Dr. Mike Jones

  “THE SAMARITANS’ RELIGION”

We often talk about the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ in Luke’s Gospel (10:25-37): but in the Old Testament, there was a time when the kingdom of Israel was divided into two Kingdoms – the Northern Kingdom (Israel/Samaria) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). And at that time, the people of Samaria weren’t considered (by God), to be the ‘good Samaritans.

The characteristics of these people here in 2 Kings 17:24-41 – too closely resembles what’s going on today. Let’s take a look and see how the Samaritans’ religion compares to our religion today.

FIRST: We see their religion was “A RELIGION OF FEAR” …
We know this because of verse 32, “So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.”

SECOND: Their hearts were not in their service to the Lord …
We know this because they continued to serve their carved images, in verses 33-34. We see this type of worship in our churches today: Christians are guilty of such worship if they…
a. Sing “Give Me The Bible”, but they never read it
b. Sing “Here Am I, Send Me”, but are not willing to go or do
c. Sing “Wonderful Story Of Love” with bored expressions on
their faces (Pr 15:13)

THIRD: The Samaritans had God and they had “gods” …
Verse 41 proved they liked theirs better! Like many today, they gave God lip service, but they gave the “gods” their true service.

Excerpt taken from the teaching,THE SAMARITANS’ RELIGION!