As I mentioned in my last article titled “ALTARS”, all throughout recorded history, altars have been erected and used by what one would consider pagans, Christians, Jews and other religions. Altars can be good, but they can also be bad depending on how they are used. Many human sacrifices have been conducted on altars to appease their so called gods. Even today, sacrifices, such as abortion, are executed to appease a person’s lust as they have given themselves over to gods/evil spirits. They have elevated themselves to a god to do what is right in their own eyes. Again, these types of deceived individuals sacrifice their own children through neglect and even murder/abortion to go on pleasing their own immoral appetites.
In my last pastoral article, I promised that in my next article I would give you examples of good, godly altars, as well as evil altars and what can live and manifest in these altars.
On the syndicated radio program, OmegaManRadio.com, with Shannon Davis and the Warning program, we discussed altars and how demons live in ungodly altars. Shannon gave some testimonies of evil spirits manifesting from pagan altars in Indonesia. These demons can plague individuals with blessings or curses, and the people live in fear and bondage because of them.
The following are some testimonies of experiences Shannon Davis has had with evil altars in Bali, Indonesia:
“When we moved to Bali seven years ago, I had known that this place had a reputation for being heavily demonized. At that time, there were reported 35,000 temples, altars and shrines.
We set out to find a house to rent and had a very difficult time. Every place we were looking was primarily owned by a Hindu landlord. The Hindus and the Balinese have two altars to their gods in their front yards. If you're wealthy enough, you have a whole temple in your backyard and then there will be a temple per neighborhood and on every block.
We saw one house where in the front yard, as every Hindu has, there were two large, approximately 6 foot altars. Each altar has a throne at the top and steps that go up to the throne. The throne is where the demon sits. To protect it from the sunlight, there is usually an umbrella giving the demon shade.
We asked the landlord if she would be willing to remove the altars. To our shock, she said, "I'll tell you what, I bought the house as an investment and here's how it works. If I've ever once offered sacrifice there, I could not remove them. But since the previous land owner did not remove the altars and relocate them when they moved, which is what they typically do, then I'd be willing to remove them for you if you rent the place for two years."
So the deal was struck and the landlord sent a crew to dismantle the altars. To make a long story longer, a shaman came out with two ladies. They were all dressed in white. That night they set up a big flood light which attracted virtually the whole neighborhood wanting to see what was going on. A man video recorded it on his camera. The shaman came out and they did a ceremony to remove an altar. They said a prayer and then they took a big sledge hammer and broke one stone at a time. The video shows the shaman going into a trance. The demons that lived there on the site, in our yard, came out to him and possessed him. Then he spoke in Balinese language, 'We will go, but send us to the waters.' I suspect these were marine spirits. Then they proceeded to destroy the altars.
The next day I came to see what was going on. The whole yard was filled with rubble. I was told they would remove the rubble and take it out to the ocean. There were literal spirits that lived in these altars that were worshiped and they wanted to go to the waters. I'm telling you, I can go out of my house every day and see one or more of my neighbors going outside to offer sacrifice to the demons. They call them their gods, and the purpose is to appease them. You can understand what bondage they are experiencing. These are good people, but they are in bondage.”
Now I want you to read an article written by Bishop Tobias Nyamwaya on altars and examples of evil spirits who even attack Christians if they don’t keep their individual altars clean and holy.
THE PUPOSE AND NEED OF THE ALTAR - PART TWO by Bishop Tobias Nyamwaya
“As we have seen in the previous series, it is important for us to understand and know the significance of the altar and how it affects us. Altars are built by both Christians and non Christians. A lady came to my office one day and wanted to talk to me. I sat down and listened to her version of the story. She said that she wanted to build her parents a decent house in the village. She had the contractor pull the old structure down and that is when everything went wrong for her. The father was away when he heard that the structure had been pulled down and the ground had been dug up. He asked if they had seen his pot. The pot had been buried in the ground under the veranda in front of the house. That pot was his altar, his god, his protection and covering. He was upset and told his daughter that the god would hurt her.
From that point on the daughter, who is married, was unable to give birth. Her legs began to swell badly and this continued. The medical doctors were not able to diagnose the problem because it was demonically inspired. She was unable to sleep at night and experienced a lot of nightmares.
This lady told me that she was very bitter with her father when she discovered what the father had done. Despite my encouragement for her to reach out to her father and forgive him, she refused.
WHY ARE THERE ALTARS?
Some altars are formed or constructed by the heathen to appease the ancestral dead.
These people believe that the dead person lives and hears and has the ability to bless them or curse them, therefore they do everything possible to appease their spirit in order to satisfy or quell them.
In the Bible, King Saul was such a person. 1 Samuel 28:15 says, "Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or by dreams , therefore I have called you that you may make known to me what I should do". Saul had gone to the Medium/Wizard to seek blessing from the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel.
Such practices are common everywhere throughout the world. For example, I remember recently, the Chinese were building the Southern Bypass Road connecting to the Eastern Bypass Road in Nairobi, Kenya. Before they started building the road, they slaughtered some animals. I'm not sure whether they were goats, sheep or cows, but they poured the blood on the road as they walked along to bless their work. Unfortunately, since the work has been finished, there have been many fatal accidents on that road that cannot be explained.
Altars are crucial. There are evil altars and godly altars. So far we have looked briefly at evil altars.
In 2 Samuel 24:1, David was moved by his pride to take a census of Israel and Judah against God's will. Verse 4 tells us "Nevertheless, the King's word prevailed against Joab and against the commander of the army. So Joab and the commander of the army went out from the presence of the King to register the people of Israel"
As a result of that census, God was upset with David.
2 Samuel 24:12 states "Go and speak to David," Thus the Lord says, "I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you."
Read verses 13-14, David was asked to decide which punishment to take after committing this sin;
- Seven years of famine in the land
- Three days of pestilence in the land
- Flee three months before your foes.
David chose three days of pestilence, but the punishment was very grievous and David had to repent of it.
Verse 17 states, "Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people and said, "Behold, it is l who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong, but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my Father's house."
NOTE: David had to build the altar for the plague to stop. There on the altar he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. These offerings were not cheap.
God requires us to make sacrifices, and many times, the sacrifice we offer will cost us a lot, maybe even our own lives. David said in 2 Samuel 24:24, "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing."
SO I ASK AGAIN, WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE ALTAR AND THE SACRIFICE?
The purpose of the altar was so that God could move or act on behalf of David for what he himself could not do.
Only God can forgive and remove sin, but your offering and sacrifice on the altar can plead with God on your behalf. Do not ignore it; do not neglect it. God can move and act on your behalf over something bigger than you can handle on your own, when you bring your offering to the altar with a clean heart.
It could be a family issue, a problem at work, a financial problem (debt), trouble in your marriage or even a loved one with an addiction. God can solve it.
A person has to have a clean altar/life in order to protect themselves from demoniac attack. In his article, Bishop Tobias mentioned that he admonished a lady to forgive her father and she refused, consequently, she could not be protected and healed from the sickness caused by spirits. Also, he used the example where King Saul inquired from a witch and an evil spirit appeared as Samuel. Saul ended up committing suicide, as God did not protect this backslidden King in sin.
I could write a book, and maybe I will, with countless examples in both my own ministry and watching my father’s ministry, recalling examples of demons attacking and operating in people because of unclean altars.
In my next pastoral article titled, “TATTOOS”, I will show how tattoos open the gateway for demons to attack and even reside in a Christian.
Blessings, Dr. Jonathan Hansen