While the first glimmer of news regarding the "Millennium Bug" seeped
out in 1996, this unbelievable forecast of computerized chaos was not
widely reported until 1997. In the event some readers may not be
informed about the "Millennium Bug," we will briefly summarize:
In the 1960s and '70s when there was a quantum leap in the
development and use of computers, most of the programs were COBOL
language, plus to save space no room was allowed for the change-over
from 1999 to the year 2000. Now there are very few COBOL programmers
left, and few technicians to correct the problem. If every computer
programmer in the world were to start trying to correct it right now, it
would take until 2005 to complete the job. IBM has told businesses that
if they are not working to fix this problem "then it is probably too
late."
At first we thought some alarmists were just trying to get attention,
but now every magazine, newspaper, and mass communication medium has
reported the reality of the danger, over, and over again.
There are dire, but credible predictions: banks won't open; the stock
market will crash; trains and trucks won't be able to run; gas pumps
won't pump; planes will fall from the sky; lights won't come on; water
will be scarce; riots for food in the streets; robbery, murders and
rapes will go unchecked, etc. We are not saying all these events will
occur, but the October 22, 1997 edition of THE EUROPEAN reported the
following are likely to occur: (1) The Pentagon has said that some of
their missles "may go haywire" on 1 January 2000. (2) Mikhail Gorbachev
has warned American senators that the millennium problem could cause
serious problems for Russian nuclear power stations. (3) Cookers and
kettles are predicted to fail because of the millennium problem. (4) The
year 2000 program manager for the British Ministry of Defense likened
the scale of the problem to "mounting a major combined military exercise
continually for the next three years." (5) The former head of the
British government's task force has warned that the millennium problem
could lead to riots in the streets. (6) four airlines have said they
will not fly over the millennium to prevent their planes from crashing.
(7) Satellites could fail leading to the collapse of international phone
links. (8) One of the first to predict a catastrophe in the year 2000
was Arthur C. Clarke, the legendary science-fiction writer, who warned
of ensuing global chaos. (9) A British government minister has said
pensions won't be paid and 100 years of interest could be added to
credit card balances.
The October 26, 1997, edition of Parade magazine wars: "That day is
arriving, but the changes are turning out to be far more complicated and
time consuming than anyone had dreamed. This is because there is no
technological fix that works for a large number of programs, which have
become highly customized over time and often were built with computer
language that is now so obsolete that few people even know how to work
with it. As a result, every date-sensitive system must be opened
individually and operated upon by a skilled electronic surgeon.
Old-style programmers are even coming out of retirement to help.
"This is no minor concern. Such elaborate computer systems run
everything from hospital life-support systems to air-traffic control to
the military's secret weapons programs. So the day after the world's
biggest New Year's Eve party on 12/31/99 may be even more interesting
than the one before it. When you get back home on 01/01/00, your lights
may not go on or the hands on your clocks may be spinning from the wrong
power frequence. Your automated teller machine may not work, because
your bank thinks your ATM card expired back when Queen Victoria did.
Your neighborhood traffic lights may give mixed messages."
Every computer and software company, and news media outlet are
sounding the alarm. Will this problem lead to a common computerized
program as foretold in Revelation 13? Only the "willingly ignorant" can
say they were not warned.
Taken from the "Prophetic Observer"
December 1997-Vol.4, No.12
Southwest Radio Church
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
