An Altar is a place of worship. A place where men converse and meet with spirit beings. Man is a spirit he has a soul but lives in a body. Because of this need of all of mankind, they are driven to always want more. More power, more control, more victories. This craving for relationship with beings of their kind prompts them to want seeks fellowship with deities and falling spirit.
Man is never complete without spiritual affinity. He is empty having physical friends alone in his life. This is what leads to the worship of Idols and falling spirits, stars, moon, animals and objects after the fall of man. Man can never be satisfied by physical involvements alone, be you black or white or red.
Today there is a New Age movement in our world that speaks of man being a free moral agent who is god to himself. This in itself is a strong pointer that man is nothing without spiritual inclination. They seek something but they don’t know what they seek. The truth is they are in search of their maker – God, but does not know how to get to Him.
In every spiritual engagement, there are usually consecrated places for worship or fellowship; this is called An Altar.
Webster Dictionary defines sacrifice as this;
”To offer to God in homage or worship, by killing and consuming, as victims on an altar; to immolate, either as an atonement for sin, or to procure favor, or to express thankfulness; as, to sacrifice an ox or a lamb”.
In those days, whatever gift you have to offer, you only can offer it on the horn or platform of the altar. If you want to commune it is your sacrifice that gives you access to the one you want to interact with and you will be communed with in that environment.
Today in the body of Christ, people are weakened by the misconception of exalting the place of fellowship more than the people. The Altar is meant for man and not man for the Altar. Jesus said, destroy this Temple and I will build it back in three days because man needed to be fixed.
An Altar is a place of agreement between God and man.
The Bible says you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthian 6:19.
The way people honor and seek a physical place called altar than they seek God is alarming. I know the spiritual activity that goes on in a place determines the grace that flows in that place. The presence of God and the commitment of men to God consecrate the place. Once God can meet with a people in a place it can go on and on for ages as long as they remains faithful to God. This determines the blessing that flows from the place and not the place in itself. Therefore, if you take God to a Bar, He will glorify Himself there: No place can defile God’s Holiness hence He said if I be lifted high, I will draw men unto myself.
I was ministering in a church some time ago as a Music Minister and walked further on the altar; all of a sudden some leaders ran toward me and were giving me signs not to go that far in the altar – it was a touching one. I later asked, is it not a church, they said yes, that it is only preachers that are allowed to go there. I asked again, who cleans the altar? And there was no reply.
The way people celebrate altar, reminds me of the days of idolatry where people consult voodoo priests for help and they are asked to pull of their shoes.
Christians in earlier centuries in Europe at a time, majored their concentration on monuments rather than people. Today, in some of those places, the percentage of Christians is so low that they are struggling to make impact because they esteemed the monuments more than people. Most of those “Hallowed places” have been bought over by strip club owners, casino business owners and hotels.
In today’s Church, the building we use as a place of worship is only a place dedicated to God. What sanctifies a place is not the place but God through man. That is why the name of Jesus can be called upon in any kind of place and He will hear if it is done in faith and truth. The Alter is meant for the priest and not the reverse. It is the word and the spirit that sanctifies and not the concrete or wood or steel as the case may be.
Our headquarter Church, has its uses a Cinema building as a place of worship and I was getting criticisms from pastors that how will a church be in a sinner place. My reply was where would Jesus be if he were to be in our world today, a place where sinners are or a place where holy people are?
#dearidahosa, the time has come for us to honor God above physical things.
