Breaking The Jewish Code Perry Stone

Christianity when they attempted to interpret John’s enigma of the mark of the beast. John had a student named Polycarp, and Irenaeus (a.d. 140–203) sat under Polycarp. Irenaeus recorded one example of gematria when he discovered that the word lateinos had a numerical total of 666.

L A T E I N O S 30 1 300 5 10 50 70 200 TOTAL NUMERICAL VALUE—666

Irenaeus said, “It seems to me very probable: for this is a name of the last of Daniel’s four kingdoms; they being the Latins that now reign.” Since the fourth empire of Bible prophecy was Rome, and Rome ruled in the days of most early fathers, it was commonly accepted that the Roman Empire would rule as the final empire prior to Christ’s return. Eventually, political Rome faded into history and was replaced by the Roman Church, whose influence in Europe and portions of the Middle East controlled the rise and fall of empires for centuries. The Latin language was accepted and used in the church, thus the interpretation of the phrase lateinos , alluding to the number 666, maintained a strong following although this method of interpretation is not accepted by most contemporary scholars.

Counting the Letters and the Hebrew Calendar