(8-28-26) A Nashville pastor, Zach Helton, co-pastor of Glendale Baptist Church, a congregation associated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists, is facing scrutiny after teaching that God once had a wife named Asherah who was later written out of the Bible, made the claims during a recent sermon.

Helton told his congregation that Asherah was the “female divine presence who was worshipped alongside Adonai” and the ancient consort of God before biblical authors concealed her identity.

Helton’s church bio states he is “deeply shaped by the teachings of Jesus, Buddhist practice, mysticism, and perennial wisdom over any particular religious expression.” He condemned King Josiah for destroying idols and Asherah poles during his reign, lamenting the impact it would have on young Israelite girls who needed a feminine deity to look up to. Helton argued that Josiah’s reforms were motivated by a desire to consolidate political power, not theological purity.

The pastor claimed that ancient Israel worshipped not only Yahweh but Yahweh and Asherah together, and that the prophetic literature shows nobody had a problem with that. He asserted that scriptures were modified and history rewritten to eliminate the divine feminine, blaming “fragile male egos” for the change. “Can you imagine for a minute being a woman in seventh-century BCE Israel?” Helton asked his congregation.

Critics have pointed out that nowhere in the Bible is God said to have a wife, and that Asherah is consistently presented as a false idol. One response noted, “Asherah is not Eve, nor is she the wife of God for God does not have a wife.” The theory Helton presented, while discussed in some academic circles, remains highly controversial and is rejected by orthodox Christian theology.

About Helton…from church website

Zach Helton

he/him/his

Hi, I’m Zach.

I’m a pastor, writer, and spiritual care counselor who cares deeply about helping people reconnect with what is meaningful, alive, and true in themselves, their relationships, and the world around them.

Before coming to Glendale, I spent years in pastoral ministry and hospital spiritual care, walking with people through grief, doubt, transition, and the tender places where we need to get in touch with something deeper. I’m also a Board-Certified Chaplain, which is a very official-sounding way of saying I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to listen.

A lot of my work lives at the intersection of spirituality, story, contemplation, and emotional healing—especially with people untangling themselves from fear- or shame-based religion and trying to rediscover what faith, meaning, or the sacred might look like on the other side. I’m deeply shaped by the teachings of Jesus, Buddhist practice, mysticism, and perennial wisdom over any particular religious expression.

I’m also the author of the Metta Valley Gospel series, a literary reimagining of the Jesus story through the lenses of healing, liberation, and spiritual awakening. Outside of church life, I create online resources for spiritually curious people, seekers, mystics, and evangelicals exploring healthier and more life-giving ways to engage spirituality.

When I’m not writing sermons or novels, I’m usually reading, playing with for my kids, or getting way too invested in some new fictional world.