Back in the 70's, "What's your sign?" was one of the most common questions used between people to socially 'break the ice' when they first met. It doesn't disturb me that the heathen dabble in astrology, for:

1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

     The non-christian are always looking for a way, or some spiritually enlightened path outside of Jesus Christ to find happiness. What is disturbing is that Christians have started to delve into the religion of astrology.

     What makes "astrology" so appealing to many people is that they get it confused with "astronomy". Astronomy is the physical science of studying the heavens and those things contained therein. Astronomers study the stars, the sun, the planets, and based on these studies reach a scientific conclusion (either based on fact or theory). In astrology (from the Greek ASTRON + LOGOS = "the word from the stars") the planets and stars are studied, not as created things, "but as sentient gods that have the ability to affect the lives of people on earth". Astrology is religious based, whereas astronomy is scientifically based.

The creator of the religion astrology is Satan, the father of lies:

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

     When Satan rebelled against God, he led many other "fallen angels" into rejecting God as ruler of Heaven. These fallen angels set up a workshop on earth to hinder God's master plan by leading man into error and sin.

Psalms 109:6-13 "Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out."

     Satan and his angels often induce sickness, remove wealth, persecutes the innocent, causes sedition, shortens life, and removes people from authority if he feels that this will increase his influence over the Father's plan. One of Satan's "most effective ruses" is behind the scenes, though. It is the ruse of establishing false religions to blind the eyes of man to the true Word of God.

II Corinthians 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

     Though, as we said before, Satan can induce illness ( II Co 12.7; Mat 12.22; 4.24; 9.32-33; Mk 9.17-18; Ac 8.7; Lu 13.16; Ac 10.38 ), he has discovered that it is much more effective to use his powers over nature to "mislead man" into false religious systems ( Mat 24.24; 2 Thes 2.9; Rev 16.14 ). Demons often operate through idolatry:

Zechariah 10:2 "For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd."

I Corinthians 10:19-21 "What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils."

     Idolatry is, truely, the devil's communion table! And what a table! Satan has developed a system of world religions that will appeal to every unbeliever dissatisfied with the Church. For those who only believe that Jesus was a "great teacher", you can find Judaism and the Jehovah's Witnesses. For the "let's work our way into heaven" crowd, there's Mormonism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. For those who "reject the Trinity of God", tune into Wiewiellism. For those who "reject Christ as the only way" to salvation, check out Bahai'. And for those who "believe in the supernatural, but not God", look into astrology.

     Original astrological theory stated that all heavenly bodies rotated around the center of the universe, that center being the earth. Newtonian theory, as well as astronomical studies have shown the sun, not the earth, to be the center of our universe. So astrology is certainly not scientific. Astrology teaches that we live in a totally mechanical universe that neither God nor man is totally able to control. The lives of mankind are governed, without regard to their free-will, by the location of these heavenly bodies (the planets and stars) in relationship to the fixed center of the universe, earth.

     Modern day astrology was developed by Satan through the Babylonian Empire, between 1800-1600 B.C. The cuneiform text called ENUMA ANU ENLIL, devoted to the astrological 'sciences', was developed during this time. There are four categories of omens taught in this text, all named after the chief gods of ancient Babylon:

• SIN, who is the god of the moon
• SHAMASH, who is the god of the sun
• ADAD, who is the god of the weather
• ISHTAR, who is the goddess of Venus

     The ENUMA ANU ENLIL was passed down and used extensively by the Assyrians and the Persians. During the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian Empire (559-330 B.C.) the text was passed on to Greece, Egypt, and India.

     It was not until astrology was passed to the Grecian Empire that it started to be widespread. Greece was considered to be an enlightened civilization, and it was politically correct to "do as the Grecians do". Eudoxus of Cnidus, a Greek astronomer of the 4th century B.C. included the ENUMA ANU ENLIL in his book APOTELESMATIKA. This "science" was also made popular by the Magusaeans of Asia Minor, a group of Iranian settlers in Greece that were influenced by ancient Babylon. Several other texts were devoted to astrology at this time, to include:

• THE BOOK OF THE ZODIAC by the Gnostics of Mandeans
• THE APOCALYPSE allegedly written by the Old Testament Prophet Daniel
• THE BOOK OF THE BEE, an early Syrian text on astrology

     Buddhist missionaries carried these writings to Central Asia, China, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. The seed that Satan planted began to sprout all around the civilized world.

     People who involve themselves in astrology rarely understand the complex system that Satan has lured them into. The religions starts out with a false premise, that the earth is the center of our universe. The circular orbit that the sun allegedly makes around the earth is divided into twelve parts, with the earth at the center of this imaginary pie. Each wedge of the Zodiac is divided and subdivided as follows:

1. Each imaginary wedge is a 30 degree angle from the center of the earth.
2. Each 30 degree wedge is identified with a planet, recognized by the ancients as a "god". The wedge itself is recognized as the "god's house".
3. Each "house of god" is further divided into ten degree decans, bounds of varying lengths, and dodecatemoria of two degrees 30 feet each.

     The twelve Zodiac signs are further identified with one of the four governing elements of the earth: fire, air, and water. It should come as no surprise that the popular Satanic church in America, as per it's "Satanic Bible", recognizes four demons as over-all sub-rulers of the earth, and all are identified by these four elements of the Zodiac. The amount of influence that each wedge of the Zodiac allegedly has on humanity is based on two things:

1. It's general location in relationship to the center of the Zodiac (which is earth), and
2. The power and characteristic of the god or goddess which the heavenly body represents.

     The astrologer casts a horoscope by first determining the location and boundaries of the Zodiac wedge that an individual is "born under". Due to the complexity of measuring the wedge location, the determination of the nature of the god or goddess, and the Zodiac's relationship to the center of the universe (earth), any Zodiac table will yield an enormous number of predictions, many of which conflict with others in the table. The astrologer can use one of three means to "foretell the future":

1. General Astrological Predictions: These ascribe a certain characteristic or personality to an individuals because they were born at a certain time when a certain "house of god was in it's ascendancy", or in it's most desirable position. Anyone who trades their horoscope "sign" with others is acknowledging (whether knowingly, or unknowingly) that their personality was formed by the position of some house of a pagan god. Under general astrological predictions you are said to "take on the traits of your god".

2. Catarchic Astrological Predictions: These predictions are made to determine whether an action already begun will succeed based on the house of god in ascendancy. If your god's house is in an awkward position you will probably not succeed, or so astrologers believe.

3. Interrogatory Astrological Predictions: These provide answers to a person's queries based on the location of his god's house at the moment the question was posed. The house of god must be in a favorable position in order for a good answer according to astrologers.

     You may feel that by "just trading signs" with another individual, you are doing no harm. By doing so you are actually subscribing to the false religion of astrology, first established by Satan in Babylon. Satan's greatest triumph is to hinder, cripple, or destroy the Church from within. If he can bring false doctrines or religions in amongst Christians, he can easily use this evil as a wedge to drive us from God.

     Astrology, because of ignorance of it's origins among most Christians, has been a very successful wedge. The Gnostics were a group of Christians who believed salvation was a licence to sin. This group was the first to try to merge astrology with Christianity.

     Bardesanes, a Syrian Christian scholar (154-222 A.D.) believed and taught that astrological constellations governed the world, but that human free-will still reigned supreme.

     Another professing Christian group, the Priscillianists, believed that the Zodiac made manifest the will of God, and that these "lesser Zodiac gods" merely reflected His will. The Harranian Sect, along with the Hindus, believed that the heavenly Zodiac deities could be persuaded to change their decrees through supplication and liturgy.

     Satan is still the Chief deceiver, and keeps the Zodiac alive today. The scientific discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, and Newton shattered the "earth is the center of the universe" theory of astrology. Recently astrology has gained a large following in the west, though the educated know that the basis of this religion is false.

     During times of uncertainty and stress, astrology and fortune tellers are in great demand. During the decline of the Roman Empire astrology gained it's greatest following. During the great plagues of Europe and during the Dark Ages, astrology was in great demand. Every kingdom paid astrologers great sums of money to stay "in the know". Astrology is again gaining momentum in our world, and this may well be a sign of our demise as a culture.

     No modern astrologer is any better than a charlatan. He or she cannot show that any "house of god" has any physical characteristic, attributes, or even substance. There is no proof that the position of heavenly bodies has any effect on mankind, other than natural (such as the moon's tidal pull on the earth).

Revelation 6:12-14 "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."

     Though God does teach in the Bible that the end of time will be foreshadowed by changes in the heavens, these changes are because Jehovah God wills them, not because of some fictitious "house of god".

     God despises and rejects astrology, just as He rejects it's author, Satan. In the book of Daniel King Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream that none of his astrologers could interpret (imagine that!). The King calls a young man named Daniel to his chambers, because he heard Daniel was strong in the true Faith. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar:

Daniel 2:27-28 "Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these"...

     Astrology, based in humanity and Satanism, cannot reveal the Plans of God: only God Himself can do this. When Nebuchadnezzar later had another dream, unbeliever as he was, he again called the astrologers. Again they were just as useless as before ( Daniel 4.6-7 ). Repeatedly throughout the book of Daniel God shows these astrologers up for what they are, charlatans and pawns of Satan.

Daniel 5:7-8 "The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof."

     God recognizes that astrology comes out of the root of paganism, and demands that His children avoid this trap:

Jeremiah 10:1-6 "Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might."

     Astrology and it's propigators are specifically cursed by God as creators or a false religion apart from Christianity:

Isaiah 47:10-15 "For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 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; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee."

     God uses three terms to describe astrologers in this passage: astrologers, star gazers, and monthly prognosticators. Whenever God refers to anything three times in Scripture (three being the number of God) it is the same as a promise: these people shall not escape the wrath of God. They shall all burn as stubble burns, quickly and completely, under the wrath of God.

     God forbids astrology to His people because, like with other pagan religions, it leads to deeper perversions and separation from His Plan.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 "When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."

     We are not supposed to be like the heathen, nor are we to participate in heathen practices. Astrology, necromancy (communication with the dead), wizardry, child sacrifice, witchcraft, and fortune telling all have on thing in common: they rely on either ritual or actual demonism. When you participate in a "little harmless idolatry", Satan uses this as a lure to draw you deeper into faithless pagan practices. God destroyed the ten northern tribes of Israel because they indulged in astrology and other forms of demon worship:

II Kings 17:15-23 "And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day."

     The northern tribes fell under the hand of Assyria, as a judgment from Almighty God, for their dabbling in astrology. Manasseh, one of the"evil kings" of Judah (southern Israel), established astrological worship of the stars while in his reign:

II Kings 21:3-17 "For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"

     God was, as you can see, less than pleased with Judah. Judah was also delivered into slavery, dispersed as a nation, because of their foolishness with astrology. Don't be deceived! Astrology isn't harmless, but stands as an ancient pagan religion which God despises:

Jeremiah 19:13 " And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods."

Zephaniah 1:5-8 " And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel."

     The stars in astrology represent idolatry, and the one true Jehovah God will not tolerate idolatry among His people:

Amos 5:26-27 "But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts."

Acts 7:42-43 "Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon."

There is a sin unto death, and idolatry (in whatever form it takes) can lead to death.

     Up to now you may have dabbled in idolatry, in the Zodiac, in the various houses of the gods, and did so out of ignorance. The Bible tells us that sin can deceive ( Hebrews 3.13 ), and we are certainly all sinners ( Romans 3.1-10; 1 John 1.8 ). Now that you know the truth about astrology, you are exhorted as a Christian to:

2 Corinthians 6:17 "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you."

---

Basic Training Systematic Theology Statement of Faith Our Mission Link To Us Heaven?

---

Send E-mail to Russ:
webslave for Christ
( russ@jesuswept.com )
with questions or comments about this web site and it's content.
Last modified: 12/04/2002