One of the main reasons why Christianity was persecuted by Rome was because of its faith in one God. The Romans believed in many gods. They thought that numerous deities governed different parts of the world. However, when Christians insisted on worshiping only one God, the Romans considered this idea very dangerous. They thought, “If we serve only one god, will not the others be offended? Then Rome will lose the protection of the gods.”
That was why they persecuted Christianity.
Yet, the believers of the early church risked their lives to keep their faith in the one true God. Then what kind of God is this “one God” whom Christianity believes in? And how is this belief different from polytheism? Today, let us look into this difference through the Word of God.
Jacob’s Realization – God Is Not a Local Deity
Genesis 28:13–15 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
When Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran, he stopped for the night and had a dream. In that dream, he saw a ladder reaching to heaven, and above it stood the Lord, saying: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”
Genesis 28:16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Before this event, Jacob only knew God as the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. But through this vision, he realized that God is not the god of one region or one family. He is the Creator who is present everywhere and rules over the entire universe.
In this passage, both “the angels of God” and “the Lord” appear together. Angels are also spiritual being as same with the Lord. We can say that multiple gods appeared to Jacob. If then, do you think Jacob has polytheistic beliefs? It is not true. Although angels are divine beings, they are created by God and serve His will. It means that Jacob had monotheism and he believed one God who is the Creator. Therefore, Jacob’s faith was not polytheism.
The essence of monotheism is this: There is only one Creator God, the origin of all things. Even angels themselves are created beings, made by His power. At the root of the universe and of all life, there exists only one almighty Creator.
Records of Goddess Worship in the Bible
The Bible records that the Canaanites practiced goddess worship. The native Canaanites were polytheistic.
Exodus 34:11–13 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.
God commanded the Israelites not to follow the customs of Canaan, but to destroy their altars and idols. The sacred stones represented male gods (the sun), and the Asherah poles represented female deities. The Canaanites worshiped both—the male god through stone pillars and the female goddess through wooden poles.
Leviticus 26:1–2 Do not make idols or set up an (wooden) image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.
Here, the sacred stone symbolizes the male god, and the wooden image symbolizes the goddess. Thus, the Bible repeatedly testifies that pagan nations worshiped both male and female gods together.
Deuteronomy 12:2–3 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
Because the sacred stones were made of rock, God commanded them to be smashed. But the Asherah poles were wooden, they were to be cut down and burned.
Deuteronomy 16:21–22 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord your God hates.
Over and over, God warned His people not to adopt the pagan belief that both male and female gods together created life. He knew that such beliefs would corrupt the faith of Israel.
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▶Mother of Terror, Rangda _ Watercolor painting depicting the beliefs of the ancients |
The Prophets’ Warnings – The Fall of Sun and Goddess Worship
God’s prophets also strongly warned against goddess worship.
Isaiah 17:8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.
Isaiah 27:9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.
Isaiah made it clear that God’s people must not accept the idolatry of foreign nations. At the heart of that idolatry lay the worship of goddesses. God the Father hates polytheism.
Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger.
Here, we see that Israel actually worshiped the “Queen of Heaven,” a goddess figure. Throughout history, pagan peoples worshiped pairs of gods and goddesses:
Baal and Asherah in Canaan, Horus and Isis in Egypt, Tammuz and Semiramis in Babylon. Though their names differed—Asherah, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar—the essence was the same: They replaced the Creator God with goddess worship.
Goddess Worship in the New Testament Era
Even in the New Testament period, such practices continued.
Acts 19:34-35 But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “People of Ephesus, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?”
The Ephesians worshiped the goddess Artemis and the god Zeus. Later, similar ideas entered the church, evolving into the worship of Mary. The doctrine that exalted Mary to a divine position began at the Council of Ephesus, which was no coincidence—it took place in the very city that had long worshiped the goddess Artemis.
The Return of Goddess Worship Today
Even today, this ancient belief has returned to the church. Disguised as the doctrine of “God the Mother,” it humanizes the Creator and deifies humankind—a modern form of idolatry.
Followers of this teaching call a woman named Zahng Gil-jah “God the Mother.” This is no different from the ancient worship of Asherah or Ishtar. The Bible clearly warns against it.
Jeremiah 7:18–20 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place - on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land - and it will burn and not be quenched.
Because of goddess worship, Judah faced destruction. And this warning is not limited to them alone.
Conclusion – The Creator Alone Is God
Dear brothers and sisters,
We gather on this Sabbath day to remember the Creator who made heaven and earth. He is all-powerful and needs no help from anyone. By His breath, all life came into being. The idea that both a male and a female deity created life together is idolatry—the very thing God most strongly forbids.
Today, more than two million people believe in “God the Mother,” thinking they are in the ark of salvation. But this belief insults the true Creator—it is the deception of Satan.
One follower of this group once said, “If Mother is in hell, then I will go to hell with her.” In this short statement lies the emotional root of goddess worship: human affection disguised as faith.
Because humans are born through a mother, the idea of a divine mother appeals to our natural instincts. That is why God repeatedly warned His people to resist it.
Goddess worship feels sweet, but it is a spiritual narcotic.
Those who are intoxicated by it lose sight of the true God. Throughout history, it has always been the majority who followed such teachings, while faith in the one true God remained with the few.
We too were once under such deception, but the Holy Spirit awakened us and led us to the truth. Let us give thanks to God for granting us the grace to worship the one and only Creator.
Amen.
Source: https://blog.naver.com/ceongkim/224134701052