Get Your Kicks On Route 666

It may be me but doesn't it look like angels are driving calamari out of Heaven. What did squids do to piss God off that bad?

In the Nov 15, 1914 Edition of Our Sunday Visitor, (a Catholic publication), the following question was addressed on page 3 in the section titled Bureau of Information:

Is it true that the words of the Apocalypse in the 13th Chapter, 18th verse refer to the Pope?

The words referred to are these "Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is a the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six." The title of the Pope in Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei. This is inscribed on his mitre[*]; and if you take the letters of his title which represent Latin numerals (printed large) and add them together they come to 666.

V I C A R I V S F I L I I D E I
5 1 100 1 5 1 50 1 1 500 1
Add these together and the result will be 666.
This "argument" was submitted to Rev. Ernest R. Hull, and answered in the following manner: "Almost every eminent man in Christendom, who has enjoyed the privilege of possessing enemies, has had his name turned and twisted till they could get the number 666 out of it. In past history there have been numberless beasts or Anti-Christs, all of whose names counted up to 666. I fancy that my own name, especially in Latin form, might give the number of the beast:

E R N E S T V S R E G I N A L D V S H V L L
5 1 50 500 5 5 50 50 =666
Quod erat demonstrandum, namely, that Rev. Ernest R. Hull is Anti-Christ, or the Beast of the Apocalypse!"
Perhaps a little ingenuity with your name will show that you are the beast of the Apocalypse too.

The point is: 666 means everything and nothing at all. It's easy to do Antichrist math because we know the total. You don't even need to be very clever to come up with a nominee for Beast. Judging from the people who read REVELATIONS and see tomorrow, clever could be a handicap. You have to be deluded enough to update your Apocalyptic Timeline without shame. Luckilly the "End of the Earth is at Hand" crowd isn't over burdened by shame either.