Astrology
ASTROLOGY is a false science that claims to foretell events by means of the positions and aspects of the stars. It is a substitute for the true science of astronomy and / or for the true principle of receiving revelation of future events from God our Eternal Father.
Fortune tellers and
astrologers would have us believe that our lives and actions are influenced and
/ or controlled to some extent by the movements of the planets. For example,
some people believe so strongly in astrology that they will not leave their
house without first reading their stars. Some businessmen, particularly in the
Far East, take astrology very seriously and will not make any decisions without
first consulting their astrologer.
Fortune
telling falls into two categories, the frivolous and the serious. Although God knows every minute
detail of the future, for our own protection he reveals very little about it.
Serious attempts to foretell the future by
astrological devices and procedures are not approved by God and are ultimately
harmful to us.
The
hidden message of astrology is that we are not entirely responsible for our
actions and so we cannot therefore be strictly held to account for them.
Suppose someone does something that is wrong. Like all of us, they will eventually
have to stand before God to account for their lives and actions. Do you think
that God will accept the excuse that they were not able to control themselves
on that particular day because Pluto happened to be in conjunction with Mars,
and they were especially susceptible to this because they were a born a
Scorpio?
Hugh Nibley said “All of
humanity are literally the offspring of God. Will I dare to tell God that I was
justified in loving some people and hating others? In dealing fairly with some
and cheating others? In speaking the truth to some and lying to others? In
being kind to some and being cruel to others? The only safe way is to treat
everyone as a child of God, realising that they will be held accountable for
their actions just as I will be for mine.”
Lucifer is consumed with hatred for us because we are God’s children and have chosen to obey him rather than to rebel against him. He does all he can to encourage and trick us into making wrong choices. He knows that if our beliefs are wrong, our choices and actions will also be wrong, which will prevent us receiving the great blessings of the restored gospel that our Heavenly Father desires to give us. Lucifer knows that we are vulnerable to pride and that it can sometimes be very difficult for us to admit to ourselves (and possibly others) that we have been wrong about something. So he encourages us to stubbornly hold on to and cherish our false beliefs.
Pride and stubbornness can be extremely damaging and destructive. A woman had been giving her husband the silent treatment for a long time, waiting for him to apologise to her. Things had became extremely difficult between them. Eventually the thought came to her “Is it more important for me to be in the right than to be married?”
Jesus
said "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
Lucifer knows that false beliefs interfere with our freedom to make correct
choices. He seeks to restrict and take away our freedom of choice. He does this in two main ways
A) By
physical means. He keeps people in subjection through force and compels them to
conform through ignorance and fear. He also uses persecution, both real and
imagined. The fear of what others will or might think, say or do can keep us
from the truth, freedom and blessings the Lord desires for us.
B) By mental and spiritual means, such as misinformation and incorrect beliefs like astrology and spiritualism.
Astrologers and Fortune
Tellers are the modern day equivalents of "soothsayers" and
"observers of times." The Bible warns us many times that astrology and fortune telling are an offence and
an abomination in the sight of God. The appendix at the end of this document
contains an interesting selection of scripture references that seem to indicate
that the Lord has some strong views on this subject.
It
could be said that certain modern day things are abominations that we bring
into our homes at the peril of our salvation. These could include pornographic
magazines and publications on the subject of astrology. How would we feel if
any of our children failed to gain salvation because they had been influenced
by such things in their own homes?
For
those of our Heavenly Fathers children without sufficient knowledge, testimony
or understanding of the restored gospel, astrology spiritualism and fortune
telling are perhaps understandable attempts to investigate and make sense of
the things of eternity. However these attempts are dangerous because the
adversary does have real power. It is not therefore surprising that astrology
and fortune telling does appear to work in many cases. The adversary will
reveal to a person 100 truths in order to get them to accept one vital lie.
The greatest
of all the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give us is Eternal Life,
which means us living together as families in the presence of God. Keeping
commandments outwardly makes us theoretically eligible for the blessings God
wants to give us. But it is keeping
them inwardly as well that will actually qualify us. If we accept astrology and
such things in our hearts and minds to the least degree, our beliefs and our
thoughts and actions will be affected to the extent that we will stop keeping
important commandments. Attending sacrament meeting every week is such a
commandment.
Members
of the church do not dis-believe in astrology and fortune telling. They just
believe that it is from Lucifer and they therefore refuse (or should refuse) to
have anything to do with it. Lucifer says to us “It is no big deal if you have
a bit of fun with fortune telling and Tarrot cards.” But Lucifer is a liar and
it IS a big deal. He is trying to cheat us out of Eternal Life, which is the
Ultimate Big Deal.
The Lord is infinitely
patient and kind towards little children and towards those who have been
deceived or who simply do not know any better. But can we expect this to extend
to those who do know better? To see a
church member accepting astrology mysticism and fortune telling is a bit like
watching a starving person rooting through a dustbin for rotting food, when
there is a feast of wholesome food spread out for him on a table nearby. Some
people seem to love mysteries more than they love God.
The following is a true story.
“When my wife died, I took my three girls to visit
New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Washington, and other cities
of interest, that they might forget the sorrow of the death of their mother.
While in Washington my oldest girl was taken down with diphtheria. In those
days, diphtheria was almost certain death. I have known more than one family in
which six, seven, or eight children have died of diphtheria. It was an alarming
disease. Very soon thereafter my second daughter came down with it, and they
were both sick nigh unto death. Finally I heard the doctor say to the nurse
regarding my second daughter, "If you miss giving that child a stimulant
every fifteen minutes--if you miss just once--she will die. She cannot live a
half hour without this stimulant."I stayed up all night to see that she
did not miss giving the stimulant, and the next morning the child was no
better. I went into my room and shed some bitter tears at the thought that, in
all probability, I should have to take that little girl home in a coffin.
Kneeling down, I pleaded with the Lord to spare her life, for the very joy I
was giving to my girls added to and intensified my own sorrow; and I asked that
I be not obliged to have an additional sorrow in taking that little girl, whom
I had brought away from home to give her pleasure in order that she might forget
the death of her mamma, back to her home in a coffin. I begged that that might
not come into my life. The testimony of the Spirit then came to me: "The
power of the Priesthood is here on the earth. Send for the elders of the church
and rebuke the power of the destroyer and that girl shall live."
Immediately I thanked the Lord for the whisperings
of His Spirit and I shed tears of gratitude and thanksgiving, after shedding
tears of bitter anguish. George Q. Cannon was in Washington at the time and
also Bishop Hiram B. Clawson, the father of Elder Rudger Clawson of the Council
of the Twelve. I sent at once for them to come and administer to my child.
Brother Clawson anointed her, and Brother Cannon confirmed the anointing. In
that confirmation he said something that I have never heard, before or since,
in my life. He said, "The adversary, the destroyer, has decreed your death
and made public announcement of his decree, but by the authority of the
Priesthood of God which we hold as His servants and in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, we rebuke the decree of the destroyer and say, you shall
live."
As I was leaving the boarding house where I had been
with my children, after they had recovered sufficiently to travel, the husband
of the woman who kept the boarding house (she was away that day) said he could
not keep from telling me a joke on his wife. Mr. Grant," he said,
"had she been here you would never have heard this, but she is not here
today and I am going to tell it to you. She believes in spiritualistic mediums
and in communication through the mediums.” I said to the man “So do I, but I
believe they are inspired of the devil.”
The man told me that when my little girls were taken down sick in the
house, his wife went to a medium, who told her the following story:
"I see in your home two little girls; I see
that the older one of the two little girls is taken sick. I see that she is
very sick. I now see that the next little girl is taken sick. I now see that
she is very sick. I now see that both of them are sick nigh unto death. I now
see the older of the two girls recover. I now see the second little girl die.”
She then she described every detail of the railway journey of that body in a
coffin from Washington to Salt Lake City.”.
I knew then the meaning of the inspiration of the
living God to George Q. Cannon when he said, "The adversary has decreed
your death, and made public announcement of it, and we rebuke that
decree." It was rebuked, and instead of the little girl being buried as
the spiritualistic medium said she would be, because the devil himself had
inspired her to do so; by the Priesthood of God rebuking the decree of death
she is alive today, healthy and strong. She is the mother of seven beautiful
children, and, in the providences of God, George Q. Cannon is their
great-grandfather.-- (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, p.362)
And
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son;
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew
not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after
that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how then turn ye again to
the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire AGAIN to be in
bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of
(for) you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. (NewT:Galatians 4:6-11)
"Observers
of times, days, months and years" clearly refers to people who place more
trust in the position of the planets than they do in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thou
art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels.
Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand
up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
(OldT:Isaiah
47:13)
Ye
shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor
observe times.
(OldT:Leviticus
19:26)
There
shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to
pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch,
(OldT:Deuteronomy
18:10)
For
these nations, which thou shalt (drive out and) possess, hearkened unto
observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath
not suffered thee so to do.
OldT:Deuteronomy
18:14)
And he
caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of
Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and
dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the
sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
(OldT:2 Chronicles 33:6)
“Daniel
answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath
demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers,
shew unto the king”. Daniel then proceeded to reveal to the king the meaning of
his dream. (OldT:Daniel 2:27)
And in
all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them
(Daniel’s bretheren), he found them ten times better than all the magicians and
astrologers that were in all his realm. (OldT:Daniel 1:20)
And I
will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more
soothsayers:
(OldT:Micah
5:12)
And
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and
unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their
God? For the living to (hear from) the dead? (OldT:Isaiah 8:19) (BofM:2 Nephi
18:19)
Therefore
hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers,
nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye
shall not serve the king of Babylon: (OldT:Jeremiah 27:9)
And
there are also secret combinations, even as in times of old, according to the
combinations of the devil, for he is the founder of all these things; yea, the
founder of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck
with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
(BofM:2 Nephi 26:22)
Yea,
and cursed be the land forever and ever unto those workers of darkness and
secret combinations, even unto destruction, except they repent before they are
fully ripe. (BofM:Alma 37:31)
Neither
shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing
like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for
it is a cursed thing.(OldT:Deuteronomy 7:26)
And upon her forehead [was]
a name written, MYSTERY, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and
abominations (Revelation 17:5)