Bill Gray: Is You Is - OR - Is You Ain't?

In a 2014 TimesDaily Religion Forum discussion titled "Let's Talk About It" - a Forum Friend, who tells us he is a Christian believer, yet attacks everything I write about God's Word and the Christian faith - shared his opinion of me with folks on the Religion Forum:

"The troll (that is me, Bill Gray) was initially in computer sales.  And to tell you what the industry thinks of their sales people would take more time than I have.  He subtly, and carefully, hints that he worked in Field Service Engineering - attempting to give the impression he was a Field Service Engineer.  Anyone experienced in the field knows that the title Field Service Engineer is reserved for those with an engineering degree.  There is some question in my mind if he actually graduated from high school.  Computer expert indeed!" 

That tirade was prompted by the Religion Forum discussion above, "Let's Talk About It" - which was begun by another Forum Friend who questions whether I even know how to use a computer or not.

For the past month or so, on the Religion Forum, a small group of Religion Forum Friends I lovingly call the "Malcontent Cabal" have been accusing me (their reactions to the fact that I have been limited in responding to their urgently felt comments and questions) of using the fact that my Windows 7 computer crashed and I have had to reconstruct my ministry files on an older, slower computer as an excuse. 

They tell folks on the Religion Forum that I am using my computer failure, even questioning if it really happened - as an excuse to avoid answering their questions or responding to their accusations.  Since all of this has been transpiring on the Religion Forum - it seems appropriate that I post my response to their accusations on the Religion Forum.

So, just for the record, responding to their Religion Forum posts, I have written the post below titled: "Bill Gray, This Is Your Life!" - which shares the ups and downs of my near fifty year career in the computer industry.

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Fresh out of the Air Force, I joined Burroughs Corporation in August 1958 as a Computer Systems Technician at their plant in Pasadena (Sierra Madre), California.  A year later, in 1959, I transferred into the company's Field Engineering department and was assigned to help maintain the Burroughs B220 computer system at the Naval Supply Depot in Norfolk, Virginia.  

Nine months later, I was transferred to the Burroughs office in Washington DC - where I was lead Field Engineer on their system at Atlantic Research Corporation in Virginia.  Later, I was assigned to test and then install a Burroughs 220 computer which was part of much larger Melpar Corporation system installed at the Air Force SAC Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

See the related articles: 
Strategic Air Command Gets $15-Million Data Processor(Electronic Design, June 21, 1961, p. 34) :   http://electronicdesign.com/displays/strategic-air-command-gets-15-million-data-processor

Burroughs 220 Computer System:    https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/folklore/index.php/The_Burroughs_220_Computer

A few years later, I was recruited from Burroughs by the man, Chuck Hill, who had been my Washington DC Regional Manager.  By the way, he was also the same man who, in 1958, hired me to work in the Computer System Test department in Pasadena.  He was hired away from Burroughs to establish a Test Department for Ramo-Wooldridge (later TRW) in Canoga Park, California, and asked me to join him in that endeavor.  Ramo-Wooldridge designed the first military spec minicomputer, the AN/UYK-1 - and our job was to create a test department for that computer.   Later, I wrote the AN/UYK-1 Test Manual to guide new hire test technicians as we expanded the department.

After helping establish the Test Department for the AN/UYK-1 at Ramo-Wooldridge, I moved into their Military Support/Field Engineering department.   After that transition, I traveled to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where I installed an AN/UYK-1 computer onboard the USNS Kingsport where it functioned as the antennae control computer. This was the ship which controlled the Syncom satellite that allowed President Kennedy to make the first satellite based telephone call between two continents.

While working in the Military Support/Field Engineering department at Ramo-Wooldridge, I was asked to help the Training Department.  Each month I would spend two weeks teaching classes on the AN/UYK-1 computer system to engineers and technicians sent for training by client companies.  The rest of the month I would visit customer sites to install new computers or repair existing installations.

A few years later, I left Ramo-Wooldridge and joined Scientific Data Systems where I was a member of their initial corps of senior Field Engineers.  I installed the first SDS-930 computer system at MIT Lincoln Labs near Boston; then I traveled to Boeing in Seattle where I installed the second SDS-930 computer as part of a larger Boeing designed and implemented Space-Flight Simulator (Astronaut Reentry Training Simulator System) - which trained astronauts for reentry during their flights, one of the most critical and dangerous times in the entire mission.  I was honored to be there the day the first group of astronauts arrived for training.

Later, North American Rockwell-Downey was using a larger SDS-9300 computer system as part of their Space Capsule Simulation System.  When the local SDS Field Engineers could not get the system to operate as it was supposed to, I was sent to the site to correct the problem.  I designed a temporary fix to make their computer function as they wanted.  And my temporary fix was still in that system when I visited the site several years later. Why fool with success?

After a period of time working as a Special Systems Engineer at SDS, I found that I was being asked to visit and repair systems at customers' site which the local Field Engineers should have been able to diagnose and repair.  I asked our department manager to allow me to set up a special intensive training class designed to help the Field Engineers learn techniques for trouble-shooting the SDS-930 and SDS-9300 computer systems.  He arranged to have half our Field Engineers in the first one week class, then the other half in for the second one week class.  For the second class, the head of the SDS Training department asked if he could have his instructors and several visiting customer engineers sit in during the class.

In the mid-1960s, as a Field Engineer/Special Systems Engineer for SDS, I spent time at UC Berkeley where I worked with the Project Genie team headed by Professor Wayne Lichtenberger, given an ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) grant to develop a time sharing computer, and Melvin Pirtle (who later became Dr. Mel Pirtle, Director of NASA Ames Research Center, and who also married our SDS Palo Alto office secretary).  

My task was to modify the SDS-930 computer by adding more memory hardware to the system.  Point of interest:  ARPAnet, developed by the Department of Defense in conjunction with several universities, was the precursor of the Internet we use today. 

 
Project Genie was an ARPA funded computer research project started in 1964 at the University of California, Berkeley.  It produced an early time-sharing system based upon the SDS-930 computer and the Berkeley Timesharing System software (the pioneering time-sharing operating system), which was then commercialized as the SDS-940.  The system that Scientific Data Systems (SDS) would call the SDS-940 was created by modifying an SDS-930 24-bit commercial computer so that it could be used for timesharing.   And, implementing those hardware modification designs for the Project Genie team at UC Berkeley was my task.

A few years later, Dr. Lichtenberger and the modified computer system now called the SDS-940 moved to the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaii to work on another ARPA project.   By then I was in sales for Digital Equipment and made a sales call at the University of Hawaii.  I was able to visit with him and my SDS-940 computer system on the Hawaii campus.  It was like running into old friends.

Once the system had been developed at UC Berkeley, SDS began building and selling SDS-940 Timesharing computer systems.  I installed the first SDS-940 system at a newly formed company named Tymshare Corporation in Cupertino, California.  The company, founded by Tom O’Rourke and Dave Schmidt, was the first to offer commercial timesharing computer services.   

During my 12 years as a Field Engineer/Special Systems Engineer - I worked with a number of distinguished and very interesting customers, systems, and applications all over the country. 

My engineering and technical knowledge was a big asset when I transitioned into sales and marketing.  Those were the days when we traveled to prospective client sites, sat down with client engineers to better understand their needs, and helped them configure systems to meet their requirements.  

Those applications ranged from Mission Planning and Defense, to Simulators, to Ocean Surveillance, Computer Aided Design, Animation, Geophysical and Chemical Data Analysis, Process Control, and many more very interesting applications.  That was the excitement of being a Sales Engineer in those days - we got involved in and gained knowledge (jack of all trades/master of none) in many different areas of science, engineering, manufacturing, and education.

However, my Forum Friend is right about the computer industry's, and customer's, view of Computer Sales people today.  Most sales today are done over the telephone or in computer stores - where intimacy with client needs and applications is rarely experienced.  Many telephone sales people today are merely warm bodies who have been taught a few technical words, given a script of questions to ask, and placed in a cubicle with a telephone.  When the computer industry transitioned to that level, that is when I lost interest and, praise God, that is when God gave me a writing ministry to keep me focused on Him.

My first job in Sales was with Digital Equipment Corporation.  I began as a Sales Application Engineer.  In that position I would help customers apply our computer products to their applications.  I recall getting a phone call from a gentleman in a small company in Nevada.  He wanted to configure an interface to connect a DEC PDP-8s computer to a television screen for a game he was designing.  I was able to design and configure that interface for him using DEC Logic Modules.  The small company was Atari and the game was Pong.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Later, at DEC, I designed a Stimulation/Response system, using a DEC PDP-8s computer and DEC Logic Modules, for the Psychology department at Stanford Research Institute which allowed them to apply different stimuli to lab rats to train them for specific responses.

At the same time, I was also giving one day Logic Seminars for DEC clients and prospective clients - teaching them to use DEC computer logic modules to implement special systems for their own needs.  The first seminar I gave was at the University of Cal, Berkeley - where 80% of the attendees were Ph.d's from the university faculty and staff, and from Lawrence Berkeley Atomic Energy Lab.  That first full day seminar was my baptism under fire in presenting Computer Seminars - and with that level of attendees, the baptismal water, at times, got a wee bit warm.

Then, I went into full time sales as a Sales Engineer.   During my years in sales for DEC - in Northern California and in their Huntsville office - I continued to give Computer and Computer Logic Seminars for customers and wanna-be customers.

In 1968, I worked with Judith Edwards, director of a government funded education program formed to put computers into local blue-collar middle schools in Oregon.  This program was to address the social/societal aspect of the coming computer society, rather than the more accepted academic function.  

It was a program aimed at children from blue collar homes who were more likely to go into vocational training rather than college - to take the mystery out of computers and help them better understand how computers would impact their lives in the future.  We installed a group of DEC PDP-8s computers in Elementary School classrooms and allowed the children to get hands-on experience using a computer.

Fast forward a number of years - and I joined a small company based in Albuquerque named MITS.   The company had just introduced a kit-form "build it yourself" microcomputer called the Altair.

My task there was to establish a network of independent sales offices (manufacturer's rep companies) to sell our Altair product - and to travel around giving Microcomputer Seminars. At that time, there was only one computer store in all of America.  It was a store-front computer store in Los Angeles owned by a man and wife team. 

A MITS Microcomputer Seminar I gave at the Hyatt Hotel in Palo Alto, California, was so successful that a gentleman named Paul Terrell met with me that evening and agreed to represent our company in Northern California.  A month later, he opened the first Byte Shop computer store (the second computer store in America) in Mountain View, California.  

Then, with his brother he opened another store in Palo Alto - and then with a second brother he opened a third store in Oregon. That grew into the first computer store chain, also called the Byte Shop.   Some years later other computer store chains were begun - and Paul sold his chain, now 250 stores, to another chain and retired, young.

By the way, when I was at MITS, there were two young computer programmers who comprised the company's programming staff.  Their names are Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They left MITS and started a new company.  You may have heard of it.  They named it Microsoft.  That was in the mid 1970s.

Fast forward about ten years and I was hired as Regional Manager for Ferranti International Controls Corporation, a Houston based subsidiary of the larger Ferranti International PLC of Manchester, England.  The company, Ferranti, a large user of computer graphics terminals and systems, hired me because they wanted to develop their own computer graphics manufacturing capability.  But, because they did not want to limit the market for this new computer graphics product to just Ferranti companies - they asked me to do a rather extensive market survey across America to determine what kind of computer graphics product the U.S. market wanted.

I spent three months traveling around America meeting with and interviewing top level Engineering people, typically VP Engineering and Engineering Management level.  I did this with small, medium sized, and large corporations - and with computer consultants and many government agencies.  At the end of my market survey tour, I made several trips with our U.S. senior engineering managers to Ferranti in Manchester, England, and Ferranti in Edinburgh, Scotland, where we spent days bringing them up to speed on what U. S. companies wanted to see in the new Ferranti computer graphics product.

From those meetings in England, a new product was born and the following article in Computer Technology Review, Summer 1986 issue, describes the design philosophy behind it:

Article: Design Factors Limit 2-D Raster Graphics System Architectures (F. Rodney Belch, Ferranti Computer Systems PLC, and Bill Gray, Ferranti International Controls Corporation)
https://www.facebook.com/notes/bill-gray/article-design-factors-limit-2-d-raster-graphics-system-architectures/806686719377483

So, to my TimesDaily Religion Forum Friend, as you can see I have lived a rather dull, mundane life in the computer industry.  But, not too bad for a guy whom you suggested did not even make it out of high school.   I am sure that my teachers and classmates, those of my Sheffield High (Alabama) graduating class of 1955, will be disappointed by how, according to you, I have wasted my life. 
 
But, somehow I struggled through, finally leaving my computer industry career behind me, except for using the products - and have spent the past twenty-five plus years, and counting, concentrating on sharing the Word of God with the world, using a computer.  My Friend, I pray that I will have many opportunities to share His Word with you over the coming years.

Let me close by saying that even though my TimesDaily Religion Forum Friend was seeking to use his limited knowledge of me and my career in an attempt to cast doubt upon my writings - in a sense he is right.  When I entered the computer industry in 1958, after having electronic training and experience in the Air Force - the computer industry was still in its infancy.  At that time, a person who was willing to work hard and apply himself, even without college credentials, could rise to the top.

That said, today the computer and electronics industry has so matured that it would be hard to duplicate what we did in the embryonic stages of its growth.   Today, regardless of your chosen career field - education is the key to success.   Not just the diploma, but the knowledge, wisdom, and maturity you gain in working toward that goal of getting your degree.
 
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
 
Bill 

It All Began With Creation ~ Bill Gray Video

Back in 2006, our daughter, Lana, needed one more credit to complete the requirements for her BA degree in Business.   She decided to take a class in World Religions at Riverside Community College in Norco, California.  During the semester, the professor told them they could do a special project for credit; so Lana asked me to give a 45 minute talk to her class on our Christian faith.  I was thrilled; our daughter was soon graduating from college - and I get to do my very first "Show and Tell."   Wow!  So, I made a PowerPoint Presentation which I titled "It All Began With Creation."

For my Friends in other countries, "Show and Tell" is a ritual proud American parents (and I am sure in many other countries also) get to do when their kiddies are in grade school.  Of course, I have always been a bit late in most things - it even took me to age 50 to become a Christian.  So, it is no surprise that it took me to age 68 for my first "Show and Tell."

My challenge?  Lana warned me that, although her professor is Christian; the class is mixed - some believers, some non-believers - and one atheist.  With that type of audience, how do you begin a talk on the Christian faith?  You begin by first establishing the validity of the Bible?

My biggest challenge?  To take a discussion from the Creation to the End Times - in 45 minutes.  That had to begin with:  "Why Should I Believe The Bible?"

The answer:  The Bible is proven by Prophecy

                       The Bible is proven by Historical Documents

                       The Bible is proven by Archeology (Science)

My presentation to her class was on a Saturday, and after it was over - I have to admit that I gave praise to God that He has not called me to be a pastor.  My forte, the arena where I am comfortable, is an interactive discussions, such as a Bible study - where we walk together through portions of Scripture expositionally, verse by verse, and encourage questions, comments, and interaction.  But, to stand at a pulpit and talk for 45 minutes - well, as I said, not my cup of tea.  I will leave that to our pastors who do it very well.  I will stick to Bible study and Sunday School groups.

Thinking about it later, I wondered why I feel this way - since I had been doing Electronics classes, Computer classes, and Computer Seminars since I was twenty years old.  And that has been, at least, a couple of years.  Many of my seminars have been full one and two day sessions.  So, why would it bother me to talk for 45 minute from the pulpit?  Then it dawned on me.  All the classes I have ever lead, all the seminars I have ever given - have all been interactive discussion formats, much like my way of doing Bible studies.

Anyway, I did get through it.  And, while giving the presentation, I had no trouble identifying the one atheist - even though Lana did not tell me his/her identity nor where the atheist would be sitting.  After the class, Lana and I walked into the hallway.  I told her, "The atheist was the man sitting in the first row, last seat in the back, on my left."  She was amazed, asking, "How did you know?"  Easy, he was the only person with a "I don't believe a word you are saying" look on his face.

With all that said, I want to share my PowerPoint presentation (converted to YouTube video format) with my Friends.  If you find any of it useful, please feel free to use it.   If you would like to have the PowerPoint Presentation version, just Message me with your e-mail address or send me an e-mail request.

I pray that you will find this video a useful resource for your personal studies, your Bible studies, and hopefully it will help you in witnessing.  Any and all comments and suggestions to make it a more effective presentation will be greatly appreciated.

IT ALL BEGAN WITH CREATION ~ BILL GRAY VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZZmYxjGYQ

 
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

A Revelation Question For You - Look Back!

It is always fun to look back at earlier dialogues and see what progress I have made in my quest to grow more mature in God's Word.  This look back is from 2006 when Dory and I were serving in a Filipino-American church in Corona and I was leading a Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Each week I would send my Study Notes to my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list.

So, let's look back at June 2006 and see if Bill Gray has grown and made any progress in knowledge of God's Word.

 

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Subject:    A REVELATION QUESTION FOR YOU
Date:     Wed, 21 June 2006, 09:49:07 -0700
From:     Bill Gray    To:  BCC Undisclosed Recipients

Hi to all my Friends,

You may, or may not, have noticed that I did not sent out Revelation Bible Study notes this week.  That is because we did not have a study last Friday.  My wife, Dory, and I had to be in San Diego for two days.  She is taking a series of fourteen one day classes to earn her GRI (Graduate Real Estate Institute) designation - the highest for residential real estate sales.  And, since I am her computer man, gofer, chauffeur, and all around good guy - I went with her. 

Our Friday Night Bible Study has a number of other highly qualified leaders who could have taken over for that evening; but, since this was graduation week and most parents and grandparents were busy with these activities, we decided to cancel Bible study for last Friday.

And speaking of graduation, our beautiful granddaughter, Elyssa, was promoted into the seventh grade at Stoneybrooke Christian Schools in San Juan Capistrano.  Although Lola Dory and Papa Bill could not be there to celebrate with her, since we had to be in San Diego - we are very, very proud of her.  This kind of "proud" God loves.

However, I did end up having sort of a Bible study Sunday night - at midnight - at Norm's Restaurant.  My friend, Bob Ginger, was at my home Sunday afternoon so that I could take a look at his computer.  That "look" went on until about 11:00 PM, so Bob and I decided to have a late dinner.

During our dinner, I started telling Bob how excited I am to be leading the Bible study in Revelation.  And that began our discussion.  I gave him my End Times overview charts - and then we discussed questions he raised.  Later in our discussion, Bob raised a very good question which I am going to have to research.  I will share his question after I first lay a wee bit of groundwork.

As we were talking, the waitress overheard our discussion and joined in.  She appears to be a believer, but with not much knowledge of End Time prophecy.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share with her the joy which Revelation promises for the believer - and the responsibility Jesus Christ has given us, as His witnesses (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15), to make sure that many others - especially those who are not currently believers, hear the Gospel and have an opportunity to know that they can receive eternal salvation, have eternal security, and miss the horrible Seven Year Tribulation.

This week, thinking about my discussion with Bob, it dawned on me that I have a great resource from which I can seek an answer to Bob's question, the question I could not answer Sunday night.  I will go to all my Friends in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list and get your thoughts on this question.

We know that Old Testament saints are in heaven with Jesus now.  We know that Church Era saints who have died are in heaven with Jesus now.  We know that the mortal bodies of both OT and Church Era saints are in the grave.  And we know that all who believe and are still alive will be Raptured.  And, with those who have died in Christ and the OT saints, we will all be with Jesus in heaven.  At the Rapture, we will all receive our glorified, immortal bodies, and be like Him (1 John 3:2). 

Shortly after the Rapture the seven year Tribulation begins (Daniel 9:27).  The Tribulation is God's Judgment of Israel (Ezekiel 20:32-38, 34:17-22), His Refiner's Fire which will bring the remnant of His chosen people, Israel, into the fold - along with many Gentiles who will also be saved during the Tribulation:

Malachi 3:2-5, "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap.  He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the LORD, As in the days of old, As in former years.  And I will come near you for judgment.  .  ." 

 

The church, the universal body of Christ, will be in heaven during the Tribulation (Revelation 3:10, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:9).   We are told that, at this time prior to the Rapture, the Holy Spirit is restraining the Antichrist.  After the Rapture, the Holy Spirit will no longer be a restraining force holding back the appearance of the Antichrist.  But, He will still be working among the people left behind during the Tribulation, bringing many to faith.

Some folks have misunderstand 2 Thessalonians 2:7, thinking this means that the Holy Spirit will be removed from earth when the church is raptured.  That is not what this Scripture passage in 2 Thessalonians is telling us.  Verse 7 tells us that the Holy Spirit will remove His restraint from the Antichrist and will allow him to make his appearance on the world scene.  This is all to fulfill Scripture.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 6-8, "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin (the Antichrist) is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. .  .  . And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.   And then the lawless one will be revealed.  .  ."

 

What does 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 mean by, "only He who now restrains (the Holy Spirit) will do so until He is taken out of the way.   And then the lawless one (the Antichrist) will be revealed"?  

The Holy Spirit is God and no power can take Him away, remove Him.  What I believe this Scripture passage is saying is that the church, through whose Christian influence the Holy Spirit worked in bringing the Word of God to the world, will be taken out at the Rapture.  In the Old Testament when God deemed it necessary to chastise Israel for her disobedience - He often stood aside and allowed pagan nations to take His chosen people captive.  After a period of refining, He brought them out of captivity.  In a sense, that is what God the Holy Spirit will do during the Tribulation.  He will allow the Antichrist to make his appearance on the world political scene and wreak havoc upon the nation Israel.  This is God's final Refiner's Fire which will make the remnant of Israel into pure gold as the eternal chosen people of God.

Who is the Antichrist?   From Pastor David Guzik's Study Guide for 2 Thessalonians 2:   https://enduringword.com/commentary/2-thessalonians-2/

-  Daniel described an individual person:  The prince who is to come (Daniel 9:26), the king of fierce countenance (Daniel 8:23), the willful king (Daniel 11:36-45).

-  Jesus described an individual person:  The one who comes in his own name (John 5:43).

-  We are not surprised that Paul described this man of sin as an individual person, not as a system or an office.

 

So, we can see that the Holy Spirit will still be in business during the Seven Year Tribulation - saving souls!  There will be two groups of believers who emerge from the Tribulation:  (1) those who were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ and are in heaven, and (2) those who believed and yet survived the Tribulation.

Matter of fact, we are told in Revelation 7:9-15 that those Martyred Tribulation saints in heaven will be a large number, a great multitude too great to count.  Wow!  Yes, the Holy Spirit is definitely moving and working on earth during the Tribulation.

The Tribulation Saints who are martyred during that seven years will be in heaven with Jesus Christ and have received their glorified bodies.  All of us (the Bride of Christ, the OT saints, and the Tribulation saints) will return with Christ (Revelation 19:14) at the end of the Tribulation when Christ returns to earth, His Second Coming, His Glorious Appearing, to defeat the Antichrist and his False Prophet and establish His Millennial Kingdom on earth.

Revelation 19:7-9, 14, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride (the church) has made herself ready.  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, 'Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (OT and martyred Tribulation saints)'  .  .  . And the armies (His Bride, OT saints, Tribulation saints, angelic legions) which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses."

 

At that time He will sit in judgment of the Tribulation survivors - the Sheep and Goat Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46).  There will be many believers (sheep) who will survive the Tribulation and will go into His Millennial Kingdom in their mortal bodies. 

The Subjects of the Judgment (Matt. 25:32):  All the nations will be gathered before Jesus. The word for nations is ethne, plural of ethnos.  A nation is “the largest unit into which the people of the world are divided on the basis of their constituting a socio-political community” (Louw-Nida Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament).  In the Jewish context here in Matthew, the nations of the world exist in distinction to the chosen nation of the world, Israel.  The people here thus constitute all the non-Jewish people of the world (Bill Gray Note: Gentiles) who survive the devastation of the Tribulation period.  (The Judgment of Survivors of the Tribulation Period at the Second Coming of Christ - http://www.wordexplain.com/Last_Survivors-Judged.html)

 

With all that said, let's get back to my Friend, Bob Ginger's, question.  I will paraphrase the question which he raised:

"We know that today believers who die go immediately into the presence of Christ in heaven.  And, we know that Tribulation martyrs killed during the horrible seven year Tribulation go into His presence.  But, what happens in the Millennial Kingdom when Christ has returned to earth for His 1000 Millennial Reign?

During the Millennial Kingdom, since Christ is already on earth - when a believer who is still in his mortal body, dies - where does he go, what happens to him at the moment of death?"

 

We know that before the Second Coming (His Glorious Appearing) of Jesus Christ, Jesus is in heaven, and we who die will, in our next breath, be at home with Jesus in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:23).  However, during His Millennial Kingdom Jesus will be here on earth.  So, my Friend, Bob, raised a very good question regarding a believer's death during the Millennial Kingdom. 

As Bob phrased his question during our dinner Bible study in Norm's Restaurant:  "If a believer is sitting in this booth, and Jesus is dining with other friends in another booth, and the believer suddenly dies of a heart attack - will his spirit just go to the other booth to be with Jesus - and his dead mortal body stay in this booth?"

I know, I know!  You are mumbling to yourself, "Why does Bill present such inane questions?  Isn't it enough just to know that we will be with Jesus Christ when we die?"  

And, you are right.  Questions such as this, and other discussions of the End Times, i.e., Pretribulation, Post-tribulation, PreMillennial, Amillennial, Rapture, etc., etc., etc. - do not affect our salvation one way or the other.  But, a better understanding of Scripture does give the believer a stronger feeling of eternal security, of peace, peace with God (Romans 5:1).

That said, there is a very good reason to discuss these issues - even though they do not affect a person's salvation.  "Okay, Bill, why do we want to spend time discussing issues which do not affect our salvation?"

Glad you asked.  One of the main goals of our sharing the Gospel and discussing God's Word with believers and non-believers - is to encourage them, and ourselves, to go deeper in our own personal Bible study, to dig deeper into God's Word.  So, whether that person is just verifying against Scripture what we have shared (Acts 17:11) - OR - that person is determined to prove us wrong, either way it is good. 

For when we are in God's Word, He will reveal Himself - and He will reveal His true message.  A person cannot go wrong by studying God's Word.  And, that can be the Holy Spirit's way of leading the non-believer into eternal life in Christ.  So, be happy when folks become Bereans and test your words against Scripture (Acts 17:11) - for it will have a good outcome.

Yet, we must remember there are questions which the Bible does not answer.  We are told in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.  When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known."  

One day, we will stand face to face with our Lord and Savior and can ask Him all these questions.   But, I have a feeling that, at that moment, even though we will be able to ask Him many questions which we have pondered for so many years - I believe we will be so thrilled, so happy, just to be in His presence, we will forget all those questions and just worship Him.

As I said a couple of paragraphs before, these questions do not affect our salvation.  However, there is a very good reason that sneaky old Bill Gray sends them to all my Friends.  I want to get everyone excited about studying the Bible ~ I want everyone to be excited about searching God's word for answers ~ I want everyone to be seeking answers. 

For in that seeking, we all grow in our walk with the Lord, we all grow in our knowledge of Him, His Word, and His will for our lives.  You might say that I am putting a bit of salt into that open "spiritual knowledge" wound to make you more aware of it.

All said and done, I would love to hear what you think about Bob's question.

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A FRIEND RESPONDS:

From:  Dr Bob Griffin  To:  Bill Gray  -  Date:  Wed, 21 Jun 2006:  

Bill,  Will a believer (one in his mortal body who has survived the Tribulation and entered the Millennial Kingdom) ever die?  Or will he, like Adam live in an Edenic earth for that 1000 without the curse? - OR - At the end of such time will he will be taken to heaven (earth destroyed) like those in the rapture and given a new body?   I see no death in the Kingdom.  Grif

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ANOTHER FRIEND RESPONDS:

Bill Walker writes - Wed, 21 Jun 2006

Bill, not sure I understand the question just right.  But, today, as I understand it, when a person dies - the soul departs leaving the used-up body behind, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Would it be not the same at that time?  Bill Walker

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Okay, let me attempt to answer Bob's question along with these very interesting questions from other Friends:

Much of what we hear in sermons, etc., come from Isaiah 65.  What is Isaiah 65 really telling us?

This Scripture passage in Isaiah 65:17-19 begins by speaking of the time beyond the Millennial Kingdom, the time of the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying."   See Revelation 21.

Then, in Isaiah 65:20-23 he switches to events of the Millennial Kingdom, "No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.  They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.  They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them."

And, then he returns again to the time beyond the Millennial Kingdom, to eternity, the time of the New Earth, in Isaiah 65:24-25, "'It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,' Says the LORD."

Let me offer two good references:

First, Pastor David Guzik in his Study Guide for Isaiah 65: 

ii. From John's context we see that this new heavens and a new earth comes after the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) and is connected not with the millennial earth, but with the eternal state.  If all we had to go by was Isaiah's statement, we would automatically connect this new heavens and a new earth with the millennial earth, because immediately after Isaiah 65:17-19, we clearly find the millennial earth described.  But based on what we find in 2 Peter and Revelation, we must see that Isaiah is in the prophetic habit of switching quickly from one time frame to another, speaking of the eternal state in Isaiah 65:17, and of the millennial earth in Isaiah 65:20-25.

 

Then, let's take a look at what Dave Hunt has written in The Berean Call Newsletter Q&A Section:

Question:   ".  .  . In the millennium, a child will die being 100 years old and will go...where? .  .  ."

An excerpt from Dave Hunt's answer:  To speak of a hundred-year-old as a "child" does not mean that person is immature physically or mentally but that to die at 100 during the Millennium would be like being cut off in childhood.   Those dying that "young" must be wicked and taken instantly to hell to join the "rich man" and multitudes of others in torment.  (The Berean Call Q&A:  https://www.thebereancall.org/node/5573)

 

So, to get back to my Friend, Bob Ginger's, Bible study in Norm's Restaurant question:

"If a believer is sitting in this booth, and Jesus is dining with other friends in another booth, and the believer suddenly dies of a heart attack - will his spirit just go to the other booth to be with Jesus - and his dead mortal body stay in this booth?"

 

Personally, I lean toward believing that those who walk with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom will not die.  Why do I say this?  I believe that Jesus Christ will be happy being in fellowship with believers, mortal and immortal, during His Millennial Reign.   Christ died to offer eternal life to all who will believe in Him and receive His precious gift of eternal life.  That is all in the past during the Millennial Kingdom.  Why rehash old news?

"But, Bill, there will be millions of mortals born during the Millennial Kingdom who still will not receive Him as Lord and Savior.  What about them?  Will they die?"  

During that time, Satan is locked in the abyss and the Antichrist and his Prophet are already in hell.  So, there will be no temptation from those sources.  Because of that, mortals who do not believe and receive Him - will do so out of apathy, just not making the effort.  Just as God does with us now, He will give those folks every opportunity during the 1000 year millennium to believe.  Why would He allow them to die in disbelief at an early age when they have 1000 years to turn around and follow Him?  Will they get away with their apathetic denial of Christ?   No.

Haven't you ever wondered why God is going to release Satan from the abyss after 1000 years?  Why not just leave him there - or just throw him into hell to be with his Antichrist and Prophet? 

God has a plan and a final use for Satan.  At the end of the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom, there will be millions of apathetic non-believers.  They have had 1000 years to believe and have eternal life.  Now God releases Satan to be their tempter - and the vast majority will actually follow Satan.  An apathetic person has no roots, no foundation - so they blow with the wind.  And, we know that no one - OT, Church Age, Tribulation, or Millennium - can spend eternity in the presence of God if he/she does take take firm stand with Jesus Christ.  So, in their apathy, they follow Satan toward their final destruction.

"Bill, how can people who have lived for 1000 years under the perfect theocracy, the perfect world rule of Christ - now turn to Satan?"

I realize that is hard to understand, but the Bible tells us it is so. 

Revelation 20:7-10, "Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them (the apathetic non-believers) together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.  They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

 

So, will those who do not believe and receive Christ during the Millennial Kingdom die?  Yes, but to make God's mercy and justice complete - they will die after the Millennium along with their new leader, Satan, when God zaps them all with His divine fire from heaven.

Then, they, along with all other non-believers since the Creation, will stand before Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment - to be sent into eternal hell.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

 

 

That's What I Like About The SOUTH!

A transplanted Alabama hometown Friend and fellow Sheffield High (Sheffield, AL) graduate, Jerry Williams, posted a photo of fried okra on Facebook today.  And, besides being one of my favorite Southern Delicacies - the post stirred good memories.   Growing up in Alabama, the only way to eat okra is pan fried and crisp - boiled is a sacrilege!

After Dory and I were married in 1977, we often drove to my hometown, Sheffield, Alabama, for Christmas and New Years.  After checking in at mom's home and saying, "Hi y'all!" or "Hi all y'all!" - whichever was appropriate - my first destination was the delicatessen located in the Cox Creek Shopping Center in Florence.  I have not been home since mom was promoted to heaven in 1994, so I am not sure the delicatessen is still there.  But, they always had two of my favorite delicacies:   Fried Okra and Chitlin Cornbread.  Those were worth the drive from Southern California.

About 1980 mom and my step-dad drove to visit us in California.  And, of course, while mom was there, she cooked me fried okra several times.  A week or so after their visit, I came home one afternoon to find my beautiful bride, Dory, beaming from ear to ear!   She had a surprise for me - she had cooked me fried okra.

And, while I loved her for preparing this special dinner for me, she should have paid a wee bit more attention when mom was cooking.  Instead of pan frying the okra, Dory had deep fried it.  But, I still gave her an "A" for effort - and to be honest, it still was tasty.

In the late 1990s, I accepted a Regional Sales Manager position with a company based outside Atlanta.  While spending two weeks there getting oriented, I found a wonderful Supper Club (restaurant for the uninitiated) which functioned like a delicatessen inside.   I had found my place for dinner during my two week stay - for they had fried okra on the serving line.  Wow!  I was in food heaven!

The first couple of evenings I had my fill of fried okra.  On the third evening - NO fried okra!  I went to the hostess and doing my best impression of being serious, told her, "I came all the way from Southern California just for your fried okra - and you do not have any tonight!"   Of course I was joking - and made sure the young lady knew that.

The next evening, there I am again for dinner.  When I entered there was a man dressed in a suit standing beside the hostess.  She told him, "This is the gentleman I told you about."   And, believer it or not - I did not know what she meant.

I got my food and began to eat dinner.  About fifteen minutes later the man in a suit, who turned out to be the restaurant manager, came to my table apologizing for taking so long - and holding a big plate of freshly cook fried okra.  Wow!  Now that is Southern Hospitality taken to the max!

And, I learned something that evening.   There is a world of difference between freshly cooked fried okra and that which has been sitting in a serving tray for a while.  Both are great - but the freshly fried okra is like winning a gold medal ~ the "sit for awhile" okra was more like third place bronze medal.   I was definitely in food heaven that evening.

The downside?  Well, besides their great food, they also had delicious desserts - especially brownies smothered with hot chocolate.  I came home a few pound heavier. 

While I love living in Southern California there are things I will always miss about the South.  First, of course, is my family.  Next, I would have to list Fried Okra (does not exist in California) ~ Chitlin Cornbread (definitely does not exist in California) ~ and real Cornbread (cornbread with sugar added is cake, not cornbread).

So, to my hometown Friend, Jerry,  who has been transplanted to Texas - thanks for the memories.  Now, please send Fried Okra!

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

How Important Is This Presidential Election?

HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION? ~ I believe better questions would be:

How important is YOUR family ~ your children, your grandchildren?

How important is YOUR American freedom and life?

How important is YOUR Christian faith?

How important is it to YOU to Restore America to the Constitutionally guided and Constitutionally driven nation which our founding fathers envisioned - and which has been our guiding light for two centuries - until the cancer of Liberalism and Socialism began to creep in and metastasize throughout the governing halls of America?

For years I have been subscribing to Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI) - because I view this publication one of the most balanced and informative publications, a snail-mail and online newsletter which shares the Conservative Values which built America.  The following is an abbreviated synopsis, excerpts, of the full Imprimis article, "The Next Supreme Court Justice." 

The message of this article should be extremely important to all Americans when YOU enter the voting booth in November.  YOUR VOTE will help Restore America - OR - help pull America deeper into the swamp of Liberal Socialism which has been working to weaken America and make America a controlled state under the World Rule of the United Nations.

First read these excerpts.  Then, do yourself, your family, and your American homeland a favor - read the full article found at the URL link below:

Imprimis: The Next Supreme Court Justice
July/August 2016 • Volume 45, Number 7/8 • Scott Pruitt
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/next-supreme-court-justice/2/

The following is adapted from a speech delivered by Scott Pruitt, Attorney General, State of Oklahoma, on June 30, 2016, at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series.

When Justice Antonin Scalia passed away this February, talk turned almost immediately to who would replace him - although in a large sense he is irreplaceable.  Even those who disagreed with Justice Scalia acknowledge his profound impact. .  .  .

In thinking about the kind of person who should take his seat on the Court, it is worth reflecting on Justice Scalia’s principles of jurisprudence.  One of the chief principles he championed, as a scholar and as a judge, is that the law, whether statutes or the Constitution itself, must be applied according to its text.  In other words, judges should not apply the law based on what is good policy or what they suppose Congress may have intended (but did not express) in passing legislation.

In addition, Justice Scalia believed that the words of the law should be understood as they were understood by the people when the law was enacted. .  .  . Thus what is legal one day - may be illegal the next without any textual changes to the law.  Justice Scalia rejected this notion.  He held fast to the idea that the meaning of laws is fixed by the meaning ascribed to their words at the time they were enacted.

These two principles, textualism and originalism, are rooted in a third characteristic of Justice Scalia’s jurisprudence: an unwavering respect for the idea of popular government.  Laws, including the Constitution, receive their legitimacy from the people.  The Constitution is not an autonomously evolving document that spins out new “rights” and obligations to which the people have not given their consent. .  .  .

Along with this opposition to creative interpretation of the Constitution, a fourth characteristic of Justice Scalia’s life work was a conviction that the rights actually guaranteed in the Constitution should be tenaciously defended, from the right of free speech to the rights of criminal defendants.   Beyond these enumerated rights, Justice Scalia recognized that the Constitution’s primary protection of liberty is its structure of checks and balances between branches and its division of powers between the federal government and the states.

In short, Justice Scalia rejected the judicial activism of inventing law while embracing judicial engagement - by ensuring that the limits on government are strictly enforced.

Ensuring that the next justice appointed to the Supreme Court is someone in the mold of Justice Scalia is surpassingly important.  Not since the New Deal has the country had a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.  For 60 years, the Court has been either decidedly liberal or split between liberals and conservatives.  For 25 years, the Court’s most controversial and closely-divided cases sometimes had a liberal outcome, sometimes a conservative one.  .  .  .

Make no mistake: the liberal justices on the Court nearly always vote as a bloc.  Whereas the conservative justices occasionally depart for reasons of judicial philosophy from what some might consider the conservative outcome - as Justice Scalia often did - one is hard-pressed to find decisions where a liberal justice’s vote is in question.  .  .  .

Let me provide a survey of the important issues the Court might decide in coming years, once a ninth justice is appointed.

One of the issues coming before the Court will concern a basic liberty essential to democracy: freedom of speech.  Under assault these days is the freedom to spend (or not spend) money on political speech.  For example, before Justice Scalia’s death, the Court voted to grant review of a case called Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, in which public sector employees wanted the right not to pay compulsory union dues.  This case raises an important question about free speech: can the government force you to contribute money to a political cause you oppose? .  .  .

The First Amendment also protects religious liberty, another of our endangered core rights.  Before Justice Scalia passed away, the Supreme Court granted review in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, a case which will decide whether certain state laws called “Blaine Amendments” are constitutional. .  .  .  This means that states running programs that provide resources to private institutions must discriminate against religious institutions, even if the program being funded is not religious.  In the Trinity Lutheran case, a Missouri program was providing scrap tires for flooring in playgrounds to make them safer for children.  Because of a Blaine Amendment, the State refused to provide tires to church schools. .  .  .

Freedom of religious conscience also hangs in the balance.  We have seen this in the Hobby Lobby case, where the Court protected the right of religious employers not to fund abortions.  So too in the Little Sisters of the Poor case, where the Court has, for now, narrowly avoided the question of whether Catholic nuns can be required to cover contraception in their health insurance plan.  Other cases regarding freedom of conscience are on the horizon. .  .  .  a case may soon reach the Court to decide whether civil rights laws can be used to force, for example, a Christian photographer to use her artistic skills to celebrate a same-sex wedding.
 

Moving to the Second Amendment, the next justice will likely cast the deciding vote on whether to continue to recognize an individual right to “keep and bear Arms,” or whether to interpret that right so narrowly as to effectively do away with it. .  .  .

Other issues that hang in the balance include the death penalty, affirmative action, regulation of the abortion industry, and voting laws. 

But I want to focus on one final set of constitutional questions that have reached their tipping point in recent years - questions having to do with the structure of our Constitution.

Contrary to what many believe, the primary guarantee of our liberty in the Constitution is not the Bill of Rights.  Rather it is found in the structure of government under the Constitution, which is designed to prevent accumulation of power and oppression of the people. 

The Constitution separates powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the federal government - and divides powers between the federal government and the states. .  .  .  These constitutional structures provide the greatest and broadest guarantee of liberty by limiting governmental power.   And today they are under threat.

Since at least the New Deal, the Executive Branch has been accumulating more and more power, and the current administration has taken unilateral executive authority to new levels.  President Obama has on numerous occasions effectively engaged in lawmaking - an activity strictly delegated to Congress by the Constitution - when Congress refused to pass laws that he desired.

Most recently, the President and his agencies have attempted unilaterally to mandate accommodations nationwide for Transgender people by rewriting laws like Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.  They are attempting to do so by redefining the word “sex” in the law - understood when Title IX was passed by Congress to refer to biological sex - to mean “gender identity,”  - which the administration defines as a person’s “internal sense of gender.”   A new justice will likely cast the deciding vote on whether courts should check this type of executive overreach as well.

Another way President Obama has expanded his power is by refusing to enforce laws he does not like, effectively repealing them.

He has done this with Immigration Laws by designating entire classes of people as having “legal status” - even though the law clearly states that they are unlawfully present. 

Similarly, his administration has effectively legalized marijuana in certain states by refusing to enforce federal laws prohibiting it. 

The extent to which presidents must follow their constitutional mandate to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” is a hotly contested issue - on which the next Supreme Court justice might provide the pivotal vote.

The next Supreme Court justice will not only decide the outcome in pending cases, he or she will also influence the type of cases that make it to the Court in the first place. 

Businesses are less likely to challenge exorbitant or unfair rulings against them knowing there is a majority of justices hostile to their interests.

Conservatives will be less likely to put their time and resources into defending the Constitution if they know the Court won’t enforce it.

Meanwhile, liberal groups will be emboldened to bring cases that attempt to roll back First Amendment and Second Amendment freedoms, among others.

They will also bring cases attempting to establish new “rights” - to government welfare payments, to free attorneys in civil cases, .  .  . , etc. - as well as things like a prohibition on racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes, an exception to the First Amendment for so-called “hate speech,” and a prohibition on sex-segregated restrooms.

The appointment of the next Supreme Court justice could be the most legally significant event for our country in a generation. 

IF the next justice is in the mold of Justices Ginsburg or Sotomayor, the rulings of the Court will shift dramatically to the left.

IF the next justice shares the principles and philosophy of Justice Scalia - the ideologically balanced Court that we have grown accustomed to in the last quarter century will likely remain.

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Imprimis is the free monthly speech digest of Hillsdale College and is dedicated to educating citizens and promoting civil and religious liberty by covering cultural, economic, political, and educational issues.  The content of Imprimis is drawn from speeches delivered to Hillsdale College-hosted events.  First published in 1972, Imprimis is one of the most widely circulated opinion publications in the nation with over 3.4 million subscribers.

Get your FREE print subscription to Imprimis:  http://lp.hillsdale.edu/imprimis-print/?utm_source=imprimis_sidebar

 
My Friends, I urge every American to VOTE.  And, although I cannot tell you, or anyone, how to vote - I sincerely and strongly urge YOU to study and seriously consider Voting Conservative.  It is my heartfelt and deeply held belief that America MUST return to her Conservative Constitutional Roots - or - she will continue to decline into Liberal Socialism, only one step removed from Communism, and eventually United Nations domination.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill