The Millennium Meltdown Essay, Research Paper

Brian Beatty Book ReportsThe Millennium MeltdownByGrant R. Jeffery The Millennium Meltdown by Grant R. Jeffery describes the crisis America may face if we continue to ignore the computer date implications. “As the new millennium begins, millions of computers throughout the world will begin to crash. The lights will go out where the computers that run the electric power grid fail to make the transition to the next century. Many government agencies and businesses will be unable to function as there essential computer programs either shut down or produce false data. The failure to correct this massive problem before the year 2000 deadline will threaten jobs, our food, and our finances.”1 Jeffery describes in his book how dramatically this will impact Americans and outlines practical strategies to protect the family in what may be the greatest technological crisis ever. Jeffery also gives reasons why this crisis may lead to the revelation to the Antichrist. Although I do not agree with everything this book says, it has caused me to plan for the future. After reading this book, I set my own computer s date at December 31, 1999, with no repercussion as it changed to the year 2000. I still had Internet access and all of my software work. Jeffery said this will not be the case with government and banking computers because they are date sensitive. In the 1970 s, when computer memory was very expensive, a lot of money was saved by only using two digits to represent the date. When the date turns over, since the computer has no common sense, they will think that it is the year 1900 not 2000. This could have many adverse effects. This computer problem could adversely affect our economic system. The financial industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to tackle with the problem they do not feel it will be done in time. Merril Lynch and Citicorp have budgeted 800 million dollars to fix their systems. According to Reuters, October 1, 1997, issue, “It is our prediction that it will only take five to ten percent of the world s bank payments systems to not work on that one day to create a global liquidity lockup….I don t think the markets have quite grasped the implications of what will happen if the entire system goes down.” We have a global economy so everyone could be affected by the inability of computers to function properly and orderly on January 1, 2000. The United States government still runs n 1970 s mainframe computers. No one expected these ancient computers to still be in use at this time. The IRS may be unable to calculate taxes, Social Security may be unable to pay monthly benefits or Medicare payments, and welfare recipients may be denied their money. This will cause massive financial chaos and stress to a large number of Americans. The stock market, if not prepared, may crash as well resulting in a depression greater that that of 1929. The author hopes we learn a lesson from the previous crash.

The United states military is totally computer dependent. During tests that were conducted to simulate the year 2000, many problems occurred. The defense department software is written in archaic languages such as COBOL, C, and ADA. In order to properly fix the program, 100,000 COBOL-trained programmers to fix its mission-critical programs before the next century. In a recent simulated Y2K test on four intercontinental ballistic missiles, the test failed miserably. Two of the missiles refused to launch, while the other two went into unauthorized launch mode and would have fired. This could bring about catastrophic events.In order to resume normal functioning of a society, the author feels we will enter into a cashless culture. The technology has been developed by MasterCard International to place all personal information, including your fingerprint on a computer chip embedded under the skin. Bible prophecy describes this as similar to the financial system used by the Antichrist to govern the world. Taking this computer chip will not immediately align someone with he Antichrist, but it will be the end of personal privacy, the loss of civil rights and freedoms and give government the ability to survey every movement of every individual. The author says at a later time a chip will be added that will secure alliance to the Antichrist. As Christians, we know this is something we could never do. Grant Jeffrey has outlined numerous strategies so that we can be prepared if there is chaos during the beginning of the year 2000. He says if possible, we should have a couple thousand dollars cash on hand because this crisis will happen during the winter, alternative heat and water sources should be set up. Non-perishable food should be stored. The author reminds us of Proverbs 3:9-10 and Malachi 3:10 that say when the Lord is honored with the first part of our money, He in return will pour out so much blessing we will not have enough room for them. My family is implementing some of the suggestions in this book. While I do not think that this problem is unfixable, some members of my family are preparing for the worst. We have a wood stove to heat out home and a hand pump to get water out of the well. We also own a generator and plan to store 80 gallons of fuel in our motor home. Because we live in a wooded area full of game, we feel our meat supply will be plenty. A huge vegetable garden is planned for next summer. Hopefully this insurance will be unnecessary but a wise man is prepared for all things.The Millennium Meltdown

336