On May 10, 2024, I was disinherited. Actually, according to the last will and testament of my parents, my status, and that of my “lineal descendants of all generations,” had been personally declared and notarized “with intentionality and full knowledge of the consequences” some 12 years earlier.
For over a decade, I have been an oblivious orphan. And my mother and father were now voluntarily childless of their 3rd born son, since the bequest also stated that myself and all generations of my descendants should “be treated as though each of them had predeceased” both the authors and beneficiaries of the document.
One may ask, “What could possibly justify such a retaliatory strike against family members?” Even accounting for all of the dysfunction, arguments, rifts and passive aggression rampant in my family, I would answer the question unequivocally, “Nothing!”
Suffice it to say that the posthumous cruel and unusual punishment of my “Christian” mother and father will be shaking the foundations of my children and grandchildren for years to come.
When King Solomon—with his 700 wives and 300 concubines— scribbled down his pithy proverb, “He who brings trouble on his family will inherit the wind,” did he not realize that he was the trouble-maker? Even his own father, when it was put right to his face, did not notice that “he was the man” who was guilty of adultery and murder! Did he not feel the point of the promised sword that would never part from his family, thanks to him? How could they both so soon forget? Apparently, one of the first “sins of the father” is amnesia, with the windy consequences of their behavior “blowing wherever it pleases” on the “lineal descendants of all generations.”
It’s a good thing that almighty God thinks human heredity hogwash, an “empty way of life handed down from our forefathers.” In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, the Apostle starts with an all-important, three-letter word, “Now.” “Then” is a thing of the past. “Now” as God’s children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Charles Spurgeon describes this Second Person co-opt this way:
“He is the sole proprietor of the vast creation of God, and He has admitted us to claim it all as ours, by making us His fellow heirs.”
And this has all been notarized by none other than the “Spirit’s testimony.” True, we will first “share in his suffering,” which can come in many forms—even a last will and testament.
But the last will is not the last word.
The prophet Hosea had to do some strange things to adequately portray how God feels about family loyalty. Namely, marrying an adulteress in order to make the point. It is a point well-taken. Those who perpetrate the great sin of unfaithfulness against family not only “sow the wind,” but they will also “reap the whirlwind.”
In other words, what was once just a room full of hot air, now has become a raging storm. But take heart! The “I” of this particular heredity hurricane has been adopted by the One about whom it has been said that “even the winds obey him.”
And all the beloved ones who come after me can “share in that glory!”
(Romans 8:16-17)
Deep and heartfelt comments to a deep and heartbreaking moment