Jeremiah’s Prosperity Gospel
But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. Jeremiah 44:17 NASB
Queen of heaven – Jeremiah is the prophet of doom. His message to Israel is filled with God’s judgment for Israel’s continuous idolatry. We all know what happens. Babylon! Captivity! Destruction! But it wasn’t new news. In fact, Assyria had already carried off the Northern Kingdom. Those who fell never returned. Now it is the Southern Kingdom’s turn. If God didn’t save her Northern sister, why didn’t the people of the South repent, turn from their idolatry and beg for God’s mercy? Perhaps they convinced themselves that their religion would save them. After all, they had the “Queen of Heaven” watching over them, right?
If you know anything about the progression of Catholicism, this verse should scare you to death. But not because the Catholic Church syncretized Jeremiah’s “queen of heaven,” a pagan fertility goddess, into its royal hierarchy. No, we are not here to equate Jeremiah and the Pope. We should be startled because of what the Pope actually writes about Mary as the Queen of Heaven.
In his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (1954), Pius XII taught, “Certainly, in the full and strict meaning of the term, only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is King; but Mary, too, as Mother of the divine Christ, as His associate in the redemption, in His struggle with His enemies and His final victory over them, has a share, though in a limited and analogous way, in His royal dignity” (no. 39). Pope Pius XII makes clear that royal dignity belongs “in the full and strict” sense to Jesus Christ alone. At the same time, Mary possesses a certain royal dignity by association with Christ in his Incarnation, Redemption and victory over evil.[1]
In other words, Mary is the Queen because of the Church’s position about the divinity and kingship of “Jesus.” She is Queen by association, but Queen, nevertheless. If it weren’t for the elevation of Jesus to the God-man, would a queen be necessary? Is Sarah a queen because she bore Isaac, the father of Jacob and the twelve tribes? Or is she a woman whom YHVH used to accomplish His purposes, nothing more, or less? Is Mary not such a woman, perhaps even more submissive than Sarah, but nevertheless, a woman of faith, not a member of the royal hierarchy of heaven?
You get to answer these questions. I get to point out that the reason the people of Israel refused Jeremiah’s warning is because they believed the Queen of Heaven would save them. She would provide them with a good life. She would take care of their needs. In other words, their religious beliefs prevented them from accepting God’s warning.
You might not believe that Mary is the “Queen of Heaven.” You might not pray to her for your needs (but, of course, hundreds of thousands of people do). You might find the countless shrines to Mary spread over the Christian Catholic world an affront to true biblical faith. But that isn’t Jeremiah’s concern. Jeremiah’s concern is about your current beliefs, those conclusions you’ve made about how God works in this world. The question you really have to answer is not about Mary. It’s about what prevents you from hearing God’s words now. It’s about those “safety” assumptions you’ve already made that govern your willingness to hear something else, something uncomfortable.
If everything you hear from God makes you feel at ease, perhaps you’re not listening to Him.
Topical Index: queen of heaven, Jeremiah 44:17
[1] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=2803
Ya know Skip, I’m not sure that most of what I hear from God these days makes me feel at ease. It’s not that I disbelieve the promises or assurances given, but rather that the comfort I receive is often tainted by the grief I experience as I watch our current society spiral. As I was reading the portion regarding Noah this year, what caught my attention was the picture of him standing in the rain. It would almost seem that God had to drag him (metaphorically speaking) into the boat. You’ve got to wonder what was going on in the mind of that righteous man, after 120 years of preaching and building not a single positive response. Was he wondering if God was really gonna do this, or if, of all the thousands out there, was there not another solitary soul that was worth another chance, or perhaps the “why me”? It seems to be the same with Jeremiah and I wonder if the same thing could be said of today. Just some personal thoughts.
Ezekiel 9:4 ““And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” May we all be marked; sighing and crying with you, Robert.
To ask the question: “what constitutes “safety” for the average American?” I think would be to ask what do they ascribe the most religious fervor to; what distresses them the most – distress on a moral level – when it isn’t going ‘their’ way. I would guess that our “Queen of Heaven” would be politics and money. And, when I look, the churches (and synagogues) are full of attempts to manage both. I think we really do believe the planet’s problems will be solved with ‘proper’ political and fiscal management – promoted and laundered through our temples. Oh; with God on our side, of course.
And as soon as we can get the First Amendment nullified (news flash; it is under heavy attack as we speak, y’all), all those pesky Jeremiahs will have to shut up, too!
The human battle of control with idolatry, assumption & safety needs- rather than surrender ,intimacy & vulnerability with an almighty Abba Father
I was raised Catholic. We had a priest who loved my parents even though they did not attend church . My dad ran a bowling alley and the priest said he always felt human when he was with my dad just bowling. When I was twenty some people opened up the scriptures to me. I was amazed that I was never taught these things. I went right to my priest and gave him both barrels. I will never forget what he said ” your right but if I taught what you know I’d be out of a job and where would I go or what would I do Pam). He looked so sad when I left and I never saw him again. At that moment Yhwh broke the chains of Catholicism through a man who felt he had no choice. I will always appreciate his honesty and when I get full of myself it can be a mighty blessing to someone when you can admit your wrong.
Pam, I too was raised Catholic and began having doubts and questions about many things decades ago. Tom Harpur, a former Anglican priest also had some of the same issues in particular the Trinity, and he wrote about them in his newspaper column after he became a successful author as well as a columnist. This allowed him the same “freedom” to express his truthful opinion because he could not afford to expose his young family to the hardships of him being excommunicated. He claimed that he met many other priests, both Catholic and Anglican, in this situation. Like Skip, he too was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford.
I believe that Christ’s divinity lies in his being a fully realized human being, who has fully revealed his unity with his Creator. God is always with and within us if we want to open ourselves to His love. Yeshua wanted all of us to be “sons of God” and this is exactly what we need to follow in Christ: strive for unity with our Creator.
Hello George, i appreciate all that you say,but i assume you think I believe in the trinity, I dont haven’t since I was 20 and I am 64 now. Trust me I do not mean this as a derogatory comment to someone who is a Rhode scholar its quite an accomplshment but I learned this from just a sweet believer with no academia to their name just had a love for the scriptures.
George,
By the way you’ve worded your last paragraph, you have me curious here. Do you think that all humans have both a human nature (of course) and a divine nature (“God is always…within us” [divine spark/seed?]), the latter of which can be fully actualized as Yeshua had, by means of working towards and finally achieving “full unity with our Creator”? The result then is that the inherent divinity fully overtakes the inherent humanity such that the individual is fully divine (Deity)?
Craig, in a word, NO. Seek and ye shall find. Where exactly do we seek if not within ourselves. Certainly not at the library. In the Torah of course where we have always been directed, where Yeshua directs us in order to be fulfilled, just like him. How do we do this? Through the power of God, his Holy Spirit which He gave first to Abraham and Moses (before Sinai), not after. Same as He did for Moses and his 70 elders, (the first Sanhedrin) to relieve Moses.
The grace of God comes in the form of His Holy Spirit and is fulfilled in our works. Grace and works are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary.
And as Paul phrased it when the time is right it will be revealed. Not when we want or decide to be reborn. When God calls unto the Son we will be immersed into the Son e.g. start doing the works and deeds he did without considering how because we will know…
We all desire to think we know how and when this happens… Today we know it has happened as we reflect and see how relevant our actions are. Tomorrow we doubt as we measure ourselves against others instead of against how God orchestrates to achieve His purpose.
Our truth is more often than needed based on knowledge which is but a summary of the past. We forget to live in the moment to experience God now because we want to explain Him which is a very difficult task. How do we explain in detail something we can not see with our eyes…. Only through how we understand and that is why Paul reminded Titus to show himself approved by gaining knowledge as well… Thank you for a reminder that everything happens with a Godly purpose.
George, thanks for clarifying. One question though: if Yeshua became “a fully realized human”–implying that He wasn’t fully realized before He became one–and if we must follow His example to become “sons of God”, then why was He already called the Son of God during His earthly ministry? Or did He come to earth as “a fully realized human”?
Craig I didnt use the word “became”, you did.
I followed that assumption up with the alternative in my last question. Thus, since, in your view, He didn’t ‘become’, then He came to earth as a “fully realized human”? Is that correct?
Anybody who is born on earth becomes “alive” on earth as a fully realized human capable of emulating the Messiah as a holy (totally devoted) servant that Torah tells us. Shema, hear/do, follow me!
God’s Word first hit me right between the eyes . . . and right in the gut!
It was both exasperating and exhilarating. I had to consume and digest
huge portions of it before it eventually hit me in my heart, as it changed me
from the inside out.
His Word doesn’t pull any punches. The truth is undeniable, although man
has tried to pervert and distort it over the ages and even to this day. But God,
by His grace, has given us discernment and ears to hear!
God’s Word is a Rock. Solid. Dependable. And always present.
(Amazing most people never ever read it!)