Throughout the Bible God speaks of the importance of parents raising their children to obey the Lord.
After Lot's wife had turned back to look at Sodom and turned to salt, Lot and his two daughters fled from the plain up into the hills, where they could be safer. There were no settlements there, and Lot and the two girls huddled for shelter in a cave. They believed they were the only surviving members of the human race, and that all other people in the world had been destroyed. This was bad enough, but the two young men who had been promised husbands were now dead, and the young women saw no hope of ever having children of their own.
They decided on a ruse to get themselves pregnant. It was the idea of the older sister: they would get their father drunk in the evening and have sex with him as he lay in a stupor. This they did, both of them, on separate nights.
Sure enough, both girls became pregnant and eventually bore a son each. The older girl called her son Moab, and he was named as the ancestor of the Moabites, a tribe with whom the Israelites were often at war. The younger girl called her son Ben-ammi and he, the Bible says, was the ancestor of the Ammonites - another tribe with whom the Israelites fought. Thus, both of the enemy tribes, the Bible proposed, were the result of acts of incest between Lot and his daughters.
Also, in the first few chapters of 1st Samuel the Bible speaks of a priest named Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Eli's sons were wicked in the sight of God, disobeying their father Eli, and the Lord.
Here are some of the words or phrases used to describe the sons of Eli:
· "Worthless men" (1st Samuel 2:12)
· "They would not listen to the voice of their father" (1st Samuel 2:25)
· "The sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD" (1st Samuel 2:17)
· "The men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt" (1st Samuel 2:17)
· "They did not know the Lord" (1st Samuel 2:12)
In 1st Samuel 3:11-14, in a vision to the Samuel, the Lord tells Samuel that Eli's house will be punished:
"Then the LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore, I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."
To me one of the saddest parts of this passage is that Eli knew his sons were disobeying the Lord, yet he did not stop them from their sin. Parents have a very important responsibility to discipline their children. Children must be taught to obey their parents as well as the Lord. As Ephesians 6:4 states: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." It is vital that children are taught to obey the Lord, for if they are not, they could depart from the Lord like Eli's sons.
The spirit we are dealing in this chapter is basically the vagabond spirit. This spirit manifests rampantly in the children and scions of ministers of the gospel and children of God; Christians.
The word vagabond is translated from the Hebrew word Nuwa (Strongs 5128) a fugitive; to wander up and down; Hebrew word Nuwd (5110) to wander, flee or disappear; Greek word Perierchoma i (4022) to stroll, to wander about.
The Webster Dictionary defines the vagabond as a person moving from place to place without a fixed home, a wanderer; of relating to or characteristic of a wanderer, leading an unsettled, irresponsible, or disreputable life.
The shortest depiction of this vagabond anointing is found in the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-20
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
As Dr D. O. Olukoya would say, the vagabond spirit is the spirit that makes a person live an irregular life or a wandering life. The person goes from one place to the other with no fixed purpose, an aimless life. A lot of people are operating under the influence of the vagabond spirit. God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day and God expects us to be able to rest in Him. But those under the vagabond anointing are restless in their spirit. People under vagabond anointing wander from city to city, from job to job, from house to house, from marriage to marriage, etc. They are never able to really settle down.
There are also those who are church tourists, moving from one church to another, these kinds of people never settle in one church. But as a believer, you should only move to a church according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. - These kinds of people cannot sit in one place to do something beneficial for their lives, for the church or even in their jobs. They never get established in whatever they do. When they are doing work or even working to beat a deadline and they hear people talking stories outside, they leave their work and go for the stories. By the time they return, time has gone, they are on tension, quaking and end up doing work on a rush with a lot of mistakes, that cause for them problems with their bosses or inspectors. This comes about because of the vagabond spirit that causes them to just walk up and down without settling.
People under the vagabond anointing are always tormented by the spirit of poverty. When a person is under the vagabond anointing, the spirit of poverty finds it very easy to move in. This will give rise to so many other things which includes restlessness, confusion, financial bondage, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, sorrow and grief.
The vagabond spirit makes people to waste their investments. Nothing they lay their hands on works out. The person may have B.Sc. in Economics, master's in philosophy and Ph. D in Accounting, yet nothing prospers. It is this vagabond anointing that is responsible for lack of focus. A lot of people are not focused, that is why the devil is able to do so much havoc. A person that was meant to settle down to sell vegetables is busy looking for an office job. No focus. When the devil knows that you are in a wrong place, he would attack whatever you are doing. One of the greatest mountains that one faces is the mountain of ignorance.
The vagabond anointing is responsible for a person to fish and catch nothing in the sea of life. If this anointing is on somebody, it does not matter how far the person roams, he could travel around the world, he won't be able to make headway. It is a pity that so many are suffering. When a medical doctor has been reduced to serving food in a bar abroad in order to survive, it is vagabond anointing. When a man with a Ph.D is busy sweeping the floor at the railway station, it is vagabond anointing.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be vagabonds continually and beg:
Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. (Psalms 109:5, 6, 9, 10)
The curse of the vagabond can come as a result of someone in the bloodline being guilty of returning evil for good. This opens the door for spirits of Begging and Poverty to enter.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let strangers spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. (Psalm 109:11, 12)
A person under this curse fails to find favor with people, including employers and others who could be a blessing. The finances of the vagabond are subject to the extortioner. This is a reference to debt and financial bondage.
His labor is spoiled (No Success). Though he works hard at it the vagabond has a very difficult time establishing good and lasting relationships. People tend to turn upon the vagabond. Remember this was one of Cain's greatest fears.
