Fools, Heretics, and The Zodiac
Questions Concerning the Biblical Purpose of the Constellations
ABSTRACT: Even though The Bible claims that God alone created the stars, and gave each one a name of their own, anyone who even suggests The Zodiac is anything more than Satan’s exclusive domain is instantly branded a fool or heretic. Instead of seeing the stars of Heaven as divine instruments of creation, Christians insist they’re vile tools of Hell to be avoided at all cost. However, a thorough examination of Scripture clearly reveals that not only were the individual stars named by God but the constellations were also designated by Him: Arcturus, Orion, the Pleiades, and the like. What’s more, these stars and constellations weren’t created just to be mere ornaments beautifying the night sky but are, says Scripture, intended to convey signs and wonders to humanity, which expressly declare the glory of God…
IF EVER THERE was a perfect case study in the power of disinformation, this is it. More than any other, the controversy over whether there’s a message in the stars—a.k.a. The Zodiac—presents us with the ideal model of how a great misconception of The Bible can blot out some of the richest aspects of God’s revelation. The only reason it doesn’t appear further up on this list is because it’s also among the most overlooked areas of discussion. If the subject of The Zodiac is even hinted at in casual conversation, it’s instantly dismissed as having anything to say to Scripture-loving Christians.
But as always, this tendency to avoid such a spectacular aspect of God’s creative power has me itching to dive right in. For the life of me I can’t help wondering: “What’s all the fuss about? Does anybody who believes in God as the Creator of the Universe actually think the devil made the stars? And if this Creator God did adorn the Heavens with His starry objects, wouldn’t He have intended them to reveal His divine purpose in some special way?”
With questions like these in mind, let’s examine what popular opinion says about The Zodiac, and from there, we’ll proceed to Scripture.
THE QUESTION of whether or not God created the stars of Heaven for a special purpose hinges primarily on a particular culture’s attitude about His role in the Universe. An early fringe sect of Christianity called Gnosticism rejected the notion that the God of The Old Testament created the Heavens and the Earth, insisting that a lesser Deity created them. This was their way of accounting for evil in the world, which they saw as inherently corrupt and therefore incapable of revealing any genuine truth about God. Thus, the possibility of any revelatory aspects of The Zodiac were negated because it was inconsistent with the Universe as they saw it.
In contrast, other cultures, such as those of medieval Europe, accepted the idea that God created the Heavens and the Earth as His unique vessel. However, despite the fact that God created the Heavens, any message The Zodiac might have communicated to humanity was marred by the intervention of evil entities like Satan and his demonic minions, and so was lost forever in the mists of time.
Somewhere in between these two extremes, then, you’ll find most people’s opinion about The Zodiac.
Story Continues Below
Fools, Heretics, and The Zodiac: Questions Concerning the Discernment of Future Events
“Digs into a big disconnect… Connects biblical dots… A reminder that the things we dismiss fastest hold the most intriguing questions…”
To hear Academia’s essay chat about Fools, Heretics, and The Zodiac, CLICK HERE.
Story Continues From Above
Of course, even when a person is liable to accept the idea that the stars have the ability to communicate a message to humanity, it’s never thought to be a biblically-oriented message—certainly not one that speaks of God’s control over His purposeful Universe. Instead, it’s a message intended to guide someone toward some merely human-oriented goal, such as which job to take, who to marry, or something to that effect.
Naturally, anyone mounting their campaign of disinformation would instantly dismiss the idea of a divine message in the stars by reminding us of every abuse of this kind, which is clearly condemned throughout Scripture. No doubt they’d point to what happened to the Jews during their Babylonian captivity, to those who’d been desperately seeking a way out of their miserable condition. When they’d grown tired of receiving words of truth the Lord was offering them, they couldn’t resist the temptation to seek guidance from other sources. But no sooner had they done so than they received a grim warning from the prophet Isaiah:
You’ve become weary because of all the false advice you’ve been seeking. Have it your own way then. Let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the fortune tellers try and save you from all the things that are about to come upon you. Look at how you’ll all be reduced to stubble. The fire will burn you, and you’ll be quite unable to deliver yourselves from the power of the flame.
By hammering away at every abuse, such as those just described, one can’t help but achieve the desired result. Above all, never allow anyone to even consider the possibility that God could’ve intended there to be a relationship between the written message in The Bible and the pictorial message in The Zodiac.
So goes the verdict: Think you see a message in the stars? Then you, too, should be ridiculed as a fool or condemned as a heretic. Or, at best, you should be written off as a nut.
But wait; are you absolutely sure that’s what the God of The Bible wants? Just because so many have distorted the meaning of The Zodiac to serve their own selfish purposes, might there actually be more to this picture than meets the eye?
Story Continues Below
To hear Kent and Zen Garcia talk about correcting biblical misconceptions, from June 23rd, 2021, CLICK BELOW.
Story Continues From Above
FORTUNATELY, the Scriptures themselves are always capable of providing the truth concerning such important matters. Let’s look at them to see if they can provide us with an antidote against the poison of latch-isolate-and-repeat.
To begin with, the prophet Amos told us: “Seek Him Who made the Seven Stars (referring to the Pleiades) and Orion.” (Amos 5:8) The psalmist said: “God knows exactly how many stars there are, having given each and every one a name of its own.” (Psalm 147:4) And when Job pondered the majesty of God, he declared:
It’s God Who sealed up the stars and He alone Who spread out the Heavens, Who made Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades. God does great things beyond our understanding; yes, and wonders without number.
The word “wonders,” from the Hebrew word pala, describes things that are, by implication, marvelous, difficult, or hidden.
So, if it really was God Who created the stars, and not the devil, then why did He place these wonders—with all their marvelously difficult and hidden meaning—in the night sky?
And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years.”
Story Continues Below
Fools, Heretics, and The Zodiac
“Takes us to Scripture to reveal a grand, divine purpose… Pointing to a beautiful interpretation… Ancient art, scriptures, and stars dovetail into one cohesive narrative…”
To hear Price’s essay review of Fools, Heretics, and The Zodiac, CLICK HERE.
Story Continues From Above
Right from the start, then, God didn’t create the stars just to mark the transition from day to night, to determine one season from another, or to denote which year we were living in. He also created them to act as “signs.” In fact, the first time the Scriptures refer to a “sign,” it’s used in relation to the stars God placed in the Heavens.
According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the Hebrew word for “sign” is owth, which means a “signal” (literally or figuratively), as a “flag,” “beacon,” “monument,” “omen,” or “evidence.” By using this word owth, to describe God’s purpose in creating the stars, The Bible clearly conveys the idea these signs were designed to reveal something very specific. So, what is God’s specific message displayed in these signs?
King David, in writing Psalm 19, said:
The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament reveals His handiwork. From day to day, it speaks forth; night after night, it displays knowledge. There’s no place on Earth, where speech and language exist, that its voice isn’t heard. Its message resounds throughout the whole world, and its discourse reaches to every corner of the globe.
Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word here for “knowledge,” which the Heavens are said to display each night, is a word that’s derived from the root word yada, a unique word that conveys a variety of meanings. It speaks of the ability to learn something through observation, including the discovery of something to be understood figuratively, literally, euphemistically, and inferentially (particularly via recognition through careful consideration). And it’s a knowledge that comes as the result of a declaration of instruction and that requires discernment in receiving that instruction.
Based on this, then, we’d have to admit that God Himself expected us to pay attention to what He was trying to convey via His starry messengers. So what could that message be? Is it a message intended for everyone? Or is it some special revelation that only an elite few will be able to understand?
Let’s resume the task of piecing this puzzle together.
