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Jeremiah 44 verse number 17 says, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing go forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the queen of heaven. The title for the sermon tonight is The Queen of Heaven, okay? They were burning incense unto the queen of heaven. This is not the first time that we're introduced to the queen of heaven. I believe it's chapter seven in Jeremiah that he gets this goddess, this false god gets brought up. And the other thing that you need to understand, this is pretty much the last chapter. Jeremiah 44, of course not the last chapter of the book of Jeremiah, but as far as timeline-wise goes, like this is the furthest that we get in the life of Jeremiah. And so Jeremiah chapter 44 is pretty much a summary of everything that's been covered from Jeremiah chapter one to Jeremiah chapter 43. God once again summarizes every reason why he's angry at the nation and why he's brought judgment upon them, okay? Now, let's start there in verse number one, Jeremiah 44 verse number one. It says, The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol and at Taphanis and at Noth and in the country of Paphros, same. All right. As I said, this is the last that we know of Jeremiah timeline-wise, okay? We still obviously have chapters 45 to 42 to get through, but what these chapters cover is we basically just go back in time and we fill in more detail of what already took place, all right? So as I said, this chapter, chapter 44, is almost like a major summary of the book of Jeremiah. Let's keep going to verse number two. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah, and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they ye nor your fathers. And so God has reminded them why he's angry at the nation. Now just to bring back to remembrance, these Jews, they've escaped into Egypt. If you remember what's been taking place, Babylon has come, taken over Judah, there was a remnant left on the land, they were afraid, they ran to Egypt, and God is now saying, look, don't you remember, you know, you're doing the same things that your forefathers have done in the past. The reason that I brought judgment upon Judah is going to be the same reason why God brings judgment upon the Jews here in Egypt. Now, what I want you to pick up here, something that gets brought up many times in this chapter, is like it said in verse number three, in that they went to burn incense, all right. Now, this gets brought up again, over and over again in this chapter, the burning of incense. Now, there are many religions in the world today that practice the burning of incense, okay. Definitely the Roman Catholic Church, okay, Buddhism, Hinduism, they burn incense. Is there anything wrong with burning incense? No, there isn't. I know some people burn incense in their house for, you know, for older reasons or whatever, okay. There's nothing wrong with it in of itself. But it was a practice that God did instruct there is right to do of old under the old covenant. Now, what I want you to do, keep your finger there in Jeremiah 44 and go to Revelation chapter eight. Go to Revelation chapter eight. Because you might say, well, why is it that we in the New Testament, you know, when we go to church, why aren't we lighting up incense in the house of God? I've often wondered that question. So if you go to Revelation chapter eight, I believe we can get the answer here. And before we read Revelation chapter eight, I'm going to read to you from Exodus chapter 30, okay. So I'm reading to you from Exodus so you can see that this was definitely an instruction that God gave the Israelites of old, right. When they were to worship, when they were to come into the house of the Lord, the tabernacle, they were to burn incense. In Exodus chapter 30, verse number one, it says, and thou shall make an altar to burn incense upon, of shittom wood shalt thou make it. I drop down to verse number seven, it says, and Aaron, remember Aaron was a high priest, and Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning, when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lights of the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it. A perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Perpetual means continual, all right. So Aaron, the high priest, will burn incense in the morning, and at the even or the evening, he would burn incense once again. This was something that God wanted them to do over and over and over again. You say, what's the significance? Well, just like so many things in the old covenant, you know, so many things under the temple worship and the temple practices, these things were illustrations that were images of a greater spiritual truth. So what spiritual truth could incense relate to? So if you were to light some incense, you'd have the smoke of the incense, it would go up, it would ascend, and what would that picture? Well, go to Revelation chapter eight, you should be there, Revelation eight, verse number two, where fast forward into future events, when God is preparing himself to pour out his wrath upon a wicked world, it says in Revelation chapter eight, verse number two, and I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. So these are the seven trumpets of God's wrath. Verse number three, and another angel came and stood at the altar. So notice there's an altar, but this altar is actually in heaven, okay? Stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense. So we have incense in heaven. That's interesting. That he should offer it, now notice this, with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. So this incense in heaven is being offered with the prayers of the saints. Look at verse number four, and the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Now please turn to Psalm 141. Turn to Psalm 141. The reason I read that passage to you is you can see the parallel or the connection between incense and prayers. So as God in the final days, when he's about to pour out his wrath in Revelation, as he's preparing to pour out his wrath, he wants to once again hear the prayers of the saints, and the incense is offered together with the prayers of the saints. Now, Psalm 141, verse number one. So we've learned an interesting spiritual truth, that the incense that is being liten at the altar by the Israelites of old was a picture of prayers, okay? Because the house of God was to be the house of prayer, okay? This was one central place where people under the old covenant would go and bring their prayers before the Lord, all right? And so that incense would represent the fact that the prayers are ascending up to God. Now, does the incense really further the prayers to God? No, it's a picture. It's an illustration, okay? And so long as we are offering our prayers unto the Lord, hey, you know, that pictures the fact that our prayers have been received by God. Look at Psalm 141, verse number one. So we see in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, the incense being referred to as prayers, but notice Psalm 141 under the Old Covenant, only under the Old Testament, verse number one, which says, Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee, let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. And so notice even in the Psalms, the prayers that get directed to God are being compared to the incense. All right, so let's go back to Jeremiah 44. Jeremiah 44. So we learned that the incense represents prayers, okay? It's illustrative of prayers ascending up to God. Now, when we think about why God is angry with the Jews, what does it say again in verse number three? Because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not. So what's the problem here? If incense represents prayers, okay, then these Jews are not praying to the God of the Bible. They're not praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They're offering their prayers to a false God. And this is making God extremely angry, right? He's going to judge this remnant that have hid themselves in Egypt. Look at verse number four. So God, through his mercy, would send prophets, would send preachers to these people to tell them, hey, stop doing this abominable thing that I hate. God hates the worship of false gods. It's abominable in his sight. Verse number five. They harken not, nor incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. So God is extremely angry that the people's heart have turned to a false God. Jeremiah, the very early chapters of Jeremiah, you may recall Jeremiah just constantly preaching against these people that have turned, worshiped false gods, following some false religion. And once again, the remnant, they've gone into Egypt. What are they doing now? They're doing the same thing. They've gone back and worshiping the same false gods, offering incense, offering prayers to the false gods. God is once again disgusted by their behavior, okay? And as I said, the rest of the chapter, most of the chapter is just a repetition of what Jeremiah's been preaching to them this entire time. Verse number six. So God is telling them, look, Judah is completely desolate. It's completely empty because of his judgment, because of his anger, all right? Verse number seven. Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain. Notice how God says, you've done this great evil against your souls. You see, at the end of the day, when God brings judgment and his wrath against people, you can't turn around and blame God. You can't turn around and say, God, why are you judging us? Why are you angry at us? God is saying, it's your own fault. You've done this to yourself. Brethren, when you sin and you suffer the consequences of your sin, you've done it to yourself. You can't turn around and say, God, why did you allow this bad thing to happen when you know it's a direct consequence of your sin? You have hurt yourself. Not only do you hurt yourself, but you hurt man and woman, child and suckling. You can hurt your entire family when you sin against the Lord. Verse number eight. In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, but in incense, you see how God just keeps bringing that up, but in incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be accursed and reproach among all the nations of the earth. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah? Now, I want you to pay attention to the next words, okay? Because this is what I'm gonna be focusing a lot on tonight. As I said to you, the title for the sermon tonight was The Queen of Heaven, okay? Not only are they worshiping a false god, they're worshiping a feminine deity, all right? They like the idea of God being a woman. Now, notice what the problem is in this chapter. One of the main things that God brings up here, he says in verse number nine, and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. So if God is rebuking these Jews from Jeremiah, all right? Jeremiah is rebuking these Jews, and he says, your wives, all right? Who is he talking to specifically? Of course, Jeremiah is preaching to everybody, but if God is saying to a group of people, your wives, who is he preaching to? Jeremiah is primarily preaching to the men, okay? And, you know, specifically to the men that are married, the husbands. He's saying your wives have done wrong. You've done wrong, but also your wives, okay? Now, this is important because you need to understand, as men, when your family is in sin, when your wife is in sin, okay? When your family are backslidden and far from God, God's going to come to you and ask you what's going on with your family, okay? You can't turn around and just blame your wives. You can't turn around and just blame your children and say, well, God, it was them. I'm trying to serve you faithfully, but my family's falling apart. That's not good enough. We know that when Adam and Eve sinned. We know that Eve sinned first, yet God came to Adam because Adam is the head of his house. Now, you know, I've heard it said in many of the churches that I've been in, you know, amongst the ladies that it gets brought up every now and again. You know, why doesn't the pastor, why doesn't the preacher preach more sermons for the women, okay? It's like, you know, most of the sermons seem to be just, you know, specifically toward the men. Now, here's the thing, brethren, you know, when I prepare a sermon, I'm not thinking, all right, I'm preparing a sermon for men, or I'm preparing a sermon for women, or I'm preparing a sermon for this person, or that person, or that person. You know, when I prepare a sermon, my goal is just to preach the Bible, all right? And many times when God wants to speak to the women, He will speak to the men who are over that woman, because God has given the man authority, all right? So if you're a father, you have authority over not just your wife, but your daughters. And when your daughters get married, they're now under the authority of their husband, okay? This is the nature of things. I know it's not popular. You know, I know right now, if there's a feminist listener right now, she's blowing her top and going, why is this man saying these things, okay? But this is how God organized family. This is how He organized the roles between man and woman, that the man would be the head of His house, okay? And as the head of the house, yes, He calls the shots, but He's also responsible and accountable toward God for His family. So, you know, this sermon is for all. You know, Jeremiah, he's preaching to the men, but really there's a problem with their wives, okay? And he's hoping the men would fix up the issues that exist in their families. I'll quickly read to you from 1 Corinthians 11, 3, which says, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. Who's the head of the woman? The man. This is not saying that every man is the head of every woman. No, okay? For all the ladies that come to church, besides my family, I'm not your head. Your head is your husband, or if you're not married, your head is your father, okay? The only, when you come to church, the only person I'm ahead of, all right, in a family unit, is my wife and my daughters, and of course my sons until they get married, okay? But the head of every woman is, the head of the woman is the man. This is why many times sermons may seem like it's directed to men, but it's so they can help the family, so they can help their wives, right? You know, sometimes people approach me with family problems, and they want me to sort things out, and I can understand, because many pastors do this. Many pastors open themselves up to be brought into this family, to that family, to that family, but you know what's better than the pastor doing anything when the pastor does not have authority, is when the man understands his role and his responsibility, and that God is holding him accountable for the mistakes he makes, and then he can sort out his issues with his family, okay? This is how God organized the family units. Let's keep going, verse number 10. They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine, they shall die from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be in execration and astonishment and a curse and a reproach. So this remnant, this remnant, okay, they escaped the judgment of God, right? When they were in Judah, you know, most of the other people were either cured by the sword, by the famine, by the pestilence, or taken into captivity. God gave this remnant, the poor of the land, a second chance to make something of themselves in the land of Judah. We'll see later on why God allowed them to stay in the land of Judah, but because of fear, because of some mistakes that were made, they ran to Egypt, they worshiped false gods, they worshiped the queen of heaven, and now they're going to die the same death. They're not going to escape the famine or the pestilence or the sword. Why is God saying this? Because the Babylonian empire will soon go and, sorry, take over Egypt, okay? They're going to go into battle with Egypt and take them over, and these Jews that thought there was safety in Egypt are going to lose their lives. Verse number 13. All right. So he's saying, look, none of you, those of you that are worshiping and burning incense to false gods, none of you are going to return back to the land. So they're actually worse off than the people in Judah that were taken into captivity because we know that captivity is 70 years and their subsequent generations will come back into the land, whereas these people are not going to get that opportunity. They're all going to perish by the sword. There are going to be some that escape. There are going to be very few that escape. There's going to be a very small remnant of the remnant of Judah that escaped. And of course, this would make up people like Jeremiah, people like Baruch, and anyone else that potentially out of the group will still serve in the Lord God, all right? Let's keep going. Verse number 15. I know I'm speeding through a lot of these verses, but again, it's a lot of repetition of what we've already seen. Verse number 15 says, then all the men, now notice this, then all the men. So Jeremiah's finished preaching, okay? He's finished preaching this sermon. Again, unpopular preaching. It's a hard sermon, hard to accept that God is angry with them once again. So this is the response of the men to Jeremiah. Then all the men, which knew that their wives had burnt incense unto other gods. So these men, they knew that their wives were for worshiping a false god, okay? Their wives had taken upon themselves to go and burn incense to the queen of heaven, okay? So these men know, boy, Jeremiah's preaching to us, okay? So how do they respond? Now you think that if a preacher gets behind the pulpit with the word of God and preaches something, even if it hurts your family, even if you feel like, boy, the preacher's pointed out something in my family. Boy, the preacher's pointed out something that I've allowed my wife to do. You think, well, you know what? We're going to go with God's word. We're going to fix this. I'm going to, you know, fix this issue in my family and we're just going to serve God. You would think that's the reaction. But what do they do? It says, And all the women that stood by a great multitude, even all the people that were in the land of Egypt in Paphros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou has spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. Jeremiah, we're not going to listen to what you said, even though you're saying it's coming from the Lord, we're not going to listen to anything you're saying. Okay? These men knew Jeremiah was preaching against them and about their wives. Okay? Now, you know, this is just showing you very weak men, okay? These men have become very weak. They've allowed their wives to take the spiritual leadership in the house, okay? And their wives have gone and rejected the God of the Bible, okay, the God of Judah. They rejected the God of Judah, and they decided, let's go and burn incense to false gods. And the men said, yeah, whatever you want to do, honey. Okay? You know, if I can have a happy home, and we can have peace in the house, you can do whatever you want, we don't have to worship the Lord God together if you don't want, okay? They would rather, you know, instead of facing down their wives, okay, instead of correcting their wives, they would rather just go and disobey God. It's just easier for them to say, I'm not going to listen to God's word than to go and fix a major problem in their family, okay? So it shows you the weakness of men in this area. I'm going to read to you from 1 Timothy 2, verse number 12. 1 Timothy 2, verse number 12. This is in your New Testament, all right? It says, But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to accept authority over the man, but to be in silence. Listen, when it comes to church, when it comes to preaching God's word, when it comes to spiritual leadership, God says, leave that to the men. God would not have a woman teach in the house of God. And it says, verse number 13, For Adam was first formed then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Why is God saying, do not allow your women to teach in the church? When it comes to teaching time, they are to remain silent. Why is God saying this? Because Eve was deceived, not Adam. You say, well, hold on, Adam ate from the tree as well. Yeah, he ate from the tree because he wanted to please his wife. At that point, Adam showed weakness. He was not deceived. He knew that God told them not to eat of that tree. The woman was deceived by the devil. And then, you know, Adam, being weak, gave in, didn't want any problems in his family, ate of the tree as well, okay? He showed that same level of weakness, okay, after allowing his wife to go and basically disobey the word of God. Now, what am I saying? I'm saying that, and ladies, you may get offended at this, it's the word of God, okay? But what I'm saying is that ladies, it's easier for ladies to be deceived by false doctrine by the devil, okay, by false prophets than a man. I'm not saying that a man can never be deceived. Of course, men are constantly deceived, but women are deceived easier than a man. This is why God will not allow a woman to teach. That's number one. But number two, because God already told us that he had set man to be over a woman, okay? And so when it comes to spiritual leadership, especially in the house of God, it is the man's job to teach God's word and to lead in the spiritual aspect of any church and even in the family, okay? Now, you might say, well, Pastor Kevin, you know, a very unpopular sermon here. Don't you know it's 2021? Don't you know that, you know, women have just the same rights as men, okay? And, you know, get with the times. You must hate women, okay? And some people are gonna respond that way. Some people, you must hate women. And yet, you know, if you see how I treat my wife, you'll know that I definitely love my wife, okay? I love the woman that God has given me to be my life partner, all right? I'll do anything for her as long as it's not contrary to God's word, okay? I love my wife. Honestly, I would lay down my life for my wife, okay? I don't hate women. God has given me three beautiful daughters, okay? And once again, you know, my wife thinks I'm more lenient with my daughters than I am with my sons. You know, I let my daughters get away with more than I do my boys, okay? So that's what my wife says, all right? And if you know my parents, you know how much I love my mother, okay? I appreciate my mom, okay? You know, during lockdowns, I'm concerned for my mom, all right? And I want her to be happy and safe, all right? And I know my dad's there to look after her, but I still, as a son, you know, I want the best for my mother, okay? I do not hate women, all right? When it comes to the ladies in the church, you know, I appreciate the ladies just as much as the men, all right? It's not like I hide myself from them or desire not to talk to them or interact with them, no, okay? As far as I'm concerned, you know, ladies are just as important, okay, to this church and to my family and the relationships that we have, you know, as much as the men, but God has put roles, different roles between man and woman, okay? And this should not be complicated. This should be straightforward, okay? But you know why we're so confused these days? Because we live in a wicked world and we're too bothered being indoctrinated by the school systems, by the media, by the politicians, by the celebrities, and we've forgotten what God's word says. It is right for a man to be in charge, okay? And when a man is in charge, that means he's going to look out for the best for his wife and look out for the best for his daughters and for his family. When you remove that from the man, he's not going to do the best for his family. He's going to look out for number one himself and the woman's going to look out for number one herself. And we break the unity. You know, when God brought marriage, he said it is one flesh. We're one team. We're together, you know, we're in the relationship, we're in marriage, a family is one unit, husband and wife, one flesh, all right? But we have different roles. We have different responsibilities in the family unit. Let's keep going, verse number 17. This is how they respond. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing go forth out of our own mouth. So he says, we're not going to do what God says. We're going to do what we want to do. To burn incense unto who? The queen of heaven. Do you notice something? When the ladies get put in charge here, you know what? They don't want to worship a God who is a man. And yes, God is a man, okay? He's got masculine attributes. God is a man. Jesus Christ was a man, all right? This is basically feminism. You've got feminism right here in Jeremiah 44. They would rather worship a God who is a woman. Okay? You know, they've had enough of the men. Say, well, men have failed us. You know, the man God has failed us. Let's seek a woman God. Let's seek 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. They said, in the past, we used to worship the queen of heaven. And they did. Jeremiah covered this in Jeremiah 7. They're saying, look, when we were worshiping the queen of heaven, everything was going well. You know, and so what they're saying is, because they were blessed in Judah, when they were worshiping the queen of heaven, they thought, well, that's why. We're being blessed because we're worshiping a false god. Instead of recognizing that God was merciful toward them, instead of recognizing that God was giving them a chance to turn back to him before he poured out his wrath, they thought, no, when we worship in the queen of heaven, things were well with us. Do you notice how deceived they are? Can you please keep your finger there and go to Jeremiah chapter 7, Jeremiah chapter 7, verse number 18. Let me just remind you here, in Jeremiah chapter 7, verse number 18, Jeremiah, this was much earlier, of course, in Jeremiah's ministry. He says in verse number 18, the children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead their dough and make cakes to the queen of heaven. Notice how the women are once again being referenced there, okay? And to pour out drink offerings unto other gods that they may provoke me to anger. The reason I read that, just to show you, that Jeremiah was already dealing with a false religion of worshiping the queen of heaven and God sent him here in Jeremiah chapter 7 to get that practice out of Judah, all right? So when we go back to verse number 18 now, back to Jeremiah 44, verse number 18, before we read verse number 18, I just want you to think about once again, you know, the queen of heaven. And, you know, there are still, you know, again, there's nothing new under the sun. There are still religions today that view a woman and give her the title of the queen of heaven. Think about that title for a moment, the queen of heaven. You know, when we think about the God of heaven, we think about God who is in control, who owns the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. When you think about the queen of heaven, we're saying there is a woman who has authority in heaven and authority, of course, upon the earth if she's got authority in heaven, okay? And what do we learn again in the Bible that no, women do not have authority over the men. There is no queen of heaven, okay? There is no female goddess. God is a man, all right? But this is what these women, okay, and these weak men would rather serve, the queen of heaven. And our immediate thought, you know, if you think of a religion today that venerates or worships a person called the queen of heaven, you immediately know this is a false religion. You must already know this is a false church if they have got somebody that they refer to as the queen of heaven. Of course, I'm speaking about the Roman Catholic Church and the East Orthodox Church. Both of these churches venerate the queen of heaven and they say it's Mary, the mother of Jesus, okay? Now, the queen of heaven here, of course, was not Mary, the mother of Jesus, but it's the same goddess, okay? When the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox venerate and worship Mary, the queen of heaven, they're not actually worshiping Mary, the mother of Jesus, because she was a humble woman, she was a sinner, she needed a savior, okay? She was a good woman, just like any other lady that was godly, and she's in heaven. Now, they're worshiping a false god. They're worshiping a god that does not belong in the Bible. They're worshiping some female god, okay? And so, when you're confronted by the Catholics and they worship the queen of heaven or the Orthodox Church, you know that must be a false religion. God is not happy with that religion. And listen, when it comes to, let's call it Christendom or Christianity, as far as the world is concerned, the Catholic Church is the number one biggest church in the world. The Orthodox Church is number two biggest church in the world, okay? And even some Anglicans, the Anglican Communion, which is like the third largest church in the world, they also venerate Mary, and they don't worship her to the same level as the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, but they also give Mary that title, the queen of heaven, and that's the third largest church in the world, okay? And so, listen, when it comes to Christianity, there's a lot of false Christianity, there's a lot of false church that claim to worship and believe the god of the Bible, but listen, they are just as much against God as the Jews were that were worshiping this false deity. Let's keep going, verse number 18. 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? So what are the ladies saying? They're saying without our men, it's the ladies that are speaking. The ladies are rebuking Jeremiah here, okay? And what are they saying? They're saying, look, when we left off, in verse number 18, since we left off to burn incense, so there came a time when they stopped worshiping the queen of heaven. They stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven. Once again, why is that? Because Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter seven was preaching against them. So obviously his preaching had some effect. These people had stopped, okay, let's stop worshiping the queen of heaven. But what are they saying? When we stopped worshiping the queen of heaven, then came sword and famine and pestilence, okay? But now that we're worshiping the queen of heaven, everything's going well with us. And Brethren, that could be a major flaw in our understanding, where we may feel that if everything's going really well with us and we've got no problems, that God must be happy with us. You can't make that conclusion. Things might be going really well with you, and you might be far from God. And again, why is that? It's because God has given you time, he's been merciful, he wants you back, he's long suffering with you, okay? But you might think if I continue away from God, everything's going so well, so well, so well, at some point his judgment's gonna fall and things are gonna be a disaster, okay? But these women are saying, hey, since we stopped worshiping the queen of heaven, things went bad, we went back to worshiping her, things are going well. And you know, I won't go into all of the history, but my wife was a Roman Catholic. Before I married her, when I met her, she was a Roman Catholic, okay? She was a worshiper, as it were, of the queen of heaven. And she had all the idols, she had all the pictures of all the saints and Jesus and Mary, and of course, another Jesus, another Mary, all these kind of things, right? And when she got saved, she made the decision to get rid of all her idols, all her, you know, I forget what they're all called, the rosary beads, all the traditional things that come with the Catholic Church. And let me tell you, you know, there was a spiritual attack, a very real spiritual attack that tried to spook her into going back to her false religion, okay? This is what these women are claiming, okay? We stopped worshipping the queen of heaven, then things went bad, so we went back to worshipping her, okay? This is the act of the devil, okay? Now, what am I saying? I'm saying that basically, that ladies, and this is, again, an element of feminism, they don't like a god who is a man, all right? They want to worship a false god. So yeah, let's worship a queen, okay? And this has many forms, as I already said, within the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, we have different forms of this queen of heaven. But, you know, even outside of those churches, there are those that worship, or at least venerate, or, you know, give lip service to some type of, you know, a female goddess. And the one that gets promoted the most, I suppose, just in your daily life, is what people refer to as mother nature, okay? You know, they don't like the idea of God, but when it comes to creation, they like creation, they like the earth, okay? And they don't like the creator, but they like the creation, they like the earth, and they'll basically give the earth, you know, a title of deity, as it were, and they'll say this is mother earth, or mother nature. Why does it have to be feminine, though, okay? Once again, it's because people do not like a god that is masculine, okay? They think, well, this is part of man's world, right? This is the feminist movement. We're against man's world. Hey, it's time for the ladies to have a voice. And so they seek a goddess, you know, and I think it's in Greek mythology, that mother nature goddess is known as Gaia, okay, Gaia. Now, unfortunately, this mother goddess, or this queen of heaven idea, or this feminine god, this feminine deity, has also creeped into our Baptist churches, has also creeped into our independent, fundamental Baptist churches. You say, what are you talking about, Pastor Kevin? Have you ever heard any preacher talk about the Shekinah glory? You know, when God, you know, established the tabernacle and the temple, his Shekinah glory, they'll say, descended upon that place, and, you know, the presence of God is this wonderful Shekinah glory. Shekinah, Shekinah, Shekinah. Brethren, that term Shekinah is a Hebrew term, but it is not a biblical term. It is not a term that's ever been used to describe our God, okay? And unfortunately, many pastors say this, Shekinah, Shekinah, because they think, well, look, I studied Hebrew. I can say a Hebrew word. But they don't understand that term Shekinah is a feminine form of God, okay? It is not a biblical term. It is not a Hebrew term in the Bible. It is not a name that God has ever used for himself. It is a feminine term, okay? It was coined, that term Shekinah, was termed by some Jewish rabbis. And I just looked up just a random article online, just to give you some, and this is from a Jewish article. And let me just read a little bit to you. It says, due to the fact that Shekinah is gendered feminine in Hebrew, many believe that it also represents God's feminine attributes, or the feminine attributes of the divine presence. Does God have feminine attributes? Of course not, okay? God is not effeminate, all right? No, God is a man. He's masculine, all right? And he created man in his image, and then he created a woman to compliment the man, all right? Now, it's unfortunate that Jewish rabbis, Christ-rejected rabbis, have influenced the independent, fundamental Baptist world, all right? And if you're someone that thought Shekinah glory was some biblical term, or some great term describing God, and now you've woken up to the truth, please stop using that, okay? You might as well just be, you know, burning incense to the queen of heaven, if you're going to continually bring up the Shekinah glory. What else does it say? In the article it says, look at this, many contemporary feminists, you say, oh, I thought you were just, you know, going a little bit, you know, left field there, Pastor Kevin mentioned the feminist. No, many contemporary feminists and others in search of the divine feminine in a Jewish context have focused upon the Shekinah as she is portrayed in classical Jewish texts, and have also explored the meaning or significance of Shekinah has for their own lives. And then it keeps going later on in the article, it says, for some contemporary Jewish feminists and others, there has been an increased emphasis or focus on the Shekinah as representing the feminine attributes of God. Although in Judaism, God is incorporeal without gender and beyond time and space, some find it easier to relate to God using feminine terminology rather than masculine. What in the world? So according to Judaism, God is without gender and beyond time and space. He is beyond time and space, but God is not without gender, all right? I mean, what does this sound like? Isn't this a word we're in right now? Gender fluid. You know, just recently I heard of some man, some transvestite that went and competed in the Olympics as a woman weightlifter, and then he quit because I don't think he could even lift the bar once, okay? But listen, we live in this crazy world, all right, where men, let's make men more effeminate and let's make women more masculine, you know, and this confusion of the genders and now they want to apply it to God. Hey, Judaism views God as genderless, not man nor woman, and so these feminists say, well, we want God to be a female, so let's call it Shekinah. Let's use that term to describe the feminine qualities of God. Listen, we can't make up God in our own minds, our own imagination. You want to know God? You read this Bible and you know God, okay? You read this Bible and you will conclude that God is a man. He has masculine qualities, okay? When Jesus Christ was born, it's not some accident that he came out as a man, he was meant to be a man, okay? And when God created man in his own image, he created Adam, all right? This is not saying that man is better than woman, no. I'm not saying that at all. We have different roles, we have different responsibilities, but God is most definitely a man. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is given also masculine attributes. He, him, his, okay? There is no Shekinah glory and let's not allow that kind of teaching, that kind of nonsense creep into our churches. Back to Jeremiah 44 verse number 20. And it came not into his mind. You know, brethren, you can't hide your sins from God. You know what? When you do wrong things, you must understand that God can see your sins. Not only can he see your sins as a saved believer, don't forget you have the Holy Ghost of God indwelling in you. So when you sin with this body, okay, you have God in you. You know, the Bible says in Ephesians 4 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Back to Jeremiah 44 verse 22. Therefore, this evil is happened unto you as at this day. Moreover, Jeremiah said unto all the people and to all the women, hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt. Ye will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. Jeremiah is saying, yep, you know, you said you're going to disobey God. You said you're not going to listen to my preaching. You said you're going to continue serving the Queen of Heaven. You're going to continue, you know, completing those vows. Jeremiah says there's no chance for you. You've made your decision. The men, your wives, you've made your decision to worship the Queen of Heaven. So be it, okay? You're going to face the wrath of God. Once again, brethren, weak men, weak leadership. You know, the rise of feminism, you know, you know, I don't get angry at the ladies. I get angry at the men. The men became weak, okay? Say, what do you have against feminism? Feminism creates weak men. That's why I'm against it, okay? Feminism damages the family structure. You know, in the early 1900s when feminism was first sort of, I guess modern feminism was sort of being first pushed, the push was for the right for women to vote, okay? They're saying, well, why can the men vote? Surely we deserve to hear the voice of a woman and they wanted to cast a woman vote. Now listen, brethren, that may seem very innocent. That may seem even very fair. Yeah, why is it that men can vote and not women? That doesn't seem very fair. But that's because feminism has made you think that there's a separation between husband and wife. I've already told you God has made us to be one flesh. I've already told you that God has made man to be the head of his household. The reason, you know, in the past we had men voting and just the men voting is not because, you know, the vote was the voice of men and we only wanted to hear from men and we didn't want to hear from women and that men voted against women or something. That's not why men voted. The reason there was one vote for men is not because he voted for man, he voted for his family, right? When a man would go and cast his vote, he said, this is my vote. This is what's best for me. This is what's best for my wife. This is what's best for my children. I'm voting for the best interest for my family, whether it's my wife, whether it's my sons, whether it's my daughters, my entire family, I'm casting a vote for my family because I'm a family man and because I love my family. What happened? We allow the women to vote. What does that do? It creates a division. Now it's the idea, well, you know, that was the vote of men and now we need to hear from the women and so what it becomes is, you know, so-called, man gets to vote, women gets to vote, but who's representing the family? You've divided the family, okay? And so something so innocent as women voting, it's not just the voice of the woman. When the man voted, it was the voice of his wife. It was the voice of the husband because they're one flesh. It was the voice of the children because the father wants the best for his children's future. That's why there was one vote. When you separate the votes, you break the family unit and you say, hey, there ought to be alternative votes, alternative views and alternative voices that do not represent a family anymore but represents the division of genders. That's not right, brethren. You know, God created us not to be operating individually, I'm a man, I only care for men, women only care for women and women issues. No, we ought to care for family issues. This is why we have a breakdown of the family today. This is why we have so many broken homes. This is why we have divorce rates that are through the roof and that marriages are being destroyed. This is why we have, you know, the sodomites and the LGBT getting married. No one cares about the family unit anymore and then we wonder why our nation, why our world is going down to the toilet. We wonder why God is judging this world, because we destroyed the family. Brethren, as far as I'm concerned, you know what, I'm gonna do the best I can to retain the importance of the family units. It's the best place to be when you have a man as the head of his wife, okay, who's looking out for the best interest of his wife, who's looking out for the best interest of his kids, who says, hey, I need to make sure there's food on the table, I need to make sure my family is fed and clothed and they've got a roof over their heads, I need to make sure that my wife is looked after, I'm gonna go out and work and work hard and provide and make sure I do the best I can for my family. Listen, that's gonna give the happiest home, that's gonna give the most satisfaction to men and the most satisfaction to a woman knowing there is a man that's looking out for her best interest, for her needs. And again, this is not about which one is better. Men go to work to provide for his wife, to provide for his children, okay? This is the service of a man. God has built us differently. We have different bodies, we can work harder, we can work longer hours, we can be more productive, okay? And the women have the temperament, the better temperament, we see this with little girls, right? Little girls, they love little babies from the very beginning, okay? And because God's put that in them, okay? That's how they're designed to care for children, to care for families. And then they go to the school and they get told, no, that's a worthless life. You go and work a career, you go and pretend to be a man, you go and work hard, okay? And leave your husband at home raising the kids. That's not God's intention. That's gonna create a very unhappy family dynamic. You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, 11, it says, nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman. What is it saying? Man cannot exist without the woman. So well, maybe women are better. Well, the woman, man cannot exist without a woman because the woman has to give birth to the man, okay? And then it says, neither the woman without the man. Why is the woman without the man? Because remember when God created Adam, okay? Eve was created from Adam's rib. Woman would not exist without the man, okay? And man would not exist without the woman, okay? Verse number 12, it says, for as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God. You know, one gender, one sex is not better than the other. We have different roles, we have different responsibilities, and the role of a man is to be the spiritual leader. Yes, in church, but also the spiritual leader in his house. You know what? If you see men, husbands, if you see your wife, you know, distancing away from the Lord, right? Not wanting to follow the Lord the way you would wish. You've got to come alongside them and be that leader and guide them, okay? You've got to be the help. That's why you're there, okay? You're there to be that spiritual leader for your wives. Verse number 26, therefore, hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt, behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man in Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, the Lord God liveth. We see the reason, the desire of God. Why did he leave this remnant of the port of the land in Judah initially? It's because he wanted a voice in Judah, the mouths of men in Judah, praising God, saying, the Lord liveth. That's why he was so angry that they ran away to Egypt, because now there's no voice in Judah praising the Lord, worshiping God. Listen, that's what God wants from us. You know, I don't know every suburb that you all live in, but I want God to be able to look down at every suburb, okay, at every town, every city, and say there is someone there, there is a Christian there that is able to praise me and say, the Lord liveth, the Lord God liveth. That's our jobs, to praise the Lord God. Never stop praising the Lord. That is what God's desire was for them to remain in the land of Judah, but now there was no voice praising the Lord. Verse number 27. Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there be an end of them. Yet, look at this, verse number 28. Yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah. So God says once again, there's going to be a tiny, this was already a tiny remnant. Now there's going to be a tiny remnant of the tiny remnant, okay. Again, guaranteed Jeremiah, Baruch, any other, anyone else, any other family that may have been faithfully serving God, okay. They're going to escape into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah that have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand mine and theirs. So God is saying that this small remnant of the remnant which escaped back into Judah, they'll be able to testify who spoke the truth. Was it the Lord God or was it the words of these men and their wives, okay. Of course, the Lord's word is true. Verse number 29. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil. Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy that sought his life. So God is just saying, hey, I'm going to take down Egypt by the Babylonians, by Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, in the same way that I used king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to destroy Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Can you please turn to Ephesians chapter 5? This is our last passage before we end the service today. Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 22. I want to end this as the conclusion, okay. Because I want men, especially the Christian men, men of my church, to be more manly, all right. You know, unfortunately, there's been a disaster, okay, in the previous generations. And we need to change it. We need to teach our boys what it is to be manly, okay, what it is to be more authoritative, all right. And, you know, there are many men, go to Ephesians chapter 5, go to Ephesians 5, there are men who are part of this church, or part of, you know, like-minded churches that understand their role as the leader of the household. But because they've not had good manly influences in their life, they still fail in leadership as husbands. So please go to Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 22. Ephesians 5, 22. Let's end on this one. It says, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Unpopular, I know. Against feminism, absolutely, okay. Submit yourselves to your own husbands. How far do you need to submit to your husband? As unto the Lord. As much as you would submit yourself to the Lord God, that's how wives are to submit themselves to their husbands. Now there are men right now going, Woo-hoo, yes, can't wait to get married. I get married and that woman's going to just do anything I say. I'm gonna say, hey, honey, do X, Y, and Z, and I expect her to do X, Y, and Z, and if she doesn't do it, I'm going to chew her out. I'm going to rebuke her. Is that how God treats you? You know, every time you sin, you disobey God. Every time you sin, you don't submit to God. Does God just chew you out and destroy you? Or does God show mercy? Does he show love? Does he come to help you to learn the truth? You know, and so some men, because they've not had good manly leadership, right, they think, well, I just marry a woman. I can tell her whatever, you know, to do, and she's going to be literally my slave. She's going to be my servant. And, you know, she's going to shut her mouth and do whatever I want her to do. That's not going to work. You're not going to have a happy home, okay. You're not going to have a happy wife. You're not going to have a happy life. Verse number 20, 23. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands sometimes even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, So let the wives be to their own husbands in when they agree. Is that when the wives are to be subject to the husbands? When they agree? Sometimes. So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. In everything. Now I don't know if you're having marriage problems. I don't know who I'm talking to online, right? If you're having marriage problems, ladies, you know what you need to first do? Submit to your husbands in everything. But here's the thing. I'm not talking to the ladies right now. I'm talking to the men. Men. I want you to be more manly, okay? I want you to be manly like God. I don't want you to be manly like what you may think in your own imagination that to be, okay? I want you to be a strong leader. I want you to be the head of your family the way God intends you to be. Look at verse number 25. Husbands, love your wives. Why does God have to tell us to love our wives? You know why? Because many husbands just love themselves. Ah, I can't wait to get married. So I can be served. So she can be submissive to me. It's all about me. And she's got to do everything that I command her to do. There's that element. She has to be submissive to you. But you are to love her. Husbands, love your wives. How much? Even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands, you ought to be willing to die for your wife. To lay down your life. You say, you know, this one job that I'm working, it's not enough to provide for my wife. It's not enough to provide for my family. Well, you lay down your life and get a second job. You go and work hard and you show them love. You show them how much you're willing to provide and to support for them. Look at this, verse number 26. That he, speaking about Christ, how he deals with the church. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. You know what? It's describing Jesus Christ with the church and using that parallel between a husband and the wife. It says that, you know what? Jesus Christ comes and washes the church with his word. He sanctifies the church with his word. He wants to make sure that the church is without spots, without wrinkle, okay? And so men, what is he saying? You two have to be the spiritual leader for your wife. You know what? If you see your wife with spots and blemishes, we're not talking about physical here. We're talking about in their spiritual life. If you see them struggling, okay, if you see them struggling in the faith, you see them struggling, maybe not wanting to be in church or not wanting to pray or not wanting to read their Bibles or you see them seeking other, you know, feminist ideas or whatever. You know what? It's your job not to just rebuke them and to hate them. It's your job to love them, to pick up God's word and to lovingly come before them and show you, look, honey, this is where you're wrong. Let me show you what God's word says. Honey, if I've not been loving enough, I'm going to show you more love now because I want you to be submissive to me the way you should be submissive to the Lord God. Let me guide you through God's word. It is the man's job to lead his wife when you see spots or wrinkles in her faith. It's your job to fix that. It's your job to search God's word. Seek God. God, Jesus Christ is your head. Seek your head to help your wife, to help your family. And so this isn't just one way women submit to the man. Men are to love their wives to the point that they would give up their life, to the point when they realize their wife is going wayward, they pick up the Bible and lovingly guide them, show them, be the spiritual leader. That's what it is to be manly. That's what it is to be the head of the house just in the same way that Christ is the head of this church is the way that men are to be heads over their wives and over their families. All right, brethren, I hope that you've learned something there in Jeremiah chapter 44. I want the family unit to come back. I want people to be able to have strong marriages, right? Good strong leaders as men, faithful ladies that are submitted to their husbands, children that obey their parents, but above the family unit, of course, being submitted to Christ and to the Lord God. Let's pray.