About 10 years ago, I sensed something wasn’t quite right. You see, I grew up with the notion that even if God made them, stars were about astrology. If they have been in the devil’s domain since creation, I wanted nothing to do with them or their demons.
But now the thought persisted that something was wrong with this mindset. First of all, I knew Satan is unable to create anything — he can only pervert. He’s been doing it nonstop since creation. The second more important fact is that it was God who created the firmament. No one else created the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo). Then He numbered, named and placed the stars in their constellations. So, the truth is that God has full ownership of the constellations, not the devil.
And guess what else I learned — God also had something to do with how the constellations are drawn in the heavens, Virgo as a virgin, Leo as a lion, Capricornus as half goat and half dolphin and so forth. This was all so new to me. I was shocked to learn that the word for “zodiac” is actually in the Bible; it’s Mazzaroth and it’s found in Job 38.32 (the oldest book in the Bible): “Can you bring out the Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear (the Big Dipper or the Greater Sheepfold actually) with its cubs?” How amazing that the Lord himself brings out the 12 constellations and their signs every year, one per month. He directs the orchestra.
Chuck Missler’s “Gospel in the Stars” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99e3lfNsobs, Koinonea House, Boise, Idaho) was the beginning of my journey into astronomical truth. Just think – honest full-on fact-checking proves that stars and constellations narrate the Gospel, not Greek myths. How? Through the meanings of their names. It turns out their meanings are just as pertinent to us as the meanings of Adam, Abraham, Jacob – Israel, Isaac and Solomon, etc. were to them.
Adam means “man" made from earth
Abraham - father of multitudes/nations
Jacob - to supplant, deceive and overreach became Israel - to struggle (wrestle, interact) with God
Isaac - one who rejoices
Solomon – peaceful, etc.
So my first task was to find original names and meanings. I’m happy to report that the approximate 550 names and meanings in my database so far represent 100% truth. It’s no surprise they confirm Jesus who said he was “The Truth”. Of course, the enemy has tried to pervert meanings since Creation (indeed, we should expect nothing else) but thankfully scholars who knew ancient languages published their findings. Frances Rolleston, EW Bullinger, William Banks, Chris Patrick and Tim Warner among others are worth their weight in gold.
Then I became upset with my church – why was this discipline not taught in its colleges? Why would stewards of faith willfully neglect the most important corollary to the Bible? Why would they spurn the message God created as a spectacular mnemonic in heaven at Creation? How is it possible to think that God’s overhead story is trivial or optional, or maybe there for “show” but sure not for “tell”?
To my surprise, I learned that while numerous researchers did the hard work finding original names and meanings, no one actually carried research through to its logical conclusion. No one placed all available names and meanings of a sign, such as Virgo, together in a list to learn what God was saying through all of them. They stopped at saying how marvellous that the name of such and such means this and that leaving us with isolated data.
I began learning what Ps 19.1-4 was really about. While NASA’s unbelievable photography “shows” off God’s glorious creation, what the stars “say” eclipses all their beauty put together. In fact, according to this Psalm, what they say is 7 times more brilliant than what they show. If the universe is spectacular, and it truly is, its message is far, far more sensational.
1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. – Tell
The skies display his craftsmanship. – Show proof
2 Day after day they continue to speak; – Tell
night after night they make him known. – Tell, but who??!!!!!
3 They speak without a sound or word; – Tell
their voice is never heard. – Tell
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, – Tell
and their words to all the world. – Tell (New Living Translation)
It occurred to me that Adam, Methuselah, Abraham, Moses and the other prophets “knew” this information right from the start – they knew star names and meanings. The constellations were their daily compass and roadmap. This was the only revelation of God available to them for 2500 years. But they never “understood” its prophetic message. How could they? “A virgin would have a “royal” son?! Really?! Sorry – that’s beyond my pay grade!” So it appears the prophecies from Mary (Virgo), the mother of Jesus, to Leo, the lion of Judah’s final conquest of evil, may have been included in Daniel 12.9: “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end.” Regardless, the Lord created the heavenly story at creation, telling everyone what was to come before it happened.
In any event, it turns out Paul quoted Ps 19 in Romans 10: “16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. 18 But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.” Paul pushed this point home in chapter 1:18-25, especially from verse 19: “19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” This is just stunning.
Very rapidly, here’s a synopsis of the meanings of the 12 constellation signs. They actually form a trilogy of 4 chapters each, one for each sign. The first four signs relate to the Messiah from the beginning to the very end of his mission at the end of time. The next 4 partially overlap the first volume. They describe the Church from her birth to her rapture. The final four pertain to specific end-time events beginning with the Great Tribulation to the very end when evil is destroyed forever, but together they describe the end-times Harvest. It turns out Volume I overlaps both Volumes II and III, and while Volumes II and III are sequential, items “a” and “b” in the Harvest occur simultaneously. Here they are in more detail:
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The Messiah
- Virgo: the Messiah’s birth,
- Libra: His redemption strategy,
- Scorpio: His conquest of the enemy and
- Sagittarius: His ultimate victory.
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The Church
- Capricornus: the birth of the Church,
- Aquarius: her empowerment through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
- Pisces: the multiplication of His believers and
- Aries: the Her deliverance in the Rapture.
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The Harvest
- Taurus: the Great Tribulation,
- Gemini: the Marriage Supper of the Lamb,
- Cancer: the Royal Harvest and
- Leo: the destruction of evil once and for all.
Please consider 2 very important points: 1) The wise men of the east were the first in our era to search and find the Messiah not by following a whim, not even Moses’ Law but a star. Out of millions of lights in the heavens, it was revealed to them which one to follow. The time and resources they invested by following it proved their faith was real; their mission of anointing the Christ with gold, frankincense and myrrh was successful. And 2), there’s no daylight between scripture and the message God wrote in star names. The two records are 100% faithful to each other and they confirm each other. How could it be any other way?
In any case, what was I to do with all this? In discussions with missionary friends, it was decided to respond to the challenge in 2 Corinthians 10.3-5:
"3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
We decided to begin by producing “StarSpeak Brochures,” 8½ x 11 folded twice printed both sides, one for each sign and an extra one, “The Sphinx” (meaning “to bind closely together”) to introduce all 12 – we are hoping its broad distribution will generate interest in all 12. A Map of the Constellations is next on the agenda, A Trilogy of the Constellations including illustrations and a database will follow and so forth. Translations into other languages are also envisaged.
No one can deny how much influence the horoscope has on people, even on believers in Jesus. Why do followers of Jesus “know” what “their” signs are when the signs of heaven have nothing to do with their birthdates? Well, perhaps they remember from before they started following Jesus but shouldn’t they of all people shun any connection to evil, even its appearance? Is it any wonder why the modern church is so weak?
We have no alternative: we must help break links to this evil and replace them with solid truth. We checked the facts – the names and meanings we found are incontrovertible. Jesus is truly “the solid rock on which we stand – all other ground is sinking sand.”
Stu Burger, D.P.Th., B.Ed., M.A.
CEO Nations Publishing