We often hear tell of “The Mark Of The Beast” – the number 666 – being associated with the Pope and, by extension, the Catholic Church. This is used in an effort to show the ‘true satanic nature of the Church of Rome’.
Before I get to my point, I think it would be interesting to learn exactly how that number is arrived at.
Jimmy Akin tells us the origin in an article on Catholic Answers:
…we are told that the number of the beast is 666 and that this is the number of a man’s name (13:18). Not coincidentally, the persecuting, pagan Roman Empire was headed in the A.D. 60s by Caesar Nero, whose name happened to add up to 666 in the Hebrew system of letters and numbers. (In Hebrew, “Caesar Nero” = “NRWN QSR” = N 50 + R 200 + W 6 + N 50 + Q 100 + S 60 + R 200 = 666; a variant spelling of the name, NRW QSR, adds up to 616, which some manuscripts have in place of 666).
You can read the whole article by clicking on this link… It’s pretty enlightening.
There are lots of explanations and accusations flying around regarding to whom the number 666 points, but I, just today, noticed a possibility of which I had not previously been aware…
In the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, where Jesus is is giving the Bread of Life discourse, many (if not most) of the disciples to whom He is speaking suddenly abandon him. They cannot accept His teaching on the subject and leave in disgust.
“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
Jn 6:50 “this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.”
Jn 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Jn 6:52 “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jn 6:53 “Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
Jn 6:54 “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
Jn 6:54 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
Jn 6:55 “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
Jn 6:60 “Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
They could not accept the reality of The Eucharist – that He really and truly gives us His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to eat...
And now to the point of this post…
John 6:66 “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
Anyway, I thought it was kind of thought provoking…
BK
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