"COUNTERFEIT CONVERSIONS" (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 8/12/25

“They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” (II Kings 17:33)

The world is full of deception and counterfeits. We must constantly protect ourselves against adulterations of the commonest articles of life. Our nation has set up government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration to protect us against potentially harmful foods and medications that have not been properly tested and proven. We are sadly aware that even the agencies that have been established for our protection can be deceitful. We must ever “try the spirits,” as it were. Folks that go through life believing all that they hear will be duped by a thousand deceivers.

This is certainly true in the highest realm where we have to do with spiritual and eternal things, for there are found worse cheats and frauds than anywhere else. That old enemy of God and man, who is rightly said to be a liar from the beginning, cleverly uses falsehood to, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. If there is a Christ, he sets up an antichrist. If there is a Church of Christ, he establishes a world’s church that shall mimic it. If there is a Gospel, he too comes with his “good news,” in the form of “another gospel, which is not another.” In matters of the inner man, and the work of the Holy Spirit, Satan is adept at deception there also. He can imitate repentance with remorse. He can match faith with credulity. He can mimic assurance with presumption. He can substitute worldly pleasures for the joy of the Lord. Instead of simple confidence in Christ, he can offer something that may look remarkable like it, which is nothing more than confidence in self. Therefore, it behooves every professed believer to test and try that which he supposes to be there, whether it be the work of God, or only a vile imitation.

Conversion, which is absolutely necessary to salvation, also has its counterfeit. This is what we have described in the words of our text. It is in conversion that hearts are turned from self to Christ; from sin to righteousness; from rebellion to obedience; from the world to heaven. Conversion must be all our experience if we are to be right with God, for “except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” We have here an instance in which the false is put for the true. We see it as a beacon to warn of this dangerous rock.

When the Assyrians took the city of Samaria and the Northern Kingdom captive, people came, very likely against their will, from different parts of the Assyrian Empire, and were put down as colonists in the various towns which had previously been occupied by the tribes of Israel. When they came, they feared not the Lord. This we know because the King of Assyria gave command that a priest should teach them to fear the Lord.

(Vs. 26, 27) They were worshippers of Cuth and Ava and Sepharvaim, and after an unfaithful priest “taught them how they should fear the Lord,” they looked upon Jehovah as nothing more than their own false deities.

When they came, they were wholly indifferent, and had no fear of God, and when they heard of Him, they likely ridiculed Jehovah. Yet, there was a point as they lived near the Israelites, that they came to fear the Lord. There was also the southern influence of Judah, and the good King Hezekiah which had its effect, so they are said to have feared the Lord.

Now notice, our text says, “they feared the LORD,” but then there is a very ugly “and” that follows, which shows that it was a sham conversion. Not only had they been taught by an apostate priest the fear of the Lord, but the record suggests strongly that their “conversion” was a product of terror. They were suffering the hardships of inhabiting these war-torn cities, which consequently, wild beasts had come down upon them so that multiplied lions became a terror. They, believing in many gods, felt surely “the god of the land must have sent these lions among us.” In this they were correct, as the writer affirms, but their “faith” was based in obedience to their King, the teaching of a faithless priest, and a fear for their life. There was no reverential fear of the Lord, which is basic to all true conversions.

The final word on the matter is found in the next verse. “Unto this day they do after the former manner: they fear not the Lord.” The proof that theirs’ was a counterfeit conversion is seen in the fact that, while they professed to fear Jehovah, they served other gods. The same observation may serve to expose many false conversions. While they profess to know the Lord, they are still serving other gods, their own gods, so the text states. (See Romans 6: 16-18)