Prayer vigil targets Devil's Day

Prayer vigil targets Devil's Day:

"Dutch evangelical Christians are to hold a round-the-clock prayer vigil to ward off the forces of evil on Tuesday - the so-called Devil's Day.

They believe that the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 has great significance for evil-doers and Satanists who revere the number 666.

In a bid to counteract the forces of evil, more than 2,000 Dutch Christians will hold 'a violent day of worship'.

They will be joined by Christians in 23 other countries, organisers say.

The reference to 666 is taken from the Biblical book of Revelation, which talks about the events leading to the end of the world."

It's sad, very sad, that tomorrow's date is causing such knicker-twisting amongst the faithful.

Yes, as well as being the National Day Of Slayer, tomorrow is 6th June 2006 - 6/6/06 - which, if one ignores that inconvenient zero, can be rendered as 666.

Based, of course, on the insane ramblings of one alleged "John of Patmos" (not John the Baptist nor John Whose Name Was Arbitrarily Added To One Of The Gospels Because The Author Never Names Himself), 666 is the "the number of the beast", although John never rambles coherently enough to explain exactly what the number means, why the beast has it, and why it would take "him who hath understanding" to "reckon the number of the beast" when John then goes and names the number.

Anyway, I wonder how this dire number was received on dates that actually do meet without the numerical blindspot. Like 6 June 6AD. Actually 6/6/6.

How about the entire month of June in 66AD? 6/66? Surely people were running screaming at the apparent end of the world?

Well, no. See, the book wasn't even written in 66AD, let alone sixty years earlier.

So, two dates that were far more "prophetic" with respect to the number 666 went past without incident because the prophecy wasn't around then.

What about the year 666 AD?

Well, nobody alive in the year 666AD called the year 666AD, because the Gregorian Calendar (which dates the alleged birth of Jesus as 0, and everything before or after as BC and AD respectively) wasn't adopted until nearly a thousand years later.

Okay, so now three far more prophetic dates have slipped by.

Also remember that this year is 5766 in the Hebrew calendar, 1455 in the Armenian calendar, 1384 in the Iranian Calendar, 1427 in the Islamic calendar, 2256 in the Runic calendar, 2061, 1928 and 5107 in the various Hindu calendars, and Heisei 18 in the Japanese calendar.

One wonders what kind of person could possibly see any kind of significance in an entirely arbitrary dating system which happens to share a few digits with the ramblings of such a disjointed book of prophecy.

Seriously, have you read it?

Oh, and then figure that real Satanists don't give a single ounce of credence to The Bible, biblical prophecies, or the figure 666, and tomorrow is better spent just playing Slayer records. Or going to see The Omen.

Oh, and early versions of The Bible render the number of the beast as 616.

Now, what happened on January 6th this year?

(or, for American readers, what happened four days ago?)

Anyone see any daemons?

I did, but that's only because I have a model of one sitting not four feet away.

Happy June 6th, everybody.

If you must mark it, remember it's National Yo-Yo day here in the USA.

Ohhh.. that's ironic..