Satan is a numbers guy.
Umlaut recently sent Tour Manager Doug a package and the tracking number contained "666"... Which caused both of us to exclaim "Oh, there's that Satan again!"
Umlaut friend Lori Acid King was recently summoned for jury duty and her group number was... "666". Which caused both of us to chuckle and say "You got us again, Satan!"
These wink-wink-nudge-nudges from El Diablo reinforces Umlaut's dismissal of the following outrageous, shameful, and completely irresponsible article. Umlaut believes the piece is part of a Scientologist / Christian conspiracy against Iron Maiden.
TESTING THE FAITH
666 wrong number of prophetic beast?
Newly examined Scripture fragment lends credence to argument it's 616
Posted: May 8, 2005
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
For centuries, people have been intrigued by the number 666, the "number of the beast" from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.
Not only is it mentioned in the Bible, it has been associated with the Satanism, universal price codes and the game of roulette, as the numbers on the wheel add up to 666.
Now, the legendary number is getting a fresh look, as researchers are re-examining evidence the number may actually be 616.
In the King James Version of the Bible, the well-known verse of Revelation 13:18 reads:
"Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
While many Bible have footnotes saying the number translated from the original Greek could be 616, experts say new photographic evidence of an ancient fragment of papyrus from Revelation indeed indicates the number is indeed 616, instead of 666.
Scholars in England have been using modern technology to scour some 400,000 bits of papyri which were originally discovered in 1895 at a dump outside the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. Many of the sections have been damaged and discolored, but an imaging process is shedding new light on the sacred text, believed to have originally been penned by John, one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
"This is a very nice piece to find," Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, told Canada's National Post. "Scholars have argued for a long time over this, and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast."
The papyrus in the spotlight is believed to be from about 300 A.D.
"This is very early confirmation of that number, earlier than any other text we've found of that passage," Aitken said. "It's probably about 100 years before any other version."
