It is clear that many people already believe the Bible is a book whose message is hidden and must be drawn out by those who have the eyes to see it, the minds to understand it, and the keys to decrypt it. From what I have observed, such books tend to be predicated on a misunderstanding of a biblical truth and a misuse of a biblical word.

I think each one of us has probably had a kind of disquieting experience in which we’ve suddenly realized that a lot of Christian publishing is bunk. While we are undoubtedly blessed with far more truthful and edifying books than ever before, we are also cursed with far more untruthful and unedifying books. If you visit a Christian bookstore or browse the options at Amazon, then choose a book at random, you’re as likely to choose one that’s diametrically opposed to sound doctrine as one that’s consistent with it. The fact is, there are vast amounts of books being churned out under the banner of “Christian” that are anything but.

One of my first experiences with this reality was during The Bible Code phenomenon. In that book, Michael Drosnin insists that hidden within the Bible is a cryptic code that, when deciphered, can reveal significant historical events. Notably, though, the code can only reveal significant historical events that have already happened. Not surprisingly, it was all eventually proven to be nonsense, and that any book as large as the Bible will reveal similar results. By that time, though, the book had rocketed to the top of the bestseller lists and convinced many people that the message of the Bible is hidden within its pages rather than made plain.

In more recent times, Jonathan Cahn is selling millions of books that are based on claims that he has decrypted information hidden within Scripture. His method is to show how obscure events in the Old Testament are repeated in modern-day America, meaning that if we properly understand the Bible, we can also understand contemporary times. For example, he says that the rise of Kamala Harris was displayed and predicted in the rise of Jezebel and that Donald Trump’s two terms, divided as they were by four years of Joseph Biden, were predicted in the reign of Jehu.

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