6,602,224,175

That number is the number of the world's population as of 2007. I've wondered when I read Revelation if this number of a man could possibly have anything to do with the world population? But according to this site the population has already exceeded 6,660,000,000. Some have suggested 666 is just showing the imperfectness/adequateness's of mankind, attaining only to six! six! six! (Complete/Perfect is the number seven.) Like God being described as Holy! Holy! Holy! It is truly a riddle, isn't it? So on to wondering again. I am just not wise enough to figure out the riddle, but I am watching, and praying.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Revelation 13:18.

The great harlot is also a mystery. With harlotry - money is involved. I was listening to Ashley Dupre's interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20. Ashley spoke of her relationship with former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, father of three daughters, in a way that that made herself appear almost noble, for only being an escort and not a prostitute. When questioned by Diane as to whether or not both words mean the same thing, Ashley said something like - no, because we talk. I read more online and learned that she and other escorts received between $2,000 and $5,000 an hour for "talking." She said - her reason for "escorting" had nothing to do with money. Give-----me-----a-----break!

Down through the ages since the fall of Adam and Eve, we've been making excuses for our behavior, actions and reactions. We cunningly devise reasons for why we continue to sin. We give nicer names to old sins. Escort = prostitute = harlot. We don't want to be held responsible for our actions. It's always someone elses fault for the way we behave. In this sad story, Ashley spoke of her biological father who was not there for her as a possible reason for wanting to be an escort. I would guess that she was intoxicated by her God-given beauty. She loved the attention men gave her when she was dressed to kill. She forgot the heartache another woman would have to bear for her silly daring acts of indiscriminate intimacy. I don't only hold her responsible, but him. He is the one that was throwing money around, and money that was not rightly his to throw!

Oh, but we are all sinful. All of us. There is no one that is good or without sin. I definitely am not good. Billy Graham is not good. That sweet lady down the street from you - even she is not good.

Here is what Corrie ten Boom had to say about it all.

"Sometimes I get a headache from the heat of the halo that people put around my head. Would you like to know what Corrie ten Boom is really like? Then I told them what happened the evening before --- how my own sleep had been more important in my eyes than the salvation of young people. "That," I said, "was Corrie ten Boom. What egotism! What selfishness! But the joy is that Corrie ten Boom knew what to do with her sins. When I confessed them to the Father, Jesus Christ washed them with His blood. They are now cast into the deepest sea and a sign is put up that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED. But Jesus in Corrie ten Boom is just the opposite of all these things." Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord

Thank God for His forgiveness. There is nothing He will refuse to forgive when we repent (turn away from) of our sin. Praise the LORD for forgiveness and for peace!

Peace in our hearts is a richness of great value and only can be placed deep inside by God when we believe Him.