The dreaded date June 6, 2006 (6-6-6) has many expectant mothers-to-be becoming hysterical when they learned that their child who was scheduled to be born on that terrible day and might, indeed, be the Antichrist.
The association of the number 666 with the Antichrist is derived from Revelation 13:18, in which John the Revelator is told that that the number of the Beast is 666 and that this number stands for a person.
On May 1, 2005, scholars revealed that a newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating from the third century, indicates that later translators got it wrong: the Number of the Beast is 616. David Parker, professor of New Testament textual criticism and paleography at the University of Birmingham, has said that the numerical value of The Beast given to John in Revelation should actually be 616.
Those among you who never attended Sunday School or who have managed to surf past evangelical or fundamentalist Christian preachers warning about the Antichrist from their televised pulpits are asking, what's the big deal about this mysterious figure?
Although Jesus makes it very clear that no one knows the hour or day of his Second Coming, some Christian scholars have steadfastly viewed the rise of the Antichrist to earthly power as a kind of catalyst that will set in motion Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, the ultimate clash between the armies of Jesus Christ and Satan.
Although commonly associated with the apocalyptic New Testament book of Revelation, the word antichrist is nowhere to be found within that text. In 1 John 2:18, the epistle writer declares that the "enemy of Christ" has manifested and that many false teachers have infiltrated the Christian ranks. In verse 22, John names as the Antichrist anyone who would deny Jesus as the Christ and the Father and the Son, and in 2 John 7 he declares that there are many deceivers already at work among the faithful.
The earliest form of the Antichrist is probably the warrior king Gog, who appears in the book of Ezekiel and reappears in Revelation along with his kingdom of Magog, representing those earthly minions of Satan who will attack the people of God in a final great battle of good versus evil. Jewish writings about the "end of days" state that the armies of Gog and Magog will eventually be defeated and the world will finally be at peace.
In the prophecies of both Daniel and John the Revelator, the evil king, the Antichrist, is associated with ten rulers who give their power and allegiance to him in order to form a short-lived empire of bloodshed and destruction: "And the ten horns of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse . . . and speak great words against the most high God and shall wear down the saints of the Highest One and think to make changes in times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand for three and one half years" (Daniel 7:24).
Throughout the centuries, Christians have attempted to determine the Antichrist from among the powerful and ruthless leaders of their day.
It seems, though, that contemporary scholarship solved the mystery quite some time ago. In John the Revelator's world of the first century, the Beast who ruled the earth would have been the emperor, the caesar, of the Roman Empire, Nero. Using the Hebrew alphabet, the numerical value of "Caesar Nero," the merciless persecutor of the early Christians, works out to the number 666. In 2005, David Parker, professor of New Testament at the University of Birmingham, said that while earlier translators gave the numerical value of The Beast to Nero, the correct number, 616, refers to another nemesis of the early Christians, the emperor Caligula. With Nero and Caligula long turned to dust, no one should have to worry any longer about the Beast 666 appearing to bring about Armageddon.
This, however, seems not to be the case. Those who maintain that the number 666 is still a potent predictor of the Antichrist will continue to name their contemporary candidates for the role.
The numerical value of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's name reportedly added up to 666, and since he held the office of president of the United States for twelve years-and during the Great Depression and World War II-many of his conservative Christian critics began thinking of him as the Antichrist. And even Ronald Wilson Reagan, who in the estimation of many political analysts was one of our nation's most popular presidents, had certain dissenters calling attention to the fact that he had six letters in each of his three names-666.
In recent decades, the term of Antichrist has been applied to so many individuals in popular culture that it has lost much of sense of menace. However, those fundamentalist Christians who believe strongly in the coming time of the Tribulation, the Apocalypse, the Rapture, and the great final battle of good versus evil at Armageddon firmly believe that the title of Antichrist maintains its fear factor and that we must pay serious heed to the signs and warnings of the Beast as prophesied in the book of Revelation.
szabo.b.gabor 2012-11-16 08:59:36
I think the title supposed to be DCLXVI instead of DCXVI :)
Mister 13 2012-11-15 16:44:33
The dreaded date June 6, 2006 (6-6-6) has many expectant mothers-to-be becoming hysterical when they learned that their child who was scheduled to be born on that terrible day and might, indeed, be the Antichrist.
The association of the number 666 with the Antichrist is derived from Revelation 13:18, in which John the Revelator is told that that the number of the Beast is 666 and that this number stands for a person.
On May 1, 2005, scholars revealed that a newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating from the third century, indicates that later translators got it wrong: the Number of the Beast is 616. David Parker, professor of New Testament textual criticism and paleography at the University of Birmingham, has said that the numerical value of The Beast given to John in Revelation should actually be 616.
Those among you who never attended Sunday School or who have managed to surf past evangelical or fundamentalist Christian preachers warning about the Antichrist from their televised pulpits are asking, what's the big deal about this mysterious figure?
Although Jesus makes it very clear that no one knows the hour or day of his Second Coming, some Christian scholars have steadfastly viewed the rise of the Antichrist to earthly power as a kind of catalyst that will set in motion Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, the ultimate clash between the armies of Jesus Christ and Satan.
Although commonly associated with the apocalyptic New Testament book of Revelation, the word antichrist is nowhere to be found within that text. In 1 John 2:18, the epistle writer declares that the "enemy of Christ" has manifested and that many false teachers have infiltrated the Christian ranks. In verse 22, John names as the Antichrist anyone who would deny Jesus as the Christ and the Father and the Son, and in 2 John 7 he declares that there are many deceivers already at work among the faithful.
The earliest form of the Antichrist is probably the warrior king Gog, who appears in the book of Ezekiel and reappears in Revelation along with his kingdom of Magog, representing those earthly minions of Satan who will attack the people of God in a final great battle of good versus evil. Jewish writings about the "end of days" state that the armies of Gog and Magog will eventually be defeated and the world will finally be at peace.
In the prophecies of both Daniel and John the Revelator, the evil king, the Antichrist, is associated with ten rulers who give their power and allegiance to him in order to form a short-lived empire of bloodshed and destruction: "And the ten horns of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse . . . and speak great words against the most high God and shall wear down the saints of the Highest One and think to make changes in times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand for three and one half years" (Daniel 7:24).
Throughout the centuries, Christians have attempted to determine the Antichrist from among the powerful and ruthless leaders of their day.
It seems, though, that contemporary scholarship solved the mystery quite some time ago. In John the Revelator's world of the first century, the Beast who ruled the earth would have been the emperor, the caesar, of the Roman Empire, Nero. Using the Hebrew alphabet, the numerical value of "Caesar Nero," the merciless persecutor of the early Christians, works out to the number 666. In 2005, David Parker, professor of New Testament at the University of Birmingham, said that while earlier translators gave the numerical value of The Beast to Nero, the correct number, 616, refers to another nemesis of the early Christians, the emperor Caligula. With Nero and Caligula long turned to dust, no one should have to worry any longer about the Beast 666 appearing to bring about Armageddon.
This, however, seems not to be the case. Those who maintain that the number 666 is still a potent predictor of the Antichrist will continue to name their contemporary candidates for the role.
The numerical value of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's name reportedly added up to 666, and since he held the office of president of the United States for twelve years-and during the Great Depression and World War II-many of his conservative Christian critics began thinking of him as the Antichrist. And even Ronald Wilson Reagan, who in the estimation of many political analysts was one of our nation's most popular presidents, had certain dissenters calling attention to the fact that he had six letters in each of his three names-666.
In recent decades, the term of Antichrist has been applied to so many individuals in popular culture that it has lost much of sense of menace. However, those fundamentalist Christians who believe strongly in the coming time of the Tribulation, the Apocalypse, the Rapture, and the great final battle of good versus evil at Armageddon firmly believe that the title of Antichrist maintains its fear factor and that we must pay serious heed to the signs and warnings of the Beast as prophesied in the book of Revelation.
szabo.b.gabor 2012-11-16 08:59:36
I think the title supposed to be DCLXVI instead of DCXVI :)