Question: In mid-October, I heard a very disturbing series by Dr. D. James Kennedy on his radio ...

Question: In mid-October, I heard a very disturbing series by Dr. D. James Kennedy on his radio program, “Truths that Transform,” with the theme of Christ in the zodiac. Dr. Kennedy drew parallels between the events and symbols relating to the Lord Jesus Christ and the various signs of the astrological zodiac. ...I was shocked...!

Response: Unfortunately, the myth of The Gospel in the Stars, popularized by Joseph A. Seiss’s book of that name and E. W. Bullinger’s Witness of the Stars, has been promoted not only by Kennedy but by many other Christian leaders. Seiss’s statement that the insights leading to this thesis came “in connection with his studies of the marvelous wisdom embodied in the Great Pyramid at El Giza” (p. 5) ought to be sufficient to discredit it. The alleged message found in various measurements of the pyramids is an absurdity pursued by people who delight in esoteric mysteries hidden from the less intelligent. Such delusions give the Bible false support from a source with which Scripture should not be associated. The same is true of any alleged “gospel” in the signs of the zodiac.


First of all, the Bible says that creation reveals God’s glory and power, not the gospel. Furthermore, its witness is “clearly seen” (Rom:1:20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
See All...) and understood by everyone: “there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Ps:19:3There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
See All...). Yet no one would ever understand the gospel by looking at the stars themselves or anything else in nature. Kennedy admits, “You can look at the stars in Virgo until you are green in the face and they would never look like a woman.” And even if you did see a woman and child in the stars, how would that tell you that the Son of God would be born of a virgin, much less His mission in coming to earth? The Southern Cross is the clearest sign in the stars, yet who would know by looking at it that God, having become a man, would one day die upon a cross for the sins of the world?

Seiss himself confesses, “the starry worlds...do not and cannot declare or show forth Christ as Redeemer...” (p. 13). Of course, they can’t. Yet a page later he contradicts himself, logic and the Bible to say that the gospel “in all its length and breadth, stands written upon the stars...” (p. 14). Really! The word “gospel” is used 101 times in 95 verses in the Bible (all New Testament) and is never associated with the stars or the witness of creation. The gospel is always preached by men and must be made perfectly clear for it to be of any effect. The alleged gospel in the stars and symbols of the zodiac fail on both counts. In fact, the symbols of the zodiac have universally served to support occultism and astrology since the earliest times.


The Bible indicates that whereas the gospel was foreseen in Old Testament prophecies it only began to be preached in its fullness with the advent of Christ (2 Tm 1:10). Paul refers to “the beginning of the gospel” (Phil:4:15Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
See All...) and states that it had been a mystery until then “kept secret since the world began” (Rom:16:25Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
See All...). Matthew:24:14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
See All..., Mark:13:10And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
See All..., etc. indicate that the gospel must yet be preached to all nations, so it could hardly have been already preached in the stars. It is a contradiction of Scripture to suggest that for thousands of years before it was made clear in the Bible, the gospel had been proclaimed in an oral tradition associated with the stars. Yet Seiss, overcome with unfounded enthusiasm, declared, “...all the great doctrines of the Christian faith were known, believed, cherished, and recorded [in the stars] from the earliest generations of our race...” (p. 15). Odd that the Bible, which is our authority on the gospel, knows nothing of this.

Never once does the Bible refer to the gospel as being in the stars or related in any way to the zodiac. The prophets never mention it. Peter, though he referred to signs in the sky (Acts:2:19And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
See All...), didn’t mention this alleged “greatest sign” in addressing a Jewish audience which supposedly would be greatly affected by “signs.” Why didn’t Paul, in preaching the gospel in city after city or in debating with Greek philosophers, on Mars Hill, for example, mention this great sign in the heavens at least once? He didn’t. Why didn’t Jesus, who quoted often from the Old Testament and used many illustrations to teach the people, refer to the gospel in the stars at least once?

The answer is obvious: there is no gospel in the stars, as anyone looking at the night sky must admit. Far from supporting the Bible, that delusion actually contradicts and undermines it. And for Christian leaders to persist in this fantasy when it contradicts Scripture can only sow confusion and eventual unbelief.

When Jesus said, “It is written,” He did not refer to the stars. Nothing is written in the stars, and certainly not the gospel! Let us give the Bible credit for being sufficient. We dealt with this subject in more depth in the May 1989 reprint (pp. 61-62).