We just completed our annual Prayer Summit, which reminds us of how this ministry was founded. Our staff and students will continue to pray for the full 19 days (Feb 11-Feb 28) which was the time between when Dave Wilkerson committed to pray and he walked into the courtroom in New York City to fulfill what God had told him to do, "go help those boys."
In Exodus 30:7-10, we read about the altar. In vs. 10 it says, "Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord." Though we are not under the old covenant, it is interesting that they annually rebuilt the altar, and wanted to pass this on from generation to generation.
We feel a deep conviction to pray and to make prayer a priority for Teen Challenge and to annually remind ourselves that prayer is a key DNA value of this organization.
As I read the Old Testament, I continue to see God warning the people of Israel not to worship other gods, or idols. God clearly declared His position.
In Exodus 20:4-5, God declares that you must not make for yourself an idol, nor bow down to them or worship them. In Exodus 22:20 it says that anyone who sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed! Exodus 23:24 goes on to say, "You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices."
Instead, they were told to utterly destroy these idols and smash their sacred pillars. In Exodus 23:32 they were told to not make treaties with people who worshiped other gods. If you serve their gods, you will be caught in the trap of idolatry. (Exodus 23:33)
God made very clear his feelings about idol worship. And yet you see how quickly the children of Israel turned to worshiping idols. In Exodus 32:1 it reports how they made a golden calf under Aaron's leadership.
Aaron saw how excited the people were about the calf, so he went even further to please them by building an altar in front of the calf. He gave in to their sinful desires and tried to please them. Moses was up on the mountain with God and Aaron was in charge of the people-making the wrong decisions. There is a leadership lesson to be learned here.
The people embraced idol worship and offended God. There are many stories in the Old Testament where the Jews were attracted to the culture of neighboring countries and it led them to idol worship and sin. They angered God and attracted his wrath.
Jerry Nance
