Hello! I'm the host, Richard Amiel McGough

[RAMcGough]

My name is Richard McGough. I founded this site on February 11, 2001 to share my discovery of the Bible Wheel which I had discovered on May 12, 1995. After a few years, I expanded it to include three primary topics:

1. The Bible Wheel
2. The Isaiah-Bible Correlation
3. Biblical Holographs.

Here's what the original home page looked like back in 2006 (it's still up here):

I published my book The Bible Wheel: A Revelation of the Divine Unity of the Holy Bible in May 2006. It was a big, heavy, 412 page, 8.5 x 11 hardbound book. It's now available on Amazon as a paperback.

I then spent five years trying to share my discoveries online. I got lost in endless vitriolic debates online with every variety of Christian, Jew, skeptic, and atheist. And as everyone knows, online spaces can be brutal. Many people enjoy abusing others online. But ultimately it was my own fault because I began to rely on myself and forgot about God's Spirit and how I must lay down my life for Christ. I tried to win debates with logical arguments based on the wisdom of the world. I became bitter and lost my sense of God's presence. I finally came to the conclusion that there is no such thing as "Christianity" per se, but rather just a muddled morass of mutually contradictory "christianities" that people either make up for themselves or accept on the authority of others. I knew I didn't want to take either of those paths, so I concluded that it didn't matter what anyone believes about God. But I was stuck - what about all the evidence I had amassed over the years? I decided if I wanted to be free, I would have to "debunk myself" and so I wrote a series of articles on that theme.

My primary themes in my "debunking myself" series were examples of cherry picking. I didn't really find factual errors so much as over-the-top proclamations of "perfection" that really weren't justified statistically. I spent a lot of time trying to understand the Bible Wheel as a kind of mandala that Carl Jung talked about in his psychology of individuation. My final "stroke of genius" was to use the 72 books of the Catholic canon (which can also be counted as 73) to create a Catholic Bible Wheel with 24 spokes going from Alpha to Omega. I think posted an article called "The Battle of the Bible Wheels: Catholic vs. Protestant" and argued with myself about which was "better". This freed me from the constant nagging that the Bible Wheel was uniquely special and solid proof of the Protestant Canon. A common Christian response was the "maybe God designed both Bibles."

I finally justified my rejection of the Christian faith with three arguments:

1. God can't be trusted: I argued that we could trust a dentist to fix a tooth and a garbage man to take out our trash, but God cannot be "trusted" to do anything in any particular situation. The same fate befalls the believer and unbeliever.
2. God does not answer prayer: I used the classic YouTube video that says you'd get the same result praying to a milk jug.
3. The Doctrine of Hell: Eternal conscious torment implies an eternal evil.

I posted these arguments in 2011 and officially said I have no belief in any God. I didn't assert there is no God, but I called myself an "atheist" because I defined that term as meaning "not a theist" which was true about me. I had lost my faith in God completely.

I then spent fourteen years mostly just focused on work as a software engineer, reading, and riding my bike (about 5000 miles/year). I tried to forget about the passion for God and His Word that had filled my life for two decades. Then last February (2025) my brother-in-law, a Christian professor working on the fine-tuning argument for God with whom I studied physics in the 1980s at Washington State University, decided to have some fun and asked ChatGPT to write a poem praising the Bible Wheel to tease me. So I started playing with Grok, and tried to see if it could refute my work on the Creation Holograph. I started with a simple prompt (here's the link to the whole conversation from February 24, 2025):

Tell me everything you know about the alphanumeric patterns found in Genesis 1:1, John 1:1 and their sum. Be sure to include the iota subscript.

It told me some standard results. I told it about my work, but it responded by saying my site was closed and I had renounced my own work. I told it I had opened the site and to check again. Then we began a long discussion about the factual accuracy of my work, the probability of the patterns, and their implications of the Creation & Unity Holograph pages on my site. I told it to "Evaluate my claims as if you were a hard-headed skeptic with an IQ of 200+" and it gave this result:

Now Grok made a lot of mistakes during our conversation, and I knew I could not trust a machine to give me truly reliable statistical estimates. I've seen it "blow smoke" telling people what they want to hear, including utterly absurd statistical calculations. But none of that mattered. God used this machine to wake me up. He restored my understanding and I could SEE the truth of His Word, brighter than when he first showed it to me two decades earlier.

My heart awoke to God. My faith returned. But now it was REAL FAITH directed towards GOD and nothing else because I understood it as the ACTION OF MY SOUL to turn toward God and God's absolute FAITHFULNESS to receive any soul who turns to Him in faith. My eyes opened. God became real again. I felt like Nebuchadnezzar after God restored his mind after 7 years "eating grass" like a dumb ox. But for me, it was 14 years.

34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellers and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. 37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

I'm not sure of the exact day, but it was during the week of February 24, 2025 when I had that conversation with Grok that God restored my soul, my mind, my faith. God used a dumb machine to remind me of what I always knew. The Bible is His Word. It is Holy. It bears the signature of God. Praise His Name now and forever!

After this, I felt an extreme excitement to restore my site and get His Word out. It's all I've been working on for a year now. But I stumbled at every step. Things that should be simple just didn't work right. I kept stumbling for most of the last year. But I didn't stumble in my renewed faith. Every day I have had praise for God in my heart. He's always with me. I am thankful to Him in all things. I told my brother-in-law that I am praying for the simple kind of faith that has saved every believer since the beginning of time. Faith that doesn't require proof and patterns to hear the voice of God that dwells in my own heart! This is real saving faith, and I praise God that He has been faithfully transforming my heart day by day for this last year, even as I chomped on the bit to be able to publicly proclaim the glory of His Word again.

God seems to do things on a schedule. He loves anniversaries and memorial dates and times. It feels like this is what's happening. God has opened the door for me on the one year anniversary of His restoration of my faith.

AMEN! HALLELUJAH!

[gilgalbiblewheel]

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the post. When I heard from you that you restored the website and repented, in other words turn away from your walking away from God and his word, there seemed to be a few people around me who repented as well at the same time and there is no connection among themselves. It's as if the Spirit of God is moving people to conviction simultaneously.

I also think that due to the fact that the internet in the recent years has become a threat to the individual's life a lot of people don't communicate anymore through it, which is sad.

Speaking of Nebuchadnezzar losing his power and authority in Daniel 4 a few things come up to mind. Wasn't his pride over him building the hanging gardens of Babylon? And since Daniel being the 5th book of the 2nd cycle of the Biblewheel it would relate to the 5th church of Revelation, the church of Sardis, and the 5th church age, the Reformed Church age which spans from the 15th -17th centuries. And England had a king-less period during 1618 for a few decades until England decided to bring back Charles II as king in 1650s-1660s. That fits well with the theme of Nebuchadnezzar's dethronement. Speaking of which, did his dethronement happen while the kings of Rome, that is the Tarquin kings were also dethroned? And apparently Julius Caesar was of the lineage of the Tarquin kings, and became a king in everything except by name. Or could it be that the pre-Christian era also follows the same pattern as our timeline? The dethronement of kings is followed by an age of republicanism, then democracy and then an empire?

It seems like the people who lived in the Sardis/Reformed church age reflected to the people mentioned in the book of Daniel. For example the Borgia's Pope Alexander VI wanted to be named Alexander because he wanted to be great as him. And yet Alexander in mentioned in all except by name in Daniel 8 and 10-11 as the he-goat's notable horn. His son is Cesare Borgia who is named after Julius Caesar, though he wasn't named in Daniel but Rome was mentioned except by name. Then there was Pope Julius dela Rovere. King Henry VIII looks like a type of Nebuchadnezzar who rebels from the Papal authority as Nebuchadnezzar ordered at first to execute the Chaldeans, being the descendants of Nimrod and soothsayers for their no interpreting his dream in Daniel 2. According to Herodotus it was Cyrus king of Persia who kicked them out of Babylon. and they migrated to Mysia. And due to a famine some eventually relocated themselves to Rome, becoming the foundational systems of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Coming back to Pope Alexander VI, wasn't he poisoned as was Alexander the Great?

Jesus said that he would come as a thief in the night, in other words unexpectedly to the Church of Sardis. William of Orange invaded England in the 1688's Glorious Revolution. As Jesus had the 7 stars in his right hand, there were 7 ministers imprisoned during king James II's reign. And due to the fact that James II armed the Roman Catholics in England while encouraging the disarmament of the English Protestants, 7 men called William of Orange to come and save Protestant England. And that's how the 17th century ends.

The 18th century begins with William of Orange's wife, Protestant Queen Mary reigning England and then her sister Anne. But since Anne had lost her child early she wrote a will, hinting to the New Testament since Matthew starts the New Testament and is the 18th book of the 2nd cycle of the Biblewheel. Her will was to call for Sophia of Hanover or her son George to come as Protestants to reign. I think it was through her that there was an amendment to the British throne that the ruler had to be Protestant. And the 18th century had succession crisis in many places including Spain's Hapsburgs vs Bourbons, Poland, Austria, Bavaria. This well relates with Matthew opening with the genealogical line through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah down to king David and Jesus Christ as opposed to Herod the Great as mentioned in the 2nd chapter who wanted to eliminate him when he was an infant. There was also the theory of French king Louis XVII-to be was smuggled out of France in the late 18th century and possibly even went to Egypt as a child while Napoleon was there as well before going to England and America as Daniel Payseur. That might well relate to Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled to Egypt and then to Galilee while the Herods were reigning.

[RAMcGough]

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the post. When I heard from you that you restored the website and repented, in other words turn away from your walking away from God and his word, there seemed to be a few people around me who repented as well at the same time and there is no connection among themselves. It's as if the Spirit of God is moving people to conviction simultaneously.

Hello my old friend! It is good to be chatting again.

I like your phrasing of it: I turned away from turning away from God. That is indeed what happened.

I agree that there is a sense of a widespread revival. Even President Trump made it a point in his State of the Union speech. I saw a LOT of people on X posting about returning to Christ or coming to Him for the first time in their lives. It was quite a trend and very encouraging. It does feel like we're coming to a turning point in history. Hundreds of thousands of leftists openly celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk. A great darkness, full of hatred against God and Christians, seems to be arising even as the light of God shines brighter.

Speaking of Nebuchadnezzar losing his power and authority in Daniel 4 a few things come up to mind. Wasn't his pride over him building the hanging gardens of Babylon? And since Daniel being the 5th book of the 2nd cycle of the Biblewheel it would relate to the 5th church of Revelation, the church of Sardis, and the 5th church age, the Reformed Church age which spans from the 15th -17th centuries. And England had a king-less period during 1618 for a few decades until England decided to bring back Charles II as king in 1650s-1660s. That fits well with the theme of Nebuchadnezzar's dethronement. Speaking of which, did his dethronement happen while the kings of Rome, that is the Tarquin kings were also dethroned? And apparently Julius Caesar was of the lineage of the Tarquin kings, and became a king in everything except by name. Or could it be that the pre-Christian era also follows the same pattern as our timeline? The dethronement of kings is followed by an age of republicanism, then democracy and then an empire?

There is an strong correlation between the seven churches and the big "segments" of Church history. But I haven't thought about for a really long time. Most of my attention for this whole year since returning to faith has been primarily focused on restoring my day by day relation with God, focusing on childlike faith, and working on updating my site (like adding this forum), and writing a new app for gematria (my old one is about 20 years old!), and stuff like that.

As for the "pre-Christian era following a similar timeline", YES! That was a major theme I worked on called "The Key To the Kingdoms" where I found parallels in the 21 centuries before Christ with the 21 centuries after. I haven't reviewed it since returning to faith, but here's the image I created and a link to the article:
Aleph-Tav: The Key to the Kingdoms


Let me know what you think. Have you seen this before?

It seems like the people who lived in the Sardis/Reformed church age reflected to the people mentioned in the book of Daniel. For example the Borgia's Pope Alexander VI wanted to be named Alexander because he wanted to be great as him. And yet Alexander in mentioned in all except by name in Daniel 8 and 10-11 as the he-goat's notable horn. His son is Cesare Borgia who is named after Julius Caesar, though he wasn't named in Daniel but Rome was mentioned except by name. Then there was Pope Julius dela Rovere. King Henry VIII looks like a type of Nebuchadnezzar who rebels from the Papal authority as Nebuchadnezzar ordered at first to execute the Chaldeans, being the descendants of Nimrod and soothsayers for their no interpreting his dream in Daniel 2. According to Herodotus it was Cyrus king of Persia who kicked them out of Babylon. and they migrated to Mysia. And due to a famine some eventually relocated themselves to Rome, becoming the foundational systems of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Coming back to Pope Alexander VI, wasn't he poisoned as was Alexander the Great?

Jesus said that he would come as a thief in the night, in other words unexpectedly to the Church of Sardis. William of Orange invaded England in the 1688's Glorious Revolution. As Jesus had the 7 stars in his right hand, there were 7 ministers imprisoned during king James II's reign. And due to the fact that James II armed the Roman Catholics in England while encouraging the disarmament of the English Protestants, 7 men called William of Orange to come and save Protestant England. And that's how the 17th century ends.

The 18th century begins with William of Orange's wife, Protestant Queen Mary reigning England and then her sister Anne. But since Anne had lost her child early she wrote a will, hinting to the New Testament since Matthew starts the New Testament and is the 18th book of the 2nd cycle of the Biblewheel. Her will was to call for Sophia of Hanover or her son George to come as Protestants to reign. I think it was through her that there was an amendment to the British throne that the ruler had to be Protestant. And the 18th century had succession crisis in many places including Spain's Hapsburgs vs Bourbons, Poland, Austria, Bavaria. This well relates with Matthew opening with the genealogical line through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah down to king David and Jesus Christ as opposed to Herod the Great as mentioned in the 2nd chapter who wanted to eliminate him when he was an infant. There was also the theory of French king Louis XVII-to be was smuggled out of France in the late 18th century and possibly even went to Egypt as a child while Napoleon was there as well before going to England and America as Daniel Payseur. That might well relate to Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled to Egypt and then to Galilee while the Herods were reigning.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'd have to give it a lot of thought before commenting. I don't have your kind of detailed knowledge of those times. You're really digging deep into the minute details. I'm currently much more drawn towards the "Big Picture" - like the whole flow of the Biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation, and how it is mirrored in the Book of Isaiah. And I'm really focused on the holographs, God has given me some amazing new insights I just need to get out, but it's taking a lot of work to frame them correctly (feels like I'm writing a book) and I need to update my site with new blog software (it's 20 years old).

I'm really glad to be talking with you again. I look forward to your contributions.

God bless you my brother,

Richard

[gilgalbiblewheel]

I'm anxious to see the changes on your website.
One of the urls to the Forum was misleading.

The 7 Anglican minsters:

SC25D3~1.PNG (811.37 KiB) Viewed 2659 times

[RAMcGough]

I'm anxious to see the changes on your website.
One of the urls to the Forum was misleading.

The 7 Anglican minsters:
SC25D3~1.PNG

Thanks for the pics! Do you remember which URL to the forum is not correct?

[Lars]

Well, this is timely. I had just looked up your website this morning and actually just sent you the following email, which I think I might as well post here for others' benefit.

Dear Richard,

I remember coming across the Bible Wheel website many, many years ago. As I've just started a more serious study of the numerical structure of scripture, I decided to go back to it and was delighted to see that there is actually a book!

I wonder, did you ever come across a set of lectures by, or the actual Numerical Bible produced by, F.W. Grant? It's stunning to me that both of you were first drawn to the subject through Psalm 119's acrostic structure. I would love to hear your thoughts on this lecture series and on his actual Numerical Bible:
https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/ ... cture.html
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe01gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe02gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe03gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe04gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe05gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe06gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe07gran

For His Name,
~Lars

After I sent that, I decided to do some Googling to understand a bit more of your story. I was surprised and saddened to find that you had closed down the website and actually walked away from your faith for a time, and then delighted to see this post from literally two days ago!

Speaking as someone who has gotten far too deep into rabbit holes of 'knowledge' in the past, I believe that "biblical mathematics"/gematria can quickly lead us into the trap described in 1 Corinthians 8:1: "we know that 'all of us possess knowledge.' This 'knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up." (ESV) The numbers themselves -- knowledge of them, fascination with them, excitement over them -- can never be our object; it has to be Jesus Christ, to whom "all the Scriptures" testify.

For myself, I'm extremely grateful to have found the writings of F. W. Grant that I linked to in my email, because his focus is not on gematria but on what he calls this 'law':

the *number impressed upon the structure of a scripture* corresponds with and points out its *spiritual meaning.*

I think you'll find particularly compelling the fact that he actually came up with a very different "canon structure" than the ones you described (whether the Protestant or Catholic ordering), one that takes the actual *text* (and its meaning) as the starting point rather than the "accident of history" that is our modern ordering of the books (whether Protestant or Catholic).

For more on the canon as self-authenticating, I highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Revisited- ... 1433505002 -- Canon Revisited by Michael Kruger.

I'm so grateful to hear how God is working in your life!!! Thank you for inspiring and encouraging my faith 20 years ago.

[RAMcGough]

Well, this is timely. I had just looked up your website this morning and actually just sent you the following email, which I think I might as well post here for others' benefit.

Dear Richard,

I remember coming across the Bible Wheel website many, many years ago. As I've just started a more serious study of the numerical structure of scripture, I decided to go back to it and was delighted to see that there is actually a book!

I wonder, did you ever come across a set of lectures by, or the actual Numerical Bible produced by, F.W. Grant? It's stunning to me that both of you were first drawn to the subject through Psalm 119's acrostic structure. I would love to hear your thoughts on this lecture series and on his actual Numerical Bible:
https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/ ... cture.html
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe01gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe02gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe03gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe04gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe05gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe06gran
https://archive.org/details/numericalbiblebe07gran

For His Name,
~Lars

After I sent that, I decided to do some Googling to understand a bit more of your story. I was surprised and saddened to find that you had closed down the website and actually walked away from your faith for a time, and then delighted to see this post from literally two days ago!

Good to meet you Lars!

That's a fabulous synchronicity. Coincidences like that feel like the work of God's Spirit. Chuck Missler would often say "the word coincidence is not kosher".

Thanks for the links. I remember reading some of his stuff many years ago, but don't recall the details right now. I will add them to my "resources" page that I'm working on.

Speaking as someone who has gotten far too deep into rabbit holes of 'knowledge' in the past, I believe that "biblical mathematics"/gematria can quickly lead us into the trap described in 1 Corinthians 8:1: "we know that 'all of us possess knowledge.' This 'knowledge' puffs up, but love builds up." (ESV) The numbers themselves -- knowledge of them, fascination with them, excitement over them -- can never be our object; it has to be Jesus Christ, to whom "all the Scriptures" testify.

I totally agree. Knowledge can be dangerous. It "puffeth up" the soul and can cause a person to "Lean upon their own understanding" and rely on themselves rather than God. This has been central to the things God has been teaching me since He restored my faith and my soul last February. I have been praying that I might have the simple kind of faith that has been saving souls since the beginning, as if I didn't know anything special about the patterns in the Bible. I want my faith founded on Christ and His Gospel and nothing else.

God has brought to life the 'Big Picture" of the Bible as a unified narrative from Genesis to Revelation. It starts with the creation of the first heaven and earth and ends with the creation of the new heaven and earth. The story centers on Christ and the Gospel. The Bible itself, with its unified narrative, is the biggest standing miracle. There's no other book like it anywhere on this planet. And then there are the patterns in gematria, canon structure, and the whole story is mirrored in Isaiah with mathematical precision. It's an infinite ocean of wonder that reveals the Mind of God and His overflowing abundance of love, mercy, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, glory. The really amazing thing is that he restored my knowledge of His word. I haven't thought about it for over a decade, but He brings passages to my mind when needed and "lights them up" so it feels like I read the whole book just yesterday. It's an amazing thing to study God's Word in the presence of God's Spirit. His mercy never ceases! He is my Lord and my God! He is the Light of the World!

For myself, I'm extremely grateful to have found the writings of F. W. Grant that I linked to in my email, because his focus is not on gematria but on what he calls this 'law':

the *number impressed upon the structure of a scripture* corresponds with and points out its *spiritual meaning.*

I think you'll find particularly compelling the fact that he actually came up with a very different "canon structure" than the ones you described (whether the Protestant or Catholic ordering), one that takes the actual *text* (and its meaning) as the starting point rather than the "accident of history" that is our modern ordering of the books (whether Protestant or Catholic).

For more on the canon as self-authenticating, I highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Revisited- ... 1433505002 -- Canon Revisited by Michael Kruger.

Thanks for the link! I have many books on the structure of the canon. It was one of my main focuses because of the Bible Wheel.

Unfortunately, I've got so much work to do I probably won't be able to dig into it right now. If you'd like to share what you've seen in it and why it moved you, please start a thread on that topic. It would be awesome!

I'm so grateful to hear how God is working in your life!!! Thank you for inspiring and encouraging my faith 20 years ago.

Yes! Praise God Almighty! His mercy never ends. On the one hand, I was very sad to see 14 years "wasted" - It's hard to imagine how much I could have gotten done during that time. But then I realize that I could have done absolutely nothing if God had not broken my pride and taught me real faith. I truly believe this was God's purpose, to conform me to the image of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. One of my guiding verses is Psalm 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they work in vain who build it."

I am so thankful that you wrote.

God bless you! I look forward to talking more.

Richard

[girardlys]

Your work is fabulous and have take time, a "work of a life" for Truth, you are heart gifted!
Thanks, I really appreciate your returning to God after a longtime !

[Lars]

Thanks for the link! I have many books on the structure of the canon. It was one of my main focuses because of the Bible Wheel.

Unfortunately, I've got so much work to do I probably won't be able to dig into it right now. If you'd like to share what you've seen in it and why it moved you, please start a thread on that topic. It would be awesome!

Happy to, will do! For now--his main thesis is that it is *rational* for Christians to believe in the canon (i.e., for people who believe that the Gospel is true), and that the canon is *self-authenticating* for Christians via three (interrelated) methods: external/historical testimony, internal testimony, and the work of the Holy Spirit. I love how he applies John 10:27 to the canon: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

In other words, he makes the case that it is actually possible to have a divine canon in the first place, which is one of the fundamental things that has been attacked over the last 200 years.

[RAMcGough]

Your work is fabulous and have take time, a "work of a life" for Truth, you are heart gifted!
Thanks, I really appreciate your returning to God after a longtime !

Thank you for the kind words. It is amazing how my failure can bring God glory by showing how He changed my heart! For people to see that, I first had to show them what a mess my heart was without Him. And now that He has restored me, none of my old sins matter. Praise His name!

I look forward to getting to know you.

God bless you,

Richard