6/6/06: The Devil's Day? Or Marketing Run Amok?

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred three score and six." Revelation of St. John the Divine, KJV

I suppose it had to happen. When June 6th, 2006 rolled around on the Gregorian calendar (that's the one most of us use, by the way), the "numerologists" out there quickly noticed that the shorthand method of anotating the day would be 6/6/06.

Oh, my goodness, that's awfully close to the "mark of the beast."

However, other dates are watched carefully by law enforcement officials according to the Denver Post:

Some dates and anniversaries can be calls to action for white supremacists, racists, and conspiracy and prophecy theorists. April 19, for example, is the anniversary of the raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas; the Oklahoma City bombing; and the raid on white separatist Randy Weaver's home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho .3

According to LiveScience.Com:

With 06/06/06 looming (June 6, 2006), authorities in some cities are worrying prophecy theorists or hate groups might read something ominous into the date and use it as an excuse to stir tension. Some expectant mothers are making birthing appointments to ensure they avoid the date, according to the Sunday Times in London.1

Now, if you are horribly naive and do not know what of what the Hell I am speaking; good for you. For the rest of us: It's going to be a fun few weeks because between the fundamental evangelical nutbags, the numerologists, Madison Avenue, and the conspiracy theorists, expect all sorts of of weird, wild, and down-right wooly claims, apparitions, and product launches. For the cynical, it should be amusing.

The fundamentalist evangelicals are making noises that the sixth will be the day that the antichrist will be either born, rise to power, or start armageddon. Despite the fact that, in all probability, the notion of "Antichrist" is a misinterpretation of "antichrists." in the scriptures. [But that's a blog for another day.] According to the Sunday Times of London,

While some Armageddon believers fear that 6/6/06 will be “a day of satanic power” that may be marked by a comet hitting the Earth, others believe that the world is coming closer to what is widely known as “the rapture” — the moment the Lord calls the Christian faithful home and millions of born-again evangelicals will suddenly disappear from the Earth, leaving non-believers behind. On one popular evangelical website last week, a “rapture index” that calculates the likelihood of the Lord’s arrival stood at 156 — which the website declared was time to “fasten your seatbelts”.2

The Numerologists, as usual, are making lots of noise about this date. Numerology, according to LiveScience,

"Numerology has a long history," [Mario Livio] told LiveScience. "You can trace it all the way from the followers of Pythagoras, whose maxim to describe the universe was ‘all is number.'" Thinkers who studied under the famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in different ways to explain everything around them, he said. Modern numerology has since morphed into a kind of para-science in the same vein as astrology, according to skeptics. Still, many numerologists claim to rely on Pythagoras' ancient system to divine the hidden connections between numbers—often a birth date—and an individual's life. .... Mathematicians are quick to dismiss numerology as having any scientific merit, however.1

To begin with, the number six is considered evil, by numerologists, because it is the number of man. According to Wikipedia:

Six was considered to be the number of man, of imperfection, or evil. It was probably chosen because 7 was considered to be the number of perfection, of completion (seven days of creation), the number of God. Each digit of 666 falls short of being perfect just as man falls short of God's perfection. Being the number of man it can be taken to be the number of the Antichrist, rather than Satan. The Antichrist is Satan's best counterfeit of the one perfect man, Jesus Christ. Yet the Antichrist falls short in every way. Alternately, 666 can be seen as representing the trinity of evil, perhaps, Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet.5

However, as any good biblical scholar can tell you, the true number of the breast is, in all likelihood "616," so this is all much noise without signifigance or forethought. [again a blog for a later date.]

list of what the folks in Madison Avenue have in store for us:

• Ann Coulter's new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism will be released.
• Slayer is launching their "Unholy Alliance Tour: Preaching to the Perverted."
• Decide, a death metal band, will be releasing a new album that day, entitled: "The Stench of Redemption."
Church of Satan is hosting a satanic high mass at the Steve Allen Theater, during which Church of Satan High Priest Peter H. Gilmore will bestow his blessing upon those assembled to, as Gilmore puts it, "champion reason, pluralism, skepticism and abundant joy in life."4

The Conspiracy Theorists would take another book to cover. Here's a list of links to explore if you are so inclined:

• Satansrapture.com
• The Arctic Beacon
• 
  
The Master Number
• 
  
The End Times

It should be a fun week. Assuming, of course, that we don't get struck by a tsunami from that comet fragment. Oh, but wait, that was supposed to end the world as we knew it on 5/25/06. Sheesh, I guess that was another close escape.