Well, here we are again, but for some reason, things seem to be different. Maybe it’s the closing of 6,000 years of history that has some people nervous; maybe it’s the hi-tech age in which we live where computers do so many common functions of everyday life. I passed off the Y2K issue as a minor bump, but after some research—well, I am convinced it might be a bigger bump than we may realize.

Recently, on a flight to New York City I sat next to a man who used to be a math professor at Stanford University. He is now working for a re-insurance company in connection with the famous Lloyds of London. He has developed a computer program that assesses various probabilities to decide how much insurance an insurance company needs to protect itself in case of major losses. I asked him about Y2K.

“We may see a bump, or major problems. The real problem is that nobody knows, since there are so many computer chips out there that could malfunction,” he told me.

Thinking about what he said, I opened the copy of The Financial Times, dated November 5, and a headline read: “Alarm on ‘year 2000’ threat to airlines.” I found this interesting, since I was sitting on a plane at the time. But what was more interesting than what the article was saying about air traffic control towers and many planes not being ready for the Y2K computer chip problem, was this: “Britain could suffer a civil emergency as it enters the new millennium because of widespread and serious computer failures, Donald Deward, chief minister for Scotland admitted. . . . Mr. Deward claims that electricity supplies and telecommunications could collapse.”

Now that is quite a statement. But on the way back from Europe, I picked up the November 17th copy of The Financial Times, and found a follow-up article based on the one just quoted from. It states: “Army and Police are working together on contingency plans to cope with a possible emergency caused by the ‘millennium bomb,’ it emerged yesterday. The army could provide air support and other help to move police from ‘hot spot to hot spot’ if emergency services, hospitals, transport systems and other computer controlled networks collapse because their processing chips fail to recognize the year 2000.”

The article then continued to state: “Suspicions of possible military involvement in providing police back-up from December 31, 1999 were raised after a memo was leaked earlier this month in which Donald Deward, chief minister for Scotland, suggested that Territorial Army soldiers could be needed to maintain services.”

The use of the military in case of civil emergency in England? I wondered why this was on page 12! Bill Clinton’s personal problems get front page attention, while talk about the army joining forces with the police in case of civil emergency gets page 12? And here in the U.S., what do we hear? Well, very little from the main stream press. What will happen? As the man in the seat next to me said, “We may see a bump, or major problems. The real problem is that nobody knows.”

As one looks at all these things, it points us to the fact that the close of this millennium really could be bringing us nearer to the final movements of this Earth’s history. I believe that soon we could see things set in motion that will alarm those who “have eyes that see.” Yes, we may get over Y2K, but as everything seems to be settling back to normal, then we could see real changes take place. The devil always seems to take three steps forward, and then two steps back—and at each step he conditions minds and hearts for his great master deception.

How close are we to Christ’s second coming? “Closer than when we first believed.” May God give us the wisdom to act according to the times in which we live. Amen!