I must say this is a little pet peeve of mine. In the debate over '666' many people have accepted a false premise. The false premise is that the beast represented by 666 is the antichrist. probably most people would fight you to the death if you told them that the word antichrist doesn't appear in the book of revelation. It only appears in 1st and 2nd John. If we assume that the beast is the Catholic church, how can we possibly consider the antichrist to be the beast? consider John's description of the antichrist:
"1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." - 1 Jn 2:22
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come" - 1 Jn 4:3
Many criticisms I may have of the catholic church, but we certainly cannot convict them of denying the incarnation of Jesus, or Denying the existence of the Father! These were doctrines of the Gnostics, not the catholic church. Revelation doesn't deal with the Gnostics, and so John does not use the word Antichrist there!
"1Jn 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." - 1 Jn 2:22
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come" - 1 Jn 4:3
Many criticisms I may have of the catholic church, but we certainly cannot convict them of denying the incarnation of Jesus, or Denying the existence of the Father! These were doctrines of the Gnostics, not the catholic church. Revelation doesn't deal with the Gnostics, and so John does not use the word Antichrist there!
