NOTE: I could not find the cite works list I created for this so if you are the owner of this property please let me know so I may cite it.
Theomatics, described below, is an analysis technique that searches for evidence of such a design.
Others have believed that the letters in the Bible can be scanned mathematically, in order to extract hidden names, dates and messages. The Equidistant Letter Sequence (ELS) analysis method is an example of this approach. ELS is doomed to failure because it depends upon the Bible text having been transmitted down to the present day without error. In fact, there are thousands of differences among the surviving ancient Bible manuscripts, and there is no method by which the original wording can be determined. The addition or subtraction of even a single letter by a copyist two millennia ago will derail an ELS analysis.
Many conservative Christians eagerly study them in order to gain greater insights into the meaning of the Bible, which they interpret as God’s Word.
Decades ago, Rabbi Weissmand found some interesting patterns in the Hebrew Pentateuch (a.k.a. the Books of Moses, the Torah, and the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures / Old Testament). These patterns are called “ELS codes” (a.k.a. Torah codes, Skip codes, and Equidistant Letter Sequences). Some authors capitalized on these findings, and rushed into print a series of best-selling religious books. The most financially successful was probably Michael Drosnin’s book “The Bible Code.” 1 It once achieved the #3 spot on a New York Times best-seller list. Countless individuals accepted the ELS codes as proof that God was the actual author of the Pentateuch. Many skeptics became believers. But, the euphoria did not last. Further statistical analysis revealed the truth about the Bible codes: that they do not just exist in the Pentateuch; they are everywhere. Codes are found with equal frequency in the Book of Genesis, the Qur’an, Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” Melville’s “Moby Dick,” or in any sufficiently long text. 2,3,4,5 By the time that the ELS codes were exposed as meaningless, the authors of Torah code books had pocketed some rather heavy profits.
English theologian Ethelbert W. Bullinger (1837-1913) was a prolific writer. His most popular book is the Companion Bible, a study Bible in the King James Version. 6 He also wrote “Number in Scripture: Its supernatural design and spiritual significance,” which was reprinted in 1993. 7 In the latter book, he describes the sources of some of today’s frequently used numbers. (e.g. the 12 signs of the zodiac, 360 degrees in a circle.) But his deep study of the text of the Bible revealed to him the spiritual and symbolic meaning associated with various numeric values, as they appear in the scriptures. Some examples are:
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3 represents God. |
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9 represents judgment. |
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15 refers to acts brought about by God’s grace. |
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40 represents probation, trial and chastisement. |
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1290 represents desolation. |
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1335 represents blessing. |
Theomatics Research, a Portland, OR-based company states that “the foundational basis for theomatics has been known for thousands of years, ever since the time before Christ. It is commonly referred to by the term ‘gematria.’ It was in 1975 that this original code in the Bible ~ known for thousands of years but never deciphered ~ began to reveal itself in a major way.” 8 Del Washburn believes that he has found a mathematical design within the Bible that proves that God was its ultimate author. God “assigned each letter and in turn each word of the Bible with a number or theomatic value. Everything in the Bible was composed and written mathematically…God the Creator, sometime in eternity past, orchestrated and planned every event mentioned in the Bible ~ right down to the most minute detail…and what every word in the Bible would ultimately be. Each and every word had to be spelled precisely so it would come out to its exact and pre-determined numerical value, and then be placed into the text in a precise location.“
Two typical types matches found by Theomatics are:
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Numbers that appear in the Bible — for example
These values are each matched with the numerical values for words, groups of words, phrases, or sentences that are located nearby. For example: John 21:11 mentions a catch of 153 fish. Some words and phrases found in close proximity to the number are:
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Names also have a numerical value. Jesus, in Greek, has the value of 888, which is 111 x 2 x 2 x 2. i.e. equal to the prime number 111 times 8. Searches are made in the Greek text for phrases whose Theomatic value is 111, or a multiple of 111. Many are found:
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They selected the term “Theomatics” to describe God’s design: “Theo” means God and “matics” from the word mathematics. God’s mathematical design is described in three books: “Theomatics” (now out of print), “Theomatics II 9 and “The Original Code in the Bible.” 10
Findings: Theomatic Research asserts that:
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In the case of “Jesus” whose root Theomatic number is 111, if one analyzes the text in the vicinity of Jesus’ name looking for phrases, complete ideas or sentences that have the value 111 or a multiple of 111:
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This relationship holds in the case of other names and actual numbers in the biblical text. The examples cited are not specially chosen. Similar matches appear throughout the Bible. |
They stress that these observations could not have happened by chance. They state with confidence that: “It is absolutely, completely, and totally impossible to mathematically disprove theomatics. The overall validity of this discovery ~ the fact that God did it ~ is unimpeachable.” They feel that they are sitting on an amazing discovery. Unfortunately, “statisticians and theologians in major universities…are generally not interested in having the Bible proven to them.”
