June 14, AD 2010
Frankly Speaking
Current Events Commentaries from a Biblical Perspective
by Frank Allnutt

The Name of the Antichrist

Question: Who is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary?

Answer: She is more widely known as “Queen Elizabeth II of England.”

Question: Who is Marion Michael Morrison?

Answer: You oughta know this one, pilgrim: John Wayne.

Question: Who is Joseph Alois Ratzinger?

Answer: Catholics better get this one right: Pope Benedict XVI.

Question: Who is Barry Soetoro?

Answer: That is a name of a student decades ago enrolled in an Indonesian school. Years ago Barry’s name was changed to Barack Hussein Obama. These days Barry is known by even more new names: “President of the United States,” “The Commander In Chief,” and of course the shortened, less formal and more personal, “President Obama.” He has also been called the “Messiah” by some and the “Antichrist” by others.

That pop quiz sets the stage for considering two key questions:

1. How many names will the Antichrist have over his lifetime?
   
   
2. Which one of those names will be calculated to have the numerical value of 666?
   

The name of Henry Kissinger
Back in the early 1970s, it appeared to me that then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had much in common with Biblical descriptions of the Antichrist. Nothing conclusive in that, but I figured I needed to keep on eye on Kissinger. You see, there were some missing pieces to the puzzle: Kissinger never took a throne in a new Temple in Jerusalem (the new temple is yet to be built); he never hinted at being called “God” (though he did suggest “Excellency” would be an appropriate title); and so far as I knew, no one had calculated his name to equal 666.

After weeks of watching and researching Kissinger, I prayed for God to reveal to me how to calculate Kissinger’s name to total 666—or else remove my curiosity about him. I finished my prayer and immediately began to calculate the numerical value of the name “Henry Kissinger.” The formula I used was based on Hebrew gematria, in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet have sequential numerical values—the first letter has the value of one, the second letter the value of two, and so on. Only I applied gematria to the English alphabet (the Bible does not specify the alphabet of the Antichrist’s name). I then multiplied each letter’s value with the factor of six (the number of man and the man Antichrist), and the gematria of “Henry Kissinger” turned out to be 666!

I had found what I was looking for; there was no reason to delve any further—into variations of Kissinger’s name or of any titles incorporated with his name.

I owned an advertising agency at the time, and one of my clients was a Christian book publisher. After sharing the possible Kissinger/Antichrist connection with the publisher, he suggested that I write a book and he would publish it. And I did. I gave it the questioning title: Kissinger: Man of Destiny?

As it turned out, my Kissinger book had low sales—but high impact. Before I published it, I knew of no one else who had calculated Kissinger’s name to equal the number of the Antichrist. But after my book enjoyed even meager sales, the Kissinger/Antichrist question was addressed in new books by others on Bible prophecy, in magazine articles, and from pulpits. Was it in response to my book? Or, had others also independently made the calculation? All I came across were either direct or indirect references to my book.

Most were dismissive. Some of them retorted that the Antichrist will rise to power through a “revived Roman Empire”—Europe—and not “Christian America,” and, besides, Christians will be raptured before the Antichrist is revealed and the “Great Tribulation” comes upon the world.

Many critics admonished me for looking for the Antichrist at the expense of hope in an imminent rapture.

I still keep a watchful eye on Kissinger. But I've made it a practice to watch many people. Scripture warns of false Christs, false teachers and false prophets, and many “antichrists” (1 John 2:18, 4:3). In the 20th Century there were Hitler, Stalin, and Mao heading a very lengthy list. And antichrists—those who deny the biblical Jesus—proliferate the world today.

And now I ask myself another question about the name of the Antichrist. Which of his names could be calculated to equal 666? His birth name, or possibly a new name he will assume when he takes the throne in a future rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem? Will this would-be ruler of the world simply be known as, say, “John Doe”? Or, will he prefer the name, “John, Ruler of the World”? Or, “John, Lord of Planet Earth”?

The Antichrist’s new name
In Revelation 13:17, we read that the “Beast” [Antichrist] “provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

In that verse, “name,” according to Strong’s Concordance, is translated from the original Greek term onoma, which is defined as “a name, authority, cause....”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D CA) recently scolded a hearing witness for calling her “Ma’am” and demanded to be called “Senator Boxer.” Both her demand and the name “Senator Boxer” were indications—if not exertions—of her authority.

President Obama, in a recent White House meeting with leaders of both parties in the Senate, consistently addressed them by their first names, rather than “Senator.” And the Senators all referred to him as “Mr. President.” He never suggested they call him “Barack.”

Some names indicate a cause—“John the Baptist,” for example.

Revelation 13:2 tells us that “the dragon [Satan] gave him [‘beast’ or Antichrist] his power and his throne and great authority” for the cause of dominating the world. That makes me wonder if the number of the Antichrist’s name is calculated with his birth name or some new name that will signify his “authority” and “cause.”

If the 666 calculation is made with the Antichrist’s new name, it is reasonable that such a new name will be revealed when he takes his throne in the new Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is God. And that, according to Daniel 9:27, will take place in the middle of Daniel’s 70th Week—three and a half years into what is commonly referred to as the seven-year Tribulation Period.

The name above all names
Meanwhile, so that we are not caught unaware and suddenly overtaken as by a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11), we should be alert to the many antichrists now in the world (1 John 2:18), as we are “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13).

For “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

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