• A Religion Of Convenience
• How New Religions Are Formed

• Thousands of churches and religions
• Why are there so many religions and churches?
• There are several reasons.
• The original religion was not appealing.
• Many refused to follow the original religion.
• Leaders demanded more authority and power.

• There are many reasons why different religions exist.
• Where we want to focus is the method people use to change peoples thoughts on their religion.
• It is not going to be easy to flip someone from one faith to another faith.
• Therefore, methods are applied that convince the adherent that this new religion is not so bad, and can provide benefits the previous one could not.

• A Bible example of the changing of religion
• Shortly after King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam caused a civil unrest in the land.
• Many people did not want to follow Rehoboam’s rules.
• In fact the northern ten tribes of Israel decided to separate from Judah.
• They appointed Jereboam as their own king.
• Our story is found in 1 Kings 12:25-33
• Vs 26-27--“And Jereboam said in his heart, ‘Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah’”
• This leader imagined in his heart that the people would return to their spiritual roots,
• And the people might even turn on him and kill him.
• So this required a change to take place.
• Because he wanted to live and he did not want the people going back to their roots.
• Vs 28-29 “So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt”. And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.”
• We see that this was not all king Jereboam’s plan.
• He consulted.
• The only question is who did he consult?
• Had he consulted a Levitical priest, he would have been told that the proper place for all Israel to worship was in Jerusalem.
• Had he consulted a scribe, he would have been told that idols were an abomination before God.
• Obviously, he did not consult someone who spoke the truth.
• He made golden calves to represent their new gods.
• This was wrong on several levels.
• One, going all the way to Jerusalem was too far to travel. This would be more convenient.
• Two, there was only one God who was to be worshipped.
• Three, the Israelites tried a golden calf before and that did not work out very well.
• Four, the people did not rebel against this departure from God, but were willing participants.
• Vs 30-31—”Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi”.
• Their law instructed them to go worship God in Jerusalem three times a year.
• So he changed the place of worship.
• Jereboam also built houses of worship on the high places.
• This was done because the religious neighbors had done this also and worshipped their pagan gods in this fashion.
• To be honest, actual worship did not take place in these houses.
• People came to these places to indulge in the sins of the flesh.
• Jereboam also appointed people to be priest that did not have any business being priests.
• God had ordained that only Levites could be in the priestly order.
• Only Levites could offer the daily sacrifices.
• And the high priest had to be a direct descendent of Aaron.
• Once again, the people were okay with this.
• Vs. 32-33—”And Jereboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense”.
• Not only did Jereboam change the place of worship, but he also change the time of worship.
• God had specified which months the people were to assemble in Jerusalem, and this was changed.
• Notice the feast was just like the one in Jerusalem.
• This is one of those subtle features in which change is made to look like something familiar, but is still different.
• Jereboam lead the services himself to get things started.
• He made the sacrifice and offered the incense himself.
• This did not work out very well for Uzziah who was stricken with leprosy for doing that which only the priests were commanded to do.
• The most telling phrase in this passage is: “which he had devised in his own heart”

• All changing of religion comes from the heart of men
• These methods Jereboam used to create a new religion are still being employed today.
• Kept the worship close enough to satisfy people, but made it different in various ways.
• This practice is introduced by progressive brethren, and either the members accept it and go along, or they rebel and remove the progressive change agents.
• This does not happen as often as it should.
• They change the God we worship.
• We believe the God of the bible is a loving God, but also one of justice and punishment for those who reject Him and His commandments.
• Those who implement these new standards change God into what they want Him to be.
• They also change the rules to suit their own desires.
• They change the object of worship.
• We are commanded to worship the Lord God and only worship Him.
• Yet many follow Satan and seem to worship something other than God.
• Like the golden calves, these are just supposed to be representations of the god to be worshipped.
• This violates the commandment that prohibits images or carvings to be worshipped.
• They change the place of worship.
• More and more we hear that going to church does not connect you with God anymore.
• You must get out and experience nature in order to know God.
• Stay at home, you can still worship God.
• You don’t have to get dressed up and practice some formalized rituals.
• They change the time of worship
• You are not limited to worship God on Sunday only.
• You can do any act of worship anytime you want.
• You may do it frequently or every once in a while,
• Whichever suits you.

• Conclusion
• These methods of changing religion are devised by the minds of men.
• Most people just seem to go along with whatever innovations that the leadership comes up with.
• This is why new religions and churches (usually just off shoots from another) appear all the time
• Return to the original religion of worshipping God the way He taught us.

By Carey Scott inspired by an article written by unknown author with initials CD

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