Bonnie Gaunt's Bible Code September 11, 1999 Rapture Hoax

The following article is old news because this "prophecy" did not come to pass, but such teachers operating in the capacity of "prophets" need to be exposed as false teachers and therefore I am leaving this article online in case Bonnie Gaunt is still prognosticating such events.

I used to run the mailing list Tcode where we discussed the Bible Codes with the worlds top notch Bible Code experts. We finally came to the conclusion that you can find as many Negative Codes in the Bible as the positive ones and they can also be found in the daily newspaper or any other book or publication. Because of this experience, I believe I am qualified to point out the errors in Bonnie Gaunt's code research.

The following is a critique of a collection of codes found by Bonnie Gaunt, entitled "Exodus 19 & 20 and the Third Day." Bonnie proclaimes the Rapture will occur on September 11, 1999 because of the codes she found in Exodus 19 & 20.

This critique will endeavor to show that this collection of codes, although it looks convincing at first glance, is not relaying the truth of what is actually "encoded" in this passage. The original document is no longer available online.

This critique will only cover the codes in Bonnie's first matrix. It is recommended that you print out and read at least the first two pages of Bonnie's document, including her first matrix of codes, so you can understand the terms used in this critique.

Bonnie's claims about "The Third Day" can be ignored because they are not valid codes, as I will show later and keep in mind that Gematria is even less reliable than the codes.

Below you will find a replica of Bonnie's first code matrix and a list of the spellings and skips of her codes (she chose not to provide these in her article):

Bonnie's Bible Code Matrix for the Rapture

Rapture:
(shin lamed hey vav bet) at a skip of -2 Exodus 19:16.

1st Tishri
(i.e., Rosh Hashanah--our Sept. 11, 1999):
(aleph tav shin resh yod) at a skip of +53 Exodus 19:15-16.

Trumpet:
(yod vav bet lamed) at a skip of +159 Exodus 19:16-19:23.

5760 (Jewish year after Sept. 11, 1999)
(Hey tav shin samech) at a skip of -159 Exodus 19:11-20.

Bride:
(kaf lamed hey) at a skip of +1 (2 words) Exodus 19:16
and at a skip of -53 Exodus 19:12-14.

Deliverance:
(yod shin hey) at a skip of -106 Exodus 19:16-20.

Third Day:
(bet yod vav mem hey shin lamed yod shin yod)
at a skip of +1 in Exodus 19:16 (surface text) This is NOT a valid code!!!

VERY IMPORTANT: A code at a skip of +1 relaying the same words as the surface text (even if the author chooses to interpret them differently) is not a valid code. The English text of Exodus 19:16 says, "And it came to pass, on the third day, . . ." (KJV). "The "code" "Third Day" will therefore, not be considered below.

Also, Bonnie claims that these words say "Third Day," but any student of Hebrew can tell you they "actually" spell out "On The Third Day." If she would have told us that these words are in the surface text that would have been acceptable. However, she has instead chosen to imply they are a valid code.

The codes in Bonnie's first matrix run from Exodus 19:11 to 19:23. However I have increased the matrix by three verses to include verse 8 so the main term "1st Tishri" will appear in the center of the matrix which makes room for an equal number of ELS's to the right and left of that key code (this shouldn't be a problem since she claims these codes are found from Exodus 19-20 anyway).

Does Bonnie's Code matrix relay the facts of the Rapture?

It can be deduced, from the way the codes are arranged (1st Tishri and the year 5760 running vertical, Rapture running horizontal, etc.), that the "actual" code matrix has a width of 53 characters. However, if you look at Bonnie's matrix it is only 14 characters wide. Why the discrepancy?

She doesn't tell us that any of the characters are missing but this was obviously accomplished by cutting off a major portion of the letters surrounding these codes. As you can see by the matrix I have provided below, these codes fit nicely within the bounds of an average size page if the width of the gif is adjusted accordingly so this isn't the reason they were cropped off.

Were Bonnie's Bible Codes of the Rapture Found by Pure Chance?

Is it plausible that the above skips were chosen at random and then a close fitting matrix of codes miraculously appeared without further searching? Not likely. It is much more plausible that these codes were chosen because they produced the most visually appealing code array in a portion of text that Bonnie claims supports her rapture theory.

The three major codes in this matrix (Rapture, 1st Tishri and 5760) occur only once between Exodus 19:8-23 at a skip of -2, +53 and -159 respectively. Yet Bonnie claims in her article that the word Rapture occurs up to 5 times in this area of text. How can that be? Possibly because she repeatedly claims these codes are found from Exodus 19-20, yet, as has been shown above, the codes for "this" particular matrix (one of six) were all found within the few verses of Exodus 19:11-23 and don't even venture into chapter 20 at all.

Exodus chapters 19-20 contain about 2500 characters and the word rapture contains 5 letters so the maximum this code could appear would be a skip of 500. I searched for the word Rapture in these two chapters of Exodus from a skip of 1-500 and it does indeed occur 5 times. Amazing! Bonnie's other code matrixes will not be analyzed, however, as this one should give us enough clues to their validity.

There is something else very interesting about these code skips. If you divide 53 into 159 you will see that it divides evenly 3 times, i.e., with a matrix width of 53 characters, a code at a skip of 159 characters will occur on every third line.

If you will look at the list of Bonnie's codes found in this area, all of the codes in this matrix occur either at multiples of 53 or a bare minimum of one to two skips. This was done so they will all appear on either horizontal or vertical lines. Does this mean these were the only codes available? Hardly. However, it does indicate these codes may have been chosen to provide the most convincing array and not necessarily what is really encoded in this passage.

How Many Times do the Smaller Words Occur in this matrix?

The matrix in question spans Exodus 19:8-23 which has a total of 890 letters. The maximum skip for three letter words, such as "Deliverance" and "Bride," in this size text, would therefore be 445. The maximum skip for a 4 letter word, such as "Trumpet" would be 296. The word "Trumpet" actually occurs 10 times in this matrix. Bonnie chose to only utilize the skip of +159 (3x53). "Deliverance" occurs a total of 129 times in this matrix, and again, Bonnie chose to only utilize one of those skips also, which occurs at -106 (2x 53). The word "Bride" occurs a total of 139 times in this Matrix.

Are there going to be 10 trumpets blowing at the Rapture? Are there 129 deliverances? Are only 139 of the millions of Brides going to be raptured? According to scripture there is only one Bride of Christ, one trumpet and one deliverance of the Bride. What does the occurrence of all these extra words mean?

Also, regarding the "Bride" codes, instead of using only one code for each word, like with all the other words, Bonnie opted to utilize two of these codes--one at a skip of +1 (spanning two words--which is a valid code), and the other at a skip of -53. Why did she use two "Brides," but only one "Deliverance," one "Trumpet," one "1st Tishri," one "Rapture," etc.?

The reason there are multitudes of the word "Bride" is because (besides only having 3 letters) it is also made up of some of the more common letters in the Hebrew alphabet and will thus occur more often in any normal Hebrew text.

Do the Three Main Rapture Terms Occur Close Together Elsewhere?

Another question arises: If the words Rapture, 1st Tishri and 5760 only occur once in this area, and they ALL have skips that are multiples of 53, or a small enough skip to fit on one line, does this mean this was a divine message from God?

Lets look at the facts. A search was performed on the following words utilizing the whole of the Torah and this time limiting the skip to 250 because these words have up to 5 letters.

The word Rapture occurs about 243 times.
1st Tishri occurs about 275 times.
The year 5760 occurs about 258 times.

Is it possible that there are other areas where these words occur close together? Quite likely. It is also possible that other word choices, or spellings could be used. For instance, a word portraying the Rapture can be spelled many different ways and would occur just as close together, and be just as "convincing," as this group of codes we have been examining above.

In fact these codes do occur in a much tighter configuration in Deuteronomy 16:

1st Tishri (aleph tav shin resh yod) at a skip of -1 in Deut 16:20
Rapture (shin lamed hey vav bet) at a skip of -132 in Deut 16:11-20
The Year 5760 (hey tav shin samech) at a skip of -115 in Deut 16:16-20

As you can see in the matrix above, with a width of 132, the word Rapture occurs vertically (red letters), 1st Tishri horizontal (blue letters), which is sharing a shin with Rapture, and the word for the year 5760 is on an angle off the left side (green letters). The extra letters of this matrix have been cropped off for demonstration purposes.

Is First Tishri the Only Date Encoded in this Passage?

Is a bible code with the words 1st Tishri/Rapture/5760 a divine message from God that this is the date of the Rapture? Exodus 19:8-23 was searched for alternate dates and the following appeared:

2 Tishri
5th Tishri
6th Tishri
10th Tishri

Why was 1st Tishri chosen when so many other dates were available in this passage? One reason may be that it occurs at a skip of 53 which is compatible with the other words with multiples of 53, i.e., it will show up on a matrix with a width of 53 and the other words won't. However the other dates are still there--it just depends on how wide you make the matrix.

Is this sufficient proof of the date of the Rapture?

Is 5760 the Only Year Encoded in this passage?

The year 5762, which starts in our September 2001 (hey tav shin samech bet) is also encoded in this passage. IN FACT this is the exact same code that Bonnie found for the year 5760 except it has the letter "bet" on the end of it (bet stand for the number two).

One interesting fact about our current year of 5769 (pre September 1999) is that it contains the letter "tet" (hey tav shin nun tet). The letter tet in the surface text does not occur anywhere from Exodus 10:1 to Exodus 20:20. This means if you limit your search to just this portion of text the year 5769/pre September 1999 will NEVER show up in code. And the same applies to any other year ending in the number nine.

Why Was Rosh Hashanah Chose to Depict the Rapture?

The Rapture words encoded in Deuteronomy 16 fall in a passage talking about the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. Why wasn't this matrix used instead of the other when the main terms are closer together? Possibly because she believes the Rapture happens on Rosh Hashanah (1st Tishri/Sept. 11 in 1999) and a passage talking about other feasts just won't do. She needs a passage of text that speaks ONLY of Rosh Hashanah.

However, even Exodus 19:8-23 doesn't talk about Rosh Hashanah--this is where God calls Moses up to the mountain before receiving the Ten Commandments. If you read any book of Jewish festivals you will see that Rosh Hashanah does not depict any historical event other than celebrating the birthday of the world. It is a time of preparation, a time of reflection, fasting and prayer when Jews believe you need to get your relationship right with God before the Day of Atonement (Day of Judgment which occurs about 10 days later) or God will not write your name in the Book of Righteousness for that year. Do "True" Christians need to get their relationship right with God or loose their salvation? No.

The only obvious comparison between this festival and what Bonnie is proposing with the codes she chose to display (besides the invalid "Third Day" code) is that Trumpets are blown on Rosh Hashanah. Is this the only feast when Trumpets are blown? No.

ARE THERE ANY NEGATIVE CODES IN THIS MATRIX?

Several words in Bonnie's matrix are joined by either the word "no" (lamed, vav aleph-- pronounced low') or "there is no," (aleph yod nun, pronounced 'ayin). For instance, the word "no" is connected to the hey of the year 5760 at a skip of -3, crosses over "trumpet," at a skip of +3, runs parallel and right next to 1st Tishri as well as sharing a vav with "trumpet" at a skip of -106. Also there is another "deliverance" in this matrix at a skip of -106 which has the word "there is no" (aleph yod nun--ah' yin) crossing over and sharing the yod of deliverance and another "there is no" next to the shin of the same word.

The negative codes can be seen in the following matrix:

So, if we interpret these words in the same manner as Bonnie interprets her disjointed "codes" these negative codes appear to be saying "No 5760," (or "No 5762) "No Trumpet," "No 1st Tishri," and "There is no Deliverance." Is it true there will be no Deliverance? If not, can this truly be a message from God?

How Many Words are Actually Encoded in Exodus 19:8-23?

Dr. James D. Price (Ph.D in Hebrew, BS in Electrical Engineering, M.Div. as well as a top notch code researcher) ran an exhaustive test on Exodus 19:8-23 and found the following:

"The search is exhaustive in that it searched for all the uninflected Hebrew words in the Bible at least 3 letters long, and in that it included all possible skip values from +/- 2 to the maximum possible skip for each individual word."

There was 8553 words on the list, the number of Hebrew words = 7878, and the number of Aramaic words = 675. Of the 8553 words, 5325 have at least one ELS in that segment--that is, 62% of all the uninflected words in the Hebrew Bible. There was a total of 211,726 ELS's all together, making an average of approximately 4 ELS's per word found.

For Exodus 19:8-23
Number of Verses = 16
Number of Words = 251
Number of Letters = 892

Here is a breakdown by length of word:

Num. letters = 3; Num. words =3773; Num. hits = 3399; Num. ELS = 201998
Num. letters = 4; Num. words =2567; Num. hits = 1704; Num. ELS = 9449
Num. letters = 5; Num. words =1376; Num. hits = 214; Num. ELS = 270
Num. letters = 6; Num. words =541; Num. hits = 7; Num. ELS = 8
Num. letters = 7; Num. words =182; Num. hits = 1; Num. ELS = 1

In other words, there was 90% of the 3 letter words found in the segment with a total of 201,998 hits, making an average of about 59 hits per word found. There was 66% of the 4 letter words in the segment with a total of 9449 hits, making an average of about 5.5 hits per word found. And so forth.

With that abundance of ELS codes in that segment, all in close proximity, one could imagine any possible message he desired, either positive or negative.

The entire report, just indicating how many ELS's exist for each word, would fill 119 single-spaced pages, so that report will not be included in this article.

SUMMARY

The following inconsistencies were found in Bonnie's first bible code matrix:

A major portion of the code matrix was eliminated.
The code skips and spellings were not provided so they could be verified.
The words "Third Day" are not a valid code.
The words "Trumpet," "Deliverance," and "Bride" occur multitudes of times not just once or twice.
The word "Bride" doesn't occur just twice in this matrix but 139 times.
Several of the codes occur at skips of 53 or multiples of the same, leading to the possibility that this matrix was predesigned.
Bonnie's article cannot be viewed by a normal browser unless it has the capability to read PDF files, i.e., a program like Acrobat Reader.
There is a text version on the Internet but it would be impossible to determine the true skips of these words from that article so you can validate the codes.
The main terms in this matrix are found encoded elsewhere and closer together and in fact they share a letter.
First Tishri is not the only date encoded in this passage.
5760 is not the only year encoded in this passage.
Rosh Hashanah does not depict the Rapture but judgment instead.
There are negative codes that cancel out most of the codes.
There were a total of 211,726 words found encoded in this small portion of text.

FINAL CONCLUSION

What does this mean? Whatever you want to say in code you can find it, if you look hard enough. And if you don't betray the facts of your research people can't verify your claims and it will be easier to get them to believe anything you want--like a Rapture occurring on Rosh Hashanah/1st Tishri/Sept. 11, 1999. This is nothing more than an elaborate Bible Code Hoax.

My thanks to Dr. James D. Price for his extensive research into the codes that "actually" occur in this passage. The matrixes in this article were made by members.xoom.com/codefinder (no longer online).