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Wedding Couples Rush for 666 Date

from WorldNetDaily.com

While June is traditionally a popular month for marriage ceremonies worldwide, officials in the Netherlands are noticing an unusual number of couples setting their wedding date for June 6, 2006, giving them an anniversary of 666, a number often associated with an end-time beast power of the Bible.

June 6 this year falls on a Tuesday, which is usually less busy for weddings than Saturdays and Sundays.

Expatica reports 17 couples have already applied to marry in the Dutch city of Enschede on June 6 so far, though normally there are only two to three weddings in the city on a Tuesday. Rotterdam usually sees six to eight weddings on June Tuesdays, but 14 have already been slated. In Arnhem, nine couples have signed up for 666, far more than on any other Tuesday.

"Tuesday is normally a very quiet day," a spokesperson said.

Amsterdam is not reporting anything unusual. One couple, though, sought to be united at 6:06 a.m. local time on the morning of June 6, but officials rejected the request, saying they could not perform the ceremony so early in the morning.

While one explanation is that 666 would be an easy date to remember for anniversaries, others suggest a more sinister meaning.

For centuries, people have been intrigued by the number 666, the "number of the beast" from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Not only is it mentioned in Scripture, it has been associated with the Satanism, universal price codes and the game of roulette, as the numbers on the wheel add up to 666.

According to Revelation, the number "666" is associated with an end-time beast power: "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 13:18.)

The legendary number is now getting a fresh look, as researchers are re-examining evidence the number in Scripture may actually be 616.

While many Bibles have footnotes saying the number translated from the original Greek could be 616, experts say new photographic evidence of an ancient fragment of papyrus from Revelation indeed indicates the number is 616, instead of 666.