Choose You This Day: Satanic Altars vs. Altars Unto the Lord

 

             By Dr. Lindy S. Diffenbaugh, DD

 

 

The Burning Flames of Hell Fire and Brimstone are Unrelenting and Will Burn Body and Soul Throughout All Eternity!

 

Choose You This Day Who You Will Serve

 

In order to lay some ground work for this writing,  let me start with a question or two. The first question is, have you ever, or do you now struggle with any of the following: You have an illness that lingers and when you finally get over it, another one comes along, and as expected, that illness creates a cycle that repeats itself over and over in your life and family.

 

Or you always have money problems…even when you get a second or a third job, there never seems to be enough money…or you may have relationship problems and your life and ancestry is marked by divorce after divorce after divorce?

I am sure that you get the idea…we are talking about continual problems that plague you and other family members in your present or past generations, and there seems to be no remedy for the harassment and pain that goes along with these intrusive predators.

Let me start with a passage of scripture in the book of Judges, chapter 6-You don’t have to go there, I am going to condense this story of Gideon, God’s Mighty Man of Valor! 

 

If you remember Gideon was a young that man working in his father’s vineyard, minding his own business. In fact, the vineyard was the family business.

 

Although Gideon and the family were diligent in their vineyard, the previous 7 years produced only a meager harvest. The reason for that was that the Media-nites, who were an opposing force in the city, that was continually  releasing demonic forces against the people in the town.

 

Then was one night Gideon was minding his own business, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Him and proclaimed, “Hail Mighty Warrior, the Lord is With You!”

 

Gideon responded, “If He is with us, then why are we having so much trouble?” The Angel responded “Go in the strength that you have and save Israel out of the hand of the Midia-nites. Am I not sending you?”

 

Gideon continued to question the Lord. “How can I possibly save Israel? Our family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

 

Gideon continued to argue with the Lord and they went through a series of tests that Gideon had requested, to validate his visitation. He eventually realized that that there was no doubt that he was certainly talking to the Angel of the Lord.

 

The Angel assured Gideon that the Lord would be with him every step of the way. The instructions that the Angel gave Gideon, were to tear down his father’s altar, and then to sacrifice a bull to the Lord in the place of it. In that meeting, the Angel of the Lord called Gideon a, “Mighty Man of Valor.”

 

Gideon blindly followed the directions of this Angel and he went out that night and  destroyed his father’s altar completely, along with the Ashe-rah that was next to it.

 

He also erected an altar to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth where he sacrificed a bull unto the Most High God of Heaven and Earth.

 

Of course, the next morning the men of the town got up early, they saw what had been done. Immediately, they demanded to know what had happened. They determined that Gideon had burned down the a ltar and in unison, they demanded his immediate death.

 

The one person who defended Gideon instead of Baal, was Gideon’s father. Jo-ash said, “If Baal is a god let Baal contend for himself, because his altar has been torn down.” It is here that we must recognize that the altar that was destroyed the previous night, was Gideon’s father’s altar; yet, his father showed no signs of distress of anger.

 

To make matters worse, Gideon had built his altar in the exact place that his father had always come to worship his god, Baal.  In fact, if anyone was going to be angry, it should have been Jo-ash. However, when the angry neighbors saw what Gideon had done,  Jo-ash defended    Gideon.

 

This unexpected reaction by Gideon’s father, shows that when Gideon tore down the altar of Baal, and offered up a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord, that not only he, but his father, along with his entire family were released from the bondage of the demonic god of Baal.

 

Surely, you know the rest of the story! Gideon and those in his tribe who were set free from Baal, and they formed a coalition that would  go out and save the land from the Media-nites once and for all.

 

 

The Lord Used the Humility of Gideon to Heal The Land

 

So, you can see how the Lord used Gideon, who was a young man that considered himself the “least” in his father’s house. In fact, he eventually set up a strategic strike of spiritual warfare against the enemies. While this was a bold act in those days, Gideon rose above the certain backlash of his actions, and followed the directions of God’s messenger. 

 

While the people that lived in the town believed  that it was the Media-nites that were causing the problems in their land, the Lord knew that it was a spiritual attack from the demon god of Baal. It was their worship of Baal, a demonic spiritual entity, that actually attracted and strengthen the Media-nites to weaken Israel.

 

After Gideon took down the Altar of Baal, he gathered others in the town, and together they went out to fight the Media-nites. The plan was rooted in strategic, family level, spiritual warfare.

 

Baal was brought down, and the people came together and drove the Media-nites out of town, once and for all. It was that night that Gideon proved himself to be a Mighty Man of Valor.

 

Because of his bold and fearless act at the Altar of Baal, Gideon started a cycle of deliverance that not only impacted his life and family, but it had a great impact in shaping the destiny of the Nation of Israel as well. 

 

If you look at the story of Gideon, you will see that the curse that had brought his people so much suffering for 7-years, was rooted in Idolatry, aka-Baal Worship.

 

In fact, if you need a good definition for Idolatry, it is anything that you worship more, or give more of your attention, affection, and finances to, than you give to your Creator,  Jehovah-God.

 

The majority of the people in Israel worshiped  Baal. If you do not know the meaning of the word Baal, it is, in fact, “Master”.

 

Thus, the Media-nites had made this demon god, the master of their houses, all that they had, all that they were, and all that the owned was done in the name of Baal. They built altars to that demon god and made everyone in the city worship him.

 

There are many saints in the nations of the earth of the     today who love and worship the Lord God of Heaven that you and I worship and adore. But there are also many who, knowingly or unknowingly, worship Satan and demons from hell.

 

The demons are taking full advantage of their worship and turning it around to destroy their fortunes, family, and their eternal God given destinies. So I must ask, what can we learn from this Biblical account, and how can we apply what we have learned to save our families and our nation from these sly, underhanded, wicked, and ruthless demons, that inhabit the portals where mankind lives, and moves, and has its being                   ?

 

How Do Demons Operate On This Earth?

 

To start with,  let’s see how these demons truly   operate:

 

Just like in Gideon’s day, it all starts with people setting up altars of worship in their homes and their nations. Many believe that they are worshiping their deceased ancestors. They think that they are worshiping “other gods” like Allah, or other deities, named or unnamed.

 

 In fact, the truth is, that the forces behind the gods that they worship are demons. They are not there to bless anyone. They are there to demand worship that actually belongs to the God of Heaven alone, and then they lead those who fall into their trap, down the road to destruction.

 

In the home, where the Ancestral Altars are built, people believe that they are communing with their dead uncle or brother, or even a relative that they have never met. They actually put out food and other enticing trinkets and things that will attract their deceased loved one it at the altar and commune with their dead relative.

 

I realize that I am not telling you anything about altars that you do not already know. I am not trying to educate you, I am just laying some ground work to build on in this message.

 

In fact, when they build these altars and attract their “relatives”, what they don’t reckon with is that their relative is in the grave and their soul is either in Heaven or Hell. Thus, I do not read anywhere in the Bible where the population of dead people get a pass to come out of wherever they are in the spirit, so that they can go and have a snack or a meal with their family. It just does not happen.

 

So how do these so called deceased relatives actually communicate in a believable way, as if they were the actual relative? Do you know the term, Familiar Spirit? In fact, a familiar spirit uses knowledge that it gathers about the dead person that his relative may be seeking.

 

When the demon gains enough knowledge, he begins to perpetuate his deception by channeling the voice and memories of the dead relative, to the one on earth that seeks to speak to them.  The demon works in disguise to keep his victim unaware of his schemes, so that he can appear as an “angel of light.”

 

A counterfeit is a substitute for the real thing, and a familiar spirit is a counterfeit spirit. It is a demon substitute that shows up when people work to attract their dead relatives.  So, in reality, as they seek the presence of the dead, they are actually encountering demons.

 

Consider King Saul of the Old Testament

 

In 1 Samuel 28 we read that, “Saul inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, “Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.”

 

Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at End-or.” When Saul inquired of her, she summoned Samuel from the grave, however in reality she was a witch and the being that she conjured up was not Samuel, but it was a familiar spirit. In reality, this spirit was, in fact,  a demon.

 

It works the same way when people sit at family altars and seek to commune with the dead. The response they get may sounds like their relative, it may mimic their personalities, but they are nothing more than familiar spirits, in fact Demons.

 

As I said previously, the relatives are either in Heaven or Hell, and they cannot leave Heaven or Hell to go back and forth to earth to commune with anyone, no matter how many of their favorite foods that are left for them on your Ancestral Altar.

 

If you need scripture to show that the dead cannot return to the earth after they die, here it is in the Book of Luke 16:19-31: You all know the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man lived in luxury           on the earth and Lazarus lived in poverty. Lazarus ate from the scraps that he found on the ground, that had fallen from the the rich man’s table.

 

 Lazarus died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side in Heaven. Then the rich man died and he ended up in hell where he was tormented with darkness and the flames of hell. He asked Father Abraham to have pity on him and to allow Lazarus to bring him a drop of cold water.

 

Here is the part that we must look at to realize that Biblical Truth does not support visitation from our deceased ancestors…Father Abraham told him that there is a great chasm, or separation that has been fixed, so that those who want to go from heaven to earth, or eve to hell, certainly cannot breach the barriers between heaven, hell, and earth.

 

The dead are in a place of isolation and separation. There is a firm, fixed, impassable barrier that prevents anyone from moving from Heaven to Hell and Hell to Heaven, and from Heaven or Hell, to the Earth. The dead cannot leave Heaven or Hell to communicate with anyone on the Earth or anywhere else in the universe. The devil and his minions, on the other hand, go to and fro, throughout the earth seeking whom they may devour.

 

Always remember that, that old serpent that we call the devil, has only one strategy that he can use against us. That is deception. In reality, Truth, which is Jesus, defeated every lie that Satan has formed against you and me. Satan will one day pay for his crimes against God’s people, on earth, as in Heaven.

 

But even though the devil is defeated, he is not an idiot. He knows the truth and it makes him tremble, because he knows that it prophesies his doom. But, he also knows that the only way that he can avoid his own defeat, is to defeat you and me by twisting and perverting the truth. Beware of that,  because that is the same tactic that the serpent used to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden.   

                

Satan, aka Beelzebub, is not only a liar, but he is a subtle liar. That is why we have to know the truth of the Word of God and we must hide it in our hearts. When the enemy throws a lie in our face or into our lives, that is when we pull out the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and wield it against him. And when we do that, we insure his utter defeat in the battle.

 

Ancestral Altars And They Are

Perpetrated By Satan Himself

 

That lie puts Satan in direct communication with humanity. In fact,  if Satan is in communication with God’s created people on this earth, then he has too much time and too much room to plant lies and deceptions in their souls.

 

The first lie is that you will believe at the altar of Satan, is that you are being blessed when you are actually being cursed. You think you are getting insight into life and living from your dead relatives, when in fact you are opening a corridor of communication with demon forces that will curse your life and family, and ultimately your entire bloodline for generations to come, The impact of one seemingly simple interaction with Hell, could impacted by your life and the lives of your ancestors  through out all of eternity.

 

What Are the Responsibilities of God’s Saints in This Situation?

 

In the face of these Ancestral Altars, we must step up and assume our position as warriors in Christ. We must declare with the full authority from Heaven, “Get thee behind me Satan.”

 

If we know our Bibles, then we know that the Dead cannot commune with us, so we know it is Satan’s minions who have dropped in with a bag full of Lies.  However if we love and know the Lord, we will worship at His altar, and at His altar alone shall we worship.

 

Our God says you shall have no other Gods before You. You cannot make another man or woman, dead or alive, an idol in your life. You shall hold no other gods and no other idols, before you. You were created to worship Jehovah         God and Only Jehovah God. You shall hold no other gods before you.

 

Be Vigilant and Focused Because the Devil Seeks to Destroy You and All That You Hold Dear

 

I recognize that most of you, if not all, are Godly people and you love the Lord God of Heaven with all of your Hearts, Minds, and Souls. But, I also realize that just because that is your faith, it may not be the faith of others in your family in this generation, or in previous generations.

 

Others in your family or in previous generation, may have erected ancestral altars in their home that has brought a curse upon your bloodline that is causing struggles in your family today.

 

 Even though the breakdown of the blessings that you are due, you have not worshiped Baal-you and you did not build the altar, but YOU may be the one GOD HAS ANOINTED TO BRING IT BRING IT DOWN!

 

Where there is generational sin further back in the stream of your bloodline, there is a stronghold set up further downstream, that will impact you and your family. In other words, if you see your bloodline as a river or a stream, before your boat floated into that stream there were others who may have erected Ancestral Altars, that caused your stream from God to get clogged up; in fact there is a flow that is coming into your life that is from another stream where they knew not God.

 

In essence they have built and established a strong hold the authorizes a demon to come in thru cycles from generation to generation, into the life of the family – that demon raises its head and positions all hell to break loose in your home and steal, kill, and destroy anything and everything that it can; in fact, it  will destroy anything and everything that you hold dear.

 

Can This Curse Be Reversed?

 

It absolutely can be reversed. It will require someone, such as a righteous member of the family bloodline, to put their foot down, face the demons, and say-IN THE NAME OF JESUS STOP IT!

 

It only takes ONE member to rise up and do what SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE GENERATIONS AGO. It only takes one passionate warrior to break down the agreement that their ancestors and family members have established with hell.

 

Maybe you are thinking about what I have said about alters up to this point. You recognize that there has been a continual disruption in parts of your life and family.

 

You may ask, why is God allowing this curse to come upon you, His beloved child? You may  ask, “Is my love and commitment to God not enough? I worship God and Him alone. Why am I going through all this pain?

 

Consider this, maybe God has a bigger harvest in mind for you than just setting You free and blessing You alone. Maybe he wants to bless your whole family-Through You. This is a case where what the enemy meant for evil can be turned around for your good, the good of your family, and for the Glory of God.

 

Even though you, like Gideon have done nothing to create the problem, He is calling you, just as He did Gideon-who loved Him and served Him faithfully. Maybe God wants to empower you to fight Ancestral Altars in your home and even in your nation, and to tear them down once and for all.

 

What if the sins of the Fathers have consequences on the sons of the Sons?  What if the Media-nites wicked armies of old-who are now dead, but have come back as familiar (or familial) spirits and they are infiltrating your life and family?

 

They intend to curse you and your entire ancestral heritage; and what if you and your family are being targeted right now?

 

Gideon was the wrong guy for Baal to attack. In his battle and resistance of Baal, Gideon became a Mighty Man of Valor, a Champion, who ultimately brought Baal down in that city and broke the cycle of iniquity and idolatry in the very place of the sins of the fathers.

 

Gideon shamelessly tore down the Altar of Baal, and he erected an altar unto the Most High God. In fact, the Altar that Gideon built not only altered his bloodline, but greatly impacted the Nation of Israel.

 

 

Could It Be that God Chose YOU for Such a Time As This?

 

Ask yourself this question, “Is this the time that I must step onto the stage where the life and death battles are being fought for time and eternity?”

 

What if He wants to position you on the battlefield where war is being waged against, not only for your destiny alone, but for the destiny for your loved ones as well. What if He has called you to put demons on notice that, “This day you will take off the Head of the Giant that is taunting the armies of the living God?”

So, in closing,  I say to you, “Hail Mighty Warrior of Valor…go out-wage war, fight the good fight and save your Families, save your cities, save your countries, and save your nation!

 

 

REFUSE TO THINK LIKE UNDERDOGS OR VICTIMS! You are neither. You are WARRIORS. You are Mighty in God and you have the power and the authority to tear down altars with the power and the presence of the Word of God and the Holy Ghost, YOU WILL PREVAIL! YOU WILL RECOVER ALL!