Herbert W Armstrong

But prisoners did escape from prison!

   PAGAN astrologers in India, Malaya, and southeast Asia forecast that the world was coming to an end the night of February 2nd, or during the ensuing week-end. It became BIG NEWS, world wide.
   Millions in America, Britain, Australia, and around the world displayed interest and curiosity. It seemed everyone was talking about it.

Astrology a Science?

   Many people seem to be under the delusion that astrology is a science. Perhaps many confuse it with astronomy. The two are totally different.
   Countless millions around the earth believe in and follow the ideas and prognostications of the stargazers. You probably would be astounded to learn how many hundreds of thousands of businessmen in the United States and British Commonwealth nations plan their business deals and policies according to astrology. Newsstands sell millions of copies of magazines or monthly pamphlets on astrology — telling them which days are supposed to be their "lucky days" and on which days to avoid business deals.
   So it was that when pagan astrologers of India and Malaya predicted the end of the world for the week end of February 2, 1962, it became big news and caught world-wide attention.
   On that night, said the astrologers, seven planets in the "House of Capricorn" were to be in conjunction, and the moon was to enter the same "house" the same night. And that meant, according to the interpretation of these stargazers, the END OF THE WORLD!
   One astrologer in India predicted the earth would explode like an over-ripe melon.
   WHY, we ought to wonder, do the foolish ideas and predictions of ignorant and superstitious astrologers catch fire in the public imagination, world-wide, while the same hundreds of millions remain utterly heedless of the PROPHECIES OF GOD ALMIGHTY, which are absolutely SURE?
   The SURE Word of God says that this earth "abideth forever," and it shall not be removed forever! But the sure Word of God does say something about the END of this world — this AGE — this present civilization and pattern of organized society.

God Labels It Fakery

   Astrologers are mentioned in the Bible. They are classed along with sorcerers, witches, and magicians fakers all!
   When King Nebuchadnezzar, 600 years before Christ, had a startling dream that troubled him (see article, "Kingdom of God," this issue), he first called for the astrologers, the magicians and sorcerers to tell him what he had dreamed, and its interpretation. They failed utterly (Daniel 2:1-11).
   But then the prophet of GOD was called in. He told the king what he had dreamed, and gave the true meaning. Thus the CERTAINTY of the Word of GOD is contrasted to the ABSURDITY of the words of astrologers.
   In Jeremiah 27:9, God commands: "Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners,... nor your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers." Again: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst, of you, deceive you" (Jer. 29:8).
   Wherever astrologers, or the other fakers associated with them, are mentioned in the Bible, God Almighty represents them as pretenders who have no power at all.
   Yet the followers of false and nonexistent gods and demons in India and southeastern Asia believed these astrologers. So they went into an orgy of frenzied prayers to their false or non-existent gods to prevent the exploding of the earth.
   In one city the officials and the guards of the prison were so intent in their prayers and false worship and heathen ceremonies that they neglected entirely the prison — and many prisoners escaped. So, even if the world didn't end, prison confinement did for a few!
   And now, of course, the superstitious pagans are claiming that their gods heard their prayers, and their prayers saved the world! If it had happened, they would have claimed to be right. Since it didn't happen, they still claim to have been right — their prayers saved them! Speaking of this false Babylonish religious system, which, incredible though it may seem, actually grips our English-speaking peoples today falsely called "Christianity," God says to OUR PEOPLE, TODAY:
   "Let now the astrologers, monthly prognosticators, the star-gazers 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" (Isa. 47:13-14).
   The prophecies of your BIBLE — the prophecies of the Creator GOD — are absolutely SURE — but the predictions of astrologers are fakery. God warns our people that our sins are fast increasing, and He is soon going to PUNISH our nations, unless we WAKE UP and REPENT, and turn to Him and to HIS WAYS! We are to be punished with famine and disease — with economic depression and panic — with hydrogen bombs that shall destroy our cities — until two-thirds of our people have died or been killed!
   Astrologers can't prevent, neither could they CAUSE the end of the world. But God's warning handwriting is on our walls, NOW! Prophecy is SURE! It is as certain as the rising and setting of the sun! It will come upon us approximately between ten and fifteen years from now — it is FRIGHTFULLY IMMINENT! IT is LATER THAN YOU THINK!
   What we have been forecasting by God's PROPHECIES for more than 28 years HAS BEEN HAPPENING RIGHT ON SCHEDULE! YOU had better HEED!
   A FINAL WARNING from God, just before He puts an END to the present world, and ushers in the WORLD TOMORROW, is to be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. This event proclaimed by the astrologers was NOT the prophesied signs in the heavens — but we might do well to take warning that it was a preliminary SIGN IN THE STARS, MOON, and SUN, as a fore-runner!

Plain Truth Magazine

March 1962

Vol XXVII, No.3