Sometime around the year 95, a man who called himself John wrote what became known as the Book of Revelations.

In that book he said, quote, let him that half understanding count the number of the beast,

for it is the number of a man and his number is 666."

So what's the deal with this number and what does it mean?

Learn more about the number of the beast and how it's been used and abused throughout history

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Brilliant. To understand the number of the beast, it's first necessary to understand the book that it came from, the Book of

Revelations. The early Christian Church in the first century was mostly a rather

small community of believers scattered around the Mediterranean. Letters from church

leader sent between these communities became the basis for many of the books of the New Testament.

The Book of Revelations was the last of the canonical books to be listed in the New Testament,

and most probably the last one to be written.

It was written by someone who called himself John.

...