Islamic Anti-Christ Claim Revisited

Last year I wrote a couple of blog entries refuting Walid Shoebat’s claim that the word “666” in the Book of Revelation was actually a misreading of the Arabic phrase “in the name of Allah”, supernaturally revealed to the author who copied the Arabic script as he saw it. Shoebat’s claim was laughable: the word is introduced as a number in the Biblical text; it can be numerologically linked to Nero, which fits the historical context; and the earliest discussion of the text, from Irenaeus in the Second Century, discusses the word as being a number. There is no tradition which sees the word as either Arabic or as some mysterious unknown marking.

Shoebat based his claim on having seen the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, and in a presentation to a group of Christian fundamentalists he told them he had seen this:

1shoebat666

I discovered that this was apparently meant to represent this rendering:

1notthecodexvaticanus666

This has been floating around on the internet for a while, and I was not able to discover where exactly it had come from (one site said “Very Old Text…in glass display at Bob Jones University Library – Greenville, S.C.”, which was less than encouraging). Recently, however, someone sent me a jpeg which confirms that it is from the supplement added to the Codex Vaticanus  in sixteenth-century Italy; the Book of Revelation is absent from the surviving ancient codex, so when it reached Italy somebody decided to fill in the missing end. The style of Greek script used would have been unknown to original scribe, and it is completely different from the main body of the codex, which uses “uncial” lettering. A facsimile of the codex printed in 1868 substitutes this section with a typeset version, which at the time was the only one I could see online:

666-1868-printing

So, does the  Codex Sinaiticus offer any better evidence to favour Shoebat’s claim? The digitised text has just been made available on-line, and the answer is, as expected, “no”. The Codex Sinaiticus actually spells the number out as “six hundred and sixty six”:

666 Sinaiticus

In other words, Shoebat’s claim is an epic fail at all levels, and as regards the Codex Sinaiticus he either lied about seeing it or lied about what he saw.

Some other early manuscripts give “666” as a number rather than as spelt out; the earliest fragment we have, from Oxyrhynchus, uses the “616” variant of the number:

3oxyrhynchus666

29 Responses

  1. The video only compounds the hysterical ignorance and false faith.

  2. Never believe a former terrorist, as he likes to call himself. Just another attention seeker

  3. […] course, this is yet another farrago of nonsense; as with Walid Shoebat’s crackpot exegesis of the Book of Revelation, this kind of re-interpretation is not warranted by any problem in the […]

  4. […] on the rubble of the failed “Soviet Anti-Christ” idea), and his friend Walid Shoebat persuades Christians that the word “666″ in the Book of Revelation is a misreading for “In the Name of […]

  5. What do you think could the mark of the beast else than badges which people put on their forehead? Hamas is using them Hisbollah is using them they all fight against Israel and according to the bible Jesus will come to defend it , why wouldn´t antichrist with his army using them? This has nothing to do with fiction israel has been attacked several times by his arab neighbours and they would still want to destroy it if they would have the might to do so.

  6. Sinaiticus does spell out the number six-hundred and sixty six.

    εξακοϲιαι εξηκοτα εξʼ

    Each one of the words: Six Hundred – Sixty – Six

    Begins with the characters – lowercase epsilon and lowercase xi

    The Epsilon being a Lunate Epsilon in the text – representing the crescent moon
    The XI character representing the “Bismillah”

    Vaticanus uses the Chi symbol, see Walid Shoebat, representing the Crossed Swords and retains the XI character for “Bismillah”

    Further we are exhorted specifically in Acts 19 about the worship of Diana (Artermis – Goddess of crescent moon, characterized riding on a white horse with a bow) in Ephesus in Turkey. We are told that they worship an IMAGE that fell from Heaven!

    What is at the Kaaba in Mecca, Arabia? A black stone that fell from the skies!

    • Tim,
      You have got it all wrong !
      You probably speak only English and have a European concept of the antichrist.
      Rome had both Eastern and Western empires. The Western Roman empire became the Byzantine empire (Chritsian) while the Eastern Roman empire became the Ottoman Empire (Muslim) after the fall of Rome. Walid Shoebat is right in every way ! The Muslim Al-Quran and Islam are the very vestiges of Satan, the anti-Christ ! You have no knowledge of Islam and Syariah law (Islamic law) but tend to think only along typical, peusdo-macro Christian lines ! All Muslims want Syariah law. And if able, they will kill all to enforce it in every way of life – from finance(takaful), civil (syariah), calendar(hijrah), to taxes (qizrah) etc. Islam is the religion of the devil (antichrist). I know because I live in a Muslim majority country and speak 6 languages. Talk to Walid Shoebat and see the truth from the outside for goodness sake !

      • Where to begin? The Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople is the one that became the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottomans did not arise until many centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. You lack basic historical knowledge, and should not put yourself forward as an authority on anything.

  7. Regarding Oxyrhynchus

    Crossed Swords and Crescent Moon

    No mystery there

  8. […] make our flesh creep with tales of the evils of Islam, and of how the Bible predicts the rise of a Muslim anti-Christ (plus, of course, of how Obama is a secret Muslim). Shoebat’s handler, Keith Davies, […]

  9. […] make our flesh creep with tales of the evils of Islam, and of how the Bible predicts the rise of a Muslim anti-Christ (plus, of course, of how Obama is a secret Muslim). Shoebat’s handler, Keith Davies, explains […]

  10. […] That he had seen this “Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus”.   As one popular Christian blogger pointed out, “  So, does the  Codex Sinaiticus offer any better evidence to favour […]

  11. you got the image from a jpeg a random “friend” sent you? there’s a lot of “could have” and other speculation in this article. Did you review the other evidences that support his claim that the muslim faith is permeated with the same imagery used in the Bible for the coming of the antichrist? You should not dismiss this until you have the whole argument- especially when you are assuming and generating your own sources FOR him. I believe that’s called here-say. This is certainly a persuasive speech rather than an informative one.
    Nero had little importance with the intent of the verse- unless you are suggesting that he truly was the antichrist and that now we are living in the thousand years of peace….

  12. Look at the holly land and tell me what you see.. What are the people who are trone out thair homes. Gog magog wil invade the holy land!!! the ashkenazi jews are not decendents of israel!! look it up please!! The ashkenazi jews are decendents of Gog.

  13. You may be correct about the mark of the beast; however, it has become quite apparent that the beast mentioned in chapter 13 is the so called United States of Islam. This being said it is also quite apparent that the United States of Islam will be the beast that holds this number. As we move forward in time it is as if we are looking through a looking glass and someone is focusing the lens. We can praise God for that.

  14. […] track on the origin of the Innocence of Muslims YouTube video, and he has gone so far as to claim that his Arabic skills have shown that we should re-write the Bible in order to discern the […]

  15. […] As such, I have been disappointed with his teachings from the start, such as the idea of the Antichrist being Muslim. For one example of the proof he gives for that claim and how it does not stands up to inspection, see this article: http://barthsnotes.com/2009/07/06/is…aim-revisited/ […]

  16. […] As such, I have been disappointed with his teachings from the start, such as the idea of the Antichrist being Muslim. For one example of the proof he gives for that claim and how it does not stands up to inspection, see this article: http://barthsnotes.com/2009/07/06/is…aim-revisited/ […]

  17. Peace be upon you Mr. Richard Bartholomew,

    Thank you for your valuable articles that exposed the lying bigots and charlatans, Walid Shoebat and Simon Altaf. Your work is greatly appreciated.

    I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention that Islam’s Prophecies about the ONE-EYED Zionist system and machine that will rule the earth with mighty power of evil are being fulfilled before our very eyes everyday. You can read about Islam’s ample Prophecies about the End of Times and the dajjal (anti-Christ) at:

    http://www.answering-christianity.com/convert_christians.htm
    http://www.answering-christianity.com/911_is_the_biggest_lie.htm

    And last and not least, Islam is the ORIGINAL FAITH of GOD Almighty to mankind. The Believers had always been called Muslims (Salamays, Mushlams, Mushlems, Mushlimana), and Islam had always been the Original Faith. This is also where you get your Hebrew word SHALOM. It’s actually Salam. For ample more proofs from Hebrew sources and from the Bible Itself, please visit:

    http://www.answering-christianity.com/ac.htm

    Take care,
    Osama Abdallah

  18. Now Babylon the great city that sits across the seven continents is divided into 3 parts ( 3 centers) all sea ports, Babylon (B, L, N)
    1) Bombay -Spiritual Babylon- Part of greater Gujarat wherein existed the ancient kingdom of Krisna that went under the sea , incidentally is the original seat of satan before the division of the continents, & now from this land is seeing the reemergence of his kingdom even unto the Prophecy ‘ One of the heads that received a deadly wound is seen healing” by Fascism. It is also interesting to note that Obama in his first term, influenced by Occultic Hillary & Panetta led a strong Military contingent (citing economic reasons) riding his beast down town signifying Occulic reasons in the land of his “Strange god” even its gods , not the god of his fathers but to his mothers beliefs, to honor its gods for a king having understanding of dark sentences , who then returns back to America & hurridely inducts the “Sodomic Agenda” into the US Military, for the soul of America has been sold , trading the names for nos. to cheap Monetary gains.
    2) Political Babylon -London the seat of Modern Freemasonry , the manifestation of the very enmity put by God between the serpent & the Woman at Eden. Freemasonry come of that ‘ole iniquity even to the satanic attributes spoken by God unto the Prince of tyre, come in the modern time, by its harbinger QE1, for was seen her spirit moving about on all four cursing & swearing around her grave in west minister abbey , it but denotes the Kingdoms of this world sitting against the Kingdom of God by His Christ, even by the many alters figured in the Freemasonic Israeli supreme court to the curse of the leavened law, to the gods in the Golden calf, the same in the name “Avatar” Krisna/Baal/Jupiter/Zeus etc, in the many times of three core & a six, the god(s) of Freemasonry to the one “Who comes in his own name & him you will receive” said Jesus
    3) Commercial Babylon- New York(America born out of England)- Where men & souls are traded , where is seen the manifestation of every sin under the sun , even the sexual corruptions , its core ‘Sodom” to the Prophecy of Zech Ch 5 – The curse of the Flying scroll(Freemasonry) & the wickedness to drives it , in an Ephah & founded upon her own pedstral. Thus the three Babylons & the Man of sin.

  19. Matthew 13:11 “[Jesus] answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.”

    Really? God isn’t an author of mysteries? Either the Bible is lying or you are. @ 1:34

    • The ground reality of the day is that by freemasonry off that ‘ole iniquity established at the time of QEi which gave birth to America of the day, these cabals who consider themselves as god’s, even their head called the Dragon or Serpent in the pagan depth & the through deep hatred of God & His Christ fishing, exploiting, manipulating through back seat maneuvering the divisions in the Monotheistic religions, pit one against the other to destroy, with feminism, fascism etc playing important roles, even Judas’s among the jews as slaves of the cabals.
      Now contrary to this was seen recently the Catholic Church by its Pope gathering the leaders from the three religions together to prayer as a sign of true brotherhood, against the deceitful agendas of the cabals, by their so called gods.
      In all of this, what matters is to know on whose side is God? given by the following vision of a visionary standing before the Glorious One, whose eyes as of fire, hands & feet as of fine brass , short hair, white as wool, His voice that of a multitude, crystal clear , not a human voice- The voice of God , arrayed as the Angel of the Church of Thyatira – in general deemed as the Catholic Church & He stood in Battle readiness. The Lord of hosts His name & lo who ever did or will ever stand up to Him. It sure indicates the side that He is on & that is what matters- even unto the Future of man. Mysteries certainly are unfolding to the ground realities, & the cabals sure have much to worry about -Hell.

  20. Freemasonry itself manifested out of what Jeremiah states in OT , “There is seen a conspiracy among the Princes of Judah” before the scattering, which in the continuation is seen the gathering in 1948 in violence unto this day, Its spirit -not of God but denoted by the many alters figured in the British Freemasonic Isreali supreme court(in the absence of the temple) – hinduism Lo Egypt.
    Even as the Bible says “Who can war against the Beast ” is who can war against(Protestant) America is but the Beast revealed & know that its Character is Sodomic confirmed through its “recent” proclomation by its courts (any wonder the Bible says that the Law is cursed- The law leavened , off the warning of Jesus “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees), Sodom, its Character come as The Marker unto the Prophecy of the “Mark of the Beast”, its number not calculated but counted through History like Herod,Nero, Hitler etc. & now Obama, sodom its Prerogative, even as the “Beast thus Revealed” subdues/seduces the nations , install puppet rulers & finally to gather the nations to war against the Lamb but eventually to find the Beast, False Prophet(Masonry by theosophy (Zech 5)-Now found its way into the UN prayer hall having as its head symbol the same hindu OM, even its sodomic Character) & satan & all of it fallen into the lake of Fire.
    As to the lake of fire, a visionary in a vision hears his name being called from a far to which the Holy Spirit prompts him to head the call, by then one of the Cherubs off the Ark , with eyes as of fire, was beside him with a book in hand asking the visionary to look for his name in the Lambs book of life & he did find himself in it even as on there also
    stood a Lake “Still as Death” the Prophesied lake, for those whose names are not found in the book. For God utterly destroys them who try to change the basic order of the Family(through the Sodomic agendas) even unto the First Holy Family of God, through trying to change the times & the Laws, as prophesied.

  21. Now St. Peter himself was witnessed(St. Malachi’s prophecy of the last Pope who feeds the flock, not to be confused with the Prophecy of St. Francis of Assisi to the destroyer pastor even as the Physical/Worldly church is led into the Prophesied Great Apostasy) leading the Church in the Spirit(Rom 8:19) asking a visionary if he was a HINDU-CHRISTIAN, before testing him for the First Commandment , for this word is incompatible with each other , just as Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity .cause its basis is the worship of “Evolution which but denies in the Existence of god in THE SPIRIT irrespective of what is in the mind or uttered by the mouth.so also is “The Strange god- a god of forces ” mentioned in Daniel- For Obama carries as lucky charms of a certain monkey warrior god , an ancestral Hindu Mythical god which but denotes that “man came from monkeys’ to Evolution worship, like wise are the many alters figured in the British Freemasonic Israeli supreme court – the gods of Evolution & recently there was this projection of the Hindu Demoness Kali on a building but to the goddess worship.,all this but denotes the beliefs of Evolution (The LIE from Eden)that stands against God & his truth. For they worship the created instead of the creator.

  22. This whole discussion is, or, can be put to rest by simply considering what the Bible–namely Revelation– itself declares about the Antichrist…which is that the Beast—or Antichrist, “comes stepping up out of the Bottomless pit”.

    Which of course, means that he is neither a Muslim nor a Christian, as neither of those religions were even in existence when Judas Iscariot—“the man of sin”, and “the Son of perdition”, “went to his own place” into the Bottomless pit– to begin with–according to Acts chapter one.
    As radical in the extremes as this may sound, This disciple of Yeshua was the son of Satan himself “The father of ‘the Lie”–“when he speaks of the Lie, he speaks of his own”—own what? Son.
    The one whom Yeshua called a devil ( “and one of you is a devil”).
    Of course, we have John’s own words to this effect that, the Beast “was” (during John’s time with Christ), and that he “was not”…(because he was there in the abyss as John was writing), and yet “is”…” and shall come stepping up out of the abyss”.
    And yet he is not Jewish either, or at least as far as I can see where he is so identified in the Gospels as such, but is most likely from one of the other 12 tribes of Israel…or, none of them at all, since, as, he is called a devil, who may have had a human mother as such.

    None of the other countess speculations and theories out there….all of them.. are ultimately flawed and actually can be proven not to make sense, when all of the prophecies are taken into consideration.

  23. Who can war with the BEAST is to ask can anyone war with America ? Now unto it’s hidden belief, where every sin under the sun is generated in these latter times, is but to look at the many alters figured I’m the Freemasonic supreme court – Vishnu Lo Egypt, that enslaved a people physically then now tries to enslave Man spiritually ,. denoted by the transgendered one atop the Freemasonic US Capitol dome under the ‘Birds Foot’.(know as to why Obama & his people are so obsessed with Sodom & transgenderism) working through the sword & exposed breast expressing ‘Intimidation & Seduction’ , the very policy of of the two houses of congress resp. Unto the prophecy of the days of Noe & Lot – namely Violence & Sodom

  24. […] good to most. His “Allah” in revelation is debunked here: (Myth #7) and especially here and also […]

  25. […] un vídeo encontrado aquíShoebat afirma que vio esto en el Códice Vaticano, que data del siglo IV y es uno de los dos […]

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