Truth Magazine

By Cecil Willis

With all the information and enlightenment now at our fingertips, it is astonishing to detect that astrology and black magic should have such a hold upon the people of our land. Astrologers are known by many different names, such as witches, mediators, Satanists, fortune-tellers, magicians (not to be confused with sleight of hand artists), conjurers, sorcerers, demonologists, palmists, card readers, divinationists, soothsayers, voodooists, augurers, charmers, wizards, spiritualists, gypsies, or necromancers. Several of these terms are to be found in the condemnation of this sin in Dent. 18:9-12. Astrology probably is the most commonly used term in our country today for this witchcraft.

Astrology had its beginning almost five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. From Babylonia and Assyria, the idea that the stars and their formations somehow foretell, and sometimes predetermine, the future traveled to Greece, Egypt, and finally to the East.

The Babylonians invented the concept of the zodiac, “an imaginary orbit of fixed stars that occurs in the course of a year.” The zodiac is divided into twelve sections which are called “houses,” and each “house” is supposedly ruled by a planet, with the sun considered one of the planets. The days of the years are assigned to various “houses,” and one can determine his horoscope for a particular day by viewing the various relations and positions of stars and planets.

The twelve constellations of the zodiac are Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19); Aquarius (Jan. 10-Feb. 18); Pisces (Feb. 19-Mar. 20); Aries Mar. 21-Apr. 19); Taurus (Apr. 20-May 20); Gemini (May 21-June 21); Cancer (June 22-July 22); Leo (July 23-Aug. 22); Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22); Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23); Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov. 21); and Sagittarius (Nov. 22Dec. 2 1).

Various stars, such as Sirius, Antaras, and Vega, are used by astrologists in their computations. The working tools of an astrologist are the twelve houses, seven planets, other stars, and their relative positions. As the heavenly bodies move about from day to day, astrologists attempt to predict your future by the relative positions of stars and planets. Indeed, astrology not only believes it can predict your future by such heavenly bodies, but that your future is determined by the sun, stars, and planets.

Proscriptions

The Bible specifically condemns such “stargazing” in many, many different passages. Perhaps I should here recite some of these passages in order to show the relevance of articles on this subject in a journal of this kind. In Deut. 18:9-12 God said: “When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be. found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, one that practiceth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah”

In Isa. 47:11-14 God showed the futility in trusting in those who claimed familiarity with the spirit world. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not he able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, or a fire to sit before. Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein thou hast labored: they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander every one to his quarter; there shall be none to save thee.”

Jeremiah added: “But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you…(Jer. 27:9, 10). There are many other such warnings in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, we can read of the conversion of one sorcerer (Acts 8:9-11), and of the striking blind of another one (Acts 13:611). The eternal destiny of those who traffic in such black magic is explicitly stated: “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8). After having spoken of those who may enter into the eternal city, John said: “Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.” (Rev. 22:15)

All of these spiritualists claim to be mediums with the spirit world, but not with the Spirit of God! However, there are false prophets who claim new revelations from God, but I do not now have these under consideration; the workers of “black” magic claim to have contact with the evil spirits of the spirit world. Joseph Bayly said: “What is the source of the power a witch claims to foretell the future, to establish contact with the dead? The one person this is not is God. Witches do not claim to mediate between a seeking person and the divine being; if they did they would be priests rather than witches.” (What About Horoscopes?, p. 27)

Sorcery or witchcraft is a false religion, and this is why it is so stringently condemned in the Bible. A Mrs. Leek, a self-confessed witch, said: “Witchcraft, like any other religion, must be accepted consciously. It is a decision that requires maturity.” (As reported in the Chicago Daily News)

They even have their own bible, called The Book of Shadows, which contains charms, rituals, chants, and curses. There are even churches of Satan established over our country by these false religionists. They have priests and high priests.

Yet some members of the church read their horoscope in the daily newspaper with greater regularity and enthusiasm than they read the Word of God. (More to Follow)

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 28, pp. 3-5
May 18, 1972

By Donald Willis

One of the most severe commands that has issued from the mouth of God is the command to repent. This is the most difficult of all the instruction that God has given … due to the arrogance of man. It is extremely hard to admit error, especially when it denotes the secret actions of the heart. Man possesses pride in the moral stature attained. Man is able to completely hide many of the wrong actions of past behavior until forgotten by man. Thinking God to be like man, he wrongly reasons that God has forgotten these actions too.

Man attempts to live down a former wrong. Man reasons that it is possible for moral credits (good deeds performed) to nullify moral deficiencies (past wrongs). Such cannot be done! Sin is a violation of the will of God (I Jno. 3:4). Sin separates a being from God (Isa. 59:1-2). One cannot undo this separation, saving through the medium that the Lord has authorized. In this, God requires that a man repent of the past actions of life.

Christ said that “. . . repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations” (Lk. 24:47). Repentance means to change one’s mind or purpose, always, in the N.T., involving a change for the better…” (Vine) Thayer adds, “. . . to change one’s mind for the better; heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.” Repentance is not merely a change of mind, but is also the hating of the errors of the past, and a resolution to live better (fruits meet for repentance). One, after repentance, would not long for the former actions of life.

Christ taught that repentance is to be preached under the new dispensation. Peter told believers to “… repent and be baptized . . . for the remission of sins. . . .” (Acts 2:38) This is positive preaching of the commission as given to the apostles. Paul told idolaters God had “winked at” their sin, but “… now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

It takes gallantry to admit past wrongs and current conviction in Christ. Obeying the laws of Christ leads to the remission of sins (Heb. 5:9). How courageous are you, neighbor? Will you repent of your sins that life might be given to you (Acts 11:18)?

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 28, p. 13
May 18, 1972

By Mike Willis

Inasmuch as several periodicals have recently reported some cases of Pentecostalism in the church, each of us who preach need to begin a series of sermons grounding our members on the subject of spiritual gifts.

Most Pentecostals believe that hyper-emotionalism and ecstatic utterances are signs of the work of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere do the scriptures indicate that these actions are indicative of God’s work through the Holy Spirit.

However, the scriptures do indicate that actions similar to Pentecostalism were current in heathen religions in the first century. Paul and Silas, for instance, healed a girl having a spirit of divination while preaching in Philippi. The girl had brought her masters large profits from her “soothsaying” or “fortune-telling” prior to the time when she was miraculously healed.

The word translated “soothsaying” is manteuomene. The word is never applied to anything practiced by Christians. Rather, it is applied exclusively to heathen religious practices. In Synonyms of the New Testament (pp. 21-22), Trench said with regard to this word, “It will follow from this, that it contains a reference to the tumult of the mind, the fury, the temporary madness, under which those were, who were supposed to be possessed by the god, during the time that they delivered their oracles; this mantic fury of theirs displaying itself in the eyes rolling, the lips foaming, the hair flying, as in other tokens of a more than natural agitation.”

Although the word was never applied to Christian activities involving miraculous spiritual gifts, manteuomene would be a very accurate word to be used in describing modern Pentecostalism.

Several references in classical Greek writings such as Plato’s Phaedrus and Virgil’s Aenid are reported to contain references to ecstatic, unintelligible utterances among those practicing heathen religions (The Modern Tongues Movement, Robert G. Gromacki, pp. 6-7).

Whatever might be the source of the actions of Pentecostalism, it is more nearly described by the Greek word manteuomene than charismata (the Greek word used for spiritual gifts in I Cor. 12:4).

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 27, p. 13
May 11, 1972

By Lynn Trapp

In 1963 in two landmark cases the Supreme Court ruled against devotionals and prayer meetings in public schools which were organized, supported, or supervised by public officials. Since that time a majority of the “devout” (see article by Leo Rogol, Feb. 3, 1972 in Truth Magazine) persons in America have been using their energies to get “God back in the schools.” As a result of this, Representative Chalmers P. Wylie has sponsored House Joint Resolution 191 which says, “Nothing contained in this Constitution shall abridge the right of persons lawfully assembled, in any, public building which is supported in whole or in part through the expenditure of public funds, to participate in nondenominational prayer.”

On the face of it this Resolution seems entirely harmless. However, a close examination will reveal some very dangerous fallacies within it.

The first fallacy is that it is impossible to put something back in the schools which is already there. The federal government has never in any instance forbidden voluntary, personal prayer. All the courts ruled against were those which were sponsored by public officials. Such a position is perfectly in line with scripture and freedom. To require prayers of a “nondenominational” nature of people is a violation of the persons freedom and conscience, something which no man or group of men have the right to do.

The second fallacy is that this amendment does not solely concern itself with public schools. The amendment does, not mention public schools or schools of any kind. Rather, it mentions all public buildings throughout the nation. The eventual effect of the amendment is that it establishes a secularized (“nondenominational”), state-approved religion which is not only accepted, but required, in public buildings. Try to imagine a greater entanglement of state and church than the one just described.

Consider also the nature of the words “lawfully assembled.” Such a statement in an amendment of this nature is at the least redundant and certainly carries certain ominous overtones. How else would anyone assemble in order to worship? Has anyone ever seen or even heard of a group assembling in a manner which is usually considered unlawful (riots, looting, etc.) opening their assembly with a prayer and closing it with a devotional song service? Just think, the men who wrote this amendment are actually the men who make our laws. I think the American public needs to take more notice as to what is going on Capitol Hill.

Just what is a public building? HJR 191 defines it as any building “which is supported in whole or in part through the expenditure of public funds.” Are church buildings “public buildings” Why not? Churches are exempt from paying taxes and yet they receive the full gamut of public police and fire protection. Not only that, but there is a concerted effort -at the highest level of government to change the meaning of public to include parochial schools in order that they may become, by simple redefinition of terms, “public schools.” The OEO is currently proposing a tuition voucher proposal for all education. One of its fundamental objectives is the redefining of the term .,public school” to embrace all schools which are nondiscriminitory in enrollment and which make financial reports available. If a church school and a church school building can be labeled “public,” then why not the church building itself? The ultimate end is that the government will be telling us what we can and cannot pray in our own church buildings. We will eventually be living under Communism or Catholicism if this amendment is not completely destroyed.

The third fallacy is that the amendment will not stop at the kind of worship which may be offered in public places. It will affect much more than that. If worship of a state approved “non-denominational” type can be offered in public buildings, cannot religious teachings of a state-approved “nondenominational” type be carried on there? Gaston D. Gogdell, Director of Organization f or Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, asks an important question, “if the public schools are now to become houses of worship and agencies for teaching ii sort of newly established , nondenominational state religion, can tax support justly be withheld any longer from parochial schools?” Can it indeed?

Finally, the amendment really has nothing to do at all with true worship to God. The supporters of this amendment certainly are not concerned with such. If they are, why havent we heard any of them concern themselves with the question, “Will the King of the universe be pleased with the nondenominational prayer which will be offered up to him in the temples of secular religion which our schools and public buildings will become as a result of this proposed change in our constitution?”

This amendment came up for vote in the House on November8, 1971 and was defeated by only 28 votes. That does not mean that it is entirely dead. The supporting forces are already rallying again. Concerned Christians and Americans need to get busy writing letters to their Congressmen right now. Your freedom depends on it.

TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 27, pp. 10-11
May 11, 1972