THE ISSUE - II
CONT., page 4
666
There are a few scriptures we can look to that provide an introduction to what this highly emotional number 666 reveals; and as you will soon find, our pursuit of truth leads us to not consider this number in the traditional way. Here are those scriptures:
You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, "How have we wearied Him?" In that you say, "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Yahweh, and He delights in them" (Malachi 2:17).
"Your words have been arrogant against Me," says Yahweh. "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' You have said, ... 'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up, but they also test God and escape'" (Malachi 3:13-15).
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20)!
Think for a minute. When the kingdom of heaven has been entirely leavened by Satan as foretold by Yahshua (Matthew 13:33), when the serpent in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is present in Christianity to deceive it, when he has entirely corrupted and altered the truth so that it becomes something that is just the opposite of truth, fulfilling the passages we just read, what then would one expect the number 666 to represent? When Satan has deceived Christians to believe that it is an abominable number reserved for some man-beast who will come on the scene with great tribulation (and has already been expected and proclaimed on numerous occasions), what is the counter testimony of truth? If this is what leavened Christianity teaches us, guess what? You can count on it being just opposite of what they/he teaches! And this is what we will see.
If Satan/Christianity says that 666 is the mark of the beast, then look for it to be just the opposite! When Satan calls "evil good, and good evil," then what good is there in this number 666? Satan/Christianity says that it is a mark of a beast; what is it then?
To start with, the number 666 used in Revelation 13:18 can also be the number 616. If you have a New American Standard Bible, for example, you will notice in the margin a reference to this number stating - "Some manuscripts read 616."
In Del Washburn's comprehensive book, Theomatics II, he states at the beginning of Chapter 20 on the subject of 666 - "This chapter may be the most revealing chapter of this book." His is a 643 page book, and indeed, the evidence he gives in this chapter supporting that 616 is the number of the beast and not 666, is in his own words "overwhelming"! He goes on to say regarding his first book he wrote on theomatics - "I have in a certain sense regretted that I ever put the chapter on 666 in my first book. At the time I felt compelled to 'say something' about this number because of its popularity." He goes on to say - "I found virtually no pattern of 666 in all the references from the Bible that could in any way relate to Revelation chapter 13." To the contrary though, he discovered an overwhelming amount of evidence that 616 is the number given for the beast in Revelation. "It is one of the most consistent designs I have ever discovered from the Old Testament." And from the New Testament, there is this kind of striking evidence - "the beast" (Revelation 13:2), "the harlot" (1 Corinthians 6:16), "evil" or "wickedness" (Matthew 12:45), and "deceived" (1 Timothy 2:14), all have a numeric value of 616. "Mystery Babylon" has a numeric value of 616 x 3. "The great harlot sitting upon" has a numeric value of 616 x 2. And the impressive list goes on, and is very extensive! Clearly, 616 is the number that identifies the beast, a number Satan has concealed with his deceptive and misleading replacement with the number 666.
Citing further from Theomatics II, we read the following statement from a publication titled, The Book of Revelation, A Key to Christian Origins, published in 1932:
The figure 616 is given in one of the two best manuscripts., C (Codex Ephraemi Rescripttus, Paris), by the Latin version of Tyconius (DCXVI. Ed. Souter in the Journal of Theo., SE, April, 1913), and by an ancient Armenian version(ed. Conybeare, 1907). Irenaeus knew about it [the 616 reading], but did not adopt it (Haer. V, 30,3); Jerome adopted it (De Monogramm., ed. Dom G. Morin in the Rev. Benedictine, 1903). It is probably original. The number 666 has been substituted for 616 either by analogy with 888, the number of Jesus (Deissmann), or because it is a triangular number, the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6... +36 = 666).
Let us talk just a little about these triangle numbers as mentioned here. What is a triangle number? Referencing James Harrison's book, The Pattern & The Prophecy, we find that they are numbers that can be arranged to form a triangle. The number "1" is considered a triangle number. Next would be the number "3," followed by "6," and then "10," and so on. If you laid out beans for each of these numbers, you would see that in each case they form a triangle - starting at the top with one bean, then below it two more (1 + 2 = 3), then three more below that (1 + 2 + 3 = 6), then four more (1 +2 + 3 + 4 = 10), and so on.
What is the significance of this? A triangle number is considered to be a complete unit. 1 is of course representative of God, who is one. 3 attests to the trinity of God. 6 is man or the number of days of creation. 10 we will discuss later in this writing. Other interesting triangle numbers pointed out by Harrison are 45, or "Adam (created in God's triangle image)" and 1,081, "God's Holy Spirit."
There are two other numbers that are most striking - 153 and 666. 153 is the number of the Remnant. For example, there were 153 fish caught by the disciples after fishing all night and catching no fish (the night period of Christianity), until Yahshua came onto the shore and directed them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat (the right side was the side of a man that was anointed in order to enter into priesthood). 153 is also the numeric value of Lazarus' name, the second Remnant man who was brought out from his own darkness of death. And the list goes on.
It is a curious and most revealing thing that Harrison, who is very classic Christianity with its end time, mark of the beast antichrist, 666, wrath ideas, points out that 666 is a triangular number, with the comment - "Yet perhaps the most bewildering of all such numbers is that of the Antichrist, 666." Bewildering? Why? Maybe it is "bewildering" because they have the wrong identification for what that number truly means.
It is equally most interesting that 6 is the only digit that is duplicated as a triangle number. In other words, not only is 6 a triangle number, but so is 66, and of course so is 666. All three of these numbers make it on the triangle number pattern. No other digit does this, making these combinations of 6 most relevant. (For your curiosity, 6666 is not a triangle number; only the first three.)
(Editor's addition: on May 8, 2005, an
article regarding a newly examined Scripture fragment that gives credence
to 616 was published on WorldNetDaily.com. Click on the following title
to read the article - 666 wrong number of prophetic beast?)
Thus, with it established that 616 is the original number given by John, and that 666 is indeed a most interesting and obviously significant triangle number, we are left with the question of what 666 really means. Based on the fact that Satan calls good evil, we can conclude that, to the consternation and bewilderment of Christianity and society, 666 is actually a good number; and this is precisely what we find!
When are you ever going to get angry for being so lied to and deceived? And this is only the part of it. It is absolutely amazing how much Satan has corrupted the truth and altered Yahweh's word. This corruption of His word is in fact the "abomination of desolation" of the temple. The temple, the kingdom of God, has been desolated by Satan for 2,000 years! The abomination of desolation is not something that is yet to take place, nothing that is going to happen in some anticipated temple in Jerusalem. That is only one more lie. The kingdom "temple" has become so leavened and corrupted for so long, that Satan's lies are accepted as established church doctrine. Anathema!
If 666 is such a bad number, then one would expect it to be used in a bad setting in the Bible. Wouldn't that make sense? If a number is bad, it would be consistently bad. So is that what we find? Del Washburn, in all of his research, does not think so. But let us look at the Scriptures ourselves.
666 is used only two times in the Bible. Of course this does not include the false and deceptive insertion of 666 in Revelation 13. It is first found in the accounting of the amount of gold Solomon received in one year for building the temple. The second time is in Ezra 2:13 where we read - "the sons of Adonikam, 666." Surely if 666 was some beast number, Yahweh would identify this number with something bad; so what is it that "Adonikam" means? One thing for certain, no Christian prophecy teacher references this passage to advance his mark of the beast end time teaching. Adonikam means - "the Lord of rising"! So, if you put the phrase together with the number, it says - "the Lord of rising 666." We will examine the significance of this shortly.
Who was Adonikam? He was one of the leaders of those who came out of captivity from Babylon to help rebuild the temple. So how could a man whose name means "the Lord of rising," and who came out of captivity to rebuild the temple of Yahweh, be some beast? The fact is, as we will continue to see, 666 is never associated with the beast. In fact to the contrary, it is the 666 who will conquer the beast and rebuild the temple. Let us now spend more time examining Solomon's receipt of 666 talents of gold.
In addition to the 666 talents of gold, as we have noted, there was one other quantity of gold mentioned. It is recorded that Solomon also received 120 talents from Hiram (1 Kings 9:14), the King of Tyre whom Solomon commissioned to bring all the gold and cedar and cypress for the temple construction, as well as 120 talents from the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:10).
If 666 is supposedly an evil dubious number, then what kind of number is 120? Both are specifically enumerated quantities of gold which Solomon received; so one would think that if 666 is an evil quantity, then likewise 120 would be evil. But of course 120 is not an evil number, even as 666 is not. 120 is the number of government, elevated to the three digit nations level. There were 120 in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. When the two-part Medo-Persian empire took Babylon, it was placed under the oversight of 120 satraps. Equally, Mystery Babylon will be taken by the glorified two-part Remnant and placed under their oversight. Also, Solomon's temple of gold was 120 cubits high (2 Chronicles 3:4).
So there is certainly nothing evil regarding the 120 talents of gold; thus, why is it concluded that when 666 talents of the same precious element are mentioned, that somehow it is now evil? It cannot be. If 666 talents of gold are evil, then so are the two sets of 120 talents of gold.
The mere fact that 666 is identified with gold should tell one that the number is good. Gold is the element that speaks of the kingdom, of righteousness, even of Yahshua Himself. Jerusalem above was made of "pure gold" (Revelation 21:18), and a gold rod was used to measure it (21:15). Yahshua urged the church to buy from Him "gold refined by fire, that you may become rich" (Revelation 3:18). And if upon the foundation of Yahshua we are told to build with gold (1 Corinthians 3:12), how is it now that this quantity of gold used to build the temple of Yahweh, built by a man who received the kingdom of Yahweh, who was chosen by Yahweh to build this house for Him as an everlasting dwelling (which He entered into with His glory), all of a sudden out of total context of what is taking place here, is some evil beast number? This is nothing more than another dramatic case where Satan has called good evil.
666 talents of gold were received by Solomon to build the temple, not to arrive at some evil deed. 666 talents of gold were received to build the very type of temple that Christians falsely say this beast will come to desolate. Did the 666 talents of gold desolate the temple? No, to the contrary it established the temple!
Likewise, 666 sons of Adonikam, or "the Lord of rising" 666 sons, came out of Babylon to equally rebuild the temple that was torn down. So, whether it was Solomon's temple or Zerubbabel's temple, 666 evidenced something good in both of these temple constructions, and not their desolation. Therefore with certainty we can say that Christianity's assessment of the number 666 is classic Satan, calling good evil.
There is nothing evil taking place in this account involving Solomon, or in the construction of the next temple. Every testimony affirms that the 666 talents of gold which Solomon received the year in which the temple was built is in fact a good number, a kingdom number, a temple number. So what does this number 666 represent? Let us now see.
All Christian beast books point out a contrast of 666 with the number 888. They say that Yahshua is identified with the number 888, which speaks of the perfect Son of Man. But then as if it is evil, they say that 666 is a perfect man, but here taking on the identity of this great charismatic leader who will come and rule the earth for a season and cause their abomination of desolation. This is of course all Bible science fiction, and generates nice incomes for the writers and teachers and producers, as well as builds congregations and even entire denominations. But is it truth? Far from it!
One should ask, if three eights makes something good and perfect, then why does not taking three sixes make something good, or at least better? Granted, one is working with sixes here; and that cannot yet be entirely perfect, since six is the number of man. But frankly, flesh man needs a GREAT degree of help in order to be prepared for the return of Yahshua. While "perfect" earthly 666-man is still not the best prospect, it beats plain old corrupt and deceived 6-man. Let us now go to another account to better understand what is being evidenced here. This account will take a little time, but will be immensely worthwhile.
It has been pointed out in other writings here that the capture of the ark of the covenant by the Philistines for 7 months, and it being held in Dagon's temple, is a clear picture of the kingdom of heaven being given to earthly man. It is once again taking the holy and giving it to the profane. The consequence for this mix resulted in the affliction of the Philistines with hemorrhoids and being ravaged by mice (1 Samuel 5 and 6). Now to the point.
The church, the kingdom of God given to earthly man, has the same problem. "That which has been is that which will be," and what we see played out here is nothing less than what man has experienced with the kingdom for nearly 2,000 years. Unclean mice have ravaged the kingdom, while kingdom men are smitten with hemorrhoids. Be prepared, that which will now be addressed will not be pretty; but neither is what earthly man has been doing to the kingdom. Yahweh gives us this foreshadowing account in order to see this problem for ourselves. While unclean mice ravaging the kingdom is somewhat more straightforward, let us consider the testimony of the hemorrhoids.
Recorded only in first Remnant Matthew 15:11 and Christianity Mark 7:20, we read the following instruction of Yahshua:
"Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."
The issue provoking this response was because the Pharisees objected to His disciples not washing their hands before eating bread. Of course bread goes into the mouth and after being processed by the flesh comes out the other end, the end where these hemorrhoids developed. What are hemorrhoids? They are enflamed anal openings, equally surrounded by two "lips." And what is it that James said regarding the tongue? "And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell" (James 3:6).
When the Philistines were smitten with hemorrhoids for taking the holy and placing it among the profane, prophetically this is exactly what has happened to kingdom man for 2,000 years. Earth-flesh men, upon receiving the bread from heaven, the pure truth of the kingdom, take in the truth, ingest it into their flesh, process it according to their flesh, and then when it comes out the posterior mouth, feed it to other men, thus defiling the man and all who receive their message. It is this mouth of flesh that Yahshua spoke of that defiles the man, as well as the hearers, and is analogous to speaking from one's enflamed hemorrhoidal posterior. With 22,000 denominations teaching contradicting information, a lot of dung is being fed, more than the reader even knows or recognizes.
Of course since man has taken the holy into the profane, his flesh posterior mouth that he speaks from is smitten with the curse of a mouth set on fire by hell, the very world of iniquity, and is nothing more than an inflamed hemorrhoid. All men for 2,000 years, when speaking on behalf of the King and His kingdom, have been speaking from the mouth of enflamed hemorrhoids. What is the solution to this unceasing problem? What was the solution for the Philistines? Let us see.
After 7 months of affliction, the Philistines came to their senses, being made aware of and weary of their dire state, and wanted the ark to be sent back to the place from where it had come. The solution? Send the ark back with a guilt offering to Yahweh.
"So you shall make likenesses of your hemorrhoids and likenesses of your mice that ravaged the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will ease His hand from you, your gods, and your land. Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go, and they departed" (1 Samuel 6:5-6)?
So we see that in order for this plague and affliction that has been on the church for nearly 2,000 years to cease, then something or someone needs to depart. Who will that be? The answer - the Elijah Remnant! We will see this clearly and graphically represented in what followed next.
The Philistines prepared "a new cart" (Yahweh is going to perform "a new thing" [Jeremiah 31:22], or new wine in new wineskins), and hitched it to "two milch cows on which there (had) never been a yoke" (the second Remnant two witnesses). The calves from the two milch cows were taken home (the first Remnant who are under the altar), and they placed the ark of the covenant on the new cart, along with the guilt offerings of five golden mice and five golden hemorrhoids. (Oh boy this account is rich! And we are not even near finished!)
Let us point out here that it is illegal for this cart to transport the ark of the covenant. The ark had to be carried on poles by men on foot, but here we see Yahweh making an exception for this case. More on this in a minute.
So what happened next?
And the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth-shemesh, they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh (6:12).
Beth-shemesh means - "house of the sun." This is precisely what Christianity is. It is the house of the sun, evidenced by many testimonies, including their worship on their "Sabbath" day of "rest," Sunday, along with their great festive day, Christmas, when they celebrate the birth of Jesus on the day in which all the sun gods were born. We also see this in the pattern of the kings who ruled Babylon after its fall to the Medo-Pursians: Darius -> Cyrus -> Darius, or in the meaning of their names - restraining one -> sun -> restraining one. This is of course the pattern of the true fulfillment: first Remnant -> Christianity -> second Remnant, the sun corresponding to Christianity. Thus we see why the procession of the Philistines went as far as the "house of the sun." This period of the capture of the ark among the Philistines for 7 months is the period of Christianity. What more evidence do we have of this? Let us read the next verse, verse 13.
Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it.
It has been repeatedly stated in these writings that wheat is identified specifically with Christianity, barley with the Remnant, and grapes with the nations. Yahweh provides here one more testimony of what is taking place. The "wheat harvest" here specifically speaks of Christianity.
Also we see that it is the wheat harvest that is "in the valley." Once again, the valley speaks of Christianity. For example, in Zechariah 14:4 we read that the Mount of Olives (the two-olive-tree Remnant) is split into two parts and separated by "a very large valley." This is the "very large valley" of Christianity that separates the two Remnant. The Remnant bride is also the "lily of the valleys ... among the thorns" of the cursed wilderness period of the kingdom (Song of Solomon 2:1-2).
So we see that both "wheat harvest," as well as "in the valley," attest to this being Christianity. The ark of the covenant is coming out of the 7 of Christianity by these two milch cows, drawing a new cart, with the guilt offering; or, the Remnant bride coming out of the body of Christ. This entire account is a testimony of the second Remnant coming out to Yahshua.
Further evidence of the Remnant coming out of Christianity (there is a great deal of evidence in these events) is that the two milch cows took the ark of the covenant and the guilt offerings to "the field of Yahshua the Beth-shemite" (yes, Yahshua is identified with the church, the body of Christ), and there he split the wood of the new cart, placed it on a large stone, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. Burnt offerings are always testimonies of ascending to Yahweh; they were to be savory sacrifices unto Him.
These two milch cows became the testimony of the ascension of the second Remnant to Yahweh upon the return of the ark of the covenant to Yahshua, completing a MOST graphic testimony of the kingdom of God in captivity for a mark-of-the-beast 7 period time.
We have already noted that the transport of the ark via a cart is illegal. Later David tried to move the ark in the same manner, and the wrath of Yahweh came against him (2 Samuel 6). We must notice here that Yahweh indeed does a new thing in this account in many ways, one that He is allowing something that is actually contrary to His laws. Why is He doing this? Because He must do so in order to get the ark out of captivity and to the field of Yahshua. What does this testify to us, His second Remnant milch cows?
Is it legal for earthly flesh to enter into heaven? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The flesh is of this earth, is corrupt, is of Satan, is wretched, and resists Yahweh. So why would He allow the second Remnant to ascend to Him? Because He must do a new thing and make an exception. Even as the lame, who were "hated by David's soul" and were forbidden to enter his house (2 Samuel 5:8), did indeed enter into David's house by means of his covenant with Jonathan (lame Mephibosheth ate at his table - 2 Samuel 9:13); so the lame second Remnant will enter into Yahweh's house alive, in their afflicted earthly bodies which are "hated" by Yahweh's soul. It is truly an amazing thing, which completely escapes people's recognition, that Yahweh would cause a people to ascend alive to heaven! People do not even realize how illegal and unclean that act is, and is only possible because of the covenant provided by Yahshua. Do not minimize how illegal this Divine act is, and how unworthy we are in doing this. The unholy will ascend to the holy! Oh what an exception Yahweh must make for this to happen! We are the illegal transport of the ark of the covenant to the field of Yahshua to ascend alive to Yahweh as an offering to Him. And the only reason we can is because Yahshua makes the offering! Remnant, do not let it escape you how Yahweh is making an exception for us to ascend to Him. We are lame and unclean; yet nonetheless, He is bringing us in to dine with Him at His table. Oh how unworthy we are of this favor which we receive for His name's sake.
With all of this in mind, why then the guilt offering of the five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice? Since this is such a clear and highly complete account of the second Remnant, where does this guilt offering fit in?
We have already seen that these hemorrhoids are the inflamed mouths of those who receive the kingdom while still in earthly flesh. We have seen that Solomon received 666 talents of gold in one year at the building of the temple of Yahweh, or perfect man in a quantity of gold. We have seen that Yahweh makes an exception for earthly man to enter into His presence. We have seen that gold represents His kingdom, including the two 120 talents of gold, the 666 talents of gold, and now these guilt offerings of golden mice and golden hemorrhoids. So what is all of this about? It is this.
The second Remnant has absolutely no justification to enter into heaven while still in our earthly bodies. None whatsoever! In this present state, we are nothing more than mice and hemorrhoids. BUT, in order for Yahweh to begin to harvest men up to heaven, He has to make an exception. He will have to take a Remnant to heaven while still alive in their earthly bodies, thus defeating death. To do this, He will give truth to them that has never been provided in the history of mankind. This is what we are receiving right now as His second Remnant. And for this bride He provides the legal covering in order that we may ascend to Him - holding all things in common. Does this make us special? Well, yes it does - very special! But even so, what are we? We are still in the flesh which is at enmity with Yahweh. We still have the limits of this flesh. So with truth, the latter rain, and the covering of holding all things in common, Yahweh performs a work to perfect us as we are, in this present earthly state. Yahweh must take man, a 6, and perfect him into 666 talents of gold, so that we can become His temple, which is precisely that for which this gold was used. Though we are yet mice and hemorrhoids in this state, He must make us golden mice and golden hemorrhoids, the material of which the temple and Jerusalem above are made. So we are 5 golden mice and 5 golden hemorrhoids, the number of grace and the Remnant.
In this perfected man or 666 state, we at least become golden hemorrhoids and golden mice! This is necessary in order for us to depart or ascend and be the guilt offering for the guilt of the church for all the dung it has fed to people over the last 2,000 years, and all the ravaging of the kingdom earthly man has caused.
So second Remnant, though you remain in your flesh as nothing more than a mouse and a hemorrhoid, you can be glad that you will at least be a golden mouse and a golden hemorrhoid, prepared as a guilt offering to Yahweh. Furthermore, let no man or demon despise that you are the 666 talents of gold. Though Satan may have called this identification evil, he did so to fight against the very identity that will seal his doom - the 666 perfected Remnant gold who will defeat death by ascending alive into heaven, effecting his death and becoming Yahweh's temple. Second Remnant, do not accept Satan's corruption of good, but rejoice and take hope in and proclaim the fact that Yahweh will perfect us and prepare us to ascend alive to be His temple. Rejoice that you are made into a 666, which is good in Yahweh's eyes, a work prepared by Him in order to be with Him!
Furthermore, rejoice that even as Yahshua has ascended alive before us, we His second Remnant will next ascend alive. While Yahshua was the first Adonikam, "the Lord of rising," or the 888; we have the sure testimony that He is also specifically "the Lord of rising 666"! Now that the 888 has risen, it is soon time for the 666 to arise. For it is the second Remnant who must depart, who must arise. It is the second Remnant milch cows who must ascend alive as a savory offering by Yahshua unto Yahweh. It is the second Remnant who are the fulfillment and hope of "the Lord of rising 666" into heaven. This is the hope, this is the work, that Yahweh of hosts provides for His golden 666 second Remnant.
In Luke 1:17 we read that the Elijah work will "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." How will this happen? The Spirit of Yahweh will take plain old 6-man and make him into 666 talents of gold. That is, 666 talents of gold that, as the Elijah work, will be made ready to rise into heaven.
Thus in our examination of this account regarding Solomon, we see in these 666 talents of gold the testimony of the perfected Remnant, and more specifically the promise of the second Remnant. Add this to the two gifts each of 120 talents of gold for the two-part Remnant, and one sees Yahweh's clear evidence of the two-part Remnant who will receive the gold of the kingdom, and arise to be the first in the true glorified temple of Yahweh.
Continue to page 5 of THE ISSUE - II for
THE MARK OF THE BEAST