Horoscopes: a sly satanic corruption

The stars are a glory to the power and creativity of God. The heavens are God’s handiwork as stated in Psalm 83, and 19:1. God has even numbered and named them all! (Ps 147:4). He created them on Day 4 as described in Genesis. Who is not moved by this majestic language:

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 signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 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. Genesis 1:14-16

Imagine how it was for the shepherds on the night of the Savior's birth, who were keeping watch over the flocks, looking up at the majesty of the stars undimmed by city lights or stadium halogen. How bright and vivid the stars must appeared to them! How majestic as the constellations moved through the sky! How practical, as they used the stars to move from field to field and to tell the time and even the seasons. Men and women have used the stars as a point of reference for their movements on the earth since the beginning of time, only ceasing recently when the Global Positioning System was released to laymen after the first Gulf War. Reliance on the stars for navigating has quickly disappeared but reliance on the stars for false information has only increased.   

Most Christians would never in a million years take a trip into town and see a fortune teller, palm reader, or psychic. They know and understand that these occult practices are not activities God wishes His children to engage in. That is the easy part. It is obvious that Dachau is an evil. That Jeffrey Dahmer was evil. That child molestation is evil. But what's so bad about reading your horoscope? Referring to your zodiacal sign? Everything. Those are the little evils. Satan is sly. Obvious or not, evil is evil.

Twice this week I was confronted with evidence of his work regarding his corruption of the stars. While eating at fellowship table at church, another Christian and I, never having met, found ourselves sitting together. We were happily chatting our way from dinner to dessert. Then, she asked my birth date so she could tell me the attributes of my character and personality according to my sign under the Zodiac. Another time, a Christian who was perusing the daily paper read her horoscope aloud and asked the other lady for her birthday so she could read hers to her as well. These were not evil people. They were just unaware of the import of what they were doing. Satan's favorite kind.

Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth that "we are not unaware" of satan's schemes. Paul tells the Ephesians in 6:11 that satan's schemes will come to naught if they wear their armor. "Schemes." This is not a word that indicates straightforwardness. It is one that indicates subterfuge, and fellow Christians, no one is immune from satan's subterfuge. If Jesus in the desert was not immune from satan's attempts, how much less immune from the devil's schemes shall we be? And how much more so if we are unaware of his schemes?

His schemes include both grossly AND slyly corrupting what God has done. Many Christians today are unaware of satan's schemes. Someone reading this might think that I am making much ado about nothing. Horoscopes are just a few lines in the newspaper after all and what harm can that do. But God in His wisdom knew what satan was about and warns us again and again to be on guard. Guard your ways as David advises in Ps 39:1! Guard the treasure that has been entrusted to you! Be aware of what you are doing. The first person satan will go after is one who has let down their guard and satan knows that horoscopes, being a forbidden activity, is a toehold.

Why go against the Holy Word of God for the sake of a few vague words promising luck or love or money? Why seek information from constellations, an activity that the condemned pagan, Semiramis, the Queen of Babylon, created? Daniel 1:20 shows us that Daniel relying on the wisdom of God was ten times better than all the astrologers, magicians, and enchanters in court! Don't you want to be ten times better and not twenty times worse?

The heavens declare His handiwork but they do not declare whether you will be lucky in love.  The heavens declare the glory of God but do I really need my horoscope to tell me I "feel quite happy today"? Couldn't I figure that out on my own? Extracting truth and wisdom from horoscopes is satan's scheme. Don't do it. Extract wisdom from the God who made the stars. And His wisdom says that the astrologers and stargazers and monthly prognosticators will be burned as stubble.

Be mindful, Christian, of all your thoughts, words, and deeds in these waning days. Be not unaware of satan's schemes, and wearing the full armor of God, persevere in truth.