In 1988-89 I assisted my late husband, William Alnor, in
writing a book called Soothsayers of the
Second Advent – subtitled, “A compelling expose' of doomsday-dating,
pin-the-tail-on-the-Antichrist, and other non-biblical games that Christians
play.” We were grieved in our spirits at the plethora of prophecy teachers who
were discrediting the study of Bible prophecy by extreme extra-biblical
sensationalism and date-setting.
Well, as Solomon once penned, “There’s nothing new under the
sun.” History is repeating itself even as we are even closer to the LORD’s
return. Careless speculations about future events are on the increase in
prophecy teaching circles which contribute to the rise of scoffers – even Christian
ones – whose faith has been damaged by those who build up excitement for coming
dates, only to end up in let-downs when time passes and all things remain as
they were. I put the blame right on the soothsayers of the Second Advent whose
work produces the mockers the Bible said would rise in the last days.
In 2015 the Jubilees, Blood Moons, the Shemitahs
and all the Harbingers came to naught. The latest big non-event coming
up on September 23, 2017 has built up hopes for the date of the rapture.
Soothsayer Scottie Clark sees the “great sign” of Revelation 12 as the constellation
Virgo that is said to converge with Leo the lion on that date. Much speculation
has gotten people excited – those who probably never heard of Southwest Radio
Church and their guests looking at the astrological sign of the “Water-Bearer”
heralding the possible end-time events.
We’re told in the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy
that there must not be anyone among us interpreting omens. Reading something
into eclipses and movement of the constellations come under that category. This
is not pleasing to the LORD.
So below is a chapter from our book that I pray will make
people stop and think about promoting the coming date that just may be another
discouragement to those setting their hearts on a supposed woman Virgo that
doesn’t seem to give birth after all.
Maranatha!! - Jackie Alnor
*************************************************************
GOOD
NEWS ACCORDING TO THE ZODIAC
At the end of the turbulent 1960s, a new
theme was emerging from the hippie movement. We all heard the message through a
snappy popular song, “The Age of Aquarius,” by the popular band the Fifth
Dimension.
The song signaled what astrologers and occultists
had been talking about for a long time. The Age of Aquarius was coming – in 1982
the sun moved into the sixth constellation of the zodiac, called Aquarius. For
a long time many considered this a key sign and perhaps a symbol of the stars guiding
mankind to a new unity – maybe even a new world order.
Psychologist Carl Jung – himself an avid
occult practitioner – looked forward to the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Pisces,
the Christian era, would yield to Aquarius, the era of the Holy Spirit, he
said. It would bring in a utopian age – a time of peace, understanding and love
ruled over by the planet Uranus, which represents sudden changes, he added.[1] Perhaps sparked by this
widespread acceptance of the occult, the fastest growing modern religious
movement in America – the New Age movement – kicked into high gear in 1982.
Make no mistake about it. Astrology and
occultism are intertwined, as they always have been from ancient days.
According to The Facts on Astrology,
by John Ankerberg and John Weldon, “The very practice of astrology is a
foundational occult art and . . . the practitioners [astrologers] open
themselves up to becoming involved in other occult practices.”[2] They point out that
astrology is related to the occult in “four major ways”:
First, astrology itself
is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as an occult art. As such it employs occult
practices such as divination. Divination may be defined as “the art of
obtaining secret or illegitimate knowledge of the future by methods
unsanctioned by and at variance with the holiness of God” and which involve
contact with evil spirits. Secondly, astrology appears to work best when the
astrologer himself is psychically sensitive, what most astrologers would term “intuitive.”
Thirdly, prolonged use of astrology often leads to the development of psychic
abilities. Fourthly, due to its history and very nature, astrology often
becomes the introductory course to a wider spectrum of occult practices.[3]
Yet despite its direct connection with
occultism, prominent soothsayers of the Second Advent teach astrology to the
church, even declaring that by entering the Age of Aquarius, the stars may be
signaling the great tribulation, followed by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Combining the “message” of the stars and the testimony of the Bible, David
Webber and Noah Hutchings of the Southwest Radio Church saw the coming of the
Aquarian age as the end of the Dispensation of Grace and the beginning of the
millennium.[4]
Colin Deal also claimed astrology had
something to do with Christ’s birth and now His return, which he said would
happen “by 1988.” He relied upon 1976 and 1977 newspaper and magazine articles
suggesting that the 1982 conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and the 1986
reappearance of Halley’s comet were similar to astrological signs around 7
B.C., the approximate time of Christ’s birth. (Halley’s comet was thought to
have appeared two years earlier, at 9 B.C.) One article stated: “As 1982
approaches, the planets will be moving into the sign of Aquarius. This sign is
pictured as ‘The Water Bringer.’” It goes on to say that by combining the
meanings of the names of three stars found in Aquarius, and with the water
bringer meaning Jesus Christ, it means that Christ “left, but returned to pour
out waters of blessings upon a people redeemed for the earth.”[5]
To that Deal adds: “Yes . . . the signs of
the heavens are declaring for the first time in 2,000 years that God’s Son is
about to be revealed!”[6] However, even if you use
the meanings assigned to the stars by the proponents of “Christian astrology”
or “glory in the stars” theory, the article Deal quoted is in error. The names
of the three brightest stars in that constellation do not have any relevant
meaning at all.[7]
Webber and Hutchings, at the Southwest Radio
Church, have laid out their “Christian astrology” theory in greater detail. In Apocalyptic Signs in the Heavens, they
speculated on a conjunction of planets before Moses’ birth.[8] Citing ancient historians,
they supposed that Egyptian astrologers foresaw the prophet’s birth and that
this led to the killing of the Israelite infants.[9]
However, their speculations about the
conjunction being a reason behind pharaoh’s killing the male children shoots
wide of the biblical record. Exodus 1:6-22 states that because of a population
explosion by the Israelites” . . . the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7),
and the king of Egypt feared the Jews might become more numerous than the
Egyptians and eventually “join our enemies, fight against us and leave the
country” (Exodus 1:10). That is the only
biblical record of his reasons for ordering the deaths of the children.
Later Webber and Hutchings suggested that
Cyrus, the king of Persia, commissioned the Jews to rebuild their temple on the
basis of astrological revelation. They favorably compared Zoroastrianism, the
religion of Persia, to Judaism, because it taught that a messiah would come.[10] They even saw the Persian
religion as something that developed from the worship of God.[11]
But to imply that Cyrus, king of Persia, was
motivated by the heathen art of astrology to rebuild God’s temple comes close
to blasphemy, especially when the Bible says that the Lord God Himself motivated the king, whom God
called His anointed in Isaiah 45:1. Ezra chronicled it:
In the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord
moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his
realm and to put it in writing . . . “The Lord, the God of heaven . . . has
appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem . . . “
-- Ezra 1:1, 2
The same can be said for Webber and Hutching’s
comparing Judaism to Zoroastrianism. Although some have compared a few of the
sayings of Jesus to Zoroaster, the foundations of the two religions are
diametrically different. “Most Christians believe in three Persons in the
Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” writes Marcus Bach in his book, Major Religions of the World. “Zoroastrians,
however, believe there are seven persons in the Godhead.”[12]
The Southwest Radio Church duo also took
Deal’s thoughts on Christ’s birth occurring during the conjunctions of Saturn
and Jupiter a step further. Quoting The
Gospel in the Stars, by Joseph A. Seiss – which is one of the leading
Christian astrology books – they claim that Jupiter and Saturn conjuncted three
times during the year of Christ’s birth. Webber and Hutchings then suggested
the three conjunctions mean the three Persons of the Godhead.[13]
The astrological signs have continued to
this century, they wrote. They stated that in 1917, along with the signing of
the Balfour Declaration, which recognized the land of Palestine as the national
homeland of the Jews, “there were four total eclipses of the sun, and three
eclipses of the moon.” In 1918, when the World Zionist Organization endorsed
the document, “a new star appeared in the heavens . . . it shone brightly for
40 days. Forty is the Jewish number of testing.”[14]
Seeing Redemption in the Stars
What is the theory behind “glory in the
stars” theology? According to Albert Dager, a Christian who runs the
Washington-state-based Media Spotlight, it’s the belief that “the Zodiac was
originally designed by God as a witness of His plan of redemption, and was
later corrupted to occult science into an instrument of divination (the
predicting of the future and/or the determining of personality traits based on
the positions of the heavenly bodies).”[15]
Colin Deal, J. R. Church, David Webber, Noah
Hutchings and other like-minded prophecy teachers all cite the work of E. W.
Bullinger (1837-1913). Bullinger, an Anglican clergyman and descendant of Swiss
Reformer J. Heinrich Bullinger, partly edited The Companion Bible. He was also one of the most controversial
theologians in recent centuries, because he taught a type of Christian
astrology, numerology, and pyramidology.
Dager and others knowledgeable about this
starry theology say the earliest traceable work in the field was done by
Florence Rolleston of Keswick, England. She devoted over fifty years of her
life to “the compilation of a massive series of notes which was published under
the title Mazzaroth – The Constellations
in 1863, when she was in her 80s,” writes William D. Banks, a proponent of “Christian
astrology.”[16]
In 1884 her concepts, which included the listings of ancient astronomical
facts, significance, and the names of a hundred or more stars, gained more
acceptance with the release of The Gospel
in the Stars, by Joseph A. Seiss. But Bullinger’s book, The Witness of the Stars, which came out
in 1893, took Miss Rolleston’s theories even further, because he stated that
for the stars’ “interpretation I am alone responsible.”[17]
From there Bullinger incorporated astrology
into other areas of his theology. In The
Companion Bible, partly edited by Bullinger, he stated that the words of
Scripture parallel the words written in the heavens and preserved by the
zodiac. Bullinger also added that all the verbs in the second half of Psalm 19 are
of an astronomical nature. In a work often cited by today’s prophecy teachers, Numbers in Scripture, Bullinger fused
Bible numerology with the zodiac.
But Dager said all theories such as
Bullinger’s are based on “conjecture. In so doing they have – with all good
intention, I’m sure, melded God’s truth with pagan myth, traceable no further
back than Babylon.”[18] There is simply no record
existing that God originally created the zodiac signs as Christian symbols,
which were later perverted by the occult and modern astrologers, to reveal His
eternal plan. Writes Dager:
Though Bullinger’s theory is
brilliantly stated, pointing out the Scripture’s references to certain of the
stars and constellations by their astrological names, the basis for his
argument is found wanting. Wrote Bullinger, “After the Revelation came to be
written down in the Scriptures, there was not the same need for the
preservation of the Heavenly Volume. And after the nations had lost the
original meaning of the pictures, they invented a meaning out of the vain
imagination of the thoughts of their hearts.” . . . [But] the fact is that the
pagan interpretations of the Zodiac are the only ones of which any legitimate records
exist, and they predate the Gospels by at least two thousand years.[19]
Bullinger also claimed to have found
scriptural justification for his “glory in the stars” theory. He claimed Paul
was referring to the zodiac in Romans 1:19-20:[20] “Since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since
the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and
divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse.” He also used Romans 10:18, which “is
similar to Psalm 19:1-6 which refers to the heavens declaring the glory of God.”
Wrote Dager.[21]
Bullinger also misapplied Scriptures dealing
with the tower of Babel, in an apparent attempt to refute traditional charges
that God scattered humanity so they couldn’t complete the tower. Some
commentaries have taught that the tower was an astrological attempt to reach
into the heavens for more occult meanings. Bullinger, ignoring the biblical
record, said that the sin was not in building the tower; it was in failing to
disperse over the earth.[22]
Today’s Signs?
As their theological father Bullinger did,
today’s soothsayers of the Second Advent distort the Scriptures to make them
appear to affirm a type of astrology.
Colin Deal inserted “inscribe as a writer”
in the middle of Psalm 19:1,2 to imply it was talking about astrology: “What,
then, was the true meaning of (the verse) . . . ‘the heavens declare (inscribe
as a writer) the glory of God . . .’?” He also quotes Job 38:32, “Can you bring
forth the constellations in their seasons . . . ?” and Genesis 1:14, “And God
said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from
the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,’” as
proof of the astrological principle.[23]
Deal also says that Jesus claimed there
would be astrological signs that
would precede His Second Coming. His proof text? Luke 21:25: “There will be
signs in the sun, moon and stars . . . “[24] But Deal – and Webber and
Hutchings, who used the same verse[25] -- conveniently failed to
mention that in parallel texts in both Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24, 25, Jesus
explained what he meant. He said that after incredible distress on the earth, “the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall
from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Even more telling, Deal
does not mention the same description of the signs of the end of time mentioned
in Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; Zephaniah 1:15; and
Revelation 6:12, 13; 8:12.
Using Psalm 19 to justify astrology is out
of line; the meaning is clear. Every time we go out on a quiet, clear, and dark
night in the countryside and look up, it is obvious that the “heavens declare
the glory of God.” What a breathtaking sight, particularly when one is reminded
that God made all the stars! Genesis 1:14 as proof for astrology is no better;
it simply states that God made the stars and sun. Through them we could know
the seasons, days and years.
Webber and Hutchings also use Psalm 19:1, 2
and Job 38 to justify their brand of astrology. But they go further, much, much
further. They claim – without documenting it – that “Job and the Psalms spoke
of them [the stars] as authentic outlines of God’s revelation.”[26] They also suggest that
Jesus was referring to astrology affirming His arrival in Matthew 16:3.[27] “ . . . You know how to
interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the
times.” It is interesting, again, to note that Webber and Hutchings ignored the
first part of the verse and the preceding one in which Jesus tells us that the
appearance of the sky has to do with the “weather,” not with the stars.
Confusion in the Stars?
Of course all the while Webber, Hutchings,
and Deal practice their brand of heavenly astrology, they denounce other forms
of the practice. Deal said: “Demonic astrology, found abundantly in newspapers
and magazines, is strictly forbidden in God’s word (Isaiah 47:12-14).”[28] Southwest has
consistently condemned known psychics such as Jeane Dixon, because they rely on
astrology.
It’s interesting that in 1978 Webber and
Hutchings quoted Nostradamus, a sixteenth-century “prophet,” positively to
imply that our present pope, John Paul II, would be history’s last one.[29] (Nostradamus allegedly
saw the end of the world around the year 2000). But two years later Southwest’s
the Gospel Truth ran an anonymous
article condemning Nostradamus’s
prophecies, because they learned “he used astrology to prophesy, which God
condemns.”[30]
The article didn’t mention that Nostradamus practiced other forms of the occult
(including out-of-body trances) and was persecuted by French and church
officials for doing so.[31]
Quoting Dixon favorably was Edgar Whisenant. In reason 65 in his 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988,
he wrote that Dixon – “today’s famous psychic” – foresaw the birth of a future
world leader on February 5, 1962. In reason 66 Whisenant said that this leader
born on that date is “our Antichrist of the end-time.” And Whisenant isn’t the
only prophecy teacher proclaiming that. R. Henry Hall of Las Vegas believes it,[32] along with a ministry in
Cleburne, Texas, called “The Eschatology Hour,” which produced an audiotape on
the subject.
What Do These Revelations Mean?
As Ankerberg and Weldon point out, “Just as
oil and water do not mix, the Bible and astrology are utterly irreconcilable. .
. . As both a philosophy and practice, astrology rejects the truth concerning
the living God and instead leads people to dead objects, the stars and planets.”[33]
Therefore, today’s prophecy teachers ought
to stop all speculation about the meaning of stars and stop looking for
conjunctions and objects in space to tell us about future events such as the
great tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ. Astrology is a weapon in the
arsenal of Satan, one he tries to use against the church in these last days.
There is simply no evidence to suggest that in ancient times God revealed
Himself and His plan in the zodiac. Moreover I see little difference between
astrology columns in the daily newspaper and astrological speculations that
predict end-time events.
Besides, through His Son, Jesus, we have all
we need to know about the Second Advent. Hebrews 1:2 states: “ . . . in these
last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things,
and through whom he made the universe” (including the stars).
Second, prophecy teachers – or any Christian
– who justifies the use of any form of astrology, should stop ignoring the
heavy weight of Scripture that condemns the practice in any form and stop taking God’s Word out of context in an attempt to
affirm it. I would admonish the prophecy teachers mentioned in this chapter to
reread the Scripture verses (“the whole counsel of God”) concerning astrology.
God says the counsel of astrologers is worthless, and it won’t even save the
astrologers (see Deuteronomy 4:19,
17:1-5; 18:9-11; 2 Kings 17:16, 17; 23:5; Jeremiah 8:2; 19:13; Ezekiel 8:16;
Amos 5:26, 27;[34]
see also Isaiah 47:13, 14, already
referred to by Deal).
As Ankerberg and Weldon point out: “The
Bible teaches that astrology is not only a futile (worthless) activity, but an
activity so bad that its very presence indicates God’s judgment has already
occurred (Acts 7:42-43).”[35] It is also occult, and as
we’ll soon see, it has led to some prophecy teachers’ embracing other occult
practices such as pyramidology and numerology.
[1] Richard
Woods, The Occult Revolution (New York:
Seabury Press, 1973), 93
[2] John
Ankerberg and John Weldon, Facts on
Astrology (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, 1988), 12.
[3] Ibid.
[4] David
F. Webber and Noah Hutchings, Apocalyptic
Signs in the Heavens (Oklahoma City: Southwest Radio Church, 1979), 28.
[5] Colin
Deal, Christ Returns by 1988: 101 Reasons
Why (Rutherford College, N.C.: Colin Deal, 1981), 124.
[6] Ibid.
[7] William
D. Banks, “Index of Star Names,” The
Heavens Declare (Kirkwood, Mo.: Impact Books, 1985), 247-258. Deal quotes
the December 24, 1977, Atlanta Journal
article as identifying the three stars as Sa as al Melik, Saad al Sund, and
Scheat. Banks, a professing Christian, is a proponent of the “glory in the
stars” theory. His exhaustive star-name index draws upon numerous works of
others of like mind.
[8] Webber
and Hutchings, Apocalyptic Signs, 10.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.,
9, 10.
[12] Marcus
Bach, Major Religions of the World
(Nashville, Tenn.: Graded Press, 1959), 37.
[13] Webber
and Hutchings, Apocalyptic Signs, 10.
[14] Ibid.,
20.
[15] Albert
Dager, The Gospel in the Zodiac (Costa
Mesa, Calif.: Media Spotlight, 1987), 6.
[16] Banks,
Heavens Declare, preface.
[17] Dager,
The Gospel in the Zodiac, 8,
[18] Ibid.,
9.
[19] Ibid.,
66, 67.
[20] Ibid.,
11.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.,
9.
[23] Deal,
Christ Returns, 123.
[24] Ibid.,
123, 124.
[25] Webber
and Hutchings, Apocalyptic Signs, 20.
[26] Ibid.,
24.
[27] Ibid.,
11.
[28] Deal,
Christ Returns, 123.
[29] David
F. Webber and Noah Hutchings, Will Christ
Come by 2001? (Oklahoma City: Southwest Radio Church, 1978), 7.
[30] “Prophets
in the Last Days,” Gospel Truth
(November, 1981), 5.
[31] Erika
Cheetham, The Prophecies of Nostradamus
(New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973), 5-12, 177.
[32] Hall,
AD 1991 – The Genesis of Holocaust
(Las Vegas, Nev.: Spirit of Prophecy Evangelical Ministries, 1985), 53.
[33] Ankerberg
and Weldon, Facts on Astrology, 22.
[34] Ibid.,
23.
[35] Ibid.,
22.
