Dear Refiner's Fire...

Please explain why the Antichrist's number is 666. Also, is there anything to the numerology and "Bible codes" that some people insist tell America's future, etc?

Our Response...

A word of advice upfront: Be very skeptical about "numberology" or "Bible codes" - because most people who espouse these things, don't know what they're talking about!

In terms of the number of the Beast, the name "Nero Caesar" adds up to a Gematria of 666 in Hebrew and Aramaic. However, this never works in Greek or Latin, as Origen found out to his dismay in the late Second Century. While this book of Revelation is written outside of specific "time" as we know it, the examples and instances of the past and present, ultimately repeat themselves while racing towards their final fulfillment. Although 666 is haSatan's identifying number, the Anti-Mashiyach types also wear this number. Anti-Mashiyach can relate to humans under haSatan's control, those who use positions of power and authority to wreak havoc. Rav Shaul (Paul) teaches he is the "man of lawlessness" but still a man; 1 Thess reveals that the man has false divine aspirations. Human manifestations of haSatan are men like Nero, who is a shadow of what is to come. Rome has long been the focal point of evil, so how much more would the Emperor reflect that, especially when he murdered both Rav Shaul and Keefa (Peter)!

There really is no "numbering system" - especially not from God. MAN numbered the scriptures...How can that be prophetic? When the OT was first written, it was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, with no commas or periods which is how YHWH (Yahweh) gave us His Word. In the meantime, some bright and money or glory-hungry entrepreneurs decided, "Wow - if you count so many letters in so many words with so many spaces and figure in the numbering of the paragraphs, actual words and even sentences appear!" And thus they insist they've found all kinds of "prophetic" events in the Bible, including 9/11, etc., along with the names of Presidents like Kennedy, Clinton, Bush and others, and sometimes even their own names as is the case with Pastor Harry Walther! Little do they realize, their "numerology" can be done with any book!

A man named Steve Wilkes has taken random EVERYTHING to come up with certain "codes" in order to attempt to tell the world that California would be destroyed on July 8, 2008:

This evidence shows JULY 8, 2008 is hard coded in the Word of God as the next Major Judgment Date that will fulfill scripture just like the attack on the Twin Towers Sept 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina fulfilled scripture.

July 8, 2008, has come and gone, and California is still intact....thus proving Steve Wilkes a LIAR! (There's no doubt that California is under judgment as the eternal fires there clearly show, but no man is able to prophesy using man-made, man-concocted "Bible codes" in order to force something to happen):

Deuteronomy 18: 20 'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21 "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

One quick look at his theories shows there is no rhyme or reason for the things he espouses. Plus, God doesn't work with a Gregorian calendar timeline! ALL of His major occasions, such as a the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior Yeshua and the rest of the Biblical Feasts which will soon be fulfilled, have actual dates according to the HEBREW calendar. NO other dates are mentioned in the Bible, encoded or otherwise! Yeshua even spoke in parables so that man couldn't figure out the exact time of the end. He said we are NOT to guess, but to trust God and continue with our lives, and to be vigilant so that we can know when the end is near "even at the door." He never "encoded" the names of America or the names of our presidents or anybody else. God is all about what HE is doing, not the things MAN causes. Anyone who doesn't realize that doesn't know the Bible.

YHWH made no secret of the fact that he hates magic, astrology, card reading and anything else that supposedly foretells our future, because giving heed to this type of thing means we are trusting MAN instead of Him.