The Mark of the Beast: Who is the Beast and what is their MARK?

The Number of the Beast 666 and Origin

The extraordinary truth about this mysterious number 666 and its origin is about to reveal just how wrong and ignorant the majority can be on Biblical topics and how Satan can and does keep many in the dark on extremely important issues. Remember this when you discover what the mark of the beast is. As we saw previously it is not 666 and is separate to the mark.

Revelation 13:17 “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had theMark, OR the Name of the beast, OR the Number of his name.”

Note that the phrase the “Number of his name” refers to that mysterious number 666. So is 666 the devil’s number? Not even close! We also previously saw that the beast is not Satan and this number belongs to the beast power, which is the Papal Catholic Church. Thousands have speculated about this number but the Bible is clear. The Bible says it is the number of a man and this man is from the beast power, or in other words, from the Roman Catholic Church. Does the Catholic Church have a man at its head?

Revelation 13:18 “Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding COUNTthe number of the beast: for it is the number of a MAN; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

Origins of 666 and why God calls the Catholic Church Babylon

Before looking further at 666 being the number of a man, let’s find out what the significance and origin of 666 is. We know the mark of the beast is about worship and that we are told not to worship the beast. We have also just seen that 666 is the number of a man heading this power, but why does God call the Catholic Church Babylon in the book of Revelation, and what is the origin of this mysterious number 666? See also number of the beast origin.

Very few people know the answer to these questions or why Revelation speaks about this number with such negative connotations. So here is anEXTREMELY BRIEF overview of the history and origin of the number 666, and why this number is now associated with the Roman Catholic Church and its leader. You are about to find out why worship is such a significant issue in regards to this number 666 and the mark of the beast.

Note first the significance of the Babylonians using the sexagesimal (base-60) number system from which comes 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, 360 (60×6) degrees in a circle and 60 degrees in each angle of an equilateral triangle etc. 360 divided by 10 = 36 (more on this number in a moment) and 6 * 6 = 36. From this came that mysterious number 666, which is directly linked with the worship practices of ancient Babylon from around the time of Daniel. See also Daniel 3:1. Babylon worshiped gods that were associated with the sun, moon, planets and stars involved with astrology. Babylonians were the principle developers of astrology as we know it today and the pagan priests wore amulets called “Sigilla Solis” or “Sun Seal” which symbolized 36 constellations. In this system of worship, they had 36 supreme gods plus the god associated with the sun, which they believed to be the father of all the other gods and so was supreme over all. They believed that numbers had power over the gods they worshiped so they assigned numbers to their gods so that they could have power over them. They did this by counting their gods and assigning a consecutive number to each of the 36 lesser supreme gods, and then added up these numbers (from 1 to 36) and assigned the sum to the sun god. If you have not guessed by now, the sum of the numbers from 1 to 36 totals 666, which they assigned to the god associated with the sun. The calculation is below. See also Murl Vance quote.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666

However, they feared their gods as they believed they were primarily evil and thought that one of them might strike them down sometime, so they made amulets with a 6 x 6 matrix with 1 through 36 on them which are called numeric matrixes magic squares today. The design of the amulets was to protect them from a god striking them down using his magic power so the amulets had to be as powerful as possible. In order to increase its power, they arranged these numbers in such a way that the sum of any given row, column or diagonal was 111, and therefore the sum of all six rows or all six columns was 666. This was supposed to provide extra protection including from the sun god since this god's sum was present on the amulet. The one above has the god of the sun standing on the lion. This indicated the sun's position in the constellation of Leo during the hot days of August. The back is inscribed “Nachyel,” meaning “intelligence of the sun” and the numbers 1 to 36. The second illustration is also a solar seal, but it honours the star Basilisco, which was the diminutive form of the Greek basileus (king), thus meaning the same as the Latin regulus. Regulus is the only first magnitude star in the constellation of Leo. The sun and the moon are again clearly seen on this amulet and on the reverse side is the same arrangement of numerals with the actual figure 666 given as the total. See Murl Vance quote.

These amulets were usually made of gold being like the colour of the sun or baked clay tablets and were carried in yellow silk or hung around their neck, which they believed provided protection as long as they carried it with them.

6 32 3 34 35 1 7 11 27 28 8 30 19 14 16 15 23 24 18 20 22 21 17 13 25 29 10 9 26 12 36 5 33 4 2 31

This table as illustrated has the same arrangement of numbers as the above images in a 6 x 6 matrix and is also referred to in numerology as the magic square of the Sun. There are similar magic squares for Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, all of which have been known for centuries.

The creating of amulets with this number arrangement that belongs to astrology appears to have continued well past the time of Christ. Archaeologists have found amulets with Latin inscriptions, so we know that the Romans were indulging in this practice. Therefore, the number 666 came about from pagan worship practices of the Babylonians and their practice of astrology. The symbolism of sun worship is still used in many areas of the Catholic Church today, not always obvious but often packaged discreetly as to not be noticed by the untrained eye.

When the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C, they came with their own religious practices and gods, so had no need of the priests of the Babylonian religious system. Although the Persians were sympathetic towards the Babylonian god Marduk and did accommodate the priests of this god for a while, it appears from history that they eventually fired the priests and used their own. The Babylonian priests left Babylon (probably because they were out of work) and most of them went to Pergamum and some to Egypt where they taught their religious practices to the Egyptians. The Egyptians readily picked up these Babylonian religious concepts and further extended and developed some of the ideas we find in astrology.

The teaching of the Babylonian religious practices by the Babylonian priests and their direct descendants went on in the city of Pergamum for centuries afterwards. They taught astrology and the making of amulets with the numbers 1 to 36 on them in the special arrangements they commonly used. This continued until about the year 133 B.C. when the last king of the Attalid Empire, (Eumenes’ son, Attalus III) who had his capital at Pergamum, died without an heir and bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Rome accepted the kingdom and set up the province of Asia, which included Ionia and the territory of Pergamum by 129 B.C. Sometime soon after this, the priests who were still teaching the Babylonian religious practices saw their opportunity and went to Rome. The Romans often adopted the religious practices of other cultures, which also helped the empire survive as long as it did. The Babylonian priests rightly calculated that the Romans would be very willing to learn and follow their teachings. Soon all of Rome filled with their religious teachings and practices. It eventually became so pervasive that people called Rome the “New Babylon.” Early Christians also used the term Babylon as a veiled code word for a particular city, so as to avoid persecution from that pagan power. That city was also Rome. See also 1 Peter 5:13.

When the Christian Church came along, the practices and beliefs of the Babylonian religion followed right into the Church. Historians have said that it seemed almost the entire city of Rome converted virtually overnight to Christianity, but what actually happened is that the Babylonian religion was simply brought into the Church and the three supreme gods of the Babylonian religion were simply renamed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Lesser gods became saints of the Church. The pagan Babylonian religious practices came into the Church right along with it. This made it easy for the followers of the Babylonian religion to convert to Christianity, but it certainly was not a genuine conversion. God condemns pagan religious practices, but they brought these practices into the Church anyway.

History also fully supports this. The pagan Babylonian priests had a chief priest who held the title Pontifex Maximus (translated to Latin meant that he was head pagan priest or literally the Greatest Pontiff). Most have heard the word “Pontiff” applied to the Pope and history explains where that term comes from. Originally, the king of the Attalid Empire held the title of Pontiff, and he passed it on to the Babylonian Priests before he died and they went to Rome. This title was given to Julius Caesar in 63 B.C. thereby making him the supreme priest of the Babylonian Religion and its gods. (This shows that the Babylonian priests arrived in Rome before the time of Julius Caesar or this event could not have happened.)

This meant that the Babylonian religion literally moved into Rome and took it over, becoming head of the Roman government. This title passed from emperor to emperor, all of whom served as chief priest of the Babylonian Religion from then on until 367 A.D, where the Roman Emperor Gratian became the first since Julius Caesar to refuse the title Pontifex Maximus. Before Gratian refused the title Pontifex Maximus, the young Emperor bestowed it upon Pope Damasus I, who became the first Pope in history to hold the title. This made him head of the Babylonian religion when he took the title of Pontifex Maximus. Damasus I was the head of the Christian Church in Rome, and took the title as head of the pagan Babylonian Religion and its collection of pagan gods. Did the Babylonian Religion move into the Christian Church? History says most definitely YES. So why does God call the Papal Church Babylon? The answer should now be clear.

Some dispute that Church leaders incorporated pagan Babylonian religious practices into the Catholic Church but even Catholic historians admit it. Cardinal Newman in his Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 372, 373says that the Church incorporated many pagan religious practices into the Church. He claims that the Church sanctified them and that made it safe to bring these practices into the Church. Every year Catholic Pilgrims kiss the feet of the Roman god Jupiter thinking they are kissing the image of Peter. God condemns idolatry, the making of images for worship, and even bowing down before images as part of an act of worship. Yet many images are in Catholic Churches and the Church teaches people to bow down before them. They may be praying to someone else but the act of bowing down before the image, regardless of what or who one is actually worshipping at the time is plainly what God condemns in Exodus 20:4-6.

The reason the Bible speaks so negatively about 666 is that it symbolizes the power of the person who has this number to have power over all the other gods, which in the case of the Papacy is their claim to be God and to have authority over God and his law, which are false claims. Because the Popes claim both to be God and to have authority over God, they believe that they can change the law of God to suit their own purposes. This is extremely serious to God and He knows it will also lead many to be lost for all eternity.

So the evidence presented here links 666 with ancient sun worshipping pagan Babylon and the Papacy of the Catholic Church, which is dominated by pagan practices and solar images and is referred to as Babylon in the book of Revelation. This is just a small part of the evidence that makes this relationship apparent. See mystery Babylon for more information.

One should now understand the relevance of why God calls the Catholic Church Babylon, and as you can see, there is nothing directly Satanic about the number 666, which comes out of Babylonian pagan worship. As a result, the Catholic Church has symbolically become Babylon and why we find that the head of this power has the number 666. It was known a long time ago that various Papal titles such as “Vicarius Filii Dei” which means Vicar of Christ or substitute for Christ, being synonymous with Antichrist, i.e., assuming the power of God on earth, does count or add up to 666 in Roman numerals and Latin etc. All the parallels are amazing such as the numbers on the amulet count to 666 and in the same way the Bible says to count the number of the beast, which also comes to 666. See an excerpt of an article on the known titles of the Pope called “The number of a man” or select for the full original image.