Mr. 666 Prevents Buying and Selling

Understand the Moral Significance of 666 (Rev 13:17–18)

John Cassinat
February 26, 2026

Buying and Selling During the Great Tribulation

The Second Beast in Revelation 13 emerged slowly from the earth as the latter-day kingdom of Satan in 1830. Its power has been increasing since that time.

In the final 3½ years before the Second Coming—during the Great Tribulation—the Second Beast (Modern Babylon) will control the world’s economy such that:

“No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
(Rev 13:17)

The Breakdown of Revelation 13:17

Watch How 666 Controls Buying & Selling →

Economic Control Through Secret Combinations

The Second Beast already controls vast market segments through conspiring men—what scripture calls secret combinations.

They sell goods that enslave and destroy lives, including:

alcohol
drugs
pornography
human trafficking
and more

As Elder M. Russell Ballard warned:

“Among today’s secret combinations are gangs, drug cartels, and organized crime families…. They have secret signs and code words. They participate in secret rites and initiation ceremonies.”
(Conference Report, October 1997, 51)

Global Economic Restriction

During the Great Tribulation, every aspect of the world’s economy will be infected by the corruption of the Second Beast—except in Zion.

Beyond Zion’s borders, people will be prevented from buying and selling unless they know the secret signs, including login credentials granting access to global online markets.

To gain this economic access, individuals must submit to—and thereby worship—the Second Beast through the corrupt ideals of the First Beast, which represents the Roman Empire. (Rev 13:1–8)

Ancient Rome as the Blueprint

We should not be surprised by these future economic controls.

The Second Beast is simply recreating the coercive economic model of ancient Rome.

In that era:

Emperor certificates proved citizens had sacrificed to the emperor.
Commerce required proof of loyalty.
So-called heretics were made economic outcasts.

This is the model of the First Beast—and it will return under the Second Beast.

666: The Name and Number of the Second Beast

Those who worship the image and corrupt ideals of the First Beast receive the mark, name, or number of the Second Beast, granting them economic participation in Modern Babylon.

Revelation 13:18 declares:

“Count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is [666].”

Importantly, it is not enough to know how to interpret 666—
what matters is what you do with the information.

Walter Scott (1771–1832) wrote:

“[666’s] full, precise, and final solution will be apparent to the wise or godly in the near crisis when the Beast power under the craft of Satan will exhibit the highest human development in pride, impiety, and in combined religious and political opposition to God.”

He called this the moral significance of 666.

Most people obsess over decoding the number and miss its moral warning.

Watch the breakdown of Revelation 13:18

Understand the Moral Significance of 666 →