Isaiah 29:13 (NASB)
13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

Luke 11:42 (NASB)
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”

I ran across a couple of terms that required some thought regarding our views of the church. They are syncretism and obscurantism. The first is defined as combining two different systems of religious beliefs into one. It relies on the whims of man, not scripture. In the early church this was called heresy. The second is hiding the gospel by making an idea or truth that is actually less important, to be more important than the gospel.

Syncretism was practiced in the old testament by worshiping other gods in addition to God; melding the parts that were most attractive into a single religion. Today, the practice is less obvious, but still abhorrent to God. It takes lies or partial truths, or ideas that are not in scripture and integrates them into the fabric of religion. One way it is introduced is by saying it often enough, so that people begin to believe it as the truth. It is allowing to be brainwashed by man rather than conformed to Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Last century, this was how abortion became acceptable even to many Christians.

Obscurantism sets the gospel below another idea. The example that first came to mind is that today, many people equate the evangelical church to that of the religious right of politics. But the gospel isn’t about politics, nor is it only associated with a single political party. The gospel is about Jesus; His Kingdom, where His is King and no other.

The gospel can easily get distorted when we think that it needs some help. The gospel is enough, it is all we need.

Father, keep my focus on the gospel. Don’t allow syncretism or obscurantism in my thoughts. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,