By John Mattingly
Back in December 1975, an earnest fellow named Birch – a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – was kind enough to come to my farm to warn me of impending doom. He urged me to repent and prepare for the end of the world – The Rapture, on January 17, 1976.
I offered to bet Birch ten thousand dollars that The Rapture would not come on January 17, 1976. Birch was tempted but admitted he didn’t have that much money in the bank, nor was he sure if he could spend the money in a post-rapture world. In the end, he bet a hundred. We shook on it, and I became a little richer the following month.