The Bible Code

Drosnin fails to mention that ALL VOWELS were first deleted and then re-inserted with other vowels to fabricate new words to fit what the authors want to say. THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!! In Hebrew, vowels are formed by intricate markings below (underneath) the constanants. These markings aren't in their computer program which effectively eliminates them from the actual words. They then put in any vowels they choose and change the entire meaning and context. For example the word, WORD becomes WRD. From there, it can be WARD, WIRED, WEIRD, etc. In Hebrew a dozen very different words and phrases can be "reanimated" from WRD. Get the picture? That is why the New Testament is not involved. It was written in Greek. Like English, Greek has separate characters for vowels and their scam doesn't work. Furthermore, God just does not speak in secrets. FYI, read Phil Stanton's The Bible Code:Fact or Fake. It will dispel any further myth from this garbage book and leave you with a much more intriguing thought about the real reason it was written. I won't ruin it for you. Over and Out.

So many people have reviewed this book in a style that suggests they viewed it almost as fictitious, e.g."could have been better", what do these people want...twists?. I expect these are the same people who have always denied the existence of a higher order (whether this be God or something else) clinging to the excuse that science can't prove it, so it can't be true. But now faced with a phenomonen which science in the form of maths can't dispute but only confirm; an occurence which even gains the support of the magnificent Stephen Hawkins; these same people who used to believe in science have now conveniently deserted it.
Whether this book be the work of God or not it, still proves, yes I said "proves" that there is something very special about the bible. The code which, for hundred of years people have believed did exist, has finally been found and this is undisputable, not a matter of opinion. Whether the code has fully been cracked, I truly doubt, but the beginnings of something quite uncomprehensible to the majority of the sceptical modern world has definately started.
It is true, as pointed out in an excellent review on october 15th by 'globalonline@hotmail' (worth reading) that the code does not always prove one hundred per cent accurate, he/she believes that this means it is not from God as "God makes no errors". The bible tells us that anything that does not prove accurate every time is a false prophet, one sent by Beelzebub. However, this does not mean that the bible code is not a major discovery. Even if it is a 'false prophet', surely this is still a marvel. Or it could simply be that it is still not being properly decoded yet and when it is the errors will stop. The bible itself talks about seven seals which will one day be opened and revealed to the world when the time is right. Maybe the computer has enabled us to open the first of these seals (a point the book itself makes) and only when all seven seals have been opened will we fully understand.
And any way, why does it have to be from God to make it a worthwhile find? Surely anything which can predict the future regardless of its source, still has massive implications to the future of our world. I am not a particularly religious person in the common sense of the word. I believe in something but don't know exactly what. I am neither a sceptic nor confined to one set of beliefs. But I do take an interest in reading about the various religions and also the history of our evolution, I am especially a fan of the works of Erich Von Daniken and Graham Hancock, both of whom challenge the traditional theories of our exsitence using very objective arguments.
What if the actual content of the bible itself is no more than a story or a moral guide at most. It may have been created purely by extra terrestrial beings or lifeforce (no, I don't mean little green men and i'm not crazy) who have achieved far greater knowledge than ourselves. The Torah may be no more than a house for the code, a scripture puposely given importance to us mortal humans so as to ensure its continuing existence and intrigue, so that when the time was right, when they felt we were ready to accept its content the encryptions would be revealed.
Why only the Torah and not the new testament? Is another point of debate. The torah was written a long time before the new testament undoubtedly by a different source. Maybe this has its own separate code or serves another purpose or maybe non at all, we do not know yet but I am sure oneday we will.
The Bible Code is a book which is all to easily dismissed by those who have not read it. I challenge you to read it and then tell me you still feel exactly the same, that there is not now a twinge of curiosity or even belief that was not there before. Even the ultimate cynic who has the intelligence, must see that their is more to this than just "crazy talk". Why is it so hard to believe in a superior being or existence to that of ourselves? I personally find it easier to accept that there is something, more questions are posed if there isn't. There is more evidence to support the reality of whatever wrote the bible code than there is to dimiss it, the bible code is just the strongest evidence yet. The Bible Code, whether it is from good or evil, it is surely linked to the pure reason for our existence and especially the way in which it will end. Is it our choice, do we decide?
How will it end for you?

As an individual that subscribed to an agnostic view of life, I was absolutely shaken to the core after reading Michael Drosnins' The Bible Code.
Finally, science and religeon can co-exist and work together to help enlighten mankind.
The mathmatic evidence documented by Drosnin is simply astoundingly accurate.
One can only draw a single conclusion upon reading The Bible Code; there really is a hidden code in the Old Testament that predicts with accuracy, future events.
I truely believe that this is the most significant book to be written since the Bible itself.
Everyone should read it !
For those that can't accept blind faith and need proof or a theory that makes common sense , this is it.
Scientifically and mathmatically proven, Drosnin does a masterful job at presenting only the facts while staying away from philosophic ideas and conclusions.
This book has forever changed my life, for the better I might add.

Those who seek to know the future by studying records of the past will surely be intrigued by Michael Drosnin's THE BIBLE CODE. Drosnin's thesis is that the Old Testament has buried within it a hidden code that foretells events that have ranged from documented occurrences from the New Testament to those of a general/historical/geopolitical nature which are yet to come. Drosnin, with help from Israeli mathematicians Eliyahu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg, devised a mathematical computer program that reduced the entire original Hebrew text to individual characters minus vowels in a single continuous stream, which was then configured into a flexible series of arrays. They then used what is now known as an Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS) to identify recognizable word patterns that can be read from left to right, right to left, angled left, angled right, and just about any straight line pattern imaginable. The ELS program would then "skip" a fixed number of letters to determine if there were indeed a "hidden" message in the Torah. When they added actual names, dates, and places into the matrix, the ELS program scanned the entire Torah and revealed "hits" within close proximity to each other. These hits were hailed as references to people, places, events that were in the future of the events described in the bible. When, for example, they entered the name "Yitzhak Rabin," the ELS indicated the following hidden words: assassinated, 1995. And right on schedule, Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated on November 4, 1995.
What Drosnin and his colleagues have done was to tap into the universal desire for humanity for an explanation that our world and life are not a random series of chaotic events. There is a built-in tendency for the uninitiated to believe with no more proof than what is set forth in Drosnin's book. It is up to legitimate science to apply the rigorous methods of proof before the majority of hard-nosed scientists will accept this astounding thesis. There are two general objections to Drosnin: the philosophical and the experimental.
Philosophically, to accept Drosnin's thesis, one must first accept that a higher power at some point intervened to dictate to Moses the entire first five books of the holy Torah. This, by itself, is no small obstacle in that even the majority of those who read and accept the validity of the bible also admit that the Old Testament was not written exclusively by Moses or any other individual. Rather, the accepted current belief is that it was written, re-written, and edited many times over the centuries, with many entire passages added then deleted before the King James version was finally agreed upon in the 17th century. Since so many anonymous writers worked at cross purposes in distant lands at varying times, it is most unlikely that they were in some sort of secret cabal to produce a text that needed modern day computers to decipher.
(...)Experimentally, other mathematicians, most notably Brendon McKay of Australia, have called the entire process ridiculous and invalid. Among McKay's objections are the following:
1) With so many billions of letter combinations possible, it is a certainty that if you were to look long enough and hard enough in several dimensions, you will indeed find recognizable word patterns.
2) Drosnin does not indicate how many matched pairs of target phrases failed to return a hit before the use of synonyms returned a hit.
3) McKay was able to use other long texts (Moby Dick) using the same ELS program to get similar results.
4) Since Drosnin's original program eliminated vowels, then adding or subtracting a vowel from the target word would affect the probability of getting a valid hit.
(...)What THE BIBLE CODE boils down to is a gussied up new way to sell snake oil. Until such time as reputable scientists can predict then verify future events, then most educated readers will relegate Drosnin's theories to those of Erich von Donnikan, who similarly thought that human history has been altered by extraterrestrial influence. Besides, even if we know that a prediction is likely to be valid, then we are still left with the paradox of altering its occurrence so that it need not occur at all. What then the use of Drosnin's bible code at all.

FASCINATING material... insightful, thought-provoking, inspirational even. The book offers us real hope that the God of the Bible inspired the writing of the Scriptures for more reasons than what we've imagined. This inspired the writing of my own book, SHROUD CODES IN THE BIBLE.

I thought it was a fairly good and thought- provoking book with lots of interesting info. However, Drosnin seems to assume that the reader has a working knowledge of Hebrew. Also, Drosnin seems overly and unjustifiably focused on using the code in order to predict the future. These tendencies make an other- wise excelent book that helps one see what a magnificent book the Bible truly is into fodder for sensationalistic elements in society. Those readers who do not have a good knowledge of the Bible, the Hebrew language, and computers could easily be overwhelmed by this book and misunderstand the Bible. The Bible is hard enough to understand without factoring in any codes. Otherwise, it is an excelent book for those willing to do their homework.norton

My sister recommended this book to me several years ago, and I am glad she did. While I do have some problems with it, overall I like it.

So to start with, is there really a hidden code in the Bible? A senior U.S. Pentagon code-breaker who heard about it says, "At first, I was 100% skeptical. I thought this was all just silly. I set out to disprove the code, and ended up proving it" (p. 24).

The editor of the journal 'Statistical Science' said, "Our referees were baffled. Their prior beliefs made them think the Book of Genesis could not possibly contain meaningful references to modern-day individuals. Yet when the authors carried out additional checks, the effect persisted" (p. 24). The journal ended up publishing the original experiment which proved the existence of a code, in an article titled, "Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis" (which is incuded as an Appendix to this book, following page 264).

What sort of things does the Bible code predict? The man who discovered the code, Eli Rips, "found the exact date the Gulf War would begin...three weeks before the war started" (quote p. 18; see also computer printout p. 19).

Another example: "The Great Depression is encoded...'Economic collapse' and 'Depression' appear together in the Bible [code], with the word 'Stocks'. The year it all started, 1929, is encoded in the same place" (p. 33; computer printout p. 34).

And again, "Wright Brothers' and 'airplane' are encoded close together. 'Edison', 'electricity', and 'lightbulb' are encoded next to each other. 'Newton' and 'gravity' likewise (computer printouts pp. 48-49).

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point that 'Shakespeare' is in code along with 'Macbeth', 'Hamlet' and 'stage' (computer printout p. 47).

(The actual computer printouts showing the above convergences of related information are shown for each example above, in the book.)

What don't I like about this book? Omission of relevant information. For example, author Michael Drosnin writes the following:

"'Watergate' appears with 'Nixon' and the year he was forced to resign, 1974.

"Where 'Watergate' is encoded, the hidden text of the Bible asks a question: 'Who is he? President, but he was kicked out'" (quote pp. 32-33).

But the computer printout (p. 33) nowhere shows 'Nixon' or '1974'. (It only shows "Watergate" and "Who is he? President, but he was kicked out".) We just have to take the author's word for it that 'Nixon' and '1974' do indeed appear together....

This is an omission of relevant information (no printout for 'Nixon' or '1974') which I consider a deficiency of this book.

The above example also is missing another type of information. Notice the exact words the author uses, capitalized below by this reviewer for emphasis:

"Where 'Watergate is ENCODED, the HIDDEN text of the Bible asks a question: 'Who is he? President, but he was kicked out'."

What exactly is the difference between ENCODED words, and HIDDEN words? The author never even mentions this distinction, nor explains what the difference is.

Looking at the computer printout on page 33, I notice that the word 'Watergate' is spelled out vertically, thus is clearly ENCODED.
But the other words, 'Who is he? President, but he was kicked out', and which the author calls HIDDEN, are spelled out horizontally WITH NO SPACES BETWEEN THE LETTERS. Thus we see that the "hidden" words are simply a re-grouping of the original continuous sequence of Hebrew letters, to make new/different words than the original Scriptures (since the original Hebrew text of the Bible [Old Testament] is without spaces or punctuation; the letters can be grouped in any way--that is, spaces inserted at any points--which result in the formation one or more words).

The original experiment published in 'Statistical Science' (and as the Appendix in "The Bible Code") did NOT use "hidden" words. It used only ENCODED words, if I understand it correctly (see computer printouts p. 237 of this book [ = p. 430 of journal article]).

However, the discoverer of the code, Eli Rips, DOES use "hidden" words in the one place we are given a computer printout of his (p. 19). And I trust his judgement, so I conclude that is is reasonable and logical and mathematically sound to include so-called HIDDEN words.

I just wish author Michael Drosnin would explain what he is doing, and why it is locical and mathematically sound, to include the HIDDEN words, not just the ENCODED words (which the original experiment established as being accurately predictive [of 32 famous rabbis' names throughout history, who were encoded--each one with his birthdate and date of death, not to mention his hometown--in the book of Genesis]).

I will let the book speak for itself, from here onward. If this review so far has whetted your appetite for more, I suggest you read "The Bible Code" in its entirety.

But let the reader beware: you, like me, might be a bit shocked at what you find! Nevertheless, as with myself, the initial shock may turn into wonder and awe at the mystery of it all...and perhaps eventually, even become the beginning of a spiritual/intellectual/philosophical renewal and awakening, as seems to be happening in my own life, partly as a result of reading this book.

Postscript: After the eight chapters (182 pages) of the main part of this book, an additional 47 pages of Chapter Notes (and Notes on Illustrations) follows at the end of the book. Don't miss it.

I am just now discovering this "after-section" of "The Bible Code," seven years after I first read this book. I missed it the first time. But now it is providing me with new, somewhat more scholarly in-depth information, compared with the main part of the book which is in a more popular, breezy, somewhat superficial style.

For example, here is one tidbit I like, from the Notes to Chapter One: "The senior mathematician most directly involved in overseeing the original Rips-Witztum experiment that proved the existence of the code....remains a convinced skeptic: 'Psychologically it is very difficult to accept, but the science is entirely on the level'" (p. 195).

His emotional difficulty in accepting the existence of a Bible code...is similar to my own emotional foot-dragging, when it comes to fully embracing the mind-blowing, fantastic reality of a hidden code in the ancient Scriptures. Somehow it helps me to have my personal psychological reluctance put into words, and to find it is a common reaction; and furthermore that it is a math expert (hence presumably logical and highly intelligent) who expresses this shock....while still acknowledging that the science which provides the evidence for such a code...is good, solid science, beyond reproof.

By the way, the author Michael Drosnin considers himself an atheist or agnostic (I forget which), and believes the ancient encoder(s) were not God, but some lesser yet powerful (to forsee the future, and encode it) beings (like maybe the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis chapter six?..That is this reviewer's speculation; Mr. Drosnin does not mention this passage).

This book has a sequel, "Bible Code II" which I also like.

Books on related topics which I also like are the following:

"The Stones Cry Out," about modern Biblical archeology.

"Eyewitness to Jesus" is about a recently re-dated fragment of Matthew's gospel, which pushes the origins of the New Testament back earlier than heretofore, before 65 AD or so.

"Brother of Jesus" tells of the discovery of an ancient stone burial box near Jerusalem which is inscribed, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"....I found it a fascinating scholarly-scientific-detective story.

On a more distantly related topic, I really enjoyed a book by Randall Sullivan called, "The Miracle Detective," in which he investigates several modern-day apparitions of Mary (the mother of Jesus).

Postscript: there are no vowels in the Hebrew alpabet, if I understand it correctly. This means that when the Bible spells out, for example, the Hebrew word for "Lord," instead of spelling it out as 'Yahweh", it only spells it as "YHWH" (using, of course, Hebrew alphabetical-characters).

Likewise with the Bible code. For example, Shakespeare is spelled with only six Hebrew characters, which phonetically spell "SHKSPR". And Hamlet is reduced to just four characters, corresponding to "HMLT" (but in Hebrew alphabetic characters, of course; see computer printout p. 47). So this makes the code a bit tricky to interpret. Still there, still true, but not all spelled out.

Author Michael Drosnin never mentions this consonants-only characteristic of Hebrew writing. I consider this omission a flaw of the book; it is written a bit too superficially, with not enough detailed in-depth and complete explanations, for my taste.

This concludes my review of "The Bible Code," the original international bestseller that first publicized the existence of a heretofore unrecognized code mixed into the original words (more technically accurately the original uninterrupted sequence of Hebrew letters) of the Hebrew {Christian 'Old Testament'} Bible.

In response to the main "Spotlight Review (C'mon people, let's think here!)", which claims that it is no coincidence that the word "Torah" is spelled out at the beggining of Genesis, I challenge him to counter the fact that "Torah" is spelled out at the beggining of not only Genesis, but at the beggining of every other one of the 4 books as well. All of the "Torah"s are spelled out starting with the first Tav that appears in every book, and all of them have a skip sequence of 49. Coincidence?

Now, I am not saying that the bible code in its entirety is there, or that under all circumstances it is correct. I am not a religious fanatic. I am just saying that maybe we should be a little less biased toward the code. Many of the critics of it seem to be almost making fun of Eliyahu Rips and the other scientists who performed the experiment. Just because it is encoded in a book that many people do not accept as divine does not mean that the code must be treated as non-existent. If the code was found in another book, or did not contain predictions for the future, I am sure it would not be attacked with such hateful criticism. When the code turns up the name "Yitzchak Rabin" in the middle of the Torah, with a skip sequence of 4,772, it is a little hard to dismiss it as a coincidence.

As for the novel itself, it is written in a journalistic style, but it is not a masterpiece. A good read, to be sure, but no "War and Peace".

Also, in response to another reviewer, the Hebrew Torah does not "omit" vowels. Every letter is there, vowel or no.

I was disappointed in the quality of writing from an author with a journalistic reputation. I find it hard to believe he writes for such an intellectual paper as the Wall Street Journal. His "persuasive arguments" sounded similar to those one can read in the tabloids at your local grocery store checkout line. They had the same emotional, non-intellectual appeal. The writing was entirely too much repetitive, too. The diagrams were worthless, put there to appear convincing, while not actually explaining anything. The scientific paper printed in the appendix was the only worthwhile part to the entire book. The only thing I was convinced of was that the quality of writing was poor, and the persuasion lacking.

At first I was excited, then estatic, that God would keep on revealing Himself to His people. He is a God who truly loves us to keep on revealing Himself to us. I am constantly in awe of Him because of His unending love. This book just opens up to me another way God keeps revealing Himself and I know that one day when The Book is opened my name will be in there and it will tell about the life I lived. More than ever I am determined that good will be written about me. I think God will bring future revelation to His Bride to prepare us for the coming of His Son. God is trying to tell us to get ready. Thank God for bringing revelation to me thru this book. pat wiser hendrix

If you're not religious, Drosnin is writing this book as a scientific proof to conclude that God exists, and that you should start believing now. That's the premise of this whole book--it's not about whether the predictions come true or not (there is much conflict over the "delaying" of certain predictions)--it's about how Drosnin has made a discovery that is too holy, too sacred, and too creepy for words. It reads much like this one book for non-Christians, "Resurrection Factor", which sets out to prove that Jesus Christ really did rise from the tomb, using all sorts of hypothetical situations and scientific theories as proof. Drosnin's findings, although fascinating at first, grow weary as he excitedly repeats the same info over and over throughout the entire book, trying to make the reader BELIEVE.
Now, if you're religious (I'm Christian), you don't need to be convinced that the Lord exists. You already know, so you don't need Drosnin's book to really tell you anything new.
Do I think the Bible Code is real? perhaps, yes. We all know the saying, "The Lord works in mysterious ways" and the code is quite uncanny. But it is the sacred "sealed book" mentioned in Revelations, that is the end-all, be-all, for humankind, as Drosnin purports? I'm not sure. I'm not sure the Lord would want computer scientists to reveal "how to be saved" by having society crack codes via keyboard. That would be too easy, wouldn't it?

M. Drosnin has challenged anybody to find a prediction of Prime Minister Rabin's assassination in Moby Dick. I assume that by Moby Dick he meant any book other than the Bible. I chose randomly a book titled (in Hebrew) Ziunim Ze Lo Hakol (which means Screwing Is Not Everything) by an Israeli novelist Dahn Ben-Amotz, published in Tel-Aviv in 1979 by Metziut Publishers. Without any computer program, and without rearranging the text, I very easily discovered in that book, on page 33, the following ELS, forming a chain of words with small skips, which read: Amir Will Kill Prime Minister Hero Rabin, all of this contained within just two paragarphs of about 600 characters. Hence, the challenge by M. Drosnin has been met. I am interested in a reply from M. Drosnin.

So an atheist can point us to a computer enhanced interpretation of the Bible which supposedly points to "the fingerprint of God" and expect us to buy into it? (Literally)

But wait a minute....if what he's written has such credibility, then why wasn't this doctrine sufficient to convert Mr. Drosnin?

This is more subterfuge about "useless geneologies" and mindless chatterings designed to turn the true believer's thoughts away from Christ and back onto drivel. The accuracy of this "science" is allegedly proven by pointing to various historic events (assassinations, Hitler, even Bill Clinton as president) which the computer supposedly identified as coded prophecy.

These same historic events which are supposedly "coded" into the Bible are used as evidence to support the accuracy of the newest doctrine of December 21, 2012.

The fact that this doctrine seems to be the one thing that New Agers, mediums, psychics, spiritualists, atheists and yes....tragically....even many professed Christians....are willing to agree on, should be the red flag of fallacy.

Using this same methodology, I could procur a coded "prophecy" that Obama was going to be president from a rendition of "Mary Had A Little Lamb."

If you're reading this book to understand the Bible better, then I suggest you read the Bible instead. If you want to see the fingerprint of God, then look to Jesus Christ - His suffering, crucifixion and resurrection FOR YOUR SALVATION!

If you want something to line a bird cage with, then anything written by Michael Drosnin would finally serve a useful purpose.

The truth remains unknown. Life is a mystery. The present is all we will know. My personal investigation has led me to the same conclusion after I've read the Bible Code. The subject captivated me when I first read the book. The author seems to know just how to keep the reader interested by using a simple style of writing on a fascinating subject. To some people who are more sophisticated however, this might seems too elementary. It's a work of art in my opinion. We all are interested when it comes to the unknown especially if it is something that's beyond our capability. The author seems to use this as the focus on his book. He claimed to tell the truth by simply stating that he is an investigator with no bias opinions. I don't know if this is the truth but it does sound too perfect. I've been taught however, to always give people the benefit of the doubt. However, when it comes to science and religion, I can see that this is a very controversial book. I mentioned this book to a few friends after I've read it to get some feedback knowing that sometimes it's good to get a different perspective from other people. I received both support enthusiasm and opposing views. Like the author, my own investigation led me to draw my own story. First, I decided to write my own computer program to test this theory. I ran into many difficulties in doing this since it was not easy getting a hold of the original Bible written in Hebrew. During my search, I discovered that there are many software on this subject already exist on the market. Even the author himself seems to endorse the version called Bible Code Plus. This seems very bias to me since there's no proof that what you're looking at is not something that the software developer has designed to support the book. When I searched further, I found numerous publications in the scientific community that did not support what the author claimed. There seems to be two sides to every story. I believe the journey we all take in finding the truth is the best experience in life itself. I could list numerous web sites, books, and videos that have solid proofs that the Bible Code is nothing more than poor science but I won't. However, if you're one of those people who are lazy but still want to know the truth, you can write to me via email and I will give you the list. I recommend however, that you search within yourself first before you look for the answer elsewhere. I support all religions equally because I believe they were created by Men and Women who search for God within themselves. I do believe in love, forgiveness, peace, and the search for happiness in the human heart. If you believe the Bible Code is real, search for WORLD PEACE in the year 2000 using ELS and hope for the best. I on the other hand, would rather be a participator in making the world a better place to live in by living a good example. I know this is not an easy task but remember all good things in life require work, with or without the Bible Code.

Putting our faith in God because a computer tells us that He or She may very well exist is essentially putting our faith in technology. And the slope is a slippery one. The Computer -- that box we have come to trust perhaps too much -- runs the risk of becoming an idol, a tangible object the bible forbids us to pray toward. And the bible is not a fortune teller. Essential to the teachings of the bible is the notion of obeying its commandments in the present, in order to insure a better tomorrow. Maybe if we heed its lessons, we wouldn't have to worry so much about the coming end Drosnin's computations warn us about. More of about the book at: [...]

Surprisingly convincing. I went into this book with an open mind and if I had not, I still think it does a great job at hooking the reader to believe there is something gong on here about codes in the bible that parallel our past and foretell our future. Give it a try and see what you think.

This book is well-written, organized, and very easy to understand. Aside from its good marketing. This is a good book for people (especially for those who don't believe in the Bible) who are just begin to explore this subject. The author focused on more things interests himself and the common people but didn't mention much about the bibilical things which the Bible believers might want to know about. It leaves me unfilled because there wasn't enough details but led to further interest in this subject. This books is a good start, but you'll need to buy another book on this subject for further understanding and more details.

Anyone familiar with the wording in the Torah and the spelling of its Hebrew words knows that there are spelling differences between Torah texts, meaning that some scrolls have more letters than others. For example, the Torah text used in most synagogues has nine spellings, including missing letters, which are different from the spellings in the authorized Keter edition, the edition that Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) said was the correct wording of the Torah.

Michael Drosnin's book called The Bible Code, claims that the Hebrew words of the Torah contain a hidden code that can be revealed through examination of the words by means of his specific method. Drosnin insists that God reveals information and prophecies through this code, foretelling events that have occurred since the Bible was written and that will occur in the future as well as what will happen as a result of these events. Drosnin's theory is based on a count of the letters in the Torah and his mistaken belief that the spelling of the Hebrew words and the words themselves are exactly the same as the words that were in the Torah when God gave the Torah to Moses. If even one letter was different than the lettering in the original God revealed Torah, the count of the letters would change and his code would be invalidated.

Additionally, many rabbis noted other changes in the text called tikunei sofrim. These were changes that the rabbis made in the Bible's wording for various reasons. Furthermore, Drosnin's theory is entirely swept away by modern biblical scholarship.

Thus this book, which fascinated many people, is a hoax because, contrary to Drosnin's claim, we do not possess the exact same text that existed in antiquity and, therefore, his code cannot work.

I remember watching a program on this book and reading the book also. In this book the author has uncovered a whole bunch of codes which lead to predictions. Some have come true, others have not. Knowing that some of these events have come true creeps you out especailly when you read about a future event that is being predicted and that day hasn't come yet.
But this book lacks the details. Some of the predictions have no back-up and others give a great stretch of time and is not very specific. Although it is a good book and it has proved somethings to be true, it still needs to be more detailed.

...
The book is largely discredited now, but pops up now and again by people who find it on the remainder table and are mesmerised--the same kind of people who buy astrology charts and Nostradamus prophecies. I'm not saying there is nothing here. I'm not saying, either, that astrology is meaningless (I check my horoscope every day for some reason) or that Nostradamus didn't have a gift--but I think the Bible Code is, in fact, a human invention, yet one more way for humans to get excited over a remarkable text, not realising the mathematical principles which are more to the point in this `amazing discovery'.
Read it with skepticism.

As to be expected the reviewers that gave low scores are defined in 2 Cor.4:3-4. Those that have made unfavorable comments on prophecy have not spent the 35 years studying it as I have.

Most Christians do not even have a concordance that matches their bible, let alone a computer program to assit in study. (Sorry that is a dirty word)

I have been teaching bible for over forty years and this is indeed the most exciting bit of information as it is exactly what Daniel wrote in cxhapter 12 verse 4. The seal has been broken as we are in the end of the dispensation of Grace.

I found this book too abstruse to be convincing. If figures can be used to prove anything, then I think it follows that a computer can find a hidden code in the Bible. A far more compelling biblical epic has to be "THE Autobiography of Jesus....." by Richard G. Patton in which the facts we CAN accept, are presented in an open and less 'theatric' manner to create a FAR more convincing whole. If you are going to take accepted knowledge and turn it on its head, you will need the skill of a great writer like Patton. The idea of the BIble Code is sound, but the delivery lacks conviction

Generally it is impossible to predict the future using Bible Codes. Of course, there might be some very rare exceptions (like Drosnin's Rabin example) but over the whole... no. Consider the following: say I do a Bible Code check and PRESTO my name occurs together with McDonaldsr. Does this mean I will go have a Hamburger at McD? There is not enough data to determine whether I will eat a hamburger, crash my car into a McD or whatever. Drosnin's way of working is quicksands. Compare, please, "Cracking the Bible Code" by Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, who also happens to believe in God (which Drosnin doesn't). (The hamburger example is by Rabbi M. Zeldman, Esh ha-Torah, Jerusalem, who introduced me to the phenomenon.)

A highly repetitive and biased description of pseudo-science under cover of legitimate journalism. The so-called codes are entirely in the mind's eye of the author, and not very original at that. A huge problem, not even mentioned, is that biblical Hebrew has no vowels and thus can be manufactured into "modern" names and places simply by adding vowels to jumbles of otherwise meaningless consonant strings. This book was shipped to stores without the usual scrutiny by reviewers, and movie rights were sold in advance. About as realistic as a volcano in LA

Before buying this book, or making up your mind about its validity, run a search on "Bible Code Skeptic" and read some of the articles that come up--everything from statistical refutations of the original experiments done to the work of a group of scholars who found JFK's death "foretold" in Moby Dick. The fact of the matter is that in any text of such considerable length, "significant" results will be found to be "encoded". Any book whose "review" requires this many "quotation marks" can't be too good...

Reading this book, I at first found it rather intriguing, until I realized that this book mentions absolutely NOTHING about Jesus Christ. It inspidly babbles on about the End of Days, but not a single mention of Jesus. Isn't Jesus supposed to return to Earth in the End of Days? I then realized that this was part of the Bible code hoax: it can only work with the Old Testament. Why? The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and written Hebrew has no vowels. So, cat could be caught, cot, etc. Those who want you to believe this hoax conveniently come up with vowels to insert. Jesus is not mentioned, because Jesus' live is chronicled in the New Testament, and the New Testament written in Greek. Greek has vowels; it uses an alphabet just like any Romance language, and the alphabet (the word <i>alphabet</i> comes from the first two words in the Greek alphabet, <i>alpha</i> and <i>beta</i>) we use now was derived from it. Words in the New Testament cannot be conveniently respelled to spell out "SATAN IS HERE! You're all going to die...there years ago?" Live every day as if it was the last one; do good deeds and treat others as you would treat yourself every day of your live. "Cramming for your finals" gets you nowhere. According to "The Bible Code," we all should be dead by now. The Lord, Saviour, and Messiah is not one to miss appointments.

Could the ancient scriptures contain messages for modern man that computers can only now decode?
The author believes its possible -- and finds hidden reference to past historic events and future catastrophies such as earthquakes and nuclear wars. Each one has a year attached to it, and the past events were right on the money. These are not vague, Nostradamous-like puzzles that could have various interpretations, but brief, to-the-point, clearly defined phrases that include actual names.
While Drosnin is not religious, he examines the evidence in a dispassionate, scientific manner and describes his efforts to warn Middle Eastern leaders of upcoming dangers.
Can we ward off these calamities or is our fate already sealed? I was intrigued, and a bit shaken, by this fascinating subject.

Millenial Mishegoss: A rebuttal to Holy Hype. The Bible Code deals with, among other things, "Equidistant Letter Sequences," as evidence of a higher intelligence behind the "coincidences" / historical connections in the TaNaCH (Hebrew Scriptures). In spite of an immediately alluring subject matter, I have noted many errors in The Bible Code. I will share (only some) with you in the interest of integrity, and not jtrying to jump on a millennial madness bandwagon. Some problems I have just noticed with just the Drosnin's book: A) The Hebrew phraseing he catches is inconsistent. Example: When "communism" is found in the code it is transliterated in the English version of "Communism" ("Komoonizm")--why not with the suffix "i," which would be true to Hebrew? (I can see if it is a name like "Kennedy.") I am suspect. Also he has inconsistencies. One minute he finds "code" as the hebrew word, the next as transliterated into the English word. ("Kode") (Would a Gaelic speaker find words in Celtic?) B) Because of the nature of Hebrew (i.e., shoresh + prefix + suffix and 22 letters), if we have such a free-floating set of rules, like Drosnin, we WILL FIND CODES. (It is important to notice that in the appendix to Drosnin's book, the actual article in the Journal of Statistics has much more stringent protocols to followÐthese I am inclined to respect more, but more on this later...) THERE HAVE been rebuttals to Drosnin and to Eliahu Rips (in spite of what Drosnin says; namely Australian scholarship, cautious responses by Harold Gans of the U.S. DoD, etc. C) In spite of what Drosnin says about the control text (War and Peace)Ðthere have been found codes in totally "secular" texts not deemed authoritative (like the UN charter.) These codes have been found "against all odds" (like a million-to-one.) The point here, is that the odds alone do not determine either the ontological/epistimological validity of the "code," nor give the code meaning. It is fallacious logic to use odds this way, alone. D) Why is it that Drosnin didn't notice things ahead of time all the time (wuth his exception of Rabin), but retro-jected (after hearing the news) back into the text, and conveniently "finds" further revelations? (Especially if it's simple; what's the chances of finding an Ayin, then a Mem, then a Yud, and then a Resh in any number of skip sequences out of 304,000 letters on a grid ((to find "Amir," the killer of Rabin?)) ) E) As a side note, Eliyahu Rips, the main mathematician quoted in the book, with the impeccable record, himself rips (no pun) the book by Drosnin. (Sensationalistic, yanked out of context, and poor scholarship.) (The analogy would be, for instance, like some well meaning fundamentalists debating on Creationism with a polemical mindset, instead of painstakingly studying physical anthropology, biology, geology, plate tektonics, etc., etc.) (I say this as someone who trusts the creation accounts and, again, the transcendence of the God's revelation in the TaNaCH. What interests me is Weismandle's work. I recognize his bias toward ELS (as an offshoot of gematria). I don't at all doubt that he could have found TORAH in a skip sequence of 50 letters. And, yes there is probably more. I want to know what is there. (But, again, if there is the word TORAH every 50 letters, this doesn't automatically "prove" the existence of God for two reasons: 1) The transmission of text in (Semitic Oral Tradition), was meticulous, and possibly embedded the text with "codes" (by the soferim) 2) in order to "prove" God, let me give you an analogy from the New Testament: It's one thing to observe that the book might have a divine origin; it's quite another to make the logical, consistent solid connection form apologetics to dogma . i.e., The N.T. is divine (because of evidence, predictions, whatever,) therefore, the more esoteric teachings are all true as well. (Actually, this logic applies, of course to TaNaCH, as well.) Lastly, Drosnin's choosing to ignore Ocam's Razor (in science, a "proof" must be the most immediate, logical, and simple answer in an array of choices)Ðhis illogical conclusion at the end of his careful code extraction that the seeming connections (from the codes) couldn't possibly be the most obvious source (i.e., God), but extra-terrestrial, struck me as a most amusing mental feat of gymnastics. Talk about bias.

as a physician who beleives in scientific explainations and prospective randomized trials to make my decisions, i am very sceptical and suspicious with the bible and organized religion. I read this book only after a friend bought it for me. the bottom line is this book showed tangible scientific evidence that the bible is the real deal. no other books or literature passed the same decoding requirements. granted, you can always come up with reasons why this book is a farce. first, hind sight is always perfectly clear as this book shows, foresight is not. but this book and code could show us all good direction. second, in the scientic community there is a philosophy of "highest confidence level". there is no such thing as 100% confidence. this book meets the criteria. Basically, i found this book a little scary but more so exciting. this book helps show that the religious radicals and steadfast scientists will eventually come to the same final answers, just through different routes. This book is not a complete depiction of the bible code, and the reading got a little slow in the later chapters. however it did give a great introduction to a subject that will surely (hopefully) get the attention of persons of many walks of life. I am looking forward to reading other books on the subject which both supports and rejects the code. Finally, just as with other books, movies and situations, if you didn't spend the effort to read the book, see the movie be involved with the situation, you have no basis to give your opinion, so don't. no one wants to hear it (this refers to tim from california's review).

One of the foundational qualities of the Bible is its clarity (sometimes called perspicuity). That means Scripture's main teachings are plain enough to be understood without the need of special expertise or church-sanctioned interpretations.

The Bible frequently speaks about its own clarity. Psalm 119:130 says, "The unfolding of Thy words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." The average person who humbly reads the Bible can say, "I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation" (Psalm 119:99). Psalm 19:7 teaches, "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

The idea of hidden codes in the Bible contradicts all of that by limiting accessibility to the real message of the Bible to so-called experts who can decipher the cryptic messages God "hid" in the Scriptures. But such "experts" aren't needed because the Bible contains no hidden codes.

One hidden-code theory works like a common word-search puzzle-hidden messages are supposedly embedded diagonally within the Hebrew text. But that's as foolish as turning your daily newspaper into a word-search puzzle and expecting to find meaningful stories hidden in it. Newspapers aren't written to convey messages in secret code, and neither was the Bible. Both should be read using ordinary rules of language.

Of course there are concepts in the Bible that are hard to understand-even the apostle Peter admitted that (2 Peter 3:15). But the way to discover the meaning of those hard passages is not by seeking out hidden messages, but by engaging in diligent study that accurately handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

Take heart! The Bible is clear and even the most untrained reader can understand it. God wants you to understand the Bible, and He has provided the Holy Spirit as a guide (John 16:13). After all, "man does not live by bread alone, but...by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

He uses the profound to teach the simple, and the simple to teach the profound. The Bible Code is certainly profound, but to understand it coming from our Creator, it seems simply perfect. I know it seems like a hoax to some, but you can never understand something or have a true opinion about it until you know what it is. I encourage you to read this work for yourself. "Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away."
Sincerely, Crystal Rost
([email protected]

True? Not true? Irrelevant. It doesn't change the Great Commission for the Christian, and it's upsetting to me that it takes so many Christians' eyes off of what they should be focussing on, what Paul focussed on 2000 years ago, that Christians should always live as if these were the last days.
For the Christian: Does it scare you? Ignorance. Does it urge you to work harder? Good. It should. After that, forget about it and do what you know you should do. You have already been given whatever tools you need to do whatever job God calls you to do, and the Bible Code does absolutely nothing to increase the power of the Holy Spirit within you.
For the non-Christian: still the same age-old question. Do you believe there is hope for you for eternity, or do you stay in your fragile world, which will vanish with you when you die? There is no point to life without hope, and there is only hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and asking/receiving His eternal forgiveness, which the book deftly avoids.
Wouldn't you say it's strange that the book doesn't mention Christ, since He is the most influencial character in all of history, affecting more lives than any other man, and is prophesied to return? What does the "code" say about his return? I'll tell you what the Bible says straight out: "no one knows the day or the hour..."
Satan knows the scripture better than any one but God. If there is a way to take both Christian and non-Christian eyes off of God by twisting God's words, you can bet that he will do it, and only with the advent of computers would be able to do it in this manner.
Logic says toss this book in the fire and take hold of the hope made available to you. Stop living your life in fear and claim victory in Christ the Messiah every day.
One additional point to ponder: if this code doesn't work in any other translation, what does that say about belief in the inerrancy of the scriptures and the ability of God to keep His message intact from language to language? For Christians to think about.

I thought the information, the stories, and the investigation of the code was amazing. The book however got very repetative. At first I couldn't put the book down, but I found myself stuggling to finish the last couple of chapters because they talked about the same thing over and over again. Also I think it would have been better if the author would have explained the actual code mathmatically so we could have a better understanding of the enormus complexity of this phenomenon. Othe than that I thought it was a great book.

The ideas contained in this book are probably enough to scare hard-core horror fans, because it's not fright, it's terrible realization about the extent of God's power, that even now we could probably not recreate anything like this even with all the computers in the world running together for a hundred years, God was able to organise his messages in this way when there were no computers, sorry I'm really bad with run-on sentences... at least I know when I am... oh well, get this book, it's awesome and it will convince you

When I first noticed this book I wondered whether it was a parody in the tradition of Naked Came the Stranger. The fallacy in its approach was so obvious and straightforward that I suspected some skeptics group was doing it as a put-on. I couldn't help but chuckle at the mathematical arguments and analysis given to support the supposed existence of the "messages" contained in the Bible. It consisted of a lot of fancy looking equations and formulas using symbols and syntax that most of us never encounter when balancing our checkbook. I had the distinct impression that someone was covering up a weak argument with a lot of fancy mathematical typesetting. The logical defect underlying this book (which the fancy - but misapplied - equations cannot conceal) is that by having no firm rules on what constitutes a message (pick patterns as you like - throw in vowels whenever they help - and these messages may or may not actually predict anything) you have no basis for calculating probabilities and therefore no grounds for claiming that patterns have been discovered beyond what random chance would allow. As I once heard the principle expressed: "It's not random when the fix is already in."
I once offered someone to write a computer program that would help find such so-called patterns if they would provide the text of Lady Chatterley's Lover in a computer file. I could then demonstrate that the D.H. Larwence book would do as well as the Bible. I never received the online text. I also never wrote the program but learned that someone else had. They ran it against Moby Dick with similar success.
So either The Bible Code is nonsense, or a fascinating new field of crypto-literary analysis is about to open up! Hmm...
A final comment - I gave the book a single star because it was the lowest rating available. If reviewers are allowed to recognize a truly exemplary work with a 5 star rating, then it seems only fair that we should be able give 0 stars to works of such dubious merit.

Wouldn't be nice if there was some definitive proof that the Bible has some secret hidden knowledge within it? Man, that would be profound. Wouldn't it be equally awesome if in the book they say they tried using other books with the same code system they used for the Bible and no other book had any secret info? That would be far out man.

Sadly none of the above is true. When you read it you get blown away by how profound it all is. Sadly, they have found another book that the code works for and it can pick up strange messages of a prophetic nature. Also, unless you look for a certain phrase nothing comes up. I think the whole thing is wishful thinking folks. If you want secret messages from the Torah, check out Kabalah.

There is always someone coming along with a book that says they have all the answers to every mystery in the Bible. That's why the have people who call themselves Branch Davidians and Heaven's Gate. When will we not become so gulliable to everyone who calls himself an "expert" and turns out Laughable stuff such as this. If you want to hear about secret codes. Go to your local supermarket and pick up the Globe. It Has a new story on the Bible every week and I'm more inclined to believe it

While Drosnin presents a useful idea interpreting the "Bible Code", his argument is difficult to follow. The main problem lies in the fact that if you don't speak Hebrew, then you can't really understand what is going on. Sure, Drosnin tells the readers the translations and illustrates his findings in the text, but you can't really verify anything. The idea itself is very interesting and probably worthy of further investigation, but until you add speaking Hebrew to your resume, it's pretty tough to know if he's really full of it or not.

the book was very interesting but the book is one side it talks only of very few country's there are so many things that it doesn't talk about the book is american it would be interesting to know more about other country's like france, portugal, canada,and the roman catholic church i also have a suggestion if anyne has watch the movie "CONTACT" there was documents that also where encoded and that they arranged the papers in some order. so try that with the five books

Any validity which Drosnin seems to have is nothing but math tricks. The book is 200 pages of pure, no nonsense fluff. The only reason Drosnin can get dates for the events in the book is because Hebrew uses letters to also stand for numerals - an advantage English does not have. And yet other important world events for found in "Moby Dick" using the same (DLS) method. But I'm sure alot of folks will be terrified and everybody will make lots of money on this garbage. Congradulations.

This book is great reading! From the first page to the last. I found it at a thrift store and picked it up and started reading and could not put it down! One of the best books i have read. Everyone i showed it to liked it. People that do not believe will will never believe!!! If god came and appeared before a crowd of people some would say it was a magic trick or illusion, the ones that don't believe. I have both #1 and #2 and #2 is just as good!!! I am getting #3 soon. You will learn some things about the bible you did not know after you read these books. Izzac newton knew there was a code in the bible 300 years ogo but he could not break it because you needed a computer to do it!!! A genus he was, some say he was the best genus of all!!! But another genus broke the code when you read the book it tells the whole story. These books are sold in 30 countrys worldwide!!! Buy it you will love it! God Bless.

Some of the reviews i read about this book seemed very unfair. That is probably because those readers did not like what the author came up with, for personal relegious reasons i guess. I can say that Michael Drosnin wrote this study 3 years ago but if you read what he said about the riots which occur by the end of Y2K in Ramallah, mentioning it will be the beginning of WW3, you WILL be amazed! How accurately that was figured out! I recommend this book to everone who's interested in the Bible or in prophecies, not only because it approves what i have read in our holy books, but because the reality is moving along with it.

It doesn't take a Phd mathematician such as Brendan Mckay to notice the huge flaws in Drosnin's thesis (most of which he cynically neglects to mention never mind discuss). This sensationalistic, tabloid-esque drivel is a rubbish book for both science (which it is NOT) and philosophy. Just because Michael Drosnin has managed to find (using no firm rules whatsoever) LIBYA, ARTILLERYMEN and HOLOCAUST in the same 'area' in the Bible does not mean that Libya will attack Israel!!

Does the Bible contain secret codes that only a computer can find and translate? After reading this book I would have to say no. The author gives many examples in the Bible and tries to relate the translations to the modern world. However, the author does a very poor job in arguing his point throughout the novel. The argument is so poor that it makes me wonder if the novel was just a scam to get money from Christians who were paying close attention to the year 2000. I would recommend spending your money on another novel.

This book is a bunch of trash. Probably the worst book of the last 20 years.

There's no such thing as a "Bible Code".

If the Bible really is the word of God, then why are these "prophecies" hidden in such a way that you'd need computer software to find them? God's a pretty mean guy to make things so inaccessible.

The Bible Code predicts the end times, which contradicts what The Bible itself says: No one knows when it'll happen.

Research has been done that shows that these exact same "prophecies" will show up in "Moby Dick" and "War and Peace", and probably any long book.

And isn't it convenient that most of these "prophecies" are only found AFTER the actual event has happened (see The Bible Code II for more on that)?

Plus, Michael Drosnin himself doesn't even believe in God, so why does he believe in this code?

The people who gave this book 5 stars are a bunch of gullible fools who probably also believe in Nostradamus, astrology, and Santa Claus.

I know other reviewers [...] have done a much better job of tearing this book apart, and that my review is mostly an echo, but I just wanted to post my thoughts, for the sake of strength in numbers.

I read The Bible Code under advisement that it was probably not legit. I found no gaping flaws in the theories and examples presented. Drosnin's work has been wracking my brain for 6 months, until now. My background is physics and electrical engineering, so I have a knack for spotting errors in stuff like this very quickly. Drosnin did a great job of presenting what seemed like the find of the century, if not all recorded human history. Some one named Micheal, who reviewed (in the store.com) Cracking The Bible Code was one of the more serious naysayers of that book and the theme it presented. He graciously provided me with a URL that will quickly reduce the Bible Code theme to what it really is: nonsense. you will find that there is in fact very little actual science going on within the theme of an embedded code within the Torah. Turns out that Rabin's assasination and that of Lincoln are also embedded within ESLs in Moby Dick. And the Microsoft Access License Agreement also has amazing prior knowledge of future events! So before any of you go jumping into this fray, do your homework at the latter URL and then decide whether your time and money is better spent on something else. I just wish I had learned about the flip side sooner.

I was so skeptical befor I read "The Bible Code". I didn't believe in god and I believed that people could chose their own destinies. The fact of the matter is, a higher being exists; moreover, this being encoded the most popular book on earth with prophetic text. Chills run up my spine and goosebumps cover by body every time I think about this book. It was simply the most thought provoking book I've ever read.

I found this book too abstruse to be convincing. If figures can be used to prove anything, then I think it follows that a computer can find a hidden code in the Bible. A far more compelling biblical epic has to be "THE Autobiography of Jesus....." by Richard G. Patton in which the facts we CAN accept, are presented in an open and less 'theatric' manner to create a FAR more convincing whole. If you are going to take accepted knowledge and turn it on its head, you will need the skill of a great writer like Patton. The idea of the BIble Code is sound, but the delivery lacks conviction.

This is simply yet another "I can predict the past" book! It's very easy to fit any kind of data to past events, but using it to accurately predict the future is another matter.

This kind of "decoding" can be done with any text, even English texts with vowels which are far less flexible than consonants-only Hebrew!

Michael Drosnin said "When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby Dick, I'll believe them."

Well, did you know that in the codes of Moby Dick there is a prediction for Diana's death? That prediction is not in The Bible Codes? Why not? Maybe because the accident didn't take place until after Drosnin wrote his book? If Drosnin would now check his codes I'm 100% sure that he can easily "predict" the tragic death of Princess Di.

Check out: [...]

After leaving Nazarene Theological Seminary in 1975 I held the "Plenary Dynamic" theory of Biblical inspiration -- that is that the concepts were inspired by God but that the actual word and grammatical structure was left to the individual authors. After reading this book, and related books and tapes on the Bible code, I have had to rethink this position and now I am leaning very strongly toward the "Plenary Verbal" theory -- which means that God inspired the very words (an even the very letters in this case) of the original documents as they came from Moses, the prophets, apostles, etc. Very thought provoking book. Since I read Biblical Hebrew, I was able to confirm for myself the presence of these codes as presented in the book!

This book contains the original bible code paper as an appendix, but does little to explain or critique it. Of course Drosnin is not a mathematician.

The tone is sensationalistic and reads much like the tabloid press. If you are looking for an interesting speculative work, without any real scientific foundation, you might like this book.

Unlike the Jewish religious zealots who introduced the bible code, Drosnin is not religious, and his book won't necessarily give comfort to people who are looking for some kind of support for their supernatural beliefs.

Unfortunately there are no books on the market which seriously examine the bible code controversy from the standpoint of a qualified mathematician. The best material along these lines is available from various web sites. The only book that comes close is by Ingermanson, but his book leaves much to be desired.

Rather than waste time reading bible code books, I recommend you study some basic statistics so you will be able to see through false statistical claims by bible code advocates and others, including politicians. As the saying goes, there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics".

Michael Drosnin's THE BIBLE CODE illustrates well a real-life application of a mathematical idea which is at once simple and complex. The central notion presented is that the Torah (Old Testament) is riddled with predictions of the future encoded as equidistant letter sequences. Approximately 100 examples of this are given in the book.
Unfortunately, the mathematical problem upon which the book depends is given short shrift. Drosnin quotes a Harvard mathematician, an NSA cryptanalyst, among others, who seem to think that the phenomenon observed is unique and inexplicable. But this is clearly wrong. The same phenomenon *can* and has been observed in other works, such as Melville's MOBY DICK. The more words you string together, the greater the likelihood of finding words that match or describe events.
The book works well as non-fiction/fiction, is easy to read and quite compelling in it's way.

Drosnin's book took a fascinating subject and turned it into a load of mainstream-pap of the sort you'd expect to see in the supermarket tabloids. I found myself quickly wanting more and sorely missed the depth the subject demanded. I found it to be self-serving above all and relatively useless as a research tool. This book is fit only as an introduction to the Torah codes and little else.

After having read parts of this abominable work (if you want to dignify it by calling it a "work"), I wonder where is the role of the blessed Holy Spirit in the inspiration of Scriptures, and the drama of human events? And there wasn't a "0-star" option in the ratings block. Drosnin should come in contact with the Third Person of the Trinity, and then take this waste of paper off the market!

Some reviewers have pointed to the failure of some events to occur when predicted as proof that the Bible Code concept itself is false as well as Drosnin's interpretation. Possibly, the codes used to make a specific prediction are pointing to one possible future among many. Many historical events only occur because a specific set of circumstances have arisen. Take away one of these circumstances or variables and the course of future history is altered.

How would future history, for example, have been altered if Rabin's assasination had somehow been prevented? How would future history have been altered if, for example, Shimon Peres had become prime minister in 1996 instead of Benjamin Netanyahu? The 1996 election, which may not have even occured at all if not for the assasination of Rabin, was as close as the later Bush/Gore and Bush/Kerry elections. One may have to have a level of knowledge (possibly at the level of insider) and insight of the players beyond that of the typical consumer of news to speculate with any signifigant level of confidence on these matters. These are just a few of the possible prior events affecting Drosnin's citing as 1996 being the year of a possible nightmare scenario.

So how does someone, like Drosnin for instance, prevent dreaded event(s) from happening in the future? If Drosnin and other bible code researchers, hypothetically, have accurately predicted a possible future timeline, what course of action needs to be taken? This is where things get murky.

It is possible to accurately predict a possible future event timeline, yet embark on a course of preventive action that fails to take into account the most key players actually driving a future event or fails to understand the real agenda and intentions of some of the players.

It is difficult, if not impossible, for the average reader to gauge the relative validity of the main thesis : that future events are encoded in the Bible (and not every other lengthy book by the use of different skip patterns).

This book is not necessarily for everyone, however, it is too soon to conclude that it has no utility, other than entertainment value, for any possible audience.

The Bible represents the highest wisdom no matter what we think about this book. We often forgot that the West got the democracy and prosperity because of Christianity and the Bible. The reviews written by some readers are unfair, but they should not put their suspecion unto the Bible, then they would really be stupid. The review entitled C'MON PEOPLE, just told a lot of obvious lies. How could he find anything he wants in anybook! There is not even a sligtest math probability. Does he know what he was talking about? Does he know ELS's (Equidistant Letters Sequences)? The research by two scientists were published on a well-known statistical journal. Suggest you all read the research by Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg before throw dirt at this writer who is nonetheless making his attempt to know a little bit more about the GREATEST TREASURE human has ever found on the surface of this earth.

I had been meaning to read this controversial book for some time now, but only recently did I pick The Bible Code up to see just what all the brouhaha was really about. This is certainly an interesting subject, but I was a little disappointed in the theory, arguments, and proofs presented here. As the book progressed, the open mind I began the book with started to shrink, as Drosnin began to backpedal and hurt his own case. I don't doubt the author's faith in the method and results of his work, but this book falls way short of convincing me that the Bible Code exists and, if so, that its existence is even meaningful. The book has a number of weaknesses. First of all, Drosnin is a former reporter working outside of his trained field; The Bible Code is supposedly built on a sophisticated mathematical model, and its interpretation requires significant knowledge of the Hebrew language in its original form - the original language of the first five books of the Bible. He presents us with printout after printout of data, but all I can do is stare at the Hebrew letters; the actual scientific paper that first delved into this mathematical issue is included in an appendix, but the math is way over my head. Drosnin says other mathematicians have verified that the model is correct, but I just have to take his word for it. I simply don't have any significant data upon which to form an opinion yea or nay about the Bible code. Drosnin may actually have done better to include no illustrations whatsoever; what I see are foreign letters marked in areas all over a given page; it's like a find-a-word puzzle, only the letters of your words don't even have to be connected directly. Odds of given terms "crossing" one another on one page are given, but I still don't know how these odds were determined. Drosnin also indicates that the same model was run against two other long books and showed no kind of code whatsoever, but two books alone seems to be a small sample set, and I have no idea how many attempted searches were done in these limited sample sets.
The "evidence" sounds pretty good at first. Drosnin constantly repeats the fact that the Bible Code predicted the assassination of Israel's Prime Minister Rabin, the collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy into Jupiter, the start of the first Gulf War, etc., all to the very day. Tell me more, you think to yourself. This is where Drosnin starts to slip, however. He spends most of his time talking about Armageddon, specifically how Jerusalem will be destroyed by a nuclear bomb. He was certainly right in naming terrorist acquisition of weapons of mass destruction to be the greatest threat to the modern world, but prophesying trouble in the Middle East doesn't exactly require a Karnak. He predicts that then-Prime Minister Netanyahu will be assassinated and that Israel will be attacked in 1996. This book was published in 1997, completed after 1996 came and went. Suddenly we find Drosnin discovering that the word "delayed" just so happens to turn up alongside all of those dire predictions of his. He actually expresses the opinion that a delay in Netanyahu's visit to Jordan prevented the Armageddon he had predicted. The Bible Code, he now decides, must include eventualities, things that may come to pass, things that we can prevent from coming to pass. This back pedaling hurts his credibility quite a bit in my eyes.
In summary, I can't argue the mathematical validity of The Bible Code in any way, shape, or form, but Drosnin's arguments fail to convince me that he is right about this subject. He can barely find anything in his code until that "thing" has already happened, and it seems to me that finding a few related words after the fact on a sheet full of letters is no difficult feat. I do know that there is one definite error in the book, as Drosnin (and the Bible Code) shows that FDR declared war on Japan on December 7, 1941, when war was not declared until the following day, December 8. As for the predictions he did make about the future, he doesn't exactly go out on a limb. There will be strife in the Middle East and a series of earthquakes in Japan. These things happen every year, so these are hardly convincing prophetic tests of his code. I can't say The Bible Code does not exist the way Drosnin says it does, but it will take a whole lot more evidence to ever convince me of such a fact.

I really found this book extremely interesting. Michael Drosnin said he doesn't believe in God. He states that he is not a rabbi nor a priest, nor a Bible scholar. He says, "...he has no preconceived beliefs, and only one test - the truth". I would have liked to have known which "truth" he was referring to. Once you have read the book, you still don't have the truth. The truth been infallible, does not conflict, yet the truth according to these professionals depends on their stand point, therefore it is their opinion and not a truth. Very few of the professionals actually agree with one another. Some say it is evidence of God, others say it is the inspiration of some sort of highly sophisticated computer or maybe some sort of alien intelligence on other planets. Some believe that "alien" life must be a lot more evolved than we are, as they have had more time to progress in the evolution chain, and therefore are a lot more advanced than we are. Regarding this "super computer" some refer to, how in the world did this come about, by evolution! The modern computers of today, did they come about through the process of evolution or did it take a lot of intelligent design behind them? Who designed this "super computer" that made up the "bible code", aliens from other planets! How did the aliens come about, through the "big-bang" - What explosions (including nuclear bombs) have created, and not destroyed life ! If the theory of evolution were to be followed, we have to assume that all life started evolving from one point of the Big Bang. This theory of evolution does not explain higher and lower life forms. If it were fact, all lower life forms would have died out by now. If there were more than one big bang - where is the evidence of such? Have we seen any explosions on this planet, or any other planet, which are creating other life forms? Then there are the others that simply don't know. So just what is the truth? I suppose we are supposed to pick one "truth", from the many conflicting ideas, of the one which is most suitable to our own belief. In this book, some of the professionals have a theory that a collision by a comet in prehistoric times may have inspired late apocalyptic TALES in the Bible. That is an interesting word "tales" used by professionals who by their own admission admit, that the many prophecies in the Holy Bible and now, even in the "secret Bible Code" are being revealed and are coming true in the recent past as well as the distant past. So now, how could they call it a "tale" if the prophecies are coming true? It is proving to be the truth and nothing but the truth, and certainly no tall-tale. Now if it be the truth, then surely the rest could only be classified as their opinions because they conflict with the truth. The professionals, in this book, have established that if anything in the Holy Bible was in a different wording or order - the codes would not even exist. So by their own admission it appears that the Holy Bible is infallible, otherwise the Bible Codes would not exist, nor would the Bible Codes be coming true in the real world. In that case, Jesus is real and He is not a mistake either. Jesus said He is the Truth and no code is required to figure that out. I do believe that these Bible Codes that are coming to pass in the world are nothing but a divine revelation from an Almighty God, and we will never have all the answers. Throughout the ages God has chosen to reveal things, even to non-believers. How are we to know the mind of God, who created all things? The things of creation can't all be explained, it is far too complex for our little minds, yet we are always seeking knowledge of how we got here. The wisdom of man is foolishness yet God's wisdom is awesome. This thirst for knowledge and wisdom is human nature. A nature that must have been divinely given, otherwise we would be like the animals, and we wouldn't be seeking the truth of our origins and seeking God. However Jesus said He is the Truth. If we seek the truth, we shall find it in Jesus, and all that matters is to trust and believe in Him, because God is in control and He knows what He is doing. The Truth in Jesus will set you free. Who would you rather believe, the fallible professionals who can't agree with one another, or the Son of God and His Word & prophesies found in His Word, which have in the past and are currently still been fulfilled to this day?