Welcome to all who made their way to my blog.
The bible and the zodiac?You may be asking yourself,isn’t that an oxymoron,doesn’t the bible condemn astrology?
If you asked me that 10 years ago I would have agreed.
However I am going to make a claim that will disturb and upset people,and if that happens to be the case, I understand,I really do,I know it did disturb me at first.
It is difficult to look hard and truthfully at dearly cherished and long held beliefs,and to even consider them as being wrong,it is as hard as staring at the midday sun,and mostly everyone will turn away from doing so!
So please know I mean no harm.
My claim concerns the zodiac,astrology and the bible.
Astrology and the zodiac is all throughout the bible,hidden in plain view for those who have eyes to see it,and are willing to dig just under the surface of the bible verses.
And it means much more than horoscopes,reading your stars in the newspaper,fortune telling and weird animals in a circle.
It isn’t woo or gobbledygook,it is a form of “ancient science,”and it’s amazing once you “get” it…..as I hope to show.
First though,how did I get to this point,how did I get here,and what brought me to this thinking?
Well since I was little,I’ve been asking,”what is life all about?”
My mum said I was always interested in wanting to know who God was even when I was little,I always remember her telling me one of the first questions I ever asked was “Who is God?”
I also wanted to know what the bible was saying from a young age,I could not understand a word of it,yet it seemed somehow important to people.
I always thought it was telling us something,but for the life of me,I couldn’t grasp what.
However,the need to know what it was saying,seemed at times insatiable.
This led me to religion,I tried churches here,there and everywhere….but they didn’t seem to feed my “hunger.”
I was always as empty leaving them as I arrived,yet everyone else around me seemed happy enough,satisfied with what they were taught,so therefore I used to think the fault lay with me.
Then I became a Jehovah’s witness through a circle of friends,one of my friends had a sister who was in the navy,and he told me she was going to leave the Royal Navy to become a Jehovah’s Witness.
Well I knew nothing about Jehovah’s Witnesses and asked him why it would make her leave what I thought was a good career,it sounded a strange decision to make.
He said she had found “the truth” about the bible and she could no longer remain in her career.
Then I had another friend who after talking one time about “spiritual things” with the same group of people (none of whom actually were Jehovah’s witnesses) he gave me a book to read saying it was very interesting.
The book was “You can live forever in a paradise on earth” written by the watchtower society.
When I started reading it,it seemed to use bible verses all the time to explain it’s stance on things,and I thought it had answers for every question raised.
For compared to my little understanding I had at that time on my life’s journey,and the understanding of every churchgoer I had met previously,JW’s seemed to know a lot.
They seemed to know their bible well,and when asked any question,could quote scriptures fluently to answer them,and boy could they flick through the bible,knowing every book it seemed and pinpoint the answer in seconds.
I thought I’d found where God was! (uh oh)
I met my wife there,and I was a Jehovah’s witness for over two decades,thinking I had the truth.
However (I bet you knew there would be a however…he he),the gnawing returned and eventually my questioning led me out of there too.
I started to realize the witnesses knowledge of the bible was by rote,and they never strayed much off their well trodden path.
And when I really started to question “our” dearly held beliefs…the answers were not forthcoming…however hostility was.
I remember the occasion of the last circuit assembly ( a circuit assembly is a gathering of a couple thousand JW’s),I asked a brother I knew,a simple question I had at the back of my mind,concerning Job 40:17.
(You’ll probably laugh at the absurdity of the conversation but it’s where JW’s are in their thinking)
Jehovah’s witnesses say that the “behemoth” talked about in Job was a hippopotamus according to the “society.” (the top brass).
The verse says…..
“Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.”
I said to the brother that I didn’t think the tail of a hippo resembled a cedar as it was just a little short thing.
His answer shocked me,he said to me “Watch what you’re doing,beware of looking too close into things…as the brothers who write the books know much more than you,and to start researching yourself can get you into spiritual trouble”
I thought,”WOW!” we are really restricted.in that we cannot even talk about the bible verses openly and “stray off the path” of what we’re told…not even one iota or people get nervous around you.”
(petty stuff eh?)
And adding on to that experience,I saw a “sister” (JW’s call each other “brother” and “sister”) crying outside the main auditorium and was being calmed and comforted from one of the assistants.Her response again stopped me in my tracks…she actually said “I should try crying like this more often,I got more attention and help here,than I’ve ever had at my own hall.”
I could see the poor woman was depressed,obviously felt unloved and unnoticed,and all this in “Jehovah’s loving organization.”
After that I went back into the main auditorium and saw the “man from Bethel” (Bethel is the main headquarters) giving his talk,walking up and down…people were hanging on to his every word,nodding and applauding,all the while I could see some of the things he was saying weren’t right.
The scales were falling from my eyes!…..big time!
Then my questioning continued,I remember saying to my wife one time,”I think there is something wrong with the Governing Body as they have had an affiliation with the United Nations for 10 years” (Jehovah’s witnesses teach that the UN is the seven headed wild beast of the book of revelations).
And the watchtower’s response was that they only did it to gain a “library card”
However the UN have stated that you do NOT have to be an NGO (non-governmental organization) to use the library…..so someone was lying…….guess who?…he he
So I said to my wife,I think there is wrongdoing going on with the Governing body,but not to worry…”Jehovah is still in charge”,at that she burst out crying saying I was trying to destroy her faith!
It stunned me!…it really did!I thought she would at least look at what I was talking about.
She didn’t…I could sense the fear from her!
Things from then on took a life of its own,there was no going back for me…I wanted to follow what was true,not lies perceived as truth.
I started “allowing” myself to research further and the house of cards collapsed completely.
I started to try to help others see the sham of the watchtower and all of the lies they were telling……oops! big mistake…no one wanted to hear it (that shocked me again).
In fact it turns out….everything was my fault!…I was the baddie for questioning.
I even received a visit from two of the elders on a shepherding call
They did not appreciate my sincere questions,or give me any answers that satisfied,and when I showed the convincing evidence of their false teachings,it was water off a duck’s back.
I (to my amazement) even received bitter opposition for even daring to ask such questions.
The cracks began to spread like lightning bolts……….
To say I was shocked when the house of cards collapsed would be an understatement.
My whole world evaporated before my eyes.
“Friends” who I thought were real friends disappeared,whoosh,gone,overnight!
In my greatest time of need when I needed someone to talk to,I had no one,I never felt more alone.
I want to state here though,they aren’t bad people,not at all,they are good people under a “spell/delusion” that binds them.
A “spell” that compels them to follow “the faithful and discreet slave” obediently without question.
It reminds me now of the German people under Nazism,compelled to obey by peer pressure,never to question the leadership.
JW’s are never to doubt God’s sole channel,to obey and follow no matter what,and to castigate/shun those who question the leadership.
They still ignore me to this day,it is incredible how you can be loved one day and hated the next,by your whole social circle.
Under immense pressure though,my wife,our kids,all stayed by me even though they are still witnesses.
Although it did cause an earthquake in their lives,they stood through it and we are still intact 8 years later.
(Update 2018,the pressure was too much and the 28 year marriage fell apart,my wife citing “spiritual endangerment” which can grant a JW a separation.I ended up homeless with no one to turn to,wife and 3 kids no longer speak to me).
I started to read the books I was told were dangerous “apostate” books…yet they were the very books that would free my mind from the “spell” I was under…and believe me I am convinced it is a form of mind manipulation/control or as some call it…undue influence.
Those books were telling me the other side of witness world,and it helped me to have an “informed” opinion,rather than a “uniform” opinion.
I had no idea I was even under such a “spell” in the slightest,however looking back I now accept it was a form of conditioning,influence……….mind control!
I had an awakening of sorts,a new realization,a paradigm shift…an enlightening!
We were told as JW’s,that “apostate” books would confuse and trick us,lead us to destruction of faith.
That is wrong!…..to have an informed opinion you need to see the other sides point of view and if you really,REALLY have the truth it should stand up to scrutiny and should swat any lies like a gnat.
I realized that the people who wrote “apostate” books weren’t the demons we were told they were.
They were merely folks who could no longer ignore that small quiet voice inside,listened to their conscience,and tried to help those imprisoned by the lies of the governing body.
Even though they knew the dramatic consequences that speaking out would lead to,such as an ousting from their social circle….as I eventually would come to realize for myself.
For anyone interested Raymond Franz was such a man,he lost everything for “TTATT” (the truth about the truth) (Jehovah’s witnesses call their religion “the truth“) and you can read his story in the book “crisis of conscience.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Franz
All of the above is said as background to how I arrived here.
So here I was,back where I began.
SO WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
Then came the jolt that started me on this amazing journey.
And it concerned the book of Ezekiel and his visions
Who was Ezekiel?
Ezekiel was among the captives taken into exile to Babylon from Jerusalem in the scriptures.
While in Babylon by the river Chebar (or Kebar) he had a vision of a chariot with four living creatures.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+1&version=NIV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_creatures_%28Bible%29
The 4 living creatures were:-
A bull.
A lion.
A man.
And an eagle.
And here’s where serendipity entered into things.
Someone who had a passing interest in astrology told me those four creatures were like the 4 fixed signs of the zodiac.
So it sent me off on a journey of discovery and I found out they were exactly alike.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_sign
The bull was Taurus
The lion was Leo
The man was Aquarius
And the eagle represented Scorpio!
The eagle puzzled me,I hardly knew the zodiac but I thought I had enough knowledge to say that the eagle isn’t a sign for Scorpio…the scorpion is!
However I did a quick google search and there it was!
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=scorpio+eagle
The next thing that made me go “hmmm” was looking at those four signs on the zodiac wheel.
they formed a cross on the wheel.
A cross?…now isn’t that strange?
However….what did it all mean?
Why were Ezekiel and John who wrote “the book of revelations” telling us of the 4 creatures?
Ezekiel 1:10 KJV
“As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”
Revelations 4:7
“The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.”
Next time I will continue my journey.
And talk more about these 4 strange creatures and their link to the tetragrammaton,and how they symbolize the same concept….or formula!
And all Jehovah’s witnesses know about the tetragrammaton (meaning “four letters”).
Thanks for reading.
Peace to all peoples of the world!
Biblodiac.
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