I had a dream where I was observing a gathering of church members worshiping together. However, this large area we were all inside of was dark and eerie. Then I looked up and flying above us all were a handful of literal witches on broomsticks shouting over the crowd. I heard one yell out a new law for the church to follow and if they didn’t God would shun them. Fear broke out across this audience, but not a reverent fear. A fear that was demonically influenced and that woke me up from the dream.
Immediately, I heard the Spirit tell me what that dream meant. He was showing me how some in the believing church have created for themselves their own altar to a god they have in their mind. A god that is NOT the same God in our Bible. Because they have created for themselves this false altar to a false god, they have opened themselves up to witchcraft. They are in bondage to this witchcraft and live out of fear because their understanding of God is not true.
The Lord then reminded me of an experience I had one time worshiping Him at an altar during a retreat I was attending. He reminded me of another lady who was literally sitting beside me in worship, but was being attacked with condemnation and lies. I comforted her and corrected what was being thrown at her. It was strange to me because I was feeling the presence of God powerfully and she was being attacked so horribly. How could that be? How could two different dynamics take place in the same place?
God showed me that even though we were at the same altar in the natural worshiping Him, and because of her idea of who He was from false teaching she had received, she was at another altar in her heart that was not the true altar of Him. Therefore she was under attack.
This is a hard word to share. It’s convicting and also alarming. I know.
God sees these false altars created by man to make themselves feel comfortable and feel not convicted of their sin. He also sees other false altars created through a religious spirit that pushes people away from Him bringing guilt and condemnation. And then there are those false altars made for profit by so called preachers and prophets that seek their own gain and hurt the church on their way to fame. There are too many false altars to name here.
How do you know you are at a false altar?
When you step away from the altar there is no real change in you and your heart. Others see no change and that speaks against the true nature of God and His work.
You go to the altar out of fear and not out of love and devotion to God. You do your duty and you go on with life.. no real change takes place.
The frightening part is that witchcraft rules over your heart.. not the Lord Jesus. You are ruled by religion and it’s laws instead of God and His word. You are constantly being deceived at this false altar and it shows in your life and choices.
Some have sadly walked away from who they thought God was.. but they just walked away from a man built alter to a fake god.. an idol.. a deception. You thought God would respond to your prayers the way you wanted Him to. You treated Him like a genie in a bottle and never came to Him just to be in His presence. He didn’t meet your expectations and you walked away. But you walked away from a false altar. You’ve never learned of His True Nature and Character. You depended on church leaders to show you who God is rather than pursuing God for yourself and now you have a corrupted view of who He is. You have worshipped at a false altar.
Therefore the Lord is declaring judgement on these false altars. He is destroying them and calling people to Himself. But He wants you to find Him apart from going to church and from listening to influencing voices.. He wants you to come to Him in private first.. behind closed doors, where the altar is for Him and Him alone.
No longer will He allow growth in churches that tolerate such idolatry.. with leaders that allow these false altars to be made, some sadly building up altars for themselves instead. If you walk away from any service confused or conflicted in your spirit.. ask the Lord why. He will tell you, but you have to go to Him and be willing to hear the truth.
Churches are not gathering right now in buildings. They are empty and hollow.. but have they been empty and hollow all along? Have we been doing church and remained busy without the pursuit of God? Have we allowed ourselves to be humbled and repentant of our sins? Or are we allowing the altar of complacency to take seat in our hearts?
“The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the Lord; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.” Jeremiah 10:21
God is a jealous God and for good reason. He will not tolerate for long the worship of idols where He belongs. We need to recommit to Him and get rid of the Asherah poles.. get rid of these false places of worship and put Him on the throne of our hearts.
“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.”
Jeremiah 10: 11-14