The 666 Beast and the Papal Title
10 September 2003 by Roger Aak
I have up to now reluctantly believed that the number of the beast is calculated from the title VICARIVS FILII DEI. Now I understand why I have been reluctant about this. I read Rev. 13: 17 again, as I have done hundreds of times before, only this time with eyes able to see.
``And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name'' Rev. 13: 17
Here it is clearly stated that there will be three separate conditions for boycotting the righteous, namely those who don’t have:
1) the mark
2) the name of the beast
3) the number of his name
Verses in the Bible that contain words like AND and OR are possible to misunderstand because
they are logic conditions regulated by logic laws normally not familiar to most people. One verse
which is commonly misinterpreted is Rev. 13:17:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name Rev. 13: 17.
This is a typical OR-condition with three input variables. Three variables give 2^3 = 8
combinations. From the possible input combinations, the outputs are true as long as one or more
input condition is true. It is important to understand that since the output is true when only one of
the input conditions is true, this condition must be feasible. This means that it is possible to have
the mark without having the name or the number. This excludes the possibility that those who
have the mark automatically have the number. A majority of Christians say that the mark is a
visible mark or an implant of a chip which has the number 666. According to the OR-logic it is
possible to have both the mark and the number, but not as a consequence of each other. Nobody
will have the number because they have the mark. They are two different things. Therefore the
Christian majority is logically wrong when they proclaim that the mark is the number 666. It is
simply not true.
Unfortunately, there is also a Christian minority who make an equally wrong assumption when
they say that the number 666 may be calculated from the name. The OR-logic contradicts the
idea that somebody who has the name automatically has the number. They are two different
things that fulfill different conditions independent of each other. Nobody will have the number
because they have a name that may be calculated to be the number 666. The reason for this is
that it is not the name who comprises the number, but the number of his name.
There are four phrases that are important to understand when we shall find the number of the beast.
1) the number (arithmos) of his name
2) Let him that hath understanding (nous)
3) count (psephizo) the number (arithmos) of the beast
4) it is the number (arithmos) of a man
First phrase indicates that the number is a result of an arithmetic calculation, normally addition, but any arithmetic calculation may be acquired.
Second phrase has a Greek word, nous, which according to Strong means:
3563. nous: The intellect, i.e. mind (divine or human; in thought, feeling, or will); by impl. meaning:--mind, understanding.
Not every man can count the number of the beast. It needs intellect above the average to say the least, either divine or human or both. In this case it seems to be a need for both.
Third phrase tells us that we must count the number of the beast. Counting requires that we increase the count with one as we count. Since beast is a singular noun, counting the number of the beast must be to count something within the beast which is plural.
Fourth phrase clearly tells us that this number is a number as a man reads a number. It is obvious that the number of a man must be that type of number before and after it is counted. The result of a count is always a number of a man. That is needless to say. It is not possible to count numbers unless they are numbers themselves. Any number is a number of a man when it is written as a number. VICARIVS FILII DEI is not such a number and has never been. Some letters has no value. A man’s number is never written with ambiguous or non-essential values.
Combining phrase 1 and 3 give me reason to believe that the plural thing that must be counted in phrase 3 is the names within the beast.
Before we count the number of the names of the beast, we must know if the beast has more than one name.
``And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy'' Rev. 13: 1
The seven heads are heads on the beast. All of these heads have the blasphemous name PONTIFF (see later), but they also have individual names. So the beast has at least seven names. But seven names are not enough to count up the number of the beast, unless the seven heads have something to do with the number in a wider sense.
``And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition'' Rev. 17: 7-11.
The verses above are cram-full with information. They begin with a description of the situation throughout the history of The Roman Catholic Church (TRCC) until the arrest of pope Pius VI in 1798 (``the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her''). Then the description continues with the situation starting in 1798 (``The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ''). The next information startled me when about five years ago, I understood its implication: ``The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth''. The women started by being carried by the beast. But now, after 1798 she (TRCC) sits on the heads. The women had to rely on the heads to maintain a certain degree of its former powers, except civilian authority from the beast. The description ends with the recovery of the beast (``the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven''). This tells us that the seven heads started their mission in 1798. I have been very dismayed to read in our literature that these heads have been related to kingdoms and empires way back in history. Heads has never symbolized kingdoms, but leaders of a county, a family and of the church. Jesus Christ is described as the head of the church (Eph.4: 15; & 5: 23). Also mountains and kings have exactly the same symbolic meaning.
After 1798 there have been 15 popes. How can this be transformed into seven popes and an eighth pope to represent the restored beast? The thing is that popes with equal names represent only one name. Every new pope with a new name represents the next name in the line. Now let’s take a look at the 15 popes and give a number to every pope who has a new name:
1. Pius VI (1775-99)
Pius VII (1800-23)
2. Leo XII (1823-29)
Pius VIII (1829-30)
3. Gregory XVI (1831-46)
Pius IX (1846-78)
Leo XIII (1878-1903)
Pius X (1903-14)
4. Benedict XV (1914-22)
Pius XI (1922-39)
Pius XII (1939-58)
5. John XXIII (1958-63)
6. Paul VI (1963-78)
7. John Paul I (1978) 26.8-28.9
John Paul II (1978- )
8. New Name
As seen, we end up with seven different known names and an eighth name presently unknown. The eighth name will be the leader of the restored beast. Notice the perfect accuracy in the prophecy regarding the seventh head: ``and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space [KJV] ''. The seventh pope with a new name lasted from 26 August to 28 September, only one month, surely a short space of time or ``a little while [NIV] ''
A good thing with this list is that it includes the name of the head that got the deadly wound. This head must be the first of the seven heads because it refers to the seven heads two verses prior to the verse below.
``And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast'' Rev. 13: 3.
Now we have the names of the seven heads and an unknown name of the eighth (the beast). These is the names which according to prophecy should count up the number of the beast. But how can this be? They are apparently too few to count up the number of the beast. But then I read about the seven heads that they were of importance for a long time before they were displayed after 1798.
1. ``And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy'' Rev. 13: 1.
2. ``And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth'' Rev. 17: 9.
The seven heads are mentioned in the beast-period (Medieval-church). Then they are displayed in the post-beast-period (after 1798). That means that the names of the seven heads have been present in some form during the entire history of TRCC, and as such included as counting objects. Subsequently we must count the popes with the listed names of the seven heads and take into consideration that antipopes must be excluded from the list of popes. We must also reduce the count because of missing popes in the list of popes. John XX never existed. Taking all this into account, we have the following number of popes with the same name as the seven heads:
1. Pius 12
2. Leo 13
3. Gregory 16
4. Benedict 14
5. John 21
6. Paul 6
7. John Paul 2
8. New Name 1
Sum 85
If we add this counts of names together, we get the sum of 85 names. Still we have a number less than 666. But how do we add names without loosing identity of each individual? If two people have the same name A, we can add the names with simple addition: A + A = 2A. The answer of this addition, 2A, tells us that there exists two of the same person, which is not possible. We have to separate the two individuals by giving them indexed names A1 and A2. When we now add these names together and take into account that they shall maintain their identity, we must add them as follows: A1 + A2 = A (1+2) = 3A 1-2. When we add the indexes, we perform an arithmetic calculation called integral. God warned us that we needed understanding (Rev. 13: 18) to count the number of the beast. To add values of letters in a name does not need understanding above first grade mathematics. Why this has been considered to be an act of understanding is more than I can understand. Maybe it is because I am only an engineer and a teacher. If we loose individual identity to the persons to be counted, we end up counting copies of the same persons instead of counting different persons. That is why we must count with integral. There is no other way to do it if we shall fulfill the guidance given to us in the Scripture. God prescribed the use of arithmetic to count the names of the beast. Names are not numbers but individuals. Even TRCC give the popes indexes to separate their names from popes with the same names. Indexes are a man’s number which may be counted by arithmetic. Now let’s include integral in the list above:
1. Pius Sum n(1-12) = 78
2. Leo Sum n(1-13) = 91
3. Gregory Sum n(1-16) = 136
4. Benedict Sum n(1-14) = 105
5. John Sum n(1-21) = 231
6. Paul Sum n(1-6) = 21
7. John Paul Sum n(1-2) = 3
8. New Name Sum n(1) = 1
Sum 666
The condition is that the eighth name must be a name never before used either as a singular name or as a combined name. If the next pope after the present take the same name as a pope have used before, he will not be the eighth (beast). God forbid! I have good reason to be convinced that the next pope will be the eighth and have a name that has never before been used.
When we study the list of eight names, we see that the first and the last represent the beast. This is a condition in the prophecy.
``And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition'' Rev. 17: 11.
The eighth pope will be the leader of the beast, but that was also the first who was of the seven. The verse does not require that the eighth is of the seven. The only requirement is that the beast must be the eight and of the seven. As long as the first and the eighth is the beast, the fulfilment is met.
To my understanding, this is how God wanted us to count the number of the beast. The Scripture has in all respect been the guidance. The translations of The Bible do not always give the full meaning of the intensions of God’s guidance. A study of the translations may give the wrong impression of the intension, as it seems to be the case in the interpretation of the number of the beast in the past. Anyhow, the understanding of this issue have not been important up to now, but from now on and in the near future it will be of outmost importance to understand and to act upon when it is fulfilled. Sunday-laws and the mark of the beast will be implemented before the very eyes of the beast, according to The Bible. The beast must of course be restored before that can happen.
``And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed'' Rev. 13: 12.
The beast can be restored any time now. In May 2004, ten new kingdoms enter the European Community (EC). These ten new kingdoms are ultra Catholic, and I can not imagine that they will be satisfied with the present law about abortion and the fact that EC is still short of a Sunday law. Poland alone has 50 million ultra Catholic citizens who are eager to change the law of EC. I know how they think because I was married to one of them. What does the Scripture say about this?
``And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet ; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast'' (Rev. 17: 12-13).
The verses indicate that even before they become members of EC, they will do efforts to give their power and strength unto the beast. Could this mean that the beast is present before May 2004? Pope John Paul II is deeply troubled by his sickness. So maybe it is time to reveal what is probably the true interpretation of the number of the beast before the beast arises. Then the righteous among the ``prisoners'' of the beast (and her image) have a chance to see a sign of fulfillment before they hear the three angel’s voices wooing them to come out of her (TRCC and her image).
The title, VICARIVS FILII DEI has not been officially acknowledged by TRCC and certainly not during the entire history of TRCC. A different title, maybe even more blasphemed, has been used officially during the entire history of TRCC and by the roman emperors prior to the popes, and is still used in a simplified form with the same meaning. This title is: PONTIFEX MAXIMUS. Today this is simplified to PONTIFF. The meaning of this title is to my knowledge: ``The supreme bridge between men and the gods''. A condition to meet the criteria of being the name of the beast is that the name does not count up the number of the beast (Rev. 13: 17). What other name has been officially used by TRCC during its entire history, and is blasphemous, and does not count up the number of the beast?
Who then have the mark? And who have the name of the beast? And who have the number of his name? The first question is easily answered. Every Adventist knows the answer. Even TRCC knows the answer, because they have thoroughly publicized that Sunday keeping is the mark of their authority. The answer to the second question must be that those who regard the pope to be their PONTIFF, their bridge between men and the gods, have the name of the beast (in their heart). This is very similar of having Jesus Christ as the Supreme bridge between us and our heavenly Father, with the exception that the pope is a false bridge. Every Catholic regard the pope as such and perhaps many others as well. The third question seems to be related to the professional aspect, while all the names that comprise the number have been popes. But every Priest, and Cardinal Priest and Cardinal Deacon and Cardinal Bishop hopes to be a pope one day. They are all victims of the professional strive to become gods or saints in peoples minds, except the way God wants to sanctify them.
For all I know, this is old news. For me it is fresh news. I have not seen any change in the teaching of this issue in our beloved church. They should do so as soon as possible, because they have nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary! It is a mercy of God that our church understood that TRCC holds the number of the beast, although the counting of the number was based on an inconvenient interpretation. They thought that adding the value of letters in a blasphemous name used by TRCC, should comprise the number. Who can blame them? This has been the general accepted interpretation in every Christian church, except the implementation on TRCC. We could be the first church in the world to reveal the true understanding of this important issue. It is important that our church have the ability to correct itself when The Holy Spirit teaches more truth. We don’t understand the whole truth, and never will in this world, but we understand more and more of it. My name is of no importance in this respect. This is not my discovery. My reward is that somebody came up with a good idea on a problem that has troubled my mind since I became an Adventist with all my heart some fifteen years ago. I have never accepted in my heart that VICARIVS FILII DEI is the answer to the number 666. I have been loyal to the idea, to my own embarrassment.
I have to my surprise seen that some have an understanding of this issue that the number 666 is symbolic, a number of imperfection in opposition to God’s number 777 which is a number of perfection. A problem with this understanding is that God instructed us to count the number. If the number 666 is symbolic, it cannot be counted. A number must be real to be counted. It is also a problem to find a proof that the number 666 means imperfection and that the number 777 means perfection, even if they are.