Syncretism (Look it up)

In 2 Kings 17 we have the story of how Israel was taken captive to Assyria. The Assyrians then put some other people in Israel’s cities. When some lions attacked the people, they decided they had better decide how the God of Israel wanted them to worship. The problem was that they maintained many of their own religious practices as well. Speaking of these people, verse 32 tells us they feared the Lord along with establishing an illegitimate priesthood. In verse 33 it tells us that they feared the Lord – yet served their own gods. Verse 34 struck me when it says that to this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do NOT fear the Lord. We need to be very careful of this in our own culture. The culture has a way of serving the Lord. God Himself has another way. Sometimes we try to do both at the same time and the result will always have negative consequences. It will always lead away from service of the true and living God and we will end up NOT fearing the Lord.