ASTROLOGY

Paul Bond
©January 2001

Nbond@bigpond.net.au

Recent discussions on future events have been based on astrology.

This method of determining the truth of future events is littered with the decaying corpses of the unlearned and the ignorant. We on this planet we call Earth are particularly prone to mythology, superstition and self-aggrandizement. Shamans and priests held sway over our ancestors. Today the astrologists do likewise over the unsuspecting masses. Herewith some information that may prove interesting to some:

"When asked where fire came from, the simple story of Andon and the flint was soon replaced by the legend of how some Prometheus stole it from heaven. The ancients sought a supernatural explanation for all natural phenomena not within the range of their personal comprehension; and many moderns continue to do this. The depersonalization of so-called natural phenomena has required ages, and it is not yet completed. But the frank, honest, and fearless search for true causes gave birth to modern science: It turned astrology into astronomy, alchemy into chemistry, and magic into medicine.

The intention and will of the spirits were studied by means of omens, oracles, and signs. And these spirit messages were interpreted by divination, soothsaying, magic, ordeals, and astrology. The whole cult was a scheme designed to placate, satisfy, and buy off the spirits through this disguised bribery.

Magic was the branch off of the evolutionary religious tree which eventually bore the fruit of a scientific age. Belief in astrology led to the development of astronomy; belief in a philosopher's stone led to the mastery of metals, while belief in magic numbers founded the science of mathematics.

Gradually science is removing the gambling element from life. But if modern methods of education should fail, and fail they have, there would be an almost immediate reversion to the primitive beliefs in magic. These superstitions still linger in the minds of many so-called civilized people. Language contains many fossils which testify that the race has long been steeped in magical superstition, such words as spellbound, ill-starred, possessions, inspiration, spirit away, ingenuity, entrancing, thunderstruck, and astonished. And intelligent human beings still believe in good luck, evil eye, and astrology.

The medicine men put great trust in signs and omens, such as, "When you hear the sound of a rustling in the tops of the mulberry trees, then shall you bestir yourself." Very early in the history of the race the shamans turned their attention to the stars. Primitive astrology was a world-wide belief and practice; dream interpreting also became widespread. All this was soon followed by the appearance of those temperamental shamanesses who professed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Again and again did the Caesars banish the astrologers, but they invariably returned because of the popular belief in their powers. They could not be driven out, and even in the sixteenth century after Christ the directors of Occidental church and state were the patrons of astrology. Thousands of supposedly intelligent people in modern civilization still believe that one may be born under the domination of a lucky or an unlucky star; that the juxtaposition of the heavenly bodies determines the outcome of various terrestrial adventures. Fortune-tellers are still patronized by the credulous.

This defeat of the Salem gospel was immediately followed by a great increase in the cult of Ishtar, a ritual which had already invaded Palestine as Ashtoreth, Egypt as Isis, Greece as Aphrodite, and the northern tribes as Astarte. And it was in connection with this revival of the worship of Ishtar that the Babylonian priests turned anew to stargazing; astrology
experienced its last great Mesopotamian revival, fortune telling became the vogue, and for centuries the priesthood increasingly deteriorated. Until now.

Astrology. This pseudo science of Babylon developed into a religion throughout the Greco-Roman Empire. Even in the twentieth century man has not been fully delivered from this superstitious belief. In point of fact as more and more of the post-modern age are continuing to be confused and disenchanted, superstition and mythology are being dredged up once again. Tribal marks were the passports of the ancients, today many youths have once again adopted these marks, based on a retrogression back to tribalism.

From the Life and Teachings of Jesus:

Late that evening Jesus gave the united group a memorable talk on ‘Magic and Superstition.’ In those days the appearance of a bright and supposedly new star was regarded as a token indicating that a great man had been born on earth. Such a star having then recently been observed, Andrew asked Jesus if these beliefs were well founded. In the long answer to Andrew's question the Master entered upon a thoroughgoing discussion of the whole subject of human superstition. The statement which Jesus made at this time may be summarized in modern phraseology as follows:

'The courses of the stars in the heavens have nothing whatever to do with the events of human life on earth. Astronomy is a proper pursuit of science, but astrology is a mass of superstitious error which has no place in the gospel of the kingdom."'

***

Of course for the confused, the despaired and the enslaved of the post-modern age, these totems of our ancestral past become once again desirable relief from oppression and totalitarianism. Mistake not, however, the Universe is observing this planet and the Creator is displeased. He sees the enslavement, the malfeasance, the unrighteousness and He will soon act at the inception of a "world crisis" by sending us a Son of God. The judgement delivered will see the following statement become fact: "Depart from us all you who have taken delight in the works of iniquity."

And then may we experience "all things becoming as new" for it is written and I repeat, "the kingdom of God is at hand.”