Revelation 13:18: "Here is wisdom. 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." Solomon is the 666th name in the Bible (click to see the list of names). This confirms the quote "Here is wisdom" in Revelation 13:18 because Solomon was famed for being very wise. 1 Kings 10:14 says, "the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents." This provides further evidence for Solomon as 666.

Why is Solomon 666? This requires careful definitions of both wisdom and knowledge:

• Spiritual wisdom (distinguishing good from evil) is not necessary for following Jesus – we only need to do what Jesus said (an ability to follow instructions).

• Spiritual wisdom is essential for identifying things that are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus, which are often difficult to identify. The letters of Paul are an example. Spiritual wisdom must therefore be good, despite the suggestion to the contrary in the story of Adam and Eve (where Eve gained the knowledge of good and evil). Using this meaning of wisdom, the 666 talents of gold in 1 Kings 10:14 could refer to the gold in Revelation 3:18 that represents the teachings of Jesus.

• Conventional wisdom ('common sense') is quite different from spiritual wisdom. It is described in the book of Proverbs – wisdom brings wealth. This is the type of wisdom that Solomon had, and some of his sayings are in the book of Proverbs.

• Knowledge is different from wisdom, but related to it. We can gain a lot of knowledge that is rooted in conventional wisdom (science, mathematics etc.) just by virtue of living in modern society. We can know a lot of things, but still choose to follow Jesus. Knowledge is discussed below.

• Foolishness is the opposite of conventional wisdom, i.e. that which defies common sense. If we follow Jesus, then we are seen to be foolish by modern society because our actions are not directed towards the acquisition of wealth.

Solomon and 666 are used to describe conventional wisdom and common sense, a state of mind that is in direct opposition to following Jesus, and the remainder of this letter focuses on this issue. Solomon and 666 are also used to represent spiritual wisdom in some parables. The number '666' is therefore not universally bad; it is used in exactly the same way as the word 'wisdom', which has different meanings because there are different types of wisdom. Occasionally the number six is used in contexts that do not refer to wisdom, and in these cases the parable-based meaning has always been found to indicate Satanic influence.

The book of Proverbs contains self-proclaimed wise teachings. They give a good description of what conventional wisdom is, and what it stands for. These so-called wise teachings are in opposition to those of Jesus, because they are directed towards 'getting on' in society and making wealth. Many of the statements actually declare the actions of followers of Jesus as being foolish, so by the standards of the book of Proverbs, it is best to aim to be a fool. The book of Proverbs describes the differences between two kinds of people: righteous and wicked and wise and foolish. This disguises the fact that commonly accepted 'wisdom' and 'common sense' are in opposition to the teachings of Jesus.

Proverbs say:	Following Jesus:
1:8-9: "Pay attention to what your father and mother tell you, my son. Their teaching will improve your character as a handsome turban or a necklace improves your appearance."	Luke 14:26: "Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well."
3:16: "Wisdom offers you long life, as well as wealth and honour." 12:9: "It is better to be an ordinary person working for a living than to play the role of someone great but go hungry." 21:20: "Wise people live in wealth and luxury, but stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it." 24:4: "Where there is knowledge, the rooms are furnished with valuable, beautiful things."	Matthew 19:21: "Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.'" Luke 14:33: "'In the same way,' concluded Jesus, 'none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.'"
14:1: "Homes are made by the wisdom of women but are destroyed by foolishness."	What if one person in a marriage decides to follow Jesus?
14:20: "No one likes the poor, not even their neighbours, but the rich have many friends."	Friendship between poor people is genuine because it is not based on wealth.

Knowledge is different from wisdom. General knowledge is the awareness of specific information about a wide range of subjects. The parables below suggest that some types of knowledge are rooted in conventional wisdom; mathematics, technology and science. Technology is the practical application of science; science is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.

• The first Apple Computer went on sale for $666.66.
  
• Newton's Three Laws of Motion were completed by 1666.
  
• Oil is composed mostly of carbon atoms, which contain 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons (666). Oil has driven the technology revolution.
  
• Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It sounds like the word 'Epistle' (the name for the letters of Paul). This may be a link between Paul and myself (discussed elsewhere) rather than a link between knowledge and evil.
  
• Physics sounds like 'three six' (666).

• Advertising.
  
• Consumerism.
  
• The global economy, resulting in economic oppression.
  
• Expensive and polluting personal transport.
  
• Many ways to waste money and resources that should be used to help to poor.
  
• Advanced weapons.

The side effects of Westernised society include political correctness (so no one says anything useful), religious tolerance (no one attempts to teach anyone the correct religion) and 2.5 billion people in poverty despite the overwhelming wealth in Western countries. Science and technology also have the effect of neutralising religious belief in our modern society – there are many more atheists than in previous generations. However, there are many parables that come out of science (for example, the curvature of space and how the Universe appears to a light beam as mentioned in "Life After Death" and "How God and Satan Communicate").

In light of this evidence, should technology be banned? City Planning describes the plans for New Jerusalem – the ideal Christian society. Initially, the city is designed to be relatively low-tech to make sure that everything that the city uses can be produced there. However, later on I believe that it will be possible to re-introduce some technologies if people want or need them. This would require judging each technology by true standards, ensuring that they are completely safe and do not damage the environment. It should be taken into account that the development of some technologies can make it easier to create harmful things, such as advanced weapons. In a non-commercially driven society, there would be no time limits on the research and development process. If problems arose with any technology then it could be withdrawn. The computer has been particularly valuable in helping to identify parables, so it may be of benefit to retain a stock of computers, spare parts and software resources for the New Age. It would be hypocritical to ban technology because our Universe appears to be maintained by an infrastructure that is more high-tech than we could conceive of. However, it is likely that there are faith-based methods to do things better than our technology could (for example, spiritual healing versus medicine).

I do not believe that parables such as the eating of fruit from the tree of knowledge by Adam and Eve in Genesis are in opposition to general knowledge. Many of the parables on this website are dependent on it, and several are dependent on technology (for example, satellite images). This website could not have been created without access to a large amount of knowledge. In addition, I believe that general education including science has been invaluable in the creation of this website because it encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. Therefore, education should be of benefit to the people in the New Age assuming that it is taught within the context of following Jesus. One potential problem is that science can become a theology in its own right. The nature of science is to explain how things work to the exclusion of religious belief. However, I personally do not have a problem accepting both science (a product of our created environment) and faith in Jesus (the idea that our environment responds to our behaviour over time to make following him possible).

The idea that Solomon and wisdom are 666 is in agreement with the comment on "buying and selling" in the book of Revelation – a feature of the ideal Christian society is that there is no buying and selling unlike our own society. Revelation 13:17: "And that no man might buy or sell, save that he had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." In other words, everyone who buys or sells has received the mark of the beast.

This is a description of the rules used to find the names of the four beasts (there are four beasts in Daniel chapter 7). The first beast is Solomon, the 666th name in the Bible. The second is Shaul (Saul), the 1332nd name (666+666). The third beast is Michael, the 1998th name (666 x 3). The fourth beast is Haman, the 2664th name (666 x 4). In addition, I found that the 3000th name is Paul.

A computer program was written to identify all non-dictionary words that start with a capital letter in the KJV Bible. I used the computer program to get a list of names from the Bible (cities, people etc.). I went through the Bible manually to identify which were the names of people. I then re-added the names that are also in the dictionary (e.g. On) and checked the names using sources including Holman's, Easton's and Nave's Bible dictionaries. I applied the following rules:

1. Only the first use of a name is included in the list, and the list is placed in the order in which the names are found in the Bible.

2. Different people with the same name are included as separate names.

3. If people are renamed or have two different names, they are included as separate names.

4. Slightly different versions of the same name are not counted separately. Different versions of the Bible can give different spellings. I have used the KJV version.

5. Surnames are excluded when a first name is given; they are only found in the New Testament. For example, Mary Magdalene is counted as one name, not two.

6. Tribes named after people are included.

7. Place names are not included unless they are named after a founder identified in the scripture.

8. No names of gods or demons are included (the number of the beast is the "number of a man" not a god). This does not include names for Jesus such as Shiloh (Genesis 49:10), which are included.

9. Titles (e.g. Pharaoh, Agag and Abimelech) are included, but unnamed kings and people are not included.