The Resurrection of Christ
Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic church from 1978 until 2005, was a remarkable figure. The facts concerning his long and fruitful papacy are the stuff of legend and he drew some of the largest crowds and was seen in the flesh by more people than anyone in history. Widely recognised to have been the greatest spiritual leader of our time, he was possibly the most influential pope since Saint Peter himself.
Karol Jozef Wojtyla became Pope on 16 October 1978, after Pope John Paul I died unexpectedly, and was inaugurated on 22 October. The new incumbent took the name John Paul II, in honour of his predecessor and quickly became a major world leader, making pastoral visits to 129 countries and so becoming the most widely travelled pope in history. Among many achievements, he engendered a huge renewal in Catholic Christian faith, inspired an entire generation of men into the priesthood, worked tirelessly to heal divisions between Christian communities and forged better relations with other faiths. In the political sphere, he was credited with inspiring the collapse of communism, but also regularly criticised the excesses of capitalism. Strong in faith and conservative in stance (although he supported Vatican II), this pope reached out to other faiths and Christian denominations in a way I found admirable, even if I didn't always agree with his traditionalist views.
A testament to John Paul II’s character was his reaction after being shot by a would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, on May the 13th, 1981 in St Peter’s Square in Rome. He asked people to pray for Agca and later forgave him, meeting him in prison. This had a profound effect on Agca, and marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship with the pope. John Paul II’s attitude of forgiveness and reconciliation stands in marked contrast to the reaction of the USA and its allies after the 9/11 attacks. John Paul’s forgiveness led to friendship. America's fury led to war.
This Pope regularly drew enormous crowds. Five million worshippers were present at the Papal gathering in Manila on January the 15th, 1995, the largest such gathering in history. His funeral was a world-uniting event, possibly attracting the biggest TV audience in history. Four million mourners made pilgrimages to Vatican City during the memorial week that followed the funeral. Such was his impact that after his death many Catholic figures began referring to him as 'John Paul the Great'. He was only the fourth pope to have been so honoured and the first pope since the first Millennium! There were calls even at his funeral for him to be declared a saint and he was beatified on 1 May 2011, then canonised on 27 April 2014.
Being the reigning head of the Roman Catholic Church at the time of 9/11 would have been enough to ensure for him at least a peripheral role in the end-times drama being enacted at this time. This is in fact was the case, as a few of the huge cluster of synchronicities I found surrounding 9/11 were related to his life and papacy. For instance, he was the 264th Pope, 264 being 11 x 24. He was also the 110th Pope from Celestine II to "the end of the world", according to the prophesies of St. Malachy. However, I eventually discovered that this particular pope was a major player in the drama, which was in two acts, with a three-and-a-half year interlude.
9/11 and the Funeral Of Pope John Paul II
Soon after the funeral of Pope John Paul II, I noted a fascinating numerical connection between the date of his funeral, April 8th, 2005, and the date of the terrorist attacks on September the 11th, 2001. 9/11 occurred on the 254th day of the new millennium (which began on 1/1/2001, not 1/1/2000). The funeral of the Pope occurred 1559 days into the new Millennium.
| Our Lord Jesus Christ (o) ......= 254 |
| Our Lord Jesus Christ (s) .....= 1559 |
Recall that the two-part decoding method on which the New Bible Code is based uses the ordinal and standard value systems of English gematria. Therefore to find these two world-changing events encoding the ordinal and standard values for such an important title must surely be of the utmost importance.
The Three-and-a-Half Years
The difference between 1559 and 254 is 1305, which was therefore the number of days between 9/11 and the funeral of Pope John Paul II. This is almost exactly three-and-a-half years, a period of time reiterated in various ways throughout the books of Daniel and Revelation, in connection with end-time prophecy. 1305 days equates to about 3.57 years, slightly over but still very close to the prophesied period of time, which, in any case, is stated in rather vague terms. [1] Here are most (but not all) of the relevant passages. The periods “time, times and half a time”, “forty-two months” and the periods from 2300 evenings and mornings to 1335 days all refer to the three-and-a-half year interval.
13Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation and of the host that will be trampled underfoot?” 14He said to me, “It will take 2300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” (Daniel 8:13-14, NIV)
The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand towards heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives for ever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken all these things wll be completed.” (Daniel 12:7, NIV)
From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1335 days. (Daniel 12:11, NIV)
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (Revelation 11:2, NIV)
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. (Revelation 13:5, NIV)
So the Bible impresses upon us that the 'end times' are associated with a particular period of time: three-and-a-half years. Could the world-shaking events of September the 11th, 2001 and the funeral of arguably the most influential and important pope the world has ever known, both watershed events by any standard, be the markers for this period?
The Three Days
Another period of time repeatedly given in the Bible and reminiscent of the three-and-a-half years is the three days between the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Sir,“ they said,“ we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ (Matthew 27:63, NIV)
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this remple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. (John 3:19-22, NIV)
As I explained in The September-11 Crucifix, I believe 9/11 to have been a representation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The September-11 Crucifix is created from the ordinal values of the two towers and the Pentagon and displays Jesus on the Cross, His five wounds represented by the five points of the Pentagon and by the encoding of the number five into its architecture. The spear wound inflicted on Jesus by a soldier was symbolised by flight 77 crashing into the Pentagon building. In Christian and esoteric art, the cross is often paired with a rose, also linked with the number 5 and the pentagon/pentagram. The Knight Rose Croix degree of freemasonry symbolises (among other things), Christ’s passion and resurrection.
Could 9/11 and Pope John Paul II’s funeral, taken together, provide a re-enactment of the Crucifixion and Resurrection?
The Funeral Of Pope John Paul II and the Resurrection
As with 9/11, the funeral of Pope John Paul II was an extraordinary, watershed event.
1. As I said in the introduction, Pope John Paul II was undoubtedly the greatest spiritual leader of the 20th Century and perhaps the most successful Pope since Saint Peter.
2. He died six days after after Easter 2005, which was 27 March. He was buried a further six days after his death. Significantly, Easter is the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection.
3. There is extraordinary significance in the funeral of a pope. The Pope is, for Roman Catholics, Christ’s representative on Earth:[3]
The Bishop of Rome is the bishop of the Holy See and is more commonly referred to as the Pope[....]Roman Catholic tradition holds that the Bishop of Rome is the successor to the primacy of Simon Peter and thus the "Vicar of Christ" for the entire world.
4. For the Roman Catholic Church, the funeral liturgy and committal have a special significance, focusing on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Funeral Liturgy is not really a memorial service for the deceased; it is focused solely on one person: Jesus Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains the following statements on the meaning of death to Christians. The word “Paschal” refers to the Christ as the “Paschal lamb”: [2]
1681 The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is "away from the body and at home with the Lord."
1682 For the Christian the day of death inaugurates, at the end of his sacramental life, the fulfillment of his new birth begun at Baptism, the definitive "conformity" to "the image of the Son" conferred by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and participation in the feast of the Kingdom which was anticipated in the Eucharist—even if final purifications are still necessary for him in order to be clothed with the nuptial garment.
Taking all these points together, we have perhaps the most successful Pope since the institution of the office, Christ's representative on Earth for half of all Christians, buried in a ceremony focused on the Risen Christ, taking place just twelve days after the official celebration of Christ's Resurrection.
No event, therefore, could have more fully symbolised the Resurrection of Jesus Christ than the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Pope John Paul II in Numbers
Karol Wojtyla was born on 18/5/1920 and died on 2/4/2005. He therefore lived for exactly 31000 days. To live for an exact multiple of 1000 days is fairly noteworthy in itself, but the number 31 has a special meaning both in Hebrew and English gematria. First of all, 31 is the standard value for the Hebrew root word ‘El’, meaning ‘the Deity’.
Second, 31 is the reduced value of the English word ‘Father’, which is particularly appropriate for the leader described as ‘the Holy Father’.
Father (r) = 31
As if to emphasise the extaordinary meaning woven into the Pope’s funeral, the names ‘Jesus Christ’ and ‘Pope John Paul II’ have the same ordinal value. [4]
Jesus Christ (o) = 151
Pope John Paul II (o) = 151
I have already noted that John Paul II was 264th (11 x 24) in the chronological list of popes and the 110th from Celestine II to "the end of the world", according to St. Malachy. But his links to the number 11 go deeper still:
1. John Paul II was inaugurated as Pope on 22/11/78, which was 8360 (11 x 760) days before 9/11. The other factor, 760, is standard value of 'The Lord has Risen!' The primary reference date for these events is the last day of the Second Millennium, 31/12/00. His inauguration was 8106 days before 31/12/00, which is 386 x 21. 386 is the standard value of the Hebrew word for Jesus, Yeshua.
2. An assassination was attempted on 13 May 1981, the date being the anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary at Fatima and the assassination attempt apparently having been prophesied by the Virgin. This date was the 22275th day of the pope's life. The number is a multiple of 11, which, given that the shooting was a type of 9/11 and that 9/11 is codemarked with 11, fits the same pattern. The factors also include two squares.
22275 = 11 x 5 x 5 x 9 x 9.
3. The number of days from Karol Wojtyla's birth to the last day of the Second Millennium, which as I said is the primary reference date for the timetable of the Second Coming, was 29447, which is 11 x 2677 - which means that the attempted assassination was 11 x 652 days before the end of the Millennium.
4. The pope was known in English as 'Pope John Paul II' or 'Pope John Paul the Second' (note the reference to second and his two Christian names, representing the most important figures before and after Jesus). His full English papal title is also marked with 11.
Pope John Paul the Second (o) = 242 = 11 x 11 x 2
5. The Second' is usually given as the Roman numerals 'II', which is another reminder of eleven.
Pope John Paul II in Genesis
As I show elsewhere, the first few verses of Genesis are packed with encoded numbers. In The Signature Of Christ I show that the first twenty-four words of the NIV Bible are the setting for a highly structured pattern of numbers that are standard values for the words ‘Jesus’, Yehoshua, ‘Messiah’ and ‘Word’. Twenty-four itself is the reduced value of Ihsous, 'holy' and 'Word'. I've also shown the encoding of 'atonement' cover' with which the signatures interlock. This conveys great meaning, as it illustrates the truth that Christ is our atonement cover.
These encodings are summarised below.
The numbers were derived by cutting the first twenty-four words into four segments of six words. Another way of dividing the block of twenty-four words is by trisecting them into eight-word segments (this is particularly significant because 888 is the number of the Greek word for Jesus). When this is done, then the ordinal values of the blocks are calculated, the following phenomenon is revealed:
In fact the code specifically refers to the funeral of Pope John Paul II:
The reflective doubling of these encodings seems to act as a double witness to the importance of this world-uniting event.
Given that about half of the world’s Christians are Roman Catholics, it always worried me that the New Bible Code should be contained within a protestant Bible. It is fitting, therefore, that the funeral of the spiritual leader of one billion Christians should play such a conclusive part in the ‘end time’ drama, one that speaks to all Christians, indeed all people, everywhere.
Bill Downie 24/7/06
Latest update 20/4/17
Addendum
On 1 May 2011, Pope John Paul II was beatified, in a ceremony that was attended by over a million Roman Catholics, among their number being the nun Marie Simons Pierre, who had apparently been cured of Parkinson's disease after praying for his intercession.
1 May 2011 is the most numerically significant date I have ever come across. Again it is marked with 11, being 3773 (11 x 343) days after the marker date of 31/12/00. 343, the cube of seven, is one of the key numbers in the New Bible Code. It was also the 121st (11 x 11) day of that year, 121 itself being the ordinal value of 'Second Coming'. It was 3519 (391 x 9) days after 9/11, 391 being the standard value of Yehoshua, the fullest spelling of the Hebrew name that through the Greek Ihsous became 'Jesus'. Finally it was 33220 days after Karol Jozef Wojtyla's birth, a number with the notable factors 151, 604 and 11. 11 and 151 are mentioned above. 604 is the standard value of 'The Second Coming'.
Osama bin Laden, the man held responsible for 9/11, was killed by US troops on the same day (about 2AM on 2 May 2011, Pakistan time, which was 9PM on 1 May, BST, and 4PM EDT). The lives of these two men were connected by a thread of meaning that in the end drew them tightly together. In my next and final page I will explain why.
Notes
1. Three-and-a-half years is 1278 days. Interestingly, The Creation Snowflake has 1279 units. Moreover, I published my page on the snowflake exactly 1279 days after 9/11, something I had no conscious intention of doing.
2. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_of_Rome
3. Wikipedia.
4. Also: The Holy Spirit (o) = 151, The Holy Father (o) = 151