Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them… Acts 14:11-15
I recently heard a non-Christian say that it is possible that human beings are innately religious. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed possible. Folks, human beings are most definitely innately religious! Everywhere on the planet, throughout all of time, the vast majority of human beings are religious. Why? Because God created us with an innate awareness of the existence of God (Romans 1:18-19) and because God created human beings (in His image) to worship Him. So, human beings are innately religious and almost always fall into one of two groups.
The first group (fulfilling our reason for being) worship the Creator of all things, the God of the Bible.
The second group, because they are created to worship, naturally worship something. They worship the creation instead of the Creator (Romans 1:20-25). Worship of the creation instead of the Creator has as many varieties as there are created things.
When Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel, and subsequently were used by God to heal the disabled man, the people rejected the gospel and worshipped Paul and Barnabas, instead of Christ whom they proclaimed.
Karl Marx once said, “Religion is the opium of the people.” He meant it as a dig against Judaism and Christianity, which he rejected in favor of worshiping the “god” of atheistic communism. But Marx was correct that false religion (worshipping the creation instead of the Creator) dulls people to true worship of the one and only true and living God.