Many who read this may not remember Y2K or its meaning. A few days ago I was reminded again of the power of media and fear mongering. Reading the “woes” of A&E and Duck Dynasty simply reminded me of two things. How great our God is and how “bent” some of our society is, specifically the media. (Let’s not grow our kids away from the media, but let’s put men and women of integrity in them!)

I remember vividly the Y2K impact. Y2K was The Year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem, the Millennium bug, the Y2K bug, or simply Y2K) was a problem for both digital (computer-related) and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.The belief was that all systems would go to 1900 rather than 2000 stopping anything that had a computer chip in it. This meant business, family and transportation would all be “subject” to this. There was a rash of business “fixes” netting many millions as they repaired computers for banks, airlines and such.

And the church jumped on. Voices began foretelling the end. Ministries grew over the fear. Churches encouraged people to hoard. (Some of my friends just got rid of the last vestiges of food a year or so ago.) Churches began to store in basements and storage units. The internet was covered with videos and such on how to store.

My reminder came in the story of the man in Canada who just emerged after 14 years of being underground. YIKES!

I was a computer owner and internet company owner in those days. I was inundated with requests from many who wanted to fix stuff for us. It was a tough time.

In 1998 a friend sat me down in a Chinese restaurant and said “what if we are past all that stuff the ‘end times’ and the world is getting better?” My response was not so good. A few weeks later a dear friend appeared and shared his “victorious eschatology.” I was in evaluate mode!

As a church leader many wanted me to get on the bandwagon.

There was a small group in the church who made the decision to live together and share everything. (Not going there…it was bad! Folks-there was a reason God did not allow the church to stay in Jerusalem! Read James 1:1 His response…) They bought guns, stored 55 gallon drums of gasoline, purchased generators and filled 55 gallon containers with food.

And on the eve of December 31^st 1999 they were all hunkered down as was much of our church body. Tina and I were not.  I sat there and watched the streams as city after city remained lit and fireworks blazed the skies.

And the fact that two men, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins began the Left Behind series in 1995 describing the “end of the world” added fuel to the fire. So did folks like Harold Camping (who died December 15^th, 2013) declaring dates of the end.

I walked away from that belief a long time ago. I see that all it did was cause the church to be “left behind” in reaching the world. I saw that it fear mongered (Is causing fear to be a reality a God thing?) people into crazy situations (I do get they had a choice.) and more.

Many friends woke up January 1^st with egg on their face (Well, unless all they had were MRE’s…) and the world was still spinning on axis and computers were still ticking. Disillusionment set in.

We are facing a similar calamity on the horizon. People are running around, forgetting who dwells in them, and trading that for fear and greed.

The government of God is ever on the increase. Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child has been born—for us! the gift of a son—for us! He’ll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

T’is the season.

Luke 2:10 ¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

Fear not!