Now that God has restored the one true spiritual altar of Christ, Satan is pushing back with his counterfeit altars and we see them popping up all over the place. So, we’re going to go through a few discernment steps to help you catch the counterfeit and say no to something God never designed.

Calls to false altars often sound like this:
“God is inviting His people to return to the ancient practice of building spiritual altars…that invite His presence.”

Satan always says some things that are true—but then throws a curveball.

This is the part that is true:
God has returned the church to His original altar He designed in Christ and His invitation has gone out to return to the practice of building Jesus’ spiritual altar in your heart. Just to clarify, this one spiritual altar follows God’s construction. God uses His own spiritual stones.

Here comes the curveball:
The devil takes the word “spiritual” to mean any kind of altar that fits the needs. What follows is a suggested list of things you might consider using as “spiritual stones” to custom build a series of different altars. Each altar is dedicated to a spiritual invitation you’re sending out to God.

The shocking result: we see many altars replacing Jesus’ one altar.

To give us an example, I’ll draw from a recent post which advised believers to build the following 7 altars:

1. The Altar of Generosity
2. The Altar of Protection
3. The Altar of Worship
4. The Altar of Contentment
5. The Altar of Stewardship
6. The Altar of Purity in Government and Culture
7. The Altar of Education

These “spiritual altars” are not of Christ—they are altars built by man, not God—they are Baal’s altars. They reflect a pattern of faith that is earthly, sensual, and powerless to form Christ in the soul.

Isaiah 17:8
And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

In the false church body, the word spiritual means to “improvise”. In God’s mind spiritual means according to Christ, as He is God’s original divine design. When God says His new altar is spiritual, He means that Jesus’ altar has spiritual significance that He purposely placed in each of the 12 elements of the gospel, which are the spiritual stones He uses to build with us.

The above list of 7 false altars all have the same fatal design flaw.

The instructions given with each altar are the same. You are asked to imagine the kinds of things that would attract God’s attention and then consider adding those things to your life as invitations.

If you can imagine how this ancient old habit—to draw from self and call that spiritual—has worked out for the church. The wilderness landscape comes into focus; littered with half-built altars, abandoned altars, and neglected altars fallen into ruin. We would also see the hopes and dreams of believers written on little pieces of paper, shoved between the stones, never visited by God.

One can almost see that landscape—the crumbled stones, the paper dreams bleached by sun and sorrow, the silence echoing where communion never took place.

We see something potent in this awakening. God is exposing this wilderness not just as desolation but as a testimony. Each neglected altar tells a story: a believer reaching upward with the tools of self, misled by false assurances that sincerity equals sanctification. And yet, God never visited—not out of coldness, but because He only honors the pattern He authored in Christ, not the one that has been improvised.

God is giving you permission to say no to something He never designed.

Would it surprise you to know that Jesus is God’s one, true, living altar? Of course not. We would expect that Jesus is God’s true altar but that simple truth can be overlooked when His altar has not become the reality of your faith and Satan offers so many counterfeits.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Picture for a moment a conversation Jesus is having with a believer who is kneeling in front of candles representing the different altars he hopes will attract God’s presence and power. The guy lights the candles (strange fire), but looks confused and says, “My altars?” Jesus, pointing to Himself replies with a gentle but firm rebuke, “My altar!”

In this one powerful act of Jesus pointing to Himself to say—I AM THE ALTAR—Satan’s cleaver façade falls away. There is no substitute for Christ’s altar; there never was and there never will be.

The altar of our sanctification has its tethering in heaven where Christ sits on the right hand of God to mediate His covenant on our behalf. The stones made without hands are set secure in us to work His virtue by the fire of the anointing.

The improvised altars follow another design and stand in stark contrast to Jesus’ one altar. The true pattern and altar blueprint shines a much-needed light on the counterfeit altars. The true altar opens the door for discernment.

The call placed on social media to build false altars talks about this being a “new” habit, but improvisation is an old, ancient habit God is breaking.

Satan doesn’t just introduce counterfeit altars for his own amusement; his intent is to dismantle Jesus’ altar and replace it with many false altars that will act as barriers for your true connection to God and hide the consequences.

And it is these strange altars that God challenges and the misconception that He has called the body to improvisation, to come up with our own concepts of what God’s new altar in Christ would be like.

Do you see the strange fire yet?

The anointing is not present to stir faith, but seducing spirits are present to inspire the pursuit of virtue, power, strength, consecration on man’s terms—which is strange to God—it’s not Christ.

The strange altar comes with the invitation to look inward to decide what kind of stone you want to be and then make your own altar to model that image (idol).

So, the habit God is addressing in the false church body is about how convenience is used to dismantle God’s true altar that He constructed with the stones of Christ and permission is taken to erect many different kinds of spiritual altars according to what appeals at the moment.

Now we can look at how king Ahaz did the same thing.

When king Ahaz went to Damascus to make an alliance with the king of Assyria, he saw an altar that captured his imagination. He liked the design so much that he took the blueprints home with him, and he asked Urijah the priest to construct an altar just like that. We can see where this is going, can’t we?

2 Kings 16:10-11
¹⁰ And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.

¹¹ And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

In verse 10, we underlined “the fashion of the altar”, “the pattern” of the altar, and the “workmanship” of the altar. These are words God uses to describe the wandering of the heart. What did Ahaz see in the strange altar that made him want to duplicate it, saying, I want that!

What we see in 2 Kings 16 is God’s example of spiritual improvisation to substitute God’s original design.

• “The fashion” reflects religious aspiration—what looks impressive and promising to the carnal eye.
• “The pattern” reveals structure—a blueprint imported from a foreign altar.
• “The workmanship” shows intentionality—this wasn’t a careless substitute; it was purposely crafted.

This perfectly captures the contrast between what God establishes in Jesus’ covenant and what man fabricates through his imagination. In these last days, God is not only exposing the strangeness of counterfeit altars—He is directly challenging them.

Ahab’s altar did not carry God’s authorization. And Urijah’s cooperation did not sanctify it. Instead, it exposes how even priests—without covenant discernment—can become builders of false altars. God uses this example to bring home His correction today as fallen ministers call out to believers to help them build strange altars in the wilderness.

We’re watching a generation parade imported “patterns” with prophetic language—crafting altars from personal desire, cultural appeal, or borrowed revelation. God is not calling His church back to invent new systems of spirituality. He is calling His people back to the one altar of Christ—the only altar He has sanctified for our faith in this covenant.

Believers are asking, “Can we return to God’s original design in Christ?” The answer is yes. Teacher Maria vonAnderseck’s article, “Jesus Our Living Altar” is a good place to start your new studies.

God’s pattern is simple: He only draws from Jesus the 12 spiritual stones He designed to create in you what Jesus is. God will never ask you to add things to your life like trust, or faithfulness, or generosity, or kindness to supposedly attract His presence.

12 Spiritual stones contained in Jesus, transferred to our heart as one living altar; we use the spiritual stones of His knowledge to build where God already established His presence.

Matthew 3:16-17
¹⁶ And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

¹⁷ And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

We see God’s presence shown plainly. The Holy Spirit was seen to rest upon Jesus – the record of our faith. Here God shows that His living witness will always attend His living record. And His confirmation is upon His Son – This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The 12 elements of the gospel are not custom-made by man’s hand; they are spiritual stones of God’s making and reflect Jesus Christ perfectly. Each stone describes what God is doing in you—12 stones—one altar, not dozens of altars made up in the spur of the moment to invite God close.

The 12 elements of the gospel are Jesus’ DNA: 1) grace, 2) faith, 3) righteousness, 4) justification, 5) sanctification, 6) holiness, 7) peace, 8) rest, 9) charity, 10) truth, 11) regeneration, and 12) the renewing of the mind.

Each element shows us the strands that knit the believer into Christ’s likeness as we bond with God at His altar. It’s spiritual genetics that Satan can’t forge or mimic.

Jesus is our advocate. He gives us hope in the living substance of His grace – a work of the Spirit that creates His life within – a work Satan cannot counterfeit. No good thing will the Lord withhold from His beloved. He gives grace for our knowing of Him, but false altars will always frustrate His grace.

Jesus’ altar is connected to our priesthood which is connected to our spiritual growth cycles. It all flows from Jesus’ altar.