REASONED RESPONSE TO Y2K HYSTERIA

A REASONED RESPONSE TO Y2K HYSTERIA

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March 19, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Y2K hysteria continues to be fostered by the Christian media. On a recent visit to a Christian bookstore, I counted 13 titles on Y2K! Most of them promote a doom and gloom scenario, to various degrees.

WARNING BELLS ABOUT Y2K DOOM AND GLOOM

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."

I am accustomed to angry letters, but I was a little amazed at the viciousness of some of the responses I received from those who disagree with my assessment of the Y2K problem. There is more to this than meets the eye.

Let me summarize some of the warning bells that led me to reject the radical alarmist position on Y2K:

(1) THE FIRST WARNING BELL PERTAINED TO THE MEN WHO WERE LEADING THE Y2K CHARGE. The Y2K hysteria is being promoted, for example, by Jack Van Impe, Gary North, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsey, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell. Y2K aside, all of these men are undependable spiritual guides. The very fact that these are the type of men who are leading the Y2K alarmist charge was a loud warning to me about its authenticity. Obviously they are not wrong about everything they say, but they are wrong about so much of what they say that I will be EXTREMELY cautious in accepting their guidance on any subject.

(2) THE SECOND WARNING WAS THAT EVEN MY OWN LIMITED KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE TOLD ME THAT MANY OF THE ALARMIST STATEMENTS ARE PATENTLY UNTRUE. I knew, for example, that most embedded chips are not date sensitive and therefore are not affected by Y2K. I knew that the banking and other industries have been aware of and working on the Y2K problem for years. Many credit cards, for example, have had year 2000 expiration dates for some time now, and long-term mortgages have been exceeding the year 2000 for at least two decades; thus many problems associated with 2000 have already been worked out at many levels within the international banking system. I instinctively knew that competent international entities like Boeing, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Chase Manhattan Bank, General Motors, Toyota, Philips, Sony, and the United States military would not sit on their hands and allow a simple programming bug to stop their operations, that they are certainly capable of solving any possible Y2K problems. The alarmists claim they don’t have the ability or time to solve the problem. I don’t buy that. I found enough false statements in the first 30 pages of The Millennium Bug, for example, to make me extremely skeptical about its thesis.

(3) THE THIRD WARNING WAS THAT IT WAS OBVIOUS TO ME THAT THE Y2K PROBLEM WAS BEING EXAGGERATED, when claims are made that "military defense systems will fail" and "office systems will fail and employers will go out of business" and "police and 911 are nowhere to be found" (quoted from the cover to The Millennium Bug). I am a skeptical reader, and when I find men, like Y2K alarmists, who repeatedly misstate and exaggerate the facts, I do not have confidence in their conclusions. Y2K alarmists say we must be skeptical about government and industry statements. I agree. Deception is prevalent in this fallen world, and it is wise to exercise healthy skepticism toward government pronouncements and to check them out very carefully. I am just as skeptical, though, about Y2K alarmists!

(4) THE FOURTH WARNING WAS WHEN I HEARD MEN ASSOCIATE Y2K WITH BIBLE PROPHECY. I know that Y2K is not associated with Bible prophecy. The next event on the prophetic calendar is the Rapture, and signs do not precede it. (There is evidence on every hand that we are rushing toward the completion of the church age; prophecy in general, such as 2 Timothy 3-4 and Jude 4-19, is being fulfilled before our very eyes; but there are no signs that will indicate the specific time of the Rapture.) It is imminent (Matt. 24:42,44,46; 25:13; Mk. 13:35-37; Lk. 12:35-38; 21:34-36). Any event that is universally anticipated, such as Y2K, will not signal the Rapture. No Y2K doom and gloom scenario fits the description of the Tribulation that follows the Rapture. I wrote an article on this entitled "Y2K and Bible Prophecy" (Dec. 12, 1998; it is at the Way of Life web site under the Prophecy section of the End Times Apostasy Database). I have no confidence in the opinions of conspiratoralists and speculators who spend much of their time feeding the gullible religious community’s gluttonous appetite for wild-eyed prophetic conjecture. Our job today is not to speculate about how current events might fit into the prophetic scheme of things; it is to get the Gospel to every creature, to build strong New Testament churches for the discipleship of God’s people, and to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. That is Christ's Great Commission (Matt. 24:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44-48; John 20:20; Acts 1:8).

(5) A FIFTH WARNING BELL WENT OFF WHEN I BEGAN TO DISCUSS Y2K WITH PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE IN VARIOUS WALKS OF LIFE. Invariably they are unable to tell me about any specific Y2K computer problem that would result in a scenario of social instability. Invariably they tell me that their company or industry is on target to be ready for the year 2000. Any hesitancy they have about Y2K stems from things they had heard from the alarmists, not from their own personal knowledge of the hardware systems they control. I have traveled 55,000 miles in the last 11 months with preaching engagements, and I have talked with men all over North America about this matter. I talked with two senior officials with the FAA and both told me that the FAA has solved the Y2K problem. I talked with a technician who works at a large power generating station in Florida. He knew of no possible doom and gloom scenario. I talked with many others. All of the men I talked with are not only in a position to know what is happening in their industry concerning Y2K, but they are also Bible-believing Christians who spoke candidly to me as brothers in Christ.

(6) A SIXTH WARNING BELL HAS GONE OFF AS I HAVE REALIZED THAT THE ALARMISTS ARE NOT CHANGING THEIR STORY EVEN IN THE FACE OF THE GREAT ADVANCES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE IN Y2K PREPARATIONS DURING THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS. While driving from Florida to Oklahoma on March 15, I heard Michael Hyatt on a radio interview, and he painted the same gloomy picture he painted a year ago. He does not report on the advances that have been made and he does not modify his theories of what will occur based on new information.

It was therefore a great blessing to find a refreshingly calm voice in the midst of the hysteria in a new book by Dave Hunt titled "Y2K: A REASONED RESPONSE TO MASS HYSTERIA" (1999, Harvest House Publishers; available from The Berean Call, P.O. Box 7019, Bend, OR 97708, 503-383-4595 (fax), www.thebereancall.org). This 286-page book is carefully and extensively researched. It is also up to date (in contrast to Hyatt’s The Millennium Bug, which is filled with statements that are hopelessly out of date). Hunt has examined the evidence alleged to support the doom and gloom scenario and has found it lacking. The author investigates all areas of possible concern: embedded chips, the banking system, the power supply grid, the airline industry, Social Security payments, the food supply, the military, global positioning satellites, hospitals, you name it. I highly recommend that you obtain this book and give some copies away to people who might be frightened by the Y2K alarmists.

EXCERPTS FROM "A REASONED RESPONSE TO Y2K HYSTERIA" BY DAVE HUNT

We strongly oppose the pessimistic conclusions of great disaster that so many are promoting. That Y2K presents a serious problem we do not deny. However, the problem is well known and so is the solution that is being effected right now. It is our firm opinion, after much careful investigation, that those now crying disaster will shortly be proved wrong. And those who, on the basis of such warnings, have stocked up on large amounts of food and emergency supplies, purchased diesel-powered generators, sold city property and moved into the country, and otherwise prepared for a collapse of the power grid (infrastructure) and banks, will have endured needless anxiety and disruption of their lives, from which some may have difficulty recovering (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, p. 6).

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One good reason we have for doubting many of the alarming conclusions concerning the deep problems we will face one nanosecond after the clock strikes midnight December 31, 1999, is the fact that so often they are based upon outdated information. The picture is constantly changing but never seems to be brought up to date by alarmists. For example, early in September 1998 we were told that the FAA was only 30-percent ready and would never make it in time. But by early in October, the FAA announced that it was already 90 percent compliant. In December 1998 a special news conference was held to announce that SSA was certified 100 percent compliant. We are still waiting for North, Hyatt, Gregori, and others to admit to these and other improvements. AS of November 20, 1998, North’s website was still presenting old quotes of pessimistic assessments of the Y2K problem from early in 1998 and even 1997 (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, p. 46).

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While factual data is being offered which gives any thinking person reason to take Y2K seriously, one must distinguish fact from fancy. There is a high volume of pure alarmism, much of which doesn’t even make sense. … This is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for rumormongers that won’t last forever, so jump aboard quickly and ride it as far as it will go! We have great respect for Noah Hutchings and Larry Spargimino of Southwest Radio. However, the very title of the book they coauthored is enough to awaken fear if one believes the authors are well informed and sincere: Y2K—666? … anyone who believes that Antichrist is going to take over the world, as the Bible clearly says, would be highly suspicious about the possibility that Y2K will be the undoing of our computerized world. Indeed, it would seem to require computers for the biblical prophecies in Revelation 13 regarding Antichrist to be fulfilled; and that fact makes those prophecies from 1,900 years ago all the more remarkable (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 47,48).

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The so-called experts seem to quote one another without checking to verify the story. … For example, in his talk to the ministerial association, Jack Anderson referred to a nuclear power plant in Florida that ran a test by turning the clocks forward to 2000, which shut the whole thing down. … We asked Larry Burkett’s office for the name of this nuclear plant and they were unable to provide it. John Davis of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said he had never heard of this event and doubted that it had ever happened. Furthermore, he stated that the NEI had established Y2K guidelines way back in 1977. …

McAlvany’s statement is equally false—that ‘all chips must be tested, one by one, system by system. This is not possible between now and 12/31/99.’ Although it certainly is not possible to check each chip, it is possible to go to the engineer’s schematics and firmware sourcecode and there learn whether an embedded system is compliant or not. If the engineering drawings do not reveal that information, they at least reveal that there are hundreds or even thousands of chips of exactly the same kind. Test one of these and they have all been tested. To suggest that every chip must be tested individually not only betrays a na•ve lack of expertise, but it also paints a picture far more hopeless than the facts warrant. …

As another example of misinformation, Gary North, along with other Y2K alarmists, has declared that if everything isn’t ready by June 30, 1998, it will be too late because the testing procedure takes about 18 to 24 months. We checked this out with an electrical engineer who designs the most sophisticated military systems and the test equipment that completely checks them out for readiness. He stated that the DEVELOPMENT of a guided missile could take 24 months, but testing could be done in a few days, and no system, no matter how large and complex, should take more than a few weeks at most to see whether or not it is Y2K compliant and functioning as such. (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 53,54).

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The time necessary for correcting Y2K problems has shrunk substantially. Yet the alarmists seem unaware of these promising developments. … It is tragic not only that so much valuable time is being spent on needless speculation about the year 2000, but that so much that passes for truth concerning Y2K, and is accepted as such by a concerned public eager to be informed, simply does not reflect reality. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take facts to create panic. Rumors spread quickly and are usually far more alarming than truth (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, p. 57).

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A number of shortcut alternatives have been developed that will keep the operation running into the next millennium and buy time until the problem can be solved permanently. Freudenberg-NOK, for example, has placed into effect a technique called ‘windowing,’ which is only one of several recently developed and now available shortcuts to a viable temporary solution. And more ingenious ideas are being invented all of the time to simplify and speed up the Y2K repair process. In ‘windowing,’ one simply instructs the system that any year 50 and lower belongs to the twenty-first century; while all years 51 or higher belong to the past century. This simple maneuver allows continued operation into the next century, still using only two digits to indicate the year. This will not work, of course, for banks or the Social Security Administration, where a real date of birth or the date of origin or expiration of a contract comes into play. But it will work for many military applications, where the computer couldn’t care less what year it is. So we find that in contrast to gloomy predictions of collapse, many companies look upon the whole Y2K problem as a great opportunity to get a competitive edge over rivals (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 68,69).

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In contrast to outdated pronouncements of doom, there are increasing numbers of encouraging developments that deserve to be publicized in order to prevent the panic based upon false information which we believe is the greatest danger—and a very real one. … One need not listen to many speakers or read many books on the subject of Y2K to detect an underlying bias toward pessimism. Disaster is far more exciting and sells many more books and newsletters, to say nothing of survival food and supplies, than a calm and factual appraisal. Assurance that the year 2000 will dawn without any serious problems would dampen sales of books, freeze-dried foods, and emergency supplies. … We have carefully checked the realistic potential of Y2K for disruption from every possible angle and from many authoritative sources. In so doing, we have been unable to justify the sense of disaster that is being portrayed (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 81,82,83).

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In contrast to the predictions of power blackouts of not just days but weeks and even months, the suppliers of electrical power assure us that they have the situation well in hand. It makes no more sense to imagine that they are lying than it does to think they would subject themselves to the lawsuits and economic disaster of failing even for days, much less for weeks and months, to provide uninterrupted service. … Pacific Gas & Electric, one of California’s largest utilities, has been working on Y2K for three years. John Greek, manager of computer systems for PG&E, declared that it would finish its preparations by the end of 1998. That is not what the alarmists want to hear. Said Greer: ‘We had a magazine call us, and they were milking us to tell them that everything would turn black. But it’s not going to happen. Our automated systems tell power plants to come on or off to meet demand. All of that is based on monitoring physical conditions—current, voltage and frequency. They’re not looking at what day of the year it is’ (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 101,104).

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The disastrous consequences of Y2K have always been and continue to be overstated. Let us logically and factually consider the multibilllions of embedded chips out there. The vast majority of them are in toasters, watches, VCRs, TVs, ovens, air conditioning units, elevators, automobiles, trucks, and other similar places where, even if they all did something weird or froze on January 1, 2000, it would not be the end of the world. Yes, there are millions of them in strategic places, but think about it for a moment. The warnings of what COULD or possibly MIGHT happen are everywhere. But as one computer expert who designs complex military systems and writes the software for them remarked, ‘I have yet to see or hear a specific example of any Y2K computer glitch that would cause a major breakdown in any system’ (copy of interview on file, Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, p. 6).

[Bro. Cloud: It is important to understand that most of the embedded chips are not date sensitive. Those in automobiles and toasters, for example, are not programmed in relation to date and will therefore be unaffected by any possible Y2K problem.]

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After spending years searching for and correcting Y2K problems, many companies have yet to encounter a Y2K-related situation which, had it not been corrected, would have shut them down on January 1, 2000. For all the general talk about computers crashing, one is hard pressed to find anyone who can give a specific example of a Y2K-related problem that would cause more than a minor irritation. Further, while solid evidence for specific causes of further catastrophe can scarcely be found, evidence is increasingly coming to light that points in the other direction.

The man in charge of implementing Y2K at one of the largest suppliers of electric power in North America personally explained the situation as follows in answer to specific questions from this author:

1. Y2K is a huge economic issue. No commercial enterprise can afford to be shut down and thereby interrupt its business and miss essential income, let down customers, etc. It just won’t happen!

2. It is also a huge legal issue around the world. No company of any substance is going to play around with it. The liability for failure to deliver power [or other services, in the case of banks, etc.] to customers could put a company out of business. Most insurance companies will not insure for Y2K.

3. All power companies are working together among themselves as well as with their suppliers and customers to be certain that everyone will be complaint. This is expected to be completed by March 31, 1999.

4. They have been working on this for years, testing and searching for anything that could possibly go wrong.

5. So far they have found a few minor Y2K problems, but NOTHING that could have shut the system down had they not found it.

6. No one can guarantee that all possible problems have been uncovered; but nothing that may be overlooked could shut the system down. The system is designed to survive random failures. In fact, failures periodically occur, causing short-term disruptions, such as from lightning.

7. The power companies continually make tests to be certain they can operate in any eventuality. They have sophisticated backup and contingency plans for anything, including whatever failures may occur through Y2K computer problems, if any, that haven’t been discovered and corrected by 1/1/2000 (copy of interview on file, Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 107,108).

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The Boeing Company began working ‘on the Year 2000 challenge in 1993…’ What has been the result? Boeing is very frank about the situation and it is absurd to suggest that they are lying. Willie Aikens, Boeing’s Y2K program manager, declares: ‘We can’t have any secrets when it comes to Y2K readiness. The FAA, the military, the airlines, our competitors even—this is a global community and all of us need to be prepared. … When the calendar flips to January 1, 2000, we will be ready.’ We have asked pilots in cockpits of commercial jets and the mechanics who service them if they anticipate any Y2K problems and have yet to find anyone who was concerned. We have spoken with military men and with scientists and engineers at various corporations supplying sophisticated military systems, and the answer is always that they are compliant already or will be early in 1999 at the latest, and that Y2K is no great concern (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, p. 112).

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So for all of the billions of embedded chips out there, many of which one would think are in aircraft and would be critical to staying airborne, after years of working on Y2K, Boeing found very little that would be disruptive when the clock rolls over to January 1, 2000. Moreover, it views the problem as no more than a possible nuisance in the cockpit. … Remember, Boeing is not responsible if a pilot makes an error, but it is responsible for the operational safety of its planes in every respect related to design. Boeing must be very sure of itself to make the above statements. Yet it seems to treat possible Y2K problems casually, as though they can be lived with or compensated for at the time they occur. Either the Boeing engineers have lost their minds, or those who are warning of chaos and disaster because of the change of the clock to the new millennium are speaking from ignorance and are greatly overstating the possible consequences.

The same attitude toward Y2K is increasingly being found among those one would have thought would be the most concerned. Consider Texas Instruments (TI), for example, the leader in the field of DSP (Digital Signal Processors) solutions. A DSP is an example of a rather complex and expensive embedded chip. … Here again, like Boeing, Texas Instruments is not overly concerned that any of its products, even though not Y2K compliant, will cause problems when the new millennium dawns. It seems to know exactly which ones need repairs and has already provided ‘corrective patches’ for all of such cases. In other words, Texas Instruments is on top of the Y2K problem and has been for some time. Moreover, TI doesn’t consider a lack of full Y2K compliance to pose a serious threat. It recommends that customers use the corrective patches, but does not predict disaster if any of them fail to do so. Such a relaxed attitude toward Y2K almost seems like a rebuke of the alarmists.

Has the disaster potential from the billions of embedded chips out there been grossly overstated? From all of the investigating we have been able to do, we think it has been. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ of course—but safe from WHAT? That is the part that has been exaggerated and has caused unnecessary anxiety and could yet cause panic before this thing is over (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 110,111).

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The author asked a computer expert to listen to some tapes by one of the most highly qualified Christians sounding the Y2K alarm, and consulted him on some of the statements in various books written on the subject. This man, currently working at the highest security clearance level, designs complex equipment and systems, including some of the most sophisticated weapons systems, for which he writes his own software. Here is a summary of his reactions:

‘Most of what is said is vague. Some of the problems they point out may be true in the final analysis, but we need convincing explanations of why this is the case, and we need some specific examples—and I haven’t heard any yet from those sounding these warnings. As to the general consequences they are warning about, they use such qualifying phrases as, "it would not surprise me" and "who knows" and "it very well could be," but nothing definite. I find it difficult to imagine any legitimate programmer making a function dependent upon the year, though some may have.

‘They talk about the billions of embedded chips, but most of them are in toasters, microwave ovens, wrist watches, thermostats, television sets, VCRs, etc. And why should any piece of equipment care what year it is? Why would something go awry because of a date problem? I can’t imagine a heart monitor, an EKG, or a respirator in a hospital going bonkers because of a date change. If 00 comes up, it must have been programmed in there with some provision for what it means.

‘Yes, there are billions of lines of code, but most of them have nothing to do with dates, and most of those which do aren’t going to shut down or do something strange because of a date. Again, I can’t imagine a programmer worth his salt not accounting for all possibilities.

‘I don’t deny there is a real problem, but in everything I’ve listened to or read I have yet to be given a specific example that would be cause for the current alarm. I’ve heard much speculation and sensationalism, but no hard examples, so apparently there couldn’t be very many or we would be hearing of them.

‘In fact, a common denominator in much of this stuff is conspiracy. What it seems to boil down to, at least for many of the alarmists—especially the Christians writing and speaking on this subject—is that the Y2K problem opens the possibility of government abuse. It is not just the irksome problems we have to be concerned about, but what really can happen is the president puts us under martial law, takes over as a dictator, and abuses our privileges and rights.

‘As for banks or Social Security Administration or one’s insurance carrier losing records, that is an exaggerated possibility. They all have backup systems. Obviously you should keep your own hard copy, whether the year 2000 is coming up or not. The large defense company I work for lost all of its E-mail and all E-mail addresses because the hard drive on that computer (and we’re all tied into it) flew into pieces. But over the weekend technicians managed to recover everything, and Monday morning when I went into my office there was all of my E-mail back again.

‘Yes, there are some serious problems. The big problem is code, and it is true that some programmers have been notorious for not documenting what they have done. It will be difficult to find and take care of everything that needs to be corrected. But I still can’t imagine specific problems due to date. There seem to be a lot of vague suggestions, exaggeration, and no specific examples that cause me to be concerned.’ …

This author interviewed one of the top computer experts in the country, Warren S. Perry. He is senior project manager for a division of a large information technology (IT) company that doesn’t accept clients with revenues of less than $500 million per annum. He travels all over the United States as an IT troubleshooter helping customers with high-end tech matters which the salespeople are unable to handle. We asked him the question, ‘What is your opinion of the Y2K problem we are facing, and what have you found the companies you deal with are doing about it?’ He replied

‘I deal with 7 to 10 IT managers of major corporations each week and always ask them about Y2K. I have never found even one that is still worried. Everyone I deal with feels they have finished, they’ve done what they needed to do, and Y2K is now history.

‘What I’ve found especially interesting, over the last month I’ve been asking whether there would have been serious problems if they had done nothing about Y2K. The answer I most often get is "No."

‘Yet there is so much talk and concern about Y2K, especially among Christians. I was watching a program on Christian television the other day. It’s amazing how they can go on at great length in generalities, getting the audience aroused, and yet say absolutely nothing of substance. …

‘Understand, I am not prejudiced against the thought of a Y2K disaster. I’m more than willing for it all to be true, because anything that has the potentiality of causing computers to fail is a revenue opportunity for me. But I haven’t found any factual basis for all the concern.

‘You may be certain that every mission-critical operation in the world will have the entire staff present when the clock rolls over to January 1, 2000. If anything at all goes wrong, the programmers will be right there to fix it.

‘What will happen? There could be some minor inconveniences: maybe some teller out there in a tiny midwest town goes off line for 3 hours, or someone up in Maine can’t get a dial tone—but whatever the problems are, they will be quickly fixed. All this talk about shortages of food will pull forward revenue and for two weeks in January no one will be buying anything. Grocery stores will have a great December and lousy January’ (copy of interview on file, Nov. 25, 1998, Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 117-119).

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Shaunti Feldhahn introduced her ministry on the James Dobson program: ‘Storing some of the necessities … that’s one of the reasons why we named the project the Joseph Project 2000, just because of the biblical story of Joseph where he saw the famine coming and prepared for it and then was able to open the storehouses and bless others.’ Dobson interjected, ‘Now what is the Joseph Project, essentially?’ Shaunti responded: ‘Well, what we’re doing is to try to generate Christian leadership in communities…to try to address this issue of getting pastors on board so that they’re comfortable leading, so that it’s not necessarily just being done by people who are under no accountability or authority…’ ("Y2K: Expectations and Preparations" panel, Oct. 23-25, 1998).

Dobson is strongly backing and promoting ‘The Joseph Project 2000.’ The packet of information sent by Focus on the Family to those requesting information about Y2K contains a Joseph Project 2000 brochure with a quote on it from Larry Burkett. ‘I support the work the Joseph Project 2000 is doing nationally to generate Christian community awareness on Y2K. I would encourage you to work together with the local Joseph Project director and his/her leadership team to begin preparing to minister to your area in the changing days ahead.’ …

Obviously, providing for the entire community is a herculean task which requires that all churches work together. Preparing for Y2K will prove to be one of the most powerful ecumenical forces imaginable if The Joseph Project—which is off to an impressive start nationally and plans to be international—is successful. …

So concern about Y2K, rather than about Jesus Christ, the Bible, and sound doctrine, becomes the unifying factor bringing everyone together regardless of their differing and sometimes false doctrines. A new and unbiblical ecumenical unity is being created by this alleged crisis. (Dave Hunt, Y2K: A Reasoned Response, pp. 150-153).

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CONCLUDING WORD FROM BRO. CLOUD: My dear brethren in the Lord, don’t be shaken by the Y2K alarmists. It is always wise to have some food, water, flashlights, etc., available for emergencies such as severe weather and temporary power outages. On Whidbey Island in Washington, where we lived for several years, power outages were not uncommon, especially in the winter; and we kept a small supply of emergency things together with our camping equipment. Now we live in Oklahoma, which is tornado country, and we keep our emergency supplies in the storm cellar. To have a reasonable emergency supply for the contingencies of life is wise; to get into a Y2K frenzy is foolish. The Y2K bug is not going to bring social chaos. It does not mark the beginning of the Tribulation. If it does, the born again child of God will not be here to see it! Trust in the Lord and keep your attention focused on His service. The Great Commission is not to prepare for Y2K; it is to preach the Word of God to the ends of the earth until Jesus comes (Matthew 28:18-20). Don’t be sidetracked by the prophetic speculators and the Y2K doomsayers.