A wild ride coming

) 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

Ready or not, we are all in for a very wild ride in the near future.

Although I've wondered about the turn of the millennium for years, my two-year stint as editor of a monthly newsletter for late-night radio talk superstar Art Bell really brought it home for me. I had the opportunity to interview many people deeply involved with advanced technologies, earthquake prediction, drug-resistant super-microbes, Marian apparitions and other supernatural phenomena, "near death experiences," extreme weather patterns, the New Age, UFOs and alien "abductions," virtual reality, and other exotic, paranormal, or just plain weird stuff.

But here's the weirdest part. Although they represented every conceivable paradigm, virtually all of Art's guests were convinced of one thing. Drastic things -- "earth changes" (earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes), pandemic plagues, convulsive social upheaval, and even an explosion of supernatural phenomena -- were in store for around the year 2000 or shortly thereafter. Christian, New Age, scientist, and psychic -- all pointed with appropriate fear and trembling toward the time we are now approaching as a giant vortex of unprecedented world transformation.

So where does Y2K fit in? Seems that even if we experience only minor "best-case-scenario"-type problems during the century rollover -- very unlikely, by the way, given the interconnectedness of our world systems -- we're still in for a wild ride. Well then, if the turn-of-the-millennium is a spiritual lightening rod, a giant "magnet," just what is this magnet attracting?

There are groups actively planning to commemorate the new year by such merry-making as blowing up the Al Aqsa mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, which would no doubt precipitate an all-out "Jihad" involving a hundred million or so Arabs versus a relative handful of Israelis and their allies (if America is still an ally). Their object? Force God's hand and speed up the Second Coming of Christ. But wait, there's more.

Cyberterrorism has become a major threat capable of inflicting worst-case Y2K-type cyber mayhem -- electrical power, transportation, communications, banking, the works. Sound familiar? It's Y2K's evil twin, infrastructure destruction with a malevolent intent and an unknown detonation-date. Osama Bin Laden and other foreign and domestic terrorist groups are known to be actively pursuing cyberterrorism. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, it would take only 30 people and a $10 million budget to wreck America's cyber-infrastructure and all that goes with it. And a great time to strike, obviously, would be on or shortly after Jan. 1, 2000. Nobody would know if it was a cyber-attack or a Y2K computer glitch. Talk about attacking the "Great Satan's" soft, vulnerable underbelly!

Even under a best-case Y2K scenario, our government will still be totally preoccupied with "helping" us poor citizens solve our Y2K-caused problems by every means possible, including major military deployments. So there will be no chance that America could simultaneously mobilize its armed forces to protect, oh, let's say, Kuwait. In fact, is there any chance at all that Saddam Hussein will not seize this golden opportunity to try and take over the entire Persian Gulf -- including its oil -- in a few months? I mean, really, if you were Saddam and wanted to make your move, for keeps this time, what better time to strike than at the turn of the millennium, under cover of worldwide Y2K chaos and confusion? Ditto for countless other rogue nations, warring ethnic and religious groups, and clandestine movements of every conceivable (and some inconceivable) sort.

The federal government, which never fails to increase and consolidate power when faced with a real, perceived, or self-created crisis, will go hog wild. For the depraved Clinton administration, always eager for distraction from its many sins, as well as an easy opportunity to expand its reach, Y2K is a dream-come-true. For Bill Clinton, it promises to be pure ecstasy.

These and many other events are tied specifically to the Year 2000 date change just a few months from now. Adding to the bumpiness of our ride, however, will be a multitude of other rapidly accelerating trends, such as:

The demonization of Christianity: If you haven't noticed the growing anti-Christian movement in America -- well, as the bumper sticker says, "you're not paying attention." Many of the blossoming political and cultural phenomena we see today -- the relentless and ever-expansive Gay Rights movement (including "Hate Crimes" legislation), radical environmentalism, the New Age Movement in its many guises, and so on -- have their roots in a spiritual battle that has been raging for decades, some say for millennia. I'm talking about a direct assault on Judeo-Christian values and institutions. The fact is, many of today's political and cultural "leaders" are increasingly hell-bent on discrediting, demonizing, or just plain shutting up anyone who dares to champion what they consider to be the outmoded, superstitious, life-denying, and repressive values of traditional Christians.

The war on gun ownership: Predatory lawsuits against firearms manufacturers for crimes committed with guns severely threaten Americans' right to armed self-defense. If the Second Amendment goes, history says you can kiss the other nine good-bye. Although a pile of evidence the size of Mount Everest proves beyond doubt that firearms in the hands of private citizens deter far more crimes than they cause, lawmakers, the establishment media, and special interest groups constantly work to undermine and even eliminate this fundamental American right.

The resurgence of infectious disease: Now the world's third largest killer, infectious diseases are staging a spectacular comeback. Flagrant overuse of antibiotics and other factors have led to the emergence of new, drug-resistant strains of once-"conquered" bugs like TB, as well as brand new lethal pathogens never before seen. Add to this the very real threat of biological terrorism featuring such lethal organisms as anthrax and even smallpox. And let's not forget AIDS, officially considered non-infectious, which is consuming the continent of Africa. Official estimates are that more people will die of AIDS in Africa in the next few years (about 34 million) than perished on all sides in World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars combined.

There are so many other ominous trends -- rampant government corruption and even treason at the highest levels, ever-increasing serious crime committed by children, including mass murder, the outrageously corrupting fare offered by today's entertainment industry -- the list is seemingly without end.

The point is, friends, regardless of how bad Y2K is or is not, we are going for a ride. So get ready. Denial just makes it bumpier.

Denial? What's that?

Terminal denial

As the Nazi Holocaust finally came to an end, Allied soldiers led the horrified German population -- the everyday, law-abiding, government-believing people of the day -- through the concentration camps. Newsreels of this guided tour shows women crying convulsively, stunned men with heads bowed low in shock and dismay.

Filing past piles of emaciated corpses, the stench of death everywhere, an unspeakable horror permeated their souls. For all at once, they realized that the nagging doubt in the back of their minds -- the secret fear that the rumors of genocide might actually be true, but which they had disbelieved, thinking such negative thoughts to be from the demon of disloyalty, weakness, or lack of patriotism -- those doubts had actually been the desperate cry of inner truth. The soft, velvety denial they had lived in vanished instantly, and in its place, the agony of guilt and betrayal.

Don't look down on these people. At least they faced their sins of omission and tacit complicity, having believed their leaders and ignored the urgings of their own conscience. They were forced to acknowledge the horror they had previously denied.

What about us? Will we one day tour through the wreckage of our own culture of death and weep? A few years ago an anti-abortion group discovered an abortion clinic that had warehoused in a large storage room dozens of late-term aborted babies in bell jars. The room and its contents were photographed and distributed nationwide by this group under the title, "The American Holocaust." It was truly shocking. Yet little has changed. Today we have polite debates over the relative merits of "partial birth abortion," the ultimate euphemism for infanticide. If you lined up a thousand Americans at random and showed them a video of a partial birth abortion, virtually every single one -- after recoiling in horror, throwing up, and screaming hysterically -- would register their clear disapproval of this barbaric, murderous practice. And yet, it's legal.

That's denial.

Hitler knew that people have short memories, and this knowledge freed him to be ruthless and outrageous without fear of opposition. What about us? How is it that the American conscience can so easily be wiped clean of its memory of Juanita Broaddrick? Remember her? Or did the war in the Balkans, the mass murders in Colorado and Atlanta, and the Kennedy deaths wipe your memory clean? Allow me to remind you. Juanita Broaddrick went on national TV, dripping with credibility, accusing Bill Clinton of brutally raping her. The next day, 62 percent of Americans polled said they believed her. Almost two out of three Americans believed that Bill Clinton may have been guilty of forcible rape, a crime that used to be punishable by death. Two out of three! That, in the same country where, when citizens at random are polled regarding a question like "Does 1 plus 1 equal 2?" there are always about 17 percent who are "undecided" or "unsure." So what happened to us? We forgot!

That's denial.

The truth is, asking the human race about denial is like asking a fish about water; he doesn't know what you're talking about. It's his element, he's swimming in it all the time, and he's never known anything else. If we didn't have our denial, we'd probably gasp for "air" and die.

So let's summarize: Point A, a whole lot of stuff is about to hit the fan. And point B, many of us have our heads buried so deeply in the sand, we wouldn't recognize the truth if it kicked us in the rear.

And that brings us to Y2K.

Y2K reality check

Will the lights stay on? Will I have a job? Will the stock market crash? Will I be allowed to withdraw money from my bank? Will my government check arrive? Will we have a recession or depression? Will there be riots and social disruption? Will Clinton impose martial law? Many people are asking themselves these questions.

Clearly, because of the interconnectedness of systems, the "weak-link" nature of the Y2K problem, the century rollover could result in virtually any conceivable outcome, from mildly disruptive to apocalyptic. I don't have to describe the possible scenarios in detail; you've no doubt heard them all. Edward Yardeni, chief economist for one of the world's largest banks (Deutsche Morgan Grenfell) and a celebrated Wall Street analyst, gives a 30 percent chance that Y2K won't be too bad, a 25 percent chance for moderate recession, a 40 percent chance for major global recession, and a 5 percent chance for, and I quote, "Depression lasting two to five years, blackouts, social and political upheaval. Stock market ... you don't want to know." And Yardeni is mild compared to some Y2K experts.

Of course, we Americans have made it through a Depression before, but during a very different era. With all its faults, America of the '30s clung to the ideals of a cohesive Judeo-Christian culture -- a melting pot of many nations, but with one set of ultimate values that cemented our society together. Thus our parents and grandparents weathered the Great Depression with relative dignity. That was then. How would today's Americans react to another Depression? At least in those days, people desperately unhappy with the stock market just jumped off a building -- they didn't feel compelled to shoot a dozen people before taking their own miserable lives.

What about leadership? Wouldn't it be nice to have a little inspired national leadership during this crisis period? Sorry. Acknowledged by all to be a pathological liar, a major league sexual predator, one willing to give national security secrets to our enemies in return for campaign donations -- and these are just the things that everyone agrees on -- the president of the United States at the turn of the millennium will be Bill Clinton.

The scariest scenario of all

No doubt the new millennium will bring with it great adventure. The convergence of all these various trends promises a profound transformation of our world, and there is the distinct possibility of that transformation being for the better. After all, disasters historically bring the best out of good people ... and the worst out of bad people. That's why, when somebody's store is burning down or being flooded, you'll find strangers taking great risks to try to save the threatened business, but you'll also find others trying to loot it. The sheer difficulty of this time we will soon enter, and the necessity of working together, could very well bring many people to their senses and we could end up with a better country. It is possible. In fact, it is essential.

Because when all is said and done, there is one future scenario that is conspicuously scarier than all the rest. The worst possible scenario we could experience is the one in which ... nothing happens.

Nothing. The stock market just goes up forever and everyone's 401Ks continue to get fatter, continually anesthetizing them -- like a morphine IV drip -- against caring about the brazen theft of their country, culture and freedom. (Remember: "It's the economy, stupid"?) Hollywood just continues to corrupt the nation's youth with films like "American Pie." Children continue to have sex and shoot each other at an ever-earlier age. We continue to allow government to chip away, no, make that hack away at our fundamental rights as a free people. Yes, the most dangerous future scenario is that we just continue on the way we are going, with the slow, steady, disintegration of our nation into a fragmented, hedonistic, selfish, valueless, nothing society. And roaring in to fill this moral vacuum, with the same force as the mile-wide monster tornado that devastated Oklahoma recently, tyranny will overtake this once-free country. And that will be the wildest ride of all.

"If men are not ruled by God," wrote William Penn, "they will be ruled by tyrants." We are about to discover that truth -- big time. It may be that before too long Americans will walk through the concentration camps of their own making, and see what has become of their beloved country, their families, and their own lives.

Each of our lives has a purpose -- the perfection of our souls for God. He doesn't care so much what we go through in the short run, but rather that we ultimately come to Him. To that end, the wake-up calls we get become more and more urgent. They are meant to bring each of us to a recognition of our individual and collective folly. If we don't heed the warning, we get another warning even higher on the Richter scale. Eventually, the wake-up call succeeds in waking us up -- or it kills us.

I believe Y2K is an incredibly compassionate wake-up call from the Good Lord. I believe it is meant to get us to shake off the stupor we all wallow in for most of our lives, prod us to look around, and get prepared for whatever great and terrible things are to come. The Y2K analysts are telling you that the computerized life support system we depend on is in serious trouble. It is. So developing a Plan B for you and your family makes a whole lot of sense. But the most important preparation is deeper still. Please don't neglect it, because it's the only thing that ultimately matters. If you died today and went before the judgment seat of God and were required to give an accounting of your life, could you look upon the Almighty and say honestly, "I've done my very best"?

David Kupelian, the new managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com, is the former managing editor of the award-winning news magazine New Dimensions.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_kupelian/19990811_xcdku_a_wild_rid.shtml

-- a (a@a.a), August 11, 1999

Answers

Translation:

The Y2Krap we sell on our Web site isn't moving too fast these days, so its time for another ""booga-booga" story about the end of the world. Suckers and GIs will both believe...

-- Y2K Pro (y2kpro1@hotmail.com), August 11, 1999.

Yet another intelligent posting by our buddy "Pro"! Why are you here Pro? Don't you have a life? I guess not! Oh well, you only have a few months left to poke fun at the doomers. Enjoy it while you can.

-- Fed Up (fedup@hadit.com), August 11, 1999.

Where do I begin?

"Of course, we Americans have made it through a Depression before, but during a very different era. With all its faults, America of the '30s clung to the ideals of a cohesive Judeo-Christian culture -- a melting pot of many nations, but with one set of ultimate values that cemented our society together. Thus our parents and grandparents weathered the Great Depression with relative dignity."

Unmitigated fantasy. What a crock of turds! Fear! Bigotry! These were the hallmarks of the Depression-era, pre- as well as post-. Was/is this Judeo-Christian culture? It appears to be so as practiced then & to a lesser extent now. Does this man truly know so little of this country's history? This appears to be the case. Blood-curdling ignorance!

More to come when I settle the nerves a bit.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 11, 1999.

a, thank you so much for posting this stunning essay. Even though I had all that information from being on this and other forums, and even though it also resides in and resonates in my soul, to see someone putting it out there all in one essay so beautifully and succinctly, and no less poignantly, is gratifying. I shall pass this on to all the DGIs and DWGIs I really want to help to see the necessity of not only preps but also of life and societal changes. I shall not pass it on to people like y2k pro, who are destructive and of evil intent. If they wish to expire, they will not be a loss.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

Yup, if Y2K isnt enough to scare people bring up alot of doomer prophecy, scary story, terrorism mumbo-jumbo so the TinFoils run to costco to buy another bag of Hard Red Wheat.

-- spooky (spooky@scary.com), August 11, 1999.

P.S. If y2k pro is being paid for his disservices, then you can be sure HE has his preps made, because that means he knows why he is spreading disinformation. Wouldn't a decent person be ashamed to place his posts?

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

"The demonization of Christianity ... Many of the blossoming political and cultural phenomena we see today -- the relentless and ever-expansive Gay Rights movement (including "Hate Crimes" legislation), radical environmentalism, the New Age Movement in its many guises, and so on -- have their roots in a spiritual battle that has been raging for decades, some say for millennia. I'm talking about a direct assault on Judeo-Christian values and institutions."

Christians are being "demonized"; then we learn that in fact there are just a bunch of people who are not themselves christians, and who do not embrace "christian values" (whatever that means). Interesting case study in paranoia.

-- alan (foo@bar.com), August 11, 1999.

Mr. Kupelian writes an essey, that makes people such as myself envious, because we are not eloquent in our writings. Y2KPro answers with his/her usual 1 paragraph juvenile slobbering. Y2KPro, you just keep on with your snot nosed ramblings, as I can not believe you help your cause. It doesn't take a genius to compare this post and your response, and determine where the intelligence is.

This is a perfect example of why we do not need to censore this forum.

-- Mike (Boxman9186@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

"The fact is, many of today's political and cultural "leaders" are increasingly hell-bent on discrediting, demonizing, or just plain shutting up anyone who dares to champion what they consider to be the outmoded, superstitious, life-denying, and repressive values of traditional Christians."

I would dearly love to ask the question, "what, pray-tell, is an accepted description of a traditional Christian?". But I won't ask this question in deference to Chuck. :)

"Because when all is said and done, there is one future scenario that is conspicuously scarier than all the rest. The worst possible scenario we could experience is the one in which ... nothing happens."

I was discussing this very scenario with a good friend earlier today. What if? I stated to him that I simply refuse to think about the consequences of nothing happening to us within a very short timeframe. Something which forces us to radically change our approach, as a species, to all that is.

Let it be a Y2K scale 7+. Or a landing on the White House lawn by extraterrestrials. Or a Grace from God (preferably). Something! A paradigm-shifting occurrence is needed IMO.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 11, 1999.

Who is beating up and sometimes killing gays and lesbians, Christian fanatics. Who is dragging blacks behind trucks, the far right Christian white hate groups. Who shot up a Jewish day camp a couple days ago, a right wing Christian white anti-semitic nut case who owns too many guns and thinks the jews and blacks are devils.

Demonization of Christians?. Who is causing it?. Christians !!

-- justme (justme@justhere.com), August 11, 1999.

After 2000 years of "Killing for Christ", decimating indiginous people, destroying earthbased cultures, polluting and sodomizing the the very pond (planet) that they drink from for the GOD AlMIGHTY DOLLAR, that Christians are amazed that perhaps now it is their turn; their turn to be given smallpox laden blankets to warm their children; their turn to be disenfranchised; their turn to have their beliefs denegrated and denied. This is what they have sown for centuries. What does their book say: As you sow so shall you reap. Time for the harvest!!!!!!!!!

-- Morrighan (matotipi@worldpath.net), August 11, 1999.

Sorry Mr 1, or may I call you Bingo, that is one part of the post that I can definatly agree with. A depression now would felt by the entitlement culture, a society that feels that life owes them living, that has lost the concept of individual responsibility. We have become self centered, childish, lazy and ignorant. Far more people today can't take care of themselves, balance their check books, cook a meal, plant a garden, or understand the benifits of furgality.

When you calm the nerves and return to this post, I would look forward to any information you can provide that would indicate that a depression starting next year would be weathered as well as the one following the great crash. I hope you can. I really do.

Good luck and keep your...

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.net), August 11, 1999.

and in the LAST=DAY,S>>MOCKERS & SCOFFERS, WILL=ABOUND.

-- looking=up. (dogs@zianet.com), August 11, 1999.

Quote: "There are groups actively planning to commemorate the new year by such merry-making as blowing up the Al Aqsa mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, which would no doubt precipitate an all-out "Jihad" involving a hundredmillion or so Arabs versus a relative handful of Israelis and their allies (if America is still an ally)."

WorldNEtDaily is one of the worst online "news sources" I ever saw. This demonizes a hundred million arabs. Shame on WND for allowing this sort of crap. Anyone who thinks of WND as a news source needs to check their medication.

-- pops (pops@aohell.com), August 11, 1999.

Eyes stated:

(snip) "...that is one part of the post that I can definatly agree with. A depression now would felt by the entitlement culture, a society that feels that life owes them living, that has lost the concept of individual responsibility..." (snip)

Eyes, I didn't comment on the "entitlement culture" as you infer it to be. As far as I'm concerned we're all part of this way of thinking & living - we all feed at the nipple of the Federal Government. Many farmers receive entitlements. So do corporations, large & small. As do those who receive Food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Disability, on & on & on.

(snip) "When you calm the nerves and return to this post, I would look forward to any information you can provide that would indicate that a depression starting next year would be weathered as well as the one following the great crash. I hope you can. I really do."(snip)

I am thoroughly convinced a depression next year would NOT be weathered well at all. Our population simply doesn't have the skill set necessary to rationally deal with a serious downturn. Nor do we have the spiritual stability, nor the physical stamina. In short, a depression would lead to loss of life far beyond that of the Great Depression.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 11, 1999.

Let me add that I in no way mean to infer that I relish the deaths of thousands of people. I'm not that bitter! I am VERY tired of the inhuman displays I witness on a daily basis. Stupefied sheeple reacting with selfishness combined with ignorance is heartbreaking. Lack of compassion in the many tears at the very fibers of that which I hold dearest - Love. HIS creation is spat upon by those unable or unwilling to display the Love Christ & all the great Masters expounded & more importantly personified.

This is why Grace is that change which I most desire for us all.

Sorry Chuck. Delete this if you must. No hard feelings.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 11, 1999.

The truth is, asking the human race about denial is like asking a fish about water; he doesn't know what you're talking about. It's his element, he's swimming in it all the time, and he's never known anything else. If we didn't have our denial, we'd probably gasp for "air" and die.

Excellent editorial! Thanks for posting it, a.

Most people today fit the description Yeshua gave of the Pharisees 2,000 years ago: "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times." (Matt. 16:2-3)

It's sad to see Y2K Prozac and his buddies with their heads so far in the sand. Their responses to this great editorial would be hilarious, if they weren't so pathetic (i.e., "How anyone but low-browed, fart-catching, inbred, Doomer suckers could believe this tripe is astonishing").

Major changes are indeed on their way. Something wicked this way comes...

-- Nabi (nabi7@yahoo.com), August 11, 1999.

Bingo 1, I could not agree more. What tripe this guy spouts. He's talking about perfecting his soul and imsulting other people? He forgets, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 11, 1999.

something wicked has already come and landed here

-- phew (pu@trolls.smell), August 11, 1999.

Except for the fear based judgment and condemnation of people different than yourself, I found your essay to be pretty close to what many are feeling now, including myself. Thanks.

-- Gentleman Don (spiritualityis@as spirituality does.net), August 11, 1999.

WND is yellow journalism at its worst. There is nothing objective in their reporting, only fear mongering. And for them to talk about "The demonization of Christianity" is a sick joke. They bash everyone that doesn't march lock-step with their idea of what they call a Christian. I am not a Christian, but I try never to judge anyone for their race, religion, sexual preferance or bank account.

Y2K Pro is right about this being another "booga booga" story. WND is trying to whip up fear and hate, which we certainly don't need.

Bingo1, you hit the mark, a crock of turds indeed. (hilarious imagery) How WND can spout this garbage with a straight face is beyond me.

just me and pops, very well said. And Morrighan, that is why I am not a Christian, their ethics are more concerned with their souls and personal redemption, than other peoples rights, livelihoods and cultures. It makes me sick to read about what they did to the poor Indians while subverting not only their religion, but their culture too. Have you read "They Will Be Done?" It should be required reading for every Christian.

If the author of this piece of tripe can "look upon the Almight and say honestly, "I've done my very best," then none of the rest of us have anything to fear.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 11, 1999.

a: If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do?

What would you other readers do to Y2K Pro?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 11, 1999.

Well I certainly wouldn't turn him down because I don't agree with him. If we still have food, we'd share. Who knows what skills he might have that would be useful. We might be entertaining an angel unaware.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 11, 1999.

a: If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do?

What would you other readers do to Y2K Pro?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 11, 1999.

Can he gut fish?

Bingo

Actually I agree with you that this kind of material does little to truly enlighten folks.

"I believe Y2K is an incredibly compassionate wake-up call from the Good Lord."

It is really hard to understand how God would be responsible for the mess we are in, any way shape or form. It is a human mistake.

I would say that it is time for the human race to grow up and except responsibility for our actions. I have great faith in a higher power but we have to trip and stumble once in a while to learn to walk right.

The problem is we have stilts on at the momment. Get of the stilts and we have a shorter fall. But the chances of that happening in mass is slim to none. Christ was most definitely a minimalist, how many Christians can confess the same restraint?

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 11, 1999.

fearful, saddened, disillusioned, grieving and angry---abandoned by that which entertains, enlightens and protects---seeking rescue---be it personal awarness, cultural enlightnement, a parent, white knight or "y2k"---a reality----something to bring back home, that place, that mystical presence where justice reigns, where there is peace---

-- catherine plamondon (souldancer@pop.spkn.uswest.net), August 11, 1999.

a: If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do?

It wouldn't matter if it was Y2K Pro or Mr. Rogers. The answer is the same. Just like the sign in front of Paul Milne's house says:

Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

-- (its@coming.soon), August 11, 1999.

Randolph: I would let him clean the bugs from my rice. I would feed the bugs to my chickens, but he could keep any egg sacks he came across. I'd eat the rice, however....

No seriously, if it was only Y2K Pro, feeding him probably wouldn't be a problem. 15 Y2K Pros, and it would be time to cock the shotgun. Actually, I think Pro is female. And if it turns out she's a good looking female, she might be eating well indeed!

-- a (a@a.a), August 11, 1999.

a: Don't muzzle the ox that treads your corn, and don't muzzle the Y2K Pro that debugs your rice.

Is Y2K Pro a sassy Weibschen?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), August 11, 1999.

Divide and RULE!!!

(Keep 'em arguing among themselves. Religion's usually enough to keep 'em at it.)

Propaganda works.

Good people, caught in a little ideological tailspin.

-- The Powers (th@.be.over.you), August 11, 1999.

"It wouldn't matter if it was Y2K Pro or Mr. Rogers. The answer is the same.
Just like the sign in front of Paul Milne's house says:

Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

-- (its@coming.soon), August 11, 1999.

Pity the poor Jehovah's Witnesses who pay you a visit on Jan 2.

Here is another question: What would you do if Butt Nugget showed up on your door during a worse case Y2K scenario?

-- Butt Nugget (nubuttet@better.mousetrap), August 11, 1999.

With all due respect to people of diverse beliefs, allow me to throw in my two cents.

All that savagery that has been blamed on Christianity is misplaced. The core teachings of x-tianity are, in my opinion, extremely enlightened--and if they were followed universally we'd be living in a much better world. The bad, wicked, perverted things done "in the name of Christ" were done largely by illiterate European barbarians who had no knowledge of civilzation and were stooped in the poverty of their culture.

These barbarians then experienced a rapid, exponential rise in technology which enabled them to feel justified in their supposed superiority over others. Many if not most could not be considered Christians in the true sense of the word; most only fashioned themselves with the trappings of the religion with little connection to the basic beliefs. Much of this pagan tradition persisted insidiously in spite of all the ostensible milestones of high "culture" and "civility" acheived by the new European civilization emerging in the Renaissance.

My guess is that if it HADN'T been for Christianity, these European barbarians would have plundered and raped the world in a way that was TWICE as cruel and bloodthirsty. As in Nazism for centuries. Nazism, IMO, is the epitome of Modernity--European values and culture carried to its grotesque universal extreme, mixed in with a dash of Pagan ceremony. We have devout Christians to thank for standing in the way to resist all the Satanic and ghastly things Hitler espoused.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), August 11, 1999.

a: If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do?

Smack him with a two by four.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 11, 1999.

Agree with Nabi all the way.

Some people are so blinded by Christian and Church shortcomings that they lose sight of a Man Who claimed to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Either He was the biggest deceiver/liar the world has ever seen or He was the Son of God, the Only Way to everlasting life and God. Everyone is forced to decide. There can be no middle ground.

You can point out the failures of Christians and the Church now and use them as an excuse.....but it won't work when you are standing before Him.

This article is the perfect article to email or printout and give to people who are in denial.

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), August 12, 1999.

Oh Puhlease,

The demonization of Christians???? Which Christians? Show me a demonized Christian somewhere - anywhere.

This guys a loony.

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), August 12, 1999.

"a: If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do? "

Yeah, I saw that movie. It ended badly for him when he stuck his head in the door and that blonde put a bullet in his brain. Oh, wait, that was Night of the Living Dead. Sorry. Zombie, troll, I get em confused.

Even so, do you really think he'll last very long in the real world WTSHTF?

-- eh, not this time (out@here.alone), August 12, 1999.

"The demonization of Christianity ... Many of the blossoming political and cultural phenomena we see today -- the relentless and ever-expansive Gay Rights movement (including "Hate Crimes" legislation), radical environmentalism, the New Age Movement in its many guises, and so on -- have their roots in a spiritual battle that has been raging for decades, some say for millennia. I'm talking about a direct assault on Judeo-Christian values and institutions."

Christians are being "demonized"; then we learn that in fact there are just a bunch of people who are not themselves christians, and who do not embrace "christian values" (whatever that means). Interesting case study in paranoia.

-- alan (foo@bar.com), August 11, 1999.

You have it correct alan, they (not all of them, but too many) demonize themselves without outside help. Full of condemnation, no room left for forgivness. Too many who need to take the plank out of their own eye, before worrying about the speck in the eye of their brother.

and in the LAST=DAY,S>>MOCKERS & SCOFFERS, WILL=ABOUND.

-- looking=up. (dogs@zianet.com), August 11, 1999.

Is there a passage somewhere about idiots abounding? That may be a clue.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), August 12, 1999.

"If Y2K Pro came to your door begging for food during the upcoming Depression, then what would you do? "

If I ever need help, I don't think the first place I would look would be in some trailer park...

-- Y2K Pro (y2kpro1@hotmail.com), August 12, 1999.

Someone asked for an example of Christians being demonized. I would quietly point out that 1.7 million Sudanese Christians have been killed by starvation, gun and relocation by the Moslem government. This is not a popular subject for the press; Christian martyrdom never is. Of course, if Gilda were in charge, and we didn't read her little book, as she thinks we should be made to do, she would probably order us to be killed. Tolerance for everything except Christianity, right, Gilda?

-- Spidey (in@jam.commie), August 12, 1999.

Spidey.......I agree with you on that.....it is an absolute tragedy what is happening in the Sudan at the moment.....that's the kind of thing that happens when followers of ANY religion decide that only they have the truth......it's a small step from there to committing genocide of those that believe differently.

Mary, Queen of Scots and her followers acted the same way..........her theory was that if God was going to burn them and torture the 'heathen' forever anyway, what was wrong with torturing and burning them a little now, after all it was a small thing compared to what her loving God was going to do to them for all eternity.......

Today there are those that do in the name of Allah what in past some have done in the name of Christ......it's tragic indeed.

I'm really amused though that you chose to use the word 'tolerate'. I have found fundamentalist Christians to be among the most intolerant people around. It's amazing that although their teachings claim that all 'sin' is equally as wrong but also all 'sin'is as equally forgiven by God, they can't help but display such a wicked and intolerant attitude particularly towards the gay commmunity. You rarely if ever see them displaying their dislike towards those that are liars, cheaters, rapists or even murderers by holding rallies but by God, they love to hate and torment the gay people!!

Toleration is a two way street......you can't expect to persecute and disrespect and condemn and at times even kill those with different beliefs and then expect that there will be no response.

Unfortunately a lot of what is happening now is not persecution, but rather retribution. I think the principle of reaping what is sown is coming home to roost.

I weep for the Christians in the Sudan.....but I also weep for the Native Americans who were slaughtered and for those that were killed by the Inquisitions.............

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), August 12, 1999.

Spidy, I don't know why you've selected me as your whipping boy, but I'm not the only one on this forum that spoke out about the hypocrisy of Christians, so why are you always singling me out. Just because I was raised in a Christian home, but didn't buy into the Christian dogma, built on fear, hellfire and damnation, doesn't make me anymore intolerant than most Christians I know, including you.

And according to my little book, entitled Live and Let Live, you only kill in self defense, never because someone doesn't believe in your dogma, and march to your drummer.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 12, 1999.