Dear Doves,

I saw a car number plate two days ago that caused my jaw to drop. Oh no, not licence plate again. :) A long time reader wrote me yesterday and ridiculed the doves' efforts in our seemingly endless, futile, elusive search for the rapture date in the Hebrew feasts, calendars, timelines, astronomy, mathematics, dreams, visions, prophetic scriptures, and yes, even licence plates and clock faces etc, and the person added 'ad nauseam'. Go on and ridicule. Just don't get caught on the wrong side of the rapture when it happens. The last point is moot though for this reader as the person does not believe in a rapture anymore!

Surely the night is far spent and deception has worked its way deep into the minds of many believers. But of course, as far as this reader is concerned, we the rapture watchers are the ones deceived.Will there be a rapture? If there is a rapture, is it possible for God to conceal the rapture timing in a licence plate or a clock face?

Over the years there had been countless rapture speculations on this site and none of them had come to pass. Every now and then I am reminded of this embarrassing track record (or the lack of it) by dissenters and scoffers. But then I wouldn't be here on planet Earth responding to them and defending the purpose of watching had one of us stumbled upon the true rapture date, would I? The scoffers need to find a more intelligent objection than that.

Frankly, the doves are not so much concerned about the veracity of speculated dates than for the rapture itself. So what we are wrong a thousand times. Perhaps we may just be lucky the next time. The detractors rightly pointed out if we try hard enough, one fine day we will pin down the rapture date. What they meant as deriding humor is in fact an apt description of our modus operandi. :) That is the spirit of an inveterate watcher. Criticize all you like. The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

No one has the final word on the rapture, much less its timing. Feast or no feast, who knows? The jury is still up and it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings. Anything is possible. Have we fathomed the mind of the Unfathomable One yet? 2008 is not yet over. As one dove pointed out, we still have Oct 27, 28, 30, 31, the whole month of Nov and 31 days of December. Sure, we can consider spring 2009, but that is 6 months more to go. Before that we should at least watch for the appearing of Jesus before 2008 draws to a close.

It is possible that God conceals the rapture in Psalm 108 pointing to the year 2008. This is scriptural for goodness sake. Not some licence plate or clock faces. However, we should not preclude personal confirmations in a licence plate or time on a clock face, which merely confirms the hidden prophecy written in the Bible hundreds of years ago. Conventional wisdom and men's tradition says there is no hidden prophecy in the Psalms. The know-it-all teachers say there is no hidden Bible code (don't even start on licence plate or clock faces). They conveniently deny anything they do not understand. God simply exists in their three-pound universe between their ears and no more. They do not think it possible for the all-knowing God to foretell EVERYTHING in His Word and to even encode every historical event beneath the surface text.

Given the plausibility of the last statement, the hidden prophecies in the Psalms is child's play to the Omniscient God.

Licence plates and clock faces aside, you don't suppose the 'rational' believers would concede that God is able to speak to us through the stock market index? I have my doubts. Try propose that to a skeptic and be prepared to be scorned at. If God is speaking through the global financial index, it is no longer a personal confirmation given to an individual. It is a worldwide sign.

I believe the Dow Jones Index plunge that started the "once-in-a-century credit tsunami", 777.68 points to be precise, appears to be a MAJOR sign given by the Almighty. The cynic will simply shrug this off as random product of market forces. I beg to differ by offering two strong evidences: i) The last three digits of the point drop, 768, is the short date version of the Hebrew year, 5768. It just so happened that the day the market crashed was the last day of the Hebrew civil year (Sep 29, 2008). ii) The leading four digits of the point drop, 7776, is the sum of the Gregorian year, 2008, and its Hebrew equivalent, 5768.

Is this the handwriting on the wall that signals the beginning of the crumbling demise of the kingdom of this world after it was weighed and found wanting? On the surface it appears a bit of a stretch even for believers eager to believe. However, what I am about to share with you may alter your thinking concerning this sign.

Given the validity of the hidden prophecy in Psalm 108, what are the chances that its chapter order lines up PRECISELY with the Gregorian year 2008 and Hebrew year 5768? The sum of 2008 and 5768 -- the four leading digits of the DJI point drop, 7776 -- lands precisely on Psalm 108 if we count the Old Testament 7776 chapters backwards from the end of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 4.

There are 929 chapters in the Old Testament. To count 7776 chapters, we need to count more than eight times: 7776 chapters = (8 x 929) + 344 chapters. The  position of Psalm 108 is exactly 344 chapters from the end of the Old Testament!

Psalm 108 is THE ONLY CHAPTER that displays this staggering phenomenon. Because we are approaching this psalm from the forward and backward counting directions, there can only be ONE PSALM that fits this window!

Am I saying the rapture must happen before 2008 is over? No. I am merely saying there is only a small window that exists if the hidden prophecy in Ps 108 and the counting of Bible chapters are valid.

An objection may be raised concerning the continued significance and relevance of the number 7776 (2008+5768) since we had already crossed from the Hebrew year 5768 to 5769 on Sep 30, 2008, the day after the financial tsunami. The last quarter of 2008 coincides with the Hebrew year 5769. If we were to use the sum of 2008 & 5769, which is 7777, we would have missed the window of opportunity since its match in the forward sequence of the Psalms is Ps 107, pointing to 2007, which is history!

One solution is to use the sacred Hebrew calendar system where the start of year begins on Nisan 1. In that case, we are still in the Hebrew year 5768 and the sum 7776 is valid from Apr 6, 2008 (1-1-5768) to Dec 31, 2008 (10-4-5768). The sacred Hebrew calendar system is Biblical since in the Bible Tishri is regarded as the seventh month and Kislev the ninth month.

If this insight is true, we still have two more months of hope this year. There is a lot going for the Hebrew year 5768, but space does not permit me to share. If we count the New Testament 7776 chapters backwards we end up on the chapter that records the 10 virgins waiting for the rapture! Indeed, the bridegroom came at midnight in verse 6 of this famous chapter, Matt 25.

This insight came to me a couple of weeks ago. But it only dawned on me two days ago that Ps 108 is the ONLY CHAPTER that matches the years in the two sequences that run in opposite directions. Such an insight seems outlandish and impossible. It did not take long for the Lord to rebuke me for my lack of faith when I took my family out to lunch after I realized how special Ps 108 was that morning. After lunch, as we were walking towards my vehicle in the carpark, I saw this licence plate and immediately I stopped in my track. The car was parked at lot 108. Hello, Psalm 108? The licence plate was 6777 -- the mirror of 7776! The parallel is perfect since the direction of approach of the 7776 chapters towards Ps 108 is from the right to the left, the same direction indicated by the licence plate 6777 if we read it from the right to the left!

What are the chances that I happened to see a vehicle with licence plate 6777 parked at lot 108 shortly after I realized how special Ps 108 was being the 7776th chapter counting from the end of the Old Testament?

Tell me there is no link!

I was so awed by this experience that I had to come out of my dry spell to write to you. I don't know what is in store for us this year. But one thing I can tell you, I have NEVER been so busy in my entire life. My work is piling up sky high and I shudder to think how I am going to make it through this year. But then I also know His grace is sufficient for me. As always.

COME, LORD JESUS!

John