AN ALTAR OF UNCUT STONES

AN ALTAR OF UNCUT STONES

                “And if you shall make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.” Exodus 20:25

                “And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name. So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two measures of seed.” 1 Kings 18:31, 32.

                There is an unspoken message in the story of Elijah. Notice if you will that it says nothing about the Baal worshippers building an altar. It was already there on Mt. Carmel. The altar of the Lord had long since gone into disrepair and now the high places in Israel were festooned with pagan altars.

                Now also notice that when it came time for Elijah to offer his sacrifice to the Lord, he did not use the pagan altar. Instead he gathered up twelve stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel and built an altar unto the Lord. And there is one thing we can pretty much guarantee… this altar was made of uncut stones. But what does this mean?

                Pagans like conformity and uniformity. They tend to gain control of the masses by removing individuality. For instance when we got drafted into the army they shaved off our hair, put us all in the same uniforms, made us stand in straight lines, got nose to nose with us and screamed in our faces, dehumanizing us and stripping away all of our uniqueness and then they would begin to rebuild us into soldiers. What were they doing? They are making uncut stones into uniform bricks.

                These days it is things like unisex where they try to destroy the differences between men and women. They need to be made into interchangeable bricks. Likewise, whenever a communist or socialist society is formed, they always remove faith and religion. Faith in God will make you unique and they don’t want uniqueness… they want conformity.

                Take for instance our president.  They simply can’t endure an uncut stone like Donald Trump because he won’t conform to the rank and file. He won’t conform to their godless plans. He won’t surrender to their globalism as it continues to dumb down society… rewriting history, drugging the world into compliance to pagan normalcy so they can rule the world like a great machine… eventually causing all to surrender their wills to an artificially intelligent computer rather than to an infinitely creative and passionate God… taking the Mark of conformity that renders them robots of the collective mind… clones of the Beast.

                What are they doing? They are taking uncut stones and making them into bricks. They need soldiers who will take orders without question, march in straight lines, and work as a team, operate under a chain of command taking orders without question and so on. And while this is necessary in order to have a functioning army, it is not what God is looking for in His people. So notice if you will that in all futuristic movies, you will see a militarized society, usually complete with uniforms… hunting down and exterminating rebels and freedom lovers.

                This is why He says in Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

                Paul goes on to say: “So then brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” You see… God is taking slaves of this world and making them into sons… joint heirs… royalty… infinite in variety and purpose… uncut stones.

                God’s idea of perfect and the world’s idea are far different. Being conformed to the world will eventually make you into a cut stone, but if you are being transformed by Christ, then you are being made into a unique one of a kind, authentic stone for His altar.

                Satan’s way of conforming us is to make everyone the same, while God’s way of conforming is to make everyone different. For as 1 Cor. 12:11 says: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” And then Paul goes on to describe the body and how it is made up of different and unique parts, each part playing its role in the whole. He is not making everyone into an ear, or everyone into an eye, or a foot or a hand. The Body of Christ is made up of uncut stones each one a one of a kind stone.

                It may seem a strange thing, but when we are conformed to Christ, He makes each person unique, fitted together in a way that reflects God’s infinite creativity. To God, when man turns an uncut stone into a manmade brick or a hewn stone they profane it. God likes infinite variety.

                Take a look at nature. Look at the infinite variety of sea creatures and land creatures… things that fly, things that swim, things that walk or hop or slither… things that live under the ground, or swing from trees. The amount of variety is stunning. So why should we think that God wants everyone to be the same? He doesn’t. He knows you so well that He knows everything that is different about you from every other person. He set you in this earth to fulfill an individualized purpose that is unique to you and in fact cannot be duplicated by any other living being.

                This is why we need to learn to live by divine appointment. If we conform to the norms of religion we will miss the unique appointments that God has steered in our direction… someone whose life you can touch in a way that no other person can touch it. Your unique personality, your unique experiences (both good and bad) have transformed you into a one of a kind witness to God’s grace.

                Being conformed to Christ, or having the mind of Christ does not make you into a clone of Christ. Instead He places His infinite Spirit in you so that you will express your life as you. God created you to be you for a reason… so in coming to Him He is not going to destroy that uniqueness with pagan normalcy, but with His authentic and infinitely creative Holy Spirit. He will restore you to what you were created to be. Only He can take a cut stone that has been shaped by the world and make it into an uncut stone. And when He has done that, then fire will come down from heaven and consume the sacrifice.

                Then your prayers will bring the rain and you will outrun the chariots of the pagan kings and you will destroy the prophets and the altars of Baal. You may have to run from the wrath of Jezebel, but you will find the Lord in the secret place of the Most High and you will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

                Notice if you will that most of God’s messengers in the bible came out of the wilderness, wild haired and rough cut. They were God’s uncut stones and so the more pagan the society had become through worship of pagan gods the more likely they were to kill the messengers. Uncut stones don’t fit into pagan societies, but they are the only ones that can bring an authentic message from the Lord.

                Prophets and watchmen don’t usually fit into the rank and file of religion either. In fact God calls some people to work outside the system… to go out… to hear His voice… to seek understanding of the times in which we live so that they can bring back a warning. Time is always later than people think. Whether we face earth’s final conflagrations or whether we face judgments of God for straying away to worship other gods… it is the prophets who come out of nowhere that call us back and warn of impending doom.

                And for their efforts, they are usually stoned, or imprisoned, or flogged, or cut in two simply because they don’t fit what society has become through pagan conformity.

                Paul spoke from experience when he said: “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 1 Tim 3:12. It is a fact of life then: every one of us that is transformed by Christ will become an uncut stone and as such, we will be hated by the world.