Recently, I delivered a sermon about a mysterious entity in the Book of Jeremiah who goes by the title “the queen of heaven.” Although she bears that title, the fact of the matter is that this entity is not a queen, nor is she in heaven. She was amongst the first of many entities that would be worshipped across the Ancient Near East. Although she is not named in the Book of Jeremiah, it is commonly believed that “the queen of heaven” is the false goddess known as Ishtar. Although she was worshipped across the broader Mesopotamian region, sadly, the worship of this false goddess even entangled God’s people, Israel.
Chapter 44 of the Book of Jeremiah deals with events which occur approximately six years after the Babylonian army swept through Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple and exiled a number of Jews to Babylon. Although he had the option to depart to Babylon and have his needs attended to, Jeremiah chose to remain with the remnant. Sadly, although the remnant was expressly told by God (through Jeremiah) to remain in the land of Judah where He would provide for them, they went to Egypt where they believed they would be safer. In fact, not only did they deliberately disobey God, but they also wrongly attributed their health, peace and prosperity to a false goddess.
In Jeremiah 44:17-18 we read: “But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to he queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
What you will find throughout the historical records of the Ancient Near East is that false goddess worship appeared in many different forms, under many different names, throughout many different regions, across many different time periods. As you trace the worship of Ishtar regionally, what you will find is that she was the counterpart of Isis (Egyptian) and the model for Aphrodite (Grecian), Venus (Roman), Nina (Assyrian), Cybele (Phrygian and Roman) and Astarte (Phoenician). Although we see different names and different locations, in essence they all originated in mankind’s desire to worship a goddess figure. Although there have also been false male gods worshipped throughout the millennia, it is interesting to see mankind continually stumble into the worship of a feminine divine figure. Why is that so?
In the modern day, you may hear people speak of “The Goddess” or “The Great Mother”. Essentially, it is a personification of the divine feminine. For the uninitiated, the “divine feminine” is the spiritual concept, prominent in New Age teaching, that there exists a feminine counterpart to the so-called patriarchal and masculine worship structures that have long dominated the world’s organised religions. In fact, pointing to the chaos in the world which has supposedly arisen due to too much masculine energy, some believe the world needs to cultivate more feminine energy to bring it back to a state of order and balance. This thought exists not only at a global level but also when it comes to some individuals.
A prominent ex-New Ager who was marvelously saved from the spiritual darkness of the New Age movement pointed to an alarming statistic amongst women who were abused or betrayed by men. Due to their distrust of men, many rejected Christianity as “too patriarchal” or “too male” and, sadly, many stumbled into an acceptance of the divine feminine as a safe, caring and nurturing substitute. In other words, the divine feminine is seen as a protectress where the male gods (and a male-dominated society) are often viewed as militaristic and destructive.
So, while we might perceive goddess worship as a defunct spiritual practice, the sad fact is that goddess worship is undergoing a resurgence amongst people who are rejecting the God of the Bible in favour of a god of their own making—one which is rooted in femininity.
This movement, popularly known as the Goddess Movement, took root in the 1960s and 1970s, emerging from the intersection of second-wave feminism and neopaganism. According to a Wall Street Journal article by Sonia L. Nazario published in 1990, “women first wanted to apply feminism to political and economic realms, then to their families. Now, they want it in their spiritual lives.” However, for some in the radical feminist camp, they believe that in order for the Goddess Movement to succeed, the traditional church must be dismantled.
Naomi Goldenberg, in her book entitled “Changing of the Gods”, wrote that “the feminist movement in Western culture is engaged in the slow execution of Christ and Yahweh. . . . It is likely that as we watch Christ and Yahweh tumble to the ground, we will completely outgrow the need for an external God.” In other words, the goddess is believed to be resident within the individual and, since according to them the individual is inherently divine, the goddess simply needs to be awakened. However, it is obvious that there are radical elements of this false system of worship who believe that this “awakening process” must be preceded by a direct assault on the foundations of Christianity. By way of example, Mary Daly, who was a world-renowned radical feminist philosopher, author and “post Christian”, once said, “I am suggesting that the idea of salvation uniquely by a male savior perpetuates the problem of patriarchal oppression.”
Because many are led to believe that the Bible is entirely patriarchal in nature and encourages the oppression of women, there are untold numbers of people who are rejecting the free gift of salvation in favour of the falsehoods of the Goddess Movement. So, like the people of Jeremiah’s time, they shun God and believe they can find health, peace, prosperity, security and salvation in the arms of a false goddess. For the remnant of Judah who fled to Egypt, the strategy was entirely unsuccessful. Jeremiah 44:27 records the details of God’s judgement upon them: “Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end to them.”
The very things that they believed their “goddess” would protect them from were the very things which took their lives. You see, they attempted to secure safety, peace and salvation by fleeing from the presence of God and engaging in goddess worship. The end result was disastrous. When you shun the loving arms of God the Father for the lifeless arms of a false goddess, you will not find salvation, you will only find bondage. It is our prayer that people involved in the Goddess Movement will discover this before it is too late.
