The Spirit of Ishtar: How Sexualized Culture Is Destroying Trust and Leaving Us Alone

Posted on by troypzehnder

“It is not good for man to be alone.” — Genesis 2:18

God’s very first declaration about human need was simple: companionship. Not money. Not power. Not status. He created us for each other for love, for covenant, for trust. But today, more than ever, men and women are finding themselves isolated, suspicious, and broken. Why?

Because an ancient spirit has returned.

An Old Demon in a New Age

Jonathan Cahn’s Return of the Gods explains what so many of us feel but often can’t articulate: the gods of ancient Israel, demonic powers that seduced nations, are back. Chief among them is Ishtar (also known as Ashtoreth), the goddess of sexuality, war, and destruction.

In Israel’s time, her worship shattered marriages and corrupted faith through ritual prostitution and public displays of perversion. Her agenda was always the same: destroy the covenant between man, woman, and God.

Fast forward to today, and her shrines aren’t hidden in temples, they glow in our pockets, scroll across our feeds, and dominate our culture.

The New Temples: Social Media

Once upon a time, prostitution was whispered about in back alleys; shame kept it underground. Now, social media has dragged it into the spotlight and branded it as empowerment.

While ancient Israel bowed at Ishtar’s shrines, modern society worships TikTok, Instagram, and OnlyFans. The goddess of lust simply upgraded her platform.

The Cycle Feeds Itself

Here’s how the trap works in our digital age:

  • Women: Realize exposure brings attention, and attention brings money.
  • Men: See an endless buffet of temptation, fueling dissatisfaction.
  • Result: No trust. No loyalty. No foundation for long-term companionship.

And because no one trusts, both sides dig in deeper, women show more to compete for attention, men chase harder for the next thrill. The cycle feeds itself until relationships collapse and loneliness becomes the new normal.

Stats That Cut Deep:

  • Social media use and loneliness: Young adults with high social media usage have twice the odds of feeling socially isolated, and those who use it more frequently have over three times the likelihood of perceived isolation HelpGuide.org+12PMC+12PMC+12.
  • A later longitudinal 9-year study found both passive and active social media use are linked to increasing feelings of loneliness over time, creating a continuous feedback loop News-Medical.
  • Infidelity rates: Around 20% of married men and 13% of married women admit to cheating PMC+15Cooper Trachtenberg Law Group+15Medium+15. Another survey found that one-third of Americans say they have cheated on their partner, with a significant portion being emotional affairs The Survey Center on American Life.
  • Secret digital behavior: 1 in 10 adults admit to hiding messages or posts from their partner, and 8% maintain secret social media accounts. Shockingly, 1 in 3 divorces now begins with an online affair McKinley Irvin.
  • Phubbing: 25% of married couples and 42% of unmarried, committed couples report feeling distracted or undervalued because their partner is on their phone—eroding intimacy and trust NyaS Publs+15en.wikipedia.org+15McKinley Irvin+15.

More Than Culture, It’s Warfare

This isn’t just cultural decay, it’s a calculated demonic strategy. Ishtar’s aim has always been inversion:

  • Marriage becomes casual hookups.
  • Intimacy becomes performance.
  • Companionship becomes competition.
  • Trust becomes suspicion.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood…” This is spiritual warfare. When covenant dies, society collapses.

The Hope of Covenant Love

But there is hope. God always preserves a remnant.

  • Guard your heart and eyes: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully…” (Job 31:1).
  • Restore covenant love: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5:25).
  • Build trust through truth and prayer: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

The lie of Ishtar is that men and women cannot trust one another. The truth of Christ is that His covenantal love, sacrificial, faithful, eternal, is stronger than lust, deception, and the spirit of this age.

The Final Word

From the beginning, God declared: “It is not good for man to be alone.” That was His design. Anything that leaves us isolated and distrustful is not from Him.

The spirit of Ishtar may dominate our feeds, but it does not have to dominate our lives. When we return to God’s design for covenant love, we reclaim what the enemy has stolen.

In a world drowning in loneliness, trust and faithfulness become the greatest act of rebellion, and the brightest light of hope.

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