Answers

By   •   June 8, 2016   •   Topics: ,

Q:

I was surprised when a friend of mine told me she consults her horoscope on the Internet every morning to decide what she's going to do that day. She said that since God made the stars, we ought to look to them for guidance. Is she right?


A:

No, she is not. God did make the stars (as well as everything else in the universe)—but He intended them to be a witness to His power and glory, not as a means to guide us or foretell the future.

In fact, the Bible explicitly commands us not to look to the stars for guidance. In the ancient world people often attempted to discern the future, and they tried all kinds of ways to do this—not just through astrology but also through omens, magic, sorcery, idol worship, communion with the dead, and so forth. But God told His people not to take part in these (see Deuteronomy 18:9-13).

Why was this? One reason was because such things not only are unreliable or deceptive, but they can easily bring someone under the control of occult spiritual powers that are hostile to God. Surely one of the saddest events in the Bible was King Saul’s attempt to consult the spirit of a dead person about the future instead of God—and it led to his suicide. (See 1 Samuel 28-31).

Instead, urge your friend to turn to God and put her trust and confidence in Jesus Christ. God loves us—and we know this because He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to give His life for our salvation. Even when the future is unclear, He can be trusted to guide us. The Bible says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life” (2 Peter 1:3).