A Memorial Altar

By The Jordan

By

Holy Caleb De Warrior

An Altar As A Sign Of Unity

And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan — a great, impressive altar. Now the children of Israel heard someone say, "Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan — on the children of Israel's side." And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.

Then the children of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, and with him ten rulers, one ruler each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel; and each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel. Then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against the Lord? Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed till this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, but that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it shall be, if you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take possession among us; but do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.'"

Then the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel "The Lord God of Israel, the Lord of All Spirits, He knows, and let Israel itself know — if it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against the Lord, do not save us this day. If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the Lord Himself require an account. But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, "What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord." So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord.'

“Therefore we said, 'Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings, at the one and only altar approved by God in your side of the Promised Land; that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, "You have no part in the Lord."' Therefore we said that it will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say, 'Here is the replica of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.' Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following the Lord this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His Tabernacle."

Now when Phinehas the priest and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, "This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord."

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the rulers, returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought back word to them. So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God. They spoke no more of going against them in battle, to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar, Witness, "For it is a witness between us that the Lord is God."

Altar Of Witness

Son of man, all the time you were in the covenant, you are strong and healthy. You married and bore children. From generations to generations, you continued in the covenant of God. Along the line, you completed your work and departed from the earth. And your children and children's children forgot about the covenant. Some forgot that themselves are children of the covenant. It is those children, whom you taught about the covenant, that shall explain to those who have forgotten that their fore father said that all his children and children's children are covenant children. They came from the covenant of God - It is their destiny and work to ensure the continuation of the Covenant System Of Worship.

You are longer present in their midst, as a Sabbath-keeping man, but all the works you did, and all the books you wrote, are still there present there with them. They witnessed when yourself was alive and living according to the covenant system.

Why God Allowed The Altar Of Witness

Number 1, the Israelites on the other side of River Jordan are also the children of Jacob, his descendants. They are the children of Jacob. They still remember their fore fathers and what their fore fathers did.

Number 2, son of man, God is not against them, and did not reject their idea, for the following reasons:

If they wanted to offer another sacrifice there - they knew that God is not a hypocrite. God stands in one place only. As God is in your midst here in DivineBase Ministry, even so He is present in the midst of the children of God all over the world. As you offer sacrifice to God here in DivineBase Ministry, even so He answers the prayers of all the children of God all over the world.

Number 3, the reasons why they built the Altar Of Witness, is for remembrance, because their children and children's children are staying away from the holy Tabernacle. They were in a different land, like a different nation. They were no longer seeing everything, or hearing everything that was happening in their homeland. Son of man, on many occasions, yourself do forget. It is only when you see something that you can remember it again. That was why they built the altar of witness.

Against Scattering Of The Children Of God

That is what ourselves, the Hosts of Angels and Saints of Heaven, are saying until now, that the habit of Christians scattering themselves all over the world is not good. There is real problem in their midst.

Son of man, why did those Israelites go to build the Altar Of Witness, since they have their own lands?

Chukwudi: I understand that they wanted a place for worship.

Son of man, listen. That is how various nations emerged and dispersed all over the world. Even so the churches, ministries and fellowships developed and spread all over the world. Even so the offerings of various sacrifices started and spread. This is because what happened during our time is still repeating in this present and modern generations. But the current development is worse and stronger, because the present generations do not have the Holy Spirit at all. The FirstSon of God, Jesus Christ is no longer leading them. Whatever they do is right, according to their human understanding and narrow perspectives.

God does not want Christians to disperse themselves all over the world, to live in diaspora, because of the following reasons:

1. They soon forget or stop keeping the covenant. The fact that lands were provided for them across the globe, in different parts of the world, does not mean that the Christians in diaspora are new sets of Israelites, different and separate from the other covenant children of God.

2. They start learning the ways of the Gentiles, the ways of the other nations, which cultures, customs and traditions may appear good and interesting according to human reasoning, but are deceptive and destructive handworks of Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

3. It becomes very hard to reach all of them whenever God gives a new teaching, correction, message and warning.

4. The longer the children of God stay away from God’s covenant, the harder it becomes for them to return to the covenant.

5. The enemies of God and humanity, the evil spirits and demons, who are the enemies of the Christians rise to enslave, persecute and dominate the children of God, trying to make sure that the kingdom of God is not established here on earth.

6. Even the children of God that join other religions, churches, ministries and fellowships turn round to fight and work against God their Father, and against the true worship and against their fellow brethren. This is very bad.

7. And to bring the scattered children of God back to the covenant is not an easy task, just as Holy Moses endured many sufferings to lead the Israelites from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land.

8. When a few set of people lack encouragement and support, they may stop following the way of truth and salvation. But when they stay together, they serve as encouragement and support to one another.

9. Even among the children of God, many of them who should contribute meaningfully and significantly turn into enemies by the forms of disobedience, stubbornness, confrontation, opposition, negligence, mockery and hindrances.

10. When the children of God are together, they are stronger, and are easily co-ordinated. But spreading to different nations makes them weak and easily dominated. United, we stand. But divided, we fall.

The Duty Of The Children Of God In Diaspora

What the people in diaspora should do is to be bringing various gifts and offerings, and ensure that sacrifices are offered to God. The children of God shall not be shying away. They shall not have fear, in what they are doing according to the Covenant System Of Worship, because it is the Holy Spirit that is directing and controlling all the things.

Why Some Israelites Were Given Separate Lands

Why some tribes of the Israelites were given separate lands?

Some of the tribes of Israelites were given separate land across River Jordan because of the following reasons:

Number 1, if the available land is not enough, God will say which other place, where other land, shall be available for use. Therefore, they are like people in different other nations.

Number 2, the fact that they were given lands across the River Jordan does not mean that themselves are separate.

Number 3, if River Jordan were not there, they supposed to stay on that place where River Jordan is. As DivineBase congregation built house here, and because the available land space is not enough, you go across the gutter to buy more land. As you have gone across to get more lands, does it mean that yourselves no longer possess this land space?

Chukwudi: No, my lord.

Instead, as you DivineBase congregation are doing here, by purchasing more land across the gutter, even so the Israelites were doing across River Jordan, for themselves to remember what they are. What was recorded was exactly what happened.