Fall comes once a year at our house just like yours, but though I am not sure how you react to it, it is a marvel and mysterious miracle to me every year. How beautiful the leaves are when they change colors! How can they be so beautiful when they are in fact beginning to die and will soon fall to the ground only to be mulched up by the trusty rusty lawn mower. The beauty of the entire fall season grabs me each year as if I were seeing this phenomenon for the first time. Along with the spectacular changes in the color of the world around us, there comes cooler weather, which means we can begin to change our wardrobe choices. We pull out the sweaters, boots, coats, and gloves, replacing the sandals, short sleeves and swimsuits which take their place in the attic until their turn comes around once again. Cool evenings and mornings allow for pleasant times on the deck with the beginning of firepit season, marshmallows roasting, and hot chocolate can be smelled throughout the house. Yum!
Even before fall officially rolls in according to the calendar, the stores have Halloween decorations and costumes displayed and orange can be readily seen everywhere we look, from pumpkins, to leaves, to Jack-O-Lanterns, to candles and more. I do not do Halloween decorations as much as simply Fall décor, which starts around the beginning of September in our home, but Halloween comes around once a year also, whether we like it or not or participate in the activities of it or not. For the Smith family we do celebrate something every year on October 31st, which is the birth of our beautiful, second daughter Ashley LeiNae Smith (Kovach). Yes, she was a Halloween baby, born via an emergency C-Section whilst her big sister, three years older than her, was out having fun, trick-or-treating with the babysitter’s family, dressed as a clown. The premature little sister, Ashley is now thirty-four years old, and a beautiful grown woman with a wonderful husband and three beautiful children of her own. So of course, we must celebrate this every year!
Well, when you have birthdays, you must have gifts! A couple of weeks before Halloween this year, I went looking for perfume to give her, since she had hinted that that is what she wanted but did not know what type she really liked. Because my time was limited, I could only go to a local shop near our home where I thought they might have perfume. Ashley had indicated ingredients, such as vanilla, and flowery tones that she would like, so the quick search began. I began picking up the bottles and inspecting the ingredients to see what might be in them, because there were not any open samples to smell. As I was perusing through the aisle, looking at various packages, one caught my eye, though the outer box was a pleasant color, the name of it to me was directly insulting and offensive. The name of the perfume was, ‘God is Woman’ by Ariana Grande. I do not point this out as an offense to Ariana Grande, because I do not know anything about her except that she is a young singer. I have heard her voice from time to time, however, I could probably not pick it out in a lineup nor any of the songs she sings or produces, however, the name of this perfume is offensive.
The very name of this perfume only proves how ignorant she is of the Word of God, and the God of the Word. It shows how devoid she is of any knowledge of who God is, or who He is not, what He has done or not done, and is in fact an insult to both God and mankind, since we were created in the very image of the Almighty God. The very definition of a woman should be the first clue. We have all been given the ability to think and reason by God, as He can, but why don’t we think before we speak or do things? Using this as a case in point. We were all created equal; however, we are not all the same. In the scripture we find how God is the Creator, and that he created man and woman, and gave them differing roles in the world he made for them and in life, being made with distinct parts and capabilities physically, emotionally, psychologically, and biologically. They were both to be fruitful and multiply the earth which is a joint effort; female having the egg or seed and male the ability to fertilize them, neither can fulfill this command alone. Subsequently, Adam was to dress and keep the garden, and have dominion over the other beasts, and Eve was to be his help meet. From a mini-bible study of Genesis, we can see that they were different.
The institution of marriage between a man and a woman was also established in the beginning by God. Genesis 2:15-24 tells us, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” They were made for one another, and the woman was from the man to be an extension of him and a help to him in life.
In March of 2022, Senator Marsha Blackburn tried to get Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to provide the definition of ‘woman’. She dodged the question by saying that she was not a biologist. Since then, many clips have come out asking others the same question and they just seem stumped. Not children, but adults who have been living, breathing, working, having relationships with women or are women themselves. This of course is all because of political correctness and the transgender politics that are prevalent today, but God was not confused when He created two different genders, male and female, to have separate roles in this life that compliment one another. I fear that Ariana Grande must fall into the category of not being able to answer the simple question that the Judge refused to answer as well. If she would have stopped a moment to think about and define the words in name she was choosing for her perfume, she would not have used the name, ‘God is Woman.’
Another question to pose when selecting this name should have been, ‘Who is God’? An equally short bible study will give you the answer to this question. Firstly, John 4:24 states, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” He is a Spirit that fills all space and time, therefore, to reduce God down to a single entity, whether man or woman, is contrary to what He indeed is. Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God has always been. He is eternal and is the Creator, not a created being. Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Everything created came after his existence. Colossians 1:16-17 tells us, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Of course, we know that neither we nor Ariana Grande would be here if it were not for God, but what about the perfume in question? Consider the ingredients label which states, “The fragrance is composed of 91% naturally derived, clean ingredients, and is 100% vegan and cruelty-free. The scent is a blend of ambrette, juicy pear, orris, Turkish rose petals, creamy cedarwood, and Madagascar vanilla. The fragrance belongs to the amber floral family, which is characterized by warm, sweet, and powdery notes.” Everything in that perfume or any other, first originated from something God created, whether it is a flower, plant, fruit or chemical. The only one able to create from ‘ex nihilo’ was God. This word we find used in the Old Testament stating that, God created life ‘out of nothing,’ or He spoke everything into existence ‘from nothing.’
We know that God is one, as seen in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” Isaiah 42:8 tells us, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
Multiple scriptures tell us that God is Holy. Such as Leviticus 20:7 which states, “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.” And 1 Peter 1:15-16 reiterates, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy.” Another important aspect that we know about God is that He is love, therefore, without God in our lives, there would be no love, because it is His very nature and essence. 1 John 4:8 says, “He that loveth not knows not God; for God is love.” In Romans 8:37-39 Paul says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Everyone is familiar to some extent with what we call, “The Ten Commandments” and many could quote some or all of them, however, many do not know the significance of them beyond a list of thou shalt nots. The fact of the matter is they depict the very nature of who God is and what he loves and hates. This is also in fact why we can never relegate them to being just ‘Old Testament,’ ‘old fashioned’ or ‘no longer applicable.’ Within this short look into who God is, we have not, nor will we see it stated that ‘God is Woman,’ yet there will be those who say, neither do we see where it states that ‘God is a man’ or ‘God is not woman.’ This is in fact true, yet a moot issue, because we have already established that ‘God is a Spirit,’ however, we can take our study a little further for additional clarification.
Due to mankind’s disobedience, their relationship was severed with God in the Garden of Eden, necessitating a plan of redemption. Because God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent, he knew in advance what would be needed and had already put the plan in motion, and here is the nutshell version. When the time was right, God, who is Spirit, cloaked himself in flesh and came to earth to die in our place. You may be thinking, how was this possible? Well, He touched the seed/egg of a young virgin girl named Mary so that she would conceive a child, which would be the flesh He would dwell in, which biologically and technically speaking, would be considered His son, since He was the Father. Mary had known no other man. When the baby boy, the male child, was born, they named Him Jesus, by instructions from God, because it means, ‘Yeshua has become our salvation.’ What a miracle and act of grace on God’s part toward us! I am so thankful he came.
Now the purpose for mentioning all of this in this article, besides the fact that it is the Gospel, the ‘Good News’ that leads to our salvation, is to further show, the absolute false premise of the statement in every way, that ‘God is Woman.’ Throughout the Old Testament, we see God always being referred to, using the pronouns of He, Him, His. Though this is such a controversial subject in the 21st century we live in, and ludicrous to say the least, we address the obvious. These are male gender pronouns, and the Creator was not confused when He made male and female. With that being said, when He came to earth as mentioned before, he came as a male, born as a boy and grew into a man for the purpose of dying for our sins, from the womb of a woman, Mary. She later had to seek redemption through the spiritual new birth just as we do. She was not God, just a vessel, used by God. Anyone wanting to be called by a pronoun of they or them, may be describing the condition of schizophrenia rather than transgender, because there were only two genders created. Though God, the Spirit, cannot die or be reduced to one place or time, however, Christ Jesus, the man, which was flesh that God prepared for this purpose, died, was buried, rose again on the third day, and is alive forevermore. He now has an immortal body, however, the role of sonship will cease, when we are all reunited with him in heaven at the marriage supper of the Lamb, because the relationship with God and man will be fully restored. The institution of marriage is so sacred and such a close and special relationship, that God chose to use this analogy between Himself as the groom, and us as the church, the bride.
We must be cautious to not insult the intelligence of the living God. We must not try to reduce Him down to a thing, place or put him in our time frame, or a gimmick because it will produce a good sales pitch on which we can collect. When we do, we are treading on dangerous territory. This is just another trap of the enemy to confuse us and those around us. He will get a chuckle right along with you on your trip to the bank with your dollars and cents made from a mockery of the Almighty, because he is not your friend, and he knows his time is short. I say in sincerity, that we can only hope that this little girl who possibly unknowingly, named her perfume with three little words that preach an entire sermon of false doctrine and idolatry to all who see it, will come to know the God that I know. If she would seek understanding, God is not far from any one of us. Paul told those on Mars Hill in Acts 17:23-28, “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” He continues in verse thirty, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Ariana is no more guilty than any of us who make idols in our lives daily. This command to repent is all encompassing, it includes you and me.
I have never smelt this perfume, and possibly never will, because I did not purchase it. Yet how impressive it would have been if Ariana could have used a title for her perfume that would have glorified the Almighty! The possibilities are endless. God is Holy, God is Spirit, God is Love, God is Almighty, God is One, etc. By using descriptions of who and what God really is, she could name a complete collection and evangelize nations. If she would ever come into direct contact with the presence of the true, living God just once, she would know that her perfume could never compare to the beautiful aroma of His precious Spirit. Yes, she would want to bottle it and share it with the world, yet not for personal gain, but because she had encountered the greatest thing she had ever known. Yes, she may want to market it, but it is not for sale, it is a priceless gift. Everyone can experience it for themselves. It is not just for the elite or those who can afford it. Once we are a bearer of His Spirit, others will want to know where in the world they can get it, but it is not of this world. Let us not insult God’s intelligence, but in all things give Him the honor, respect, and glory He deserves.