The Antichrist 666 is supposedly a human servant of Satan but have we got the number right? Some scholars now claim this should be 616.
I hadn't heard this previously but it appears that in 2005 a fragment of papyrus was revealed, containing the earliest known version of the part of the Bible's Book of Revelation - the section discussing the Number of the Beast. On this papyrus the number is shown to be 616 and not 666. Apparently the two different numbers reflect two different spellings of Emperor Nero's name - 666 and 616 being the codes for these two spellings.
Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham,believes that 616, although less memorable than 666, is the original. He said:
"This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people's names. Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking."
Throughout history many suggestions have been put forward as to who the Antichrist 666 may have been such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III of France, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler to name but a few.
If you want to wage war it makes sense to create the enemy as an Antichrist to manipulate the population. I read that American fundamentalists did this by considering Saddam Hussein to be a contender for the title - therefore a 'good' justification to send young men to be killed in a war.
The British occultist Aleister Crowley was different. He convinced himself that he was the Beast 666. His new religion of Thelema was created to replace Christianity. Doesn't seem to have done too well though.
If 616 is really the number it puts the kibosh on Crowley's claims and those of many others as to who the Antichrist or the Beast may be.
Will we ever discover the true Antichrist? Actually some claim to have the answer:
"One thing that would settle this question would be if a man appeared on the scene fulfilling everything else for the First Beast from the Sea in Revelation 13 and other prophecies related to what is called "the Antichrist". If we 'calculated' the 'number of his name' as instructed and it came to either 616 or 666 we would have our answer.
There is such a man. Prince Charles of Wales' heraldic achievement (coat-of-arms) literally consists of the very beasts described in Rev 13 and Dan 7, he is a Prince (Dan 9:27) and he is from the old Roman Empire that destroyed the Temple (Dan 9:27).
So what does his name add up to? Rather than 616, his name adds up to 666 using the ancient gematria system. And not only does this work in the English, but also in the official Hebrew transliteration (Nasich Charles Mem Wales). What are the odds anyone would have a name that calculates to the same number in two languages (without tampering with the transliteration like is done to Javier Solana's name to make it equal 666 in Hebrew)?" Source.
Gosh! There we go it's been Prince Charles all along!
Mind you, Marvel comics have had a Multiverse in Earth-616 all along. To quote from the
Marvel Wiki:
"Earth-616 has all the features of our reality: same countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.), same historical events (World War II, 9/11, etc.), and so on. However, it also contains new ones, such as countries like Wakanda or Genosha, and organizations like the espionage agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemy, Hydra."
But, whatever, treat 616 as 666 - just in case!
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