“And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, but he that hath the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six.”—Revelation 13:16-18
It is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, the fear of the number 666, a crippling psychological condition for some people. But for most Christian students of prophecy, it is less of a phobia than fodder for end-time speculations, many downright bizarre.
The number is closely associated with a “mark” that will be imposed on followers of the Beast for identification. Nowhere in Revelation is this Beast called the Antichrist, but popular belief has cemented the connection. If we read Revelation in its historical context rather than as a roadmap of future events, we can understand what the number and mark actually mean. Revelation is an anti-Roman polemic and uses ciphers and symbols to hide its message from those not meant to read it.
The number 666 is an example of gematria, where letters are assigned numerical values. The Greek of “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew letters (NRON QSR) adds up to 666. In fact, there are manuscripts known to 2nd-century church father Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, that give the number as 616. These must have used the Latin version of the emperor’s name, which in Hebrew letters becomes NRO QSR, dropping one N (=50), giving us 616. The “mark” in Greek is charagma and usually refers to the name and image of the emperor stamped on coins.
Thus interpreted, the Mark of the Beast had already come and gone. But this won’t make an iota of a difference to some believers, especially fundamentalists. After all, speculating about the future is kind of fun. So let’s examine 10 surprising things that some believe represent the Mark of the Beast.
Related: 10 Objects, Legends, and Locations That Share The Devil’s Name
10 Social Security Number
The Social Security Number (SSN) was created in 1936 by the Roosevelt administration to track the earnings history of U.S. workers and determine their benefit levels under the Social Security system. Since then, it has been the chief means of identifying and getting information about an individual. This makes the SSN a sinister government tool in the minds of some Christians.
President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal liberalism and the increasing power of the federal government, together with the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy, were interpreted by fundamentalists as heralds of the approaching end. FDR must be the Antichrist and the SSN the Mark of the Beast.
Some Christians have refused the SSN, notably in the case Miller v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. No. 32 (June 23, 2000), where the parents of two children objected to giving them the identifying numbers to claim them as dependents. The court ruled that in cases where the government has a compelling interest, whether collecting taxes or administering dependency exemptions to prevent fraudulent claims, the free exercise of religion can be overridden.
In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn a lower court ruling against an Idaho man who refused to provide his SSN when applying for work as a state contractor, writing, “By forcing me to disclose an SSN in order for one to buy my labor or for me to sell my labor, is, in essence, the number of the beast and the card is a form of the mark.” In rejecting his appeal for exemption, the court ruled that the requirement is a “neutral law of general applicability.”[1]
9 Credit Cards
When VISA and Mastercard were first introduced and increased in popularity in the ’60s and ’70s, evangelicals went nuts, as they habitually do, over what they saw as the hand of the Antichrist. One particularly amusing conspiracy theory involving credit cards says that VISA in different languages is 666.
The VI = 6 in Roman numerals, the S is supposedly the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet, and the Babylonian letter A is claimed to look like a 6. Voila, 666! In pre-internet days, it was difficult to fact-check this, and many undoubtedly accepted it as another evidence of the grand plot to impose Satan’s mark on everyone. Today, a quick online search would reveal that zeta, the 6th letter of the Greek alphabet, does not look like an S, and A in Babylonian cuneiform does not remotely resemble a 6.
But credit cards continue to be suspect. That master of the outrageously bizarre, the late Pat Robertson, warned against smart cards, which are credit cards with implanted microchips that contain an individual’s credit history. Robertson saw just a tiny step from that to a microchip implanted in the hand. He feared that the growing technological efficiency of cashless transactions would ultimately provide the basis for controlling a person’s ability to “buy and sell.”[2]
8 Barcodes
When IBM engineers Joe Woodland and George Joseph Laurer III introduced their barcode to the nation’s shoppers in the early 1970s, they ignited a firestorm of protests. An IBM executive who went to inspect the first scanners at an LA grocery store was told to his face that the code was the Mark of the Beast.
It was said that each of the three long guide bars in the code represents a 6. Laurer received a letter from a nutcase who identified himself as Satan asking Laurer how it felt to have carried out his plan. It didn’t help that the letters of Laurer’s first, middle, and last names count to 666. He explained how barcodes work and that 666 is not embedded in it. Besides, the code is placed on grocery products, not the hand and forehead. By the ’80s, the furor had died down.
But not quite. In 2012, a San Antonio school district was sued by a teenager and her family for requiring her to wear an ID badge with a GPS chip and a barcode that allowed her to borrow books from the library and pay for cafeteria meals. The parents asserted that the barcode was the Mark of the Beast and that requiring their daughter to wear it violated her religious rights.
While we are on the subject, let’s debunk one rumor. No, Hobby Lobby doesn’t use barcodes, but not because the bosses believe it is the mark of the Antichrist. Founder David Green wrote that, among other reasons, none of them religious, “Employees take more pride in their work when they know they are in charge, not some faceless machine.”[3]
7 Microchip Implants
Even to sober, non-religious people, digital technology is progressively becoming more sinister. Already, 3,000 Swedes have had microchips containing credit card numbers and other digital information implanted in the back of their hands. A Wisconsin company offered to implant chips in their employees, allowing them to open doors, log into computers, or buy snacks. The chips have been hailed as the “ultimate form of mobile payment,” but enthusiasm is muted. The technology reminds many of the Mark of the Beast.
Microchip implants have a vast potential for good. With a GPS tracker, it assures parents and relatives that children and elderly people will never go missing again. Patients can be monitored by their doctors. Implants that can store and release medications on schedule are being developed. An implantable artificial kidney with microchips that will eliminate the need for dialysis is also in the works.
However, it may also be a slippery slope toward workplace surveillance and violation of privacy. What about hacking, data breaches, and identity theft? How sure are we that Big Brother will not use it for his own nefarious purposes? These are worrying trends even to those who don’t care what Revelation says.[4]
6 Bitcoin
One would think that Bitcoin, a decentralized cryptocurrency no one owns with no central oversight, is the perfect antidote to the Antichrist’s plan to control buying and selling. However, with failing and unstable currencies, Bitcoin is also perfectly poised as an alternative monopolistic legal tender. Ecuador has already ordered its banks to accept cryptocurrency, giving the state oversight over digital transactions and monitoring the supposedly secure and private blockchain ledger. What will happen if economic exigency forces other governments to fołlow suit?
Bitcoin as legal tender for a one-world government is far-fetched, but it admirably fits end-time scenarios. One’s identity is tied to all financial transactions recorded on the blockchain, making surveillance easy. The state can blacklist dissenters and cut them off from any financial resource. Also, since 2014, people have been embedding microchips containing their Bitcoin wallets and other personal information under their skin.[5]
5 Palm Payment
In May 2023, palm scan payment was unveiled in China, followed by the launch of Amazon One, an app that allows users to make payments by simply waving a hand over a palm recognition device. This scans the palm’s unique features, like lines, ridges, and vein structures, to create a palm signature. It is then encrypted and sent to a server for matching.
It is doubly convenient, even removing the need for cards. Still, concerns have been raised that uploading biometric information to the cloud, instead of into the user’s device as is the case for Apple’s Face/Touch ID or Samsung Pass, might have security risks. For many Christians obsessed with end-time prophecies, the technology is being seen as a precursor to the Mark of the Beast.
One of those sounding the alarm is actor Russel Brand: “It’s not like it says literally in the Bible that the mark of the beast be rendered in the palm of your hand or anything like that. Don’t worry; just walk face-first into Armageddon without questioning it. It’s convenient having an apocalypse.” He points out Amazon’s connivance with the “police state” and that it has been “guilty of handing over data without consent before.” Brand adds ominously, “Just give all your data to Amazon and let them give that data to whoever they want. Just wave your hand.”[6]
4 COVID-19 Vaccine
When the COVID-19 vaccine first rolled out, the world heaved a collective sigh of relief at the approaching end of the pandemic and a return to normal life. Then Kanye West said this: “They’re gonna come up with a vaccine, and everybody is gonna have to take it… and inside of that vaccine there’s going to be some type of electronic computer device, some type of chip in us, and that’s the mark of the beast.” It was rumored that Bill Gates had the vaccines spiked with nanobots or RFID chips for tracking purposes.
Mistrust of government and medical establishments fueled the refusal of many to vaccinate and accept the “mark.” Those who encouraged vaccination were the tools of Satan, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who was labeled “diabolical” by a Republican National Committee official. Thankfully for the world, the “diabolical” plot succeeded. It succeeded in saving miłlions of lives and ending the pandemic.[7]
3 Smartphones and Internet
What numbered device are you holding often in your hand and placing in close proximity to your forehead? Right, your smartphone! To some fringe prophecy nuts, those who own these ubiquitous and indispensable tools of modern life already have the Mark of the Beast.
Through algorithms, phones will enable the Antichrist to “read” an individual’s mind, including their preferences in music, hobbies, associates, and more. One’s location can be tracked, and personal information can be revealed. It allows us to watch free porn or cheat on our spouses through dating apps. Social media posts make us covet the lifestyles of more successful friends. It is enough sin to make the Antichrist dance with joy.
Type “www,” and you are typing the Latin equivalent of the Hebrew letter “vav,” which has a numerical value of 6, thus 666. And did you notice the three sixes in Google Chrome’s logo? The iPhone has the Apple logo, and Eve’s apple (not actually specified in the Bible, but anyway) caused the original sin. Recall also that Steve Jobs sold the first Apple computer in 1976 for $666.66. Don’t tell prophecy buffs it’s all a coincidence.[8]
2 President Reagan’s House
The 7,000 sq. ft. ranch-style house at 668 St. Cloud Drive, in Los Angeles’s posh Bel-Air district, is set on private, secluded grounds, with stone walls and high iron gates guarding the entrance. Here was the retirement home of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy, leased for $15,000 a month from a group of friends.
The superstitious Nancy, an astrology fan, had its number changed to 668 from the original 666, for obvious reasons. But if the house was no. 666, the one inside must be… the Antichrist? Ronald Wilson Reagan (count it… 666!) had been suspected of being such in fundamentalist circles. After all, he had survived an assassination attempt, the alleged fulfillment of Revelation 13:3, “And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death: and his death’s wound was healed. And all the earth was in admiration after the beast.”
A mentally deranged man named Gregory Stuart Gordon decided the issue must be dealt with. On July 4, 1990, he scaled the fence surrounding the property, entered the front door, and passed through the house to the backyard, where Secret Service agents intercepted him. “Ronald Reagan is the Antichrist!” Gordon shouted. “He must be killed, and I must kill him!”
Gordon got two years in prison and subsequently wrote a book, Ronald Reagan, Antichrist, published in 2007. He predicted, “And in 2016, there will be a dollar coin with his (Reagan’s) image on it. The Bible calls this the Mark of the Beast.”[9]
1 Sunday as the Lord’s Day
If you consider yourself a good Christian, worshipping God in church on Sundays, singing hymns, fellowshipping with other believers, beware! You are already taking what will become the Mark of the Beast.
Some Christians who observe the seventh-day Jewish Sabbath teach that keeping Sunday as the Lord’s Day is a Satanic counterfeit of the true Sabbath. One sign or “mark” that identifies God’s people is the Sabbath (Ezekiel 20:12). It follows that the counterfeit Lord’s Day is Satan’s own “mark”. It is, after all, SUN-day, and sun worship was rife in the pagan world.
In Pagan Christianity, authors George Barna and Frank Viola write, “In AD 321, Constantine decreed that Sunday would be a day of rest—a legal holiday. It appears that Constantine’s intention in doing this was to honor the god Mithras, the Unconquered Sun…. Further demonstrating Constantine’s affinity with sun worship, excavations of St. Peter’s in Rome uncovered a mosaic of Christ as the Unconquered Sun.” Sunday worship, then, was enforced by the Roman Empire, the Beast of Revelation 13.
That empire will be resurrected a final time in the future as a European military superpower rivaling the United States, to be led by a charismatic leader who will stir up a religious revival centered on Babylonish, pagan Christianity. Sunday worship, the Mark of the Beast, representing disobedience to God’s command to take his sign and keep the Sabbath, will be enforced once again.
Just as God’s commands are “a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8), symbolic of obedience in thoughts and deeds, so will the Beast place his own mark on the hand and forehead. Dissenters will likely be blacklisted from holding jobs or engaging in business, severely affecting their ability to buy and sell.[10]