False: Monster Energy is NOT the beast

Mark of the Beast?

I'm sure you have seen this image, and you may have even watched the viral YouTube video of a woman "explaining" why Monster is a representation of the Beast (see it: http://youtu.be/bntfUA6TmLs), but the simple fact of the matter is that this is not true.

First, there is a little thing called math that kind of gets in the way of this rather silly interpretation. vav, vav, and vav actually equals 18, not 666. Let me explain below.

Gematria...how it really worked

So, the system mentioned here actually did exist in the first century AD, and it was called gematria—in a nutshell, this system places a numerical value to Hebrew letters. How this works is that the value of the letters from a word or name are added together to reveal a number. So, if I were to transliterate my first name (Justin) into Hebrew, the value of that name would be 540 (y=10, u=10, s=60, t=400, i=10, n=50 for a grand total of 540). See how fun this is? Why was this done in the first century? That really doesn't matter, but it was used.

So, again, the problem with the Monster interpretation is simple mathematics—three vavs do not equal 666, but the silliness actually goes a bit deeper. The problem is that we Americans have become so accustomed to the 666 craze that we have actually shortened it from "six hundred sixty-six" (as it appears in the biblical text: Rev 13:18 "ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ") to six six six, and we then assume that anytime that number comes up it must be something bad! If we roll three sixes with dice, we get scared! If our change comes out to $6.66, then we cringe! In all seriousness, what is the difference between these actions and a baby being afraid of his shadow?

Many Christians today have become extremely superstitious, even being afraid of accidentally saying the wrong thing. This is not how God wants us to live. If we are relying on Him, saying some magical word like "hell" or "poverty" isn't going to hurt us—if God is for us...do you remember the rest of that quote?

Not healthy, but not the devil either

Now, with all of that said...Monster energy drinks are actually really bad for you, lol. Stay away from them. Not because you are "supporting" the "beast" or some nonsense, but because you value your health!

Wait, before you go, can we use gematria to discover the name of the beast? Well, many have tried. By mixing and matching different names of quite a few people throughout the ages, believers have been able to "discover" a range of possible candidates from the 1st century until our modern times. But, before you get all carried away trying to find out if your mother-in-law is the Beast, you should note one very commonly overlooked statement in Revelation 13:18—John said directly to his 1st century audience: "Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666" (NET). John didn't say, "Okay, so, this isn't for us now, but some future generation will be able to figure this out," but instead he told his original audience that they could actually calculate this number accurately! So, if the 1st century believers could calculate the number, what does this tell us about who the beast is? ... I'll leave that for you to decide.