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666

© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy

There are two beasts mention here: Revelation (King James version), chapter 13.

  1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
  2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
  3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
  4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
  5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
  6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
  7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
  8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
  9. If any man have an ear, let him hear.
  10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
  11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
  12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
  13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
  14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
  15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
  16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
  17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
  18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

This is an invitation to indulge in some numerology. Numerologists routinely deduce numbers from dates and names, and see meaning in these numbers. And, down through history, people have found the number 666 in many people's names (the Pope, Martin Luther, Hitler, and many others), and accused them of being the beast or Antichrist (not necessarily the same person).

This practice goes on today, as can be seen by a search through the Internet. So, who is the beast? That depends on who you fear, apparently:

How did Prince Charles (or Barney) get on the list? Actually, it is not particularly difficult to find 666 in almost any name or person. One numerologist states his "fundamental theorem of numerology: All numbers can be related to 666 in some non-trivial way." We might argue with his definitions of "theorem" and "non-trivial" (if all numbers can be related to 666, then virtually all of the ways are trivial), but he is essentially right.

To give you some taste of how this is done, how about "$"? We relate that to 666, because "$" is ASCII 36, which means 3 sixes or 666. Obvious, "non-trivial," and stupid; forgive me for being judgmental. There are other ways that 36 is related to 666 (1+2+3+4+...+36 = 666). WWW is on the above list, because the Hebrew letter pronounced "w" (it is actually pronounced like the English "v," but that is a German "w") is the sixth (actually seventh, but most encyclopedias call it the sixth) letter of that alphabet; 666.

Let's pick a name at random, oh how about Abraham Lincoln. Numerologists often use this code: A=1, B=2, C=3, ... I=9, J=1, K=2, ..., S=1, ... As you can see, we are using Z=26 and are Casting Out Nines. Doing this, ABRAHAM LINCOLN becomes a 6, as does ABE LINCOLN. He died on the 15th of the month (4/15/1865) which is also a 6. And he was the 16th president, which has a 6 in it. 666. Stupid as it may seem, that 16 becoming a 6 is not atypical of this (also 16 = 66/6 + 6 - 6/6, more sixes being somehow more impressive). Typically, we search for further 666's: ABE = 8 = (6+6)(0.6666666...). We can also find further 666's in "U.S. President," the "Gettysburg Address," and the "Emancipation Proclamation."

This can be done for virtually any world leader, past or present. It can, very probably, be done for you and me. "Jim Loy," I am sure, is easily transformed into 666. What a pathetic beast I would make, even less impressive than Prince Charles.

Incidentally, let me pick a number, how about 17. 17 = (6+6+6+...+6)/6 with 17 sixes inside the parentheses. Are you impressed?

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