Syncretism is a sin that results from any attempt to combine an unscriptural belief or false god with our devotion to the true God.
God commanded the Israelites to destroy the idols of the people who lived in Canaan to protect themselves from their deluding influence.
Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 “But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. Exodus 34:12–16 (NASB95)
The people of that day recognized what many today do not understand. Demonic “principalities and powers” often gain influence and even mastery over those who live in certain areas because of sacrifices made to those evil beings in order to procure favor and blessings. In order to protect themselves, invading conquerors often made an effort to appease the local gods of the land they defeated. They would not abandon their own gods but would simply add some new ones. This eclectic religion seemed very practical to them and revealed that they believed that there was not one supreme God over all, but many gods whose authority was regional. This resulted in a syncretistic blending of elements from the various religions into something new, a sort of hybrid religion.
Another definition of syncretism is “the attempted union of principles or parties irreconcilably at variance with each other.”
In a previous article, I showed how biblical creationism and Darwinism are hopelessly irreconcilable. Nevertheless, many well-meaning theologians over the years felt societal pressure to try to combine the two. They did not want to seem “foolish” or “ignorant” of the latest “scientific breakthroughs.” They wanted to have their Christian religion while simultaneously bowing to the gods of modern so-called science. Instead they created something very different from simple belief in the Bible’s teachings and led people to doubt the truthfulness of God’s Word. This is always Satan’s end game. He uses “science,” otherwise called “knowledge,” to cast doubt on God’s spoken or written words.
Syncretism always wars against our adherence and allegiance to the written Word of God.
Today, many believers have unwittingly become syncretistic. We have tried to blend evolutionary Big Bang theory with the creation account in Genesis. This toxic mix requires us to extend the six days of creation over millions of years. It also requires that we believe that everything, including life itself, sprang from nothing quite spontaneously without the need for the initiative of the Creator, . Such syncretism, if one is able to somehow manage to cling to belief in God, usually results in a sort of Deism in which a weak seemingly uninterested God takes a back seat and lets things play out on their own. This makes man the forger of his own destiny rather than God sovereignly overseeing the affairs of the world.
As is apparent, this compromise results in two things. First, it teaches us to distrust and abandon the literal teachings of the Bible, and, secondly, it makes God irrelevant and unneeded, which is exactly the goal of every satanic philosophy and “scientific” system of thought.
That this goal is succeeding is quite obvious. Faith in God is dwindling, and more and more people have become convinced of the truth of evolutionary theory.
Followers of Christ should never cave to syncretism. As Joshua said so long ago.
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14–15 (NASB95)
Now let us consider the creation story in more detail and examine another form of syncretism that involves the Big Bang theory. Have you ever wondered where scientists got the idea of the entire known universe exploding out of nothing? It is found in the Kabbalah, an occult form of Jewish mysticism.
All of existence started with an explosion from one point that is continually multiplying, according to Jewish mysticism. Thus, Wolfson sees a distinct relationship between the contemporary Big Bang theory and the Kabbalistic notion that the universe burst forth from a single point, which in mystical terms is the limitless light of the divine, or Infinite, known as the “Ein Sof.” In Hebrew, “Ein Sof” literally means “no end.” So the divine, or god, is just another word for infinity. Kabbalists are people who study the manifestations of infinity. And just as physicists seek a single principle, a so-called “unified theory of everything” that will explain all of life, so do mystics. “For the kabbalists, that one principle is the light of infinity, which materializes into the multiplicity of all beings,” Wolfson says. That light emerging from darkness is both physical and symbolic, the professor explains. As an idea, it shows that things are often much more complex than they appear at first glance, and that the most abstract of notions explain the material world. “Cast in the lingo of quantum physics, we could identify the immaterial light as the particle and the material vessel as the antiparticle, which meet and collide in the zero gravitational energy of empty space, the nothingness that spawns the something that is the stuff of being,” Wolfson says. (https://qz.com/1375015/jewish-mysticism-offers-a-poetic-explanation-of-the-big-bang-and-black-holes)
This is a perfect example of satanic occult “science” taking the form of advanced astrophysics and weaving its web of sorcery around the mind, appealing to our lust for knowledge without receiving it from God.
Satan baffles us with the appearance of intellectual brilliance while making us fools.
In 1927, a prescient [Jesuit] astronomer named Georges Lemaître looked at data showing how galaxies move. He noticed something peculiar – all of them appeared to be speeding away from Earth. Not only that, but the farther away they were, the faster they went. He determined a mathematical way to represent this, and connected his relationship to Einstein’s law of General Relativity to produce a grand idea: That of a universe continually expanding. It was a radical idea then, but today it fits with our conception of a universe spawned by a Big Bang. (https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-jesuit-astronomer-who-conceived-of-the-big-bang/)
I find it intensely interesting that the Kaballah and the Catholic Church are two proponents of the Big Bang theory. Both abandoned the Word of God in favor of something inspired by the same evil genius. Satan knows that when we abandon God’s Word, we end up believing in false gods and a false religion. But since today religion is thought be an anachronism from the unenlightened past, it was necessary for these ideas to be adopted by secular scientists, who are actually just as much people of faith as those who espouse religion.
The Big Bang is an article of religious faith, whether it is dressed up in the clothes of science or religious mysticism.
The Kabbalah was developed during the Middle Ages by a Jewish mystic. Practical Kabbalah is the process of engaging in rituals, summoning angels and demons, uttering incantations and divine names, using amulets and magical seals to actually change the world. (https://www.learnreligions.com/kabbalah-4771368)
The Kaballah itself is syncretistic, blending biblical Judaism with witchcraft. One might say the same thing about the Big Bang theory. It seeks to weave a magical spell around our minds to keep us from seeing God’s glory in creation.
The attempt to blend the Big Bang theory and its attendant cosmology with what the Bible teaches is quite impossible, even though it seems as if it might be done at first. The Bible says that God spoke our world into existence out of nothingness. So far, so good.
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3 (NKJV)
But, besides refusing to credit the Creator with initiating the process, the Big Bang theory completely alters the sequence of events in creation from what God’s Word tells us. The two simply cannot be combined.
Employing supposed naturalistic forces and assumptions, the Big Bang theory posits that an entire “universe” of exploded matter and energy over incomprehensible amounts of time formed into stars, planets, etc., eventually producing all that we observe, including all forms of life.
The Bible, on the other hand, is very specific in how God created everything, dividing his work into six twenty-four hour days. By giving us a naturalistic, supposedly scientific, explanation of our origins, Satan tries to make those who hold to what the Bible teaches seem backward, anti-scientific, and ignorant. If you want to be mocked, antagonized, or patronized, tell your “educated” friends that you believe the Bible is 100% true.
The Bible does not always satisfy our curiosity by giving us the “how” or “why,” but it does give us “what” we need to know. Our sin problem began from our wanting to know more than God chooses to tell us. Nothing has changed.
Some things relating to origins and cosmos are simply past our comprehension and “need to know.”
When Job virtually demanded to know why God allowed him to be afflicted, God eventually appeared to him, but not to answer his questions. Instead, God questioned Job and exposed his lack of wisdom and understanding.
Job’s interaction with his Maker resulted in his gaining a new awe and admiration for God that satisfied every fiber of his being. He no longer needed to know why. The same is true for us when our eyes are opened to God’s magnificence.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:3–6 (NASB95)
The creation was designed to impress upon us awe and wonder resulting in our worship of the Creator. The Big Bang theory is meant to reduce the universe to mere materialistic mechanisms that rob us of knowing God.
King David wrote these words of worship as he pondered the heavens.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, Psalm 8:3–6 (NASB95)
God intends for us not only to grow in our knowledge and worship of him. He also wants us to understand that mankind is central to his creation purposes.
The Big Bang theory leaves us thinking that we are inconsequential specks in a vast impersonal universe. We can detect Satan’s hand in this pervasive lie. As a result, many today feel quite hopeless and take the escape route of suicide rather than face a lifetime of meaningless pain.
Coming back to a biblical understanding of creation restores hope to us.
The God who created the earth and seas also made us to inhabit it. Knowing the truth about creation provokes us to want to know our wonderful Creator through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16–17 (NKJV)
