Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: slm9q@cc.usu.edu (Kenneth Dean Hunsaker) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: 666's and Beasties everywhere. Message-ID: Date: 25 Apr 91 01:14:27 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Utah State University Lines: 362 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST 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. (Revelation 13:18.) In Hebrew and Greek, letters were also used as numbers. Each letter in these languages also has a numerical value. Gematria is the practice of adding the value of each letter in a word or phrase and finding a total. The ancients loved such number-word play. Thus an inscription at Pompeii reads: "I lover her whose number is 545." This was not the girls phone number scrawled on the bathroom wall as we might see today. Rather, the letters of her name, if read as numbers, added up to 545. Many readers assume that the beast mentioned in Revelation 13 has a that will have the gematric equivalent of 666. In symbolism 666 is interpreted as the concentration of imperfection; the fullness of human pride in independence of and opposition to God. The number 6 in Greek is the letter "stigma" (a unique form of the letter S). Stigma means "a mark" especially a mark made by a brand as burnt upon slaves, cattle, soldiers, or religious devotees (who branded themselves as belonging to their gods). There are a couple of things I would like to comment on before presenting the filthy list: First, We are told that the beast has the appearance of the lamb but it has the voice of a dragon. I take this to mean that although the beast may imitate righteousness and deceive some, It is really filled with all manner of wickedness and evil. Many evil people have partaken of this spirit, although they were probably not the "beast" John was referring to. Second, this is at best an unclear passage. I am not afraid of being damned for not knowing the meaning of a figure that God has not made clear to us. I want to understand, but If I don't find a completely satisfying answer, I will leave the book open and be patient. Third, Some of what follows is ridiculous, and too large a portion of it is filled with pride and contentiousness. I would say that such interpretations disqualify themselves by their very nature. Silliness, pride and contentiousness are opposites of wisdom and understanding. The latter are necessary for a correct interpretation. Fourth, I tried to add correctly, but I do not know Greek or Hebrew. I cannot vouch for any accuracy there. Some of what follows is inaccurate, and some blanks need to be filled in. I have also included a short list of possibilities that came without the calculations. I would appreciate any additions, help or corrections--by post or e-mail. Lastly, Which ones did I like/dislike? While none of these are of my creation, I wish Santa Claus was :-). My (serious) personal opinion is that John's is a dual prophecy. It was fulfilled in his day by Nero and Domitian, and It will be fulfilled again, before the second coming of Christ. The examples I disliked most were those directed at individual churches. These seemed to smack of hatred and bigotry to me. I decided to include these examples since that was the original plan: to show how interpretations ought not to be done. And to point out that hatred and prejudice have no place in Christian interpretations of the Bible. -KDH ----- Nero Caesar. In Hebrew Nero Caesar was written "QSR NRWN." The numeric value of each of the letters in Hebrew is as follows: N = 50 Q = 100 R = 200 S = 60 W = 6 R = 200 N = 50 ----- ----- 360 + 306 = 666 ----- Domitian Caesar. Nero and Domitian are famous for their persecution of the Christians. When Nero committed suicide many people refused to believe he was really dead and thus emerged the "Nero redivivus" legends. And from time to time he appeared in 7-Eleven stores throughout the country--No! No! sorry, that's the Elvis redivivus legend. Nero redivivus was more like our "Hitler is still alive and amassing his armies in some secret part of the world." Because of Domitian's excesses (he was the first Roman Emperor to demand that he be worshiped as god), his depravity so much like Nero's, and his persecution of the saints. He was seen by many as Nero redivivus-- who was wounded to death and then healed (Rev 13:3,12). According to Pythagorean numerology, the "triangular number 666 is the sum of all the numbers from 1-36 and 36 is the sum of all the numbers from 1-8. Therefore 666 = 36 = 8 = the beast. and Domitian Caesar was the 8th emperor of Rome (see Rev 17: 10-11). ----- Domitian Caesar. John was calculating the numerical value of the legend on the current coins of Domitian. His full title, found on all coins was "Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus." This translates to the Greek, "Autokrator Kaisar Dometianos Sebastos Germanikos" This in turn can be abbreviated to "A. Kai. Domet. Seb. Ge." The sum of this abbreviation is 666. A K A I D O M E T S E B G E 1 + 20 + 1 + 10 + 4 + 70 + 40 + 5 + 300 + 200 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 5 = 666 ----- The Roman Empire. The Romans did not use all the letters of their alphabet as numbers (like the Hebrews and Greeks), they only used six letters: I,V,X,L,C, and D. The sum of these six letters is 666. I = 1 V = 5 X = 10 L = 50 C = 100 D = 500 ------- 666 (Using the letter "M" to represent 1000 is of modern origin.) ----- Latin (The Roman Empire). One of the earliest suggestions comes from St. Irenaeus who says 666 refers to the word "Latin." (too bad he wasn't referring to those latin lessons in school!) He was referring to the Greek word for latin which is "LATEINOS" which means "the Latin man," or Rome, or the Roman Empire. (Kind of the flavor of what the word American means to us.) The sum of the Greek letters in LATINOS is 666. L A T E N I O S 30 + 1 + 300 + 5 + 10 + 50 + 70 + 200 = 666 ----- Evanthas Also comes from St. Irenaeus. But, I don't know what it means. Help anyone? E V A N TH A S 5 + 400 + 1 + 50 + 9 + 1 + 200 = 666 ----- Teitan Also comes from St. Irenaeus. Again, I don't know what it means. Help anyone? T E I T A N 300 + 5 + 10 + 300 + 1 + 50 = 666 ----- Napoleon Bonapart "Napoleon Bonapart rendered in Greek is "Nabonaparti." The sum of the Greek letters is 666. N A B O N A P A R T I 50 + 1 + 2 + 70 + 50 + 1 + 80 + 1 + 100 + 300 + 10 + 1 = 666* (* pretend there is another 1 in there?) ----- Adolf Hitler If you assign numbers to the English alphabet where A = 100, B = 101, C = 102, etc, the name "Hitler" equals 666. H I T L E R 107 + 108 + 119 + 111 + 104 + 117 = 666 ----- Joseph Stalin Stalin's name in Russian is Dzugashvili. Stalin succeeded Trotsky as the Russian Premier at the age of 49. So, beginning at 49, if you assign numbers to the English alphabet where A = 49, B = 50, C = 51, etc, the name "DZUGASHVILI" equals 666. D Z U G A S H V I L I 52 + 74 + 69 + 55 + 49 + 67 + 56 + 70 + 57 + 60 + 57 = 666 ----- The Catholic Church. The Greek phrase "He Letana Basileia," refers to the Catholic Church (literally, "the Latin Kingdom"). The sum of its letters is 666. H E L E T A N A B A S I L E I 15 + 5 + 30 + 5 + 300 + 1 + 50 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 200 + 10 + 30 + 5 + 10 A + 1 = 666* (* pretend for a moment that H = 15?) ----- The Pope "Pope" in the Greek is "Papeiskos." The sum of the Greek letters is 666. P A P E I S K O S 80 + 1 + 80 + 5 + 10 + 200 + 20 + 70 + 200 = 666 ----- The Pope Written on The Pope's belt, cap and tiara is the latin title "VICARIUS FILII DEI" (Vicar of the Son of God). If you drop all letters that don't double as Roman numerals except for the letter U which is equivalent to a V. The Roman numerals in the title add up to 666. V = 5 I = 1 C = 100 A = 0 F = 0 R = 0 I = 1 I = 1 L = 50 D = 500 V = 5 I = 1 E = 0 S = 0 I = 1 I = 1 ----- ----- ----- 112 + 53 + 501 = 666 (Depending on how you combine the letters, and whether you use U = V this phrase can be added as 657, 659, 660, 661, 662, 664, or 666. The more common title for the pope is VICARIUS CHRISTI (Vicar of Christ). Which comes nowhere near 666.) ----- 7th Day Adventists The German name for Adventists is "Adventisten Apocalypsen" (Apocalypse is another name for the book of revelation). Further their founder's name, "Helen Harmon White" adds up to 666 if you assign the English letters to the values the Greek letters had. H = 0 H = 0 A = 1 W = 0 E = 5 R = 100 H = 0 L = 30 M = 40 I = 10 E = 5 O = 70 T = 300 N = 50 N = 50 E = 5 ---- ----- ----- 90 + 261 + 315 = 666 Supposedly the initials of the international name of the 7th Day Adventists (if spelled in Greek) are "UNFVG." This somehow equals 666. (I could not even get it to come close. Suggestions anyone?) ----- Martin Luther. "Luther" in the Greek is "Loutherana." The sum of the Greek letters is 666. L O U TH E R A N A 30 + 70 + 400 + 9 + 5 + 100 + 1 + 50 + 1 = 666 ----- Mohammed "Mohammed" in the Greek is "Maometis." The sum of the Greek letters is 666. M A O M E T I S 40 + 1 + 70 + 40 + 5 + 300 + 10 + 200 = 666 ----- Ronald Wilson Reagan Each of his 3 names has 6 letters. ----- Henry Kissinger If you assign numbers to the English alphabet where A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc., and then multiply by 6 (the number of years Kissinger served in office), then "Kissinger" = 666. K I S S I N G E R 11 + 9 + 19 + 19 + 9 + 14 + 7 + 5 + 18 = 111 111 * 6 = 666 ----- The Cure for Syphilis The official title for Dr. Ehrlich's discovery of a cure for Syphilis was 666. ----- Santa Claus This beast "deceiveth them that dwell on earth by means of the miracles which he had power to do." And "as many as would not worship the beast," by *buying* the right things, "should be killed" by their children. If you assign numbers to the English alphabet where A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, etc., and then multiply by 6 (the devil number!) Santa Claus = 666. S A N T A C L A U S 19 + 1 + 14 + 20 + 1 + 3 + 12 + 1 + 21 + 19 = 111 111 * 6 = 666 ----- Other suggestions: - Caligula Caesar - Vespasian Caesar - ultraviolet tatoos (of the number "666" on hands and foreheads) - ATM cards. - Bar codes (for pricing scanners) - Trajan - Richard Nixon - The Beatles - Mikhail Sergeievich Gorbachev (the numerical value of the Russian letters.) - Karl Marx - Leonid Breshnev - World War I and II - Hugh Hefner - Me ----- Kenneth Dean Hunsaker slm9q@cc.usu.edu