Today, we are going to discuss a topic that is amazingly popular in our modern society - Astrology. It is an important topic because of the large number of people who are involved in its practice and the serious attention which it is given in the Bible.
Let’s first discuss the nature of Astrology.
The Nature of Astrology.
Astrology is the the study of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and other planets in the belief that their motions directly and powerfully influence human beings and their lives and all other earthly events.
The main tool astrologers use for interpreting the influence of heavenly bodies on our lives is the astrological chart, called a natal [birth] horoscope. This chart calculates the exact position of the Sun, Moon and planets at the moment of birth, usually from the baby’s first breath. According to astrologers, the exact position of the heavenly bodies send forth a unique, magical power that permanently “stamps” the newborn child. That celestial “stamp” determines the child’s future character and ultimately their destiny.
In addition to the birth horoscope, astrologers use “secondary” charts. Because the Sun, Moon and planets are always in motion, it is necessary to have new charts made to determine their current influence on us. The information received from these secondary charts supposedly helps the person to make decisions in such areas of life as love and relationships, family, financial matters, occupation, etc. This additional information supposedly reveals to us how we are likely to act and choose at any given time.
Since we can predict where the heavenly bodies will be positioned in the future (by calculating their orbits), astrologers claim they can predict the future for any person. They can predict if we will have a good day or a bad day, a good week or a bad week, a good year or a bad year for any area of life we may consider. If a person makes decisions in their day to day lives based upon their chart, they can find greater happiness and success.
The Popularity of Astrology.
Some of us may scoff at the whole idea of Astrology but statistics tell us that there are ten million devoted followers of Astrology in the United States, and there are another 40 million who dabble in it. Astrological columns or horoscopes can be found in more than 1,200 newspapers in North America and in numerous magazines. A survey of 2,000 adults, conducted by the Public Opinion Laboratory of Northern Illinois University, found that two-thirds were regular or occasional readers of horoscopes. Four out of every five teens have read their horoscope. While most teens are not convinced that horoscopes are always accurate, more than one-quarter believe they are always or usually true.
Most shocking is that one Gallup poll indicated that at least 10 percent of evangelical Christians also believe in astrology to some degree. Many professed Christians read their horoscope in the newspaper or magazines.
Astrology Is Sin.
Astrology is an abomination to God. It is very important for us to understand that Astrology is sinful in two primary ways -
1. Astrology Is Divination.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12, "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.”
God specifically told the Israelites that they were not to adopt the practices of the ungodly nations around them. Even though Astrology is not specifically named in this passage, it is included under the terms “divination” and “interpreting omens.”
Astrology is a form of divination. Divination is trying to acquire secret information or discovering the unknown or attempting to foretell the future through sources other than the Word of God. Astrology is also ‘interpreting omens’ which means to discover information and foretell the future through interpreting supposed patterns found in nature; such as, cloud formations, the flight of birds, the condition of a lamb’s liver, the lines on one’s palm, the positions of the heavenly bodies, the posture of tea leaves at the bottom of a cup, the lay-out of tarot cards, etc.
God does not want us to seek special knowledge and guidance outside of what He has revealed in His Word. Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
Whatever information about our lives and futures God has not felt inclined to reveal to us in His Word, they are to remain secret. The things that God has already revealed to us, in His Word, is sufficient to provide us with enough guidance to secure happiness and success in this life and the life to come.
2. Astrology Is Idolatry.
We need to realize that Astrology is a false religion because it is worshiping and serving the Sun, Moon and planets. Think about it. When we seek instruction and guidance from astrological charts or horoscopes, we are bowing-down and serving the Sun, Moon and planets. When we do not make decisions in our lives without first consulting a chart or when we allow a chart to influence our actions, are we not placing our faith and hope in the Sun, Moon and planets?
Deuteronomy 4:19, "And beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.”
Deuteronomy 17:2-5, "If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. And behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed, to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death.”
Astrology is incompatible with the true religion of God. Astrology tells us that the heavenly bodies determine our personality, not God. Astrology tells us that our steps are determined by heavenly bodies, not God. Astrology tells us that the future is already determined by the heavenly bodies, not God. Astrology is a religion unto itself. It is an idolatrous religion. It rejects the sovereignty and providence of God in the Universe. It puts the Universe in control instead of God over the Universe.
We need to be careful that we not take Astrology lightly. We should never refer to ourselves as a Taurus or a Pisces or a Leo or a Scorpio, etc.. When we do this, we are associating ourselves with and promoting something that is detestable to our God. We are endorsing pagan idolatry.
Astrology Is A Delusion.
If there was any validity to Astrology, God would certainly endorse and promote it. But the truth is, God says it is nothing but a delusion. Jeremiah 10:2-3, “Thus says the Lord, "Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens although the nations are terrified by them; for the customs of the peoples are delusion.”
Astrology originated in Babylonia and, by Jeremiah’s day, most of the heathen nations around Israel had adopted the practice. But, God says that the Israelites were not to follow their example. Astrology, like all other idolatrous religions, are a delusion…futile and vain. There is nothing to them of any credibility and value.
When Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which predicted the future of the world and its coming empires, as recorded in Daniel 2, the astrologers were totally unable to provide any interpretation or explanation. It took God revealing the future through His prophet Daniel.
Babylonian astrologers (Daniel 5) were unable to predict the very destruction of their own Empire, even when the writing was on the wall. Only God revealed the information to Belshazzar through Daniel the prophet.
This brings us to an important point. Astrology never led its followers to the true God and His Will. Astrologers never provided Babylon with guidance that led them to righteousness. Astrologers never led Babylon down a path to avert its own destruction by the Hand of God. Yea, Babylon’s astrologers didn’t even have the insight to know that they were on the brink of destruction so as to save themselves. In Isaiah 47:11-15, God foretold how that idolatrous Babylon would fall and how that the astrologers would not save their Empire nor themselves, 150 years before it happened - "But evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone, And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly. Stand fast now in your spells and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may cause trembling. You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, those who predict by the new moons, Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, Fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame; There will be no coal to warm by, Nor a fire to sit before! So have those become to you with whom you have labored, Who have trafficked with you from your youth; Each has wandered in his own way. There is none to save you.”
In that 15th verse is found a statement that highlights the vanity of Astrology - “Each has wandered in his own way.”
It is hard to find two astrologers who provide the same interpretation of a horoscope chart. Each astrologer claims to have special insights and if you compare one astrologer’s ‘readings’ and ‘predictions’ with another’s, they quite often differ and even contradict each other.
36 percent of believers in astrology believe it is scientific. However, numerous studies have been done to validate the accuracy of astrology in determining personality and events and none of them have shown astrologers to be more accurate than sheer random chance.
It is no small wonder that astrologers cannot convey any accurate information when you consider that the very basis of their beliefs are founded upon falsehood.
Let me give you one example of a scientific falsehood behind astrology.
The path that the Sun travels across the sky, from our vantage point, is called the ecliptic. The constellations that the ecliptic passes through have been known as the zodiac. The word “zodiac” is Greek for ‘circle of animals’ and refers to the fact that most of the constellations that have made-up the zodiac are named for animals, such as Leo, the Lion; Taurus, the Bull; and Cancer, the Crab, just to name a few. If we could see the stars in the daytime as well as we do at night, we would see the sun slowly wander from one constellation of the Zodiac to the next, making one complete circle around the sky in one year.
Whatever constellation of the zodiac the Sun is in when you are born, that is your horoscope sign. If the Sun was traveling through Leo the day you were born, you are a Leo. If the Sun was in Virgo, you are a Virgo. If the Sun was in Scorpio, you are a Scorpio.
You can read a horoscope column in the newspaper, magazine or book and it will show you what dates the Sun is located in each constellation of the zodiac. Or, it is supposed to.
The truth is that those dates that are assigned to each constellation or sign of the zodiac corrrespond to the positions that existed between 2000 and 3000 years ago. What is not acknowledged by astrologers is that the Earth wobbles on its axis over a period of 26,000 years (known as precession). What this means is the the ecliptic, the path of the Sun, moves over time against the background of the constellations. The dates and position of the Sun that are used today by astrologers are no longer valid. The Sun is not in the constellations they designate during the dates they designate.
In fact, 2500 years ago, the Sun seemed to pass through twelve constellations throughout the year; today, it passes through thirteen each year. The constellation Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer) should be added to the zodiac.
Moreover, the Moon and planets often travel north or south of the ecliptic. That means that they now pass through nine other constellations other than those that make up the zodiac - Auriga, the Charioteer; Cetus, the Whale; Corvus, the Crow; Crater, the Cup; Hydra, the Water Snake; Orion, the Hunter; Pegasus, the Flying Horse; Scutum, the Shield; and Sextans, the Sextant. So, in truth, there aren’t twelve zodiacal constellations that Astrologers must deal with but twenty-two!
The bottom line is that - even if the heavenly bodies influenced earthly affairs - how can astrologers claim to give accurate charts or horoscopes when they use astronomical data that has been out-of-date for over two thousand years?!? They don’t base their calculations and predictions on where the heavenly bodies are in our modern times but where they were nearly 500 years before Christ! Do you call that scientific?!?
When God calls Astrology a delusion, we better believe what He says.
Purpose of the Heavenly Bodies.
We want to close our remarks considering what the Bible says as to what pupose the heavenly bodies serve.
1. To Give Light to the Earth.
Genesis 1:14-18, “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night…and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth;’ and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.”
2. To Measure Time and Direction.
Genesis 1:14, “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to…be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.’”
3. Reveal the Greatness of God the Creator.
Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.”
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”
The stars should awaken wonder at God’s power, wisdom, and infinitude. We should use the stars to keep track of time and place and to remind us of God’s faithful, covenant-keeping nature. All the while, we acknowledge the Creator of the heavens. Our wisdom comes from God, not the stars (James 1:5). The Word of God, the Bible, is our guide through life (Psalm 119:105).
