Millennium Prophecies

Peace! As a pastor, I have not been looking forward to the year 2000, precisely because of the reaction outlined in Column One (“The Year of Believing in Prophecies,” March 31). All those who are so intent on studying the prophecies forget that Jesus said: “You do not know the day nor the hour” (Matthew 24:42). No amount of research, not even hundreds of hours, is going to change that.

Besides, the year 2000 has nothing to do with Scripture--there are no prophecies about it at all. Instead of trying to determine “the day and the hour,” Christians should be looking for the coming of Christ this day, in the poor and distressed. They should be seeking ways to make peace, in the Middle East, in Kosovo, in our own cities. If they did that they would be ready to meet him at the second coming (whenever that will be).

FATHER ROBERT A. BARBATO

Pastor, Old Mission Santa Ines

Solvang

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The Times misses an opportunity to inform a superstitious public of the year 2000 nonsense. Matthew 24 clearly states that the supposed second coming would be in the lifetime of those living in the time of Jesus, a prophecy also mentioned in Matthew 16.

Even if Christ had existed, the Bible reports contradictory times of birth, with Matthew claiming the birth during the time of Herod, who died in 4 BC, and Luke claiming the birth during the Roman census and while Cyrenius was governor, both of which were in AD 6. This is a discrepancy of at least nine years and shows that the year 2000 has no meaning whatsoever.

ERIC JONKE

Palmdale

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Do the Y2K end-timers, the prophetic “men of passionate conviction,” who peddle their apocalyptic books and videos to the gullible, provide a money-back guarantee?

BOB STROH

Fillmore