The moment Jesus was born Satan knew that he was the Son of God who had come to destroy his kingdom. The evil one had to kill him. He therefore had to inform Herod about this new King’s arrival. Then Herod would surely want the threat to his position dead. How would he let Herod know? Through witchcraft...Sorcerers...
To make predictions based on the stars is forbidden according to the scriptures. The astrologers came to worship the baby having seen a star in the east. ( Maybe India ? A place of much witchcraft and child worship. ) The bible calls them magi which means magician or sorcerer. They were not astronomers- scientists who study the stars but astrologers who through occult demonic power prophecy for the devil.
God had only revealed Jesus’s birth to humble God-fearing people like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and his prophets Anna and Simeon through the Holy Spirit. Since the covenant land was protected by God, the Un-Holy spirit revealed the Messiah’s birth to these very unwise men to go and inform Herod so that the young Jesus could be murdered! ‘Another King? No way ! Me and My son will be the only rulers!’ Herod jealously raged.
Mat 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
The Greek word for Magi is ‘Magos’: Strong’s : a magician, sorcerer, wise man. The ancient pagans king also made the mistake of taking sorcerers, mediums thinking that they were wise men with great powers to guide their kingdoms into success. We know they were wrong. They were very un-wise men. The power of sorcery / the occult / astrology / witchcraft is of the devil not God, it is demonic, dark , evil and leads to death , as it did in the event of the boys being massacred in Bethlehem.
However our enemy’s power is no match for the Lord’s . Even these magi ( oxford dictionary: sorcerer = a male witch) were put right by the power of a holy dream. They didn’t return to Herod. God can change anyone! In the middle of the night God saved the baby Jesus from the coming slaughter by another act of super-natural revelation. Joseph instantly obeyed even though it was the middle of the night and left for Africa.
But the consequence of evil astrology is clearly seen in all the one - year old boys killed in Bethlehem. We should never use occult practices! And we should never fear it either.
In the 3rd story in the O.T. the deceiver succeeded in killing the 1st Adam . In the 3rd story in the N.T. he failed to kill the 2nd Adam! Exodus 30 : 22 to 38 tells the exact way to offer frankincense and myrrh. Any other combination was strictly forbidden including that given by the un- wise men. Also it was only to be offered by Levi priests certainly not by witches! ‘Ah... They’ve brought Gold for our son how wonderful please stay the night. What a blessing the Lord has provided for us Joseph!’ Mary thought fooled by the ‘deceitfulness of riches.’ (Mat_13:22). Satan still uses gold to trap many people today!
Seeing this star the astrologers were led to the exact house- clearly a super-natural star. Navigation though natural stars can only give very rough guidance across an ocean for example, never to a precise location. God knew who was following these magicians. So who caused this miraculous star to appear? The god of this world through occult power.
I only went to church once a year before I was saved at Christmas and was thus taught to worship the infant Jesus (instead of the resurrected Jesus) and look to the stars for guidance! This was supposed to be wisdom!!!
When we sing the songs about this occult star is it no wonder less people are saved in our Christmas programs? Let’s not believe tradition but the word of God! Like Paul, Jesus from the beginning was on the edge of death but God rescued him from every evil attack. This is normal experience for the godly disciple when we discern what’s from the devil and regularly hear the super-natural voice of God through dreams and visions.
Please don’t put stars outside your house this Christmas, clearly symbolizing a misunderstanding of the scriptures. Many pagan kings in the past made the stupid mistake of listening to astrologers magicians and sorcerers for advise thinking they were wise men, let’s not do the same!
A different perspective on MATTHEW Chapter 2.