I watched a program on the History Channel about this. I don’t know what to think of it.

It’s like the DaVinci Code. People get caught up into it because it mixes half-truths and stereotypes with grand storytelling and it makes for a fun trip down fantasy lane that’s believable. Personally, I don’t think much of it. I mean, I’ve seen websites that prophesy all sorts of things, even one that goes into elaborate detail on how the pope is the anti-Christ based on calculating a numerical value for all the popes since the French Revolution. This same site hypothesized that the pope after JPII was going to be the anti-Christ because he was to pick a new name that did not exist before (all the previous popes added up to 665). Well, it turns out the pope chose Benedict which is the 16th time that has been used making the calculation 681.

Since that put a little dent in his theory, he revised it to say that this pope will change his name during his pontificate to one that has never been used before (making him Pope Something I) making his calculation add up to 666.

People want to believe that there is something magical out there, but there really isn’t. People have been doing this for as long as humans have been on the earth. Look at the oracles in ancient Greece.