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PR11: Information on the Beast and his Name[Taken from the Prophecy Papers by Walter R. DolenCopyright © 1977-2003 by Walter R. Dolen and/or BeComingOne Church]
How important is a name?pr558» Importance of God's Name. God's Name is very important. Even one of the ten commandments warns against taking his Name in vain (Ex 20:7; Deut 5:11). In the first part of the God Papers (GP1: "Great Significance of the Name") we point out from the Bible how important God considers his Name. If you haven't studied this section, you should study it, so you can better understand how important God considers his Name to be (See GP1c). Christ came in his Father's Namepr559» Christ's Name and Person Denied. "I have come in my Father's Name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own Name, you will accept him" (John 5:43). Not only has the world not accepted the true Messiah, it has also rejected his Name. As shown in the first part of the God Papers, God's Name as revealed by God in Exodus 3:14 is the "BeComingOne" or "YHWH" or "He (who) Will-Be," or in his own words, "I will be." His Name is not the "Lord," or "I am" as commonly misrepresented in today's Bibles. Just two verses above Exodus 3:14 in Exodus 3:12 the same Hebrew word that many use to "prove" that God's Name means "I am" is translated as "I will be." This same Hebrew word appears in about 42 verses in the Bible, where it is mostly translated as "I will be" ("I will be" in GP1). I will be or He will be is God's Name, not I am. Last Antichrist comes in his Father's Namepr560» We know that there will have been many antichrists before the real and last Antichrist comes (1John 2:18). Christ came in his Father's Name and was rejected, but Satan will come inside a man and be identified by the number of this man's name (Rev 13:18, 11) and yet he will be accepted and followed by the world (Rev 13:8, 3). Even though the Beast's identity will be obvious (he has the number of the Beast; he is connected to the ten/seven nation league), he will be accepted and followed, and his identity as the Beast-man will be denied by his followers who will claim he is a leader doing "good" for the world. As Satan pretends to be a minister of light, "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14), so will the Beast-man appear to those without the New Mind to be "good." He looks like a "lamb," but in reality Satan the dragon speaks and acts through him (Rev 13:11). Although he is the real Antichrist and real false-prophet those of the world willingly believe his lies and are deceived (Rev 19:20; 2 Thes 2:9-12). pr561» The number of the Beast helps to identify him. By carefully comparing scriptures of Daniel and Revelations we know that there is an individual Beast with Satan inside of him influencing his activities, and there is a system of the Beast that starts out with ten nations in some kind of league (See PR2 & PR3). It is the individual Beast that has a name that can be figured or calculated to be six hundred and sixty-six (Rev 13:18). But in order for this man to be the Beast-man he must also be the voice or leader of a group of nations that starts out with ten nations, then later the group will only have seven nations because three of them will have been destroyed (PR2 & PR3). We have identified a leader of a great nation who has the number of the Beast (see Numerical Value Chart below). He now has many of the qualities of the Beast, but not all of them (Beast Character web page). For example he is not yet a lover of military force as the Beast-man will be. He is also not yet connected to any ten nation group. But we know from prophesy that this Beast-man will be connected with the system of the Beast for a 1260 to1290 day or 3 and ½ year period (Rev 13:5; Dan 7:25; PR2 & PR3). This period has not yet started so we cannot call this man the Beast-man yet (written 11-28-1998). It may turn out to be another man, but the fact that his name equals six hundred and sixty-six in both of the Biblical languages makes it seem likely that he will become that Beast-man. We will continue to watch this. Beast as Superhuman?pr562» Miracles. Now some may think that the man with the number cannot be the last Antichrist because he is not superhuman. But the Beast-man will not be superhuman or actually perform real miracles:
pr563» Satan cannot preform real miracles or resurrect himself from the dead, for only God has the power of resurrection from death (John 5:26; 11:25), and He will not give that power to Satan for any reason or for any period. That is why Satan deceives the world with lying wonders or miracles. Satan cannot preform real miracles. pr564» The man we have identified with the number is not now the Beast-man (11-28-98). He will only be the Beast-man when he enters the 1290-1260 day period. But we will know this ahead of time, for God promised to show his servants ahead of time (Isa 42:9 Luke 8:17; 10:21-22; Mark 4:22-23). Deadly Woundpr565» Some say that the Antichrist (that is, Beast-man; that is, false-prophet; that is, Anti-Messiah) must be superhuman since he recovers from a deadly wound (Rev 13:3, 12). But the scripture speaks of the Beast "as if" or "like" it was wounded to death (Rev 13:3). The scripture is not speaking of a literal death of a person and then a resurrection thereafter. You may say that there are two "deadly wounds": one for the Beast-man; one for the Beast-system. There is a "deadly wound" to the system of the Beast:pr566» The following section is from Beast-system Paper [PR2]:
(The above section is from Beast-system Paper [PR2]) There must also be a "deadly wound" for the Beast-man.pr567» The fact that the "deadly wound" happens to one of the Beast's heads, and the fact that Beast-man only has one head, means the "deadly wound" refers to the system of the Beast, and that it is only a "deadly wound" to the Beast-man in the sense that part of the Beast-man's power base was destroyed or wounded as just explained above. It is after the "deadly wound" that the mouth or voice of the system of the Beast speaks for the system for 42 months (Rev 13:3-5). Superhuman: To Summarizepr568» Satan and his followers cannot perform real miracles. Some of the things he will do, like make fire come down from heaven (atomic bombs), are wonders and may have seemed miraculous to John in his vision, but they are the wonders that any nuclear-armed power can perform. How to Calculate the Number of the BeastCalculate from Hebrew or Greek or Both?pr569» Now some say that only the Greek language of the Bible can be used to calculate the number of the Beast, since the book of Revelation was written in Greek, or, that is, appears to have been written in Greek by John. But was it? There is some evidence that at least part of the New Testament of the Bible may have been first written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek after the Hebrew nation was destroyed by the Romans. After all, were not the first leaders of the Church Jewish or Hebrew? Even Paul was a Hebrew. pr570» In the fourth century, Jerome in his Concerning Illustrious Men wrote about the book of Matthew being first written in the Hebrew language and only later translated to Greek. (See part 1 of the God Papers for more information on this.) Although Jerome spoke specifically about the book of Matthew, the book of Revelation and other books, such as Mark, may have also been written first in Hebrew. The book of Revelation has been called "the most Hebraistic in thought and language of all the New Testament books" (Hermeneutics of the New Testament, by A. Immer, 1873, pp. 132-144; taken from p. 126 of Biblical Hermeneutics, Milton S. Terry). Because the Catholic Church has done its best to rid Christianity of anything Jewish, it is almost impossible now to know how many books in the New Testament were first written in Hebrew, or first written in Greek and then translated into Hebrew for the Jewish Christians to read. So it is thus very significant that the man with the number has the number in both languages, especially since both languages have different values for their letters, and especially since Hebrew has no numerical values for its vowels since vowels were not written. But there are those falsely saying (3) that there are many leaders with the number 666, and thus helping to blind the world because of their lies (2Thes 2:11-12). Also the modern "rapture" myth helps to blind people. Most modern rapture believers will not recognize the Beast or acknowledge him because they mistakenly think that they will be raptured before the Beast comes. Since they are not raptured they, of course, discount anyone with the number. Things to know when Calculating the Number of the Beast666. "This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. Its number is six hundred sixty-six." (Revelation 13:18) Not a number of a title, nor of a computer, nor an address. Scripture says the number of the Beast is the number of a man, not a system, not money, not a computer system, not a title, not a law, not an address, not anything but the number of a male human being. The book of Revelation was speaking about calculating or adding up the numbers of a man's name. Irenaeus. Almost 1900 years ago Irenaeus in his Against Heresies told fellow believers that the number of the Antichrist was six hundred and sixty-six, and that it was figured by knowing the value of each letter of the name, "since [Greek] numbers also are expressed by letters." Calculate number of the name by adding the numerical values of each letter of the name. Unlike modern languages which use the Arabic numerical system (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), languages around the time of the book of Revelation and before, either spelled out the numbers or used letters that had numerical values. Each letter in Hebrew (except vowels) or Greek has a numerical value. Latin has its Roman numeral system. So by calculating or adding up the numerical values of the letters of a person's name, you will get the number of his name. Not three sixes in a row. The number of the Beast-man is six hundred sixty six and it is not just three 6s in a row (6+6+6=18), but six hundred sixty-six. Three sixes in a row is not the number of the Beast-man. Not the gematria system. We are not speaking about gematria. Gematria was a part of the Jewish mysticism which dealt with mystical aspects of words' numerical value. The Truth of the Bible is not found by mysticism. People are using the word "gematria" when they should be using the phrase, "numerical value." Use your own mind and study the following tables:If you have Hebrew and Greek fonts, you can view the same table in html form.
Transliterating from English to Hebrew or Greek Hebrew (Remember the Hebrew language did not have any numerical value for its vowels. When writing they wrote only the consonants, not the vowels.)
Greek (Remember the "ia" in William is a diphthong and the second vowel of a diphthong is not usually pronounced in Greek, thus we do not transliterate it from English to Greek.)
English (Remember that the English language does not have any numerical values for its letters. English uses the Arabic numeral system: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Note: When proper nouns are transliterated from Hebrew to English the "yad" or "y" [ y ] is traditionally translated as "J." For example Yehu is translated as Jehu, Yirmeyah as Jeremiah, or Yeshua as Jeshua. The same is true in transliteration in reverse. Therefore our Jesus becomes Yeshua or Yehosua, our Jeremiah becomes Yirmeyah and our Jehu becomes Yehu. When we transliterate "Jesus" into Greek we get "Iesous" or into Hebrew we get Yehosua (Jehoshua or Joshua). Therefore the "J" in English is transliterated to the "i" in Greek, and vice versa when translating the other way.
Here link of a web page's showing a person with the number 666 in two languages. Copy of original 666 web page published in 1997 The following taken from Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, Edited by E. Kautzsch and A.E. Cowley, from page 26: Following taken from the University of Chicago's A Manual of Style: ![]() More on calculating the number of the Beastpr571» Let me show you how to calculate the number by first using some examples from Ethelbert W. Bullinger in his book, Numbers in Scripture, with my comments. The following numbered items are Bullinger's points with my comments after each item:
Method at Least 18 Centuries Oldpr572» The method we use to figure the number of the man with the number is at least 18 centuries old. The oldest record we have of anyone explaining the correct method of calculating the number was from Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, and a so-called father of the Church. He wrote over 18 centuries ago. The following is from Irenaeus' Against Heresies, Book 5, chapter 30, paragraph 1: "Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies(3) [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six;" [St. Irenaeus biography online at the New Advent Catholic Supersite. He lived in the second century.] Irenaeus wasn't speaking about a street address, or a number of a law, or the number of letters in some person's name. He said you calculated the value of the name by adding up the value of each letter in the name. And the amount you must come to is six hundred and sixty-six, not 18 (6 + 6 + 6). Evidence of Alphabetic-Number Systems goes Back to BCHebrew's system can be traced back to at least 2nd Century BCpr573» Gesenius, in his Hebrew Grammar, in § 5k, tells us that there is evidence that the consonants were used as numerical signs back to the second century BC, because this usage was found on Maccabean coins and consonants were also commonly employed for marking the numbers of chapters and verses in editions of the Bible. Also you will find evidence of Hebrew letters having numerical value in such books as, History of Mathematics, by D.E. Smith (pp. 53). Greek's system can be traced back to about the 8th century BCpr574» You can find some historical evidence for the Greek alphabet being used as numbers in such books as, History of Mathematics, by D.E. Smith (pp. 49-53), and in The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, by O. Neugebauer (pp. 9-11), and A Manual of Style, 12th Edition, by University of Chicago Press (pp. 232-233). According to Dr. Neugebauer, "Considerations of this type [the method Neugebauer wrote about] allow us to date the origin of the Greek alphabetic number system to about the 8th century B.C."
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