The Beast (Revelation) The number 666 is calculated by using a form of gematria where only the letters which refer to Latin numerals are counted. In 1866, Uriah Smith was the first to propose the interpretation to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In "The United States in the Light of Prophecy" he wrote, Adventist scholar J. N. Andrews also adopted this view. Uriah Smith maintained his interpretation in the various editions of "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation", which was influential in the church. Jimmy Akin of "Catholic Answers" and additional Catholic sources disagree with the above argument, claiming "Vicarius Filii Dei, although it
The Number of the Beast (song) In spite of this, it remains one of the band's more popular songs, reaching No. 18 in the UK singles charts, and has been performed on almost all of their concert tours. Additionally, the song has been covered numerous times and has appeared in several video games and films. According to the song's writer, bassist and band-founder Steve Harris, it was inspired by a nightmare he had after watching the film "", in addition to the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns. The song opens with a spoken word passage, read by English actor Barry Clayton, which quotes Revelation