GOSPEL unto you than that
which we have preached unto you,
LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Galatians 1:8)
It states that when God created the
heavens, he placed the Zodiac collection of stars in the sky. These various
shapes and formations of people and animals were to depict the fall and
redemption of man and the coming of Jesus with his death and resurrection.
However, the names of these formations
were later corrupted by man and given other names like Leo, Virgo, Capricorn
and so on.
It was the Babylonian occultists who
were responsible for this corruption and turned God's 'gospel in the stars'
into future predictions and determining man's personality traits, with which we
are familiar today.
Ethelbert W. Bullinger in 1893
popularized the 1863 work of Miss Florence Rolleston of England, in his book
"The Witness of the Stars". Prior to this, Joseph Seiss released his
book "The Gospel in the Stars" in 1884.
On page 1 of his book "Witness of the
Stars" he states that for 2500 years man was without written revelation
from God. He then poses the question - "Did God leave himself without a
witness?" He answers his own question by stating that he didn't as he
revealed himself and the gospel in the stars.
He quotes Romans 1:19-20.
20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:19-20).
Not so. Bullinger stumbles badly with
the misinterpretation of "in them"
of verse 19 as 'the stars'.
In fact 'in them' are the unrighteous and ungodly men who have rejected the
creator and worshipped the creation. Romans chapter 1 tells of God's wrath
toward those who have rejected the knowledge of God and instead worshipped the
creation.
After rejecting God the creator, Romans
1:21-23, 24 shows that the pagan imagination of man worshipped the creation.
Vast evidence is available and can be seen in totem poles, mascots for sporting
teams and the tribal worship such as
animal deities and so on.
Why, man simply looked in the sky and
imagined that these 'divine creatures' must have come from heaven. And so man
put them in a Zodiac in the sky.
From Babylonian occult theory. It's
established that the Babylonian night sky watchers put names to the various
figures they imagined they saw. "... the Babylonians were a nation of stargazers, and that they kept a body
of men to do nothing else but report eclipses, appearances of the moon,
sunspots, etc., etc." "Astronomy,
mixed with astrology, occupied a large number of tablets in the Babylonian
libraries." "They were inventors of the Zodiac." (Dr
Budge in "Witness of the Stars" p11-12 E. W. Bullinger).
God says to Babylon "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly
prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come
upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them;..."
(Isaiah 47:13-14)
Clearly, God is not impressed. Could God
create the Zodiac in the sky and then condemn people for stargazing?
Here is what Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, thought of his own star gazers and prognosticators compared to Daniel.
"And in
all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he
found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in
all his realm."
(Daniel 1:20)
He did. The Bible has the names Pleiades,
Arcturus and Orion. (Job 9:9)
There is no practical or visible evidence to
support this claim. Quite clearly, one would need the spaced-out brain of a
hippie on drugs to even start and see some of the shapes suggested. Bullinger
even admits
"THE FIGURES THEMSELVES ARE PERFECTLY ARBITRARY. THERE IS NOTHING IN
THE GROUP OF STARS TO EVEN SUGGEST THE FIGURES." (p17).
God certainly named the stars (Ps 147:4)
but the Zodiac names and signs came from elsewhere.
Not a scrap.
Definitely not. He states "It is for the readers to
judge how far my conclusions are
borne out by the evidence." (p iv "Witness of the Stars").
Like a lot of these things, someone `flies a flag' or waves a theory around in
the air hoping to get some discussion on it. Unfortunately, fiction then
becomes fact and Christians who are weak in the faith will believe anything.
Satan. You see, in the beginning was the
Word - not the picture or the vision or the Zodiac. Satan hates God's written
word just as he hates the living Word, Jesus. He'll do anything he can to
detract, or subtract from either.
This gets people away from looking to
and studying God's word - the Bible. Astronomy and astrology gets mixed with
the Bible and before long, confusion is the result.
Definitely not. God is light and in him
is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Read Leviticus chapter 19 and see that God
demands separation.
An example in the theory is Sagittarius
the Archer pictured as a half-man and half-horse. He represents the Redeemer's
triumph. Is this a Biblical picture that God would equate Christ as half-man,
half-horse? I think not.
Immense. After a well known pastor
extolled the virtues of this theory on a national Christian television network
in America, there was a documented case of a woman who became convinced that
she was a "Scorpio",
If this trend continues, we will see
Christian bookstores catering for such people by stocking Zodiac signs. You may
laugh, but Rex Humbard, a famous tele-evangelist, stated on Christian
television that he is Leo and that's why he has a stone lion in his yard.
It is not by chance that God instructed
Israel when entering Canaan, to "...destroy
all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck
down all their high places:" (Numbers 33:52).
Surely, trying to find God's plan of
redemption in the Zodiac is the equivalent of drawing similarities between
Harry Potter stories and those in the Bible.
Well meaning Christians are being duped
by Satan’s latest Side Show. Satan is ever vigilant and wants to draw us away
from saying "Isn't the written word of God a wonderful revelation!"
He wants us to say "Look! There is another gospel - and it's in the
stars!" Satanic distractions like the "Gospel in the Stars"
theory can only serve to destroy, delay or sidetrack those who are weak in the
faith.
Dear reader, let us be sober minded. "But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach ANY OTHER GOSPEL unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, LET HIM BE ACCURSED."
(Galatians 1:8)
with an open mind?