Since this situation has been common knowledge for some time, many companies have been working diligently to upgrade their computer systems. This has not been easy since many of the major programs, especially in large companies and government agencies were written many years ago, and it is very difficult to find and correct all of the places where date fields are used. It also takes much time and effort to test or "debug" these program changes. Many programs can not be changed at all because they are permanently installed on computer chips. In those cases the chips must be rebuilt and replaced, or the hardware in which they reside must be taken out of service.
Recently I attended a seminar conducted by Chuck Missler and two of his staff: Colin Christie and Gordon McDonald. Missler is especially well qualified to comment on the problem since he has been the CEO of several large hi-tech companies. He is also a highly-respected Bible teacher and prophecy scholar. In the seminar, he indicated that there are various scenarios about the results of the Y2K problem, ranging from "Alarmist," to "Denial." He considers himself in the middle of the spectrum since even our Senate subcommittee which is investigating the problem doesn't think the Department of Defense, the IRS, and many other government agencies will be ready in time. On the other hand, many companies are, or will be ready.
During the question and answer session one person asked him whether or not the Y2K problem help Antichrist establish an economic dictatorship and the "Mark of The Beast." He said that, since electronic commerce will most likely come to a halt, that this actually works against the institution of a one-world commerce system in the near future. Even institutions which are ready for the change-over will not be willing to connect with other computer systems unless they are sure they are also ready. This will result in "disconnection" rather than greater connectivity.
While agreeing with Missler and his team about this, I immediately thought of another aspect of this great drama. This panic will actually result in a great step forward for the world of electronic commerce! This situation is causing an almost unimaginable upgrade of the over-all status of the world of computers. Untold hours of attention to the smallest details of hardware and software are being devoted by virtually every business and institution which hopes to still be functional in the new millennium. Old equipment is being replaced or upgraded at a pace that would never occur under normal circumstances. Standards of interaction between computer systems are being refined. Computer security is being overhauled. Countless billions of dollars are being spent to improve the world's computers.
After the initial shock of the year 2000, the individual companies, agencies and institutions which are ready, will begin again in earnest to build a one-world economic system. It will be a better, faster, more effective system than it would ever have been without the Y2K problem. When Antichrist comes to power, he will have better control than ever over each person's ability to buy or sell!
--Ron Graff
I've been closely tracking the coverage the year 2000 bug has been getting, and I'm becoming alarmed over the extreme measures some folks are taking to prepare for Y2K.
Because they believe urban areas will breakdown into utter chaos, several people have permanently moved to remote locations in the Western States. Some financial planers are advising clients to transfer their money into gold and silver. I listened one Pastor from the pulpit recommend that his flock buy Coleman cookers, bottled water, and he even gave them pointers on what types of guns to buy - apparently used handguns are your better bargain.
For the past couple of months I've researched everything I could find posted about Y2K. I looked primarily for things that will be definitely triggered by the date change.
Every article I read seemed to note the same standard reasons for believing that Y2K is a threat. They quoted other sources that warned of the Y2K's danger, and they described several doomsday scenarios.
To justify moving to the country side, you would think one would require some sort of solid evidence of what will go wrong when the year 2000 arrives. I could not find one single case in point example where for instances a known microchip will freeze-up if a 2000 date passes through its circuitry. Wild speculation seems to have become the norm here.
I work on an Air Force Base that has a large and varied number of computer systems, so I asked around to see how the Air Force is dealing with Y2K.
The two computer specialists that I spoke to this week said that right now the only major problem they're aware of was found by an organization operating in Europe. A glitch was detected in a computer system that provided street address information to fire trucks. All local computer systems seem to be either Y2K compliant or in the final phase of testing.
People don't seem to realize there are very few electronic items that are aware of the current date, and there are even fewer items that depend on dates to function. The small number of electronics that use dates normally only go as high as the day and month.
I keep hearing how all traffic lights are going to go crazy. If any did happen to utilized years in their electronics, and they reverted back to say 1900, they'd more than likely still function. I don't think they'll be saying to themselves, "Hey it's 1900 and cars haven't been invented yet. Wait a minute, I haven't been invented yet." Tilt!
There are 100's of prophetic ministries on radio; TV; and the Web; and I'm yet to find one that questions this mad rush proclaim the end-times are coming because of Y2K. Far too often, prophecy commentators view their job as fanning fires instead watching for them.
From my discussions with numerous unsaved people, I've learned that years of date settings and claims of imminent doom has severely dulled their expectancy of the end-time message.
Several years ago I reasoned that some sort year 2000 mania would be used by the devil to further dampen end-time expectancy.
Because there has been so many numerology based date settings in recent years, I viewed the fascination with 2000 AD as being muted some what. However, with Y2K being based on a totally different concept, we may achieve the same mania experienced during the 1843 Miller movement and during the arrival of the first millennium.
I'm now convinced there is going to be a crash on Jan 1 2000 AD, but it not going to be an electronic crash. As Dec 31, 1999 quietly turns into Jan 1, 2000, I believe the prophetic community as a whole is going to rollover and lay one giant goose egg.
Even without Y2K I'd expect prophetic interest to diminish a bit as we enter the new century. For several years time will psychologically seem insurmountable was people realize they will never live to see another double zero rotation.
Because Jesus repeatedly said he would come "at a time ye think not," the time period immediately following the new millennium has had my eye for some time.
IF Y2K turns out to be the sort of nonevent I'm thinking it will be, my interest in the post 2000 time zone will expand all the more as expectancy wanes.
I would caution everyone of you that reads this page to be wary of these sensational predictions. On many occasions, I have seen how disappointment can cause people to lose faith and slumber.
July 13, 1998
New Y2K Report
In a direct contradiction to many recent predictions, a new survey says corporations across the world are making aggressive efforts to tackle the Year 2000 technology problem, and most are making headway.
Merrill Lynch conducted a worldwide survey of thousands of corporations to gauge how prepared they are for the year 2000 and to assess the impact of these efforts for investors.
The report seems to fly in the face of many industry experts, government officials, and economists who have criticized many in the corporate world for not taking the problem seriously enough. Those critics have also warned of dire consequences should repairs not be made on time.
The report found that most corporations in the United States surveyed expect to be fully compliant by year-end 1998. In Europe, many firms are using the Y2K, combined with the introduction of the Euro, as an opportunity to upgrade their systems.
"Most companies have been working on their Y2K projects for two years and there are one and a half years left," Merrill Lynch Global Securities Research & Economics said in its 450-page report. "Microsoft, Latin America, and Communism all changed radically in a lot less time."
The Merrill report challenged observers who say the complexity of networking and interfacing systems is increasing the potential for a year 2000 meltdown. "There won't be a domino effect, because there are lots of switches throughout the system that will put on brakes," Merrill analyst Jeanne G. Terrile, who authored the overview of the report, said in a statement.
Because I'm in the Air Force, I had the opportunity to call the folks that oversee the Y2K program for my major command. I spoke with the captain in charge of Air Combat Command's year 2000 project, and I asked him what have they turned up so far.
He could only sight for me two isolated examples - a timed security vault, and a navigation system on a fire truck. This shocked me because the Air Force is probably the most computer complex organization there is on earth. One report notes we have over 3,300 different computer systems.
I told him I was amazed this was the only problems they've managed to locate. The Captain said, Well, there's still the issue of the "great unknown," meaning problems could spring up at any time.
After posting my comments about Y2K last week, I received an ample amount of feedback. I would say half the people out there in cyberspace view my millennium bug remarks as me raining on their doomsday parade.
In the prophetic realm it's long been established that the only good news is more bad news. A person would be hard pressed to find a prophecy ministry that has doubts about even some of the more absurd Y2K scenarios.
I find it very odd that the one thing that makes my web site unique is the fact I occasionally questions the likelihood of proposed dire predictions.
I realize when it comes to Bible prophecy, I'm a pretty poor businessman, but then again, money or popularity is not my goal here. Rather than just working to selling the latest sensationalized video, I want to know what is the true prophetic picture.
By getting over fixated on Y2K, the prophetic community also runs the risk of letting more significant world events transpire unnoticed.
Iraq is a good example of what can happen when you focus all your resources on one issue. The United Nations has been eyeing Saddam Hussein's military apparatus for eight years now. While the UN has been watching Iraq like a hawk, nations like Iran, Syria, India, and Pakistan have been freely churning out weapons of mass destruction.
Responding to your response about the year 2000. I am a computer programmer and am currently working on a year 2000 compliance project. A little history about what I have been dealing with in regards to the year 2000.
It has been obvious to me that since so many people have put off the modification of computer code for so many years (we've known we have to do the changes for a decade or longer, but no one has started early). I don't know any company that is currently ready. No computer is immune. Almost all code is involved. One unnamed company estimates 800 man years to become compliant, the Defense department estimates as high as $3 Billion to become compliant (the evidence is that they haven't started yet), the whole world is procrastinating.
I have been "preaching" that computer programmers hourly rates are going to soar (I anticipate hourly earnings in excess of $150.00), and have set myself in a position (as an independent hourly contract Programmer/Analyst)to be able to best sell my services and take advantage of this windfall while it lasts.
I stumbled on a website HTTP://WWW.YEAR2000.COM while surfing the web and was amazed to find them preaching to the secular world to get started on a project for which they have already waited too long. The Year 2000 Problem is that the 2 digit year now being saved in computer files is insufficient for deriving information when the century changes. The problem of changing the files is so complex and overwhelming that everyone is putting it off hoping for a "silver bullet" fix. There will never be a silver bullet. The problem is to intertwined in all ofthe computer programs in all of the companies on all of the computers all over the world.
It had never dawned on me that MANY companies won't "get there" on time. This is just the sort of thing that God could use to create financial catastrophe - worldwide. We've been watching the Dow Jones average approach 7000. I remember when no one thought we'd hit 1000. If 10% of American companies, ∨ 10% of American investment/banking agencies ∨ 10%of American manufacturing, ∨ 10% of US government agencies are not compliant on Jan 1, 2000, do you think it will be business as usual? They won't be able to transact business at all or in part.
Even if your company makes it, your customers, your vendors, your bankers and the government also have to make it to be status quo. By the way - all countries are in the same boat.
The countries that are the least affected are the less developed countries such as China.
This is where Antichrist could step in. If this really happens, and I am convinced it will, anyone with the solution will be hailed the hero.
A possible solution would be to change the "times & seasons" (instantly roll time back and declare worldwide that this is now 1950 instead of 2000. I don't have a solution, but if I'm right, the Antichrist will. Would this not be a perfect entrance for him?
March 5, 1997