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The Number 666: A Key NOT a Car
I'm neither the first nor the last, I'm sure, to investigate the mysterious "number of his name" John briefly mentioned of the beastly leader in Revelation 13. Through decades of extensive Bible studies, I'd never had a theory on whose name calculated to 666 and never felt a need to have one, but that changed December 10, 2004, when I stumbled on a mathematical correlation between the number and the name of someone who had been my chief suspect in an extensive investigation spanning the preceding months. Prompted by former President George Bush, Sr.'s taunting prediction not to "bet against Arnold Schwarzenegger" becoming the U.S. President a couple weeks prior, I thought to count the values various encoding methods would yield for the name, 'PRESIDENT ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'. Though set to go through dozens of calculations on numerous ways of writing it, my first test (using A=1, B=2...) yielded exactly half the beast number, 333, and led directly to counting the letters on a case-sensitive 52 point scale (a=1, A=2...z=51, Z=52), which totaled 666. As my investigation had already yielded a substantial and very convincing case pointing towards Schwarzenegger and no one else, this was a jaw-dropping moment like matching winning lottery numbers. At the time, I was several months into an online investigation I called the "Arni-christ Project" where, based on dozens of evidences, I had personally concluded that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only viable suspect for the crimes against God and humanity predicted of this notorious politician who will nearly destroy the whole world in his megalomaniacal pursuits. However, I'd also stated several times that the lack of what I called "the smoking gun" -- a direct correlation between his name and the number 666 -- prevented me from viewing the case as proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I hasten to add, however, that my considered opinion was and remains that this mathematical correlation was never intended to be the primary identifying mark identifying this man, but, rather, that it is a necessary piece of any case made on the matter; it is a key, not a car. Nevertheless, a key must actually fit and work to have any value, and so must any effort to identify the man destined to fill the role of the biblical antichrist by a calculation based on this passage of Scripture. Therefore, any calculation of the name of someone not fitting the bill otherwise outlined in Scripture is a waste of time, and no case built without a reasonable correlation between a person's name and the number 666 can be considered complete. Let me also say that no case regarding the antichrist's identity can be predominantly built on this element of the numerous prophetical identifiers given in the Bible, as many do. Between lacking any set standard for rendering and calculating numeric values from text, the chances of finding a 3 digit solution that uniquely identifies one of the 4 billion or so people in the world are logically nil. However, a reasonable calculation of a reasonable rendition of an otherwise viable candidate's name could uniquely identify the one person amongst the field of candidates outlined by the attributes given in Scripture, a much narrower field than the entire global population. (In my view, there is only one truly qualified candidate in public view at this time, though the extremely unlikely event that another as suitable as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger remains open.) A key must fit and work, yes, but it needn't do any more than that. There is no reason to assume that the "the number of his name" was intended to be a prima facie argument for "he who has wisdom" to show the world who the antichrist is, nor that the point alone could ever approach such relative importance in revealing his identity. What drives the following is my own need to prove out the viability of counting the number of the name former President Bush Sr. and I both consider a near inevitability in America's near future -- 'PRESIDENT ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER'. This name, counted on a 52 point, case-sensitive scale totals 666. At a glance, this meets the basic criteria inasmuch as it is a common and natural rendering of the name (even the all capital letters1) calculated in a normal and natural way. Although it was admittedly what I was looking for when I calculated it as such, I was struck by the fact that I didn't have to look too far. That might disappoint any who think this mysterious calculation should somehow transcend all other possibilities and serve as a stand-alone proof of the antichrist's identity, but it is more in keeping with the general tenor of Scripture, which portrays the number of the beast's name more as a capstone then a cornerstone. I was looking for and even expecting to find such a correlation because I'd already focused on him as the only one in modern history to so uniquely satisfy dozens of other biblical clues pertaining to his physical appearance, life and times, and personality, all of which are discussed elsewhere. Thus, the point is not to prove that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the antichrist based on a dubious calculation of letter values in a name rendition that is only hypothetically plausible, even though I believe it lends considerable credibility to the overall case. Rather, it is a logical comparison of this and other theories pertaining to the beast number with the intent of measuring the viability of each in the one thing missing from about every other theory I've seen -- context. For a number of reasons, this turned out to be a much bigger project than originally envisioned. All I really wanted to do was compare my own theory about the number of the beast's name against others, but it didn't take long on the internet to discover that there were two open-ended variables inherent in almost all: 1) The valuation or encoding of letters, and 2) the way name names are rendered. Thus, in order to objectively evaluate the merits of any name-calculation equaling 666, it had to be viewed in the all-important context of...and this is where the project exponentially expanded...all viable candidates names rendered all possible ways and calculated all possible ways. The array of beast number theories circulating on the internet are like a contest with numerous entrants all claiming to have caught the best fish in the lake without ever establishing what is "best". Moreover, even if an agreeable measure for that could be established, how would one have any confidence that the fishermen had snagged the "best" fish? It could just as well remain hidden in the deep waters of the lake. While these questions may not have definitive answers, the challenge definitely calls for a new approach, so I traded in my rod and reel for a large net in the form of a 200 megabyte spreadsheet. This is how it works: Beginning with a select and growing list of names of prominent people, a program is used to multiply whatever first-middle-last name/initial combinations their name lends by 20-25 past, present, and potential titles that might apply. This generates a little over 200 average "names" per unique person, each of which is then broken down into individual characters and calculated 60 different ways. To put this in context, the initial presentation includes 84 unique people's names rendered a total of nearly 18,000 unique ways and measured by over a million name and code combinations. The results will be documented more completely elsewhere as I go, but it is interesting to note that this generates an average of over 5 calculations equaling 666 per person, over 90% of whom hit the beast number at least once, which at least proves that no such calculation could, in itself, be a primary or exclusive proof of the true antichrist's identity. It also supports the concept of the Beast Number Factors (BNF) generated by the program based on percentage factors relating to the viability of how the name is rendered and computed. Though the list of unique name-title combinations totaling 666 is lengthy and contains numerous frivolous entries, only a handful find their way to the A-List with a BNF of 25 or greater. See also:
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