THE MAKING OF A NEW RELIGION

 

THE SIN OF JEROBOAM

I got attracted to the life of Jeroboam when I came across a certain statement made repeatedly about him by the Biblical authors of the books of Kings and Chronicles.  Before I mentioned the statement that got me interested in the person of Jeroboam, let me introduce you to his person. 

THE MAN JEROBOAM

The first time Jeroboam the son of Nebat appears on the pages of the Bible, he is a steward of King Solomon. He worked on one of his numerous building projects. The Bible describes him as a man of valor. One day as Jeroboam was walking in the field, Prophet Ahijah met with him. The prophet took off the new outer garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. He picked 10 pieces, gave them to Jeroboam and said that God had chosen him to be king over ten tribes of Israel. When Solomon got vent of the prophecy, he sought to kill Jeroboam. So, he fled to Egypt.

When Solomon died and the people gathered to crown Rehoboam, Soloman’s son, as king, Jeroboam was in the party. The people requested that the burden that had been placed on them through Solomon’s heavy taxes and hard labour be removed. “To your tents o Israel,’’ were the words the ten northern tribes uttered as they withdrew their allegiance to the house of David as Rehoboam eventually refused to lift the burden of taxes his father had laid on the people. Rehoboam, however attempted to retake the ten tribes that had seceded by force. But prophet Shemaiah told him to hold his peace as it was the Lord that has caused the ten tribes to secede.

Then Jeroboam was appointed king over the ten tribes in the north. This kingdom became known as Israel. The remaining tribes had Rehoboam, the son of Solomon as their king and were known henceforth as Judah.

 

As things unfolded, King Jeroboam became afraid as he watched the people go up to Jerusalem thrice a year to worship and offer sacrifices. Moses had commanded by the word of the Lord that every male Israelite to present himself before the Lord at the place he had chosen, in Jerusalem three times in a year during the feast of Passover, feast of weeks and feast of tabernacle. In addition to these, there were other religious activities that necessitated the presence of the people. They were the dedication of the first born, various purification rites and sacrifices. As Jeroboam saw the people go to Jerusalem, time and time again, year after year, he feared that that the king of Judah might turn the hearts of the people against him, kill him and seize the kingdom of Israel from him.  So Jeroboam after consultations, made two golden calves. He placed one in Bethel and the other one in Dan. He told the people,” It is enough for you to go to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”  And the calves became a sin. The people went as far as Dan to worship the one there.

Now, let’s go back to the statement made by the writers of Kings and Chronicles that attracted me to the man, Jeroboam. This statement appears oftentimes when the biblical author is giving an evaluation of the life of an individual or a king as the case may be. The statement was as follows, “He walked in all the ways of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he caused Israel to commit so that they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel to anger by their worthless idols.” 1 Kings 16:26 What was the sin of Jeroboam? The answer is simple. He started a new religion.

There were two individuals the Bible writers used to evaluate subsequent Israelite Kings. The first was David who lived a good life and followed the Lord and Jeroboam who didn’t live a good life of obedience before the Lord. David became a good example people were expected to follow and Jeroboam, the example people were to eschew.

JEROBOAM STARTS A NEW RELIGION

Now this study is not about David. It is about Jeroboam. So, what did he do to warrant having his name forever imprinted in the pages of Holy Scriptures as a negative example that anyone who hopes to please God should avoid?  Yeah, he was made king at God’s command, built two golden calves and stopped the people from going to Jerusalem to worship. But was that enough to have his actions reverberate in the pages of scriptures and his name marked forever as an evil influence? A superficial mind would think that the sins he committed weren’t enough or grievous enough for God to punish him the way he did. But looking at what Jeroboam did from God’s perspective; one should understand without any difficulty that his sin was very satanic in nature. Jeroboam knowingly violated God’s order of worship. He created a new RELIGION. He set in place a system of worship that was alien to the one God had set. From the time of Adam, God had always revealed himself to man and showed man how to worship him. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he gave them strict rules on how, where, and when they should worship him. But here was Jeroboam, a man whom God himself has handpicked to be ruler over his people, flaunting God’s instructions and setting up a religion and leading the people astray.

Now, we will look at the reasons and the hows Jeroboam went about establishing his new religion and enslaved a whole nation.

THE REASON

Jeroboam became king when the temple stood already at Jerusalem, the place God had chosen. There couldn’t be another temple anywhere else. The Canaanites worshipped their gods anywhere they wanted. But God had centralized his own worship. Every worshipper had to find his way to Jerusalem whether to offer sacrifices, perform some prescribed rituals or participate in the, Passover, Feast of Weeks and Feast of the Tabernacle, three feasts for which all Israelites males were compelled to attend.

So, year after year, as Jeroboam watched the people go to Jerusalem, he feared that the king of Judah would turn the people against him, kill him and seize the kingdom for himself. He consulted with his advisers and came up with a solution. To protect the power he had been given, his life and keep the kingdom, he would create a new system of worship. He would create a new religion that would ensure his perpetuation in power over the kingdom.

HOW DID HE DO IT?

The first thing Jeroboam did was to make new gods. He crafted two calves made of gold and placed them in two cities easily accessible to the people from whatever place of the country they lived in. Note also that he made two calves and not one. The Lord, God of Israel is one. But the new divinities Jeroboam invented were two. Hence Jeroboam moved from the unitary worship of the one God of Israel to a plurality of gods in his new religion.

Secondly, he created new places of worship. God had commissioned Jerusalem as the place where he should be worshipped. Jeroboam however was under no obligation to follow God’s pattern. He picked Bethel and Dan as his places of worship. God had picked one place of worship. But Jeroboam had picked two principal places of worship. In addition he also had shrines erected on high grounds in the country. These shrines served places of worship close to the people. All this was done with a single aim. Keeping people in one place and ensuring his grip over the people was tighter.

Thirdly, he appointed a priesthood. He had made gods, created places of worship which needed priests to administer them. He picked his priests from all sorts of people in contrast to God who had chosen the tribe of Levy to serve before him.

Fourthly, Jeroboam built altars for sacrifices. The gods he had made had to be appeased or we could also say that the people’s need for worship had to be fulfilled. The temples in Bethel and Dan and the various shrines had altars where the priests could present offerings and sacrifices to the gods.

Fifthly, he instituted festivals just like the ones held at the temple in Jerusalem. On the appointed days for the festivals, Jeroboam himself would go up to the altar to make sacrifices. This was equally opposed to the instructions of God as he had commanded that only the priests could offer sacrifices on his altar. But in Jeroboam’s religious system, anyone could go to the altar and make offerings.

This was a great sin in the eyes of the Lord. By this sin, Jeroboam led an entire nation into apostasy from which they never recovered. Years came and passed, king after king came, but the nation continued to further sink into idolatry. Finally, God removed Israel from before his presence by bringing the Assyrian who took the people to captivity; a captivity from which they never returned. Until today most of the ten tribes of Israel are lost except for the few people who ran south to Judah as the Assyrian besieged the cities of Israel. And through it all, the Bible writers had only one person to blame for pushing the entire nation on that road. That person was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Here is the conclusion of the scriptures as Israel was being taken captive.

 “When he tore Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.  The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland to captivity in Assyria, and they are still there.” 2 Kings 17:21, 24

APPLICATION

Jeroboam was called by God. The scriptures testify to that fact. Yet he not only went astray. He led an entire nations and generation after into darkness. He did that by creating a false religion. He used his position of power to influence the people into following a false idea.

You know, ideas are powerful and can cross any boundaries, get embraced by mortal enemies and outlast generations. All religions are based on ideas. And there are religions out there that have been around for thousands of years. Jeroboam’s religion outlasted him and led to the destruction of the kingdom of Israel in the north and the captivity of Judah in the south for seventy years.

Hence Jeroboam became an example which God used to warn others and a yard stick with which He determined whether one had walked in his ways or not. He became a label which God automatically pasted on anyone who did not follow in his ways. If you did well, you were like David. But if you did badly, you were like Jeroboam.

The fact that he had been called by God did not keep him away from error. Staying free from error and disobedience was a deliberate effort he had to make by himself. Many people today think that they are immune from error in their doctrine just because they feel God called them. But nothing could be further from the truth. Just as Jeroboam was warned, by Ahijah when he was called to be king and by the man of God who prophesied to the altar, to obey the word of the Lord, the called of God are expected to watch over themselves so that having begun in the Spirit; they do not end up in the flesh. Paul also told timothy to watch over his doctrine. We must take hid lest we fall from grace into works and from truth into falsehood as in the case of Jeroboam and Judas Iscariot.

Jeroboam’s fear of losing power inspired him to create his new religion. Today, a lot of men have vomited ideas into the homes of untold millions just because they desired power and wealth. They do not care even for a bit about the souls of their followers. They care mostly about their pockets. They do not see people as human beings that need the gospel of salvation. They only see them as tools and stepping stones theyon their way to prosperity and wealth. These false prophesy do not see souls just as jeroboam did not see souls. They only see dollar, euro and pound sterling signs on the people’s heads.  That’s why religion today looks more like business and less like religion. The people in charge have turned it into a tool for achieving greatness on earth rather than a tool for achieving heaven.

The gospel of prosperity is driven by the fear of poverty and penury. The people who embrace it and try to live by its dictates are scared of living in poverty. So they crafted a system of belief which allowed them to worship a god who gives them the things they crave after and covet. Of course they do not forget to throw a few distorted scriptures into the mix so as to confuse and deceive the people.

Concepts such as positive thinking, the secret, seed sowing and many others have been successfully introduced into the church using the route of innovation and making the faith relevant. They introduce all these doctrines because they fear that Christianity is falling into oblivion and want to make it once again relevant in the market place.

                                 

THE MAKING OF A NEW RELIGION

We will now review the steps that Jeroboam took as he created his new religion and expose them as examples that others like him have followed as they started their own religions. Anyone who will like to follow his footsteps and start his own religion can also apply the following:

1.   Redefine the Concepts and Terms you intend to Use in your New Religion.

Jeroboam created new gods. He recreated God. This is not that God did not exist. God had already given his revelation to Israel as the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt where they were in bondage. Jeroboam redefined the concept of God by attributing the deeds of Yahweh to the golden calves he had made. He said to the Israelites,“These are the gods who brought you up out of Egypt.” By doing that he was recalibrating the minds of the people so that anytime they think about or discuss the concept of God, what will come to their minds are the golden calves. Redefinition of terms is very important in religion. This is because all religions make use of the same terms and words. So, new meanings have to be infused into religious words so as to create a difference among different religions.

Every religion in the world has a concept of God that is different from that of the other. The concept of God in Africa Traditional Religion, Mormonism, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism is not the same. They all used the same words but they redefine them so that they can have different meanings.

So the first thing jeroboam did as we saw was to redefine the concept of god he was attaching to his new religion.

2.   Pick the Headquarters of your New Religion.

Jeroboam picked the places where he wanted as the center of the worship of his religion. He put one idol in Bethel and the other in Dan. Jerusalem was the place God chose as the center of his worship. Mecca is the holy place of Islam. Canaan Land is the holy place for Winners’ Chapel. Redemption Camp is the place of pilgrimage for R.C.C.G. Other cults like Cherubim and Seraphim, Celestial Church of Christ and Watchtower J.W. have their own headquarters.Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism have their holy places as well. A headquarters is very important as it could subsequently become a place where people go to for pilgrimage. It should be a place that makes people to think about your new religion at once. Like, think of Jerusalem and Christianity comes to mind. Think of Mecca and Islam comes to mind.

                              

Jeroboam also built shrines on every high place in the land to facilitate the people’s access to priests who would help meet their spiritual needs. The Jews have their synagogues in every country. Although the Islam main worship center is in Mecca, they have shrines or subsidiary places of worship around the world. Churches and worship centers belonging to more than a thousand denominations are scattered on every street of every country. I am sure that if there were aliens living on another planet, religious orders will find a way to get there and colonize them with their own brand of ism. So make sure that your new religion does not only have a headquarters, ensure that it also has proper representation close to the people you want to reach.

You can even decide that your followers would visit your grave and pray to your god there in order to receive their blessings and miracles.

3.   Select the Type of People you want to serve as Priests/Ministers in your New Religion.

Jeroboam picked his ministers from all sorts of people in the society. I don’t know or think he picked any women though. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t reserve service in your new religion to a certain gender. The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t allow women to serve as priests. The Pentecostals do. The Protestants don’t. You can even decide whether not to allow women to worship in the same room as the men. You can also decide whether or not you’d allow people from other sexual orientation to serve as ministers. If you want, you can decide that only virgin boys and girls would serve as prophets and prophetesses in your new religion. As a point of reference, you can decide that to know the will of god, followers of your religion would have to consult a mad man. Brief, you decide anything you want. But just make sure you have an elaborate revelation from the god of your religion or an angel of his to tell your followers in case they come up with questions. The truth is that, if you work on them very well, they will never have the presence of mind to ever ask you a question whatsoever.

                                 

4.   Establish a Sacrificial System for your New Religion.

Jeroboam set up altars on which sacrifices would be presented to the gods. Then, sacrifices of animals were the normal feature of the majority of religions in the world. Today, however, there are only a few religions that still offer animal sacrifices to the divinity they follow. You can decide on which one you will apply to your new religion. Just remember that even religions that don’t offer animal or human sacrifices have other types of sacrifices they offer the gods. Activities such as donating money, houses, lands, gift items, tithing, offerings, seeds and giving free services to the religion are considered sacrifices to the divinity. Even though sacrificing human beings and animals is illegal in the world, you may still do them in the secret. The god you serve will accept them, and you’d also do well as long as you’re not caught by the police. One thing you should know is that gods are bloodthirsty. The sight of blood always set them on the edge.

5.   Establish Special Dates and Days for Festivals.

Jeroboam established festival days for his new religion. These were days of celebration, offering of sacrifices to the gods and performance of other rituals. On such days, all the worshippers had to converge to Bethel and Dan where the idols had been erected. God had his own festivals on set days during which the people had to all go to Jerusalem. Jeroboam even set his own days on the same dates as the festivals of the Lord. Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism and Hinduism have set days for festivals dedicated to their gods. Even churches like Living Faith, R.C.C.G., C.G.M.I.I, and the Roman Catholic Church have special conventions and conferences dedicated to the worship of their brand of deities. You can set your own day;has a bazar, a picnic, fund raising, a convention, a conference or even a prophetic walk around town in honor of the god of your new religion. Don’t forget that when the people are gathered before the lord, they must not come empty handed.

There must be a set day for weekly worship. This is most important. The Lord picked the Sabbath, Saturday, as the day of rest and worship for his people. Islam worship day is Friday. Christians worship mainly on Sunday. These days have special significance attached to them by the different religions that use them. You can pick Thursday or Tuesday or any day, attach a special meaning to it, communicate it to your people and use it as your special day.

6.   Make Sure you Have the Call of God.

Jeroboam was called by God to be king over Israel. He confirmed it through prophet Ahijah who broke the news to him and prophet Shemaiah who stopped Judah from going to war against Israel after they enthroned him. Mohammad claimed God spoke to him through angel Jibril and commanded him to proclaim that there is one god and Mohammad is his prophet. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, was called to start his ministry by angel Moroni. Oyedepo of Living Faith and Sunday Adelaja of Embassy of God, claim religious experiences through which god told them to rid Nigeria of all social ills and make his people rich. Get a religious experience through which you get called to start your new religion. If you can’t get a real experience, make one up. What is important is that you sound convincing enough whenever you tell others your experience.

7.   Create pilgrimage sites for your new religion.

Worshippers love having special places and sites connected to their faith which they can visit in times of sickness or illness in order to seek renewal. Judaism had the Temple in Jerusalem then and today, they have the Western Wall. Islam has holy sites all over the Middle East. The Mormons have the holiest place in Utah where their founder, Joseph Smith was buried. Even Jeroboam didn’t put his golden calves in a single place. He placed some as far as the extreme north of the kingdom of Israel in Dan. Followers of Joseph Babalola, the great pastor of Christ Apostolic Church, visit his grave somewhere in Ekiti State, Nigeria in order to receive miracles and breakthroughs. They also take kegs of water and oil which they lay on his grave in hope of using them later on with miraculous results. The grave of Moses Orimolade, the founder of the Church of Our Lord Aladura, is also a popular pilgrimage site for the members of Cherubim and Seraphim and Celestial Church of Christ.

Having pilgrimage sites also has financial upsides for the ministry as well.

8.   Go out there and proselytize. This means you can go out and evangelize and propagate your new faith. Maybe in the next one hundred people from your religion will start killing people from another religion.

This list is not exhaustive. Write in the comment below any other points that comes to your mind.