A man who takes part with a thief has hate for his soul; he is put under oath, but says nothing. BBE
Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify. NHEB
(Proverbs 29:24)
A thief is a person who claims something that’s not his. A thief wrongly takes something that is not theirs. When you take something that was given to you, that’s taking it rightly.
An accomplice is anybody that knows about, helps and assists someone to accomplish an offence. So an accomplice to a thief is the person who helps the thief in any way to carry out his act of stealing. Think about the thief in this instance as the devil or demons. The thief’s accomplice is the person who assists the enemy, the thief – the one who steals, kills and destroys (John 10:10).
The Bible says that if you’re the accomplice of a thief, you are your own enemy. This is because, if you’ve committed yourself to support anything that the devil wants, you’re his accomplice and you are bringing judgement and punishment on yourself. In a sense, you have made an oath.
Demons would say to Jesus, “Have you come to torment us before the time?”(Matthew 8:29). There is the time when demons will be tormented and if you’re one of the assistants to those demons, you will be tormented. So, never ever be in agreement with the devil.
The fear of man will prove to be a snare but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe (Proverbs 29:25). If you tried to cover up something because you were afraid of what people would think, say, or how you would be punished, you will get in trouble with God.
Do you know what the fear of God is? It is when you’re afraid of what God thinks more than what people think. When you are more afraid of what people think [than what God thinks], it’s called the fear of man. If you have the fear of man, you’ll lack the fear of God. The extent to which you care more about what people think is the extent to which you lack the fear of God. But if you’re always considering what God thinks, that’s the fear of God.
The accomplice of a thief can help himself: simply by choosing not to fear man more than God.
You can help people, but never at the expense of what God thinks. The Scripture says that you’ll be under a curse. Zechariah 5:3-4 says that a curse is in the house of the thief and the liar. There is a curse for the thief and the liar. The accomplice is the liar. He didn’t commit the offence, but he lies. The accomplice is asked, “Who knows? Do you?” and he doesn’t answer.
Many people do things like that in this world — from family, with siblings. So you know your brother or sister did something and you lied and covered it up. This is how many people who go to church and have Christian parents, are under curses all over the world.
A curse stays in your life. It is like sickness, like a disease that gives you a problem here, a problem there. In your body, in your soul, in your spirit, there are different problems all over, and many times, no one even realises it.
“I don’t know what is happening here. Let’s pray, let’s fast…”
Physically, people have problems. They have things coming out of their bodies, eyes, ears, etc., their skins go bad; their money is affected, all sorts of things are happening. That’s how curses work. If you want to understand how a curse works just look at Deuteronomy 28.
People think a curse is only when someone says, “It will not be well with you.” No.
A curse is anything that takes away God’s blessing.
That is to say, that in a certain area, God would have blessed you but you’re not blessed. Instead, something is taken away from you.
The curse is in the house… Your body is a house (1 Corinthians 6:19). Curses will destroy the timber and the stones. Picture a life where things are tampered with because of covering up wrong doings. Just imagine how many people this passage is referring to. And this is so normal. If you go to an office, everyone is telling lies. It’s lies upon lies. Meanwhile, everyone is attending church, praying and pursuing God.
So you see a man who is an accountant in his office and he lies, cheats, covers up theft (or he steals himself). The devil sees all of those things, and worse still, God sees all of it.
Don’t steal or tell lies. Don’t join the devil who is stealing and lying to cover up what he is doing. The devil is the thief, don’t be his accomplice. When you are asked, _”What happened here? What is the truth about this sin that was committed here?”_ tell the truth. Always tell the truth, or you’re an accomplice of the thief, the devil.
Remember, the more blessed you are, the fewer the curses you’re under. Remember also, that God said “Put them on the mountains, these will stand here and they will say these are the curses… And these will stand here and say these are the blessings…” (Deuteronomy 11:26, 29; 27:10-26).
People will say that under Jesus there is no curse. This is true; under Jesus there should be no curse, just like under Jesus there should be no sickness. Jesus took away your sickness. But do Christians get sick? Do you ever get sick? Yes. So do you ever get cursed? The answer is “Yes”.
As it is with sickness, so it is with curses. In Jesus, in obedience, if you abide in Him and His words abide in you, ask what you will, it shall be done (John 15:7). All your curses will be removed but you must first abide in Him. You must be obedient to Him.
–Ita Udoh
© God’s Lighthouse 2021