Congressman Bobbie Rush wants the government to contact, test, and trace every American for COVID-19. H.R. 6666 is his bill to do just that and more.

When a bill is introduced in the United States House of Representatives or in the United States Senate, it is assigned a number in the order in which it was introduced.  Numbers are not purposely avoided regardless of superstition or religious conviction.  For example, the number ‘13’ is considered unlucky in western Christian culture.  There are a number of reasons why ‘13’ is thought to bring bad luck.  The most popular belief surrounds the Last Supper where it is believed that either Jesus Christ or Judas Iscariot was the last to be seated; the 13th to be seated at the table.  Over 2000 years later and today, many hotels and high-rise condominiums in the United States omit the 13th floor so not to alienate those guests suffering from triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13 or 13-digits).  These people with ‘13’ phobia will tell you it’s just best to be on the safe side. There is no reason to tempt providence, right? 

In the United States Congress there have been House and Senate bills that have been numbered ‘13’.  Last year, Senator Marco Rubio [R-FL] introduced S.13 – the Florida Shores Protection and Fairness Act.  Since it was introduced in the Senate on 1/3/19, the bill has not moved.  For the very superstitious it’s easy to understand why – we’re dealing with a double 13!  Rubio made the fatal mistake of introducing S.13 on 1/3 (January 3rd).  Take away the ‘/’ and you get 13 again!  Of what was Marco thinking? 

There is one number though that surpasses all others in notorious notoriety.  Even for non-believers, it is recognized as the mark of pure evil.  It is a number that many Christians believe is a branding straight from the beast!  From the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Chapter 13, Verses 16 -18:

And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the freemen and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Many Christians believe that the ‘man’ referred to in Verse 18 is the Antichrist.  And to receive the mark of the beast is to be sentenced to an eternity of damnation.

If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (Rev. 14:9-11)

When Democrat Congressman Bobby L. Rush, representing the 1st Congressional District of Illinois, introduced the COVID-19 Testing, Reaching, and Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act on May 1, 2020, it is not likely that he did so to secure number 6666.  As the pastor of the Beloved Christian Church of God in Christ, Rush is well-versed in the Bible and the Book of Revelation.  He must know how many Christians respond to the number 666.  Rush also must know that a bill that calls for ‘contacting’ everyone, testing everyone, and then ‘tracing’ everyone that has COVID-19 or is suspected to have been in contact with a person that has tested positive for COVID-19, combined with a bill number that contains 666 was going to be distressing.  Not only do many Americans that find the government already way out-of-bounds with stay at home orders and orders to close certain businesses, but those that are Christian see H.R. 6666 as a symbolic flaunt of government power abuses going way to far. 

On Twitter, Congressman Rush had this to say about H.R. 6666.         

Absolutely.  My bill, the COVID-19 TRACE Act (H.R. 6666) would create a $100 Billion grant program for local organizations to hire, train, and pay individuals to operate mobile testing units and conduct contact tracing in hot spots and medically underserved areas. 

The response on Twitter was predictable.  JillQPatriot expressed what thousands of others had to say about H.R. 6666.

666-6 how fitting the bill has lucifarian [sic] numerology.  We don’t need big brother tracking aka contact tracing.  Clinton’s and Gates pushing this is a major red flag.  No thank you. 

It doesn’t help that disturbing news of Apple and Google collaborating to develop an app that will alert users if they’ve been in contact with a person that has tested positive for COVID-19 is spreading across social media faster than the Wuhan virus in the New York City subway.  Timing is everything, and this is a bad time to be proposing that the electronic tracking devices we call our phones be used to so publicly identify our every move.  It’s also a bad time to be proposing that contact tracers be hired and trained to conduct testing, even at individuals’ residences as necessary.  So many Americans already feel like big brother has went way too far during this COVID-19 season.  We don’t want somebody from the federal government knocking on our castle door trying to stick a cotton swab up our noses!  

If there is anything good about any of this it is that H.R. 6666 is an awful bill on its own merits.  It does not need Satan’s involvement to be wretched.  There is no reason to attempt to test every person for COVID-19.  If you go down that road, then you must be willing to test everyone every week because a person could test negative one week and positive the next.  We certainly don’t need to be spending $100 billion on mobile health units and the hiring of 20 thousand people to join the already 2 million employees on the federal government payroll.  And if H.R. 6666 became law, funding to find and fight COVID-19 could go on for even decades. Government departments and employees have a knack for annually justifying their existence.  It is actually quite fortunate that the COVID-19 TRACE Act ended up with number 6666 because those devilish 6’s set off alarm bells and siren howls across the United States bringing attention to the bill.  If it were H.R. 777 it would have stood a better chance of becoming law.