Conflated Religion - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Kings 17:41,

"Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did."

If I am following the text correctly here, "these people" refer to the pagans the king of Assyria deported to Samaria to replace the Israelites he removed. They came from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim.

Upon arriving in Samaria and taking over the towns, now empty since Assyria had defeated the Israelites, they brought their pagan gods and pagan practices with them. In response, the Lord sent lions that began killing them.

When brought to the attention of the king of Assyria, he sent some of the Israelite priests back to Israel to teach these pagans how to worship "the god of that country." The end result was they worshiped the Lord as they were taught by the Israelite priests, but also continued to practice their pagan worship. Conflated religion.

While we might scratch our heads in wonderment over such a bizarre thing... we don't have to look too far to see "conflated religion" practiced in all kinds of churches in our nation today. It is as if many groups, denominations, isms and schisms may as well just admit, "Yep, we got us a Bible, and we got us a Jesus! But, looky-here, unlike the other boys, we got us our own inside scoop!"

So many groups have wandered from the unadulterated truths of the Scriptures to take on their own "distinctives". All denominations cannot represent the truths of Scripture, since they contradict one another. Cults certainly cannot as they clearly contradict the Scriptures in obvious ways. But many start with the Scriptures and add their own "religion" to it. A "conflated religion"

It is not up to us to worship with just any group. If we do, we may be no better off than the pagans that were sent to occupy Samaria. It is our responsibility to read the Scriptures for ourselves and engage in fellowship and worship with those who cling to, and who practice the truths of the Scriptures. It is not good enough to go with what our friends, neighbors and family are accustomed to. We need to reach out to the Lord himself, as he has revealed himself in his word.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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