“You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place” (Deuteronomy 12:3).

During the Old Testament, the prophets built physical altars to offer sacrifices to God. “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12:7). Jacob built an altar in Bethel where God also appeared. “and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother” (Genesis 35:7). Jacob’s descendants ended up in Egypt after a famine and were later enslaved by the Egyptians. Moses was sent by God to deliver them and as they journeyed back to Canaan, God had specific instructions for their journey. He instructed them to tear down the altars built to other gods. Once Isreal entered Canaan, they drove out some of the inhabitants, but allowed others to remain.

They did not fully obey the voice of the Lord, but made covenants with the inhabitants of the land. “and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done” (Judges 2:2)? Due to their disobedience, God promised that the people would become a thorn in the flesh of Isreal. After Joshua died, the people did evil in the sight of the Lord and they served Baal and other gods. God gave them over to plunderers and they were sold out to their surrounding enemies as they could no longer withstand them. God eventually raised up judges to save them from the plunderers who lived around them. “But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways” (Judges 2:19).

Since the people tested God and constantly disobeyed him, he vowed not to drive out the nations that Joshua left when he died. This was to test them to see if they would walk in the way that their fathers did. God raised up Judges including Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak. Each of these judges served the Lord as prophets and military commanders to lead the people in battle against their enemies. Even after these judges, the people constantly rebelled against God and the Medianites oppressed them. In Judges 6, Gideon was called by God to save Isreal from the hand of Midian. After Gideon had tested God and received a sign that he was with him, God instructed him concerning the altars of Baal. “That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it” (Judges 6:25).

In its place, Gideon was instructed to build an altar to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. In Christendom, we no longer build physical altars to pray to God, but we do pray, worship and offer sacrifices to God, which represents a spiritual altar. Anything that takes the place and time away from our devotion to God, becomes an idol and has its own spiritual altar. We have to pull down anything in our lives which takes away from our glory to God and replace this with true worship and devotion. It was interesting to see that when Gideon tore down the altar of Baal, he replaced it with an altar to God. We don’t need money to build an altar to God, but our prayers, worship and praise to God represents our sacrifice to him. Offering, tithes and seed sowing all forms part of our sacrificial giving to God, but this should not be demanded from people as payment for prayers or to build a prayer altar.

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

A.P.-Y.

Published by Anneta Pinto-Young

I am a trained Social Worker who currently provides professional leadership on a programme to support Social Work students and Newly Qualified Social Workers entering the Social Work Profession. Born and raised in Jamaica in a Christian family where my father is an ordained Pastor and Deacon who has served for over 50 years in the ministry. My father is also a trained musician and our family can be described as a musical family. I grew up in a small farming community in St. Peter’s, St. Andrew and my parents also have a small farm. I credit my gift of writing to my father who I watched and listened to over the years as he wrote sermons, poems and other recitals in his capacity in ministry. English has always been an easy subject for me and over the years I have developed an increased interest in writing. I am a Trainer, I sing and have a passion for worship, the spoken word and the free flow of the prophetic anointing. I am married to my best friend Andrew Christopher Young who is an advanced Musician and whose music you can find on YouTube and Facebook. I am a trained Coach and Mentor and I love experimenting with food so I love cooking. I enjoy trying cultural dishes from across the world and I view food as an entry into cultures and languages.

Published