Subject: Questions I'm trying to answer |
Bible Note: Magic Apologetics by Christian Research Institute [Let me say at the outset that in posting this it is not my aim to be contentious nor to take issue with anyone. I merely present this FYI (For Your Information). Grace to you --Kalos] "The new apologetic Crouch discovered that day is popularly referred to as "Equidistant Letter Sequencing" (ELS). I, however, prefer to call it magic apologetics. At first blush it appears compelling. On closer examination, it is little more than "smoke and mirrors." "Its proponents would have us believe God has encoded secret messages in Scripture that are being discovered in these last days. (...) "Cultic Counterparts. Like its older manifestation, "Bible numerics" (reading mystical numerical symbolism into Scripture), ELS is best described as a pseudoscience. World religions, such as Islam and Judaism, and cultic movements, such as the Nation of Islam and the Baha’is, have long used these methods. "Muslims have used both numerics and ELS in a vain attempt to prove that Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his prophet. In addition, they use these methods to "prove" that Christianity is false. Jewish cabalists embrace these methods as tools for winning lapsed Jews back to the faith through the Israeli-based "evangelism" movement Aish Ha Torah (Hebrew for "Man of the Law"), which promotes ELS "Discovery Seminars" worldwide.5 They also use ELS to "prove" that Jesus Christ was a false Messiah. "Nation of Islam leader Louis Farakkhan applies numerics to the Washington Monument and the street grid of Washington D.C. to "prove" that the city was designed as the nerve center for a white conspiracy against people of African descent. Baha’is (sic) design their buildings to repeatedly replicate significant number combinations, much like an infinite hall of numeric mirrors" To read more go to: STATEMENT DE269 PRACTICAL APOLOGETICS: Magic Apologetics by Hank Hanegraaff. www.equip.org/search/ |