The fusion of different religions, cultures, ideas, and schools of thought (syncretism) gave rise to many heretical teachings that entered Christianity, particularly between 1300-1600 CE, with the incorporation of indigenous beliefs and practices, creating a syncretic religion known as the Roman Catholicism in the New World. One of the great heresies that has plagued the church till today is the mother/son worship. Adherents of the Catholic and related churches were taught to worship Jesus and venerate the Virgin Mary. Surprisingly, there is no doubt that many Catholics believe that the revered Virgin Mary, with all her attributes, is the mother of Jesus. Although the practice of venerating Mary itself is not biblical, you will probably be surprised to learn who the revered Virgin Mary, the ascribed Queen of Heaven, Immaculate and the Glorious and Holy Mother of God, actually is.
The Queen of Heaven is mentioned twice in the Bible and in both passages, she is associated with Israelites’ idolatry practice which angered the Lord. In Jeremiah 7:18, the Queen of Heaven was an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, also called Ashtoreth. The latter was worshiped by pagan civilizations but unfortunately, it gradually became popular among the Israelites as well. In the second passage, Jeremiah warned the Israelites of God's punishments awaiting them because of their disobedience and idolatry, but they responded that they did not intend to abandon their idol worship, but that they would continue to drink and offer to the Queen of Heaven, Ashtoreth (Jeremiah 44:17-25). In this pagan culture, the Queen of Heaven (commonly called Asherah in the Bible) was none other than the Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod, known as a false god Baal (1 Kings 18).
Nimrod was the great grand-son of Noah, described in Genesis 10:8–12 as “the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.” His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city of Calah. He is linked to the construction of the Tower of Babel [seeking to revenge on God who caused the flood] and was associated with the Nephilim, who are called “mighty men” in Genesis 6:4. Other references to Nimrod are found in Micah 5:6, where Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, and in 1 Chronicles 1:10, which reiterates his power. After founding mighty cities, Nimrod established state-worship and paganism which even included human sacrifice and more. He was deified as a father of the gods and was given the title of emancipator or deliverer of mankind. Baal or Bel is a name meaning “lord” in the Babylonian language, which the Assyrians attributed to Nimrod when he was deified after his death.
In that idolatrous civilization, the story of how Semiramis became Queen of Heaven is probably popular. When Nimrod died, Semiramis claimed that his husband ascended to the sun and became the sun-god (Baal). Nearly the death of Nimrod, Semiramis became pregnant after engaging in an adulterous extramarital affair. In an effort to retain power, hide her misdeeds and elevate herself to a revered position, Semiramis made another bold claim that she had been miraculously visited by the spirit of her husband who impregnated her. This child, whom she claimed to be the reincarnated Nimrod//Baal, was called Tammuz, and Semiramis thus became both the wife and mother of Nimrod. To confirm her deity, Semiramis took advantage of her husband's death to proclaim that she was a goddess, descended from the moon in a moon egg that dropped into the Euphrates on the first full moon after the spring equinox. She was indeed the moon-god! In a word, Nimrod, Semiramis and Tammuz formed an idolatrous trinity, father-mother-son. This abomination is condemned in Ezekiel 8:14-17.
After taking over from her husband as the queen of Babylon, Semiramis was well-known for her building projects and military exploits. After her husband’s death, it’s said she conquered much of Asia, Libya, and Ethiopia and was wounded in battle against the king of India. There are many myths and stories attributing great accomplishments to Semiramis during her reign as Babylonian queen. For example, the name of the ancient Armenian city Shamiramagerd means “created by Semiramis.” Beyond the political sphere, the famous Queen of Babylon continued her husband's rebellious ambitions of building a polytheistic system based on the stars.
The goddess, Semiramis, was also known as Ishtar, Astarte, Ashtoreth: the original Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 44:15–19). Her son, Tammuz, joined her in creating the world's first mother/son cult. The cult spread to Egypt as Isis and Osiris, Venus and Adonis in Greece, and Ushas and Vishnu in Hinduism. The Catholic Church has adapted mother/son worship to its veneration of Mary, perhaps the most blatant idolatry in Catholicism.
Although the practice of veneration of Mary is not biblical, Catholics have made their way by deifying Mary, the mother of Jesus, and attributing to her various Semiramis attributes that make her venerable. Some of these attributes includes but are not limited to:
- Making her a virgin unto death and denying that she ever had any children other than Jesus. These teachings being in contradiction with what the Bible teaches, they aim to attribute to Mary the attribute of Semiramis of being virgin forever.
- Calling Mary queen when she never had such a title and making her holy through the false concept of immaculate conception both aim to elevate her to the rank of a venerated deity.
You will probably have heard many more attributes falsely ascribed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, including her appellation "mother of God" and her [unbiblical] bodily ascension into heaven. All these are attributes of Semiramis who is considered the mother of god incarnate (Baal) and ascended to heaven as a dove to become Queen of Heaven forever. Catholics would not hesitate to defend the modern view that the Queen of Heaven is Mary, the mother of Jesus, regardless of the lack of biblical basis. While it may be easy to link the Catholics’ Queen of Heaven to Semiramis, it is a little more difficult to unveil the concept of Tammuz under the aegis of Jesus and that of Baal under the guise of the "Gloria Patri". Either way, something is obvious, and that is a blend of paganism and Church practice that ushered in a cult of their mother-goddess/Queen of Heaven within the Church. In fact, the adoration of Mary is the modern manifestation of goddess worship that originated in Mesopotamia.
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Further Resources
- Discover online ministry opportunities at Open Christian Ministries
- Online Christian degree from Open Christian University (USA)
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