As I have noted numerous times, the Institutional Church is a counterfeit, a “knockoff” relative to true Christianity. I have also shown that the first man and woman were the progenitors of bogus religion, having set the curve for all God-rejecting people that would follow.

If Adam and Eve were the gold standard for Counterfeit Christianity, then King Saul was the silver standard. Adam and Eve totally turned their back on God by deliberately rejecting His Way as He spoke it to them audibly. They not only rejected His Way, but made no pretense of obeying Him. Saul, on the other hand, rejected God’s Way while claiming to obey Him. These Satan-instigated religions ended in God’s rejection of both the religions and their creators. Though cursed by God, both religions live on in spiritual infamy. Whereas Adam and Eve’s counterfeit religion is the basis for all religions that reject the Biblical God, Saul’s religion has become the foundation of Catholicism/Protestantism.

The seed that caused the formation of modern Christianity has its genesis at the time of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery. During Israel’s journey toward the Promised Land they were treated badly by the Amalekites (Exo. 17:8-16). Because of their treatment of Israel, God vowed that He would one day destroy the entire Amalekite nation. We pick up the story many years later as recorded in First Samuel 15 where Samuel is telling King Saul that God has commanded him to attack and totally destroy the Amalekites–men, women, children and animals. If it moved, it died was His marching order.

Per God’s command, Saul and the Israelites attacked the Amalekites, killing every man, woman, child and all their livestock–almost. Saul, doing what would later become the modus operandi of the Institutional Church, decided on another way, a way that would much better honor God–the king would save the best of the animals and sacrifice them to Him. SAUL HAD A BETTER IDEA THAN GOD CONCERNING HOW TO HONOR HIM. Surely God would approve of his superior method, Saul’s heart being right, etc. But then Samuel arrived on the scene. Saul’s initial comment to the priest was, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (vs 13). He went on to justify his disobedience of God’s expressed will by explaining that he had saved the best animals “to sacrifice to the Lord” (vs 15). Samuel was not impressed, telling Saul that he had “done evil in the sight of God” (vs 19). Again Saul insisted that he had obeyed God (vs 20). Just as would his spiritual descendants, he believed that anything he did would be accepted by God even though it was against His expressed will. After being rebuked again by Samuel, Saul decided to place blame for the entire episode on his soldiers (vss 15,21). It was what they had insisted be done, he explained, thereby setting the tone for the future church’s excuse for believing the opposite of what God says in His Word–“That’s what my denomination has always taught.” Samuel told Saul that he was responsible for the sin. Here Samuel spoke words that should be engraved in the psyche of every God-seeker: Disobedience to God’s Word is equal to “witchcraft,” “iniquity,” and “idolatry” (vs 23). To observe the Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, Easter, etc. is to practice witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry.

Finally, Saul admitted that he had sinned by disobeying God. Falling before Samuel, he begged him to intervene on his behalf. Samuel told him that, because he had rejected the Word of the Lord (and thereby the Lord Himself) he had been rejected by God. Here Saul proved himself to be more spiritually astute than the modern church. He admitted that, because he had disobeyed God, he could not effectively worship Him (vss 25,30). Though Saul twice called Him “the Lord,” he knew that the Lord would not hear his prayers and would not accept his worship of Him. Saul knew that he could no longer contact God. Knowing this, Samuel left King Saul and never again spoke to him.

Through this episode Saul learned two valuable lessons which the modern church has rejected. No matter how religious and well-meaning a religious act or belief may be, if it is contrary to God’s Word it is equivalent to witchcraft, iniquity and idolatry in His eyes. No matter the good intention, religious sin (see the Introduction to the website for a brief summary) separates us from the Lord (Isa. 59:2). Saul’s “better way” to worship God proved to be his downfall. The Counterfeit Church follows his lead by worshiping God in ways opposite of His expressed will. God declares His attitude toward Christendom’s counterfeit worship: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not as I say?” “This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for (My) doctrines the commandments of men” (Lk. 6:46/Mat. 15:8,9). Saul called Him his Lord, honored Him with his lips, then chose his own way over God’s Way. Sound familiar?  L.J.