8.8.8

Two years ago, in 2006, it was the sixth day of June, the sixth month of the year; this made the day click a 6.6.6 of sorts. To the religious [to an extent, irrationally so] and the superstitious, it was the day of the Devil...a rather misinterpreted version of the mark of the Beast that the Book of Revelations in the Christian Bible warns us against. On the other side of the hill, the devil sympathisers in different parts of the world were spotting 666 in various ways such as temporary tattoos and some kind of rituals [from what I read in the newspapers and online].

In UG, some pastors of the Pentecostal persuasion organised prayers for the nation...blah, blah...of course, there was attendance to this frivolous and misrepresented event. Aren't Ugandans good at attending these prayers? I wish we were also as enthusiastic about the development of their communities and nation.

But reading the Bible, the mark is not about a day but rather a system, an organisation though there is also an interpretation that it is a person.

The 'craze', if I may call it so, extended to the seventh day of the seventh month of 2007: 7.7.7. Again, there were some sort of prayers... I particularly remember the 'over night' at Makerere University's sports ground organised by Pastor Martin Sempa....also there was a musical performance by gospel singer Judith Babirye [if I remember the first name right] who was then riding high on one hit Beera Nange [roughly translates as Be with me]. Their argument was that 7 is a symbol of perfection in the Bible and the event was to pray for the nation [ooh, that frivolous reason again!!]. I think, to them, it was a way to thank God...hmmm.

Today is the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008: 8.8.8. And there is no event that I have heard of to pray for the nation or some other misrepresentation of biblical truths. Out of interest, what do the number 8 represent?

What I looking forward to is the grand opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. In a way, this is the symbolic mark of the rise of this Asian nation as a world power...hate it or love it. Was this predicted by the Prophet Daniel in the Christian Bible about the rise of an empire in The Last Days?