Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Mike Hoggard Part 2 - The King James Bible Code

I first wrote about Mike Hoggard and various problems that I saw with his teachings back in March, (and I have continued to update it as I heard more things) and that article can be found at http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/03/mike-hoggard-anti-apostasy-teacher-or.html , but I decided that if I were going to be somewhat thorough, I had to take a closer look at Mike Hoggard's King James Bible Code that he has created. Below I am going to put some of his quotes from his book, as well as some of his examples and show some of the problems. I will start by letting Hoggard tell you himself what this Bible Code is all about.

If I had to describe the King James Code in a nutshell, I would do it this way. The King James Bible contains a system of numbers that are consistently linked with words or phrases in the scriptures. It is understood that the Bible can be comprehended on many levels. The more you study the Scriptures and become accustomed to them, the more you understand the Divine symbols of certain passages that you never saw before. These must always come as a product of Divine Revelation.”

So the first thing you can see is that this comes not from a careful exegesis of the Word by laying precept upon precept, but is a product of Divine Revelation that cannot be had unless God grants you a special dispensation. Now while I agree that the Scriptures say that the Word is only spiritually discerned (this means that those who do not know the Lord as their personal Savior and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will not understand the spiritual applications of what they read), I do not agree that only some Christians will be granted this special privilege of understanding hidden things in the Bible that nobody else can ever know. I don't believe God hides things from us, if we study. Any Christian should be able to read and understand the Bible, just as they read and understand any instructional book, for that is what it basically is, if they diligently study it. We need only take it at face value and compare Scripture to Scripture on any subject to get a complete view of what the Bible says. When it comes to Mike Hoggard's Bible Code, you will not understand this code without special Divine revelation, as a simple study of the Word will never show it to you. To me this is the first sign that it is suspect. God does not hide things from our understanding if we study His Word. If I cannot understand it from a simple study of the Word, and can only get it by supernatural revelation revealing this hidden knowledge in a mystical act, which is what is sounds like when Mike describes it (he reads along and BOOM, suddenly he has hidden knowledge revealed), I would treat it with a great deal of apprehension. Hoggard preaches that Satan hides things, but God is very open. Well, he's right. That is how God works, so then why is it that so much of what Hoggard teaches is supposedly hidden and gotten only through this experience of suddenly having it implanted in his mind, rather than being able to find it out via simply reading and studying it?

So now we have a contradiction in his teachings. Oddly enough I find that while he tells people to stay away from people who teach via “special revelation from the Holy Spirit”, as this can lead to all sorts of heretical teachings, he is constantly telling us that this is how he gets much of his information. He also states that you should watch out for and stay away from churches and organizations that use Satanic logos. He spends a lot of time showing what some of these logos are, so that you will spot them. Why then when I went to his HoggBlog to listen to sermons, did I see ads for various companies before the sermon started, and one of these was for Disney World? Walt Disney was a high ranking Mason and Disney movies are filled with occult and phallic symbols. The ad that I saw pop up three different times had the wicked witch's magic mirror on one side of the ad throughout the entire ad. Surely that qualifies as occultic. Hoggard has told us to stay away from ministries that have these symbols. So now if I listen to him, he has told me that I should not be listening to him if I consider his warnings seriously, as he has failed two of his own tests. Is he openly telling us that he is attempting to deceive us, but people are not picking up on it?

Getting back to the subject, these mysterious numbers that Hoggard has come up with can only be understood through special revelation, not through study, as these numbers supposedly have special meanings attached to them that are not laid out in Scripture in an overt way that is readily apparent to anyone. I think anyone who has a fairly good working knowledge of the Bible would honestly say that they do see that there are some numbers that have significance. One cannot miss the fact that there were twelves tribes of Israel, and twelve disciples and apostles, and that the wall of New Jerusalem has twelve foundations and twelve pearls at the twelve gates with twelve angels. There will be twelve manners of fruit that yield their fruit every month (there are twelve months) along the river banks of the city which is twelve furlongs long, wide, and high. Twelve thousand of each of the twelve tribes are sealed in Revelation. Much of the design of the temple incorporates the number twelve. The altar will be twelve cubits long and wide. It goes on and on with the number twelve.

What is seemingly bizarre about this is that while the number twelve stands out overtly for anyone studying the Bible to see its importance, Hoggard says about this particular number “Although I am very aware of the importance the number 12 plays in the scriptures, I do not have as yet very much to report as far as the codes are concerned. Remember, all of this information that you see before you, has been the process of revelation, and not education. The Lord would tap me on the shoulder and tell me what to look for.” Is that not just a little strange? This number is not hidden at all, it is very visible to simple study, but therein lies the rub. He says that all of this hidden information comes from revelation, not education or in other words, study. It has been someone tapping him on the shoulder. Hoggard has assumed it is the Lord, but as none of this comes via Scripture but by special revelation, one needs to be careful to make sure one knows who is tapping him on the shoulder. One of the most obvious numbers, the one everyone sees as having importance and meaning is the one he can't understand? Does that not strike you as somewhat puzzling? It does me. Why would God not show him the importance of this number that is so overtly there to see?

As this number is so obvious to everyone, he does attempt to give some meaning to the number for he says, “The number 12 is understood clearly from the scriptures to be a number that is associated with the Church, both of the Old Testament, and of the New. Those who are in the New Testament Church are those whom God has quickened, or brought back to life and given a new beginning in His Kingdom. This gives them the association both with the number 12 and with the number 8. They are called the "saints". They are called saints exactly 96 (12x8) times in the scriptures.”

Now Hoggard needs to start creating numeric games since he does not know what else to do with the number 12. Since he has assigned the number 8 the meaning of new beginnings, he multiplies it by 12, which he says must stand for the church (as it represents both the tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples/apostles) to come up with the number 96 which is how many times he says the church (old and new) are called “saints”, therefore giving validation to his process. The problem with this? Well, I spent a lot of time, many hours in fact, painstakingly going over the number of times the word saints in all its forms (singular, plural, and possessive) is used. I used two different sources and counted three different times in all the following tallies of all the words and phrases listed below to check his numbers and in this case I found that the word “saint” and its forms actually occur 101 times, not 96. but who's counting, right? What's a discrepancy of five times between friends. Besides 101 doesn't divide by anything. Which brings up the question, how do we know when to add, subtract, multiply, or divide these numbers? Does that come by revelation too? I notice Harold Camping did the same thing. Shouldn't the math always be consistently the same? Does the meaning change when we add numbers rather than multiply? What is the criteria for using a different mathematical operation?

Besides the number 12, another number that is very noticeable in the Bible to the person who lacks special revelation is the number 7. Of this number Hoggard says, “As you study, you begin to see also that numbers seem to have a certain relevance in the Bible. Each number will have its own symbolic meaning. Things associated with completion or perfection will be linked with the number 7. An example of how this works is found in the phrase "Holy Spirit". This phrase is found exactly 7 times in the King James Bible. This not only reveals the Divine nature of the Holy Spirit, but also reveals to us that the Bible is a very unique Book .”

One would think from that statement, that he is assigning the number 7 to represent the Holy Spirit, but in fact, he makes the number 50 the number that represents the Holy Spirit. But let us first take a look at the overt use of the number 7 that we uninitiated folks have to use, due to lack of revelation. The first significance is found in that God rested on the seventh day. This is the day that we know God sanctified and blessed and later told Israel to observe as the Sabbath. When God took animals on the ark, he took the clean animals by sevens, not just twos. God warned Noah seven days before He would flood the earth. Jacob agreed to serve seven years for Rachel, then was given Leah by deceit and ended up serving another seven years for Rachel. In Pharoah's dream he saw seven fat kine followed by seven lean ones, then seven full ears of corn and seven bad ones. There were seven years of famine in the land of Egypt. Israel is to eat unleavened bread for seven days during the Passover festival. The Feast of Tabernacles also is seven days. The seventh month of the Jewish year has the most important holy day in their calendar, Yom Kippur on the tenth, but the first day of that month is the Feast of Trumpets, and speaking of trumpets, we find seven trumpets in Revelation, along with seven churches, seven seals, and seven vials of God's wrath. There are many other examples of the use of seven in Scripture that is easily discerned from simple study of the Word. Clearly the number 7 represents perfection or completion. In fact, the Holy Spirit is found to be a seven-fold spirit in Isaiah 11:2. Does that not make the Holy Spirit's number 7, not 50, if he has a number?

Above Hoggard said that the phrase “holy Spirit” (Holy Spirit (all caps) is only found once) is found exactly seven times in the KJV Bible. That is true, but why does he only mention this phrase? Does not the phrase “Holy Ghost” refer to the same person, and should not God have put it in a special number of times also, if the number of times something is mentioned is so important and codified in the Bible? It turns out the phrase “Holy Ghost” occurs 88 times. Oh, dear, that is a multiple of 8 times 11 and while 8 means new beginnings according to Hoggard, the number 11 means judgment and disorder, or chaos. Ooh, that doesn't sound too good for the whole numbers game he is playing. Maybe I divided by the wrong numbers, let's see. 4 times 22? Well, 4 supposedly means “world, worldliness, or creation”, and 22 means “light, revelation, or spiritual knowledge” according to him. So how do we marry revelation to worldliness? That still doesn't sound too good to represent the Holy Spirit. Maybe we should divide 22 again to break it down further. But then we are back to 11 and chaos multiplied by 2 which means “union, division, and witnessing.” Okay, I can get behind witnessing, for that is what the Holy Spirit does, is witness to us about Christ, but what about the other two meanings? How can the same number mean two entirely opposite things? How can it mean both union and division? Isn't that contradictory? I guess it helps to have contradictory meanings, so that when you need to divide a number (and every other number is divisible by 2), if you need it to be something bad you can use division as its meaning, but if you want the number to be something good you can use union? Is that how this works?

Let's continue to look at the Holy Spirit and a few other names He's given for a moment. We find that the phrase Spirit of the Lord is in the Bible 32 times, and Spirit of God 26. Unfortunately Hoggard didn't come up with meanings for those numbers, so I guess we divide and conquer? Let's see what I can come up with. 32 is 16 times 2, or 4 times 4 times 2, or 8 times 4. Well, 16 supposedly means love, that's good. And if we use the good definition of 2 (union or witnessing) that will work all right. A witness that loves us? What about 4 x 4 x 2. Well, a double dose of 4 as worldliness isn't too good, but if we use the meaning “creation” that could work, as long as we stick with witnessing. To use union would mean to have union with worldliness and that wouldn't do at all. How about 8 x 4. Well, 8 means new beginnings, times 4 meaning creation? A new creation? There, we've got it. See, if you work at it long enough you can come up with something that works. The Holy Spirit makes us a new creation. See how easy this is when you play the game right? I can do it too. So in my Bible code, (if I were creating one) the phrase “Spirit of the Lord” appearing in the Bible 32 times shows us that the number 32 means we become a new creation in Christ. 26 is a harder sell, that's 2 x 13 and 13 is a bad number. It stands for depravity, rebellion and the beast according to Hoggard. That would indicate union with the beast. Ugh, heaven's no. I think we'll do what Hoggard does in cases like these, just not mention it and drop it, because it doesn't fit our game.

Are you beginning to see how this game of his works?

Hoggard says, “Numbers are constant. They never change.” That is perfectly true. But numbers can be manipulated, as I just showed. To show how randomly meanings are assigned to numbers, let me quote him as to how he came to assign meanings to these numbers.

Listed below is a quick reference guide to the symbolic meanings of various numbers that are used in the Bible. This list is compiled from two of these books, plus my own research into biblical numbers. In a few instances, I depart from previously published material on Bible numerics, as to meaning and usage of certain numbers, but for the most part, there is a general agreement concerning a majority of these numbers. Notice that some higher numbers are the sum of other numbers, while others are the product, and others are “repeated” or the “multiple” of other numbers. Notice that when one is a multiple, it is often convenient to ignore the other number in the equation, which is why it is not called a product. What constitutes the reasoning between adding, multiplying, repeating, or dividing to find the multiple? Except that it is convenient for one's theory of course. Also he used some previous people's meanings, but when they did not work for him, he departed from them. Wait, then anyone can assign their own meanings? Wouldn't a number either have to mean something or not if God made it so? How can different people make it mean different things if God is the one who is telling them all what these numbers mean? Can't God remember what He told the others before Hoggard? Is God confused?

Here is Hoggard's list of meanings.

1 - Unity, Beginnings

2 - Union, Division, Witnessing

3 - Resurrection, Divine Completeness

4 - Creation, World, Worldliness

5 - Grace, God’s Goodness, Redemption (a number associated with the Rapture)

6 - Weakness of Man
Evils of Satan Manifestation of Sin

7 - Completeness, Spiritual Perfection

8 - New Birth, New Creation, New Beginning

9 - Fruit of the Spirit, Fruit bearing

10 - The Word of God, Law and Responsibility, Kingship

11 - Judgment and Disorder

12 - Governmental Perfection, The Gentile Church and the Jewish Church

13 - Depravity and Rebellion, The Beast

14 - Deliverance or Salvation, Multiple of 7

15 - Rest, The Sum of 8 and 7, the Product of 3 and 5

16 - Love

17 - Victory

18 - Bondage

19 - Faith, Sum of 10 and 9.

20 - Expectancy, 2 Compounded by 10

21 - Product of 7 and 3, Fullness

22 - Light, Revelation, Spiritual Knowledge, 2 Compounded and Repeated

30 - Multiple of 3 and 10, Compound of their meanings

33 - 3 Compounded and Repeated

40 - Probation, Testing, Purification

42 - Product of 7 and 6, A number of Completion

49 - Compounded Perfection, 7 times 7.

50 - Holy Spirit, 5 Compounded by 10

55 - 5 Compounded and Repeated

60 - Pride

66 - The Earthly House of God, 6 Compounded and Repeated

70 - Compounded Perfection, 7 times 10

Often, numbers above 12 will carry several different meanings, usually dependant [sic] on the context of the verse or chapter they are located in, or by what numbers they are compounded by or by what they are the sum of.

Notice that he says that the numbers will carry different meanings depending upon what you do to them or what chapter or verse they are in. Well, isn't that the whole point of this game? Making them mean what you want when you need them to? Notice also that he says that the verse or chapter number can dictate the meaning. Hold it a minute. The verse and chapter numbers dictate meanings? According to Hoggard, while the original manuscripts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek contained no chapter or verse numbers, God incorporated chapter and verse numbers in the KJV Bible for the express purpose of creating these hidden numeric meanings. Really? I thought when He said that we were not to add or subtract from His Word that He meant it. That we were not to add anything to His Word. Isn't that what Hoggard is doing by putting meanings upon these chapter and verse numbers? Except for Camping and Hoggard, and probably some others, nobody has ever assumed that these chapter and verse numbers were for anything other than enabling people to find passages and particular verses in the Bible with greater ease. It's an organizational structure that was applied to make it easier to read, especially when everyone began to have Bibles and wanted to follow along when someone was reading. This was something man added, not in the sense of adding to the Word to give new revelations, but simply as an editorial structure for literary ease. To use this to find new hidden revelation from the Bible is simply ludicrous. If these numbers were added for any other reason, would they not do the very thing God commanded us not to do, add to His Word? That is exactly what Hoggard is doing when he uses verse and chapter numbers in this way. He is adding to God's Word, for these things are not in the original manuscripts which God declared complete. But then again, Hoggard says that you cannot get revelation from the original manuscripts, as they aren't as good as the KJV, because for one thing, the chapter and verse divisions and numbers are missing. Is anyone besides me seeing some very bad logic here?

Again, let's mention that Hoggard preaches against hidden knowledge, as that is a Satanic thing, but look what he says in this book about his Bible code. “I am amazed each day as I open up God’s word and uncover the hidden treasures that are contained in the Authorized Version.”

One of his first examples is the following:

First of all, it is noted that the book of Genesis contains 50 chapters. This is by design. It has the stamp of inspiration placed on it by the Holy Spirit himself, for 50 is the number for the Holy Spirit.”

I discussed this above. Exactly who decided the number of the Holy Spirit is 50? And why? If God's number is 7, and the Spirit of the Lord is a seven-fold Spirit according to the Word of God (Isaiah 11:2 “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD”) would not the number of the Holy Spirit logically be 7? What on earth does the number 50 have to do with anything? And why should there be a connection between how many chapters are in Genesis and the Holy Spirit? If this is showing the stamp of approval, then should not every book in the Bible have 50 chapters? After all, was not the entire Bible written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit? His reasoning is inconsistent.

Another example of some playing loose with information is the following:

Nine is the number for fruit bearing. It can be assumed that since there were 7 of each clean animal and 2 of each unclean animal on the ark, that the total number of animals on the ark was a multiple of 9.” There is no way one can conclude that the total number of animals on the ark was a multiple of 9 from this. Let's use an example. Say there are 10 unclean species of animals. That would make 20 animals. Now let's add 4 species of clean animals. That would be 28 animals. All together that makes 48 animals, which is not divisible by 9. Nowhere are we told that there are an equal number of clean and unclean animals, nor was a complete list given of the animals taken so that one could count them to see if they were equal in number. In fact if I were to guess, I would say that there are far more unclean animals than clean. His statement is nonsensical, as is also the following:

Eleven is the number for judgement [sic] and disorder. In Genesis chapter 11, we have the story of Babel. Need I say more?” No, he doesn't need to say more. If I were to go to every chapter 11 of every book would I find chaos or judgment? How absurd. It happened to work out that way, it wasn't by design. If it were design, I should be able to go to every chapter 11 and find disorder, judgment, and chaos. It can't be done. Why isn't the number 11 about faith? Hebrews 11 is the famous “faith” chapter. Isn't that as valid as Genesis 11? If I wanted 11 to be about faith could I not make the same case for it as Hoggard does for chaos, only substituting Hebrews for Genesis and faith for chaos? According to Hoggard in the mouth of two witnesses a thing is established. In my other article (see link at beginning of this article) I show that Hoggard teaches that the word “folly” meant a sexual sin or crime (which is does not). He found at least two passages that he could use to make that connection, thereby having “two witnesses.” Well, I am about to show you why the number 11 should mean faith (this is tongue in cheek of course). The entire 11th chapter of Hebrews does nothing but talk about faith for starters. So the number of verses there are overwhelmingly more than just in the mouth of two witnesses. But I will present even more verses, although not all the verses I could. Mark 11:22 “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” Acts 11:24 “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.” Romans 4:11 “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:” Romans 11:20 “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:” Galatians 3:11 “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.” This of course definitely shows that the number 11 should be about faith, right? Is it becoming clear yet how this game is played?

Here are a few more examples. Hoggard says, “This phrase "resurrection from the dead", is found exactly 3 times, all of them in the New Testament. A few years ago, Dallas Holm sang a song that became one of the best loved songs in modern Christianity. The title of his song was "Rise Again". He took this title directly from the scriptures. It was a song about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This phrase is to be found 9 (3x3) times in the New Testament.” Okay the phrase “resurrection from the dead” is found 3 times. The phrase “resurrection of the dead” is found 11 times. Oooh. That means chaos and disorder. The phrase “resurrection of Jesus Christ” is found 2 times. Does that mean union or division? What about the simple term “resurrection”? That occurs 41 times. Do you see how he is very selective in his phrases and numbers to try to prove his point? He ignores those things which do not work, and as nobody except someone like me, who gets so annoyed by this nonsense that I am willing to spend hours going through ferreting out this ridiculous information, is going to know the difference. He pulls the wool over people's eyes, because nobody ever checks up on him.

Just because I want to show that this is not just a few miscounts on his part, I will list some more.

Hoggard says, “These two words, "heaven" and "earth" are found together in the same verse a total of 156 times. This breaks down to 4x39. When we search for the exact four word phrase that is used in Genesis 1:1, we find that it is found exactly 4 times in the Authorized Version.” Here is actually how it breaks down. The exact phrase is given, and then the number of times it occurs.

“The heaven and earth” - 1 time
“heaven and earth” - 26 times
“the heavens and the earth” – 5 times
“heaven” and “earth” in same verse over 200 times (I got tired of counting) not the 156 he says.

Hoggard says, “Noah’s name is found exactly 48 (8x6) times in the Old Testament. His name in both forms (Noe and Noah) is found exactly 8 times in the New Testament. When you combine them together you end up with a total of 56. Here we find that the name of Noah is the product of Completion (7) and New Beginnings (8). What an amazingly perfect Book!”

The problem is, Noah's name is not found 48 times in the Old Testament. I counted three times to make sure, and it is found 46 times. 41 times in Genesis, 1 time in 1 Chronicles, 2 times in Isaiah, and 2 times in Ezekiel. The last time I added, 41 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 46. Noe is found 5 times, and Noah 3 times in the New Testament. So he is right in the New Testament number. Noah's name is 8 times there. How did he arrive at the erroneous number? Because he counted the daughters of Zelophehad whose daughters were named Noah (but they are not the Noah of the Flood, so they should not count), and he ignored the number of times Noah's name was given in the possessive, which should count. So the number of times the actual Noah of the Flood's name is mentioned is in total for the Old and New Testament, 54 times.

So what math calculation are we doing again?

Hoggard says, “The number 8 is the product of 2 and 4. When you multiply the number for division with the number for the creation, you realize that there will be 2 creations, the old and the new. This is the essential idea behind being born again. The number 8 is also the sum of 5 and 3. When you add the number for redemption, with the number for resurrection, you still have new life, no matter how you look at it.” What if we add 4 and 4, or 6 and 2, or 7 and 1? How about multiplying 8 by 1? or 2 x 2 x 2? Can you see the problem here?

Why does Hoggard add sometimes, multiply others, and divide yet others? And why choose certain numbers over others for the addends or multiplicands? Is it merely to come up with the numbers and meanings he wants? Of course. If God were really doing this, would He not be consistent with his mathematical calculations? Would he not always have us either add or multiply? How are we supposed to know when to do which? How are we to know which numbers to multiply or divide or add. It is completely arbitrary.

Hoggard says, “The number 9 is the number for fruits or fruitbearing We are admonished in the Scriptures, as Christians, to bear fruit. When we look in the scriptures, we find this principal exactly 9 times.” I have listed the verses he gives, so that you can take note of something. In this case to come up with the 9 times, he couldn't use the same words “bear fruit.” He had to resort to also combining it with “bare fruit.” A little manipulation there? He wouldn't combine Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost before.

(2 Ki 19:30) "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward."

(Isa 37:31) "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:"

(Ezek 17:8) "It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine."

(Ezek 17:23) "In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell."

(Luke 13:9) "And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down."

(Luke 8:8) "And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

(John 15:4) "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

(John 15:8) "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."

(Rev 22:2) "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."



Hey wait a minute. If we are not looking for exact words or phrases, but only the “principle” this time, what about the following verses?



John 15:2 “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Matthew 13:23 “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Hosea 9:16 “Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.

What about the terms “bring forth fruit”. That happens 5 times in the New Testament in regard to bearing and three times in the Old Testament. Once speaking of the land, once speaking of the righteous, and once speaking of the wicked. Even if we leave off the verse about the wicked, the “beareth not fruit” in John, and the verse above in Hosea because they won't bear fruit, what about the other two verses and the 5 verses about bringing forth fruit. It's the same “principle” right? Shouldn't they be included in the count? That would bring it to 16. Not a great number when you are looking to make 9 the number of fruitfulness, is it?

But then Hoggard futher proves the point by showing that there are 9 fruits of the spirit.

(Gal 5:22-23) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.....Would it be possible then that the fruit of the Spirit be associated somewhere else with the number 9? Lets take a look and see. (Eph 5:9) For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;”

Hoggard shows that there are 9 fruits of the spirit in Galatians and that the fruits of the spirit are spoken of in verse 9 of Ephesians 5, so that seals the deal. But wait, verse 9 lists two more fruits. Goodness is a repeat, but righteousness and truth are listed as two more fruits bringing the number to 11. After all those two are fruits of the spirit, right? But oh, no, not again. We are back to that nasty old 11, the number of disorder and chaos. Well, that won't work at all.

Hoggard takes this concept of fruit being 9 further.

Hell is literally the reward and the fruit of those who remain in their sin. God even established a pattern for hell. The word hell is found exactly 54 times in the scriptures. This is the number for the wickedness of man (6) times the number for fruit (9).”

Well, yes, it does occur 54 times. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word is “Sheol” which is the same as the Greek word “Hades” which in both cases means the abode of the dead. In both cases the word is a little more encompassing than just hell, as Hades actually originally had two compartments (as Christ explained in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man). It contained both Paradise and Hell. After Christ's resurrection, Paradise was emptied and now only Hell remains in Hades. In the New Testament the word “hell” is translated from three different words. It is translated from “Hades” 10 times, “Gehenna” 12 times, and “Tartarus” 1 time. Gehenna was the Valley of Hinnom, a place of sacrificing children in the fire to Baal outside Jerusalem and was used as a reference to eternal punishment of the wicked, as opposed to Hades which is a general reference to the abode of the dead. The word translated from “Tartarus” is found in 2 Peter 2:4. Tartarus, is a special place in the deepest pit in hell that was created for the angels. This is where the angels who sinned by marrying humans were put in chains. Now I realize that Hoggard says that no revelation can be had from the original manuscripts and that a person shouldn't even listen to someone who refers to the original languages when trying to make things more clear, and one can see why he says this. In the originals his little game would not have worked, as there are four different words being used and they would not add up to that lovely multiple of 9 he so needed to verify his claim that 9 stands for fruitfulness (even if it means the fruit of the wicked).

The following is a deduction he comes up with that makes no sense to me whatsoever.

As I mentioned earlier, it is very clear that the words, phrases, verses, chapters and books of the scriptures have been arranged in a perfect order. It would be impossible for men to manipulate a group of documents in this manner, especially men who, in many cases, lived thousands of years apart. One pattern that I discovered about the Divine arrangement of the Scriptures was revealed to me as I read Genesis 1:1. This verse details the beginning of the creation of God. Notice it is in the first book of the Bible, the first chapter, the first verse. The first things always belong to God. I remembered that there was another place where there is a similar passage. It is in John 1:1. Notice that it also begins with "In the beginning", that it is in chapter 1, and verse 1, but what about the book. It is not the first book of the New Testament. However, from Genesis to Luke, there are exactly 42 (7x6) books. This makes John the first book of a whole new set!” First of all, the arrangement of the Christian Bible differs from the Judaic arrangement of the books in the Tanakh. The Tanakh is what Jesus used, so does that not present a problem with this “perfect order”? Second, my question is, what exactly is this “new set” of which John is the first book? It is the last book in the grouping of the gospels. It isn't an epistle, which all the rest except Revelation are. What is he talking about? There is no “set” that starts with John. He's not making sense. And as to men being able to manipulate a group of documents in this manner. They did not have any need to. Men like Hoggard and Camping manipulate them very well on their own.

Here are some more numbers games.

The phrase "word of God" is found exactly 49 times (7x7) in the Authorized Version of the Bible!”

And the phrase “Word of the Lord” is found 258 times, which is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 6, and 43. There's no seven there and it should mean the same thing. Did God mess up?

The Bible itself states that the Word of God is a book of parables. The word "parable" is found 49 times.”

Actually the singular and plural forms of the word parable are found 65 times. Should we not include the word “parables” when it says Christ spoke in parables as well as by a parable? I think plural usage of the word counts as much as a singular usage in this case, don't you?

It was Paul who warned us about a false gospel. (Gal 1:8-9) "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Notice that this warning was so strong that he mentions it twice to get the point across. There is a difference between the real Word of God, and the false gospel. Paul and Peter made sure that we understood this, because they spoke of The gospel of God. This phrase is found exactly 7 times in the scriptures. The 7th time it is used is an indication of what will happen to those who do not obey the real gospel. (1 Pet 4:17) "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

If Hoggard is so concerned about us not accepting a false gospel, then why is he feeding everyone a great deal of it along with the truth that he does preach? Is he not afraid of what 1 Peter 4:17 says?

Jesus’ title of "Son of God" in its various forms is found 49 (7x7) times in the New Testament. It is found only one time in the Old Testament, recorded in the book of Daniel.”

No it is found 46 times in the N.T. and once in Daniel.

Our Savior is also given the title of "Son of Man". This phrase is found 196 times in the AV. This number breaks down to 49 (7x7) x 4! The last place that this phrase is used is in Revelation 14 verse 14! Check your modern translations for this same pattern. Is this title found exactly this many times in any other translation? I do not believe that it exists outside the King James Version.”

Actually it is not found that many times in the KJV. Or actually it is, plus a couple more. The phrase “son of man” (Son of man) is found 198 times in the Bible. Of those times, 87 times in the N.T. and once in the O.T. it specifically refers to Christ. Other times it refers to people such as Ezekiel. If we only want the times it refers to Christ, we get 88 times. 11 times 8. Oh, no. There's that 11 (chaos) again.

There is a two-word phrase that is used repeatedly in the scriptures to describe the total authority and power of Almighty God. It is the phrase "most high". Truly, our God is the Most High God. He is given this title exactly 49 times in the Scriptures. Listed below, are the places where this title is either mentioned in the 7th chapter, the 7th verse, or one of its multiples.”

I did not feel the need to list these, as I have already shown that what verse and chapter something occurs in is irrelevant. The phrase “most high” is found 48 times in the Bible, not 49. “The most high God” is found 11 times, the “most High” is found 32 times, and “most high” is found 5 times. (Note the lower and upper case letters). That adds up to 48. I have counted three times (as I have done to all of these checks on his numbers) to be sure.

As we saw earlier, Jesus’ title of "Christ" is found 555 times in the Bible.”

After painstakingly counting three times, and this was a very difficult thing to do given the number of times it is mentioned, I found that the word “Christ” is used 554 times, the words “Christs” as in false Christs is used 2 times and the word “Christ's is used 16 times for a total of 572 times (or 570 if you want to leave out the false christs.) And he thought nobody would every actually count and catch him. The following are a list of words he gives and how many times he says they are mentioned.

Thunders (God’s voice) 7 times

Actually it is mentioned 4 times unless you count words like thunderings, in which case it still doesn't add up to 7.

"It is Written" 63 times (7x9) in the New Testament

Hey, what about the Old Testament? Why do we sometimes include it and sometimes not? It is found 3 times there.

Jesus Christ 196 times (49x4)

Wrong again. It happens 198 times. The phrase Christ Jesus occurs 58 times and paired together in a single verse they occur 4 times.

Kingdom of God 70 times, found only in the New Testament

Okay, but how about the phrase “kingdom of heaven” It is found 33 times. Wow 33, like the 33rd degree of the Masons? What if we divide?  Oh no, not that 11 again. By the way, if you check my other article linked at the beginning of this article, he said that the number 3 stands for sin. That was when he needed it to, while here he makes it mean “resurrection” or “divine completeness”. Now how can it mean both of those things? Same thing with the number 4. In one of his sermons (which I discussed in the other article) the number 4 was all about the fact that it stands for the spiritual realm, as it is the fourth dimension. He needed it to mean that, as his whole point centered on 4 meaning the spiritual world, yet he also makes it mean the world which is our realm of three dimensions. So which is it, Mike?

Bride 14 times

Yes, Bride is found 14 times, but only 5 of them are in the New Testament, actually referring to the church. How about the word Bridegroom. That is Christ, right? Well it is found 24 times, 16 of which are in the New Testament. So where does that leave us? I love this next one.

Daughters of Jerusalem 7 times (all in the Song of Solomon, found only one other time in Luke 23:28)

Okay, so the “Daughters of Jerusalem” occurs 7 times, (as long as you don't count the one in Luke making it 8?). He's even admitting he's fudging it?

Firstfruits 7 times in the New Testament

Yes, but it occurs 32 times in Bible.

Children of Israel 644

Make that 645 times, Mike. (And this took me forever to count.)

The Word of the Lord 245 times (49x5)

No, as stated above it is 248 times.

I think all this goes to show that Mike is manipulating the numbers for his own purposes, just as Harold Camping did. After all, who on earth is going to be so anal retentive, so as to actually count these things and catch him on them? ;-)

So as it can be seen, this King James Code of his exists only in his imagination, or rather in the imagination of the one tapping him on the shoulder and giving him the revelation, for I have some doubts about God being the one giving this information to him, since it is not accurate.  Now ask yourself, why is he deceiving you on this? Is he aware he is so wrong on all this?  Or is he so into listening to this spirit that is tapping him on the shoulder that he is oblivious to the discrepancies?   And if that is the case, should we not all be very cautious of what he might say, as this spirit might be able to convince him of anything, since he believes it is God? Anybody can go and count this stuff to check it out.  It is just that nobody (well, except me) does, because they trust Mike.  That is what Satan is counting on.  Do you really want to trust everything that he says now, knowing that he (or someone) makes up stuff like this for his new and novel theories? 

Part 3 in this Hoggard series is about brainwashing techniques and can be linked here.


38 comments:

  1. Connie,

    Wow. You did a lot of work on this!

    Yes, the numbers coding thing seems very arbitrary; and he acts like the numbers themselves are the Word of God. This would be an additional revelation to the Word of God, which is a big no-no.

    I heard that he said something about the "Trinity" being made up by the Catholic church. I would like to locate where he said this if possible. Also, I read that he said Jesus was created or implied this. If he said these things I would like to document them, have you any insight to what he believes regarding these things? Thanks for all the work you put into these posts.

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    1. OB1,
      I have quit listening to him, but I would not doubt anything he says at this point. If he said the Catholic church made up the Trinity, then he is going down the Camping road just as I predicted in my first article on him. Also Jesus being created was another Campingism. Both came from Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine. I would love to be able to document those things too, as that would be a nail in his coffin that people just could not deny. I will have to go through his archives and see what I can find. If you find anything please come back and let me know.

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    2. Connie,
      Apparently, someone saw this video or one like it and thought he said something to that effect. He did mention something about the Catholic Church... but He did say He believed Jesus is God, and that he believes in the Godhead, the KJO way of saying Trinity, because that word isn't in the KJV. So, yes, I think he does believe in the Trinity. The way he says everything is quite confusing at times, so I can see how someone could get mixed up on this listening to him.

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  2. Oops :-)
    Should we believe in the Trinity?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1TXuqZv6co

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    1. OB1, Will give it a listen and see what it says. Thanks for the link.

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    2. I've been listening to Mike for about 5 years. He teaches people how to study the bible. I used to be just like you guys, read the bible and not understand a word of it. Outside of showing us that we are sinners in need of salvation, the bible is written in parables so that only his sheep can hear his voice. All Mike does is show us that God uses symbols and numbers to hide his word from the goats.

      Don't bash Mike, you have no clue what you're talking about. If you understood the bible you would understand Mikes teachings.

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    3. I understand the Bible quite well thank you. And it is not ALL parables. In fact very little of it is parables. It is literal truth for the most part. Even the prophecies will be fulfilled literally. God may use symbols and numbers, but He also explains what those symbols are, and the numbers are not used in the way Mike uses them. Mike manipulates numbers any way he wants to try to make his point, and that point is not necessarily scriptural. If you want to listen to him, be my guest, but I do know what I am talking about. Perhaps you should reread this article and see where Mike is manipulating things, and read my other two articles on him also.

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    4. You remind me of a third grader trying to tell Albert Einstein that his theory of relativity is all wrong. I have read your article and its garbage and only proves that you have no idea what Mike is preaching about.

      Connie says:
      "God does not hide things from our understanding if we study His Word. If I cannot understand it from a simple study of the Word, and can only get it by supernatural revelation revealing this hidden knowledge in a mystical act, which is what is sounds like when Mike describes it (he reads along and BOOM, suddenly he has hidden knowledge revealed), I would treat it with a great deal of apprehension."

      God says:
      1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
      1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
      1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

      OK Connie from your study of the Word, what does this verse mean?
      Mat_5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

      You can't answer this because it is hidden from you. The spirit that is leading you will not reveal the true meaning of this passage. God revealed this to me just from a simple study of the bible. I was just reading the bible and BOOM God suddenly revealed it to me. So what do you think, what does Matthew 5:30 mean?

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    5. I get it. I have exposed your idol and you have thrown down the gauntlet and challenged me to a duel to defend his honor. Well, I'm not going to pick up the sword. Put yours back in its scabbard and just go home. I have written what I have written based upon a study of what Mike teaches and what the Word of God teaches. In this article it was simply a matter of counting the words to show that he is misrepresenting things. I don't understand why you can't see the problem there, but as I said, I have exposed your idol as less than honest, and you can't accept that. Well, then my suggestion is to just leave my blog and don't come back. That will certainly show me. You can insult me all you want, but I am not retracting the truth of what I have written.

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    6. I think your name may be quite appropriate.....CONnie

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    7. I am not the con artist here. I just expose those whose teachings are not truth.

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  3. I wholeheartily agree with this article. I used to be into this kind of thing namely from watching the Pastor's videos. It's mostly a bunch of arbitrary subjection by Hoggard himself. Or whoever else that wants to delve into this type of thing. Thankfully the Lord led me out of it through showing a mistake I made with His word instead of the numbers. If I believed the mistake to be true, then it would have proved a very interesting coincidence or peculiarity... but it would have been at the cost of twisting Scripture.
    SO, with that in mind, I just continued to ask the Lord to guide me in His word, not by fancy numbers. It's not that the numerology took over my studying completely but it was becoming a big part of it.

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    1. I'm glad you found your way out of this stuff. It is leading so many people away from just reading the Word of God as is. Numerology is an occult practice. Not that God doesn't assign significance to numbers such as 7, 3, 40 and 12, but He never tells us to add, subtract, multiply, divide or use any other mathematical formula on them. Hoggard does all of the above and then some to simply come to the conclusions he wants. I fail to understand why people are not seeing this. I guess they never check anything he says to see if it is the truth. That is the problem with trusting a person simply because they are a pastor.

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  4. What did it for me, and we will no longer spend time listening to Mike Hoggard's programs. We have for a long time.

    Wrote to Pastor Mike Hoggard about the subject of "grace" months ago, but would like to mention; that whenever I have written to him; have not received an answer whatsoever.

    What Pastor Mike said in his Pure Bible Study on grace, took me back. He said, grace is a New Testament doctrine only.

    I wrote him and pointed out to him about Noah, and that God's grace is from Genesis to Revelation.

    Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

    Later in one of his weekly programs, he spoke about Noah and God's grace. I was glad to hear him state that. But, Hoggard makes statements without rightly dividing the Word of God at times. His teaching can be very confusing to those who don't know the Word of God. This is why we must study the word for ourselves, so we will know the truth; and will be able to discern what is true and what is not.

    2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

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    1. You've hit the nail on the head when you said we must all study the word for ourselves. So few do. If he does not understand that salvation has always been by grace through faith, then he doesn't understand anything. He should really read Hebrews 11 about how they all had faith. But then, the way he goes at the Scriptures how can one expect him to understand. He always waits for "revelation" to hit him, rather than dividing the word. And rather than taking God's Word at face value, he does all sorts of things with it from numerology to weird spiritualizations.

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  5. Amen, that's a good example you have mentioned Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. Everyone of those mentioned who had the faith to believe God's word; and did what they were instructed to do. Noah, is a good example of that kind of faith. And God gave him grace to do all; or Noah would not have been able to fulfill all those seemingly impossible tasks.
    God gives us the same grace, to overcome in this evil day we live. It will be by God's grace, that we will stand in faith and endure all that is coming.
    Mike Hoggard overemphasizes "grace" and preaches against doing works. By God's grace, we are going to have to do what the Word of God says. As God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee".
    2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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  6. Amen! This should send red flags up to anyone who is discerning and has read the Word of God.
    Your quote: " When it comes to Mike Hoggard's Bible Code, you will not understand this code without special Divine revelation, as a simple study of the Word will never show it to you. To me this is the first sign that it is suspect. God does not hide things from our understanding if we study His Word. If I cannot understand it from a simple study of the Word, and can only get it by supernatural revelation revealing this hidden knowledge in a mystical act, which is what it sounds like when Mike describes it (he reads along and BOOM, suddenly he has hidden knowledge revealed),
    My Comment: Mike Hoggard places way too much emphasis on numbers. As you had mentioned earlier, at one time there were no numbers for verses or chapter divisions with numbers. And yet, he places great importance on this, adding things together to come up with a certain number. This concerned us very much. It just did not make any sense, and we are not instructed to do this.
    There are certain numbers in the bible that mean something, such as the seven days of creation and seven the number for completion etc. But he is out of balance on numbers. This verse from Proverbs is something we all need to pay heed to, including myself. If we're not careful, we could all go off the deep end on any one thing.
    Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.

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  7. As for me, Pastor Mike's teachings have blessed me greatly. He's not my "idol" and I see his faults, just like yours and mine, Connie. Our faults and sins are so easy to see from the outside. Our pride has a real stench to it. He obviously struck a sore spot with you somewhere along the line and it shows.

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    2. His personal faults or sins are not my concern. That's not what I am writing against. What I care about is the stuff he is teaching that isn't Scriptural. That's the only sore spot he struck with me. That is my only concern with anyone who has such a huge platform and is supposedly teaching the Word of God. It's no personal vendetta. He hasn't stepped on my toes. My pride is not the issue, God's truth is. I just care about the fact that he is teaching falsehoods. If he stops teaching these false doctrines and teachings, I'll have no problem with him at all. Someone has to call out these teachers who have substituted their own ideas and revelations for God's Word. That's all I'm doing.

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  8. I am holding a freely given copy of "The King James Code" and cannot find the paragraph you quote requiring "divine revelation..." to understand. I know he teaches consistently against this so I'm not sure where you got that paragraph from. Do you have the book? I have listened to him off and on over the past 7-8 years and find his teachings and doctrines to be consistent and very sound. I don't agree with everything he says but his gospel message is true. It just breaks my heart when the few of us left who hold to the King James Bible rip and shred each other and stand with Satan and accuse the brethren. I love the Lord and the Word. Newton, Ivan Panin, Chuck Missler, Walter Veith and many, many others have shown the miracles found in scripture and the "math" involved. The Word tells us to count for wisdom in a few places. The King James Bible truly does contain numeral connections and word connections that are literally impossible, so, therefore it must be divine. The 119th Psalm in the KJB is truly a miracle when you count the 7 words used surrounding the "Word" x8 x 22 letters and 176 verses etc. It goes beyond anything man could have conceived or concocted on their own. My love for the Word was renewed and deeply enhanced by Mike several years ago. I have tested his counts numerous times and find them to be true. The Noah example you give is actually expounded on past the 46+2+8 with the two Noah's being female meaning "movement" and 46 "rest" and the teaching is beautiful in it's entirety with chromosomes etc. You only show a portion and jump to a conclusion calling it wrong. Each point you make against him I find to be incomplete and lacking either full knowledge or understanding. The miracle of this bible stands and goes way beyond anything we see or comprehend. May the Lord richly bless you and I pray soften your heart regarding this brother in Christ. Your accusations against I believe are excessive and totally unfounded.

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    1. You are entitled to your opinion.

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    2. Here is where Mike says that first paragraph. It is in a 1999 article that he posted online, not his book. Or maybe it was the original book which he has since edited. http://kjv.landmarkbiblebaptist.net/kjvcode.html Read the first line under "What is the King James Code." I didn't make it up, if that is what you are suggesting.

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  9. Thank you for providing your source for the paragraph you pulled. When one reads his words before and after in context, his meaning there is much different than what you are portraying him to say. In fact, just as I supposed, quite the opposite. Also, thank you for giving me permission to my own opinion, but I believe as a follower of Jesus, I'm really not entitled to my own opinion. I believe His question to me is and will be, Did you love her as you love yourself, without pride, malice or anger?

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    1. Just for the record, I again reiterate that I have no malice for Mike. I stand for God's truth, and I do not believe he is teaching it. You are right it is not my opinion that matters, it is God's Word, which is why I show that what he teaches is not in line with Scripture.

      I must as a watchman who seeks to expose those who would teach false teachings, expose any teachings that are not Scriptural. If you disagree with that and find it hateful or prideful or angry, then that is your privilege. I see it as defending God's Word and the truth. As for misrepresenting what he said, after listening to more of his sermons than I would have cared to, and which I do so that my research is thorough and not misrepresentative of what someone is teaching, I do not think I took it out of context at all. Mike has many times related that he has gotten his ideas from direct Divine revelation, not from studying the Scriptures. I stand by what I wrote.

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    2. why not spend more time dancing............

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    3. Mike is the one dancing. He creates something out of nothing.

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  12. Why are there so many differences. The baptist believe osas and you have to be baptist, the Nazarenes and others don’t believe osas, neither do the Methodist, Most of the churches are now listening to word of faith teachers like Beth Moore, Rick Warren, etc these are known heretical teachers. You can’t seem to find the whole truth in any church. Mike Hoggard may be wrong in codes but a lot of others are wrong also. The charismatic are the most dangerous, then the Pentecostals, allot of main line churches are also changing. Gay, divorce, sin is becoming rampant in the church. So what is a good bible study to search out the Bible?

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    1. I will have to answer this in several posts due to the constraints of this blog.

      There are so many differences for several reasons. The first is that different people use a different method of interpretation. Some spiritualize things, some take things more literally, some do half and half, etc. As we are not to try to "interpret" Scripture as Peter tells us that prophecy (and a vast amount of the Bible is prophecy) is not of private interpretation, we must therefore take God at His word and accept that He means what He says. The first lie Satan used was to ask Eve if God REALLY meant what He said. Well, He did.

      God intended us to understand what He was saying, and for everyone to understand it the same way, so we should simply take His word at face value for what it says,as that is the only way everyone will come to the same conclusion. Yes, there are parables, which Jesus generally explains. Yes, there are visions, which God also explains. If not immediately after the vision, then somewhere in Scripture you will find an interpretation of it. (e.g. The vision in Rev. 12 is understood via Joseph's dream of the sun, moon, and stars in Genesis 37. Yes there are literary devices such as metaphors, similes, etc. These should be recognizable.

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    2. Now the next problem is that over the centuries there have been church "fathers" who have written commentaries with their interpretations of what the Scriptures mean based on their method of interpretation, coupled with their biases (such as antisemitism or other things) and these commentaries have gathered followers who have turned these interpretations into doctrines and created denominations based upon these doctrines.

      You are right in that you won't find the whole truth in any church, because they all have a longstanding bias of their doctrines rather than seeking out God's Word. Having had two parents with diametrically opposed viewpoints on some major doctrines, I decided to find the truth for myself and abandoned everything to start from scratch with the Word of God alone (no commentaries to help me), letting the Holy Spirit be my guide, taking God's Word at face value as much as possible. I would seek out all Scriptures on the topic I was researching, and work at making them all reconcile, which is a major point of contention with all these denominations. They pick the verses that agree with their views and ignore the rest. I look for all the verses and work at making them reconcile.

      In the end what I found was that God's truth is generally found in the middle of the opposing views. For instance as you can see in my article on OSAS or eternal security in my archives, it is not that you can lose your salvation easily and be saved over and over, nor is it that you are eternally secure without having to do anything. Our justification is conditional upon our abiding in Christ. When we abide in Christ, we are secure, however you can lose your salvation, but it isn't done by sinning once. It is a total turning from God and renouncing Him and living in willful disobedient sin without any repentance after one has already accepted Him as their Savior. Neither view accepts the middle ground of there being security, but it is conditional upon persevering and abiding and doing the works we are given to do, however it can be lost if the person turns their back on God and renounces Him. Nobody else has the right to take us out of Christ's hands, but we can do it to ourselves.

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    3. I do not deny that there are a lot of others that are wrong, but many people are writing about their heresy. Mike Hoggard on the other hand is not on the radar of a lot of people. I only came to know about him, as a friend of mine is a follower, so I started tuning in and got quite concerned. He says things that appeal to people who are fed up with the heresy of people like Rick Warren, but then Hoggard gets off into other heresies and they have no discernment at all about those things.

      As for a good Bible study? I suggest doing what I did. Seek the Lord in prayer asking Him to teach you the truth and just get deep into the Word and let Scripture and the Holy Spirit teach you. Compare Scripture to Scripture. Take it at face value. What you don't understand now, let it go and move on and come back to it later. You would be surprised how what you once couldn't understand you can later, after growing in the Word.

      While I put my teachings out there, the one thing I encourage everyone to do is first study on their own, and when they do look to see what others say to double check what everyone says, including me, as a good Berean. It is amazing how many people (Mike Hoggard especially) do not want people questioning what they say. I invite questioning, but when people do, I insist they really have studied, as I have, to present a valid argument as to why I have read the Scriptures wrong, if they felt I have. I don't accept "so and so said" or a personal opinion or bias as a reason for me to forego the beliefs I have come to from diligent study.

      I wish you the best and pray you find the truth you are seeking.

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  13. "Satan hides things, but God is very open". Only someone extremely ignorant of the Bible would say that God doesn't keep secrets. In Revelation, God hides what the seven thunders uttered, He hid the Ark of the Covenant, there's a verse in Deuteronomy which says "the secret things belong unto the LORD our God" etc.

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    1. What I meant was that God doesn't hide the things He wants us to know. We can discover them if we study. But as you so rightly pointed out, which was my point, the secret things belong ONLY to the Lord, they aren't ours to know. Mike is using methods that are not holy to try to discern hidden things. God uses numbers repeatedly, but He does not use numerology. There is a distinct difference.

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  14. I agree that "God uses numbers repeatedly, but He does not use numerology. There is a distinct difference."
    What is wrong with studying the footprints of God? Are you saying there is no connection between the numbers that are used in the bible repeatedly, 3, 7, 10, 12, 13, 22 etc? 666? To disregard the numbers that are consistently used by our Lord in the Word and in creation to gain understanding, insight, wonder & knowledge is a ridiculous mistake, just because you consider it numerology (man and Satan's imitation of the Divine order). Satan has an imitation for everything but does that mean we therefore ignore anything the Lord has given us? Music, the stars, numbers, procreation (sex) itself? Of course not. I believe your attack on Hoggard and his teachings are totally unfounded.

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    1. Yes, God uses numbers and they have meanings in and of themselves, such as 12 and 7. But that is not numerology. Numerology is dissecting them, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, repeating them, etc. For instance, how he says that the certain number of chapters and verses have meanings. Such as the 11th chapter and 11th verse. That's nonsense. The chapter and verse numbers were added by editors of the translations. The originals had no chapters and verses the way it is edited now, and Hoggard's use of them to mean things is blatant numerology, which is of the occult. My attacks are not unfounded. He is preaching truth mixed with untruths, for that is how Satan uses people to lead others into apostasy. If it were all lies nobody would follow, but doing some of the things Hoggard does alters God's Word from the way it was meant. One thing he does is to change definitions of words to alter the meanings of the verse. I demonstrated that in one of my posts on him here. Your choice of what you want to believe is between you and God. I'm just the watcher on the wall giving the warning. It's up to you whether you want to take it or reject it. Your choice to do so does not affect me in any way. God does not hold me responsible for people listening to the warnings He has me give. He just holds me responsible for giving them.

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  15. I didn't read all of this..I'm just looking for my interpretation of the dream God gave me and Mike Hoggard is very knowledgeable in numbers and that's the direction I'm going in... I was begging, pleading with God for 1 year for him to save and change me with proof!.. I watched several of Hoggards videos over that year..On July 11th 2015 I watched for those who struggle by him- I listened several times in 3 days and God saved and changed me at home, by myself! On july 13th 2015.God's grace came over me, poured into me, his love poured into me- I cried for 3 days for the remorse of my sins in love for Christ and us all, as God was revealing the truth to me.. I am thankful for Mike Hoggard and God using him, May he continue to be Blessed in Jesus name. - @Vanessa84 - for those that struggle ❤️

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