Where did the northern kingdom headquarters its religion, and what did it fail to recognize?

Les explains that the Temple was in the southern kingdom, Judah, and carried on as usual. The Israelites of the northern kingdom set up a secondary Temple worship on Mount Gerizim, their own counterfeit. The presence of God was not in it; it was just another man-made religion. This is where they headquartered their religion, and they did not recognize that God was dealing with Israel through the Temple in Jerusalem. All through Israel’s religious history, Jerusalem is the headquarters of God’s operation. By contrast, the New Testament Church has no earthly headquarters; the Church is headquartered in heaven. Antioch was more or less the fountainhead from which the Gospel went out to the Gentiles, yet Scripture never places Antioch as the headquarters of the New Testament Church, nor is Jerusalem. Under Judaism, Jerusalem was to be understood as where God dealt with His people. The Samaritans asked, “What’s the difference?” With that historic mentality, God had to show the Samaritan believers that Jerusalem was the headquarters of God’s dealing with the nation of Israel.