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William Branham and the Zodiac: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:AriesCC.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Aries ("ram") is the first astrological sign in the Zodiac]] | |||
{{Three Bibles}} | |||
William Branham believed that God wrote "three Bibles": the Zodiac, the Pyramids and the written Bible that we are familiar with. But does this make any sense? | |||
=Aries is the first constellation= | |||
William Branham stated: | |||
:''Watch. What does the zodiac start off with? The Virgin. What does it end with? Leo the lion: the first coming of Christ, and the second coming of Christ.''<ref>William Branham, 62-0701 - To Take On The Whole Armor Of God, para. 53</ref> | |||
But, as with many other things, he changed the facts to match his beliefs. | |||
The actual order of the astrological constellations in the Zodiac is as follows: | |||
#Aries | |||
#Taurus | |||
#Gemini | |||
#Cancer | |||
#Leo | |||
#Virgo | |||
#Libra | |||
#Scorpio | |||
#Sagittarius | |||
#Capricorn | |||
#Aquarius | |||
#Pisces<ref>Paul Isaac Hershon, Genesis: With a Talmudical Commentary (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1883), 209.</ref> | |||
This ordering is true for Western and Indian astrology. | |||
=Saying that the Gospel is in the stars is paganism= | |||
John Macarthur tells us: | |||
:''God never wrote the gospel in the stars. The heavens declare not the gospel. The heavens declare the glory of God. Why in the world ...would we borrow a pagan concoction and somehow invest it with the gospel? Christian astrology. What a terrible perversion. Finding the gospel in the stars is fantasy. Worse than that, it’s borrowing from paganism.<ref>John F. MacArthur Jr., John MacArthur Sermon Archive (Panorama City, CA: Grace to You, 2014).</ref> | |||
The Bible records the existence of astrology, but denies its validity. The Hebrews were exposed to astrology as practiced by the Egyptians. When Moses seems absent on Mount Sinai an inordinate length of time, Aaron, at the request of the people, fashions a golden calf. It is '''Taurus the bull''' that “emerges” from the flames after the smelting process (Exod. 32:24). So grave is the danger that Moses has the image ground to powder, and imposes dire retribution. | |||
Throughout the Pentateuch, and interspersed in the ministry of the prophets, stern, unqualified warnings are given against the practice of astrology. One reason the Hebrews were forbidden interchange with the existing tribes in Canaan was that their religious practices were infected with the astral arts. | |||
When the godly young Josiah instituted a reformation, he threw out all the astrologers’ paraphernalia. “The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the pagan priests … those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts” (2 Kings 23:4–5, NIV). | |||
The word constellation is equivalent to the signs of the zodiac. Jerusalem had become a center for astrology, directly violating the teachings of the Mosaic Law (Deut. 18:9–12). | |||
Ezekiel’s account implies that the signs of the zodiac had been inscribed on the Jerusalem temple itself: “So I went in and looked, and 1 saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel” (Ezek. 8:10–11). | |||
Jeremiah delivers perhaps the most powerful denunciation in the Old Testament of dabbling in the astral arts: “At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped” (Jer. 8:1–2, NIV). | |||
The craft that went up in flames as a result of Paul’s preaching at Ephesus was apparently of astral importance (Acts 19:19). The New Testament clearly calls on the Christian to resist determinedly the evil forces ranged against him (Eph. 6:12). | |||
Pathetic attempts to show that the prophets were old-time astrologers are not backed by one shred of evidence. In close contact with the living God, these men warned the people against the occult. Predictions they made from time to time came from their contact with the Lord who sovereignly disclosed his intentions to his friends. The claim that the wise men were astrologers is nonsense. They made no references to any conjunctions of the planets, horoscopes, or readings of the zodiac. Possibly they were Gentile converts familiar with the prophecy of Numbers 24:17. They depended not on charts, but on guidance from the Lord God (Matt. 2:12). | |||
Advocates of biblical Christianity have opposed astrology in any form. Augustine denounced it as mankind’s most stupid delusion. Savanarola preached against it in Florence. And Luther reckoned it to be a shabby art. | |||
==Four Biblical Criticisms== | |||
First of all, despite denial by modern proponents in the West (as contrasted to Hindu astrologers in the East), astrology is basically polytheistic. Its obscure origins stem from the worship of the starry hosts. Such polytheistic worship was a basic reason that God allowed the Hebrews to be carted off into captivity in Babylon. Allusion to “the shrine of Moloch” (representing the sun) and “the star of your god Rephan” (Saturn) is but one illustration (Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43). It is a prostitution of revealed religion, a violation of the first commandment. | |||
Second, astrology paradoxically locks us into a totally mechanistic universe. If we are controlled by the stars as revealed through our horoscopes, whatever will be will be. If time and location linked to the zodiac are determinitive factors behind our temperaments and our careers, we are not responsible for our bad luck if the omens happened to be unfavorable. Some modern astrologers have tried to get around the dilemma by saying that the horoscopes impel but do not compel—mere juggling with words. Human responsibility and choice do not fit into the astrological system. | |||
Third, astrology presents us with an impoverished doctrine of man. The biblical statement presents man as the apex of creation reflecting the image of God, with a mandate to subdue the earth and live for God’s glory (Gen. 1:27–28). The gospel of astrology reduces man to the level of a pawn. The real forces and powers, the main pieces on the chessboard of the universe, are the planets. Astrology purveys no good news, nothing to bring man into harmonious relationship with his Maker and cause deep-seated peace. | |||
Fourth and gravest, astrology is immersed in the occult. This may not be obvious when more sophisticated astrologers are interviewed. But the more widely one delves, the more apparent it becomes that the inspirational forces are the apparatus and thought processes of spiritism and witchcraft: check the advertisements in magazines devoted to astrology, replete with the trappings of sorcery—lucky charms, jewelry of the zodiac, talismen, cartology. So also is information on the whereabouts of witches’ covens with their so-called black and white magic. | |||
The person who dabbles in astrology, even in its apparantly innocent forms, endangers his spiritual health. That is why it is so heavily censured in the pages of the Bible. | |||
Contemplation of the heavenly bodies should cause men, in recognizing their own creatureliness, to entrust themselves to the God of the universe. “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?” (Ps. 8:3). Planetary bodies, far from controlling the destinies of man, reveal the splendor of the Lord God. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). Job puts it categorically: “He [God] is the maker of the Bear and the Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the South” (Job 9:9). | |||
What a perversion, when the natural revelation of God is transformed into a complete system that deflects man from the path that leads to God. Astrology will not direct the inquirer to cleansing from sin, repentance, and forgiveness at the cross of Christ. As Isaiah warns, the astrologers and stargazers cannot save themselves; none but the reckless should sit by their fire. | |||
So far as astrology is concerned — the Bible says No!<ref>J. A. Sargent, “Astrology’s Rising Star,” Christianity Today (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1983), 38–39.</ref> | |||
=William Branham's information on the pyramids is also flawed= | |||
We deal with William Branham's understanding of the pyramids in a separate article entitled "[[William Branham and the Pyramids]]". | |||
=Quotes of William Branhamn= | =Quotes of William Branhamn= | ||
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[[Category:Doctrines]] | |||
[[Category:Three Bibles]] | |||