What exactly is 666? Could a possible solution to this age-old problem be that 666 is a "magic" square? Ancient philosophers and mathematicians were intrigued and infatuated by the fact that numbers 1 through 36 could be arranged in squares where each row and diagonal would add up to the same sum (much like the modern Sodoku puzzle). One square has six lines (four rows and two diagonals) that each add up to 111, which equal 666. In ancient Jewish and Greek traditions, each square was also closely associated with a celestial body. The 666 square was associated with Zeus and the celestial body of the sun.
The mention of "hand" and "forehead" in
Revelation is important for us to take note of. Revelation uses a lot of imagery and symbolism from the Old Testament. This same terminology is used four other times
in the Old Testament (Ex. 13:9, 16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18-19). What it has to do with is what you believe and
how you act in accordance with that belief. It is not a microchip! Not by any stretch of the imagination. It is not a physical mark of any kind!
The second name calculated in Greek by Irenaeus to be 666 is Lateinos (Λατεινος—perhaps ancient Greek for “Latin man”), the Latin or Roman Empire. This is the numerical value in Greek: Λ = 30 + α = 1 + τ = 300 + ε = 5 + ι = 10 + ν = 50 + ο = 70 + ς = 200 = total 666. Irenaeus writes, “Then also Lateinos (ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ) has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear rule: I will not, however, make any boast over this [coincidence].” “J. E. Clark shows that η Λατινη Βασιλεια, ‘the Latin Empire,’ likewise gives the number 666.”
Is it not interesting, even if coincidental, how Lateinos (Latin man), the Latin Empire, and the 666 square all seem to address the same person?
Emperor Constantine.
Now, this has nothing to do with the false claims that Constantine changed worship from Saturday to Sunday. There are plenty of early Christian works that acknowledge the fact that Christians worshiped on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. Because Jewish time reckoned a day from 6:00pm to 6:00pm, from sundown to sundown, early Christians regularly met together after sunset on our Saturday evening, which was their Sunday.
Constantine never became a Christian! This fact is supported from his having murdered three of his own family members—his eldest son, his nephew, and his brother-in-law—after having supposedly converted to Christianity. Constantine was a sun worshiper long before and long after his supposed "conversion." Constantine introduced temples to Christianity in order to give a legitimacy to it. Every other religion had their temples, and now so would Christianity. He even named each of his temples after dead saints the way the pagans named theirs after their gods. Constantine also introduced the priestly caste, modeled after the Roman state (for clothing) and pagan religions (for rituals).
Constantine gathered pagan relics from all over the empire and decorated his "Christian" temples with them. Because Christians gathered on Sunday, and since most of the empire celebrated the Unconquerable Sun on Sunday, Constantine made a legal holiday to be a day of rest. St. Peter's in Rome reveals a mosaic of Christ as the Unconquerable Sun (Sol Invictus), demonstrating Constantine's affinity for sun worship. His title was Pontifex Maximus, which means Chief of the Pagan Priests. He functioned as the high priest of paganism to his dying day. He even used pagan magic formulas to protect crops and heal diseases.
Because of Constantine, the Christians now had sacred temples, sacred objects, and a sacred priestly caste. He also introduced the two classes of Christianity (clergy and layperson), whereas the Bible describes every Christian as a priest unto God, known as the priesthood of believers. Further, due to Constantine's imitation of pagan rituals, now only those trained in the art of rhetoric, in homiletics, were allowed to address the assembly. This taught Christians to value lesser things and to sit quietly like idle spectators being entertained. Biblical Christianity was never limited to the
gifting, experience, and knowledge of a single individual monologuing to
the rest of the assembly.
The Catholic church has carried on the work of Constantine, entrenched in pagan practices and rituals, but the Protestant churches are no better and retain much of the same. If you want to learn more about this, pick up a copy of Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna.
If you examine Emperor Constantine closely, everything he did was saturated by sun worship. He infiltrated and perverted Christ's church, turning it into something it is not and never should have been. Yet, because men love their traditions and are steeped in tradition, much of what Constantine introduced into the church is still present within every single denomination today. Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc. Your denomination has zero points of contact in or with the New Testament. Zero!
Could the warnings in Scripture be pertaining to this? Could they have been pointing to Constantine? His influence is still prevalent today within every denomination. While God can certainly use these denominations and still save His people, nevertheless every denomination has more in common with the devil than they do with Christ. Their entire system—their government, their liturgy, their customs and rituals—all trace back to Emperor Constantine, the Roman senate, and the pagan religions. A close examination of the New Testament and the first 300 years of the early Christians demonstrates conclusively that what our denominations practice today is vastly removed from how the early church conducted themselves. In fact, if they were alive today, they would not recognize the church.
Coincidence or not with the various 666s, nevertheless Constantine left his mark on the church and it has never recovered. God is working within a remnant toward that end, however, as more and more people are looking for God, are fed up with the institutional "church," and are starting to be the church that Scripture calls them to be.
When God shows us something, it is our responsibility to then respond. If we merely ignore it and try to sweep it under the rug for the sake of our man-impressed traditions, we have just quenched the Holy Spirit and pronounced anathema upon our own heads. We have chosen to be disobedient and rebellious. Be like the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures to test whether what the Apostle Paul was telling them was true or not.