Is Almighty God our Father and Mother?

A teaching that is rapidly spreading

Have you heard of “mother God”?  

A friend out west wrote me that he had recently attended a meeting where a nationally known speaker was promoting the concept that God is both Father and Mother to all of us.  A simple Google search reveals that many are teaching this and have taught this for quite some time.  Have you heard of this?

There’s a trend to remove any “sexist” references in the Bible. So “Father” becomes “Parent”.  Brother becomes sibling.  “Son” turns into “child”.  Part of this is reflecting the emphasis that really started in this present world  – but on a much larger scale.  We’re seeing schools and even stores removing “sexist” labels like male and female, boy and girl, etc.  We’re being told now there is no such thing as a toy for boys or toys for girls.  Remember God created humankind as male and female and HE said that was very good! 

I didn’t mind when we were compelled to say “Flight attendant” instead of stewardess, because more and more men were doing this job.  And it made sense to say “firefighter” instead of “fireman”, as more and more women were joining the work force in all professions.

But now these same forces have come into the body of Christ and they want to impose their same gender-free language to the Supreme Being – whom we all call our heavenly “Father”. 

These religious feminists and their friends want us to feel free to pray to our “Mother God” or “God the Mother”.  Have you heard about this?  This has been fairly common in the more liberal church groups, but now we’re seeing it preached even in the conservative evangelical groups, sabbath keeping groups and even the Hebrew Roots movement! 

In fact, Yeshua said to never call a human being your spiritual “father” as a title (I mean in the religious sense; not in the family arena).  So why do Catholics call their priests “Father”?  Why is their top leader called Holy Father, a title reserved for Almighty God?  The world calls him “Pope” which simply means “Father”.  It’s clearer in Spanish and Italian, where he’s called “Papa Francisco” (Pope Francis).  Here’s what Yeshua said:

Matthew 23:8-9, quoting Christ:

“But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”

So two points:

• Don’t refer to priests and ministers as “Father”.  In fact, why can’t we just call ministers by their first name, since we’re all family together – brothers and sisters of God’s family, and we’re all children of our Father in heaven.  Peter and Paul and James and John were all simply known by their first names. Are ministers and priests today better than they?  No need to say “Mr.” this or that – just first names.

• This would have been a golden opportunity for Yeshua to say “Father or Mother” here , but he did not.  The word he used was purely “father”  (it would have been “Abba” in Aramaic, but in Greek it was “Patera”.)  In the New Testament, Yeshua chose to say “Father”, especially in reference to the Almighty, over 400 times!  That same word is used also for Abraham their ancestral father, but mostly it’s used in reference to God. 
• Does it matter if we start referring to God as our Mother as well? 
• Is that new teaching true?
• What does Scripture actually tell us? What did the Son of God teach us about this?
• We read of “him” – not “her” EVERY time we read about God. God is NOT male, nor female. But El Shaddai – God Almighty – always describes himself in masculine terms, as “Father” or in terms like “him” or “he”.   
• We NEVER – not once – read of God being described as “Mother” or “her”. God is always in male terms – like king, ruler, Shepherd, Husband.  Though we find him described in non-gender terms like Rock, fortress, shield, Banner, Light, etc. – we never find feminine terms or pronouns to describe God directly.  Sometimes he is “LIKE” this or that, but never directly called anything in feminine terms.
• NOWHERE does the Holy Word of God call Yahweh our “mother”.  Nowhere. He is – especially in the New Testament – called our “Father” – over and over – Matthew 6:9; 23:9;  Galatians 1:1;  Ephesians 5:20.   There is no precedent in the Bible for calling God “Mother”.  And likewise Jesus is called our Husband – never our Wife.  He is our King, never our Queen. Never. Ever.  And don’t get sucked into that heresy of calling God “Mother God” or something similar.  That is simply going against what Scripture teaches!  I don’t care who is teaching that heresy. If it’s heresy – resist it.  Reject it. 
• Our King (not Queen) and Savior Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus the Christ – came to reveal Yahweh as his FATHER – and our Father. This was a powerful new teaching. Though there are some Old Testament scriptures that mention God as “Father’, those scriptures were seen more as an analogy, and not as a real fact. Yeshua came telling us to pray to “our Father in heaven…”  (Matthew 6:9)  He told Mary Magdalene at the resurrection to tell the disciples he was going “to my God and your God, to my FATHER and YOUR Father” (John 20:17).    These are the words of Christ, our SAVIOR, directly. 

Why did Yeshua say to call no earthly man your spiritual father?  Because it is so important that we understand Yahweh El Shaddai, the Eternal Almighty God, is our FATHER, and not our mother or uncle or aunt or any such thing. That title of “Father” is so vitally important to be kept pure and safe from dilution or change by the change-mongers. 

This Babylonish confusion – IS worming its way into the body of Christ, into the believers’ meeting halls. 

So the questions:

God is neither male nor female.  He is God. But as we shall see, Yahweh is ALWAYS called by masculine names and titles and pronouns (he, him).  Always. 

There are some imagery and “pictures” of God in scripture that show him as a gentle nursing mom, or as concerned for his family as a mother bear is – and so on – but these are exactly that: imagery. Pictures. They’re saying God can be “LIKE” this or that, but NOWHERE is God called our Mother, in scripture. More on this as we go along.

Having said that, I myself have reminded my listeners for several years now that when God created mankind, He created them male and female and both Adam and Eve were created to be like God, to be in His image. I’ve believed for a long time that we understand Elohim’s nature and what He’s like when we understand man and woman. Some of his nature and characteristics he predominantly gave to men and some of his nature he predominantly gave to women.  I’ve believed and taught this for a long time.  See the scripture below. I can go this far with the concept of God’s nature. 

But does that mean we have to believe our God is both our Father and Mother?

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, "Let Us make man (meaning mankind) in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Click on “Continue reading” to see the rest of this explanation.

So is God our Father and Mother?  No.  That’s just plain wrong.

In this New Age mentality that surrounds us, there is a huge trend to emasculate the males, especially white males.  It’s harder for them to get government contracts.  Minorities and women and gays are being given preference (The new announced head of the Army is gay, for example).  The US Supreme Court gives the go-ahead on same-sex “marriage”.  Former athletes decide to change who they biologically are -- into the opposite sex.  Our youth are beginning to be programmed in our schools to be understanding and sympathetic to all of this confusion going on.  Books are being printed for our youth – about children being raised by two men or by two women.

And so the result is NEUTERING everyone.  Everything and everyone is just one big blob now.  And it’s having its effect. Fewer and fewer people – and even preachers and ministers – are willing to stand up and speak up for the truth.  God made us male and female.  And God – Yahweh Elohim –everywhere in the scriptures describes HIMSELF in the masculine terms. 

Some feminists may take this as sexist. So be it. I’m not.  Look at all the many sermons I have given about women in the Bible.  How Jesus treated women.  The 5 women mentioned in Yeshua’s ancestral lines (2 sermons on that).  Sermons about Ruth and Boaz. A whole sermon about the woman of John 8 and how Yeshua treated her.  I’ve defended women’s intellect and insight. 

But none of that changes the fact that God depicts himself exclusively as “he”, as “Father”; always in male terms (though once again, he is neither male nor female himself). 

Here are some Biblical pointers I use:

My point is:  if God is also our Mother, Yeshua would have said so.  He never did.  In fact, what Yeshua did was to tell us that God is not only our Father – but is our Abba – our DADDY. So it’s VERY clear what Yeshua’s intentions and teachings on this were.

• Religious feminists would rather teach that Yeshua was trapped in the cultural times he was in.  That it was a patriarchal society and everyone had to cow-tow to the culture. What nonsense!  That is almost blasphemous to teach that Christ came with anything other than his own father’s words. He said several times that his words were not his words but what His FATHER (not Mother) told him to say.  So those claiming that Yeshua and the apostles and prophets had no recourse but to use the language of their day are minimizing the INSPIRATION of the Bible – that every word is ‘GOD-BREATHED”. 
• Does Biblical IMAGERY – do word pictures – make God a MOM? 

Was Yeshua (Jesus) speaking of God as “father” simply because he was trapped in the cultural norms of his day?  Let’s see what Yeshua himself said!

John 12:48-50

He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

John 15:7-8

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

John 17:7-8

“Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.”

And now this warning to those who feel they can change Yeshua’s words from Father to Mother, or from he to she, etc: 

John 8:47

He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

Some who speak of God being our Mother point to verses that say God will fight for us LIKE a bear whose cubs have been taken away, or like a lioness on the prowl for dinner.  (See Hosea 13:8).  But God isn’t saying “therefore I’m a mother, like that mother bear”. NO! He’s simply saying he will be as ferocious as a mother bear robbed of her cubs.  Another one they’ll use is Isaiah 42:14 where God says even he will “cry out LIKE a woman in travail.”  But is he saying He IS a woman in travail – or that he could have a cry similar to that of a woman giving birth?  Do you see the difference?

To compare God the Father’s tenderness, compassion and desire to protect his people -- to that of a mother eagle, or mother bear – and then conclude that shows he is a mother, is making quite a leap.  God DOES protect and comfort his children (Isaiah 66:12-13;  Hosea 11:1-4), but in all of this imagery, God HIMSELF is never called “Mother”.  Never. 

I’d say the same thing in verses like Isaiah 49:14-16.  It’s a word picture. It’s not calling God your Mom.  God does describe his forgiving nature and gentleness to that of a comforting mother  (See Isaiah 66:13) – but that’s just so we can understand that the Almighty God who can breathe out universes can also be exceedingly gentle. He’s still “He”.  HE’s still “Father God” in all of this.  So I’m aware of these verses and these arguments.  But they don’t change the fact that God is FATHER, not Mother.

Why – just because God says He is love, and is kind and gentle – why does that give any credence to the idea that God is also “Mother”?  There have been countless fathers and dads who have been loving, kind and gentle too – all while being very masculine and strong as well.

OUR Prince, OUR King, OUR Savior could chase out the money changers and be tough enough to go through a scourging and crucifixion – all while weeping as He said he would have protected Jerusalem like a mother hen does her chicks (Matthew 23:37).  This makes his masculine nature all the more awesome in my books. 

 For that matter, Paul likened himself to a mother too – Galatians 4:19 “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you…”  But should we then say that they should have called Paul their “Mom” now?  How silly is that!?

Moses said something similar in Numbers 11:12 when he asks “Did I conceive these people?”. But Moses  would never have wanted the Israelites calling him “Mom”!  Imagery used by Scripture does not change the person from male terms to female terms (Father – to mother; God – to goddess, etc.) 

• Another argument they use is that Israel was stuck in their time warp and influenced by the nations around them to a “male” God.   But that’s an empty argument too.  Israel was unique in having one God.  It was exactly those nations around them which had female gods like Asherah, Ishtar and Isis in Egypt.  But not Israel – at least not as long as they were faithful to God’s covenant.

Left to themselves, Israel descended into worshipping the pagan goddesses around them—and brought on the wrath of the one true living God when they did.  Israel’s concept of the FATHERHOOD of God went against the grain of the cultures and societies of their day.  So obviously having a masculine figure for God is from God himself and not just an Israelite idea.

• God WARNS US about making any changes, deletions or additions to HIS word.  If the Hebrew or Greek word is “him” or “he” or “Father”  or “Son” or “brother” – we will be on very thin ice to say something different. That will be changing the very words of God himself, something he commands us never to do. 

Feminists teach that God cannot be described in human characterizations, so they tell us to just dump the whole male-female thing from Genesis to maps.  Even if I agreed with their premise, I could not go along because Almighty God says “DON’T YOU DARE CHANGE MY WORDING OR MY Scriptures!”  See Revelation 22:18-19 – where your very part in the Book of Life could be at stake if you change or take anything away from God’s word.  See also Deut 4:2 and Proverbs 30:6. 

So it can be very dangerous for your future to buy into their heresy.

• Understanding God the Father and His SON – the son of God – has a lot to do with understanding the very theology of the Bible.  God is the one who begets us. That’s a Father’s role (See Deut 32:18).  God creates us, as a FATHER does (Malachi 2:10).  We have one God – the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6).  It’s this first force, first power of creating – that resides in our God as Father/Creator – see also Isaiah 43:1, 7, 15. 

I strongly urge any of you who hear anyone teaching this unscriptural heresy of “God the Mother” to speak up, say something, and reject this heresy and anti-Bible doctrine.  Silence is often seen as agreement and consent.  Don’t let this heresy take hold.  Be on guard against attempts to pray to “Mother God” or to speak of God as “her”.  Creating a new god to fit a feminist image of what God should be – is simply creating a new idol.  Now that is very scary. 

Hold fast to the truth. Be strong in the word.  Hold fast to the truth of God’s word.  Don’t “go along to get along” on something this important.  It’s very dangerous to be changing the very words and teachings of God – which he gave us through Christ.