Whose Star God Is It, Anyway?
Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Let’s get something straight right off the bat:
This is not a political post.
Read that again. Not. Political.
What this is, is a Bible study, not a polemic on the virtues and vices of Israel, Palestinians, Christians, Jews, or war itself.
This is just a Bible study. And that’s all it is.
With that out of that way, I’d like to formally welcome you to the last call to take your seats before the final act of human history.
Yes, it’s time once again for everyone’s favorite game show: “Is it Armageddon?”
The answer, of course, is no - at least for now. But that doesn’t mean this doesn’t have the potential to become the most devastating war our lifetime.
Either way, something feels distinctly different this time around.
I confess that I grew up in the Lord under an Evangelical banner and first understood Bible prophecy as I was taught it, in an Dispensational context.
While it’s a topic of discussion that remains far beyond the scope of this reading, suffice to say that Dispensationalism basically says the God of Israel gave up on the people of Israel - but not the land of Israel - and for the last 2,000-odd years went to the rest of the world to create an entirely new people made up of both Israel and non-Israel but that, in the last days, He will ultimately turn His attention back to Israel.
Sound confusing? Inconsistent? Self-contradictory? Welcome to contemporary Evangelical Dispensationalist eschatology.
Yes, that is what I actually believed, and what the vast majority of Evangelical churches teach.
Admittedly, in the handful of wars involving the state of Israel in the last two decades, one can’t help but immediately see the potential for prophetic conflict each and every time.
I knew this war was different from 2006 when Israel began openly stating that Hamas members were not human because they used other humans as sacrificial shields - more on that in a moment - and that this war wouldn’t end until Hamas is “wiped off the face of the earth.”
But what I could not foresee is the rapid escalation and threats involving, of all countries, Russia, Iran and Turkey.
Anyone whose ever flirted with dispensational Bible prophecy knows that trio of nations is a marker for the Ezekiel 38-39 war. If you’re unfamiliar with that passage, I encourage you to read up here.
In response to this geopolitical boiling kettle, we’ve already seen Western allies of Israel begun signaling their support, often in the form of an image of the flag of the State of Israel.
Since the war began, this star has been projected onto some of the world’s most famous - and even infamous - buildings.
From the Brandenburg gate, the historic site where Adolph Hitler held a parade in 1933 to mark the Nazis’ rise to power, to the gates of Auschwitz, the “Star of David” is now flying over sites once dedicated to the elimination of the Jewish people.
This symbol is so beloved by Israelis that IDF soldiers even flew a rainbow version of it as tanks rolled out in the hours after the attack.
Following the Israel-Hamas war, pastors across America - otherwise qualified, Bible-teaching, Gospel-preaching pastors - are content with and even proud of displaying this symbol to their congregations as a way of “standing with Israel.”
Some of these pastors, mind you, won’t even brandish a cross in their sanctuaries out of concern for idolatry.
But this? This is fine.
In media briefings and interviews, conservative Republicans, particularly those identifying as Evangelicals, are bending over backwards to adopt this star symbol as their new “current thing,” where they shamelessly promote another American military adventure to feed the largess of our already-bloated defense budget.
Even the 45th president, Donald Trump, is guilty of this very practice, allowing his image to be promoted along with the star symbol and used on a "Holy Coin,” the proceeds from which will go toward funding the rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple.
So what’s this all about? How are these politicians so cozy with a star symbol while they would never think about putting up a cross symbol in the same manner?
If you’re reading this, you’re likely already aware that the so-called “Star of David” has nothing to do with the line of Judah or the King of Israel.
But in case you’re not, here’s the deal.
There is no “Star of David” in the Scriptures. There is never one time the people of Israel took on the symbol of the star as a national symbol.
Not once.
There are, however, at least two references to Israel worshiping a star, which God roundly condemned in both the Old and New Testaments.
The first such reference is found in the book of Amos, where Yahweh questions His people about their apostasy into rank idolatry and the various gods to whom they were offering their worship.
Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.
Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
“Kaiwan your star god.” Otherwise known in the Bible as a idol. Big time no-no.
The Septuagint provides an alternate translation of verse 26: “You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Remphan …”
This star god, it seems, was always worshipped in the tabernacle/tent of Molech, who, for those familiar with the Old Testament, is the heathen god of child sacrifice, a practice which Yahweh explicitly forbade His people under the threat of capital punishment.1
Remember the Israeli media equating Hamas’ use of “human shields” with human sacrifice? Takes on a far more macabre tone in the context of Israel’s own history with human sacrifice, doesn’t it?
In the New Testament, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that this practice of idolatry was in fact the result of judgment from Yahweh.
But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
Notice how Stephen attributes this practice - which God calls sin - specifically to the act of Yahweh turning His face away from His people and giving them up.
We see this over and over again in the Scriptures: God warning Israel, Israel ignoring those warnings, Israel wallowing in sin, God give Israel over to their sin and its consequences.
Rinse. Repeat.
Remember, in Acts 7, Stephen is addressing the Sanhedrin, the Jewish equivalent of the Supreme Court which ruled over all the affairs of Judea under the Roman occupation.
While you’d be tempted to believe this Sanhedrin is little more than a Jewish artifact from the past, you’d be incorrect.
Here’s an image from 2017 of a group known as the Sanhedrin Court in Israel whose mission it is to reestablish the ancient tribunal.
And you’ll never guess what their preferred symbol is.
That’s right: the star of Remphan, just as Stephen famously recounted in Acts 7 just before he was martyred.
The Scriptures themselves tell us this star has nothing to do with David, but was actually a symbol of apostasy even in his own house.
Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
With the power of Google, it doesn’t take very long to figure out this star Remphan is not only an Egyptian idol, but also a Coptic name for Saturn.
Here’s where it gets a little weird.
Anyone whose a space nerd like myself knows Saturn is not just famous for its rings - it also features a hexagonal, six-sided cloud pattern at its north pole.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The same star condemned by Amos and Stephen is the same shape visible on planet named after that star.
Frankly, I don’t have enough faith to believe in such a coincidence.
Not only that, the Magen David of Judaism happens to be the exact same star symbol worshiped in Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, and Catholicism.
This very same symbol is used in Freemasonry and, yes, even on the back of the American dollar bill as the Great Seal of the United States.
From Saturn to Judaism, from Islam to U.S. currency, this star symbol is everywhere.
Why is that?
This star, which has 6 points, 6 outer triangles and a 6-sided hexagon, is now part and parcel of modern-day American Evangelicalism.
And nobody even bats an eye.
So many people who identify as Christian blindly propagate this evil, and they cower behind the doctrines of grace and hope and pray that while, yes, okay, maybe we may have deliberately introduced a satanic symbol into our sanctuaries and Sunday services.
But surely, they say, God will understand and forgive, and “Lord, it’s cool if I accidentally partake in and even bless the worship of demons, right? I’m still, like, your adopted child or whatever, right? Right?”
It comes down to this: do you genuinely believe the world would hoist up the Cross of Christ with the same level of fervor and zeal with which they have shoved this idolatrous, and yes, satanic star in our faces since Hamas - which, wouldn’t you know, translates to “violence” in Hebrew - invaded the land which God gave to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
Put another way: why are so many Evangelical pastors, the very same ones who tell us the Cross is a “pagan pre-Christian relic,” so quick to promote this Saturn symbol in their houses of worship?
Are they that ignorant of the Scriptures they purport to teach?
Or is something else going on?
The true star of David is not a six-pointed symbol. The true star of David is that bright and morning star, the Son of Righteousness, Christ Jesus the Messiah, who is both the father and offspring of David.
“I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Revelation 22:16
His star is the very same of which Balaam, expressly by the Holy Spirit2, prophesied long ago.
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
Numbers 24:17
It is this Star of Jacob which, more than 2,000 years, the magi from the East came to follow in the pursuit of worship, a worship befitting only a King.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
Scripture is very clear the heavens declare the glory of God for Him to leave men without excuse - but we are not to worship nor to partake of those who do the same.3
Remember Moses’ warning against idolatry?
When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what Yahweh your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own inheritance, as today.
Deuteronomy 4:20
Both Stephen and the Scriptures bear witness to the fact that the consequence for Israel’s worship of a star was exile - a removal from the land which He promised to their descendants.
In fact, the culmination of time itself will involve the casting down of stars from their place in the heavens, in what must be a eschatological demonstration of God’s displeasure with the stars as objects of worship and His power to call them all by name.
All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig tree.
and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind.
To paraphrase the author of the letter to the Hebrews, if this is the fate of the objects of worship long revered by men, how much greater is our punishment, those of who us who are named by name of the Christ, if we neglect the examples declared for us in His Word?