A Biblical phenomenon, often dubbed “Syncretism”, is occurring around the world today. Everyone knows examples of it in one form or another: people pretending to be Christian, Catholic religion fused into pagan rituals, secular philosophy into Christian morals, etc. Syncretism, simply put, is the marriage of a personal belief system with the truth, often creating a third religion. It is not a new issue in the world, nor is it a buzz word or fad in mission. It has plagued mankind since Adam and if not addressed will always lead to a horrible misrepresentation of God and His Word. Syncretism silently damns its victims to Hell while giving them assured Salvation. The Bible is plain on Syncretism and every believer must be aware of its passages or will soon find themselves discipling syncretism.

Man always looks for the solution to his quandary (vs. 25-26) and it is therefore not surprising that he is aptly religious. The five pagan nations of (II Ki. 17) were looking for a religious solution to their problem. When the Israeli priest arrived, he taught them exactly as they needed him to: “Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.” (vs. 27). There is not a carnal human on earth that would have rejected the obvious solution to their problem. But what really was there problem? Was their problem what they thought it was?