Tearing down altars: smashing the stone, melting the metal, and burning the wood. That does not exactly sound like a polite thing to do. It may not be polite, but young Dong Christians have to make decisions like these. Do they tear down the family altars? Do they eat food the family sacrifices to the spirits?

In Judges 6, we see Gideon following the Lord's bold order to tear down the altar to Baal and use the wood from the Asherah pole to burn a sacrifice to the Lord. The Lord did not say “when” it had to be done, so Gideon, in fear of his family and the townspeople took ten servants with him and did it at night.

Good or bad? The Lord does not seem to be distressed that Gideon feared their reaction, but only that Gideon was faithful.

The Dong people as well have altars, altars in every house, scattered around the village at important locations, beneath sacred trees, in their drum towers and wind and rain bridges, and in their hearts. What are Dong Christians supposed to do?

Do they eat food sacrificed to idols? Do they make a stand? Do they all have a call like Gideon to rip down the village or family altars? Or in an attempt to stay holy, create their own Christian subculture where they can cook non-sacrificed food and remove idols, thus pulling away from their family, friends, and neighbors?

Dong culture, Chinese culture, and Asian culture all would strongly disapprove of such a rebellious action as Gideons (remember, Gideon was from an Asian culture), but maybe that is exactly what is needed to break the Dong church out of the deception of their felt need to fit back into their worldly culture, to break them free from their attempt to blend back in to their own people. Let's pray for the Dong people to have an unconditional obedience to the Lord, to be willing to submit to his perfect plan.