Christians need to not only be ready for disaster, they need to be prepared to help others caught unaware
By SAVANNAH ROGERS
Staff Writer

When Joseph of the Bible received word from the Lord that there would be a seven-year famine in the land after seven years of plenty, the king gave him the responsibility of preparing. Storage barns were built to properly save the excesses.

The famine hit right on schedule. However, Joseph and his people did not keep their stores only for themselves; they shared them with their neighbors.

That biblical lesson of not only being prepared, but also preparing to help others is the inspiration of the Joseph Project 2000, a Christian organized effort to prepare for and teach others about the Year 2000 computer bug.

Representatives from the Joseph Project 2000, and Susie Snow, Y2K Project director for Atlanta City Church in Fairburn, will speak Thursday evening at the first of five seminars at Braelinn Baptist Church designed to help people be ready for the worst by New Year's Eve this year.

"Eighty percent of the population think it's no big deal; they're not even going to prepare," said seminar coordinator John Bermudez, general manager at Nissan of Union City. "But we want the community to know the spectrum of what can happen, so they can prepare as little or as much as possible. Our motto is, "Be prepared, not scared."

Thursday's seminar is a general awareness meeting, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Braelinn's auditorium, 777 Robinson Rd., Peachtree City. The meeting is free, and there will be books, tapes, web site information and other resources available for attendees to buy. A second awareness meeting will be held Feb. 18.

On March 18, a forum will be held, featuring a panel of representatives from the government sector, banking, communications and utilities who will share what they are doing to become Y2K compliant. Preparedness will be the focus of the April 8 seminar, featuring food, finances and other preparations. October 14 is the last of the five meetings, addressing the topic, "Are we ready to help others who will not be ready?"

Ready for what?

"Nobody knows except God what's going to transpire on Jan. 1," pastor Rick Snow of Atlanta City Church has been known to say.

Literature from the Joseph Project 2000 states the effects could range from "slight disruption" of markets, banking, governments and possibly our lives as frustrated people become angry and curfews are enacted, to "serious suffering and total destruction," including food shortages, complete blackouts, loss of services and people beginning to panic, riot and loot. "Welcome to the days of Noah," reads the literature, pointing to Proverbs 27:12 "The prudent see danger and seek refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it."

"I think we'll be able to make it through okay," Bermudez said, but he expects two weeks to a month of situations similar to those during a severe storm. "We're expecting probably power outages, some of the water processing plants to go down, and communications that's the biggest thing that will be hit. He noted he "certainly won't be flying" on Dec. 31, and he plans to stay home that night with lots of family around. On the other hand, he said, he won't be hiding in the woods, either.

"There are a lot of things we've got to worry about with banking and financial, IRS," he added. And a real trouble spot will be with computer systems using date-sensitive embedded chips. "Elevators, ATMs, traffic signals they're all subject to failure."

One computer information group in Massachusetts believes there are one billion embedded chips worldwide that are not Y2K compliant. These chips control everything from watches to the systems that guide airplanes. In January 2000, people may find they cannot turn on their personal computer, their heat, start their microwave or pay their bills electronically.

The culprit, the Y2K or millennium bug, is the inability for many computer systems to recognize the year 2000. The reason is many systems were programmed back in the 1940s and 1950s to only use the last two digits of a year. So the affected computers now either see 2000 as being the year 1900 and may reject data, wreak havoc with it or just shut down altogether.

"Imagine this," Bermudez said. "Say we got power, but the water treatment plant systems wake up in 2000 and say, 'I haven't had fluoride in 100 years.'" So they compensate for it, "injecting a dangerous and lethal amount of fluoride into our drinking water."

The seminars will teach people, or direct them to others who can, how to properly store water, food and other necessities. Bermudez suggests people set aside enough food, water, money and clothes for three months, and have some kind of power generator on hand.

The Y2K problem is something nobody should take lightly, he said. "It will be January. It will be cold. We need to look at this as an insurance policy. We're hoping for the best, but we need to prepare just in case.

"We don't want to be going into January thinking all the food's gone," he added. "We don't want to have to barter, or end up paying $20 for a can of Campbell's soup.

"Everyone should batten down the hatches," Bermudez said. "First, put Christ in their lives; have faith in the Lord and develop a personal relationship with Him as soon as possible. And prepare and pray for the leaders and the computer programmers."

It will be a great time for witnessing, he noted. "There will be a lot of people in need. It's a time for Christians to stand up, start opening up." Braelinn Community Services, Inc. is looking for donations of money, food and other necessities.

"We want to have our pantries overstuffed," Bermudez said, "and have families in the community be prepared. If someone comes to us in need of food, shelter, warmth, we can say, 'Here's some food, but here's a Bible, too.' People will be in need; they may be open."

Now is the time to be informed and spread the word, he said. "All of our lives, we've never been prepared for a disaster. We're living hand to mouth, check to check. This is a good time to go ahead and be prepared."

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