Question: I disagree with your article on "The Gospel in the Stars" (TBC 5/89). God didn't just ...

Question: I disagree with your article on "The Gospel in the Stars" (TBC 5/89). I just think of Genesis:1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
See All..., 14-19, Job:38:31-32 [31] Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? [32] Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
See All..., and Psalm:19:1-14 [1] (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. [2] Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [3] There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. [4] Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, [5] Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. [6] His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. [7] The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. [8] The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. [9] The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. [10] More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. [11] Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. [12] Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. [13] Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. [14] Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
See All.... I think about the fall of man, the tower of Babel, the Flood, and before the Abrahamic Covenant. God didn't just leave mankind alone. He had to leave them some text or scrolls to know of His redemption plan. And I do believe that the first scroll was in the sky, showing the times and seasons, a plan of salvation and redemption.

I have read Bullinger, Seiss, Martin, and read Enoch, Jubilees, Jasher, and I find it very plausible and acceptable to understand that in the age of innocence and conscience, early man had to have some information and knowledge of Truth, and how he would come back to God and fill that void in his heart. "The heavens declare the glory of God...." I stand on the Bible. I have no faith in man, and man's opinions; I trust in God, and I pray for the truth about things I want to know about.

Response: If we trust the Lord and stand on the Bible, we shouldn't say that Bullinger, Seiss, Martin, and apocryphal books such as Enoch, etc., are "plausible." They can't be plausible if they contain teachings contrary to the Word of God. We can't say that we have "no faith in man" and yet find human reasoning "acceptable."

Let's begin with Psalm:19:1(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
See All.... "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork." They "declare" His glory. They demonstrate in every speech and language that there is a Creator who called into being this amazing, ordered universe. But they do not give any details about the gospel that saves man.

In the beginning, the Lord created the heavens and the earth. We are specifically told that "God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gn 1:14). The heavens both declare the glory of God and serve to mark time. But they cannot be our spiritual focus. Indeed, Jeremiah warned Israel: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them"(Jer:10:2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
See All...). Being separated from their Creator, they began worshipping the creation more than the One who made them. Though the stars witnessed eloquently of the Lord's greatness and glory, they were not the medium used of God to communicate the gospel of salvation.

Paul asks rhetorically, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" The stars are glorious, but the stars are mute. They are not a "preacher."

Too many who are teaching the Gospel in the Stars theory are really just trying to "Christianize" astrology. They incorporate ancient structures such as the pyramids into this unbiblical goulash. Even the late
D. James Kennedy tells his readers that the key to understanding this way of salvation is the sphinx: "I know it will surprise you, but the sphinx actually unlocks the mystery of the zodiac" (D. James Kennedy, The Real Meaning of the Zodiac [Coral Ridge Ministries, 1989]).

This creates other problems. The signs of the zodiac are not visible above the Arctic Circle. There are no "signs" for any Aleuts, Eskimos, Siberians, Greenlanders, and Scandinavian people living above 66 degrees of latitude. In other words, for many people, the "first scroll" is blank.

Finally, to see the Gospel in the Stars as plausible is to give credence to the theories of man and place our belief in the Babylonian-based system of astrology. May the Lord deliver us from this.