6 things you should know about the number 666

 6 things you should know about the number 666 - By CP Staff - https://www.christianpost.com/news/six-things-you-should-know-about-the-number-666.html?page=1 Some say it’s the most evil number in history. Others say it will be the primary way to identify history’s most evil man in the future. But wherever one stands on Bible prophecy, there is no doubt about the intrigue surrounding the number 666 and its role in the book of Revelation. 1. The number involves satanic worship Most scholars believe that Revelation 13, which contains all the Bible says about the number, tells us that at some point in the future, a person or system — or perhaps acombination of the two — will require all of the human race to receive a mark on their right hand or their foreheads in order to participate in the global economy. Revelation 13 states: “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worshipthe image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast orthe number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” Greg Laurie, the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, said he believes the vision unveiled in Revelation 13 will emerge in the form of atotalitarian economic policy that will ultimately result in the compulsory worship of Satan. “The Antichrist is going to introduce a cashless society,” he told audiences in 2021. “The endgame of this is to cause people to engage in devil worship.” Laurie predicted that “the Antichrist’s economic policy will be very simple.” He summarized said policy as “Take my mark and worship me or starve to death. … No mark, no merchandise. … No seal, no sale.” 2. Some scholars believe 666 corresponds to a historical figure Hank Hanegraaff, known to his fans as the “Bible Answer Man,” has argued that the words of the Apostle John in Revelation 13 are actually directed to a contemporary audience. “Remember that Revelation is communicating the words of John to people in the first century and saying overtly that with wisdom and understanding they could discern the numberof the beast, and the number of his name,” he told The Christian Post in a 2012 interview. “Now, obviously, only a first century audience could understand the number of the beast and the number of his name.” According to Hanegraaff, the actual number is 660 and six, not three consecutive sixes. “Obviously no amount of wisdom and insight would have enabled a first century audience to calculate the number of a 21st century beast,” he added. “And therefore, it wouldhave been cruel and dangerously misleading for John to suggest that first century Christians would be able to identify the beast if, in fact, the beast was a 21st century individual or institution. But other prophecy experts, like Todd Hampson of the "Prophecy Pros Podcast," say the mark is either the name of the future Antichrist or the number of his name — likely usingGematria where a numerical value is assigned to each letter — which will total 666. “I believe those taking the mark will be able to essentially choose from two insignia tattoos ... either the Antichrist’s name or 666,” Hampson told CP, adding he believesbased on the Greek term used, it will be a visible insignia on the surface of the skin rather than under the skin, similar to what Roman soldiers used to do for their commanding officers. There were some people who thought Ronald Wilson Reagan was the Antichrist because his first, middle and last names each contained six letters: 666. 3. COVID-19 pandemic proved implementing a global system is not far-fetched Long thought to be unachievable simply from a practical standpoint, the extreme measures taken by many governments to combat COVID-19 in recent years might have shown thattransitioning the world to a new economic system under harsh totalitarian rule isn’t entirely out of the question. In fact, as Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California told CP in an interview last November, a cashless society could even be pitched as a solution tomany of the world’s problems. Hibbs has suggested that 666 could be a required prefix for anyone who wishes to participate in banking or other economic activity. “The Bible does tell us in Revelation Chapter 13 that there will come a time when a global economic system is digitized, that all those who participate in a global economywill need to do so with what we would call a prefix, meaning a number that is the head of an account,” he told CP. Hibbs’ remarks to CP came after the Federal Reserve of New York and major lenders like Bank of America and HSBC launched a pilot program for a digital dollar that will testthe use of such tokens in the U.S. banking system. Hibbs pointed to how authorities might promote the use of a cashless system as a means of eliminating human trafficking, drug smuggling, counterfeiting and other criminalnetworks. Before the COVID-19 lockdowns, this might have been unthinkable — but not anymore. “For the first time in human history, the world was immediately affected and united for good or for evil regarding COVID. … It brought the world — all of it at once — intoreal time,” he recalled. “No other event in human history has ever accomplished something like that.” 4. 666 could be the wrong number Researchers in 2011 announced the discovery of millions of fragments of ancient texts in Egypt that might be able to provide insight into the number of the beast referredto in the book of Revelation. Perhaps the most intriguing discovery involves an inquiry into whether the number of the beast referred to in Revelation 13:18 is actually “616” or “665” rather than the widelyunderstood “666.” In 2011, researchers at Oxford University announced that a fragmentary papyrus of Revelation dating back to as early as the late third century appeared to assign variationsof the infamous number. 5. Several Bible characters can be linked to the number 666. Although some scholars have argued over the identity of 666, others have pointed to places in Scripture that point to the number itself, in addition to its reference in Revelation13. One such reference is the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year, which was 666 talents of gold (2 Chronicles 9:13). Another one is the sons of Adonikam numberedas 666 (Ezra 2:13). 1 Samuel 17 states that Goliath stood six cubits tall while possessing a spear’s head that weighed 600 shekels of iron. In Daniel 3, we’re told that Nebuchadnezzar’s statuestood 60 cubits high, six cubits wide and had six musical instruments for its worshipers. While people have used Gematria and other methods in attempts to identify various world leaders with 666, Hampson says he believes 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 teaches that we willnot know who the Antichrist is until after the Church has been raptured. So, for Hampson, any attempts to identify the Antichrist prior to the rapture will not be accurate. “We do see the spirit of the antichrist prevalent in our day (see 1 John 4:3), and there seems to be a candidate in each generation since Satan does not know the exact timingof the rapture,” he said. “Hitler, for example, was very antichrist-like and was probably the enemy’s attempt to jump start the End Times. Satan can’t wait until it is time for Antichrist to rise topower, but God has a particular order and His own timing.” 6. There’s actually a clinical name for the fear of the number 666. Back in 2006, many people began to wonder if there was any significance to the date of June 6, 2006 — otherwise known as 6/6/06 on the calendar. Turns out that fear has an actual name: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, or an irrational fear of the number 666, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Sufferers of hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia are said to experience intense, irrational anxiety or fear when faced specifically with the number 666. Some apparently go so faras to change their address from 666 to an adjacent number or even offering to overpay for a bill of $666, such as one Missouri church did in 2013.