The Purpose of the Bible Codes
Exposing False Interpretations and Misuses of the Codes
By the webmaster of http://thebiblecodes.com
September 21, 1999

    After taking a stroll around the internet, I realized that somebody needed to write this paper. There are so many false interpretations and misuses of the codes, and those are what are causing true Bible-believing Christians to not believe in them. This paper is an attempt at exposing the false interpretations, and show the real purpose of the ELS codes in the Bible.

Proposed Purposes of the Bible Codes
1. To warn us of future events, that we might prevent them.
2. To reveal the truth about controversial issues of all kinds.
3. To settle doctrinal issues and denominational disputes.
4. To pinpoint the time/date of the return of Jesus.
5. The codes serve as the Lamb's Book of Life.
6. To reveal future events of one's life...much like getting a psychic reading.
7. To reveal hidden theological teachings, and extra instructions from God. 
8. To uncover "hidden knowledge"
9. To warn us about Y2k.
10. To find important information...(e.g. cures for diseases, important inventions, etc...)
11. To reveal the true Messiah.
12. To provide mathematical proof that God is real.
13. To show that the God of the Bible inspired the writing of all scripture, by finding descriptions of people and events that happened after the Bible was written, encoded in the original texts. The codes serve as God's signature on every page.

Note: Many of these beliefs are not believed by any more than a few people, but we have received email suggesting all of them. To my knowledge, there is no cult out there using the Bible Codes for demonic purposes, but there are selected groups of people who suggest some of the above statements are the purpose of the Bible Codes.

    In this paper, I will attempt to explain why many of the above proposed purposes are wrong, and why a few of them are correct. Below are the explanations, using the same numbering system.

Proposed Purpose #1: The Bible Codes are there to warn us of future events, that we might prevent them from happening.  This is the stand taken by Michael Drosnin, author of "The Bible Code" which is unfortunately the most popular book on the phenomenon. Biblically, logically, and scientifically, this is impossible. While it's a tempting proposal for the new agers out there, this view has been ripped apart by skeptics of the codes, and highly criticized by Bible-believers. To find out why this proposal is incorrect Biblically, see the paper written by staff member Keith York, entitled "Does the Bible Encode Alternate Futures?" To find out why this view is impossible from a code researcher's perspective, click here. For more on what we think of Michael Drosnin, including what we think of his book, and specific claims he's made, see our article about Michael Drosnin and his book.


Proposed Purpose #2: The Bible Codes are there to reveal the truth about controversial issues of all kinds.  Nobody who is well known in the area of codes research believes this (as far as I know), but we have received a few emails about it. Some people suggested, "Why not look up "gun control" and see what the Code says about it?" Well let's say I found "gun control" - now what? What do I search for? I could type in words like "ban," "background checks" or other words that might suggest that God supports it, or I could type in words like "bad," or "no good," or even "wrong," that might suggest God does not support it. 
        The problem with this, is that if I did find one of those words with it, there is no way I could be sure that that single word is meant to be there. With ELS code matrixes, you must find several related terms - asking me to do this is asking me to say that 1 single term that was found near "gun control" is significant. There is no way to be sure.
        However, if one some how guessed the right words to put in, and found dozens of negative or positive words around a central term that represented a controversial issue - then that could be significant. However, I personally do not believe the codes were put in the Bible for this, so I don't think anybody who tries these things will find anything. You can find all the info you need about God's opinion on issues by reading the surface text of the Bible.


Proposed Purpose #3: The Bible Codes are there to settle doctrinal issues and denominational disputes.  The same principles from the above answer apply to this one. I don't think it's possible, except maybe for rare occasions. I also do not think God put the codes in the Bible for this purpose. For those who have asked what denominations we support - any denomination that believes ALL of the Bible to be the perfect Word of God, salvation is found only through Jesus Christ, and believe in having a personal relationship with God, (knowing Him as apposed to just knowing about Him). We have staff members who span all different denominations. A lot of us are non-denominational. We also have a couple Messianic Jews on staff. I personally belong to a non-denominational church that is Evangelical and Charismatic. 


Proposed Purpose #4: The Bible Codes are there to help us pinpoint the date of the return of Jesus.  Absolutely not. First, it's impossible, and second, God wouldn't do that. We've seen the date-setters humiliated time after time. Be ready everyday, don't wait for some date-setter to say, "he's coming on such and such" date. For reasons why it's impossible, see our responses to the following claims. The July 4th article was not about the rapture, but it's a great example and tells you why you can't single out any one date using the Bible Codes.

Answers to attempts at using the codes to predict the date on which certain events will happen:
July 4th, 1999; and Horror in America (article written July 9, 1999)
September 11, 1999; and the Rapture (article written July 21, 1999)
September 11, 1999; and the Rapture [Part II] (article written Sept. 7, 1999)

Proposed Purpose #5: The Bible Codes are "The Lamb's Book of Life."  Nope. The Bible says that names can be added to and blotted out of "The Lamb's Book of Life," and the Bible Codes have been set for over 2,500 years, and will not change. Also, while you can find everybody's first name in the Bible, it's still up for debate if there is a code about everyone. Any book similar in size will have most people's first name (the ones that are less than 7-8 letters for sure). However, some foreign last names could be transliterated a dozen different ways, so the belief that "everybody's name is found in the Bible" will never be anything more than a theory. If everybody's name is in there, that was not the primary purpose of the codes.


Proposed Purpose #6: The Bible Codes are there to reveal future events of one's life...much like getting a psychic reading.  Absolutely false, and very demonic. This is fortune-telling, which is a form of divination, which is forbidden by the Bible in many different places. One such place is Deut. 18:10-12:
"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you." (New-American Standard) The fact that the codes are found in the same text that says this, outlaws the possibility.


Proposed Purpose #7: The Bible Codes are there to reveal hidden theological teachings, and extra instructions from God.  This again is entirely false, for the same reasons as some of the above. From a researcher's perspective, it's impossible; and Bible-Believers should know that God wouldn't do this. The Bible is not only God's Inerrant Word, it's also His Complete Word. There aren't any instructions or teachings from God in the Bible Codes. If you are looking for these, read the surface text. Researchers know that it would be impossible, because of the way the code is designed. It's just a bunch of related words found in the same area. It's impossible to put a sentence together out of that, because you don't know how to order the words. Sentences could easily be manipulated by the researcher, by inserting words that are found in the same area, by chance. This is certainly not the purpose for the Bible Codes.


Proposed Purpose #8: The Bible Codes are there so we can uncover "hidden knowledge".  The idea that the codes are there for the researcher to gain knowledge is absurd. Once again, you cannot get specific information from the codes, which everybody should know by now if they've read the above answers. The only knowledge you gain, is that God exists, and that the God of the Bible is the one true God.


Proposed Purpose #9: The Bible Codes are there to warn us about Y2k.  Nope. If God wants to warn us of something, it will first be prophesied about in Scripture, and then he will also speak through prophets. While there is a large code about Y2k, you can't be sure what the code is saying. It's impossible that all of those terms are there by chance, but some of them could be. You don't know which ones are, so you can't say, "there will be a famine," because "famine" could be there by chance. Also, each of those words may refer to different parts of the world, so this is a good example of why the Bible Codes can't be used to accurately predict future events. See http://thebiblecodes.com/faq/future.htm for more about this.


Proposed Purpose #10: The Bible Codes are there to find important information...(e.g. cures for diseases, important inventions, etc...)  That's certainly not the sole reason why they're there, and it would be very difficult, but in some rare cases this may be possible. Both Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein believed in, and made references to "hidden codes" in the Bible. Many believe that Einstein got some of his ideas from the codes. However, because of the fact that the Bible Codes cannot be used to find specific information (as explained above), this would be very difficult, and would probably take Divine Intervention just to find the code. Because the researcher has to enter the word for the computer to search for, the researcher would have to already know the information before searching for the codes. Thus, the codes can only serve as confirmation, or showing that God knew beforehand - as with every other scenario (more on that later).


Proposed Purpose #11: The Bible Codes are there to reveal the true Messiah.  I personally do not think that is the sole reason why they are there, although they may do that. If they do, it will not be through only a few codes, it must be an overwhelming pattern throughout the text, involving many complex code matrixes I would guess. All kinds of phony claims are out there about this subject. Some say, I found "false" next to the word "Yeshua," and some Christians claim that finding "Yeshua" next to "Messiah" is significant. The answer to both of those is that no, neither are significant. "Yeshua" can be found in any text, thousands of times by pure chance. You must find it as part of a phrase, and that phrase must be part of a complex code matrix. The reason I say phrase, is because it's 4 letters, just like a date. If you find a matrix describing the Messiah, "Yeshua" could be in there by chance, so it should be part of a phrase, unless there is a plethora of other words that narrow the Messiah down to Jesus.


Proposed Purpose #12: The Bible Codes are there to provide mathematical proof that God is real.  They certainly may do this, and this may be their purpose, but I personally do not think it's their sole purpose. It's still up for debate if there is a known statistical method that can easily tell you if the codes are significant or not. It is interesting to think that the codes could only have been discovered with modern technology and science, and it's that same modern technology and science that has become god in our society. It's like God is saying, "Even your 'god' tells you that only I am God". All the information you'll ever need to know about the statistics and mathematician's controversy can be found by reading our recent article: Statistics and the Bible Codes: Could the Bible Codes be There by Chance?


Proposed Purpose #13:  The Bible Codes are there to show that the God of the Bible inspired the writing of all scripture, by finding descriptions of people and events that happened after the Bible was written, encoded in the original texts. The codes serve as God's signature on every page.  This is what I believe the purpose of the codes is (you could probably tell because of the elaborate description :-) You don't need to predict future events to show that the codes are significant. All you need to do is show that the Bible Codes had the event described way back when it was written. This is sufficient proof. Just as an author puts his signature on his work, God wanted to put his signature on the Bible. If he had written "God" on every page, nobody would be convinced. This is one of the best ways to show that He was behind the writing of the Bible.
        You don't need science to prove this, use simple logic. Complex code matrixes that describe events in detail can only be found in the Bible, and not in texts similar or even bigger in size.

In conclusion, there is only one main reason that is allowed Biblically, and can be proven Scientifically (without much of a debate), and that is the last one that I presented. I realize there are expert code researchers that have slightly different views, and I am open to anything that is allowed Biblically. I could be wrong, this is only my personal viewpoint, although I think that many researchers agree with me.

Comments on this article can be sent to me personally, at webmaster@thebiblecodes.com.

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