December 1, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - As the turn of the century draws near, the Y2K hysteria continues to be fostered by some in the Christian media. On a visit to a Christian bookstore, I counted 13 titles on Y2K! Most of them promote a doom and gloom scenario, to various degrees.

As I began hearing the Y2K scenarios early last year, loud warning signals began going off in my mind. A promotional copy of The Millennium Bug by Michael Hyatt was sent to me by the publisher early in 1998. I heard Jack Van Impe and Hal Lindsey and others paint the most incredibly bleak descriptions of what will occur on January 1, 2000. I heard pastors pass on this type of information to the churches. The more I heard, though, the more skeptical I became; and it did not take long to reject the doomsday scenario about Y2K. Though I did not intend to write anything about Y2K, a steady stream of questions from readers encouraged me to give a brief testimony about it. Thus on October 11, 1998, I published "Y2K Hysteria." I said:

"The Year 2000 Bug will cause problems but not severe ones. There should be no hysteria about this. I have no survivalist plans. I do not plan to pull my money out of the bank or stockpile food and water. I do not believe planes will fall out of the sky or the electric grid will fail or the water system will cease to flow or the banking system will collapse or the military will dissolve into confusion. I would not be afraid to be on a commercial flight in the air at midnight on December 31, 1999. I might be wrong, but I believe that is a bunch of nonsense, to be blunt. I believe there will be problems and glitches which will have to be worked out as we move through the month of January 2000, and they will be worked out in a reasonable and timely fashion. That is what I believe about Y2K" (David Cloud, "Y2K Hysteria," Oct. 11, 1998, Fundamental Baptist Information Service).

I have re-studied the issue many times during the past year and I have received many hostile letters rebuking me for taking what the writers thereof consider a blind position on this topic, but I have found no reason to revise the statement I made more than a year ago. While it is always wise to have some emergency supplies on hand for storm-type situations, I completely reject any unusual widespread doom and gloom scenario associated with Y2K.

There are several articles at the Way of Life web site under the Y2K section of the End Times Apostasy Database.

The following books are also highly recommended:

Y2K: A REASONED RESPONSE TO MASS HYSTERIA by Dave Hunt. [Harvest House Publishers; available from The Berean Call, P.O. Box 7019, Bend, OR 97708, 503-383-4595 (fax), www.thebereancall.org]

THE Y2K LIE by Sherman Smith. [879-969-1123 (voice)]

SEVEN THINGS THE DOOMSAYERS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT Y2K by Gary Hedrick. [Harvest House Publishers; available from The Berean Call, P.O. Box 7019, Bend, OR 97708, 503-383-4595 (fax), www.thebereancall.org]