Dear Bob,

This is Joe Meineke.  Brother is on sabbatical until October and I am tending to the Q&A forum in his absence, so I will not be able to address the questions you specifically asked of him.  Perhaps you can pose your question to him when he returns.

To answer your general question:  Certainly, involvement with the Ouija board, séances, pendulum use, etc., cause problems.  The effects can be obvious, hidden, immediate, short term or long term and can include illness, depression, physical ailments, oppression, infestation and even, in rare cases, possession.  Occultism is a serious sin and the consequences can be severe.

Since tumors are physical ailments, the first presumption must be a medical cause unless there is compelling evidence to suggest otherwise.  It has been our experience that if a physical ailment has any spiritual connection there will usually other spiritual symptoms such as, for example, oppression and infestation.  When trying to discern whether or not something is demonic in origin, we have to look at the whole picture.

Based on your statements, It sounds as though you yourself were at one point involved in these types of practices and that you are suffering what you believe are consequences for your actions.  It is not clear from your post what exactly you tried in terms of self help, but if you've gone to confession and are no longer doing these practices, that's wonderful - that's the most important thing you can do since reconciliation with God concerns your eternal salvation.

Since you are still having problems and appear to be suffering consequences for your involvement in the occult, I would recommend that you visit our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog and pray the following prayers:

Prayer To Confess Occult Involvement
Prayer Of Confession And Taking Back Ground From Satan
Prayer After Confession To Re-Claim Ground Taken By Satan

I also recommend that you visit the Saint Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling's Self Help page.  We have had a number of people report a great deal of success by following the Seven Steps for Self Deliverance.

This brings me to your next question:  "If a person prays the appropriate prayers that you recommend, are the curses lifted and the bondages and "hooks" removed, preventing evil from continuing?"  The answer is, in general, yes but there are no guarantees.  Remember, prayers are not "magic bullets" and often need to be said for a period of time.  And, as you noted, sometimes things get worse before they get better.  When we fire into the enemies camp, we can expect that the enemy will return fire.

As for the "sins of the father," this is often misunderstood as God visiting punishment on someone for something they did not do.  God does not do that.  Rather, this is an issue of people suffering from the consequences of the sins of our ancestors (and the sins of others.  This phenomenon is is not merely one of ancestry).  Adam and Eve were given a choice, and we, their offspring, are suffering as a result of their disobedience because what they did changed what God had originally intended for them and for us.

To illustrate further, If someone chooses to drink and drive and causes an accident that kills the mother of a family, that family will live with the consequences of the drunks actions.  Our actions can also effect our children given the nature of the authority that God gives to parents over their children.  That authority can be used for good or it can be used for evil.  We can bless, or we can curse.  We can be obedient to God, or we can be disobedient.  What we are observing here are the consequences of God giving us, out of love, the tremendous gift of free will and a tremendous amount of delegated authority and us being irresponsible with God's gifts.

In fact, a very famous cases of possession of a woman in Iowa in the 1920s was due to her being repeatedly cursed by a very wicked father.  The poor girl suffered terribly because of her father's sin (to read an account of this case, see Begone Satan!).  In like manner, one can curse their entire family line by doing such things and can cause problems for many generations to come until the curse is broken and reparation is made.  Father Hampsch has a very good book called Healing the Family Tree that deals specifically with these types of ancestral curses.

You also mention depression running in your family for some time.  While it is technically possible that this type of thing is related to ancestral sins, it is more likely to be a simple case of genetics.  Depression is a very common illness.  Nevertheless, we can never know if a great great great grandmother practiced some form of occultism.  Therefore, it never hurts to pray prayers breaking ancestral sins (you will find prayers in the Prayer Catalog for that as well).

Do not lose hope, Bob.  You are not alone.  Jesus is with you, He loves you and He has not abandoned you.  The most important thing for you to do is to persevere patiently through these trials.  Offer your sufferings in union with the sufferings of Christ.  Meditate on Romans 8:28 which teaches us that, "All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose."  Also remember that God will not let you be tested beyond your strength:

"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and (A)God is faithful, who will not allow you to be (B)tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."  (1 Corinthians 10:13)

We will certainly pray for you.

God bless you,
Joe Meineke