The Lawless One

Scene I

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse prepare to mount their horses. The riders stand anxiously waiting while their horses impatiently paw the ground.

The first horse is a magnificent white Arabian decked in war regalia. His fair-skinned rider is equally arrayed in fine French tapestries with bows and silks. Upon his head is a golden crown, placed there by the pope himself. Although later detractors will say that he grabbed the crown from the pope and placed it upon his head himself, it was not true.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. Revelation 6:2

The second horse is an auburn stallion with a finely oiled brown saddle upon his back. A military man stands beside his horse, decked in dress greys with ruddy complexion. He has allied his German forces with Rome and Italy and prepares to lead the whole world into war. He has surrounded himself and his horse with many weapons of destruction that have been blessed by the pope himself.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. Revelation 6:4

The third horse’s shiny black coat is glistening in the sunlight. The rider stands beside his horse, dressed smartly in a business suit. He will gain his kingdom by peace and through peace brings economic collapse and famine upon the whole earth. While he stands impatiently waiting to mount, one can’t help but notice that he is of darker complexion and taller than the second horseman. And then one notices also that the second horseman is of darker complexion and taller than the first. The name of the third horseman? His name is, “The Lawless One”.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. Revelation 6:5-6

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. Daniel 8:25

The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders (RSV) 2 Thessalonians 2:9

The Director walks onto the set.

“Stop the horses! Whoa, Nellie! Back the train back into the Station! Cut the Record!” Scratch!

“Can’t you read your scripts? I specifically told everyone that the “Rapture Scene” happens first. I can’t have you all teaching your followers that the Rapture is imminent with these horsemen on the stage. Now, you are all going to have more work trying to lull your followers back to sleep. Remember, your talking points! The Rapture can happen at any moment! There are NO signs preceding the Rapture! No one knows the Day or Hour! The Disciples expected the Rapture within their lifetime! The Rapture could have happened any time during the last 2000 years! Repeat after me!”

The Great Apostasy

The director had left. The watchers were left with searching the sacred scripture for themselves.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. Matthew 24:3-7

One watcher said, “Sounds to me like Christ was saying that much time would pass before He returned. Surely He was telling His disciples that there would be many wars and rumors of wars and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom would have left little doubt that the Rapture would not be within their lifetime. Then why were the watchers being taught that the disciples were expecting Christ to return in their lifetime?”

“The apostle Paul in fact spoke about the rapture, in his first letter to the Thessalonians:”

and then we who remaining alive, shall be rapt with them together in clouds, to the meeting of our Lord in the expanse and so always with our Lord shall we be. (Etheridge) I Thessalonians 4:17

“However, false rumors started circulating among the Thessalonians that they had missed the coming of Christ and their gathering together to Him in the Rapture. Which prompted clarification from Paul in his second letter:”

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (NAS) II Thessalonians 2:1-3

The other watchers stopped and thought. Another said, “Obviously, to watch for the coming of the Prince of Peace we must first watch for the apostasy, the falling away from the true faith, with the revealing of the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, the Lawless One.”

The Lawless One

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, (RSV) 2 Thessalonians 2:3

And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, (RSV) 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9

Another watcher asked, “What does it mean to be lawless? Does it mean to be without the law or to not obey the law? But what law are we talking about, the law of God or the law of Man?”

“Good question”, responded another.

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Romans 5:13

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: Romans 5:20

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (NAS) Romans 5:20

“When laws are created, transgressions increase. What had been lawful, as there was no law, when outlawed, increases lawlessness. And sinful human nature also means when someone is forbidden from doing something, they are then often tempted to do that very thing.”

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Romans 7:7-13

Pope, Prince, or President

The same watcher continued. “Because of this emphasis on “lawlessness” I think we can reach several conclusions when we search for the lawless one’s identity.”

1. He practices lawlessness. “This of course is obvious. But it must be practiced on a grand scale to be THE lawless one. Therefore this person in his position must actively be making laws that affect multitudes of people AND he must be making these laws unlawfully.”

2. He knows and rigorously studied the law. “To be able to practice lawlessness to its fullest, he must know what the law says. In Old Testament times, those who “studied” the law were the Rabbi’s. However, today in many law schools the law unfortunately is taught differently. It is not taught as a way of separating right from wrong. Nor is it even taught as a way of rewarding good and punishing evil. Good and evil are considered relative. It is not even about truth. Truth is relative. There is no absolute truth. The law is only a way of resolving conflicts and disputes. In such an environment we would expect “the lawless one” to grow. We would expect him to have studied the law.”

3. He taught the law. “How better is it to really know the law than to teach it? And isn’t it recorded in scripture:”

Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. I Timothy 1:7

“And continuing:”

But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; I Timothy 1:8-10

4. He practices law. “Yes, we would expect him to have this as his profession. Yes, we would expect him to be a lawyer.”

The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders (RSV) 2 Thessalonians 2:9

“He will follow after his father satan who is indeed a lawyer and by far the craftiest of all lawyers. Do you not know that this has been satan’s job the past millennium, accusing the brethren day and night? And he is very good at it. In fact, he is the “best” at it.”

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Job 1:6-11

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10

5. He prospers lawyers. “We know that he will spend or have spent under his policies and direction, massive amounts of money on attorneys. This is the profession where craftiness is an art form and justice can be subverted, at least temporarily, given enough resources to lawyers.”

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. Daniel 8:25

6. He will be illegitimate from birth. “We would expect him to be illegitimate from a very, very early age, most likely from birth. And we know that from a young age children pattern their behavior after their parents. So we expect that his mom went to great lengths to cover up the fact of his illegitimate birth. We expect him to continue throughout his life in all sorts of illegal behaviors, illegal drugs, illegal sex, and possibly even hiding or forging of documents to make him appear more legitimate which would include all “legal” documents such as a birth certificate, passport, etc.”

The REAL Number of the Beast

But there were other watchers who wanted more evidence. “We know from scripture that the lawless one will have a name whose number is 666, do we not?” said one.

“Yes and no,” said another. ‘What scripture says is:”

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 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. Revelation 13:16-18

“So,” said the other. “Not just anyone can count his number and come to 666. It requires both wisdom and understanding. In other words it must be because the normal counting of the number of his name DOES NOT equal 666. Clearly, the number 6 is prominent in the conversion, being repeated 3 times for emphasis in 666. And only through wisdom and understanding can we convert from 666 to the REAL number of the beast.”

The other watchers had worried looks upon their faces. “What do you mean?” asked one of them.

The watcher continued. “Let’s start out by realizing that satan will take over and control the beast. This really means that satan will BECOME the beast. The lawless one will become satan incarnate.”

“A very unusual thing can be noted if you study all the various names of satan throughout scripture. Every single time, the number of the name of satan is a multiple of the number 13. Every single time. One instance of coming to 13 for satan’s main name could be chocked up to coincidence. But every single time? So should we expect anything less than the number of the name of the lawless one to have to be a multiple of 13?”

The watcher continued. “You may have noticed that the number 666 is not a multiple of 13. Nor is the number 216, the number of the beast that was used in a very popular book series because it is 6 times 6 times 6. Likewise 18, or 6 plus 6 plus 6, is not a multiple of 13.”

“Let me pull up a reference book to show you more. Let’s see”, said the watcher. “Here it is. James Harrison’s “The Pattern & The Prophecy”. On pages 130-133, he brings up, “The Gematria of satan”. He brings up that the word “satan”, both in the Old Testament Hebrew (364 = 13 x 28) and in the New Testament Greek (559 = 13 x 43) are multiples of the number 13. He also brings up how throughout history the number 13 has had a bad reputation such as Friday to 13^th, avoidance of numbering a room 13, or a 13^th floor. He asks:”

Is the fear of this number nothing but a modern superstition? If you believe so, then you have your time-frame reversed. The 13’s in the two forms of satans name came first; the fear and superstition came second.

“He goes on to list the many names of satan and how they all are divisible by 13. For example in Hebrew “serpent” (1300 = 13 x 10), Greek “serpent” (780 = 13 x 60), Greek “tempter” Matthew 4:3 (1053 = 13 x 81), “belial” (78 = 13 x 6), John 8:44 “murderer” (1820 = 13 x 140), original spelling “devil” (195 = 13 x 15), “dragon” (975 = 13 x 75), and so on. James Harrison goes on to conclude:”

Yes, all the names and titles of satan are multiples of 13!

“Wow!”

“But let me continue,” said the one watcher. “Please do,” said another.

By this time the watchers were more curious than ever and crowded around the one watcher.

“Along with being a multiple of 13, the number of the lawless one’s name must meet another hurdle. It must be able to be convertible in some form to 666. We realize that the original text of scripture used letters to represent numbers. We actually have the 3 letters of the alphabet that have been assigned numerical values of 600, 60 and 6. The first 10 letters of the alphabet (aleph-beth) were assigned the numbers 1-10, the next 9, 20-100, and then the last 7 we count from 200 to 800 using the last letters for English or the last letters plus variations of other letters for other languages. We have versions of scripture written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.”

“So the simplest conversion would be to reduce 666 down to its smallest number which would be 6+6+6=18. And then taking 18 times 13 we have a number to watch for which is 234.”

One of the taller watchers then asked, “So are you saying the real number of the beast is 234?”

“I’m not saying that”, said the first watcher. “However, some years ago many of you watchers will recall the appearance of an Angel to one Vincent Tan.”

“Yes”, said the taller watcher who had just spoken, “and the Angel left $2.34 in change. So maybe this is the number?”

“Maybe so, but not so fast”, said the first watcher. “We have other permutations of 6 to consider which may have a closer connection to 13.”

“Look at this table where 6 is taken to the power of integers up to the number 6.”

Expression	6^1	6^2	6^3	6^4	6^5	6^6
Result	6	36	216	1296	7776	46656
Min to Hours	0.1	0.6	3.6	21.6	129.6	777.6
Min Time	0:06	0:36	3:36	21:36	9:36	9:36
Clockwise Degrees	6	36	216	216	216	216
Counterclock Deg	354	324	144	144	144	144

“The number 216 is prominently displayed as 6^3. It is also the clockwise degrees for all powers of 6 after 2. And minutes to hours of 6^4 is 21.6. Likewise 46656 is 216 squared. The “counter” or counterclockwise degrees to 216 is 144. What “counters” in a way, the beast, is revealed in the next verse after Revelation 13:18 which are the 144,000.”

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. Revelation 14:1

“You may note how 36 also plays prominently as 6^2, the minutes to hours of 6^3 as 3.6, and the minutes in the time for all powers of 6 after 1.”

“Okay,” said the first watcher. “You probably have noticed that the number 6 is not a prime number. However it can be broken down as being the product of two prime numbers, 2 and 3. Likewise, we can take the sum or result after raising each prime of these two primes to sequential powers:”

Expression	2^1+3^1	2^2+3^2	2^3+3^3	2^4+3^4	2^5+3^5	2^6+3^6
Result	5	13	35	97	275	793
Min to Hours	0.08333333	0.21666667	0.58333333	1.61666667	4.58333333	13.2166667
Min Time	0:05	0:13	0:35	1:37	4:35	13:13
Clockwise Degrees	5	13	35	97	275	73
Counterclock Deg	355	347	325	263	85	287

“The number 216 is again prominent as the first three digits of the remainder in the minutes to hours conversion of the sum of the 2^nd powers and 6^th powers. We also have the number 13 itself as the sum of the 2^nd powers. Here we have this “evil” number, a number that is associated with “sin, rebellion, and depravity”, at least according to the book “The Arithmetic of God”. And we have this number doubly in the minutes and the hours in the number 793 converted to time, which is the sum of the 6^th power.”

“Wow, you’d think with the sum of the primes of 6 when taken to the 6^th power being triple 6 and having both 13 and 216 in the minutes to hours and double 13’s in the minute times conversion that there would be something really significant about the number 793 also? Here we have association upon association with the number 13 which makes 793 an even better candidate than 234.”

“And of all the number results in the above tables, the only number divisible by 13 besides 13 itself, is 793!”

The other watchers were silent for a while. Then the taller watcher who had spoke earlier said, “Well for me, the topper is that 793 minutes is the same as 13 hours and 13 minutes.”

“Good,” said the first watcher. “So, for everyone that HATH UNDERSTANDING, counting the number of the beast, which is the number of a man, must not be simply 666 or even 216 as NEITHER are divisible by 13. As I’ve stated, for the beast to become possessed by satan half way through the tribulation, becoming in a real sense, satan incarnate, he must have a name divisible by 13!”

“And what other number is there that can be directly derived from 666 which is so associated with 13, than 793?”

To which the taller watcher replied, “Ah, the question now becomes, what MAN has the number of his full name equaling 793?”

The first watcher replied, “But for another time.”

Some of the watchers appeared unsatisfied. The taller one asked another question. “I understand that the lawless one’s full name should equal 793, which is divisible by 13. But didn’t satan have EVERY ONE of his names divisible by 13, not just some compound name? What about the first, middle, and last name of the lawless one? Shouldn’t the number of each of these names be divisible by 13 as well?”

The first watcher replied, “Next thing you will be wanting is for the title that the “lawless one” either lawfully or unlawfully carries to also be divisible by 13.”

The taller watcher responded, “Sounds good to me. How else will we know for sure that we have the right guy?”

“Very well”, said the first watcher. “There aren’t that many titles so we can start eliminating people right now if you would like”. He sat down and brought up a word/number converter and started typing in titles. “Let’s try “pope”. That comes to 205 which is not divisible by 13. Now, let’s try “prince”. That name comes to 227 which is also not divisible by 13. “King” is 86 which is not divisible by 13 either while “Queen” is 440, also not divisible by 13. Do you want me to continue?”

One of the other watchers yelled out, “What about “emperor”?” “Very well”, said the first watcher. “The title “emperor” comes to an even 360 and is not divisible by 13. While we are at it, “chancellor” is an even 280 and is not divisible by 13 either. One more, how about “prime minister”? That comes to 717 which also is not divisible by 13.”

“Aren’t you forgetting the main one?” asked the taller watcher.

“Very well,” said the first watcher. He then typed in “president”. The number converter displayed the result as 533 along with showing its divisors as the product of 41 and 13.