curtain@ucscf.ucsc.edu (Adam D. Katz) (04/18/91)
I have been reading through this newsgroup, and most of it makes sense to me. The only thing that I am really confused about is the numerology. Someone added up the number is Caesar Nero's name and came up with 666. This supposedly proved that Caesar Nero was satan. Do people really believe in this? If you look hard enough, you can prove anything you want using the bible. And some people are certainly looking hard enough. Counting the number of words in a passage seems awefully silly to me. I am sure that if I did enough number manipulations, I could show that our moderator's number is 666, and therefore, here is satan. -Adam [In this case there's pretty good reasons to think that the author of Rev. meant something of that sort. First, numerology is something that we know was actually used in that period for that kind of literature. Second, the text talks about the number of the name and then says that it is the number of a man. It's really pretty explicit. Scholars have a couple of different guesses as to who might have been meant, but I don't think there's any serious doubt that something of the kind was intended. That doesn't mean you have to accept all applications of numerology to the Bible, but in this particular case I think it's pretty clear. --clh]
ta00est@unccvax.uncc.edu (elizabeth s tallant) (04/21/91)
I'm not really that much "into" the question of "who will be the Anti-Christ," but after seeing the article on Nero, it seems that other folks are. Over the past year or so, I ran across some very interesting information that beyond a doubt relates to the anti-Crist. It has to do with Islamic beliefs, but comes mainly from the Shi'ite Islamic teachings. The more I learn about it, the more shocking and interesting it becomes. Here is a short summary of the most interesting finds, accompanied by Biblical parallels. Moslems (depending on their sect) believe in 12 promised "teachers" who were/are to come betweeen Mohammed and the end of the world. Now, get this. One of those teachers, or 'imams', will die and be resurrected as the "Mahdi." The Mahdi will come at the end of the world when the world is in absolute anarchy, and will restore order and rule with an iron hand. The imam who is to be Mahdi has already come once. His name is Imam Hassan. He will come again as Mahdi. Also, at the end of the world, the Islamic version of Jesus will return to rule with Mahdi. Now, for the Biblical parallels. Two beasts represrenting the anti-Christ's kingdom have a total of 12 horns. One beast has ten, and the other has two. If you consider that one of the beasts is the Mahdi, who will come twice, then each horn represents an appearance. Also, one horn was wounded, indicating that the Beast will die and be resurrected while the world marvels at his resurrection. In addition, another person will show up on the scene claiming to be Jesus. Revelation makes it clear that either 2 or 3 entities will be working together. So, this accounts for two beasts. Perhaps Mohammed could be construed as the third. I have been trying to find a parallel for the seven hills. I have found that there are seven pillars of Islam (beliefs). I also know that there are Moslem holy cities, but I am still trying to find out how many exist. I hope that I don't end up in Rushdie's position for printing these findings, but they are a sort of common knowledge that can be found in many libraries. I don't pretend to insists that my parallels are correct, but they do, IMHO, make interesting information. Take them for what you wish.