Dear Father Paul

Dear Father Paul: I have a friend who is really into astrology. Does the Bible speak about astrology? Helen, Fayetteville.

Dear Helen: Man has always had a preoccupation with wanting to know the future. Astrology is the pagan "pseudo-science" of forecasting earthly and human events by means of observing and interpreting the fixed stars, the sun, the moon and the planets. Around 20 million Americans read their astrological forecasts daily in over 2,000 newspapers. For many of these people, reading their horoscope is seen as harmless fun, kind of like reading the comics. Others have really gotten into astrology, which at its root is a form of sorcery that is condemned in the Bible; Leviticus 19: 26 says, "... Do not practice divination or sorcery."

The truth is that God alone knows the future and any person who tells you that they can predict the future without the help of God is false, period! In Ecclesiastes 10:14 the Bible says, "No one knows what is coming, who can tell what will happen after him?" Does God want to spoil our fun? Not at all; he just knows that we can get hurt when we rely on words that are false, and he doesn't want to see his children get hurt. Jesus taught that we are not to worry about tomorrow in Matthew 6:25-34 while the apostle Paul emphasized that we are to be more concerned about "today" in 2 Corinthians 6. Invite your friend to get to know Jesus. He holds the future in his hands!

Dear Father Paul: My mom is so fearful and full of worry that she sometimes has "panic attacks" that put her flat on her back in the bed for several days. How can I help her break free from her fear?
Kayla, Fayetteville.

Dear Kayla: Fear is the exact opposite of faith. And just as faith makes us healthy and well, fear makes us sick and unhealthy. For this reason God does not want us to live our lives in fear. Fear is not from God. It comes right out of the pit of Hell and Satan is its source! The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear ..." Fear can be totally debilitating even to the extent you mention with your mom. Synonyms for fear are words like "dread" and "terror." God tells us in the Bible in dozens of places, "fear not!"

And yet, fear can sometimes be a "good" thing too. Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived) wrote positively about fear in Proverbs 1: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." This fear, however, is not the bad kind of fear mentioned earlier, but rather holding God in awe, respect and reverence.

So we see that there are two kinds of fear positive and negative. God wants us to have (ONLY) the positive kind. "How do I get the good (positive) kind of fear and loose the bad kind of fear," you might ask. Here is how, and it is very simple. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18, "There is NO fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear ..." Again, the Bible says, perfect love drives out fear! "Perfect love" is a PERSON, Kayla. His name is Jesus. When we receive Jesus and truly make him the Lord of our life, fear has to flee. When our lives are filled with the love of Jesus, there is simply no longer any room for fear. That's good news!

Special Note: If this column is a blessing, I'd like to hear from you. Pastors need encouragement, too.

The sermon at Church Of The Holy Cross for Sunday, Oct. 2, is from Jeremiah 29, "How Are We To Live During Trying Times?"

Father Paul Massey will answer your question in the newspaper. Write him at P.O. Box 510, Fayetteville, GA 30214 or paulmassey@earthlink.net.