The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
One false idea which is almost invariably associated with these vigorous condemnations is expressed as follows, "Amos also taught that the most elaborate worship, if insincere, is but an insult to God."  This is true enough, except for the implication that, if the worship of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom at the pagan shrines of Dan, Bethel and other high places had been "sincere" it would have been acceptable to God; and this is not the case at all.  As Christ himself declared, "In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"  (Matthew 15:9).  This applies pointedly to the very thing that characterized the worship in the Northern Kingdom; it was founded on practically nothing that God commanded, but was built altogether upon traditional, pagan and opportunistic practices.