Queen of heaven in the Scripture
Jeremiah 7.18
King James Version "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."
New International Version "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."
Jeremiah 44.17-19
King James Version "But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto 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 had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"
New International Version "We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine. The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?"
The queen of heaven in question is not introduced by name, but we know that in those days queens of heaven were worshipped who took the place of God the Father. False beliefs caused the Israelites to abandon faith in the Creator in favor of pagan beliefs. Shrines were built in cities and on hilltops, and the population prayed to statues depicting goddesses. Has the cult of the mother goddess survived to this day? There is no doubt that it has. However, let's move on to the goddess of heaven from Scripture. The Bible can point to:
Ishtar - the beginning of the worship of the queen of heaven
The Babylonian goddess was the goddess of love and war. From her came other goddesses created in her likeness. She was identified with a merciful mother who listens to prayers and intercedes with the gods for people. She was the queen of all people, and was also called "Virgin," "Holy Virgin" or "Virgin Mother."
Asherah
Wife of Baal, mother of the gods, called "Queen of Heaven." - A cult strongly prevalent in ancient Israel.
Astarte
The mother goddess revered believed to be the wife of Baal, she was the queen of fertility and war. Also referred to as "Lady of Heaven" and "Queen of the Heavens". - A cult heavily prevalent in ancient Israel. In a found statue, she holds a child on her lap.
Isis
The mother goddess was mainly worshipped in Egypt and later moved to the Mediterranean, even reaching northern Europe. In Rome, she was worshipped on a par with the goddess Venus. Isis was the goddess of fertility and love. In sculptures and statues, she is most often depicted as a mother caring for a young child god - Horus the sky god. The Marian cult, in which the sky goddess holds a god in her arms, is confusingly similar.
Other goddesses:
Aphrodite
A goddess of love worshipped mainly in Greece.
Venus
Goddess of love worshipped mainly in Rome.
Queen Diana of Ephesus
Mother goddess called "Queen of Heaven", "Savior", "Madonna", "Virgin". - From her originated the Marian cult, although like the previous goddesses all refer to Ishtar.
All of the above goddesses took their origin from their Babylonian predecessor, which was Ishtar. In the Bible, Babylon is identified with deception, evil, which will be destroyed with the rebirth of the new earth. God repeatedly admonished the Israelites not to believe in pagan cults, which was the cause of their downfall. As we read in the New Testament, Paul was attacked by the followers of Artemis from Ephesus. It was there that a temple was built for the Queen of Heaven, only to have a new temple with Marian worship built in its place after it was demolished.
Many years after the death of the apostles, it was recognized that it was in Ephesus that Mary was buried, along with the apostle John, who cared for her. Cults of goddesses, which had been worshipped by countless pagans for several centuries, could not simply be suddenly exterminated.
When Constantine announced in 320 that Christianity was becoming the state religion something had to be done about a whole lot of pagan beliefs. It would have been better for the Christians of the time if Rome had not converted in such a way. Pagan beliefs penetrated wholesale into the temples of the time - Christian churches, which God categorically forbade. Better to have 1 true believer than 1,000,000 lukewarm ones.
The third council was held in Ephesus, where the Queen of Heaven was venerated. At it it was determined that Mary would be called the Mother of God, which is contrary to the word of God, because as we read in the Bible Jesus was born as a man, not God. Philippians 2.6-7"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men"
The Marian cult that is revered today dates back to Babylonian times, only to evolve into the current one in later pagan Rome. Marian worship is dangerous insofar as it understates the love of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. God said that only through Him can man receive the grace of salvation. Undermining the word of Christ through Marian worship puts Jesus in the role of a liar and takes away his love - no intermediary is needed. Jesus suffered for us, became a man and therefore will judge the world, which is in accordance with the decision of God the Father. Any other intermediary is a fraud, just as the Marian cult, which began in pagan Babylon and flourished in bestial Rome, which is also indicated in the Bible as one of the beasts destroying the world, is a fraud.
In reference to the above article, I invite you to watch a very interesting video about Marian apparitions from a biblical angle.
