We greet you in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and appreciate your fellowship. This newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
This letter is the transcript of a recent national radio broadcast and I believe it was mailed to subscribers at the time of the broadcast (last August). I feel it timely in view of recent activity on the gold, stock and currency markets that we recirculate these words.
Banking insiders are predicting the frequently-mentioned "crash" this Northern hemisphere autumn.
The total of governments gold reserves are around 34,000 tons. The message projected by the International Money Cartel is, "Gold has gone bad". Amsterdam sold 300 tons, Belgium 200, and Switzerland is promising to sell 400 of its 2,400 tons over ten years.
With these sales, gold dived from its 1996 high of US$420 to a low of US$340 early this year. When it showed signs of rising, other desperate measures were called for.
Australia, the world's third largest gold-mining nation, bolstered the message, "gold has gone bad". And by selling large quantities of its gold reserves, caused the shut down of many gold mines.
The gentlemen of the World Gold Council gently accused, Treasurer Costello, of "unnecessary ...lack of sensitivity". Treasury refused to tell electors to whom the gold has been sold.
"Private" interests which own a significant slice of the estimated 73,000 tons of recoverable gold still in the ground, don't want it known who picked up the Canadian, Dutch, Belgian, Australian and other "contributions" to their gold monopoly. Do the names Sharpe Pexely, Rothschild, Macotta, and Goldschmidt, constitute our total knowledge of the gold monopoly?
Presumably during the 1996 high, major gold firms forward-sold future production. While they're receiving US$420 an ounce, medium to small miners are being driven into bankruptcy - prey to the cashed-up insider's cartel.
The coming collapse of financial markets is being engineered, by artificially inflating share prices. That it can't keep going is clear from an assessment of market valuation, which has grown 500% since 1985, irrationally based on the productive economy, which has contracted 60% since 1970.
The cartel will mop-up available gold production capacity while gold prices are being forced down; provoke either a stock market or a banking crash, and since paper will be worthless, demand that governments reinstate the Gold Standard. The price of gold will then rise dramatically. All this was foretold by William Brabnham, the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6.
-oOo-
Today's subject is computers. Notably, the "Millennium Bug". The mother of all bank runs has been programmed?
On January 1, 2000, the world's computers will either SHUT down or go haywire. So will everything dependent on them: banks, Medicare, insurance; and if you don't take action soon, your superannuation. In 1999, depositors around the world will figure this out and pull their money out of the banks: the ultimate bank run!
"That's impossible!" is the initial reaction of everyone who hears this for the first time. When they hear me out, they change their minds. ... Always.
Let me explain. 40 years ago, a tiny group of skilled technicians made a fateful decision. They took a calculated risk. They saw how to save their employers a little time per task, and a lot of money overall. In accomplishing this, they've placed most of Western civilization at risk in the year 2000 - maybe the greatest risk in our history. Everyone will soon become victims of their decision.
Who were these people? Computer programmers - they wanted to save money with the most efficient technical solution. In order to save hard disk space - back when hard disks were very expensive - they cut two digits from punch cards. The first two digits of the year, so that 1953 became 53, 1967 became 67, and so forth. That's fine, 'til 2000 becomes 00. Then all uncorrected, noncompliant computers will think it's 1900, and either shut down, or start computing on the basis of a hundred-year error. The result: chaos.
The world's mainframe computer systems will then begin to crash. According to the US Government's Office of Management and Budget, "Unless they're fixed or replaced, they'll fail at the turn of the century in one of three ways: they'll reject legitimate entries, compute erroneous results, or simply not run". All three ways will cripple the world economy, bankrupting businesses and governments. All three will threaten the banks. When the public finally sees this, a global bank run will begin ("Getting Federal Computers Ready for 2000", 7/2/'97).
The world's mainframe computers will soon suffer amnesia and we'll enter a new economic phase. We'll call it the Alzheimer's economy. No one with political power is talking about this in public. No national political leader wants to be the first to discuss it. A national leader sounding the alarm too early risks career suicide.
The problem I've described is called the Year 2000 Problem, or the Millennium Bug. You've probably heard a little about it, but don't know the details. Like Muzak, it's there in the background, but very few investors pay much attention to it. They will. When the All Ordinaries Index falls below 1,000. When it then fails below 500, they'll be hearing little else. Then things will get really serious, and money in Australia after January 1, 2000, is unlikely to be plastic paper we're accustomed to.
The stock market's pre-2000 meltdown isn't the really bad news. It will merely be a late warning of far more serious events to come. The public won't believe this story 'til after the market crashes. Don't ignore this crucial fact: the finish line in this desperate race is absolutely fixed. It's January 1, 2000.
The Bible says: "to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they'll ask the more" (Luke 12:48). You're being given a priceless warning.
Can these older computers be fixed? Some can; some can't. In the time remaining before the year 2000, most can't. But it's not just a computer hardware problem. It's also a problem with the software that tells them what to do. Complex proprietary programs can't be replaced in the time remaining. They sometimes have 10-20 million lines of code. In the case of the US Defense Department, 358 million. This code is incredibly complex, with peculiar words and instructions today's programmers can't understand. Any line of code may contain an error. And if you fix that line of code, your "fix" may corrupt any of the other lines. Hence, 40% of the "fix" must be devoted to testing. As few organizations have sufficient unused mainframe computer capacity, to run the required six-month parallel test, mandatory testing will not be completed in 1999. This is why no one can know for sure if a computer system is Year 2000-compliant.
When internal clocks say January 1, 2000, it's all or nothing!
About 85% of large-scale mainframe software projects are always completed late. But the year 2000 is fixed. (Some fiscal year-based systems could start failing as early as July 1, 1998.)
Telstra estimate the cost of correcting code today is $1 a line, but for programs, such as military applications, it can be almost $9 a line. Then add testing. As the year 2000 approaches, demand for mainframe programmers will rise, all over the world. One "headhunter" who recruits mainframe programmers estimates that in 1999, their hourly wage will be $300-$400. Multiply this by ten or twenty programmers, and pay them for a year (Allstate Insurance today employs 100). How many companies will survive this capital drain? Those that can't will die in the year 2000 through computer breakdown, law suits, etc.
To update all of the world's mainframe computers, could cost A$810 billion, according to one overly optimistic estimate which assumes there'll be enough programmers available who can read and analyze the 400 different mainframe computer languages. Most are unknown to today's programmers.
A successful code revision assumes there'll a single standard all computers will recognize after they're repaired. This coordination is impossible to achieve and no agency has the authority to impose such a standard.
If repairs aren't coordinated by a standardized approach, and none exists, then one of two horribly destructive things will happen: (1) uncorrected computers will send their corrupt data into the corrected computers, making them noncompliant. And the reliability of all computers in the data-transfer system will be ruined. Or (2), corrected computers will "lock out" all data from uncorrected computers. Then the overall system will disintegrate, because the uncorrected computers are locked out, and there'll be no "system."
All of us are now going to pay for the programmers' mistake: the worst peacetime faux pas of the 20th century, maybe since Calvary. Some of us are going to pay a lot more than others. If the banks close, most will be trapped.
The two largest banks in the US are Citicorp and Chase Manhattan. Citicorp has a staggering 400 million lines of code to check, with an estimated 5-10% noncompliant. It began its fix in 1995. ("Investor's Business Daily", 12/2/'97.) After six years work, US Social Security's system is still not repaired. Chase Manhattan has 200 million lines of code ("Software Magazine", March, 1997).
Reuters news service reports the Federal Reserve System may not be taking adequate precautions, to guarantee American banks will be Year 2000-compliant.
Yet the FED had no comment. Why not? Here's my guess: because the threat is not only real, its now inescapable. The world's banks are dependent on computers that can not be fixed in the brief time remaining before they crash. But any bureaucrat who admits this publicly could trigger a panic bank run. No one with enough influence to create a worldwide bank run can now afford to tell us the truth.
Peter de Jager, who testified before the US Senate and advises the UK government, addressed senior officials of the Commonwealth Bank, and around 70 Government departmental officials in Canberra last week. He warned that politicians had postponed work on converting government computer systems, leaving the public sector far behind business.
Relatively few Australian organizations have estimated the full cost of compliance. The Commonwealth Bank and Telstra are spending A$100 million each, Westpac A$50, and Woolworths A$45 million. Estimates of the cost for Australian governments range from $A1.5- $A3 billion. As our Federal government also confronts the urgency of the problem, Peter de Jager said, "This project has to be put on an emergency footing. This is like mobilizing for war."
Could it be that the International Money Cartel is permitting the Year-2000 Problem to mask their imploding system of usury that creates money at the stroke of a pen, then loans it at interest. For a long time, the International Money Cartel have been swapping their worthless paper for your hard assets, like the Commonwealth Bank, Qantas, Telstra, your power, sewerage and water utilities.
You're on your own. You must make a decision - a lot of decisions - in terms of your answers to these questions:
"What would my life be like if the world's banks are hit with a massive run? lf central banks print up bales of paper money in a vain attempt to stem this bank run? If credit cards won't work? If I can't pay by cheque, or get paid by cheque? If my employer, or my superannuation fund can't pay me by cheque?
Still unconvinced? A report by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council which represents the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System spoke of the "substantial risks" of this problem.
Pay particular attention to this statement "...industry estimates are that only 30 percent are currently addressing the issue. This lack of planning could result in extended or permanent disruption of computer operations. This issue affects EVERY financial institution."
Notice it doesn't say that 30% of banks are compliant but that 30% are "addressing the issue" in some way. The financial world hasn't grasped the magnitude of the risk that now faces us. We're talking about the system of payments: the flow of funds that keeps every institution's doors open, from supermarkets to the local cop shop. We're talking about the world's fractional reserve banking system, a gigantic inverted pyramid of debt, (read FRAUD), that'll topple, and shut down when people seeking cash create bank runs. This will cause a depression.
Maybe all of the world's major banks will be compliant by late 1998, leaving a full year to test the repairs. Maybe your LOCAL bank will be. Maybe most depositors will BELIEVE this in 1999, even though NO one can be certain that any computer is compliant until January 1, 2000. But what about such PRESENTLY NONcompliant sectors as insurance, railroads, Department of Social Security, Medicare, treasury departments, and national defense?
What if your LOCAL bank's computer is fixed but can't communicate with 10,000 other noncompliant banks, or 20,000, around the world - the lock-out scenario? How will it cash cheques and clear credit cards issued by uncorrected banks? How will other banks cash your checks and credit card purchases? All banks are at risk if most of them aren't Year 2000-compliant by December 31, 1999. The banking system is far more complex and vulnerable than ONE bank's computer. When depositors at last see this, the mother of all bank runs will begin.
A worldwide stock market panic would be a minor event. I'm talking about the worldwide panic that'll follow the stock market panic. Here's a real-world example. If all your credit cards are rejected as "expired" at the check-out, and your bank's ATM won't give you any cash, and your cheques start bouncing because your account says "closed, inactive account," will you grab your passbooks, go to your bank, and empty all your accounts for cash? Of course you will ... if you still can. (By the year 2000, it may be out of business.)
If the same thing's been happening globally to 90% of the bank and credit card accounts, might the entire banking system get into trouble? Like bankruptcy? Do you think there'll be a long line in front of every bank still in business (and not many will be)? If so, you're beginning to get the picture.
Here's another example. Your city is supplied daily by a railroad that carries bulk items that can't be hauled by trucks. Thousands of tank cars, grain cars, and coal cars keep Australia's economy running. They keep our cities alive. They keep you alive. You probably don't think much about freight trains. You don't even notice them. Why? Because they run on time. And why shouldn't they? They're computerized! But what if these computers go down?
In 1995, America's Union Pacific railroad started running into problems with its five-year scheduling, budgeting, and forecasting operations. The year 2000 did not compute. Officials began probing the problem. The grim discovery: 82% of its programs are sensitive to date-related fields. Its 7,000 programs total 12 million lines of code. Estimated cost of conversion: 200,000 man-hours or 100 staff years.
If the banks go down, how will the government - any government - collect taxes? What if the Taxation computer goes down? What if taxpayers think it's gone down? There'll be a massive tax revolt. How will the Government pay its employees?
Here's my prediction:
This could be the biggest single event in the history of the West.
We can predict the date by which the old IBM - IBM, the mainframe computing giant - will be dead. We can predict the very day that the mainframe computer era will end. At midnight, on December 31, 1999, the era of mainframe computing will be over.
All of us can't live without IBM. It'd be like trying to remain productive with three-quarters of your memory gone. You couldn't do it. We're about to enter the Alzheimer's economy.
Why are we discussing the imminent collapse of the world economy, its banking and monetary systems? To warn you, and to demonstrate that we're in the end of time. Its Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes. The end of the Gentile dispensation is at hand.
My purpose isn't to direct you to material but Spiritual concerns. God will provide for His own, so search the Scripture to recognize YOUR day and ITS Message, and see THAT part of God's Word living through you.
If your life is anything less than that, you're not born-again. You must know which parts of the Bible God's fulfilling now, and see those Words living through you. I'm not talking about "being good". I'm saying you must understand the PRESENT Truth, and see THAT part of God's Word coming to pass in your life.
Very soon, God will take His children Home. I believe the Gentile dispensation will end before the Millennium Bug takes full effect. I believe the collapse of the world economy and money system will be precipitated by an earthquake sinking Los Angeles, and 1,500 x 3-400 miles of California, eruption of the Pacific ring of fire, and massive tidal waves, that'll devastate the East coast of Australia.
James' spoke against men who serve mammon in the LAST days. That's now ... since the revelation of the Seven Seals.
"Your riches are wasting away; your fine clothes are as rags. Your gold and silver is worthless and shall witness against you. You've heaped together treasure for the last days". But it's the wrong kind of treasure. Jesus said, "Buy of Me, gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich." These have plenty of gold, but it's the wrong kind. Its that gold that bought men's lives and destroyed them. It was the gold that warped and twisted human character, for its love was the root of all evil.
Faith is much more precious than gold that perishes. The gold of God is a Christ-like character, produced in the fiery furnace of affliction. That's the right kind of gold.
James condemns such as the International Money Cartel who defraud others while indulging themselves, making their hearts insensitive to faith, condemning and killing just men, unable to resist them.
"Be patient", he says to the saints, "unto Christ's parousia". And that's now! The revelation of the Seven Seals in 1963 brought Him back to earth in WORD Form. Christ waits for the precious fruit of the earth, His true Church, and has long patience, until His end-time Bride, receives the early and the latter rain.
This ministry is the early, or teaching rain. It's the Message of Brother Branham, the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7, restoring God's elect to the apostolic faith; bringing them into the unity of the faith. In the latter rain comes the manifestation of the Sons of God, and the translation. (For further information contact www.garynorth.com). radio083.htm
Brother Anthony Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister. He has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in various countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to minister in your church.
This newsletter is in the public domain and may be freely copied in full and quoted in context.