ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE LEVITICUS 19:26 "...neither shall ye use enchantments nor observe times." DEUTERONOMY 18:10-14 forbids observing times, also divination and con- sulting with familiar spirits, among other things. 2 KINGS (4 KINGS in the Catholic Bible) said about evil King Manasseh, in listing his evil deeds, "And he...observed times...." STRONG'S EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE Hebrew listings #6049 'anan, to cover, relates to 6050 and 6051, same consonants, to practice magic, observe times. A cloud, as covering the sky, hence a stargazer or a skygazer. DANIEL 2:2; 4:7-11 The word KJV translates "astrologer" is actually the word for conjuror. The word translated "magician" in these passages is 2749, 2748 Chaldaean khartome from 2747 cheret, to engrave, hence a horoscopist as drawing magical lines or circles. (Or horoscopes, my note.) Astrologers were Babylonian in origin, and common at pagan courts. ISAIAH 47:13 "...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;..." habar to be an horoscopist #1895 shameh to be lofty, the sky hence astrologist #8065/ Mpte the similarity here to 'anan in idea, which relates to the sky. JEREMIAH 10:2 "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." As for Job, "sweet influences of the Pleiades," often quoted to support astrology: (a) they have nothing to do with the Zodiac. (b) this does not say or imply that they can be used to predict anything or that they have a shaping effect on the destiny of those born at a given time. The most we could be dealing with here is the effect of meditating on the stars at night, or bathing in the light of those stars while they are visible, NOT astrology. And take care if you do that you do not worship them, which is a great sin. Even this idea of effects is dubious, and not without possibility of demonic deception, Satan transforming himself into an angel of light. Then the "Magi" are mentioned by some to defend astrology. First, "Magian" or "magi" was once a specific term, but later became used generally of all Median wise men, and those from elsewhere. These might or might not have been Zoroastrians, might or might not have been astrologers. BUT IT WAS NOT ANY ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTION THAT LED THEM TO BETHLEHEM. These were men who knew the ancient Scripture, "There shall come a star out of Jacob," NUMBERS 24:17. Even if they were strologers, that doesn't make it right, they could have had a mixture of truth and falsehood in their beliefs, and it was NOTHING astrological that led them to Jesus. Astrology was rejected by the early church along with all the superstitions of the pagans, and it also did not cultivate the lust for the miraculous that typid\fied pagan popular thought and unverified legends. Christian miracles were rare, and well authenticated. They served the purpose of veri- fying The Gospel as from God, though other factors verified it also. Mira- cles alone were never pointed to as the only verification, or one that verified something that was contrary to God's Word, since false prophets and devils could work wonders also. As time wore on, owrldly politics and pursuits and ideas crept back in, helped by paying too much attention to pagan philosophers. Pope Sixtus V condemned astrology in 1586 AD and Pope Urban VIII condemned it in 1631 AD. The CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA by Robt. C. Broderick, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Pub- lishers 1976 p. 56 says that it is "a form of fortunetelling that denies the free will of umans and preempts the providence of God, Who alone knows the future." Astrology is presented as an exact science, with lots of math and ephemeris calculations of planet and star positions making it look very objective. But it is not. The key point where it departs from objectivity, is the judge- ment call involved in interpretation. Rene Norrbergen was Jeanne Dixon's secretary, until he realized she was led by lying demons and became a Christian. He wrote THE SOUL HUSTLERS, in which he gave results of a questionnaire he gave occultists. They ranged from astrologers to spiritualists and Satanists. (The latter two were the highest in claiming to have seen or ridden in flying saucers. There is a definite occult angle on UFOs, but too much nuts and bolts for it to beonly that. Probably flesh and blood entities some with familiar spirits of their own.) The astrologers were one of the highest frequency categories for saying they got help from spirits in doing their work. Now I figured that when you stare at a symbol of someone, which a horoscope is, you will probably start getting impressions about that person - even a photo does it for some people. Psychic powers are often a gift from the devil disguised as a mere force or even as a good spirit. They may come after dabbling with the occult, or by inheritance from an occult dabbling ancestor. As one writer pointed out, the range of interpretations on a planet, or a star, or a combination, is wide enough that the astrologer must use "initiative" in interpreting the horoscope. At this point, in choosing what to ignore and what to play up, the psychic element may enter. So a lot of astrological predictions are based NOT on mathematical, imper- sonal computation, but on PSYCHISM. So I asked a girl I knew did horoscopes about my theory. She said this was true, and she often started getting impressions before she examined the horoscope, just first handling and glancing at it. Astrology is a major factor in popular occultism. It is often turned to to provide a unifying factor in the occultsts' perennial effort to build a coherent machine like system of interpreting the universe. It is the occult and "spiritual" side of the Renaissance that caused much modern mechanistic views of the human being and cosmos. They spoke of some life force animating the cosmos. But this was a force sought to manipulate, to give great power to the adept. The nuclear scientist is similar. Don't like chemotherapy? Clame Paracelsus. He invented it. He may have researched herbal cures ignored by medicine of this time. but he also researched and pushed the use of metals and serious poisons from alchemy in making medicianl potions and used mercury to cure syphillis before anyone else did. He was also very arrogant and had a bad attitude and prac- ticed ritual magic as well as more innocent things. Astrology is often how people first get started in the occult. And one man wrote that when he was a teenager on acid, a spirit appeared to him and showed him how to make a magic circle with astrological symbols in it instead of Names of God, which he had never seen before. Later, he found it in a book. Mary C. Erikson. End of file.
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