September 11, the Rapture, and the Bible Codes
September 7, 1999
By the Webmaster of thebiblecodes.com

For those who are unaware of the controversy, and have not read our initial statement, please see:
http://thebiblecodes.com/news/july/sept99.htm 

Important Note:  I, and all the staff members of this site, have a great deal of respect for Bonnie Gaunt and Tom Gaston. They have a tremendous zeal for the Lord, and we appreciate their hard work, as everybody should. We are not against them or their respective work, we simply believe that it's hard to be sure about their conclusions. They have done nothing more than look at this as an exciting possibility. They are not false prophets. Both Bill Koenig and Jim Bramlett have sent out letters explaining the whole thing, and that's its only a possibility. Also note that the actual dates run from the evening of Sept. 10, to the morning of Sept. 12. So technically wherever you see September 11, it should be September 10-12.

Since our initial response, I have read Bonnie Gaunt's book on the topic, and explored more of the research by Tom Gaston and others. I am still unconvinced by the Bible Codes portion of their work, and most of our staff agrees, as well as most of the expert researchers we've talked to. It is an exciting possibility, but you can't be sure of the date that is found with those codes. It could be there by chance. Many people are confused by this, so let me try and clarify it.

Let's say you find a matrix with 20 terms describing the rapture. Twenty related terms, all decent in length, all appearing in a very small cluster. Obviously, you have a significant code about the rapture. Now let's say you find a 21st term, and that term is a 5 letter date (e.g., Sept. 11). There is no way to know for sure if that single term is meant to be part of that code. Yes, it is found in the same matrix, but you can find 5 letter words by chance. When you consider that "Tishri 1" or "September 11" is found 106,000 times in the Old Testament (when searching for ELS's between -35,000 and 35,000), and probably just as many times in a random text similar in size, then it makes you wonder. How can you be sure?

You may have found a significant code on the rapture, but when you say, "this code says the rapture will occur on Sept. 11..." then you are putting your claim all on the chance that that one single term is meant to be there. That is very dangerous. This is exactly how I believe the Bible Codes are structured...you can find information about future events, but as far as specific details, (e.g., when they will happen, who is involved) those all depend on 1-2 terms, and if that is the case, you can never be sure. God made it that way, the codes are meant to be used after the fact, to show that although the Bible was written 3,000 years ago, God knew the event would happen. The codes are there to give glory to God, their purpose is not to inform us of future events. The more I look into situations like these, the more I am convinced of that.

In several of Tom Gaston's and Bonnie's findings, I've tried about 15 dates in the same matrix, and many times I have found several of them. Dates are usually 3-5 letter words in Hebrew, and you can find them just about anywhere you want by chance. So yes, many of their codes are significant, but the dates in there may be by chance.

On A More Positive Note
Bonnie's book has just a small section about the ELS codes. The rest of it consists of many other evidences for a soon coming rapture. Those are very convincing to me, and she has good prophetic ground for the rapture being very soon, possibly Sept. 11th. I hope she's right. We should be ready and watching everyday. Where I disagree is that you simply cannot be sure of the date in those codes, and I think most experienced researchers will agree. I personally believe that those dates were by chance.

Much of Bonnie and Tom's work, and much additional information can be found at http://watch.org.

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