Computer Expert, Scientist & Prophecy Author Agree:Don't Stay Awake Over Y2K

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Computer Expert, Scientist and Prophecy Author Agree: Don't Stay Awake Worrying About Y2K

BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Y2K crisis will not bring the end of the world at 12:00:01 a.m. on January 1, 2000, according to a panel of experts who discussed the issue Sunday at the Bible Students Church of Los Angeles. Analyzing the technical issues and citing bible prophesies, the panel downplayed the doom and gloom being touted by the media, Christian authors and television evangelists.

The Bible Students Church of Los Angeles sponsored the seminar, ``The Y2K Computer Crisis and Bible Prophecy.'' Participating experts included: Michael Nekora, retired computer programmer and instructor of software engineering technology at Xerox Corporation; James Parkinson, scientist with Aerojet General; and David Rice, author of Time and Prophecy.

According to Nekora, self serving programmers and information systems managers have overstated the size of the problem created by computers' potential inability to read the date 01/01/00. ``Very little software really cares what date it is. In fact, lots of software records dates, but doesn't make calculations based on those dates. Trying to make all software Y2K compliant is an insurmountable task, but if we don't have to worry about all the software that will work just fine, the task of fixing the problem is greatly reduced. Not understanding this point is one of the main reasons the problem has been greatly overblown,'' said Nekora. ``Besides the lack of a technical basis for expecting computer-caused Armageddon come January, the Bible clearly states that final trouble will come on the world when no one expects it,'' he concluded.

Parkinson argued that more Jews must migrate to Israel before the biblical end time arrives. ``The book of Jeremiah promises that a majority of the world's Jewry will be in the Promised Land prior to Armageddon. Today there is close to 5 million Jews there. But still the majority of world Jewry is not yet back in Israel. I doubt they will all be there in two months. Maybe not even in 10 years. But the migration is predicted, so it will come in time.''

Rice said that the year 2000 is not even especially noted in scripture, although it is close to being 2 millenniums from the birth of Christ. He interprets biblical prophecy as predicting severe worldwide depression prior to the biblical Armageddon. ``Scriptural Armageddon is equated with the last of seven plagues that are described in Revelation 16,'' he said. ``Plague six, the one before Armageddon, speaks of the river Euphrates being dried up. Of course this is symbolic, as Revelation is. The Euphrates was the commercial life-blood of Babylon. The drying of the Euphrates represents the withering of the commercial life-blood of the western world preparatory to Armageddon. This implies a financial depression looming before us before Armageddon arrives. It will probably endure for some years,'' he concluded.

Although no one suggested a crisis would occur on January 1, the experts agreed that people should prepare as they would for an earthquake or natural disaster. ``Perhaps setting aside some water, canned foods and a small supply of cash are reasonable precautions for anyone concerned on the issue,'' said Rice.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/991101/ca_bible_s_1.html

-- LOON (blooney10@aol.com), November 02, 1999

Answers

Even though I've been preparing for about a year, I've never really stayed awake nights "worrying" ---- and I purchased a geberator, shortwave, ... the whole bit.

What gets me is the arrogance of so many people, most on the polly side. A very few "doomers" say we have to "HAVE" to have a 10, most "pollies" insist it "CAN'T" be anyting but a 1 or 2.

And **** on preparing "as for a storm or earthquake." --- that advice is more moronic than Janet Reno.

Whatever Y2K and the future brings, I've learned more than I would have thought possible a year ago, both technically and about politics/people. As various people have said, one of the worst scenarios is that nothing happens with Y2K , politically, or economically and we just continue our dismal descent into government totalitarianism. That doesn't mean I "want" Y2K to be bad, it just means I realize more than ever the overall mess we are in.

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), November 02, 1999.


And some day I'm going to learn how to spell generator right the first time.

-- Jon Johnson (narnia4@usa.net), November 02, 1999.

The majority of the worlds Jewry will be in the promised land............ If Y2K failures kill a lot of people and some of the dead are Jewish then the majority of the surviving Jewry may be in the promised land. Could happen.

-- Mr. Pinochle (pinochledd@aol.com), November 02, 1999.

brother. doesn't that make me feel better. i think it is kind of interesting this person has determined that this is the key point of our y2k concerns and knowing that there aren't enough jewish people yet in israel helps alot. so i guess that means the power and water will stay on?

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 02, 1999.

"Very little software really cares what date it is. In fact, lots of software records dates, but doesn't make calculations based on those dates." -- Michael Nekora, retired computer programmer and instructor of software engineering technology at Xerox Corporation

Really? Maybe Mr. Nekora should have worked with some of the applications I've worked with (health care) -- where ONE PROGRAM contained _216_ date references, any ONE of which would have caused the claim to be denied! And 97 of the remaining 215 contained AT LEAST FIVE references, which would have caused the same result! What a jerk. Maybe most software DOESN'T care -- but that software that DOES care, cares about it A LOT.

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, retire and become instructors at Xerox." Dork. No wonder they retired him as a programmer.

(Please excuse the rant. It hit a hot button, as if you couldn't tell.)

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 02, 1999.



I'm a little confused by this expert's "expertise."

``Besides the lack of a technical basis for expecting computer-caused Armageddon come January, the Bible clearly states that final trouble will come on the world when no one expects it,'' [Nekora] concluded.

What on earth does this have to do with Y2K? No sane person, and no Biblically-knowledgeable Christian, has even suggested that Y2K=Armageddon, as far as I'm aware. The two are discrete events, precisely because of the reason Nekora himself quotes - one is expected, and the other isn't.

If I follow his logic rightly, if Armageddon *doesn't* occur on or about Jan 1st, 2000, then we don't have anything to at all to fear from Y2K.

Instead of remediation, then, the logical response to Y2K worries would be to give every CEO, CIO, IT person and politician a Bible and a Bible course by Mr. Nekora. That should alleviate their concerns, and fix the Y2K problem right there!

Why has no one recommended this brilliant strategy before,,,,? :)

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 02, 1999.


It's a reach to find people who think Y2k is the end of the world. Those who believe that it is the end are few and far between.

-- haha (haha@haha.com), November 02, 1999.

Perhaps Mr. Nekora just wanted to ensure that he didn't accidently get included in this Report...:)

ADL Report on Y2K Paranoia Available at Police Chiefs Meeting U.S. Newswire 1 Nov 17:27

ADL Report on Y2K Made Available to Meeting of International Association of Chiefs of Police To: National Desk Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-885-7747, or Todd Gutnick, 212-885-7755, both of the Anti-Defamation League

NEW YORK, Nov. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has made available to participants of the International Association of Chiefs of Police meeting in Charlotte, N.C., its report on the potential for violent reactions in response to the year 2000. Participants have also received a report on the millennium threat, dubbed "Project Megiddo," from the FBI.

The ADL report, "Y2K Paranoia: Extremists Confront the Millennium," examines the varied reactions and expectations of elements on the fringes of society and warns of the potential for violence. The report focuses on anti-government militia and "Patriot" groups with theories of a government conspiracy, certain religious fundamentalists and cults predicting an apocalypse with Jews playing a conspiratorial or Satanic role, and far-right extremists seeking to blame the so-called Y2K bug on Jews and the federal government. Many of the groups are disseminating hate-filled propaganda on the Internet.

"Millennial cults, extremist groups and racial ideologues this year are bringing their assorted baggage to the Y2K happening," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. "The heightened expectations of the year 2000, mixed together with the widely reported possibility of computer meltdown, have generated a barrage of predictions and hysterical propaganda from those on the farthest fringes of society. While not all of these groups call for explicit action, many of their followers are hoping, expecting or preparing for the worst. We can only hope that these people will not act rashly or violently on their fears and expectations."

Predicting The Apocalypse

-- The Prophecy Club -- Members are selling books that warn of a government plan to establish an evil dictatorship and imprison "true believers" in concentration camps.

-- Aum Shinrikyo -- The Japanese cult responsible for the 1995 Tokyo subway attack is predicting Armageddon. Authorities fear the violence-prone group could strike again.

-- Gershon Salomon -- As leader of the Movement for the Establishment of the Temple, Salomon reportedly has asserted that he and his followers must "liberate" the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, destroy the Dome of the Rock Mosque and build the Third Temple foretold by the prophets.

-- Concerned Christians -- Authorities believe that the group may resort to violence in the streets of Jerusalem to hasten the Second Coming of Christ. Concerned Christians achieved notoriety last January when its followers were arrested and deported from Israel.

-- Yisrayl "Bill" Hawkins -- Hawkins, the leader of the House of Yahweh, and his followers are awaiting the return of Jesus in a compound in Abilene, Texas. The group reportedly is stockpiling arms.

-- Robert Millar -- The leader of a Christian Identity settlement in Muldrow, Okla., Millar's white supremacist teachings include predictions of a series of disasters after 2000 that will remove the wicked from the earth. The settlement, dubbed Elohim City, reportedly is heavily armed.

Extreme Right Hatemongers

-- National Socialist White Revolutionary Party -- Believes that an impending Russian nuclear, chemical and biological assault on the United States will lead to the forming of a globalist government.

-- James Wickstrom -- An Identity minister in Michigan with links to Posse Comitatus, a loosely organized group of Identity survivalists, Wickstrom predicts Y2K will bring widespread chaos perpetrated by the "Jew and antichrist world system." He claims there's a Jewish conspiracy to downplay Y2K and insists the NATO strikes against Serbia were intended to divert attention from an impending world disaster.

-- Christian Defense League -- The virulently anti-Semitic Christian Defense League in Arabi, La. believes Y2K is actually a Jewish plot to take over the world.

-- Church of Israel -- Dan Gayman, leader of the Missouri-based Church of Israel, a white supremacist group, predicts civil chaos, especially among "non-whites" whom he singles out from among welfare recipients as the most likely to resort to "unbridled killing" if the Y2K bug results in a temporary suspension of government entitlement programs. He advises followers to keep a "shotgun handy."

-- National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) -- Predicts a doomsday Y2K scenario that includes a stock market crash, a run on the banks and general mayhem.

Militia and "Patriot" Groups

-- John Trochman and the Militia of Montana -- On his Web site, Trochman repeatedly refers to "secret" military reports that suggest an imminent U.S. government takeover.

-- NORFED -- Indiana organization claims the computer systems at the Federal Reserve and other world financial institutions will malfunction, causing the international monetary system to collapse.

-- Col. James "Bo" Gritz -- A former Green Beret and presidential candidate for the extremist Populist Party, Gritz has trained hundreds of anti-government zealots to fight a so-called "New World Order."

--- EDITORS NOTE: ADL experts are available for interviews on the findings of Y2K Paranoia or for more information on extremist groups. The report may be viewed on the Internet at http://www.adl.org.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

-0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 11/01 17:27

Copyright 1999, U.S. Newswire



-- John Whitleu (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 02, 1999.


--the ridiculous adl left out one of the worlds wealthiest terrorist organizations, with extensive links to drug and arms smuggling, white slavery-well, slavery in general-supplying sophisticated advanced weaponry to china and iran, among other places-bribery and corruption of politicians, payoffs and political manipulation, assasinations, torture, and genocide--the list goes on and on, the evil organization is called the Mossad. ADL, get a freakin life!get over it!get prepared like everyone else, and only blame yourself if you get screwed up! geez-z-z-z-z-z-z-z Anyone wants to get some more realistic jewish folks interpretations on the real threats to jews (and everyone else) go to the JPFO website instead of the adl. ADL buncha losers.....

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), November 03, 1999.

Jon - Boy am I glad you clarified the mispelling. I was all in a panic because I am almost finished "prepping" and just realized that I did not have a "geberator" and might need one - lol.

-- anon (anon@anon.calm), November 03, 1999.


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