the beast of revelation

The Bible does not specifically discuss astrology extensively, but what it does say is always negative. Like many other sins, the problem with astrology is that people are trying to get answers about life's questions from a source other than God. Many people believe that they can know the future through the location of the stars and planets. However, apart from God's revelation, fortune telling is specifically prohibited throughout the Bible.

In the book of Daniel, the Bible makes fun of astrologers and indicates that they are powerless to really observe the future. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a disturbing dream that none of his astrologers or "wise men" could interpret. The King had ordered all the wise men, including Daniel, a young captive from Judah, to be executed. Daniel convinced the king's bodyguard that God would reveal the mystery to him and requested time to seek the answer. Having prayed to God and received the answer in a vision, Daniel reported to the king's chambers. Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2:27-28 Daniel answered the king, The [mysterious] secret which the king has demanded neither the wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor astrologers can show the king, 28 But there is a God in heaven Who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what it is that shall be in the latter days (at the end of days). Your dream and the visions in your head upon your bed are these:

Later, when King Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son, saw a finger appear and write on the wall at his party, he called in the astrologers, who, likewise, failed to interpret a writing that had appeared on the wall. These astrologers were again shown to be powerless deceivers.

God command His people, the nation of Israel not to practice astrology by looking at "signs of the heavens." God calls such "signs" delusions.

Jeremiah 10:2-3 Thus says the Lord: Learn not the way of the [heathen] nations and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, though they are dismayed at them, 3 For the customs and ordinances of the peoples are false, empty, and futile; it is but a tree which one cuts out of the forest [to make for himself a god], the work of the hands of the craftsman with the ax or other tool.

It was common practice at the time that the Israelites came into the promised land that the native peoples would practice astrology and worship the heavenly bodies. The Bible specifically warned the Israelites not to practice those things also.

Jeremiah 8:2 And they will [carelessly] scatter [the corpses] before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which [the dead] have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked and which they have sought, inquired of, and required and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered, or be buried; they shall be like dung upon the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 4:19 And beware lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and when you see the sun, moon, and stars, even all the host of the heavens, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all nations under the whole heaven.

The Bible says that those who are stargazers and make predictions based upon that are in error and will not be saved from judgment.

Isaiah 47:12-15 Persist, then, with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries [Babylon], in which you have labored from your youth; and see if perhaps you will be able to profit, if you will prevail and strike terror! 13 You are wearied with your many counsels and plans. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and make known to you and save you from the things that shall come upon you [Babylon]. 14 Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them. They cannot even deliver themselves from the power of the flame [much less deliver the nation]. There is no coal for warming or fire before which to sit! 15 Such to you shall they [the astrologers and their kind] be, those with whom you have labored and such their fate, those who have done business with you from your youth; they will wander, every one to his own quarter and in his own direction. No one will save you.

The Kings were told to get rid of the worship of the heavenly bodies in their nation and did so under penalty of the judgment of God. The seriousness of this offense is clear, since the penalty for this kind of idolatry was death by stoning. God destroyed the ten northern tribes of Israel because they indulged in astrology and other forms of demon worship.

2 Kings 17:16-18 And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the [starry] hosts of the heavens and served Baal. 17 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah.

As in the Old Testament, the New Testament also condemns astrology.

Acts 7:42-43 But God turned [away from them] and delivered them up to worship and serve the host (stars) of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did you [really] offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness (desert), O house of Israel? 43 [No!] You took up the tent (the portable temple) of Moloch and carried it [with you], and the star of the god Rephan, the images which you [yourselves] made that you might worship them; and I will remove you [carrying you away into exile] beyond Babylon.

Although the heavens do declare the glory of God, they do not proclaim the gospel. The gospel was revealed to man by God Himself, who spoke through the prophets and came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. The apparent arrangement of the stars in the sky is a function of the human brain, which tries to find patterns in everything it interprets. Depending upon one's background and society, different shapes of objects are seen as constellations. None of the constellations make such a clear picture that they could only be interpreted only one way.

Studying the stars to attempt to get some message from them is called astrology, and is expressly prohibited in the Bible. Christians should not dabble in astrology, even if they don't really believe it is true. Trust God with your future and follow Him in obedience to His word.