{"id":123,"date":"2009-01-29T22:50:39","date_gmt":"2009-01-30T05:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/?p=123"},"modified":"2009-01-29T22:50:39","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T05:50:39","slug":"bible-codes-book-review-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/?p=123","title":{"rendered":"Bible Codes Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOK REVIEW<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

THE BIBLE CODE<\/span><\/em> and<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

BIBLE CODE II \u2013 THE COUNT DOWN<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Books By Michael Drosnin \u2013 1997 and 2002<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The Bible Code books by Michael Drosnin\u00a0came to my attention while I was watching the History Channel cover the major topic, Armageddon<\/span> during a comprehensive one-week programming.\u00a0 The series of programs covered the relevant anthropological, social, spiritual, and scientific facts with a lot of hype while exploring the prophecies of Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and the Biblical prophets; it covered many of the sciences\u00a0on the state of the earth\u2014the polar icecap meltdown, asteroids, meteors, dinosaurs, weapons of annihilation, public epidemic health threats, biological warfare,\u00a0and most, if not all, of the other recognized hazards to man\u2019s survival on earth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Most intriguing in this cross-disciplinary smorgasbord of doomsday topics was the report from highly regarded mathematicians on their discovery of encrypted messages in the Torah and of Drosnin\u2019s documentary reporting of these in his books, The<\/em> Bible Codes<\/em> and Bible Codes II<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Investigative reporter Michael Drosnin had set out in 1992 to simply investigate the facts behind a rumor that some mathematicians had found encoded in the Bible, the exact date that the gulf war would start.\u00a0 <\/span>Of the three mathematicians \u2013 (Eliyahu Rips, Doron Witztum, and Yoav Rosenberg) \u2013 Eli Rips became Drosnin\u2019s esteemed friend and consultant. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>“Eli Rips is a modest man.\u00a0 He is so self-effacing that he tends to give other people credit for his own work, and one would never guess he is a world famous mathematician.\u00a0 When I first met with him in June of 1992, at his home outside <\/span><\/em>Jerusalem<\/span><\/em>, I assumed that by the end of the evening I would know there was nothing to his claim.”<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>His assumption was wrong.\u00a0 <\/span>Drosnin\u2019s books\u00a0clearly show his intense interest in the encrypted messages produced by a mathematical system of\u00a0decoding made possible today only by the computer.\u00a0 Previously, the extreme tedium of the task made manual searching nearly impossible, but today computer software makes it easy for anyone to explore the Bible or any other literary work for encoded information. \u00a0<\/span>Isaac Newton, in his time, was accused of being a Rosicrucian, but even after concentrated effort, he <\/span>was unable to find messages hidden within the Bible<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The first five books of the Old Testament \u2013 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, divinely received by Moses from God, comprise the Torah.\u00a0 <\/span>According to <\/span>the Zohar, a Jewish cabalistic book, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world and was used as the blueprint<\/span><\/a> for Creation<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span>It was p<\/span>assed down orally from generation to generation in the original Hebrew and was not to be altered.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>To quote Drosnin: \u201cThat book [The Old Testament], now translated into every language, is the foundation of all Western religion.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Eli Rips and his associates conducted their first experiment on the original Hebrew text, and they concentrated only on the book of Genesis.\u00a0 <\/span>They, first, ran all of the words together with the letters evenly spaced.\u00a0 <\/span>The computer, using a skip technique, then searched for a specific word, using every letter throughout the text, then every second letter, and then it used every third letter of the text, ex: every 295th<\/sup> letter, etc., until it found the specific word of the search.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As a second step, it formed a grid of all equally-spaced letters of the segment from which the keyword was extracted and it searched for words (if any) that would form a type of anagram, like a crossword puzzle, around the word.\u00a0 Any words (including any numbers spelled out in alpha characters) were then examined to determine if they related in any way to the keyword of the search, and especially if they contained any particular message. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>One very small example: the researchers found hidden text that recorded the correct dates of birth and death of 32 sages, all of whom lived after the Bible was written.\u00a0 <\/span>One question was asked.\u00a0 <\/span>Could this phenomenon be found in any<\/span> book?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Per Drosnin, \u201cRips told me that he and his colleagues had in fact looked for the same names and the same dates, using the same computer program and the same mathematical test in three other non-Biblical texts.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In the Bible, the names and dates were encoded together.\u00a0 <\/span>In the three other books they were not. And the odds of finding the encoded information by random chance were ultimately found to be 1 in 10 million.\u201d<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Drosnin followed up on Rips\u2019 study by obtaining the software and running his own keyword searches. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Throughout his writings, Drosnin reveals words and phrases of major events of recorded history\u00a0as they were encrypted and\u00a0foretold by the “Author” of the Bible.\u00a0 The assassinations, the wars, the terrorist attacks — encoded with names, dates, and locations.\u00a0 <\/span>In his second book Drosnin gives special emphasis to codes that reveal dates and descriptions of the “end of days.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The author found a code indicating that Prime Minister Rabin would be assassinated.\u00a0 <\/span>He tried to warn him with a letter.\u00a0 <\/span>He also met with a close friend of Rabin and with his Minister of Defense.\u00a0 <\/span>A year after the warnings, Rabin was assassinated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Drosnin personally interviewed Yassir Arafat on April 13, 2001. Drosnin spent time with Ariel Sharon’s son, with Shimon Peres, with the head of the Mossad, and with Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, John Podest, etc., etc.\u00a0 <\/span>He describes most of these contacts and the various warnings that he made to them in his second book.<\/span> <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The author describes himself as a person who does not believe in God but he believes that there can be a higher intelligence \u2013 perhaps a space alien.\u00a0 Later he admitted that he does not believe in an \u201comnipotent\u201d<\/em> God.\u00a0 <\/span>He considers the codes to be warnings, not absolute destiny, and not beyond human control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There may be deeper hidden messages that we to date have no ability to decode.\u00a0\u00a0Daniel 12:9: <\/em><\/span>And he said, go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed<\/span> till the time of the end.<\/span><\/em> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The book of Revelation speaks of seven seals that man would not\u00a0yet be able to open.\u00a0 Drosnin believes that it is The Author’s purpose\u00a0to give warnings and choices to mankind.\u00a0\u00a0Some of these messages seem to indicate more than one possible outcome.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As he tells his tale, Drosnin includes illustrations of the computer-extracted grids of Hebrew symbols for all of his many code descriptions.\u00a0 <\/span>An appendix contains the original mathematical study that appeared in Statistical Science<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/span>Detailed chapter notes are grouped in Coda<\/em> and in Notes On Illustrations.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He belabors his points repetitively.\u00a0 <\/span>His story could have been told in one book instead of two if he had simply told his story and eliminated many of the grids.\u00a0 <\/span>The second book gives interesting supporting information that had not been available when the first book went to press, but it also obsesses at length over an unsolved mystery of a steel ark, a code key, and an obelisk. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Rips, a devout believer, makes no claim to any predictions and distances himself from publicity, modestly referring inquiries to another member of the team, Witztum.\u00a0 <\/span>He renounces any connection to Drosnin and his book.\u00a0 <\/span>He did say, however, that the codes exist.\u00a0 <\/span>Of that he is certain.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOK REVIEW \u00a0 THE BIBLE CODE and BIBLE CODE II \u2013 THE COUNT DOWN \u00a0 Books By Michael Drosnin \u2013 1997 and 2002 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible Code books by Michael Drosnin\u00a0came to my attention while I was watching the History Channel cover the major topic, Armageddon during a comprehensive one-week programming.\u00a0 The series of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-book-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astrowin.org\/rffriends\/wpx\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}