October 7: UNWITTING SELF-INCRIMINATION

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Revelation 13:18

This infamous number, feared by some and joked about by others, needs to be investigated in its context. Though many have attempted to link it to various emperors, kings, presidents, or dictators, there are other identifying characteristics already mentioned in Scripture that accompany this identifying number.*

The infamous document, Donation of Constantine, was used as calculated reinforcement to the authority of the papacy in the western Roman Empire (Constantine had moved east to Byzantium, vacating Rome’s throne). Its purpose was to establish the pope’s legitimacy, and this was especially aided in the document’s allegations regarding the noble, exalted, and infallible position held by the pope, including power over the land and politics of western divided Rome (Europe).

But it was not written by Constantine at all. It was actually found to be a forgery written some four hundred years later than the date stamped upon it, for it was composed in the 8th century. The discovery of its fraudulence was proven in the 15th century. Although its authorship is uncertain, its promotion of papal power and authority reveals its origin to be from within the papacy. In it, a certain title for the pope, Vicarius Filii Dei (Vicegerent of the Son of God), was first used. This title became a favorite among numerous popes for themselves, and much cherished among Catholic civil and canon lawyers, cardinals, bishops, prominent Jesuits, and in some catechisms.

Roman numerals are taken from the Latin alphabet. The number value of the name Vicarius Filii Dei adds up to, you guessed it, 666. In the creation of this title, the papacy unwittingly fulfilled this identifying prophecy given to John the Revelator some 700 years before the writing of Donation of Constantine. Since the time it was proven to be a forgery, the papacy has attempted to walk it back, claiming that this title was never used. Over 20 papal tiaras (triple jeweled crowns representing heaven, earth, and the underworld) have been carefully preserved. But the tiara worn by Pope Gregory XVI and seen as recently as 1845 by Catholic converts to Protestantism, bearing the title Vicarius Filii Dei set in diamonds, has mysteriously vanished.

The Reformers were unanimous in their assessment of the office of the pope as antichrist. But the numerology of this title that adds up to 666 is only one of a list of identifying characteristics that make plain the role of the sea beast as it developed and in its last-day prophetic role. The number 6 is associated with humanity, created in the pinnacle of glory on the sixth day of Creation. However, the full week is expressed in the number 7 and points to fullness in God and with God. Thus, the number six stands in contrast to the divine number 7. It symbolizes man-centered, not God-centered theology. 666 symbolizes Babylonian teachings in the place of Biblical theology (see Daniel 3:1).

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Acts 20:30 (see also Isaiah 14:13-14; Colossians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)

* None of the other names proposed are religious powers that demand worship, claim the power to forgive sins, to alter the Ten Commandments, to serve “in the place of” Christ, control who can and cannot enter heaven, have a 1260-year record of persecution of Christians, a deadly wound that is healed, or a mark that identifies its adherents, among many other unbiblical claims and practices.