Model/Actress/Producer/Writer and sexy cat lady http://sexycatladies.com/sandrawade/

Apr 13, 2017

Get Thee Behind Me, Sandra

Daughter of the devil? Or mild mannered blogger? You decide

My birthday is coming up in a little over a month. I have “666” in my birth date, which tends to freak people out. They often joke that I must have the mark of the devil somewhere on my body. I’m pretty sure I don’t, unless you count this very odd birthmark on my inner thigh that looks like someone was playing connect the dots on a blotch of spilled coffee. The devil must be kind of sloppy in the morning.

I’ve seen all of the “Omen” movies; I get why people are spooked.

It’s made me wonder about the origins of this fun, numerological superstition. My mom was a Fundamentalist Christian, and “fun” for Fundies meant reading from the creepiest, scariest book of the Bible-the Book of Revelations-to your child (and bringing home Chic religious comics) about the end times to inspire the fear of the lord in her. I always assumed the fear of “666” originated there.

I loved comic books as a kid, but Chic tracts were never very funny

I quote from the King James version:

“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 threescore and six.”

Oooohhh..doesn’t that raise the hairs on your neck? I’m unmoved, mainly because I don’t believe in the Bible. A significant number of people do, however.

Due to all of the religious indoctrination I suffered as a child, I always harbored a slight fear that I might be the antichrist, “the beast” mentioned in this passage. I have to admit, though, that there was a secret hope attached to that as well. I thought it might actually be kind of cool to have people worship me, even if it was only for a short while until the four horsemen arrived and turned all the rivers to blood and the world got destroyed.

But how do we even know the 666 relates to someone’s birthday? Just like every other passage in the Bible, the warning about the number “666” is totally open to interpretation. Some people believe that if you convert the numbers to letters, you’ll end up with the antichrist’s name. Others think the 666 could be part of the antichrist’s social security number. The Bible is totally vague on this — thus ensuring incessant speculation for the rest of time.

I did an online search for “666 evil”, and it’s amazing how many references you can find. It may be the most prevalent numerological superstition out there. An anthrolopologist who’s studied the Book of Revelations is quoted in a Science Daily article I found. He labels fear of the number 666 “magical thinking”.

He believes the Bible was written in code as a revolutionary text to organize the Christian people against their Roman oppressors and, as such, “666” actually referred to the emperor Nero and/or people who were loyal to the Roman government.

“Revelations is a complex and confusing book, and is rarely read closely by lay people. Biblical scholars have pointed out that there are several ‘beasts,’ in Chapter 13 and elsewhere, and they all refer variously to Rome, Roman emperors and Roman cults of god- and emperor-worship,” he says.

Somehow, however, it gradually became associated with an individual, a power-hungry evildoer who supposedly will enslave mankind and usher in the apocalpyse, before Christ lands a second time to save us, yet again. He attributed this twisting of the story to our very human need to make sense of the world and impugn meaning to certain signs in order to protect ourselves from harm. If we can associate the AntiChrist with a specific number, we can recognize him and avoid his tactics, or so the theory goes.

“People everywhere believe that things associated with other things, through actual contact or just some similarity, have causal relationships, even over space and time..things associated with good events or great people can bring good fortune; things associated with failure, disastrous events or evil people carry some of that negativity with them.”

That makes sense to me. Numerology — believing certain numbers are “evil” or have special power — is just one way humans try to exert control over their unpredictable world.

I lived with a Chinese woman for a while, and I used to pick her brain, much to her annoyance, about her superstitions regarding numbers. She believed certain numbers were lucky or unlucky. I could never figure out how these determinations were made and would query her endlessly about why I should be expected to believe her supposition when she had no clue where the list of “unlucky” numbers even came from. I also found it hard to believe that, for example, a tornado would hit one house and not another, simply because its address contained an unlucky number.

One danger of clinging to such superstitions is that they can make you vulnerable to charlatans attempting to capitalize on your quest for control. There are tons of opportunists out there, trying to bilk the gullilble. My Google search turned up plenty of hucksters trying to capitalize on the fear of the AntiChrist to sell books or drive traffic to their web sites:

When right-wingers take their Obama obsession a l’il too far

“Barack Obama Antichrist Find Out All You Want to Know About Barack Obama! Get Reference Toolbar www.Starware.com/Reference"

…hmm, it’s hard to take seriously anyone who tries to sling mud at the former president by suggesting they might be the “antichrist.” And if he were, I feel sure he would have used his presidential position to rein havoc down on the country. Apparently, this guy poured through some “Bible Code” he made up and found a bunch of very tenuous connections, which of course involve Muslims and some b.s. about a ring Obama was wearing. I get that right-wingers are bigots who hate Obama, but pointing at him as some all-powerful tyrant who would bring about the end of the world is a bit much. After all, he’s no longer president, and WE’RE STILL HERE. (knock on wood, with the way things are going with Trump, who’s gotten a LOT closer to ending the world in 3 months than Obama ever did in 8 years.)

“Asteroid Impact in 2039 Asteroid impact warning for 2039. Download the evidence in an ebook. asteroid2039.com”

I’m not sure what a potential celestial collision has to do with the Antichrist. I guess it’s just more fodder for the delusional street-corner preachers, wearing their “The end is near!” sandwich boards. Hopefully we can recruit Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman, if they’re still alive by then, to build some super blasting machine to blow that asteroid into tiny bits before it hits Nebraska.

“The AntiChrist: Free Book Discover What the Early Church Knew About the Second Coming of Christ. VoiceOfElijah.org/EndofAge”

…ooh! A free book! I suppose it’s free so they can suck you into their cult. Come for the free book; stay for the incessant questioning and lovebombing, whereby they find out all your weak points that they can then use against you to isolate you from society and eventually take all your money and make you work for them for free.

Sam Neill made a really sexy spawn of Satan in “Omen 3”

All of the AntiChrist related products seem like scams. Perhaps I should throw a few runes or ask a ouija board if I really AM the one. I’d hate to think I’ve been on this planet half a century and not taken advantage of my status, if that’s indeed the case. I’d like to use it to my advantage, maybe get an upgrade to first class on my next flight, or at the very least ensure I’m not dragged off of it.

Perhaps I could parlay my status into my own reality TV show. “We found the Antichrist, and you won’t BELIEVE what she does for a living!” Throw me into a Big Brother type house, and let’s see if Flava Flav and Kate Gosselin can handle living with the “Omen lady.” Actually, I’d probably be the first to bail, due to perpetual annoyance.

But first I‘d better check with my former roommate and make sure the house’s address is a lucky number.

If you’re afraid I might be the AntiChrist, please curry favor with me by clicking “like” on this article, and I just MIGHT keep a plague of locusts from attacking your house.