A PERSONAL TESTIMONY

“My Journey to the Stars”

By Robert L. Williams, Jr

Yosemite National Park

(Where my story begins)

My journey to Stars began in the year 1980. Having just graduated from High School, I left home and went on my first trip to Yosemite National Park in Central California with my big brother Ron. I had no idea what to expect. We drove late into the night arriving around midnight, and looking up into the heavens I was awestruck with the innumerable amount of stars I could see, including the Milky Way! I knew right away I was in a very special place on earth where the stars shined so brilliantly in all their glory!

I didn’t begin to understand the spiritual significance of stars until many years later in 2007 when I picked up a book entitled, “The Witness of the Stars” by E. W. Bullinger. I was intrigued by the title and perused through the book a little here and there but found it a bit difficult to follow the author’s train of thought at times. I set it down and didn’t read any further, but I was still very fascinated with the subject matter. A short time after that I watched a video my friend Joe Maniscalco put together entitled: “God’s Throne and the Zodiac.” This video got my attention once again and I became even more interested in this subject. It wasn’t until the winter of 2012 while looking through some videos on Youtube, that I came across a video by E. Raymond Capt, the author of the book, “The Glory of the Stars.” This time around I could not escape from studying this subject any longer. I must search this out as far as I can possibly go with it and learn as much as I can until I know it well enough to teach it to others.

I was so thoroughly fascinated by this revelation of the gospel being depicted in the stars that I immediately began memorizing all 48 of the classical constellations and related verses from the Bible.

Having already a fairly strong background in religious symbolism through in-depth studies of the book of Revelation and the gospel being portrayed in symbols in the Mosaic Tabernacle, this gave me a head start in trying to understand similar pictorial language being used in the various star figures in the tabernacle in the heavens. Both tabernacles relate to the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, and both contain the message of salvation. On my store page you will see the two tabernacles I have put together with quite a bit of detail.

For the first 3 years beginning in 2012 I read every book I could get a hold of related to how the heavens “declare the glory of God.” (Ps.19:1). Some of these books include, “The Gospel in the Stars” by Joseph A. Seiss, “God’s Voice in the Stars” by Ken Fleming, “The Glory of the Stars” by E. Raymond Capt, and the book that started it all written in the late 1800’s, “Mazzaroth, or the Constellations” by Francis Rolleston.

I also read various books on astronomy, and of course the Bible, reading it from cover to cover looking exclusively for texts related to the meaning of the star names. I was also very curious to take a look at the various objects located within each star constellation to see if their might be some spiritual significance to them. An example of this would be the spectacular “Butterfly Nebula” in the sign of Scorpio.

Zooming in on the left wing near the body of the butterfly I was able to make out 2-3 individuals looking down at an open book or books. The butterfly nebula is located right next to the sting of the Scorpio, a symbol of death. (See 1 Cor. 15:55,56). The butterfly I researched out was symbolic of immortality, resurrection and new life. Thus, next to a symbol of death was a symbol of new life! And might the book (or books) they are looking at represent the books that are opened during the time of the judgment? (Dan. 7:10; Rev. 20:12).

It may be possible that these books represent the books of record in heaven that are used in the judgment to determine who shall be found worthy of eternal life.

Says the prophet Daniel:

“I beheld, till thrones were placed, and One that was Ancient of Days did sit: His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” (Daniel 7:9,10) RV (See also Revelation 20:12,15)

The Hebrew tribe corresponding to the sign of Scorpio is Dan, whose name means “judge.”

An amazing connection between the Sign of Scorpio and those who have their names written in heaven, is seen in the encouraging words of Christ to his disciples:

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you…Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18,20)

In the star figure below, Ophiucus, the Serpent Holder is treading upon the Scorpion with his left foot and grasping hold of Serpens, the Serpent preventing him from obtaining Corona, Borealis, the Northern Crown.

During the first three years of studying the Zodiac I relied heavily upon the definitions of the star names propagated in all of these books. I never thought to question if these definitions were actually correct. They seemed though to be a bit too perfect and convenient. Not knowing Arabic, I wasn’t able to verify their accuracy. So based upon the writings of these other authors I used the definitions provided and created this poster, a compilation of all that i had learned after 3 months of studying this topic and added some of my own insights and scriptural references as well.

After 3 years of reading every book on this topic I could find, I came across a book that changed everything that would put me on a completely different path to understanding the Mazzaroth. That book was Mystery of the Mazzaroth by Tim Warner. Instead of the standard dispensationalist interpretation of the zodiac, this author begins with Abraham and Sarah in Virgo and proceeds from there showing how each progressive sign follows along major milestones in the history of Israel in both the Old and New Testaments.

One of the first things he establishes in his introduction is that the star name definitions that I had been suspect of were incorrect. He writes,

“In 1862, Francis Rolleston published ‘Mazzaroth,’ attempting to link the Zodiac with Christianity based on similarities between phonetic sounds of Arabic star names and certain Hebrew words. Her theory has been copied and repackaged by Joseph Seiss, E. W. Bullinger, D. James Kennedy, and Chuck Missler. However, the whole basis for her theory has been thoroughly refuted by Christian apologetic ministries. Thus, all of these knockoffs of Rolleston's book have equally been soundly refuted. Mystery of the Mazzaroth presents a completely new approach.”

“Rolleston attempted to redefine these words based on their similarity to Hebrew words in phonetic sound. The entire process was very subjective, picking and choosing star names, and choosing similar sounding Hebrew words with which to link them. Such a process is extremely problematic since ancient Hebrew writing did not contain vowels, thus the exact pronunciation is not known for many ancient Hebrew words. This allowed Rolleston the flexibility to add any vowel sounds she chose in order to make these supposed connections. she assumed that the Arabic names selected were transliterations of ancient Hebrew words rather than originating in Arabic. Yet, the fact that the Arabic names make perfect sense in Arabic relating to the constellations in which they appear makes Rolleston‘s work in this regard highly suspect.”

I was dumbfounded! I had just spent the past 3 years relying heavily upon these star name definitions and now must I give them all up as a delusion? This was hard to accept but I forced myself to keep an open mind and keep reading to see if he could make a strong enough argument for his case. As he began to relate the zodiac signs to the history and redemption of Israel I was very intrigued. Virgo he related to the Abrahamic Covenant, Libra to the Law of Moses, Scorpio to Israel’s wanderings in the desert for 40 years, Sagittarius to Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. One sign after another continued to follow along perfectly with the history of the children of Israel. It all started to make good sense to me. All was not lost! The stars still DO tell a story in heavens but one that encompasses a much broader picture than just “the gospel in the stars.”

For the next 3 years I refocused my attention to reading Israel’s history in the Old Testament instead of focusing my attention strictly to the gospel in the New Testament. The work and atonement of Christ is still most certainly to be found in the stars, but not with the “redefined” star name definitions Mrs. Rolleston had given them. I began to focus my attention on the star figures themselves to see how they connect with each other. I read through the Bible once more looking for supporting verses related to the meaning of the Hebrew names of the signs such as “virgins”, “balances,” “scorpions,” “archers,” “goats,” and so forth. I specifically focused my attention on the 12 milestones in Israel’s history that Tim Warner had alluded to in his book to find any additional clues that he may have missed that would enhance the story all the more. I found several.

Then after another 3 years I stumbled upon the biggest breakthrough discovery of them all! While searching for information on the correlation between the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 signs of the Mazzaroth, I came across the discovery of each sign being represented by one of the 12 simple Hebrew letters. I learned that though the Hebrew Alphabet has 22 letters, 3 of them are called “mother letters”, 7 “double letters” (those that have a different form when at appearing at the end of a word), leaving 12 “simple letters.” These are the letters that correspond to the 12 signs of the Mazzaroth (Zodiac), and what brought them into being. However, there was one more very important piece of information I needed before I could begin to use these powerful key letters to open up the 12 houses of the Mazzaroth. These letters, for whatever reason have been reversed to vail their true alignment with their respective signs. So for example, the letter “kuf” which Jews match up with the sign of Pisces, should actually match with the opposing sign of Virgo 180 deg. across the circle of the zodiac. The letter “hey” with Libra instead of Aries, and so forth. This was a monumental discovery!

Having the knowledge now of the correct alignment of these 12 “simple letters,” plus the knowledge of the Mazzaroth corresponding with the 12 major milestones in the history of the children of Israel, things really began to match more perfectly then i ever could have imagined!

For the past three years I have been studying the meaning of these letters, especially the much older Paleo Hebrew letters and their numerical values. From there I began searching the Scriptures to see how these letters and numerical values relate to that part of Israel’s history represented in each of the 12 Signs of the Mazzaroth.

This has been the most rewarding part of my journey in seeking to understand the message the stars contain in pictorial language through these 12 extremely significant Hebrew letters. It is these letters that provide for us the theme for each sign as it relates to major turning points in the history of the children of Israel. Keys that unlock the story of the history and redemption of the children of Israel, the seed of Abraham, in each of these signs. His seed which are likened to “the stars of heaven for a multitude.”

What a journey it has been, and I don’t expect it to end any time soon, as i’m confident that there is still many more jewels scattered across the heavens that are yet to be discovered by his people, the children of Israel. Amen! To the Father above be ALL the glory for revealing to his people this incredible story he placed within his firmament that shows girth his handiwork. (Psalms 19:1)