Number of the Beast ? Revelation 13:18

[Les]

I was thinking about this and after searching, did not find a topic in the forum discussing
Revelation 13:18
18 Thus is wisdom: he having a mind must calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred sixty-six.
http://christreich.christogenea.org/revelation13

Bill's material is something I have heard before, that it relates to Roman Catholic popes.

Ever since I started studying Christianity on my own as a teen, starting off with TV programs / books / magazines by end-time rapture jewdeo-christian preachers, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Worldwide Church of God, American patriots / militias, etc, etc -
- most said that having a Social Insurance Number (in Canada), and In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN), plus paying taxes, and the phasing out of using hard currency. is part of the Beast system.

Supposedly, the sytem will eventually mandate a physical placement / mark on (in?) our hands or on our heads if we want to survive
Conspiracy writers say it will be an embedded microchip in our flesh, not just a tattoo.

Most employers demand your SIN number or will not hire you

During most of my life, I used to refuse to do business online, such as banking, or using Automatic Teller Machines, etc.
In the last decade, it has become impractical.
Sometimes, a vending machine or payphone or something just will not work with cash, but only will with your debit /credit card.

In Canada, 2 more things have happened.

1- Canada Post (our service here, like the USPS) will deliver mail to the wrong address.
Never mind that your complaints do nothing, except MAYBE if the sender has a receipt/tracking number/insurance, then possibly can get reimbursed.

What if it is your income tax refund cheque that gets lost?
My suspicion that the postal service has gotten worse and worse, year by year, is for one reason, to force us into accepting Direct Deposit .
It may not just be a conspiracy theory, as I recently read that Ontario residents that get welfare / disability payments / Ontario Works (unemployment) cheques, in 2016 MUST start accepting Direct Deposit or they will not get their monthly allowance at all.

2- the Canadian penny was taken out of circulation, because the cost of making them was more than what they were worth (supposedly was 1.5 cents for a 1 cent coin).
Now, stores round up the receipt balances either up or down to the nearest nickel,
but
if you use direct debit or credit cards, then you still pay (or get paid) exactly to the the penny.

What are your thoughts?

[Nayto]

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." - Deuteronomy 6:4-9

I think the mark of the beast is simply what laws you keep to; the law of God or the law of the beast. Keeping the law of God easily leads to the afflictions mentioned in the Revelation.

[bahr]

Nayto is right, imho. The mark is the number of a man. That, for me, means "humanism". Either your laws are the Laws of Yahweh or your laws are the laws of the society.

The humanists love to concentrate on the number itself and its secret meaning, and of course the devils play this little game too, because that way the simple truth is ignored and this permits to lead astray the sheep even more, making them to believe in all sorts of horrible and fantastic threats, thus keeping them in a state of fear.

[Nayto]

Yes, people always ascribe special, superstitious significance to the number itself. It's just a riddle, nothing more.

Also I would suggest hearing Bill's interpretation of the number in Christ Reich.