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as follows: churches and increase their member's commitment to
1) Only a possible and unproven date problem and their churches. I'm sitting here right now looking at
nothing more; one slickly written and presented catalogue of Y2K
2) Only potentially harmful to databases (even then a training and materials which has with it a smartly cre-
temporary setback); ated CD rom. And as I look, I notice that the names in-
3) Not the cause of system crashes or any of the other volved are the same old Multi-Level Marketers,
weird and wonderful delusions Dankenbring's "experts" infomercial, motivational (puffed-up pride) speakers
claimed; and the rest of the modern-day robber-barons and gyp-
4) Did not, and could not, have anything to do with sies. Disgusting!
utilities such as power and sewage since there is noth-
ing involved in their operation which is date-sensitive; When I was Scouting, "be prepared" didn't just refer to
5) Never was applicable to functions such as traffic having a knife set and wide-rimmed hat. It meant
lights. We had a hearty laugh here hearing all of the KNOW what you're doing by always learning and dis-
Yankee-Doodle chicken-little "experts" spouting off cerning fact from myth. It also meant to apply the prin-
about traffic lights switching green for red or shutting ciples of some of the tried and true cliches like "Never
down suddenly. NONSENSE, and they had to know that take candy from a stranger" and "Believe half of what
unless they are stupid and never graduated from Grade you see and none of what you hear."
5 science. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong at
the 5-minute light change-over, if the computer Historically, careless "leaders" like Dankenbring have
thought it was 5 minutes later but the year was 1900? created an environment which forces two evils to oc-
----so what! cur with people.

I don't blame Dankenbring and others like him for let- 1. Many, many get turned off of the path they're on and
ting the fear seize their brain power. But I am fed up sometimes utterly reject religion. It's natural for peo-
with people like him believing (or at least telling oth- ple not to want to be thought of as a reactionist imbe-
ers) that they have some special connection to God cile with blind faith. If their faith wasn't developed yet
and that they alone will decide who to listen to and or they were just new to the Way, then their demise
who not to. And then they wield this power over others will be on Dankenbring (and the like).
and cost them a lot of wasted time and money. Dank-
enbring should have presented both sides of the case; 2. Those who become determined to not be proven
he should have properly researched the problem if he wrong. They will rationalize the circumstances, make
was going to open his "authorative" mouth at all; he up excuses for the leader, or anything else they have to
should have advised people of all the things that could- do to feel they are supreme and special to God. They
n't "crash" if the Y2K problem wasn't addressed will put on thick, black blinders and angrily defend
properly.
their fragile egos and their fragile gods (leaders, doc-
trines, modes of dress, etc.). Just look at the so-named
Now, more than ever, we need to look only for the Philadelphia Church of God today or the entire sicken-
truth in a matter and stop being respectors of men and ing history of the Seventh-Day Adventists to see what
picking and choosing our facts to suit that judgment. to expect.

Mr. Keyser, in all things, seems to consider a broad Everybody does realize that the falling-out between
spectrum of sources. He gets all of the information he Keyser and Dankenbring didn't have anything to do
can get. Then he dismisses those proven wrong and with doctrine (at the time). Keyser wanted a balanced
distills the unadulterated facts from the rest. As long view presented of issues being watched (like Y2K) and
as he does that and others refuse to, I will stand by he wanted to, wherever possible, use sources directly
him. When he sets himself up as an idol, like Danken- and let people come to their own conclusions -- he
bring did (subtly and slowly --- a total reversal in his was willing to have his preferences side-by-side with
stance) I will not. Dankenbring's. Dankenbring wanted it his way only and
for people to see only what would support his opinion
If there were a warning to go out, it was that Salesmen (which he felt was more than just an informed
had taken over the Y2K crusade. They had two motives opinion).
(one or both): To make money and/or to fill their

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