“Incensed”

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

     What about mixing incense with the prayers of God's people?  I try not to get caught up into things which I don't understand until I get further understanding.  One Sunday, our pastor brought into the sanctuary a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, and he walked around the sanctuary with incense like the Catholics do; we are not Catholic.  Then he said we were to write down prayers and place them in this replica of the Ark of the Covenant.  It still sits there today; now he says that he is going to burn those written prayers since its been eighty-one days, and they will ascend unto God.  And then he said he’s going to do the same practice again.  Can you tell me if this ritual is practiced today and what he is doing?  And should I participate in this?  I didn't before.

 

Sincerely,
Skeptical

Dear Skeptical,

This is definitely not a New Testament practice… nor is it an Old Testament practice for that matter!  The Bible teaches that our prayers are the incense God wants to receive (Ps 141:2, Rev 8:4).  We never see the New Testament church burning incense as a form of worship, and the only people who were allowed to burn incense in the Old Testament were descendants of the high priest, Aaron (Num 4:16, 1 Sam. 2:28).  This preacher is adding to God’s Word and is absolutely in the wrong (Rev 22:18-19).

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