FROM TEMPLES TO SCREENS: HOW ANCIENT GODDESS IDOLATRY BECAME MODERN FEMALE WORSHIP

Written by Abrie JF Kilian. Modern Female Worship

Throughout the annals of history, no greater folly has gripped mankind than his misguided tendency to worship the created rather than the Creator. From Helen of Troy, who ignited a thousand ships, to the insidious cults of Asherah and Artemis, the allure of elevating women to divinity has undone nations and unseated kings. What once resided in the dimly lit chambers of ancient temples has not been banished but merely repackaged—smuggled into the very marrow of modernity under the guises of feminism, romantic idealization, and idolatrous reverence of female autonomy.

Even today, men fall prostrate, not before marble effigies, but before the shimmering screens of their own downfall—whether through the sacraments of pornography, the ritualistic adulation of celebrity, or the ever-bewitching notion that happiness lies at the feet of a woman rather than at the throne of Yahweh. It is a deception old as Eden, for the serpent’s whisper has merely changed dialects over the millennia. Yet, as history and Scripture both proclaim, truth is neither fragile nor fleeting—it is eternal, and it will not bend to cultural caprice.

The Biblical Battle Against the Queen of Heaven

The Almighty, in His infinite wisdom, has declared with unwavering clarity: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3). Yet, despite divine decree, mankind has repeatedly wavered, enticed by the seductive call of feminine deities. Chief among these was Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility and seduction, whose insidious influence bled into the very fabric of Israel’s religious life.

Asherah: The Divine Distraction of Israel

Time and again, the Israelites erected Asherah poles alongside Yahweh’s altars, as if a holy union could exist between light and shadow (Deuteronomy 16:21). From the era of the Judges to the decadent days of the divided monarchy, this cultic entanglement persisted—requiring the righteous fury of men like Gideon, who tore down his father’s altar to Baal and demolished the Asherah beside it (Judges 6:25-32).

• King Josiah’s Purge (2 Kings 23:4-7)

  • The young king did not trifle with moderation. With fire and fervor, he expelled Asherah from the temple, reducing her wooden idol to ash and bone, a cautionary tale in the chronicles of misplaced devotion.

• Jeremiah’s Rebuke of the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:16-18)

  • Yet even the prophetic voice could scarcely shake the stubborn hearts of the people. “We will do as we please!” they cried, convinced that prosperity lay in their cakes and incense offered to the Queen of Heaven.

    
    

The tragedy of Israel was not merely their worship of a false deity, but the accompanying reversal of divine order—for in Asherah’s embrace, men became subservient, their authority relinquished at the altar of feminine exaltation. The structure of Biblical households, built upon patriarchal strength and sometimes extended through polygynous arrangements, stood as a bulwark against such inversion.

Paul’s War Against Artemis: When Truth Meets Riot

The New Testament, too, chronicles an unrelenting war against the exaltation of womanly divinity. Nowhere was this battle more evident than in Ephesus, where Paul found himself locked in theological and economic combat with the cult of Artemis.

• Acts 19:23-41 – The Ephesian Uprising

  • Paul, with his characteristic boldness, did not tiptoe around idolatry. He struck at its very heart, denouncing the grand temple of Artemis as a bastion of falsehood. This, predictably, did not sit well with the city's artisans, whose business of crafting silver idols was threatened. A riot ensued, as the indignant masses bellowed, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”—a chant as desperate as it was damning.

• Paul’s Letters to Timothy (1 & 2 Timothy)

  • Writing to his young protégé, Paul issued firm rebukes against the creeping influence of female-led cults:

    • “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man.” (1 Timothy 2:12)

    • “In later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

Paul, astute in both theology and social order, understood that the Church could not afford to let Artemis slip in through the back door under the guise of equality.

The Modern Reawakening of the Goddess Cult

A. The Worship of Female Celebrity

In an age where men once sought to emulate warriors and saints, now they flock to arenas and Instagram feeds, hailing pop divas and influencers as if they were descended from Olympus itself. Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Cardi B—these are the new Artemises, worshipped in song, ritual, and wealth.

B. OnlyFans and the Modern Temple Prostitutes

Just as ancient temples employed priestesses for ritualistic pleasure, the digital marketplace now offers OnlyFans, where men sacrifice their earnings for fleeting indulgence. It is no longer golden idols that claim devotion, but pixelated women who demand tithes of adoration and currency.

C. Feminist Theology: The Return of Asherah

No longer confined to academic obscurity, feminist theologians now call for the restoration of the divine feminine, advocating for a Mother god and an egalitarian restructuring of Christianity that seeks to undermine Biblical headship.

The Path to Restoration: Men Must Reclaim Their God-Given Role

A. The Example of Jehoiada’s Selection of Wives for Joash

• 2 Chronicles 24:3 presents an oft-overlooked act of Biblical defiance: the High Priest Jehoiada, in an open rejection of Asherah’s influence, chose two wives for King Joash—a direct countermeasure against the creeping monogamist-only idealism that often accompanied goddess worship. The Biblical model of polygyny, rather than being a product of unchecked desire, served as a testament to divine order, strengthening patriarchal authority and ensuring dynastic stability.

  
  

How Men Must Reject the New Idolatry

• Seek Yahshua ha'Messiah as the ultimate prize (1 Cor. 11:3), not women.

• Reject pornography, which warps female beauty into an object of idolatry.

• Cease kneeling before women, both literally and figuratively.

• Rid the Church of feminist theology and restore the Biblical hierarchy.

  
  

Conclusion: The Call to Stand Against the Tide

The resurgence of goddess worship is neither accidental nor incidental—it is the final chapter in a long war against the divine order. The battle fought by Gideon, Josiah, Jeremiah, and Paul, now falls to our generation. Will men reclaim their rightful station, affirming the scriptural principle that a strong, righteous household—sometimes extended through polygyny—acts as a fortress against societal decay? Or will they, like Adam before them, stand silent as the fruit is offered?

REFERENCES

• Binger, Tilde. Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 232. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

• Cairncross, John. After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974.

• Charles River Editors. Ancient Ephesus: The History and Legacy of One of Antiquity’s Greatest Cities. Boston: Charles River Editors, 2015.

• Foulk, Jacob. Exposing the spirit of Ashtoreth. 444 Kingdom Publishing. 2024

• Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003.

• Grindlay, Lilla. Queen of Heaven: The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin in Early Modern English Writing. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018.

• Immendörfer, Michael. Ephesians and Artemis: The Cult of the Great Goddess of Ephesus as the Epistle’s Context. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.

• Josephus, Flavius. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1974.

• MacLean Rogers, Guy. The Mysteries of Artemis of Ephesos: Cult, Polis, and Change. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.

• Miller, J. Maxwell, and John H. Hayes. A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. 2nd ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.