While he was browsing through some dust-covered archives in the Roman section of the British Museum, a researcher recently came across a tattered bit of parchment. With some effort he translated it. He found it was a letter from a man called Plutonius. The man's title was "Magister Factorium." That means, keeper of the calendar. The parchment was written to Cassius. It was dated, strangely enough, June 15, 1 B.C. The text of the message was as follows:

Dear Cassius:

Are you still working on the Y-zero-K problem? The change from B.C. to A.D. is giving us a lot of headaches, and we don't have much time left. I don't know how people are going to cope with working the wrong way around. Having been working happily downwards forever, now we have to start thinking upwards. You would think that someone would have thought of it earlier and not left it to us to sort it all out at the last minute. I spoke to Caesar the other evening. He was angry that Julius hadn't done something about it when he was sorting out the calendar. He said he could see why Brutus had turned nasty. We called in the consulting astrologers, but they said that continuing downwards using minus B.C. won't work.

As usual, the consultants charged a fortune for doing nothing useful. As for myself, I just can't see the sand in an hourglass flowing upwards. We have heard that there are three wise men in the East who have been working on the problem, but unfortunately they won't arrive until it's all over. Some say the world will cease to exist at the moment of transition. We're continuing to work on the Y-zero-K problem, and I'll send you a parchment if anything develops.

Best regards, Plutonius

Of course, you know this is only imaginary. But as we approach the beginning of the year 2000, there is a feeling of foreboding out there. Some feel that something important and even perhaps catastrophic is about to occur.

This sermon is entitled, "When the Clock Strikes Midnight." While preparing the material, I thought it was interesting when I learned that this great interest in December 31 next is actually based on a misunderstanding. Whenever the millennium is, it does not begin next year, even though that is when everyone will begin to count it. The truth is that the new millennium began a few years ago. A large part of the misunderstanding is the fault of a 6th century monk. His name was Dennis the Short. In a way, he was the original millennial bug. Monk Dennis laid down the basis for the calendars we use today. He was the one who calculated when Christ was to be born. As it turns out, he was off by several years.

We know this because history places the birth of Jesus no later than 4 B.C. That was the year that King Herod died. This means, then, that the third millennium would have begun no later than 1997. That would place us as of January 1999 by popular reckoning actually in the year 2002.

When I prepared this sermon, I considered that if I wasn't careful this sermon could become obsolete at the beginning of 1999. These sermons are recorded by American Cassette Ministries and are part of a series entitled, "The Triumph of Truth." I didn't want to preach a sermon that goes out of date so that a person will say, "See, he missed it on that one." Actually, I hope this sermon will be truly effective until Jesus comes, whether that be in the year 2000 or at another time that the Father has determined.

I have in my files a recent issue of Time magazine. It has on its cover a picture of a person carrying a signboard which says, "The End of the World!?! Y2K Insanity! Apocalypse Now! Will computers melt down? Will society? A guide to Millennium Madness."

If you happen to be reading this sermon in the calendar year 2000, you will then know what happened when the clock struck midnight. But at this moment it is anybody's guess. Some people are sure there will be a massive computer failure because they were not programmed to recognize a date with four letters. You see, up until now a computer sees a year in only two letters; for instance, 97 for 1997, 98 for 1998, and 99 for 1999. When the clock strikes midnight on December 31 next they will read 00, which will make it look like things are starting all over again back to 1900. So some people are predicting there will be a massive failure of all systems that are computer-controlled, which have not been adjusted for the new timeframe.

Needless to say, tens of billions of dollars are being spent to correct this problem. But even then some are saying there are still embedded computer chips that can't be located. Also, there is a feeling that other countries will not have made the necessary corrections. So the word is getting out that water, electricity, food delivery systems, fueling systems, and so forth are going to stop when the clock strikes midnight. They are saying that when that happens, there will be worldwide panic and chaos.

To get ready for this possibility, there are families that are buying generators and storing fuel. They are buying dehydrated food and stockpiling it in their basements. Others are buying precious metal coins. Others are actually selling out and moving to remote places in the country where they will not be affected by what they are sure will be a break-up of the social order. I read where one family has bought a waterbed for their little girl. That way, they figure they have an extra 300 gallons of water on hand. The little girl said she hopes they don't end up drinking her bed!

Friends, this is not the first time there has been great concern at the beginning of a new millennium. History reveals that in the time of the Middle Ages there was a general feeling that in the year 1000 the world would come to an end.

A 1997 Associated Press poll discovered that more than 26 million adult Christians believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth in their lifetimes and that this will set in motion the terrible events described in Daniel and Revelation. Now we are even beginning to hear of millennialist cult groups.

There is a Japanese group who call themselves the Sukyo Mahikari. They are neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic. They are established as a charitable organization in England. They have prepared a leaflet which says that as the year 2000 approaches, "Mankind might be annihilated by the baptism of fire."

Another doomsday cult is the House of Yahweh. This group prophesies that the end of the world will arrive very soon if the laws of Yahweh as set down in the Bible are not universally obeyed. They are also calling for the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem next to the Dome of the Rock mosque. They have about 3,000 members who believe their leader will announce the Second Coming of Jesus before being murdered by Satan.

Another group call themselves Concerned Christians. You may have read about them in the paper. Members of this group were deported from Israel earlier this year. This group was started by a man named Monte Kim Miller. People who know the cult say Miller believes he is the last prophet on earth before Armageddon. Miller has said that he talks to God every morning before going to work. He claims that America is Satan and the government is evil. Miller has predicted he will die on the streets of Jerusalem in December 1999. He believes that he will rise from the dead three days later.

Since 1994, more than 74 members of the Order of the Solar Temple have committed suicide. The Order was founded in 1977 by a man named Luc Jouret. He believed he was a third reincarnation of Jesus Christ and that his daughter, Emmanuelle, was immaculately conceived and was the cosmic child. Although the leader killed himself, the Order still exists. This cult teaches that life is an illusion and after death followers will be reborn on a planet revolving around the Dog Star Sirius.

Also in the list of cults is the Church of the Final Testament. This group was started in the early 1990s by a former Russian police sergeant named Sergei Torop. He was dismissed from the force after he claimed to have had a series of religious visions. Torop tells his followers he is Jesus Christ. He tries to look the part. He has long dark hair and a wispy beard. This cult has thousands of followers. Russian politicians have warned that the church members may commit mass suicide as the millennium approaches.

In the Cookson Hills of eastern Oklahoma is the fortress-town of Elohim City. In Elohim City about 100 heavily armed people work, pray, and conduct paramilitary drills. A former Mennonite preacher named Robert Millar preaches that a series of disasters is about to strike, probably soon after the year 2000. These disasters will cleanse the unworthy and wicked from the earth. By the way, the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh phoned friends of his in Elohim City before he blew up the federal building.

Most of us have probably never heard of any of these groups. As you can see, they don't seem to have many members. But we need to remember that it doesn't take a large organization to blow up a federal building or to put sarin gas in a subway system.

Most of us have heard of Jerry Falwell. In a speech he gave in January of this year, about the concern people have over the new millennium, he said that he doesn't know who the antichrist will be, but he believes he is probably alive today. Falwell believes that person is a Jew and that he will pretend to be Christ.

And so it goes. As midnight of December 31 approaches, many people are growing nervous and are concerned with what may happen. I don't need to tell you that many members of our own church are deeply perplexed by all that is going on. As Seventh-day Adventists we do not do well in these kinds of situations. After all, our denomination got its beginning from a group that thought the end of the world was coming and even set the date--October 22, 1844.

In the feature article in this issue of Time magazine, it says, and I quote, "History, of course, is littered with premature prophets of doom. One of America's largest millennial movements was led by William Miller, a 19th century farmer. On October 22, 1844, many of his 50,000 followers took to the hilltops, waiting in vain for the appearance of Christ and an army of angels."

And so it is not without precedent that families in 1999 are getting ready for some terrible event which will be a prelude to the end of the world. I have something in my files to prove it.

When my dad was a young man, he spent some time one summer going from door to door selling gospel books. When the people at one house decided not to buy after he made his presentation, Dad wanted to leave some truth with them anyway, so he proceeded to give them a Bible study on the Second Coming of Christ.

As he went along in the study, he must have mentioned the story of October 22, 1844, because the man of the house became excited and said to my dad, "Come here, I have something I want to show you." He led Dad to the dining room. There in the china closet was a set of dishes. "See those dishes?" The man explained that his grandfather bought the set from a family in 1844 who was selling out because, as they said, where they were going on October 22, the dishes were provided. As you can imagine, my dad was impressed and asked the man if he could have one of the dishes. The man was gracious and gave him one. And Dad has passed that dish on to me. So, getting ready for the end of the world is not a new concept. After all, doesn't the word "Maranatha" mean "Come, Lord Jesus?"

I don't need to tell you what effect, both long term and short term, this millennial frenzy may well have on us and the message we have been called to preach. There is no doubt that this church was raised up to preach a message. This message will enable the people who are alive in the last generation to open their hearts and lives in such a way that the Holy Spirit will prepare them to stand at the close of probation and endure a time of trouble such as never was, including the seven last plagues.

We have a message that we have preached for more than 150 years. In essence, the message is as grim in its impact as anything that is being preached today by any doomsday cult. I say grim because our message not only predicts the close of probation and the seven last plagues, but it teaches that the United States of America will abandon its principles of religious liberty and enforce the religious dogmas of the institution that was the mother church during the Dark Ages. It also teaches that those churches, which support and sponsor this move toward the loss of religious freedom, are the fulfillment of what the Scripture refers to as Babylon. By the way, this doctrinal truth was not originally given to a contemporary guru or cult leader, but to the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament and to John the Beloved in the New.

Jesus Himself told us that there would be false christs and false prophets. We are now beginning to hear of many people who claim to be both. We can take some comfort from the fact that if Jesus said there would be false christs and false prophets in the days before the end, then there would therefore be a true prophetic gift, and of course, the true Christ would finally come at the end of the age.

What shall we do about all of this? What shall we do if it happens? What shall we do if it doesn't? Shall we get ready? If so, how? I have heard that numbers of church members are greatly upset by the prospects of what may be coming. Some are moving to the mountains or taking other steps they feel are necessary to be able to survive what may happen on New Year's Day and after.

I suppose there are two obvious options. The first is to do what I have just been describing--get ready. The other option is to ignore it all as if nothing out of the ordinary were going to happen. I am not sure that either of these options is the one we ought to follow. I say that because I don't know what is going to happen. It seems to me that even if they do get all of the computer problems fixed in time, it is not impossible that society could work itself into such a frenzy that the cure becomes worse than the disease. By that I mean society may create a panic that has as its only foundation the panic that created the panic. Does that make sense?

This is why I don't believe we should simply say that all is well, when at this time, at least, all is not well. If all seems well in a physical sense, it is surely not in an emotional sense. What we may end up seeing is what may end up being a lose/lose situation.

I know there are any number of possibilities, but let me explain a couple of scenarios. The first one is based on the fact that, inasmuch as the devil knows the last-day prophecies, he might try to imitate them before they actually happen. In this scenario the devil does a counterfeit fulfilling of prophecy.

This may indeed be one of his strategies. The Scripture tells us that he becomes as it were an angel of light, and before it is all over actually appears as Christ Himself. I believe that I am prepared, theoretically, at least from a distance, for this to happen. And so, I believe, are you. I don't know what it will be like to experience it, but I think I can imagine the possibility.

There is another scenario, and this is the one I tend to favor. And that is that the millennium begins and nothing happens. At least nothing expected happens. This means that society will have gotten all hyped up for nothing.

Personally, I think it would be more to the devil's advantage to do nothing when the people are expecting something than it would be to make his move when all of the world is prepared. What do you think? The best illustration of this is the old story of the little boy who cried wolf. You remember how it goes.

A young boy is assigned to watch the sheep for a village. The little guy could watch the sheep, but he isn't big enough to protect them. So the men tell him that if there is ever any trouble, all he has to do is to call them and they will drop what they are doing in the village and come to his rescue. And so it goes.

One day the young boy is bored and so he decides to play a trick on the villagers. He begins to shout, "Wolf! Wolf!" The men stop what they were doing and run to the rescue. Everyone has a good laugh.

You know the rest of the story. The boy does this several more times. One day when a wolf actually comes, the men think it is only another joke and so they go on with their work.

Ladies and gentlemen, this seems to me to be the most likely scenario. Why would the devil want to get people worked up and prepared for something that was really going to happen? Wouldn't it make more sense to do just the opposite--get the people all worked up and then have nothing happen?

You wouldn't have to do that too many times before pretty soon you have the scenario where the text of scripture begins to fall into line, which says, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4).

It seems to me that what is going on this year is not creating scoffers but believers. Do you see? If nothing that was expected actually happens, then the text in Luke 18:8 that says, "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" or the one that says, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 24:44) begin to take on significance. But then, how could we overlook the text which is the mother of all texts in this respect? "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

This text hardly describes what is going on today. There is talk everywhere about the end of the world and the coming of Jesus. This is a time of heightened consciousness. It seems to me that the smartest thing for the devil to do would be to make sure nothing much happens. This then would do two things. First, it would make the public fed up and highly intolerant of groups that continue to preach about the end of the world. These groups would become a laughing stock, and even worse, they would be seen as troublemakers and anti-social elements.

Secondly, those who were expecting great things to happen would suffer yet another disappointment. When nothing happens, this group, then, would begin to believe that they might as well get on with their lives. This would fit the model of the parable of the Ten Virgins. All ten went to sleep while they were supposed to be waiting for the coming of the bridegroom.

God has given a warning message that will prepare the world to be ready for the great deception that will precede His coming. Common sense seems to indicate that it would be the best part of satanic wisdom to first thoroughly compromise the message, and then for good measure to put the people who were supposed to be the messengers to sleep.

I believe that the devil is well on his way to meeting both objectives. The advent of the year 2000 could temporarily awaken the messengers and momentarily revitalize the message. But after it is over and not much happens, the destruction of the true message and the paralysis of the messengers can be resumed and then institutionalized.

I believe we must understand that the devil's purpose is to destroy faith and those that possess it from the face of the earth. The reason Jesus comes is to make sure that doesn't happen. This means that the devil is not so much trying to corrupt Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism as he is trying to corrupt the everlasting gospel, or at least make it inoperable in the lives of those who profess it.

For this reason I am much more concerned by what is going on inside the church than I am by what is going on outside. If I am concerned about what is going on outside, it is only in the sense of how it will affect what is going on inside.

You see, the whole purpose of the gospel at the end of the age is not just to be a witness to the lost, but also to prepare a holy people who will be translated alive to meet a holy God. The Apostle Paul describes what happens when he says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

No, my friend, for too long we have been preaching a gospel to prepare us to die. Now is the time we must bravely and boldly go on to the next and final mission, and that is to preach the message that will prepare a generation of living people to be caught up together with those who will be resurrected to meet the Lord in the air.

You might think that to go to heaven from the tomb and to walk into heaven without seeing death are both the same. They aren't. God may not have been finished in the lives of those who have gone to sleep in Jesus; but for those who are alive and will go into heaven without seeing death, He must finish His work. If the Lord can translate live people into heaven who are not obedient to His will and totally repentant for their sins, then He would have to take the devil back. Is this not so?

There are huge numbers of people out there who love the Lord with all their hearts. They have given their lives to Jesus. Unfortunately, they are, what we may say, confused as to certain doctrines. The times of our ignorance in the past God has said He will wink at. But for those who are alive when He comes, "Duh" will not be an acceptable excuse.

For this reason, Jesus Himself will make sure that His sheep, who have heard His voice, will also have the opportunity to have all of the layers of error stripped away. This will be necessary, because the doctrinal errors that are held by the majority of God's people in all faiths are precisely the ones the devil will use to deceive the whole earth just before the close of probation.

For many years we have been preaching the very message, which is actually the antidote to being deceived for those who are of other faiths. But unfortunately, we often share the message with them as if they were some kind of lesser life form at worst, or at best, poor sinners who don't love Jesus. Both of these concepts are completely false. The majority of those who will be translated alive without seeing death are still in other churches, and talking down to them is going to make it difficult to communicate to them the message that God has for His children at this last hour.

For this reason we must begin to learn and learn fast how to communicate the truth for this time to those whom we must see as our spiritual equals. Now, I will admit that in recent years we have been reaching out to join hands with people of other faiths, but sadly, in the process we have been inclined to downplay or even omit the present truth itself. Our concern seems to have been popularity at any cost.

Also, in the past we have resisted the ecumenical movement. We believe that the people who ultimately reject the truth will join together one day to suppress it. For this reason we have tended to have an almost adversarial relationship with people of other faiths.

I submit to you that, as a people to whom God has entrusted the message for all of His people, we should be at the forefront in presenting a truly ecumenical message. The Third Angel's Message is the greatest ecumenical message of all time. Both the devil and the Lord give a call to unity in the last hour. The devil's call is based on a unity using tradition and the consensus of the people; while the Lord's call to unity, as He prayed in John 17, is a call based on the truth of God's Word.

Although Sabbath and Sunday will be issues in the last days, they will in fact only be the symbols of the underlying issue. The underlying issue is, "Will we or will we not acknowledge God as our Creator, our Savior, and as the Lord of our life?" In plain language, "Will we obey His Word, or will we make up the rules as we go along?"

I am thrilled to see what is happening all around us. Surely, as the hymn goes, "We are living, we are dwelling, in a grand and awful time." I don't know what is going to happen when the clock strikes midnight. The issue then, as it is now and ever shall be, is not, "Will we still have electricity and running water, or will the ATM machines be able to continue to dish out money?"

The issue at midnight, December 31, will be the same as it will be at midnight tonight: Are our names written in heaven? Have we committed our life and all that goes with it to the One who created us and who has redeemed us? If you have, you will be able to tell it, because we will delight to do His will, and we will in every aspect of our lives be hungering and thirsting for His righteousness and holiness.

Friends, we must get real and understand that we are not the only people of God. We must reach out to all people without at the same time throwing out the window the message God has entrusted to us.

What is going to happen when the clock strikes midnight? I don't know. If you are reading this sermon in the year 2000, you will know. Until then, we have to say we don't know. But one thing we must know, and that is until the time when the great Judge of all the earth closes the books and says, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still," until then, whenever it is--and our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed--until then, we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all the other things that are important will be added unto us.

If we are determined to save our bodies, we could well lose our souls. Jesus Himself said that a person who would save his life will lose it, but that the person who doesn't fear what might happen to his body, but cares a lot about how his life is in respect to Jesus, will at last be saved.

What will happen when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999? I don't know. But I can say, on the authority of the Word of God, don't be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear, and the people who are finally lost are described in the book of Revelation as the "fearful." You see, these are the times that were foretold in which people's hearts would be failing them for fear as they looked at what was happening in the earth. It is times like these in which we learn to put our trust in Him Who never fails.

Our Father and our God is from everlasting to everlasting. He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. He is with us now. He will be with us when the clock strikes midnight. In fact, in the words of Jesus, He said that He would be with us always.

I close with the words of David as he writes for us who are living in grand and awful times, while people's hearts are failing them for fear. Hear the words of comfort in Psalm 27:1-14:

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret places of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.

"And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

"Hide not Thy face far from me; put not Thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

"Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."