6:6:06 BREATHE EASY, IT'S NOT ARMAGEDDON -- RIGHT?

Byline: BRAD A. GREENBERG Staff Writer

If you are reading this, it might simply be a sign that Armageddon did not happen this morning -- or it did and the rapture left you behind.

Or maybe this marks the birth of the Antichrist, and the end is still seven years away.

But, most likely, today -- June 6, 2006, or digitally 06/06/06 -- was simply a clear day to release the remake of the 1970s horror film ``The Omen,'' in which a family is terrorized after giving birth to the Antichrist.

So far, few seem to be suffering from hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia -- an intense aversion to the numerical sequence 666.

``The mark of the beast has never been interpreted as a calendrical sign,'' said Stephen O'Leary, an associate professor at the University of Southern California who specializes in apocalyptic religious predictions.

Even Christians who believe a seven-year period of tribulation will precede the Second Coming aren't making much of the date with its three sixes strung together.

``There is nothing in the Bible that indicates a date has anything to do with it. It's just a marketing tool,'' said Terry James, general editor of raptureready.com.

``The Rapture,'' the 15th installment of the bestselling ``Left Behind'' series of Christian films, also will be released today.

``It's a shameless marketing technique,'' said co-writer Jerry B. Jenkins, who emphasized that he does not believe the date has any significance. ``Scripture makes it clear that the Antichrist will be so convincing and deceptive and attractive that most people are not going to see him for who he is until the gloves come off. He is going to be smart enough to not show up with 666 on his airplane.''

The only biblical reference to 666 comes from the 13th chapter of the book of Revelation, an apocalyptic writing of the apostle John to Christians suffering heavily under Roman rule.

Scholars have understood six as an imperfect number. Man was created on the sixth day, and six is one less than seven, which is ascribed to God throughout Scripture. If 777 represents God and the height of perfection, the triplicate six would be the mark of sheer wickedness and human sinfulness. The Antichrist.

``It's really a satanic trinity,'' said Eddie Gibbs, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

Nero and Hitler are two tyrants whose names can be transnumerated as 666. Stalin, too.

Others have tried to avoid such condemnation.

In 1996, a rumor spread through Colombia that unless children had been baptized by June 6, they would become the property of the devil. The Catholic Church tried to assuage such fears but couldn't defeat the images of ``Rosemary's Baby'' and the original ``Omen'' that were being broadcast.

When President and Nancy Reagan retired to Bel Air in 1989, they forced the city to change their new address to 668 St. Cloud Road -- from 666.

On Monday, the Web site of Radio Free Satan carried a ``countdown to your damnation'' ticker that hit zero at midnight.

Tonight, the priests and priestesses of darkness from across the globe will descend upon the Steve Allen Theater -- coincidently, reachable at [phone] -- for a sold-old pagan party to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Church of Satan.

``Sorry to disappoint the legion of Satan fans, but they are barking up the wrong tree,'' said Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. They have not received calls from terrified parishioners, he said.

In the book of Mark, Jesus said men would claim to know when the apocalypse would occur. ``But about the day or hour, no one knows,'' he said.

Still, there were the 11th Century Christians who believed Christ would return on the 1,000th anniversary of his crucifixion; the Millerites, a Christian sect that predicted the world would end Oct. 22, 1844; and those who thought Y2K spelled more than trouble for the world's banks.

``The next time I guess we are going to come upon it is June 6, 2066,'' James, of raptureready.com, said.

If so, 6-6-66 might be a day of supreme evil, for four is certainly greater than three. But, according to James' Web site, we might not get there.

The site's Rapture Index, which James said is ``more or less along the lines of the Dow Jones,'' is based on 45 apocalyptic predictors, including the presence of floods, anti-Semitism and antichrists.

The world scored a 157 Monday, matching 2003's high but below the all-time high of 182 set in September 2001. When there is a score above 145, Rapture Ready recommends, ``fasten your seat belt.''

brad.greenberg(at)dailynews.com

[phone]