness in broader details.
Not one soul who lives on earth today came for the first time. We have had several reincarnations behind us over the past millions of years. All of us, without a single exception. Reason of course is that our earth is now overripe and due for harvest.
Indeed, it was already overripe before Christ came. And Christ came more than two thousand years ago. So fresh spirit-germs can no longer approach Ephesus, meaning that this earth has shut it door against incarnation for first timers. This extension of knowledge is extremely significant for deeper understanding.
To incarnate means to come to the earth for the first time. To reincarnate means to come subsequently, from the second earth-life up to the fiftieth and so forth. The difference between the two should be noted.
However, over the past millennia that we have had multiples of reincarnations, (many have had more than fifty already, if we include the time we were homo-sapiens, before we became homo-erectus). So, all of us, without one single exception have tasted and savored all the pleasures of this earth to satiation. All of us without one single exception. But alas, instead of honest endeavors, we have enjoyed mostly at the expense of our neighbors, in many previous earth-lives.
To account for such misdeeds and redeem them is part of the reason why we are here now. And another aspect that is connected with that grace is that we have to cross the paths of previous neighbors that we wronged in the past, so that we may pay back the debt we owed them. This is further explained in chapter 13, which is entitled forgiveness.
Now, suppose we even ignore the misdeeds we committed yesterday (temporarily), which in any case automatically accumulated with the karmic burdens that constantly trail behind of us. The relevant question connected with this truism is that: do we live long enough on earth to redeem everything in one swell swoop? Will it not suffocate and annihilate us if everything came at an instant—to be atoned for?
That exactly explains why we continue to accumulate karmic burdens. Yet, we must redeem all to the last farthing before we can become spiritually unburdened. Again the number of years we live on earth is not only the determinant factor, another major determinant is the nature of the deed and the time it will take to mature for harvest.
For example, if we plant cowpea, it is ready for harvest in one hundred days, but if we plant a mahogany tree, it may not mature fully in fifty years. Same is applicable to various seeds of misdeeds we sowed in multiples. Hence the long chain of reciprocal effects, both here on earth and in the ethereal of the beyond.
Therefore, he who is wise, let him bow down before the All-Wise God and His Providence. Which Providence has arranged everything in perfect order — even from time immemorial. And stop arguing blindly against fate and reincarnation.
What has just been explained is the only basis that can help you to gain a perfect understanding of how God visits the iniquity of fathers unto the children. Not your blind rejection of reincarnation.
This process is an unquantifiable Mercy of God, because through the Law of Attraction of Homogeneous Species, each soul is attracted to the family circles, tribe, race and environment that it needed for further development. And which will give it opportunity to redeem its past errors. First, throughout the period of its childhood.
Second, because its parents shared similar faults and have committed similar mistakes. And third, other souls in the wider environment which it must meet, associate and interact with also shared certain homogeneity.
- From Joba Akinpelu’s work: God does not punish sinners
