The connection between the number 666 and the Antichrist is based on the book of Revelation chapter 13 verse 18 where John the Revelator is told in his apocalyptic vision that the number of the Beast is 666 and that this number indicates a person. In John's first century world, the Beast ruling the Earth would be the emperor, the Roman emperor, Nero (37 C.E.-68 C.E.). Using the Hebrew alphabet, the numerical value of "Caesar Nero," the merciless persecutor of the early Christians, is 666. Although Jesus (chapters 6 BCE-30 CE) made it clear when speaking to the apostles that no one would know the exact hour or day of His Second Coming, for centuries certain Christian theologians have attributed the rise of the Antichrist to his seven years of power and accomplishments throughout the earth as a kind of catalyst that will set in motion the battle of Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil, a final clash between the armies of Jesus Christ and Satan.
Since the Protestant Reformation, the pope has become a favorite of certain Evangelicals because of that outrageous title. Many of the popes in the Middle Ages exercised great power over the rulers and people of the emerging European nations; and as a result, there were many angry princes and fiery Protestant leaders who sought to dissolve the faults of a large number of repressive social and religious programs in the Vatican.
However, contemporary popes have little political influence, certainly nothing that would put them in a position to threaten the world. There are those like Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who actually seemed to covet and campaigned for the position by calling himself the Beast and 666. Hollywood has capitalized on the fascination of certain Christians and horror movie fans with the terrible evil of the Antichrist and portrayed him in a number of films. In Rosemary's Baby (1968), an unsuspecting young wife (Mia Farrow) is chosen to give birth to the Antichrist after her husband (John Cassavetes) makes a pact with Satan.
The Omen (1976) made three series of films that followed the Antichrist from childhood to his rise to wealth, power, and charismatic mastery as an adult. In this first of these films, Gregory Peck, as the Antichrist's unsuspecting surrogate father, is warned of his son's true identity by a number of priests and others who are all given advance warning as the reproach of madmen, he is then shocked to find the number "666" on his son's scalp and he resolves to do whatever must be done to stop Satan's will from being carried out.
Despite valiant efforts on the part of the father, who now correctly concludes that His true son was killed and replaced by disciples of the Antichrist, the demon seed continues its destructive path to world domination in two additional movies.
In The Chosen (1977), Kirk Douglas plays another oblivious father, an industrialist specializing in building nuclear power plants, who realizes that his son (Simon Ward) is the Antichrist. In Lost Souls (2000), a pious teacher played by Winona Ryder must convince a young journalist that he is the Antichrist before the fateful moment when the awakening of his new evil consciousness will take hold of his mind. Arnold Schwarzenegger is challenged by the almost impossible mission of preventing Satan (Gabriel Byrne) from fathering the Antichrist in Last Days (2000).
In Stigmata (2000), Byrne switches sides and plays a priest who struggles to thwart Satan's interference with a young stigmatist, a woman suffering from the bleeding wounds of Christ's crucifixion. Bless the Child (2000) depicts a desperate mother (Kim Basinger) who must somehow prevent her specially gifted and blessed child from becoming the human sacrifice that will give the Antichrist his full opportunity to enter the world.