Gospel in the stars Continue Charles Stromer Synopsis. Since the 1980s, a growing number of Christian ministers, authors and apologists have been teaching that the signs of the zodiac and the names of some stars once had a neo-ultimate meaning for the Jewish patriarchs and ancient Israel about the history of the Israeli Messiah The Redeemer, which Today Christians know as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The history of the Gospel in the stars was overlooked, say proponents of the theory, because astrological and other pagan myths have dominated star and constellation values for millennia. Gospel in star theory tries to disable, if not redeem, constellations and stars from their pagan associations to reveal their original meaning of the Gospel. It should be emphasized that this is not an attempt to legitimize or Christianize astrology or practice divination. Proponents simply claim to have discovered the gospel meaning of stars and constellations that ancient cultures clouded through astrology. This article examines why a normative view of Scripture and history suggests the dubious value of theory. The connection of the nineteenth century from the beginning, it must be said that exegesis is used to justify the Gospel in the stars (GIS) theory of esoteric and complex. It is impossible in one article to agitate all esoterics and rather complex biblical and historical arguments and interpretations, which GIS proponents may deem important tot their theories. To fundamentally study the theory of GIS, as here, it will be necessary to avoid secondary considerations that may be interesting, but will put us aside. The seminal reference material for GIS theory comes from Francis Rolleston (1781- 1864) extensive research, in the early to mid-nineteenth century, into the ancient names of zodiac signs and numerous stars. Rolleston explained their pagan meanings in different cultures, and then, through the impressive and systematic exegesis surrounding hundreds of verses from the Bible, she offered gospel meanings to these signs and stars. In 1862, this encyclopedic knowledge eventually became the four-part book Mazzaroth, or Constellation. 1 By the end of the nineteenth century, two ministers, one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom, had released books almost simultaneously that extracted widely from Rolleston, popularizing her theory and eventually over-shadowing it. The first of them, the Gospel in the Stars; or, Primeval Astronomy (1882), 2 was written by Joseph A. Seis (1823-1904), a prolific theological author, eloquent orator, and Lutheran minister in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In Great Britain in 1893, E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913), Anglican minister, theological author and creator of the massive Companion Bible, published the second of these works, Witness the Stars. 3 Bullinger Met Rolleston, who in Keswick, and remained in correspondence with her. He said she was the first to create an interest in the topic. Something doesn't seem to sit quite right with many Christians about the GIS theory. In recent years, a number of parachurch organizations and respected Christians, including Dr. D. James Kennedy, Kenneth C. Fleming, Marilyn Hickey, Chuck Missler, Henry Morris, and the radio program of the Southwest Bible Church, have promoted GIS theory in books and sermons. This has steadily raised grassroots Christian interest in the theory, as seen in the many websites that currently promote it and cassette kits are being distributed. Some enterprising people in North Carolina even hold an annual Mid-Atlantic Star Party each year for amateur astronomers and starships, which includes a biblical-based GIS astronomy program. Reprints of the Gospel in The Stars and Witness stars are published in Our Day by Kregal, and modern proponents of GIS theory, although they add their own nuances of interpretation, usually followed by Bullinger and Seys when replacing astrological and mythological meanings with ideas and stories of the Christian religion. The modern push of GIS theory causes a lot of confusion, at least it's the impression I get from people (both sides of the Atlantic) who ask about it while I travel and talk. Something doesn't seem to sit quite right with many Christians about the GIS theory. They would like it to be true, but something seems to prevent them from accepting it. The Bible and history can help intuition here and clear the confusion. The Bible and GIS theory proponents the cradle of theory in a number of key biblical texts, especially Genesis 1:14-18; 3:1-15; Work 26:13; 38:31-32; Psalms 19:1-6; 147:4; and Matthew 2:1-12. Lawyers use these passages to support the ABCs theory, which in short: God created stars as signs having a unique message to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but this message began to get lost after the fall; however, heavens still announce this special message as people like the Magi knew. 4 Numerous biblical verses and phrases are also preserved to illuminate the names of some stars and 12 zodiac signs with different gospel themes. The goal is to find biblical passages that redeem the distorted astrological and mythological meanings of the stars and signs of the zodiac. Kennedy, in the real meaning of the zodiac, includes Daniel 5:27 (you were weighed on the scales ...) in his interpretation of the sign Libra, which astrologically is the scales. 5 It includes psalm 21:12 (drawn bow) and psalm 45:5 (sharp arrows) for the sign of Sagittarius, which is mythologically archer (Ibid., p. 49-50). Hickey, in Signs in Heaven, includes Leviticus 10:16 (goat sin offering) for Capricorn, who is astrologically a goat, 6 and psalm 92:10 (wild bull) for Taurus, bull (Ibid., p. 89-100). Fleming, in The Voice of God in the Stars, includes Revelation 5:5 (Lion of judas tribe . hath prevailed) in his interpretation of the sign leo, who astrologically lion. 7 The astrological meaning of the constellation Gemini, which includes the myths of the twins Castor and Pollux and the messenger of the gods, Mercury, is given Christian images of Jesus Christ as The Judge and Ruler (Kennedy, p. 107-115) or Prince and Savior (Fleming, p. 115-121). To replace the myths associated with Demeter, Persephone and Astra (goddess of innocence and purity), the constellation of the Virgin is superimposed with stories of the Virgin Mary, the desired Son, the despised sin, and the choice (Kennedy, 19-25) or The Shepherd's Ridge (Fleming, p. 35-41). Using psalm 91:13, Seys insou blurs the myth of Scorpio from its astrological meanings (around Mars and Juneau), giving it the biblical identity of the snake of Genesis and the history of the battle between Christ and Satan (p. 43-51). This is just the tip of a huge iceberg of Christian religious ideas replaced by pagan myths to reinforce GIS theory. Seys himself admits that such exegesis may seem strange (Ibid., p. 15). Eden Insider's Origin theory sounds strange, too, and Seys fails to build confidence in the GIS theory of his view of its origins. Referring to the Jewish philosopher Philo and the Jewish historian Joseph, Seiss argues that Patriarch Abraham, staying in Egypt, taught true meaning to Egyptian priests, who eventually distorted this meaning in astrology (Ibid., cpt 16) But then Seiss goes further back. He suggests that Abraham got true meaning through Noah, who probably got it from Methuselah, who got it from Adam's sons, especially Enoch and Seth. But where did these two men get it from? Seyce claims that they received it from their father, Adam, who received it from God. It's a matter of inspirational recording, Seys writes that God gave Adam special revelations (Ibid., p. 152), apparently including the gospel message written in the stars, which Seys calls the pictorial memorial of the promised Redeemer (Ibid., p 158). just when this supposed knowledge was given to Adam, reveals the most fundamental flaw in Adam's theory of GIS, thus being the first person to have an initially true meaning. : how human salvation and history will play out in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This meaning of the stars began to pass from Adam through the generation, but in historical moments became distorted through pagan mythology and astrology (Ibid., p. 150). A careful look at when this alleged was given Adam shows the most fundamental flaw in GIS theory. Because Adam was in perfect communion with the Divine Mind, he came out of the hands of his Creator, induced by innate science, and ... has not lost it by sin (Ibid., p. 151-152). Seys continues: God, of course, did not make man without at the same time shining all the light and intellect into him, to equip him entirely for all the requirements of the highest perfection of his being in his sphere, and for the intellectual and physical mastery of all earthly creation at the head of which he stood. The first man fell, but this fall did not destroy from his intellect the knowledge that his Creator had previously shone into him. The apostate from Christianity thus does not lose the knowledge he possessed. The judgment came upon Adam, and a firm need, but there was no destruction of his intellectual treasures or his intellectual abilities. Although they depreciated during the transfer of his descendants, they were not washed from Adam himself (Ibid., p. 158). (While much of this language and reasoning sounds like a doctrine straight out of the nineteenth century New Thought, we should ignore these effects here.) What Seyce says is that God gave Adam the story of the gospel before the fall. I have not been able to find where any modern GIS lawyer disagrees with this belief.