Misplaced Worship

Misplaced Worship

Queen Of Heaven

Read: Jeremiah 7:16-20; 44:15-17

I was actually sorry when the light turned green because I hadn’t finished reading all the bumper stickers plastered on the car in front of me. In Goddess We Trust. Born Again Pagan. Goddess is alive and magic is about! The last sticker led me to do a little online research. I discovered that in 1975, The Covenant of the Goddess was incorporated as a nonprofit religious organization. Since then, some sources claim that neo-paganism has become one of the fastest growing religions in our country. The word goddess is used casually in media and advertising, but real goddess worship is very much alive today.

When Jeremiah was God’s prophet, people in Judah had adopted goddess worship. The planet Venus represented Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love and fertility. Women baked cakes, poured out drink offerings, and burned incense to the “queen of heaven.” Instead of worshiping the Creator, they worshiped the sun, moon, planets, and constellations. Although God warned them of his judgment, their idolatry had confused their thinking. They believed that their problems were caused by slacking off on their cult rituals rather than by turning away from God in the first place.

From the beginning of time, people have tried to worship something else besides God. God warns that this degrades us. Today, many people have distorted the responsibility to care for God’s creation into a worship of nature. Some even see humans as the enemies of the earth. Other people replace God’s truth with astrology. Reading daily horoscopes may seem harmless, but such activities can affect our thinking. God is the only One with the power to control our lives, and only he deserves to be worshiped. Anytime that we honor something other than him, we hurt ourselves.

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise!

Romans 1:25