Millennium Bug Impact Unknown

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Millennium Bug Impact Unknown

Updated 6:24 PM ET December 30, 1999

By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer

Up against the deadline for fixing a global technological flaw, the world exhibited some jitters Thursday over the prospect of failures in the computers on which we so depend. There was testing galore and a few confessions of Y2K-unreadiness.

Experts say that given this planet's hundreds of millions of computers and tens of billions of embedded microcircuits - and the inexactitude of computer science - some failures are inevitable on Jan. 1 and in the ensuing weeks and months.

Governments and companies have been too vague on their Y2K preparedness, however, for anyone to predict the scope and severity of this once-in-a-lifetime shock to the systems.

And when cyber-disasters strike - be they in small businesses' workstations or government mainframes - getting systems back on line will depend on the quality and thoroughness of any initial Y2K repairs.

"If you've done a majority of work you can sort of get that thing fixed in a few days," said Peter de Jager, a Paul Revere of Y2K awareness. "If on the other hand you haven't done much work at all it could take a few weeks to fix."

News of a Y2K glitch that this week triggered failures in 20,000 credit-card swipe machines in Britain sent Chinese troubleshooters hurriedly checking their nation's banking systems Thursday - with no problems reported.

Technicians in the United States made last minute Y2K repairs Thursday to a vital air safety system. And 352 nonessential U.S. diplomats and their families left Russia and three former Soviet republics deemed at high risk of Y2K-induced power and telecommunications outages.

South Korea's government also worked diligently, checking systems to the end. It declared itself fully prepared on Thursday after a final test involving 14,000 technicians from 620 government offices, Internet providers and businesses.

Officials on the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada also claimed readiness, but admitted that government computers that track import tax revenues had not been purged of the software flaw.

Central banks across the globe have printed tens of billions of dollars worth of currency - from 10 to 40 percent more than normal - to hedge against possible bank runs, though experts are fairly confident the financial sector is in good shape.

Most worrisome to analysts are manufacturers and their supply chains, small businesses and government agencies, particularly in vulnerable regions including eastern Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia.

"I think some organizations, particularly smaller businesses that find they haven't done the work they needed to do, could go out of business," said Bruce McConnell, director of the World Bank-funded International Y2K Cooperation Center.

Governments could fall or be forced to devaluate their currencies by major Y2K catastrophes.

"If Y2K problems are severe, the incumbent politicians will be blamed for it and be voted or thrown out of office," said Capers Jones, chief scientist at Artemis Management Systems and another early prophet of Y2K.

He estimates more than $1 trillion will be spent overall on Y2K fixes, and more than twice as much on cleaning up - everything from bug-wrought damage to lawsuits filed against those responsible.

Some early damage was felt Thursday in Nigeria, where the state-run telephone company disconnected private carriers who it claimed had failed to prove themselves compliant and thus threatened the entire national network.

A few thousand phone users lost service in Nigeria, a country widely assessed as poorly prepared. A minor crisis compared to the income lost by an estimated 1,800 to 3,500 seasonal hotel workers laid off in Jamaica because of a dropoff in holiday tourists blamed on Y2K worries.

Holiday hotel bookings on the tropical island, normally at 90 percent this time of year, dropped to 60 percent, the industry said. Ditto to the south on Aruba. Tourism industry officials worldwide report a holiday slump because so many people want to be close to home - or work - in case of serious Y2K-triggered disruptions in vital services.

Precaution is the watchword worldwide.

Airlines have canceled hundreds of flights, citing low demand and also out of concern that air traffic control systems in regions such as the Asian subcontinent and Latin America may not be ready.

"We're not taking any chances," said spokeswoman Liz Rahaman of Guyana Air 2000, which despite its name has canceled all flights on Friday and Saturday over concerns that aviation systems in that South American country are not Y2K-ready.

Many airports, from Denmark to Bolivia, will also be closed for the rollover to the new millennium.

So will everything from Korean and Polish steel mills, Israel's nuclear power plant, ports from Australia to Holland and Turkey barred big ships from its narrow Bosporus strait.

In much of the developing world, where Y2K work began late and money was short, many of the fixes were makeshift.

Colombia's air traffic radars, for example, were forwarded to the year 2028, which is identical to 2000 in having 366 days and in their distribution.

And in the eastern Russian republic of Yakutsk, another bit of technical trickery was applied - computers' clocks were turned back from five to 20 years, deferring, not fixing, the problem.

========================================= End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 30, 1999

Answers

By Rev. George H. Malkmus

The year was 1976. I was 42 years old and I was told I had colon cancer.

A tumor about the size of a baseball had been found underneath my left rib cage where the transverse and descending colon come together. I was devastated! I asked, "Why me Lord?" I didn't understand!

It was because of this - what appeared to be a tragic event in my life, and the research and personal experiences that followed - that I was taught GOD'S WAY TO ULTIMATE HEALTH.

Let me elaborate a little more on how it all happened. In 1976 I was the pastor of a Baptist Church, near Glens Falls, New York, a church I founded in 1970. It was a very successful ministry. Membership in this church grew from nothing to over 600 members. In addition to the church, we had a Christian School, grades K through 12, along with a Bible Institute, both of which I also founded. Five large busses brought people to the services, while my radio broadcast, America Needs Christ, was heard on many radio stations each week. Over a dozen young people from our church and school were in college preparing for full-time ministry. Trul y, this seemed to be the high point of my ministry and God was certainly blessing.

Just prior to all this, I had watched my mother die of colon cancer. Mom was a registered nurse, and she believed her doctors when they told her that chemotherapy, radiation and surgery were her only hope of surviving. Mom submitted to these treatments and died a horrible death! At the time of her death, I felt it was the treatments she received at the hands of the medical doctors that ultimately caused her death rather than the cancer itself.

What was I to do? Should I submit my body to the same medical treatments mom had? What I had seen my mother go through was so horrible! Also, as a pastor for 20 years, I had sat at the bed-side of so many people and watched the devastating effects of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery experienced by others in the treatment of their cancers, I had also conducted the funerals for many of them.

Another thing that bothered me was that in so many cases prayer didn't seem to make any difference. I had seen some of the most dedicated Christians, even after great faith, personal prayer as well as collective prayer, get sicker and sicker and often die after going the medical route. What should I do? I had a family and a church that needed me. Many people told me I should go the medical route and some were putting pressure on me to do just that.

It was during this time of uncertainty that I turned to an Evangelist friend in Texas by the name of Lestor Roloff for help. Brother Roloff was one of those "health-nuts." We often affectionately referred to him as "Carrot Juice Roloff." I was really in a dilemma as to what I should do for my cancer when I called Brother Roloff. His advice to me sounded strange. He advised me not to go the medical route of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, as mom had gone... BUT TO SIMPLY CHANGE MY DIET TO RAW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, AND DRINK LOTS OF FRESH CARROT JUICE!

Wow! That sounded too simplistic! But it sure sounded better than the medical route which I had pretty well decided not to pursue. So, overnight I changed from a meat-centered, cooked and processed food diet with plenty of sugar desserts, to an all-raw diet with lots of carrot juice. I stayed on this total raw diet for approximately one year. I didn't eat any cooked food during that year ... just raw fruits, raw vegetables and one to two quarts a day of freshly extracted, raw carrot juice.

The results were spectacular! Almost immediately I started to get well! In less than one year, my tumor had totally disappeared. It simply got smaller and smaller until it was gone. But that was not all. In less than one year, every physical problem I had been experiencing also disappeared! Such physical problems as hemorrhoids, hypoglycemia, severe allergies and sinus problems, high blood pressure, fatigue, pimples, colds, flu ... even body odor and dandruff were gone! Totally healed!

In the years that have followed - and I am over 60 years old at this writing - I have not experienced as much as a cold, sore throat, upset stomach, been to a doctor or taken as much as an aspirin. It is so thrilling, at my age, to still be able to play football, basketball and softball with the boys, jog five miles with ease, and have more energy, endurance and stamina than I had when I was 20 years old.

With that as a little background, let me share how God used this experience in my life to create Hallelujah Acres Ministries and the writing of this book. You see, ever since that day in 1976 when I was told that I had cancer, I have been researching nutrition, healthy lifestyle and how it all relates to the Bible. Also, I have been experimenting on my own body to see how it reacted to various foods. Along with all this, I have also been watching and listening to the testimonies of thousands of others who have made similar dietary changes.

My conclusion after all these years of research and experience is that WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE SICK!!! Disease and sickness are self-inflicted! Almost every physical problem, other than accidents, is caused by improper diet and lifestyle! All we have to do to be well is eat and live according to the way God intended! In the almost 20 years since I recovered from colon cancer, one of the most basic and important things I have learned is that there is a vast difference between God's ways and man's ways! I have found that while most good Christians want to go God's way, and have tried to protect themselves from the sins of the world, they have accepted the world's teachings in almost every area of life concerning how to care for our physical bodies, which are the temple of God. A tragic example of this is when you look at the two ways to approach cancer, one of the most devastating and horrible diseases in history. My mother went the world's way (the orthodox medical route) in an attempt to rid herself of her cancer. She accepted the drugs, radiation and surgery of her doctors, and as far as I am concerned, these treatments were what caused her death! I rejected the world's way and went God's way. I turned to the Bible, adopted God's original diet as found in Genesis 1:29 and every physical problem simply went away, including my cancer.

And my experience was not unique! My wife Rhonda came to a Health Seminar I was conducting in 1991. (We were married April 11, 1992.) She was wearing a size 20 dress at that time and was almost crippled with arthritis. Within approximately one year after changing her diet and lifestyle, she had lost over 80 pounds, reduced her dress size to a 10, and her arthritis was totally gone. Even a degenerated spine, the result of a bout with spinal meningitis at age 7, had healed. Yes, X-rays revealed her spine was totally healed, degeneration gone in less than two years after changing her diet and lifestyle.

Another example is a dear friend of mine who was a diabetic when I first met him in 1989. At that time he was trying to control his blood sugar with pills prescribed by his doctor. I encouraged him to change his diet in 1989, which he did not do. Two years later the doctor told him that the pills were not adequate any more and that he must be admitted to a hospital to adjust and stabilize his blood sugar and start him on two daily shots of injection insulin. Again I told him he needed to change his diet. And again he paid no heed.

After another two years had elapsed, the doctor told him that he needed to put him into the hospital and cut off his foot, which is not an uncommon occurrence for those who go the orthodox medical route in the treatment of diabetes. Only this time he said "no" to his doctor. Instead he came to one of our seminars and immediately adopted God's Natural Diet. In less than two weeks he was off insulin and his blood sugar was in normal range. That was over two years ago. Today, he is still off all medication and still has both his feet!

We have received thousands of testimonies as dramatic as these, and some even more so, from people who have switched from the world's way of eating and treating physical problems to God's way. As you continue to read through this book you will read many of their testimonies.

What we need here in America and around the world is a HEALTH REVOLUTION! We must turn away from the world's way of dealing with physical and emotional problems and turn to God's way! The world's way is bankrupting us, costing Americans over a trillion ($l,000,000,000,000.00) dollars a year while the physical and emotional condition of our population -Christian and non- Christian alike - continues to decline.

In order to make intelligent changes, we must realize there are alternatives to the world's approach to health and how to deal with physical problems. We must understand both ways ... and why one works and why the other does not. Sadly, very few people, including most pastors, preachers and evangelists, have been aware of God's way, when it comes to the physical body. Thus we have been programmed only in the world's way, even from the pulpits in our churches.

Because of this programming, most people, when they first hear of God's ways, think them strange and "far out". So in order to help understand the differences, let's look at a few physical problems being faced by many people today and compare the two ways of dealing with these problems.

Take cardiovascular problems, which result in heart attacks and strokes. Heart disease is the number one killer (50% of all deaths) in America today. Every 34 seconds, someone in America dies from physical problems associated with this disease. The cost to those who go the medical route for the treatment of heart disease is over $110 billion per year.

The first approach usually taken by medical doctors in an effort to control this problem is to prescribe drugs. It is not uncommon for a person with high blood pressure to be given as many as three or four drugs. One of these drugs will chemically force the blood vessels to dilate (get bigger), thus lowering blood pressure. But this drug causes the heart to speed up. In an effort to control the speeding up of the heart caused by the first drug, the doctor usually prescribes a second drug to slow it down. Each of these drugs is capable of causing the body to retain fluid. Thus the doctor often prescribes a third drug, a diuretic, which is designed to chemically force the body to release the extra fluid being retained in an effort to try and keep all these drugs (poisons) from doing more harm.

Almost all of these drugs can cause impotence in males. The diuretics can cause dizziness, headaches and even depression ... while at the same time raising cholesterol levels! Then there are the "beta blockers" that can cause not only depression, but insomnia, as well as liver and kidney damage. The world's approach of using drugs just causes more and more problems within the body while never dealing with the cause. To top it all off, there is the devastating financial costs of going this medical route. In an effort to reduce cholesterol, doctors prescribe over two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000.00) worth of drugs a year, and frankly, they don't do the job. Yet the side effects from these drugs can cause liver damage, headaches, diarrhea or constipation and are now being linked to depression, violence and even suicide.

Angioplasties (balloon therapy) is another way the world tries to deal with clogged arteries. The average cost of this procedure is $ 15,000, not counting the drugs and follow-up. And yet a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1992 showed that half of the angioplasties in the United States were probably unnecessary. Studies also show that for those who underwent this procedure, 57 percent have their arteries clog back up.

Then there is by-pass surgery. The average cost of this operation is $45,000. It is a very dangerous operation, that finds most patients back on the operating table within three to five years (because their arteries have clogged back up again), if they are not dead. About 5 percent of by-pass surgery patients die on the operating table.

One of the latest of the new technologies for cleaning out the arteries is called atherectomy. This procedure is something like a Roto-Rooter, They take a tiny, high-speed rotating knife, insert it in the arteries and ream out the cholesterol. This also is a very risky surgery.

Now compare all the above efforts by medical doctors (the world's way) of treating cardiovascular problems with God's way. Here at Hallelujah Acres, we have testimony after testimony from people who had experienced high blood pressure, high cholesterol and clogged arteries who were able to totally reverse these problems, usually in a very short time, by something as simple as changing their diet and lifestyle. How can this be?

Well, it all goes back to our failure to eat and live the way God intended. The world's diet is full of fat, salt and other contaminates that clog up our arteries and produce all sorts of physical problems. Yet, in most instances, all people have to do to correct a physical problem is change their diet and lifestyle! When they do this, the body will usually cleanse the arteries by itself and the problem will usually simply disappear in a very short time. And furthermore, studies show that if a person stops consuming animal products, they will reduce their chances of ever having a heart attack or stroke by over 96 percent!

What is the cost of going God's way? Probably a reduced grocery bill and a long healthy life. While the cost of going the world's way can be continued physical problems and thousands and thousands of dollars in medical bills for treatments that never get to the root cause - namely diet and lifestyle. I have found that the world's way (accepted medical procedures) for dealing with physical problems is almost always wrong! Take diabetes as another example. Compare the world's way of treating adult-onset diabetes with God's way in the case of the friend we just read about. Going the doctor/drug route, my friend had continued to deteriorate for years as his doctor increased his insulin while using antibiotics and other drugs to treat infections in his feet, which the doctor told him were being caused by his diabetes.

By the time the doctor told him that he needed to amputate his foot, my friend had already spent over $40,000 treating his diabetes! But he refused to let the doctor cut off his foot. He simply changed his diet and lifestyle, and in less than two weeks he was off insulin and his blood sugar level was in normal range.

As I write this, it has now been two years since my friend changed his diet and lifestyle from the world's way to God's way. He has taken zero drugs during these two years and he still has both feet. He also had heart problems which have totally disappeared.

Take arthritis as another example. The medical profession still says that the cause of arthritis is not known. The only thing they tell their patients is that they can expect it to get worse and worse and that there is no way to reverse it. They also treat arthritis with drugs and surgery while the patient's physical condition usually continues to decline. Cortisone and similar drugs are often administered to try and help relieve the pain, but it doesn't last long and when the pain returns, it is usually worse than ever. The side-effects from these drugs can include high blood pressure, diabetes, cataracts, bone loss (osteoporosis), ulcers and more.

Now compare the orthodox medical approach to the testimony of my wife Rhonda with her arthritis and what happened when she changed from the world's way to God's way. She was crippled up with arthritis for over 10 years, unable to walk a block without extreme pain. She took pain pills by the handfuls. Within one year after changing her diet, she went from not being able to walk a block without severe pain and exhaustion to speed-walking four miles in less than an hour! Her arthritis was totally gone and she has not had a pain pill since. Not even an aspirin. What did she do to bring about this total elimination of arthritis from her body? She simply changed from the world's diet and lifestyle to God's diet and lifestyle, and all her physical problems simply and quite quickly disappeared.

Compare my mom's experience with mine in the treatment of cancer. Mom went the world's way and accepted the doctors' chemotherapy, radiation and surgery ... treatments that I felt ultimately caused her death. I refused the world's treatments, adopted God's diet as He gave it in Genesis 1:29, and my cancer simply disappeared. I have been totally free of all physical problems since 1976.

On God's Ultimate Diet, almost every physical problem usually disappears in a comparatively short period of time! Weight normalizes. Emotional problems disappear. Life takes on a whole new glow and becomes exciting. Until someone personally experiences it, they cannot fully comprehend the total scope of the benefits of living and eating God's way. It improves the physical, as well as the emotional and psychological well-being of a person. People become happier, depressions go away, problems don't seem so monumental. Our whole outlook on life improves. Even the spiritual part of us becomes more attuned.

Most doctors mean well, but all of their training is in the world's way. In fact, the average doctor knows practically nothing about nutrition because the typical doctor has received less than three hours of nutritional training in his or her entire preparation to become a doctor. And the nutritional training they do receive is the world's way, not God's way, so what they have learned about diet is not able to help our bodies to strengthen their immune system and heal disease by creating healthy new living cells.

Sadly, most doctors are just as sick as their patients! If doctors cannot keep their own bodies well and functioning properly, how in the world can they help anyone else? However, we are thrilled to find that more and more doctors are starting to question their indoctrination in medical school as they see the devastating consequences of their drugging, burning and cutting patient after patient. Many are allowing their eyes to be opened and are moving in God's direction. Pray for them. The peer pressure and controls on them by their union, the American Medical Association, is very powerful. In many states, a doctor can lose his license if he recommends or treats his patients' physical problems with anything other than drugs, radiation and surgery.

The key to preventing heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and a host of other physical problems is in our own hands. We can literally control whether we are going to be sick or not and how long we are going to live by simply choosing how we live our lives ... the world's way or God's way! God's way leads to a long, happy, pain-free, sickness-free life! While the world's way usually leads to a short, unhappy, sickness-filled life with lots of pain and suffering, to say nothing of the financial costs. This book sets before you two very different paths, one a broad road (the world's way) that leads to destruction and the other a narrow road (God's way) that leads to life! I trust that you will very carefully consider both roads as you continue to read through this book and that you will choose "GOD'S WAY TO ULTIMATE HEALTH!"

-- G. Malkmus (ghmalkmus@aol.com), December 30, 1999.


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