The Bible Code
In 1998, The Bible Code was published by a subsidiary of Simon &Schuster, Inc. The author: Michael Drosnin.
Initially, the book sold well and became a New York Times Bestseller, reaching the number 3 spot.
However, the ideas and assertions made in The Bible Code have proven to be without merit for a variety of reasons.
In obedience to the will of God, a conservative Christian will want to test The Bible Code.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1, ESV).
When The Bible Code is examined, considering Scripture, Church history, and current events, it is found to be the message and incoherent writings of a false prophet named Michael Drosnin, who died at the age of 74 on June 9, 2020 at his home in Manhattan, New York.
It is the author himself that is the first line of evidence that The Bible Code is a work of the flesh for Michael Drosnin, by his own admission, was a child of the devil. “As a Hebrew school student, Michael Drosnin was asked to write down what he had learned. He responded, “That I don’t have to believe in God or anything in the Bible” (The New York Times, Steven Kurutz, June 19, 2020).
Following the publication of his book, Drosnin softened his atheism, but the truth of the matter is that he was never a Christian, nor was he a Bible scholar. As a result, he could not explain how or why the Bible came to contain “The Code” which he “discovered.”
Of course, there was no “discovery” or illumination of the Holy Spirit. But there was the working of an over active imagination that united Hebrew numerology with modern technology to produce a monstrosity of lies and deceit.
The clever ruse was rooted in the work of the Israeli mathematician Eliyatu Rips and his colleagues. In the early 1990’s, they performed an experiment in which they laid out the 304,805 letters of the Torah like a giant crossword puzzle and then performed a “skip-code” computer search. By using this methodology, the bias of the computer programmer produces the information desired.
Rips and company discovered some intriguing combinations. “Kennedy” appeared near the word “Dallas.” Hitler’s name, written upside down, appeared 20 rows from “Nazi,” written backward.
Michael Drosnin based his book on that research, adding discoveries of his own, but never revealing the fact that a similar phenomenon can be observed in any sufficiently length text (“Solving the Bible Code Puzzle” Statistical Science, (May, 1999). See book # ISSN 0883-4237
There is nothing unique about The Bible Code other than it has been used to exploit the religious community by selling the 248-page book for $16.99.
No born-again Christian need bother to read the book, other than for informational purposes, nor believe it is a work of God. It is not. Think carefully about the evidence.
The Bible Code is a blatant violation of the commandment of God in the Torah not to engage in divination.
“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer” (Deut. 18:10).
Consider
Divination is the attempt to contact supernatural powers to determine answers to questions hidden to humans, and usually involving the future” (Holman Bible Dictionary).
Divination was a practice widely known to the Hebrews, especially among the Babylonians, and the Assyrians.
Several methods were employed including hepatoscopy, divination by the liver. The liver of a sacrificial animal, by virtue of being considered the seat of life, could be observed carefully by specially trained priests to determine the future activities of the gods. “Other methods included augury which is foretelling the future by natural signs, especially the flight of birds, hydromancy, which is divination by mixing liquids, casting lots, astrology, and necromancy (Holman Bible Dictionary) Study Genesis 44:5; Jonah 1:7-8; 2 Kings 21:5; 1 Samuel 28:7-25
For Michael Drosnin, the modern-day method of divination is by using computer technology.
Any work of the Holy Spirit will not, indeed, cannot violate its own norms and standards. If Michael Drosnin lived under the Torah, he would be taken out and stoned to death for his work of divination in The Bible Code.
“A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them” (Lev. 20:27).
“Sorcery, the use of spells, divination, or speaking to spirits, is clearly condemned in the Bible. The word sorcery, in Scripture, is always used in reference to an evil or deceptive practice.
For example, in 2 Chronicles 33:6, King Manasseh is condemned for his many evil practices, including sorcery: “And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.”
The apostle Paul lists sorcery as one of many sinful practices that mark the lives of unbelievers: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife . . . and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
Interestingly, the New Testament Greek word translated “sorcery” is pharmakeia, which is the source of our English word pharmacy. In Paul’s day, the word primarily meant “dealing in poison” or “drug use” and was applied to divination and spell-casting, because sorcerers often used drugs along with their incantations and amulets to conjure occult power.
Sorcerers were common in the culture of ancient Egypt (Exodus 7:11; Isaiah 19:3). We also see sorcery in the kingdom of Babylon, especially in association with King Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:9; Daniel 2:2).
Sorcery is an attempt to bypass God’s wisdom and power, and give glory to someone, or something else.
God has no tolerance for sorcery. In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, sorcery is listed among the sinful practices of the nations surrounding Israel. God calls it an abomination: “There shall not be found among you . . . anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.”
Malachi also speaks of God’s judgment on those involved in sorcery: “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers” (Malachi 3:5).
Apparently, sorcery will still be practiced in the end times. Spiritual Babylon, representing the false religious system of the last days, will deceive “all nations” with sorcery (Revelation 18:23) before judgment falls.
The book of Revelation says that sorcerers “will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8; see also Revelation 22:15).
Sorcery is clearly sinful, and is not to be part of Christian living. There is a wisdom that is “earthly, unspiritual, of the devil” (James 3:15), and this is what sorcery offers. Our wisdom comes from God (James 3:17), not from deceiving spirits. The power of God is much greater than the power of sorcery (1 John 4:4).” (GotQuestions.com)
Modern day divination may be fascinating, and attractive, but it is prohibited, and it is a sin worthy of death, in time and in eternity.
Michael Drosnin will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, if he did not repent of the evil he did in life.
The Bible Code an imaginative work of fiction without any biblical exegesis. There are some, not many, but a few Bible verses that are alluded to, but none are exegeted in context.
The Bible Code has not been endorsed by any reputable Judeo-Christian biblical scholar. The nine endorsements cited supporting the book are all secular, humanistic newspapers, or magazines. There is no reputable Hebrew scholar who has stepped forward to support the work of Michael Drosnin. It would be embarrassing for a Bible scholar to endorse such a nonsensical book.
The Bible Code is nothing more than another attempt to interpret the Bible by considering current events. Dispensational theologians are guilty of doing this, to their eternal shame, and so does the non-Christian, like Michael Drosnin.
The blurb on the back cover about a letter being given to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin anticipating his assassination is not prophesied in Scripture. Nor was it a unique “discovery” by Drosnin.
Any follower of politics in the Middle East in 1995, including myself, knew the Prime Minister of Israel was a target of assassination because of his attempts to make peace with the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and Yasser Arafat.
On the night of November 4, 1995, his aides wanted the Prime Minister to wear a bulletproof vest, but he would not hear of it. He wanted to walk among his people without fear.
So, Yitzhak Rabin stood before a vast and grateful crowd of 100,000 people in Tel Aviv at a peace rally, protected by nothing more than a jacket, tie, and white cotton shirt.
He finished his speech and listened to folk singer Miri Aloni sing her song, “Shir LaShalom” (“A Song for Peace”).
Prime Minister Rabin offered some final words. “Let’s not just sing about peace-let’s make peace.”
The crowd cheered for the man old enough to be their grandfather. But then the cheering stopped, for as Yitzhak Rabin was getting into his car backstage, Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old Israeli Jew, dedicated to his faith and nationalism stepped out of the shadows and fired two shots into the back of a man of peace. An hour and a half later, Rabin would be pronounced dead, as many, again, including myself, anticipated his death – not because of a secret code, but because we were aware of human nature, and the political climate between the Arabs and Israel.
The Bible Code is filled with factual errors that can easily be proven wrong. It also contains warnings about the future that people of all political persuasions are saying. There is nothing new about the apocalyptic pronouncements of Michael Drosnin.
The Bible Code is a book that should suffer the fate of other works of divination. I, for one, would not be opposed to a selective book burning.
“Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:19-20).
I know, I know. Burning the books of false prophets would not be tolerated today. However, I do think the early Christians had the right idea. The works of false prophets were burned. The Church was made a little bit more pure. And the Word of God grew and prevailed.
