Catholic priest
and OT scholar, Mitch Pacwa, himself once a proponent of astrology and other
New Age practices during his years in a Jesuit seminary, wrote the following
about the Bible’s condemnations thereof:
GOD’S WORD ON ASTROLOGY
During my horoscope period, evangelical and
charismatic friends called it an occult practice. I countered their religious
criticisms by claiming biblical support for astrology. I believed that the magi
of Mathew 2:1-2 were Zoroastrian astrologers. Hey saw a star of a Jewish king
in the East, so they journeyed to find him in Judea. However, I had a lot to
learn about this story. The star only brought th magi as far as Jerusalem and Herod
the murderer, which indicates astrology’s limits. Herod then had to ask
teachers of the Bible where the Messiah was to be born. The answer had been
foretold by the prophet Micah seven hundred and twenty-five years before
Christ: the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mi 5:1-2). Only after hearing God’s
Word could the star continue leading the astrologers to Jesus.
When they arrived in Bethlehem, they
worshiped the Lord Jesus in the manger. Like the magi, all astrologers should
give up baseless occult practice in order to worship at the feet of Jesus. Gold,
frankincense, and myrrh were tools of the magis’ trade. They left them with
Jesus who could transform them into signs of his kingship (gold), divinity (frankincense),
and his saving death on the cross (myrrh for embalming). Every occult tool must
be left at Jesus’ feet to free us to follow only him as Lord and Redeemer.
Another fact I was reluctant to face is
Scripture’s explicit condemnation of astrology. Here is the clearest text on
the subject (Is 47:12-15):
Stand in your enchantment/ and in the multitude
of your sorceries,/ in which you have labored since your youth./ If so you may
be able to profit, if so you may terrorize./ You weary yourself with the
multitude of your counsels./ Let those who divide the heavens,/ those who gaze
at the stars, the ones who know the months/ stand, and save you from that which
will come upon you.
See, they are like stubble,/ the ire will
burn them;/ they will not deliver their souls from the power of the flame./ it
is not a coal to warm them,/ a fire to sit near.
So they will be who you labored with,/ who
have done business with you since your youth.
Each shall wander to the path before him;/
there is no one who saves you.
This is hardly our Lord’s seal of approval
for astrology. Isaiah uses irony to warn against faith in astrology. He
addresses the astrologers of Babylon, the homeland of the art. They could not
predict their own future with astrology. Only Yahweh, the God of Israel, knows
the future and reveals it through his prophets. Rather, the astrologers are
like dry stubble about to be consumed by fire.
Another warning against astrology is given in
Jeremiah 10:1-3: “Hear the words which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel:
Thus says Yahweh: do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be dismayed
at the signs of the heavens, through the nations are dismayed at them. For the
customs of the peoples are a vanity, for it is a tree he cuts from the woods,
the work of the hands of an artisan with an ax.” Remember that the ancients
believed the gods inhabited the heavenly bodies, so it is quite logical to
connect warnings against astrology with the foolishness of idolatry. Jeremiah
says that it is a “vanity,” that is, the exhaled breath or halitosis. Astrology
stinks, so stay clear of it.
In Daniel 2:27-28, King Nebuchadnezzar was
about to execute all the wise men, enchanters, and astrologers in Babylon
because they could not make known his dream of its interpretation. Daniel
explains the problem to the king: “Neither the wise men, nor enchanters,
magicians, and astrologers can interpret for the king the secret which the king
has asked. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and makes
known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be at the end of days” (v. 27). The
occult cannot reveal authentic knowledge; only God does. Therefore, like
Daniel, limit yourself to God’s legitimate revelation. (Mitch Pacwa, Catholics and the New Age [Cincinnati:
Servant Books, 1991], 90-92)
