God in a blender, or sycretism is a bad idea

They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

2 Kings 17:32-33

The northern kingdom of Israel was scattered brutally into exile by Assyria. They were subject to Assyrian relocation practices which involved destroying families, indigeneous culture, and normality by forced intermarriage, relocation to the invading culture, and eventual resettlement. The Assyrian experience led to Jew/Gentile intermarriage on a vast scale and an adoption of a new mixed culture. It led to cultural and religious changes as a result over generations.

The semi-Jewish resettlers that Assyria eventually returned to Samaria were comfortable with a mixed culture, including the worship of multiple deities that included Yahweh in the mix. They set up priests in Yahweh shrines. They mixed the cultic practices of Assyria with levitical sacrifices from their Jewish past. They had a knowledge of God, but not a true obedient knowledge lived out in obedient practices. Their culture claimed to worship God among other gods. And it was not true worship, for God requires no other gods before Him.

2 Kings gives this account to warn us of the dangers of syncretism. We cannot blend the worship of God with other nonbiblical religious affections and actions. This is the "spiritual culture" of the millennial generation and it can be found right here in this ancient historical account. Millennials may seek to define their own spirituality through the use of personal investigation (ie the internet), but the are just doing what has already been tried and failed. Israel worhiped "after the manner of the nations among whom they had been carried away" and lost the distinctions of worship God had commanded. They did not really worship God any longer as He said to do. The human heart will always seek to soften God's commands, seeking the popular idols of culture. We must guard against the blending of truth with error both in doctrine and in practice. Syncretistic religion is simply idolatry and boldly turns against God.