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Is everything where gematria plays some role trash?

   It is difficult to maintain both of the following positions simultaneously: A) Everything, where gematria plays some role (other than calculating the number of the beast), is numerology. B) All numerology is trash.
   Let us consider this.

    As I said, I will show here in near future, if God grants, how God gives accurate fulfilled prophetic details through the prophetic message number 1335 in Daniel 12 together with the prophetic message number 1260 that corresponds to time, times and half (that is also in Daniel 12). Others have found accurate fulfillment(s) of 1335 too. (A prophetic passage can have several fulfillments.). The point is that one can show that God uses 1335 as a prophetic message number, as a data package, with gematria, too. So this is a counter-example to A) and B) being simultaneously true. But there is another reason to doubt it, a reason related to the warning to the cities that I am talking about.

    For the destruction of “Babylon” in Revelation 17-18 God decides to call it Babylon. That brings readers to consider that the destruction of historical Babylon is in some aspects a type of the destruction of the end times “Babylon” (and that Babylon itself is in some aspects a type of the end times “Babylon”). When the historical empire of Babylon fell, there was the handwriting on the wall. It is natural to expect or at least consider the possibility that this is also a type of what will happen in the end times. Daniel says when speaking about the handwriting on the wall: “ “And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;  ” (Daniel 5:25-26, NKJV). Notice that there is not the word “days” here that some translations add (saying, like, numbered the days of your kingdom). The “days” is not in the Hebrew text. The kingdom is numbered, or it’s number is counted. His (Belshazzars) kingdom was Babylon. In Revelation 18, which speaks about destructions of the Babylon the focus is largely on city-manifestations of Babylon. In the handwriting on the wall connected to Revelation 18:4 there will indeed be a role for counting of the number of each Babylon-city. Remember that a prophetic text can have more than one message. I am not saying that gematria played some role for the original handwriting on the wall in Belshazzar’s time. But the end times Babylon is a different matter.
    One can complain (correctly) that the text says that God has numbered, not man. Let him/her consider the following. It is indeed God, who has actually put the number for each city. God has arranged through providence that the names of the cities will be such that their numbers appear in the prophetic message numbers.
   For a human being it is impossible to write anything in numbers that are determined by a simple equation, since they cannot change these numbers to incorporate the message. There are no degrees of freedom available for a many-part message. But God can arrange the message, since He decides if He so wishes, what the names of the cities and their numbers will be, and can therefore force them to appear in the prophetic message numbers. So the message comes indeed through God putting numbers to these cities (and to related concepts for confirmation), not through putting something directly to the prophetic message numbers that are determined by an equation. (But God has possibly chosen the sequence that I have talked about because of some special mathematical properties that suit to His purposes.)
   It was of course impossible for people in Daniel’s time to know about these cities, many of which were not yet founded. But the prophecy was not from men, of course, but from God.

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        So, why is my work not numerology?

It is, though. You're just saying that when you do it, it is okay.

    The main issue is not whether my work should be called numerology or not. That depends on how broad definition of numerology one takes. The important issue is whether my work shares with numerology the reasons that make it trash.


Futility of traditional gematria ; comparison to my work


    There are more than 8000 Strong’s numbers for the Hebrew Bible. Typically the gematric number of a word is less than 1000. Several words are written exactly in the same way (not counting niqqud), and such words are often etymologically related. Such words would give trivial examples of gematric equality, so it is better to discount them. Taking only one from each such class, and discounting proper names leaves a significantly smaller number of different Hebrew words. The exact number of such words is not needed for the following reasoning.
    Suppose for simplicity that we have 1000 different Hebrew words such that each of them has gematric number less than or equal to 1000. Then there are at most 1000 possible gematric values for the words. Therefore we have thousand values that go into 1000 possible slots, some of which will get values from more than one words, and some of them getting values from no words at all. (The slot is the numeric value of the word, nothing more.) Suppose first for simplicity that the probability distribution of the values is uniform in (0,1000]. It is not, but that fact will make the case even more problematic for gematria.
    Probability that some slot gets no values at all is (1-1/1000)^1000 = 0,368 . (This is approximately 1 over the Euler’s number e, see the limit definition of e.) The expectation value is that among the 1000 slots there are 368 such slots. Probability that some slot gets exactly 1 value is 1000/1000 * (1-1/1000)^(1000-1) = 0,368, approximately the same value as before.  Again, the expectation value is that among the 1000 slots there are 368 such slots, each one getting the gematric value from exactly 1 word. This means that the expectation value is that all the remaining 632 words share gematric value with 1 or more words. It turns out that the expectation value is that there are about 500 different gematric equations, each of the form n(w_1)=n(w_2), that is, the number of the word w_1 equals the number of the word w_2. (The reverse order equation n(w_2) = n(w_1) is not counted as a different equation, but as the same equation.)
    So, 500 accidental equations with 1000 words. Not good at all.
    The fact that the probability distribution of gematric values is not uniform means that it is concentrated somewhere. This means that there will probably be even more gematric equations, since there will be more slots with more than one words and more slots with no words at all. So it will in all probability increase the number of accidental gematric equations. Combine this with all the possible conceptual theological connections between words. This is a huge number. It gets even huger if we count all minor insignificant connections. It gets even worse, if we count all potential conceivable connections, many of which only exist in some theologian’s imagination. It could be that any given words (or most of them, at least) would admit at least some seeming and remote connection. Of course, many many gematric equations are then combined with some claimed connection between the words whose numbers match. From those more than 500 equations one finds many where the connection appears significant. If one picks the very best, it can look like “surely this is the hand of God”, but there is no real reason to think so.
    Those who practice gematria traditionally reject those gematric equations for which there is no Biblical basis. This is wise, even necessary, but why do we need gematria then? If we know the connection of the concepts without gematria, why do we need gematria? There is the danger that a seeming connection becomes accepted as real because of gematria. There is another danger. Since gematria produces these equations randomly, it gives a misdirection of attention and emphasis even with real connections. Why should we pay attention to a connection that is brought forwards by gematria? We should not, because it is a random misdirection which does not bring us to the point in general, but besides the point. This is not disproved by taking the very best of the random examples and appealing to them.

    In my work the situation is very different. Monte Carlo -simulations indicate that there is something very different from normal accidental coincidences there. The difference is of similar type to difference between pseudo-medicine and medicine tested on trial. For those who do not know, Monte Carlo -simulations are computational tests that estimate the probability that a certain kind of phenomenon happens coincidentally. Often it is too difficult to calculate, and one has to estimate it experimentally. One goes through a huge number of random cases and looks, how often the phenomenon happens.
    There are differences beyond the statistics. Gematria deals with connections of Biblical concepts, an issue that has bigger or smaller theological content, depending on the case. My work only deals with practical details of fulfillments of prophecies. In a subsequent message I discuss, if God grants, why it is better to accept the practical details instead of theological content from the numbers.

The horns of the dilemma …

If you are correct then millions die in nuclear holocaust

If you are wrong we have to stone you.

    Well said. Of course, we know that you do not mean to stone literally in the New Covenant time. We know that you do not support such in this era. But the point is valid. But other Americans might not be as merciful as you...
   (If others would misunderstand you as much as people here misunderstand me, then the clarification might be needed. But you are a known figure here, so that helps.)

Have a refreshing and holy pesach!

Who cares about a nuclear attack

   Why did US and Israel then attack Iran?

    Unfortunately there are in the world a lot of antisemites or borderline antisemites that look for excuses for their views. The cited sentence of yours serves as one.
    For this reason, please, I appeal you, please consider removing or altering this cited sentence. Of course, we don't know if you are a Jew, or just appear to be one by the name you use here. But they would not care.
    For those, who read these posts before the sentence is (hopefully) removed, I say that it seems that RabbiKnife has got an "infection" of a problem that is widespread in western Christianity nowadays. It is not a Jewish thing. In western Christianity these days there is often a lot of talk about love, but then when actual love would be needed, there is "who cares" in the heart (if not in the lips). People do not want to face difficult or terrifying things or hear about them, they just want to think about their salvation and peace of mind and hear nice words about love.
   It could very well be, that Messianic Jew have less of this problem than western heathen Christians.

    Actually, most people who die because of nuclear explosion die a slow and painful death.

    At least that was the case in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ground level terrorist attack in a city full of skyscrapers can have a different distribution of ways of death.

The more pressing issue is that numerology isn't theology, it’s

[I suppose you continue with a shortcut of an expletive; as a foreigner I am poorly familiar with such]
    I would not classify my work as numerology. Later in this message I explain why, and possibly continue in a later message.  First I would like to mention that I share with you your low view of numerology to some extent. Typical idea among those who practise gematria is that if numbers of Hebrew words coincide, then at least in some cases this is related to some connection between the theological concepts. I find such a principle extra-Biblical. I do not assume or use such principle in my work, nor do I endorse it. I endorse Sola Scriptura.
    Bible speaks about a valid use of gematria. That is the calculation of the number of the beast. So, one cannot say, that gematria should never be used by sober Christians in any way. But this could be the only case when the number has meaning in itself.
    What comes to non-gematric numerology, there are some Bible-verses where 7 has a theological meaning, but usually these are not important for the message of the Bible. I know very few exceptions: In Luke 17:4 the number 7 probably refers to completeness; the verse hardly means that if someone sins against you 8 times in a day, you no longer need to forgive, but it means that you should forgive as many times as needed (7 being the number of perfectness). Matthew 18:22 has a similar point. The Lamb having 7 eyes in the Revelation can have somewhat important point, but these are all I know. God might have His reasons why there were exactly 7 trumpets and 7 seals etc in the Revelation, but it could be that we don’t need to know that, or knowing is unimportant. If someone would like discuss, for example, why in the parable of 10 virgins the number was exactly 10, I would say that if there is some message in that, the issue is very very much besides the point, and would be a distraction of attention. It could very well be that non-gematric numerology beyond the meaning of number 7 is nonsense, at least most of what is written about it.
    I do not want my work to increase interest or attention to numerology nor do I want people to take numerology more seriously because of my work.

    So, why is my work not numerology?

First, gematric values of names (of cities etc.) are used there only as a means of reference. They are not used for connections of theological concepts as in gematric numerology.

Second, non-gematric meanings of numbers (like 7 being the number of perfectness) play no role in my work whatsoever.

Third, gematric connections themselves are not used for inference of details in my work. That is, for example, if there is a city, whose number equals the number of phrase “nuclear explosions”, that is not regarded as evidence that there will be nuclear explosions in that city. There is such a city, actually. Number of Sankt Petersburg is 719, the same as the number of nuclear explosions. This, in itself, means nothing. What is in the prophetic message number system matters. (The number 719 does appear in the system, even in a critical place, so there could be something meaningful there related to it. It appears together with numerous other references to nuclear explosions or Revelation 18:4. So, reference to nuclear explosions is confirmed there, to put it simply. Then another question is, whether the reference to Sankt Petersburg too is a message by God or just a coincidence. One should look, whether it is accompanied by other references related to Sankt Petersburg. If yes, then we see that reference to Sankt Petersburg appears together with reference to nuclear explosions and Revelation 18:4. This is noteworthy, because of the text of Revelation 17 and 18, since, for example, the city was an imperial capital.)
    If numbers of some cities coincide or satisfy a relation with each other, it means nothing. It is just numerology. Example: the number of Berlin is twice the number of London. Means nothing.

   Concerning the first point above, recall that I proposed the first condition for the use of prophetic message numbers as: “First, the messages [of the numbers] should be about details [of prophecies], not doctrines. That is, the messages should be about times, places and other outer details [of prophecies], not doctrinal statements or claims about spiritual concepts.” I emphasize that prophetic message numbers either appear in the prophetic text of the Bible itself or correspond to it’s expressions in a non-gematric, non-numerological way. So, when we talk about a number of a city, it is not a prophetic message number in itself, but it can appear in a representation of a prophetic message number (or, in theory, can be equal to some prophetic message number). There is nothing spiritual in the number of the city being this or that. There is no need to figure out, what is the spiritually correct way to write the name and calculate the number. The common, established form is what God uses in these references. Such references are more compelling than those where each one could design their own versions of the spelling and therefore the number.

Perhaps you could try introducing yourself,

Here is something about me and my life. I came to faith when being 11 by reading the New Testament. When being 14 I became an apostate. God did a lot of work to bring me back and I returned to Jesus when 25. That was in 2002. At that time I was a publishing research mathematician. I abandoned my career in 2007.
    After that I have for example done work of God among alcoholics and drug-users and other persons with serious problems. Also served as a street evangelist and a Bible-teacher in a house-church. I have taken care of my mother with Alzheimer's. Not always did I succeed well in these things.
    I did not want back to mathematics after leaving it. I was happy to move on. I was not especially interested on the prophetic area in the years before I started research on it (with few exceptions). I was more interested in boundaries of salvation, will of God, character of Jesus and the cross of Jesus. The boundaries of salvation is an important topic. In my country there is very much preaching of watered-down gospel, that repentance is not needed for salvation. But we in the house-church did not believe that. We prepared for counter-apostasy -work. As I said, there is apostasy inside and outside churches. Many are spiritually dead even if they come to meetings. Some are dead because they live in sin. Some are dead because they believe so unbiblical theology that they are following another Jesus. (Like Kenneth Copeland.) (See 2 Corinth. 11:4.) Understanding these things is useful for my work on the prophetic word. If I speak about details of God's judgements, I can also speak about why. If I ask people to leave certain cities to avoid calamities, I know I should also ask them to leave sin, repent. (Not that they would become sinless.)
    I began research in the prophetic area through providence. God led me to unintendedly find out a thing that had serious implications. This led to more research and eventually to the study related to Revelation chapter 18. I do that research because of the souls that will encounter the sudden destruction. (That I would not claim too much about good motives, one should mention that human heart is evil and deceiving and has many motives, sometimes hidden, that can appear together with decent motives influenced by God. Sometimes these motives work on the same and sometimes to different direction as the acceptable motives. Sometimes good motives are only apparent, and real motives of the heart are evil.)
    The research that I do is a serious issue. If I give a false alarm, I harden people's hearts to the true warning. This costs lives, and eternal lives. If, on the other hand, I know about a true danger and do not warn, I have blood on my hands, and this also costs eternal lives. See Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33 and Proverbs 24:11-12. If I see special indications of danger but still there is not sufficient certainty for warning, and I abandon the whole thing when I have not yet done what I reasonably could to figure it out more certainly (or to find out that it really should be abandoned), then I am guilty to digging my talent to the ground.
    But could I abandon those souls that will die in nuclear explosions? What would I say in the day it happens? I knew. What would I say to those who lost their children, sometimes unsaved children, in the nuclear explosions? Even if I give the warning now, they could come in front of me and say: "Why didn't you speak before?"
    God would use someone else if I refused, and maybe He is already using others to bring these same observations forwards. But if I don't do my part, something is lost. Someone is lost.
    Recently I came to conclusion that the threshold to warn is crossed.
    Sorry for not being able to give more time to prepare the text that I posted. It could be very difficult to read.
    I am here with my own name. I will not publicly discuss things in my life related specifically to other individuals (at least not without a direct permission), except public figures.
    All glory to God, all shame to me. Without Jesus we can do nothing.