Y2K inspires doomsayers

March 28, 1999

BY GARY WISBY STAFF REPORTER

As the year 1000 approached, so many people thought Y1K meant the end of the world that pilgrimages to Jerusalem, conversions to Christianity and executions of heretics took place on a massive scale.

Reaction to the impending millennium is nowhere near as apocalyptic. Still, there is no lack of doomsayers surrounding the event.

Thirty members of a cult called God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation, wearing white cowboy hats, drove from Garland, Texas, to the shores of Lake Michigan at Gary in January 1998. They proclaimed the spot a divine sanctuary from the soon-to-come World War III.

The group has since moved from Garland--chosen because it ``sounds like God Land''--to Lake Ontario in upstate New York to prepare. They believe the Earth will be devastated near the end of this year by a nuclear holocaust triggered on the Korean peninsula.

Meanwhile, the nuclear disarmament-preaching British American Security Information Council warned recently that a 1/1/00 computer glitch could accidentally launch a nuclear missile.

The group noted that nuclear missile systems in every country rely on computers, including Russia, which may not be all that ready for Y2K.

Prophet Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) foresaw the Wall Street crash of 1929 but also predicted that California would fall into the ocean in 1969. While in a trance in 1934, he predicted a shift in Earth's axis this year would set off natural disasters and world war.

Novelist Tim LaHaye said in an online chat that computer failures ``very well could trigger a financial meltdown, leading to an international depression, which would make it possible for the Antichrist or his emissaries to establish a one-world government or a one-world economic system, which will dominate the world commercially until it is destroyed.''

LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins wrote a best-selling series of novels in which all good Christians go to heaven, via the Second Coming of Christ. Everybody else is left to suffer earthquakes, war and the machinations of the Antichrist, a fictional United Nations secretary-general from Romania named Nicolae Carpathia.

TV evangelist Pat Robertson also has a novel, The End of an Age, in which a meteor crash sets off the final cataclysm. He summarizes the book in his video ``Preparing for the Millennium: A CBN News Special Report,'' which also addresses the Y2K threat.

Fellow evangelist Jerry Falwell isn't saying the world will end next year; his prediction is for a Second Coming within 10 years. It will counteract a period of evil wrought by the Antichrist, about whom Falwell says, ``The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish.''

Bill Gates isn't Jewish, but a computer mogul similar to him is the Antichrist of Judgment Day 2000, which author Richard Wiles wants us to take seriously. He says God directed him to write the book, in which a computer collapse leaves America vulnerable to terrorists with nuclear bombs and a leftover Soviet doomsday machine called the Dead Hand.

``In 12 months we'll know if I'm right,'' Wiles told Time magazine in January. ``If I'm wrong, the worst that will happen to me is I'll be tremendously embarrassed. If other people are wrong and don't listen to me, the worst that will happen is all men will perish.''

However the end comes, bettors stand to make a bundle, at least theoretically.

British bookmakers William Hill are offering 1,000-1 odds against war causing Earth's demise, reports London's Guardian newspaper. The odds lengthen for famine as the ultimate destroyer (25,000-1), asteroids (50,000-1), floods (100,000-1), alien life forms (500,000-1) and mass suicide (100,000,000-1).

So a dollar will win you up to $100 million if the world ends.

But how will you collect?

Contributing: Ernest Tucker

* * * * * * * * * *

Following are excerpts from the pamphlet ``Relax--It's Not the End of the World'' by the Rev. Frank S. Rose, pastor of the Sunrise Chapel in Tucson, Ariz.

Many people think the idea that the world is coming to an end comes from prophecies in the Bible--and to them the question is not whether but when this catastrophe will occur.

``And as [Jesus] sat upon the mount of olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?'' (Matthew 24:3)

Most modern translations render this as the end of the age, as in, ``When the Huns invaded Rome, it was the end of the world for the Romans.''

One of the ways we know that it does not mean the end of the planet is that it talks about things happening on Earth after the end of the world, most importantly the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Compare what is said in Luke's Gospel: ``Two will be in one bed, one will be taken, and the other left.'' (Luke 17:34) The one who is left is alive, showing that the planet has not been destroyed.

There is an expectation that 2000 is somehow involved in the end of the world. This seems to be based on the 20th chapter of the Book of Revelation, which says Satan would be bound for a thousand years and that some reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

When the Bible uses the word thousand, it rarely is meant to be an exact number, no more than it is when we say: ``There are a thousand things that I have to do before Sunday'' or ``I've told you a thousand times not to exaggerate.'' It just happens that in ancient times the largest number for which they had a name was 1,000. So when they wanted to refer to some long period of time or some huge amount, they would say ``a thousand.''

Should we worry about 2000 or the many things that some people take as signs that the world is coming to an end? It is not necessary to be alarmed if we carefully look at what the Bible actually says.

-- Norm (nwo@hotmail.com), March 29, 1999

Answers

None of that has squat to do with computers failing.

-- way (off@topic.here), March 29, 1999.

way -

what you're seeing here is norm's attempt to promulgate disinformation - since he's incapable of refuting the factual evidence supporting y2k related problems and issues, all he can do is resort to name calling and innuendo...hmm, wonder if he works for the whitehouse?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 29, 1999.

The problem with 2000 isn't that it's the millennium. The problem is that, in the "eyes" of a computer, 00 is less than 99.

(19)97

(19)98

(19)99

(19)00

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), March 29, 1999.

Norm's a Clintonista.

Forget it pal, you're wasting your time trying to confuse the majority of us Yourdonites. We are intelligent, analytical and wise to spin. Cutting and pasting mass articles to support your pollyannic views are easy fodder to devour.

Anyone want to place bets on what position in the Amdministration Norm holds???

-- INVAR (gundark@aol.com), March 29, 1999.

Fuck you, too, Norm.

- prepared

-- Prepared (pissing@normsgrave.com), March 29, 1999.

actually, i thought norm's post was quite interesting, especially the bookmaker's odds. i wouldn't mind knowing what odds are being given in vegas for y2k. we need a little more tolerance for the other guy's point of view, expand the middle ground.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 29, 1999.

Prophecies and religion Norm? You're slipping. We need facts here. This is a technical problem, not a Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell issue. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 29, 1999.

"Expand the middle ground?" What the hell is that supposed to accomplish? We're not arguing about who gets the last animal cracker, Jocelyn. Please review the previous post by "Y2kPro" - one of "Norm's" monikers - entitled "DGI's: here's a place to have fun at your GI friends' expense." This forum exists for people who are concerned about Y2k and are trying to prepare and help others to prepare. "Norm/Y2kPro" is a DISRUPTOR. He does not have a "point of view." He has an AGENDA. That agenda is to keep people from carrying out, and responding to, the purpose of this forum. His agenda is to KILL PEOPLE by keeping them from preparing for a disaster. He has no right to be here, spreading disinformation and insulting Y2k preparers - good, prudent, caring pillars of the community - by comparing them with the insane. He is a coward and a liar, and a deadly influence on the naive and ill-informed. People like him are going to be hunted down and literally torn limb from limb in the town squares of America when the shit hits the fan, and do you know what? I'M GOING TO SELL POPCORN FOR A NICKLE A BAG.

Prepared.

-- Prepared (hammering@gallows.com), March 29, 1999.

Excuse me Prepared, but you need to back away from the sterno for a few moments. As a long time lurker and occasional poster, I read many of the threads here. Your attack on Norm is uncalled for. There must be middle ground, if there is not, then the critics are right that this place is a refuge for the looneys. Norm post only good news it is true, but is that not some balance for the gloomers who insist on only posting bad news. Where does he tell people not to prepare? And sounding gleeful at the thought of his death (the popcorn comment)? That is a disgrace

-- Helen Wheels (helen@****.org), March 29, 1999.

It has nothing to do with Julian or Augustan calendars or other nonsense,...The code is broken and cannot be fixed in time. Get over yourself.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), March 29, 1999.

You clearly DGI, Helen. We are headed for some serious rocks here. It's not just your nation or your community that will suffer, but human civilization. It's that big. Norm knows this. He is part of the "damage control" effort: i.e.: keep the stupid people from realizing the enormity of the situation while the smart people prepare (because, as G.North points out, once more than 5 or 10% of the population starts preparing in earnest, supply lines will be jammed). When a hurricane is coming, a big one, and you tell people that they are crazy for preparing (compare them with religious nuts), you are insulting those who prepare, and KILLING those who you convince not to prepare. Women. Children. The impressionable. Are you saying those people deserve to die, or lose everything, because they believe "Norm's" tireless, diabolical propagation of disinformation (lies) and insinuation? That's what "Norm" is doing. In the aftermath, when people who could have saved their family's lives and fortunes are destitute and grieving, they are going to give "Norm" - and others like him - exactly what they deserve. And yes, when that happens I will rejoice. Not at "Norm's" death, wretch that he is, but at Justice being done. At predatory, bad shepards being blotted out from our communities. At the undoing of the tyranny of evil men, and of their lying henchmen, like "Norm." DWGI? I don't blame you. Stay home. But for those of us doing the heavy lifting, I say, they deserve a little popcorn, at reasonable prices.

Prepared.

-- Prepared (hammering@gallows.com), March 29, 1999.

Prepared...perhas the biggest load of sanctimonious dung yet excreted on this forum. And that says a lot...

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), March 29, 1999.

I've really got to thank my friend Wiseguy for this one:

Y2K Prophylactic

In other words, get the f*** out of here. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 29, 1999.

My 4-year-old daughter says you're a poo-poo head, too.

Prepared.

-- Prepared (hammering@playpen.com), March 29, 1999.

"get the fuck out of here": SissyMan.

or else what? You'll sit on him, all 285 lardy pounds of ya?

-- BigBadTrolls (GNBFI@GNBFI.edu), March 29, 1999.

BBT:

This forum has a purpose. It is a forum for people who are concerned about Y2k, and want to prepare, or help others prepare. You have no right to be here. What's not to understand about that?

You are exactly like some pimply-faced teen-age satanist, popping onto a christian BB and being "evil." You are a dog eating off someone else's plate. You are a turd in the punchbowl. That may give you a delicious thrill, but it doesn't give you any legitimacy. Grow up, or take your parroted PR propaganda to the "GN is a Big Fat Idiot" page.

Prepared.

-- Prepared (hammering@shills.now), March 29, 1999.

I take it all back BigBadTurd. When I did visit GNIAFBI, I figured you guys were on a second grade level. I was wrong. You are still trying to find 1st grade. <:)=

Sorry folks, gotta fight fire with fire (sp?)!

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.

Yeah, "Prepared," this forum is for you only. Grow up! What a lot of crap!

People have to make their own decisions about Y2K. We are all expected to read and think on our own. Norm's posting to this forum hasn't changed my mind one whit, but the way you rant, it sounds like he threatens you quite a lot.

Get it straight, Prepared, this forum is for ANYONE who is concerned about Y2K or who has an OPINION ABOUT Y2K.

Guess what? It's not just for people who think exactly as you do, if you can call your ranting "thinking."

Get lost, man. You're a dead loser and an embarrassment.

-- Offended by Stupidity (harvested@fullspectrum.com), March 30, 1999.

Offended - man did you catch me on a bad day!!! Go back and read the "ABOUT" link on the questions page. Got an opinion smartass - keep it to yourself. Got something helpful to add to this forum - be my guest! Don't even think about a wise-crack come-back, I'm not in the f'ing mood!!!!! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 30, 1999.

pardon me, mr. sissyman, but this forum is nothing better than a collection of "IMHO"'s. So, youre "Got an opinion smartass - keep it to yourself" don't exactly fly. fruit-cakes and circuses, right, thats got a lot to do with preparatin. toodle-loo.

-- BigBadTrolls (GNBFI@GNBFI.bfi), March 30, 1999.

One more zinger for 'prepared'. Atfer reading your posts I can see a lot of things: I see that you have depth, but only on the surface. Deep down, youre shallow. I can see that you are the kind of person who, when one first meets you, one doesn't like you. But when one gets to know you better, one is truely repulsed. And judging by the quality of your rants, I can see that you have you head so far up your ass, you can chew your food twice. Ta-dah!

-- bigbadtrolls (gnbfi@gnbfi.bfi), March 30, 1999.

From Ed Yourdon's home page:

"To facilitate an ongoing dialog about Y2K issues, we have provided a Web-based bulletin-board forum that generated over 75,000 messages through mid-March, 1999. Send us any new Y2K information that you've come across, and join in our discussions! "

Enough with the "this forum is only for people who want to prepare" crap.

-- not prep only (anythinggoes@yourdon.forum), March 30, 1999.