Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [83]
Biblical Sun- and Moon-Worshippers
Thus, we can see that astrology is not at all "evil" but a sacred science, as acknowledged abundantly by biblical writers. In fact, as noted, the polytheistic Hebrews and Israelites worshipped a variety of Elohim, Baalim and Adonai, many of which were aspects of the sun, such as El Elyon, the Most High God. In addition, at Amos 5:26 is a verse concerning the mysterious "Kaiwan," the "star-god" of the house of Israel. This star-god is El, the sun, or Saturn, the "central sun," whom, as stated, the Hebrews worshipped, as reflected by their sabbath on Saturday. As also noted, Yahweh, or lao, was likewise a sun god. Furthermore, we have already seen that Solomon, for one, worshipped in the manner of the pre-Yahwist cultures, revering Chemosh, the Moabite sun god, for example.
The Hebrews were also "moon-worshippers" in that many of their feasts and holidays revolved around the movements and phases of the moon. Such moon-worship is found repeatedly in the Old Testament (Ps. 8:13, 104:19; Is. 66:23), and to this day Jews celebrate holidays based on the lunar calendar. At Isaiah 47, these moon-worshippers are equated with astrologers, i.e., ". . . those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons predict what shall befall you."
The Jewish nighttime worship is also reflected in the noncanonical Epistle to Diognetus, an early Christian writing which further demonstrates that astrology was important to Christians, as, while the author obviously does not like the way in which the Jews are consulting the heavens, he does consider the "cycle of the seasons" to be "divinely appointed":
As for the way the Jews] scrutinize the moon and stars for the purpose of ritually commemorating months and days, and chop up the divinely appointed cycle of the seasons to suit their own fancies, pronouncing some to be times for feasting and others for mourning...
As we can see, the Hebrews/Israelites, like the other peoples around the world, revered a number of aspects of the heavens, both the night sky and the day. Also clear from biblical texts is that the Hebrew people were constantly confused as to who "the Lord" really was and what he wanted from "his chosen," as they are endlessly being bounced to and fro in their reverence for the heavens. In fact, as is written in the Book of Jasher, which is given scriptural authority at Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 but which was suppressed in large part because of its obvious astrological imagery, Abraham's father Terah "had twelve gods of large size, made of wood and stone, after the twelve months of the year, and he served each one monthly" (Jas. 9:8). Abram himself is also represented as first worshipping the sun, until it set, and then the moon: "And Abram served the sun in that day and he prayed to it . . . and Abram served the moon and prayed to it all that night" (9:14-17). Abram eventually realizes that "these are not gods that made the earth and mankind but the servants of God . . ." This epiphany is no great thing, actually, as the intelligentsia of virtually all cultures viewed the planetary bodies as divine proxies or "limbs" of the Almighty Itself. Abraham then goes on to destroy his father's gods, yet the Hebrews did not give up their astrotheology, which was, in fact, what the Hebrews/ Israelites were constantly "whoring after." As noted, by the time of reformer king Josiah, the kings of Judah reportedly erred terribly when they established the worship of the heavens, even though their predecessors were applauded for doing the same:
And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high