“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars – all the heavenly array – do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all nations under heaven.” (Deuteronomy 4:19)
Purpose Weekly, July 10, 2008
What’s Your Sign?
Vol. 2, Issue 27
A few weeks back one of our Purpose Weekly subscribers, Sue, sent me a message asking me to touch on the subject of reading and following horoscopes. She commented that she has Christian friends who ask her her ‘sign’ and she replies that her sign is Jesus.
That’s a pretty good reply.
Honestly, I don’t think much about my horoscope. I keep it in the same box as ‘stepping on a crack’ or ‘walking under a ladder’ or ‘ticking off a gypsy’. I prefer the little paper fortune that comes at the end of a Chinese dinner; I think my preference, though, has more to do with the cookie than the fortune.
But, since Sue asked me to look into it and since I was on the subject of stars last week, I figured I’d give it a shot.
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First let’s figure out just what we’re talking about. According to Webster’s a horoscope is, “the configuration of the planets, esp. at the time of a person’s birth, from which astrologers predict his future.” An astrologer, according to Webster’s being one who, “practices the art of predicting or determining the influence of the planets and stars on human affairs.”
So the daily horoscope you read in the paper or one the lady with the crystal ball in her living room gives you is supposedly a prediction of what’s going to happen to you based on how the stars and planets were lined up on the day you were born.
Uh Huh.
Of course, the guy from the paper doesn’t know what day you were born and the daily birthday horoscope doesn’t count because he doesn’t what year you were born. And even if he did, it wouldn’t matter because nobody at the paper gives a rip about you or your horoscope – they just put in there to fill space.
How about the lady with the crystal ball in her living room? You could give her your exact birth date including year. Couldn’t she tell your future? Well … she’s a lady with a crystal ball in her living room. You really want to bet your future that she knows what the stars said the day you came into the world?
I guess if you’re desperate enough or bored enough or dumb enough …
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Isaiah mentions astrologers in his prophecy detailing the ultimate destruction of Babylon. “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.” (Isaiah 47:13-14)
Doesn’t sound like the astrologers helped much with Babylon’s future. Which is ironic, since astrology was pretty much born in Babylon. Yep, those folks were real stargazers. They fell so in love with the stars they made gods out of them. Anu, Enlil, Shamish, Marduk, Ishtar, Ninurta, Nabu, Nergal; the whole kit and caboodle.
Babylon was the first great civilization of man. Babylon has come to be a symbol of man’s self-love, sin and decadence. According to the prophets, Babylon is also symbolic of God’s judgment. I wouldn’t recommend following in their footsteps.
Babylon was the first civilization of man to throw its greatness and narcissism up in the face of God in defiance. Remember the Tower of Babel? That little construction project was all about watching the stars. It was the world’s first astral observatory.
I wonder where they got the idea that the stars were gods and that they, as a people, could rebel against God and get away with it?
Isaiah covers that topic a little earlier in his book. He explains the root of this whole star god, self-love, defiance, sin and decadence thing. “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God … I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14: 12-14)
Know who Isaiah was talking about? Who the “morning star, sun of the dawn” was? He was the most powerful and glorious heavenly being in creation, an angel of the highest order; another translation for “sun of dawn” is “Lucifer.” That name ring any bells? Isaiah also identifies him as the “king of Babylon.”
Remember last week when we said that the stars were associated with heavenly beings and heavenly beings with the stars? The Babylonians knew that too. They were the first astrologers; they figured out that the stars were more than stars. The “morning star, sun of the dawn” taught them all about it and encouraged them to follow his lead, lifting themselves up and defying the God who made them.
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So, is there anything to this astrology/horoscope stuff?
If you mean, “Can an astrologer read my future in the stars and should I pay attention to my horoscope?” I’m with Isaiah, “Surely they (astrologers) are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame.”
Not people I’d take advice from. We know their leader, the ‘star’ who lifted himself up against the God of Heaven, the Creator of the stars. And since we know the destiny of their leader we know their destiny.
“‘I will rise up against them declares the Lord Almighty.’ ‘I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendents,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will turn her into a place for owls and into a swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,’ declares the Lord God Almighty.” (Isaiah 14: 22-23)
My Advice:
If you pay attention to your horoscope and listen to predictions of astrologers – don’t. Horoscopes aren’t guidance, they’re deception, and those who create them are fools and the followers of a great fool; all playing with the fire of their own destruction.
If you’re born again and your friends ask what sign you were born under; refer to your second birth. You were born under the sign of the Cross. Under that sign your future sure.
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If, on the other hand, you mean, “Can the stars tell us something if we know how to look for it?” There’s a lot in the Bible about that. Maybe next time we can talk about it. Until then, I’ll leave you with this:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world….” (Psalm 19: 1-4)
Under the sign of the Cross,
Steve Spillman