The Book of Revelation in the New Testament is sometimes called the Book of Mystery. There is much symbolic language used in the Book of Revelation that adds to its mystique. There is also another unique feature of the Book of Revelation that is not found in the other books of the Holy Bible, namely: It is the only book in the New Testament that is exclusively prophetic in nature.

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 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is “666.”One of the prophecies in the Book of Revelation that has been causing a lot of excitement and fear is the prediction that our world economy would soon be conducted with “marks” (and not with money) on people and the evolving of the use of “666.” Revelation 13:16-18 says, “He (the beast) also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or in his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he has the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

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All over the world, the use of marks have been on the upsurge. Manufactured goods are now marked with bar codes – little black lines and numbers on thousands of items in supermarts and shops. The bar codes identify the goods for the computer and the computer does the works. Marks also are used to identify credit cards, passports, mail, luggage, and thousands of other items.

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Also, today the use of the trio digit 666 in international business is also noticeable. Here are some examples of the present use of the number 666:

* A tall building in New York in front of New York Hilton is identified as 666.

* One country uses as its intertional operator number 666.
* Some credit card companies in US use 666 as a prefix to their cards.
* A big US chainstore uses 666 as the starting digit in its account numbers.
* A worldwide famous rock singing groups labeled one of its record album 666.
* Likewise, a foreign brand gloves has 666 stamped in them.
* Even in China, 666 was marked on the neck label of men’s t-shirts manufactured in that country.
* The 1959 Mercedes Benz car of a former prime minister of Canada had 666 appearing in the plate number.
* Even the international revenue number of US uses the number 666.
* Some US computer companies use 666 as the starting processing number.

There are many more instances of the use of 666 but cannot be contained in this column.

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To many Bible-believing Christians, the more awesome event is when the trio digit 666 will be used as a prerequisite mark in buying and selling commodities and services as prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

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Many of us may say that it is just mere “coincidence” that the number 666 is being used nowadays. Is it? To Bible-believing Christians, there is no such thing as accident or coincidence. By divine providence, divine plan, divine will, yes.

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This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5th Floor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Roxas Blvd., Manila.

Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano version that is preferred.

Be joyful and forgiving!