Astrology and False Prophecy
I have a co-worker who keeps telling people that the three wise men were astrologers because "they read the signs in the heavens and followed the North Star." I cringe every time I hear her say that, and I have, on several occasions, corrected her. Why she insists on perpetuating this lie is anybody's guess, but apparently she heard it in some Bible study, and therefore it must be true. Unfortunately, she's not the only one who's doing it. There are many people are out there spreading misinterpreted gospel, and the bottom line is, it's dangerous. I believe one of the biggest problems with Bible interpretation attempts is that many people don't really know Jesus, and don't have the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide them - yet they're ready to either espouse their uninformed opinions whenever possible, or swallow whatever nonsense they hear from others who are equally ignorant about the Bible. They might know ABOUT Jesus, but they don't have a personal relationship with Him and are, consequently, still "walking in the way of the world," using their human mindsets to try to interpret God's word. They are what a pastor friend of mine calls "fence straddlers." With one leg in the spiritual realm and one leg in the "carnal" world, they refuse to budge from either one. Granted, they might run to church every Sunday, or be involved in all kinds of church activities, but they wouldn't know Jesus if they fell on Him because they never try to dig deeper. They're just a bunch of people sitting at the edge of God's swimming pool so to speak, getting their big toes wet, rather than just jumping in and immersing themselves with the whole Truth. The other problem in our modern day world is that there is a garden variety of kooks with their own websites clogging up the Information Superhighway, sharing whatever muck is in their twisted minds. To wit, one astrological website I recently accessed boldly proclaims that "When the Bible talks about 'the stars', it is talking about Astrology." Is that so? Let's examine what the Bible REALLY says. The following verse from Isaiah shows God addressing Babylon about the sins they are committing, including the seeking of guidance from astrologers.... Isaiah 47:13-14: All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by. There are many other scriptures about astrology/witchcraft, and interpreters of omens. How anyone (even those who don't know the Bible very well) can misinterpret God's word on this issue is beyond me: Deuteronomy 4:19: "Be careful that you don't worship the sun, moon, and stars." Deuteronomy 17:2-5 in the Old Testament says that those who worshipped the sun, moon, or stars were to be stoned. Leviticus 20:6 says God will separate himself from those who go after mediums and familiar spirits. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says that practicing witchcraft, sorcery, soothsaying, interpreting omens, making spells, and being a medium or spiritist, are all terrible sins to God. Daniel 2:27-28 talks of how God kept King Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its interpretation secret from the astrologers, magicians or dream interpreters, and soothsayers. However, he revealed it to his prophet Daniel. Acts 16:16-18: talks of a girl who was possessed by an evil spirit that enabled her to be a fortune teller. Paul commanded the evil spirit to come out of her in the name or authority of Jesus, and the spirit left her:Deuteronomy 18:9-11: "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft..." 2 Chronicles 33:5-7: "He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger." Throughout the entire Bible God allows only His prophets to accurately interpret any kind of "signs". It is important to realize that, when the Bible talks about signs in the stars, heavens, or whatever, they're usually literal signs: Luke 21:24-26 says, "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Yes, there will be many "signs" in the heavens in the end-times: asteroids crashing to earth and causing certain upheaval, weird weather patterns, stars "blotted out" probably as a result of nuclear bombs, etc. But, make no mistake, these signs have nothing whatsoever to do with astrology. God does not mince His words as to how He feels when it comes to man-made hoodoo-voodoo and hocus pocus, so how can anyone possibly misinterpret what He said? With so many people insisting on using their human mindsets to interpret God's word, is it any wonder we have so many "religions" and weird beliefs and false prophets today? Someone once told me they don't like the fact that Jesus referred to people as "lambs" or "sheep" in need of a shepherd. Well, we ARE like sheep. We all follow something or somebody. Those who are desperate to know their future follow astrology or tarot card readers or whatever (never mind the fact that God is in charge, whether they realize it or not!); the Germans followed Hitler, even after they became aware that he was off his rocker; history repeated itself with Milosevic in Kosovo when his followers went along with his efforts at ethnic cleansing in that region; the Hollywood jet set are following the false teaching of Scientology because it caters to their need to deify themselves; many Americans of the Clinton era gladly followed their illustrious prez down a path of immorality, dissecting the meaning of the word "is" along the way; hundreds died for Jim Jones and David Koresh, and the leader of that weird asteroid cult who dressed in purple and laid down to die while waiting for the mother ship to beam them up; American school children copy and mimic the dress, hairstyles and actions of their favorite movie stars and rock bands; Shirley MacLaine follows her belief in being born again, and again, and again.... Instead of listening to God and what He wants, most people simply turn their backs and do their "own thing" because it's easier to be "in and of the world". Back in the Old Testament, when the Jews did their own thing, God simply killed them. Thanks to Jesus' sacrifice for us, today we don't get killed when we stray from God's Word. We can stray to our heart's content. We all have the choice to believe whatever we want and however we want - but we'd also better be prepared to explain "why" on Judgment Day, because God isn't going to let us off the hook:
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