By: EDWARD O'TOOLE
By: Phenomena Esotericist-at-Large
The Day of reckoning for hexakosioihexekontahexaphobics. Edward O’Toole,
Phenomena’s Esotericist-at-large, examines the true meaning of 666 and the Day
of The Beast.
June 6th, 2006 – 06/06/06 in both American and British dating systems. The Day
of the Beast or just an otherwise normal Tuesday unfortunate enough to have
landed at the centre of what to some symbolizes the Devil’s sending of the Beast
to start the Beginning of the End. One or the other.
For the last several months the internet has been buzzing with predictions
stemming from an obscure number written in an obscure text some 1900 years ago:
Revelation 13:18
Here is the wisdom! He who is having the understanding, let him count the number
of the beast, for the number of a man it is, and its number [is] 666 (From
Young’s Literal Translation)
And on that countless predictions for Armageddon are based! However, there are a
few slight discrepancies known concerning this number. Firstly, it is more than
likely incorrect and the number 616 (according to the original Oxyrhynchus
papyrus, dated approximately 150 years earlier than the oldest surviving copy of
Revelation) was the number of the Beast. And, more than likely, 616 was a
cryptic reference to Caesar Domitian (51 – 96 CE) who had a thing about killing
Christians when they were still going around graffitying walls with fish motifs.
He certainly fits the time frame for the Revelation of John’s writing – well,
one of the two timeframes at least. Scholars are divided whether it was written
sometime in the 90s CE or much earlier, in the mid-to-late 60s CE (which would
make Caesar Nero a more likely, and far more identifiable, candidate for the
Beast).
Either way, there’s another important factor that is being overlooked when
worrying about Tuesday the 6th of June, 2006.
It isn’t.
At 6 seconds past 6 minutes past 6 o’clock in the morning, June 6th 2006 (let’s
keep with the leitmotif to its fullest) in the Gregorian Calendar (what we use
nowadays and instigated by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582), we are in fact on a
completely different day in the Julian Calendar – May 24th to be precise. Same
year, different day. Will it affect the Beast if the calendar system has changed
over the years? Perhaps he’s already visited, noticed that no one was around to
welcome him, and gone again?
If he’s working to Hebrew calculations (and let’s not forget that it was the
Tribe of Israel that started all this in the beginning so he could be) then he’s
already been and gone - about 3760 years ago as they are now at 5766 in their
time frame. According to the Moslems, we’ve got another 579 years to wait. We
won’t even go into the various Asian Calendars.
So, let us recap: the world will end because a fictional character based on an
incorrect rendition of a number cryptically referring to a long-dead Roman
Emperor will return on a day which is out of sync with its original form.
Scary stuff! It must be true!
As for the Beast, and attempting to work out just who He might be (and there
have been many candidates over the centuries who’ve been labeled with that
moniker), perhaps Christians should not look just too closely at the New
Testament.
As an example, I shall choose the name Lucifer as it is easily recognizable by
most as the name of the Devil (The Being which sends the Beast, not the Beast
Himself). Lucifer appears first in Isaiah 14:12 (his only appearance in the Old
Testament). According to the internationally recognized King James Bible the
passage reads:
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou
cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”
However, Lucifer here is actually a Roman transliteration of Morning Star, or
Day Star (a pseudonym of Venus), whereas the Hebrew version (Helal ben Shahar)
was clearly referring to a Babylonian King, most likely Nebuchadnezzar, as we
can see in Young’s Literary Translation:
“How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou
hast been cut down to earth, O weakener of nations.”
Now, depending on which translation is seen as being the correct one inspired by
God Himself - the direct translation from Hebrew or the much later copy of a
copy of a copy of a copy of a Latin translation of the Greek Septuagint –
Christians actually have a slight problem. In the New Testament, Jesus is
clearly shown as being the same person as Lucifer, aka The Devil, aka Satan –
the sender of the Beast.
Revelation 2
27 [Jesus said] And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
Jesus even refers to himself as Lucifer:
Revelation 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things
in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and
morning star.
Which is verified in
2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts
So, Jesus is Lucifer, and the Devil sends the Beast with wrath according to Iron
Maiden, and the Number of the Beast is that of a Man.
Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be
The coming of the Son of Man will be as catastrophic as the Flood and Jesus is
the Son of Man so therefore Jesus (Lucifer) will send the Beast, which is Man,
and he is the Son of Man, therefore Jesus is his own grandson?
Flippant, yes, but when one attempts to attribute ancient numerical references
to contemporary dating systems and fret about apocalypses and armageddons (and
there should have been quite a few over the years according to a variety of
sects and cults) then one must sift through the entire body of work surrounding
the subject. The Bible is an immense collection of contradictions patchworked
together over millennia to suit the political motives of various ruling bodies
over a huge geographical area. To choose one single number out of millions of
other – and equally worthy or worthless, depending on one’s opinion – words
seems insane. But then again, belief in the illogical and improvable is the
basis of Faith so I suppose it’s as good a place to start as any.
I personally will be wearing my tin foil hat on Tuesday.
