HUNDREDS ATTEND CALIFORNIA SPIRITUAL WARFARE WEEKEND
“Life is never gonna be the same. And anyone who really experiences the true power of God is going to know that God was in this room.”
– Destiny F., attendee, The Altar Weekend California
The Altar Weekend California ended in broken spiritual chains and restored freedom. Held by Ed Citronnelli Ministries August 21 to 23 at Faith Church in Bakersfield, California, the deliverance-and-spiritual-warfare-focused weekend delivered exactly what was promised. Scripture defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1). By that definition, faith was certainly found in Faith Church during The Altar Weekend.
Hours before doors officially opened, people were standing in the California sunshine waiting for their encounter with the Lord. Temperatures hovered around 100 °, but that didn’t stop people from arriving early. At the front of the line sat Ruby Ramirez. “I got here at 2:30 in the morning,” Ramirez explained. “I just knew that I needed to do whatever it takes to get what I need to get.”
She wasn’t the only one with this mindset. Beside her, Maribel G. of Shafter, California, expressed the same faith, although she arrived to claim her spot only six hours before doors were scheduled to open.
It wasn’t the high point of the weekend; it was the start. With each passing day, momentum and attendance increased. Sunday, the third day of the event, saw hundreds in attendance. The livestream views for the services topped 2,000 each day of the conference.
But crowds and views don’t equal success. Results do.
REVELATION LED TO HEALING
Miracles, healings, and deliverances took place—some, before the services officially began. After doors opened, early arrivers enjoyed a time of soaking and guided scriptural encounter, led by Pastor Marjorie Martinez, who co-pastors Faith Church alongside her husband Pastor Martin “Marty” Martinez.
Chelesa King, who travels globally as a worship leader for Apostle Ed’s ministry, explained: “Something that I wasn’t expecting was for healing to take place during the soaking. Pastor Marjorie was breaking down different scriptures during the soaking, and as the people were coming up during the soaking time, the healing started taking place… Before service even started, the people started receiving their healing during the soaking. I’ve never seen that before.”
Each day of the event saw overflowing altars, despite the calls for ministry having different focuses. On Friday, for example, the room appeared to empty as the majority of attendees rushed from their seats to the front of the sanctuary, having been convicted of sin. A call for repentance and salvation cleared the rows of seats in the main sanctuary. Moved by the seriousness of the message, attendees and volunteers alike went forward seeking reconciliation with God.
As Apostle Citronnelli taught, audible gasps could be heard coming from the congregation. It was the sound of scales falling from people’s spiritual eyes.
The event was heralded online to be a weekend that would dismantle the grip of the enemy, position attendees for breakthrough, and take people higher. The product was true to the description. “The event was above our expectation. The Spirit moved with power; people received powerful deliverances; they were impacted with the teachings, with the deliverances, with the anointing, and we had great testimonies to prove that,” shared Pastor Marjorie.
One such healing testimony came from Maddy, a church member who attended the event. “Our first night here, we started learning about altars, and we started learning about a specific altar that can carry human parts,” she recounted in a video testimony at the conclusion of day three. “Pain from two years ago. It’s gone now. There’s nothing there. There’s no pain. There’s no hurt!”
It was weighty subject matter that can be taboo to some. But as Apostle Citronnelli explained during one of the services, “This impartation of information is not to make you fearful. But to let you know what’s going on, but to encourage you at the same time. You don’t have to fear. You don’t have to fret. You don’t have to be concerned. You don’t have to worry. He said, ‘Because I have overcome, you shall overcome.’”
THE BREAD OF THE CHILDREN
That imparting of information was the desire of Pastors Marty and Marjorie. “The reason why we wanted to host the altar event,” shared Pastor Marjorie, “is because we wanted the Body of Christ to understand the importance of the spiritual world and how altars hinder people from the promises of God, from their destinies, from their futures.”
For Maddy, the revelation brought the manifestation of a long-desired physical healing, but also answers. Visibly emotional as she testified to the media team, her story continued:
“For two years I wondered what it was. I would ask God. I would say, ‘Lord, what is this?’ ‘Why does this pain come and go?’ ‘Why is this here?’ ‘What am I holding onto?’ ‘Like is it a sin?’ ‘Is it an open door?’ ‘Is it something that I did?’ And I would wonder, and I would wonder. Until it was revealed to me that it wasn’t anything I did. There was an altar against me, and I didn’t know it until Friday night. So after Friday night, I’m free! It’s gone, the pain is gone, and I know that the altar is broken! So that’s why I get emotional. Because God is so good. The Blood of Jesus did it for me! It broke that altar, and that altar is never coming back!”
The Altar Weekend took attendees on a three-day journey from darkness into light. As their eyes were opened to the spiritual realities concerning demonic altars, many saw themselves in the sermon, only adding to the progression of the event. The full altar during the call of salvation on Friday was an important step in the process of achieving freedom. As Apostle Ed explained to the crowd on Friday night, “to be delivered is the bread of the children, not of the world. People say Christians don’t need deliverance. That’s what— or that’s who— deliverance is for. The bread of the children. And tonight, I’m positioning you for what is your inheritance.”
That positioning paid off.
The service on day two began with teaching but ended with the demonstration of what many described as the delivering power of the Holy Spirit. As a prophetic act—a physical gesture that represents a spiritual one — a replica of an evil altar was smashed during the prayer portion of the service. Topped with a black candelabra and other objects associated with the occult, the cobweb-covered altar looked like a Halloween decoration. Its destruction was a point of contact for faith. Before taking a sledgehammer to the prop, Apostle Citronnelli invited attendees to write the areas where the enemy had been fighting them on sheets of paper and place them on the evil altar. This was to signify the breaking of the enemy’s hold over every battle that they named. As the room prayed warfare-style prayers, Apostle Ed donned safety goggles and smashed the replica with a sledgehammer.
What unfolded in this part of the service is controversial territory in the church world, but the ministry of power and deliverance manifested dramatically.
As Apostle Ed led the room in warfare prayers—a combative style of praying that directly confronts and calls out evil spirits and those who work with them— people began to shake violently, cry, screech, and even contort. Some began to vomit. But it wasn’t mere theatrics.
The sanctuary of Faith Church turned into a spiritual battle arena—but it was a fixed fight. Those who began to display physical signs of struggle against demonic oppression were led to the front of the room. There, a deliverance team of ministers began to pray for them. In the audience, Pastor Marty and other leaders walked through the room, releasing the power of God and ministering to those in their seats as they prayed.
Speaking of the impact of her experience on day two, Ryane M. of Sherman Oaks, California, testified, “I feel better. I slept last night. I haven’t slept in years, and I’m sleeping.”
“I had an amazing deliverance that I didn’t even know I was struggling with specific things,” testified Isabelle of Bakersfield, California. “… I feel like a lot was broken today, so tomorrow I just— I look forward to restoration, to building up the altar that God intended for my life.”
REBUILDING GOD’S ALTAR
Isabelle’s expectation turned out to be the next natural progression of The Altar Weekend. With evil altars having been torn down in the lives of God’s people, a new altar needed to be established—God’s.
“The one thing that God did that we weren’t expecting that impacted us was the setting up of God’s altar. We’ve seen Prophet Ed Citronnelli destroy the evil altar, but we’ve never seen the altar of God being set up—established,” Pastor Marjorie shared. “And seeing the power coming in through that, how it impacted, felt like the deliverances were on another level, and how people were able to put all their promises and everything they were asking God for on that altar— that was the pinnacle of the event.”
This pinnacle would come on day three. Days one and two were marked by biblical revelation and demonstrations of power. Sunday would turn out to be saturated with the prophetic— another marker of Apostle Citronnelli’s ministry.
Before the Scripture was read, the manifestation of the word of knowledge set off a series of events and prophetic words that are difficult to condense into a few sentences. In the midst of the prophetic storm, Eric and his wife Destiny were located. Still reeling from their experience, Destiny shared, “I feel like after this word that we received today, our life is never gonna be the same. And anyone who really experiences the true power of God is going to know that God was in this room.”
Time stood still in the meeting, as the overflowing sanctuary remained that way throughout the service. Every person was personally ministered to. Some, like Destiny and Eric, received prophecy; some manifested and received deliverance; all were blessed through the laying on of hands—an important Christian practice in which a believer prays for someone by placing their hands on them. It was a time-consuming labor of love rendered by Apostle Ed. People had the option of writing their issue or prayer request on a large paper sign to communicate their prayer need as he ministered.
During this portion of the service, an emotional moment took place, as a young girl exhibited a demonic manifestation. Amid the spiritual warfare, the juxtaposition of her youth and innocent appearance to what was happening was jarring. But her deliverance became a source of corporate rejoicing. As Ray, who served as a cameraman all three days of The Altar Weekend, expressed, “The moment that they had her there, I just felt like tearing up. It was very near to me ’cause I know her and I know a little bit about her. So whenever she was up there, and the Holy Spirit was touching her, and God was healing her, it touched my heart.”
Freedom looks good on her, and it was an image etched in his heart and in the hearts of the congregation. When brought to her feet, the young girl clung to Apostle Ed and cried for a moment as she steadied herself. Regaining her composure, she smiled for a photo, and when asked how she felt, she simply said she felt “amazing.”
The event ended with attendees placing their declarations on the now restored altar of God and anointing themselves—a prophetic declaration that they are not only moving forward in newfound freedom, but looking ahead to the manifestation of heaven’s promises over their lives.
The Altar Weekend is scheduled to come to World Healing Church in New York, November 6th through 8th.
EN 
ES