"WHEN Does the 20th Century Really End?"

According to the calendar devised by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. (the Julian Calendar) and revised by Pope Gregory XIII (the Greorian Calendar) we are well into the Year of Our Lord, 1999. The greatest thing that should happen this year is to hear the shout of our Lord Jesus Christ, the voice of the Archangel Michael, and the trump of God (see I Thessalonians 4: 13-18).

The news media says so. Sensational prophetic preachers say so. The entertainment media says so. In fact, it is mighty difficult to find even one lone voice offering a minority report.

This is that report! The 21st century will not start at midnight of December 31, when this year ends. It will not be launched until the first second of January 1, 2001 in our Gregorian Calendar. That conclusion is a matter of simple logic. A decade, a century, a millennium (or whatnot) starts with “1”, not “0.”

Do you remember when you were a kindergarten kid and rushed home to Mother all excited, crying, “Mama, Mama! I learned to count in school today!” Your Mother was thrilled for you, of course, and begged you to display your new achievement in academics. (Not that you needed any pleading to show off, however.) So you immediately launched out, “Here is how you count to ten: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.” Is that how you did it? Of course not. you started where everyone starts, with “1,” not “0.” And our first millennium started like our third will start: with “1.”

You think not? Then dust off your history books and tell me what happened in the year “0.” You can’t do it; there was no year “0” because the first year, the first decade, the first century and the first mellennium all started with “1,” just like our third mellennium will.

By the way, if we follow the Jewish calendar we are even farther away from a new mellennium. It dates creation as taking place in 3760 B.C., meaning that the current year is 5759, which started with Rosh Hashana last September, as does every Jewish new year - with almost 250 years to go before a new mellennium. But that is not all.

I am not saying that there are two different dates, one Jewish and one Gentile; I am saying there have been at least 200 different dates for the creation of man figured by biblical scholars using biblical data, according to Dr. Henry M. Morris - which would give us at least 200 different calendars. Which one is right? It is all speculation and we will do well to remember that fact and not make predictions about Christ’s second coming based upon any of them.

My point is editorial, however, it is according to our Julian / Gregorian calendar, the new millennium will not start until the very first tick of the clock on January 1, 2001.

Do I expect to convince anyone? Yes and no. My report won’t make a ripple on anyone until the Year 2000 A.D. is winding down. At that juncture, someone will say, “Hey, we blew it! The 21st century doesn’t really start until the end of this year.” And then everyone will go through all the excitement, drunkenness, reveling and fanfare they went through at the end of 1999. That way the commercial enterprises can cash in twice and everyone can make a fool of himself all over again! It is the way our great American system works!