Ray Johnson Memorial Service

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

October 26, 2010


   *RAY JOHNSON of “LIFE MESSENGERS” - 2010-10-23 - MEMORIAL SERVICE*


 My wife Marie and I had the privilege of taking part in the above Memorial
Service in Bothell, Washington, for our friend Ray. He was a man who did not
blow his own horn, but walked in the counsel of Solomon in Proverbs 27:2 - “
*Let another man praise you, and not your own lips.” *He was a rare person
according to Bible standards. *“Most men will proclaim every one his own
kindness; But **a faithful man** who can find?” *Oswald Chambers says there
are very few that completely sell out to the Lord. Ray was one of those at
the age of 23, immediately following his father's accidental death. For six
years he tried to get his father to “back off” from what Ray considered a
fanatical religious position. But following that sudden and unexpected
death, he did some serious thinking. Though he had worked many jobs in the
church, he wasn't sure if he was prepared for heaven, or that he really knew
Jesus. Then and there he made a sold-out decision for the Lord, and for the
*next 75 years* did not deviate from that decision.


 His “eulogy” was read at this Memorial Service by Greg Johnson, Ray's first
grandchild. The details were take from a paper written by Ray in 2000 on the
occasion of his 90th birthday. It was titled “A Brief Overview of My Life
This Far”!! -

*- EULOGY - RAY W. JOHNSON - October 23, 2010*

*Chapel of the Resurrection - Campus of Cedar Park Church - Bothell, WA*


 *Raymond Walter Johnson was born on March 3, 1912 in Bellingham, WA*

*to Henry and Nellie Johnson, and died September 16, 2010 in Bothell, WA. He
was 98.*

*He was the first-born in his family, which later included five others:*

*William Stanley Wallace Eugene, LaVerne Bernice, Donald Floyd, and Eleanor
Marie.*


 *The family moved to Ferndale, WA and later to Alberta, Canada, where Ray
started school.*

*Then there was a move back to Bellingham, and Ray attended Whatcom High
School.*


 *Because it was during the Great Depression,, the family relocated to
Seattle, looking for work.*

*After graduating from Lincoln High School, Ray became involved in the
family's *

*small bread-baking business, started in the basement of their rented home.*

*He would bake bread half the night, and then the following day, *

*he and his brother, Stan, would go house-to-house selling the freshly baked
loaves.*


 *The bakery business didn't last too long, and Ray went from job to job,*

*no one job lasting very long because of the depressed economy.*


 *About that time, Ray's father, Henry, passed away after being in a car
accident.*

*It took that incident to make Ray realize he, himself, was not right with
God.*

*Then and there, he decided to dedicate his life fully to the Lord.*


 *The next fall, in 1938, Ray began attending Moody bible Institute in
Chicago, *

*where he met his future wife, Vera Wakeley.*

*He also had the privilege of being a radio announcer on Moody's radio
station, WMBI,*

*during his last year there, and for several months after graduating in
1941.*


 *Ray and Vera were married in Erie, Pennsylvania, Vera's home town, on
September 13, 1941.*


 *Ray accepted the call to pastor at Cedar Home Baptist Church in East
Stanwood WA,*

*arriving there Dec. 6, 1941, the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.*

*They remained at Cedar Home for a year and a half, *

*during which time their first child, Dale Richard, was born.*

*Ray left the church to become the General Director of The Bible Crusaders,
*

*which he helped to organize. Bible Crusaders' ministry was to put
scriptures on billboards,*

*beginning in Seattle and then expanding to many other cities.*


 *While he was a party of Bible Crusaders, Ray rewrote and improved *

*the first Christian booklet he had written while at Moody.*

*Because Bible Crusaders decided not to get into the publishing business,*

*Ray published “Here's How” himself.*

*Eventually, that little tract was printed in over 50 different languages,
and went throughout the world.*


 *Ray's interest swung from Bible Crusaders to Life Messengers, the ministry
he founded and directed,*

*and would be involved with the rest of his life.*

*He painted houses for a living until Life Messengers had grown to the place
*

*it could support his growing family.*

*David Merle was born in 1944, Ross Gregory in 1948, Jeffrey Bruce in 1955,
and Kevin Ray in 1960.*


 *At about age 58, after publishing a wide variety of booklets which all
carried*

*a clear message of salvation, Ray became interested in Bible prophecy.*

*For nine years he corresponded with Ken Taylor of Tyndale Publishing House*

*as Ray assisted him in revising The Living Bible.*

*He finally decided to write his own translation, calling it The Last Days
Bible,*

*emphasizing end-time prophecy, and including his own notes.*

*Ray dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to this work, and published a
full New Testament.*

*The Old Testament is finished also, but is yet to be published.*


 *Ray continued to write until very recently, and he never stopped sharing
the Lord with others. *

*He lived at Merrill Gardens, near Northgate for three years,*

*and for the past two months has been lovingly and patiently cared for*

*by Semida and Ray Moldovan at Queen's Hill Adult Family Home.*

*Even there, up to the end, he would ask his housemates,*

“*Do you know where you are going if you were to die tonight?”*


 *Ray was preceded in death by his second son, David Merle, who went to be
with the Lord in 1982,*

*and by his beloved wife Vera, who passed away in 1998 after 56 years of
marriage,*

*as well as three brothers, Stan and Wally Johnson, both of WA, and Don
Johnson, of CA.*


 *Ray leaves behind his four sons and their wives; his two sisters, LaVerne
Gencarella (husband Bill),*

*and Eleanor Rhymes (husband Paul), all of CA;*

*two sisters-in-law, Mabel Johnson of WA, and Tallah Johnson of CA;*

*10 grandchildren and their spouses;*

*17 great grandchildren; two great, great granddaughters, and many nieces
and nephews.*


 *We can only imagine Ray's welcome into Heaven by his loved ones who had
gone on before,*

*as well as by the many souls from around the world who are there because of
his faithfulness,*

*not to mention the Lord Himself, who surely would have said the words we
all long to hear,*

“*Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”*



 The Scripture Reading for this service was 2 Corinthians 5:1-9, taken from
Ray's “Last Day New Testament” translation. At the suggestion of a family
member, I had the congregation of relatives and friends read together this
portion of Scripture. I then read Ray's notes on this portion. Ray has made
the complete translation of the Last Day's Bible, finishing it just prior to
his Home-going! His son Ross has been elected President of Life Messengers
at his father's recommendation - to complete the editing of the OT and the
publishing of the Complete Last Days Bible. I have been on the Life
Messengers Board the last 10 years or so at Ray's invitation, and have
committed myself to support Ross in the completion of this project, just as
I gave myself to his father.


 This is the third complete Bible translation I have had a connection with.
For 17 years I served as secretary first with the Indo-Burma Pioneer Mission
founded by Watkin Roberts of Wales, and later directed by Rochunga Pudaite;
this then became “Bibles for the World”. Rochunga's father Chawnga dedicated
his son to translate the complete Bible in the Hmar tongue in Assam India,
centered in the Senvon village. Through Rochunga, one million copies of “The
Greatest is Love” - Ken Taylors Living New Testament - was mailed to the
million phone subscribers of India. I spent a month in 1972 interviewing 50
top Hindus and Muslims concerning their reaction in receiving this gift.
250,000 from India replied to this gift by saying “Thank you”, and could we
receive more along this line? Many made first time decisions for Christ.


 Prior to this Ray Johnson gave millions of his Gospel pamphlets, especially
“Here's How” to George Verwer of Operation Mobilization. This sowing of the
Gospel has no doubt laid the foundation in India for much of the extension
of the Gospel there ever since.


 I reported back to Wheaton, Illinois and Ken Taylor concerning the result
of his Living New Testament being placed in the home of every phone
subscribe in India. As some of you will know, Ken - as editor of Moody
Monthly of Chicago, translated the entire bible with millions of copies of
the NT in many languages place in over 50 countries of the world.


 Ken Taylor helped my wife start a Christian Book Store in Lake County,
Illinois, and gave me permission to use his Living NT as part of God's Bible
Numeric Interlinear Greek NT, using the texts of Ivan Panin.


 Ken strongly encouraged Ray to translate the Bible with his vision of a
Last Days Prophetic insight through his notes; which he did, and of which I
have had a very small part. Ray sometimes 2-3 times in a day phoned me to
get insights on Greek and Hebrew words for his translation. This year I
should complete the above Bible Numeric Interlinear Greek NT and have it
ready for the printers.


 Ken Taylor felt Ray's translation had the touch of God upon it like his
original Living Bible. I agree. I heartily recommend that every reader
obtain a copy of Ray Johnson's Last Days New Testament now, and the Complete
Last Days Bible as soon as it is published. Here is the information you need
to obtain the NT and the Gospel of Matthew for witnessing purposes:

 *Life Messengers - <info at lastdaysbible.org>*

 *<www.lastdaysbible.org>*


 In 1955 in Chicago at the Kostner Avenue Baptist Church, Marie ordered
1000's of Ray Johnson's “Life Messengers” pamphlets, including “Here's How.”
We distributed them widely, and did so also at the Broadway Tabernacle of
Seattle after we moved out west in 1962.


 Ray Johnson heard my wife Marie share her testimony at the Philadelphia
church of Ballard, Seattle. Ray asked if she would be willing to write a
special edition of “Here's How” to help Catholic friends find a Living
Relationship with Jesus. Later he wrote a recommendation for her to the
Greek River Community College, and added that she had one of the best
platform deliveries he had come across.


 I closed my Memorial message for Ray last Saturday by mentioning the Marks
of Ray Johnson as a *faithful* man in the following areas. He was
uncompromising and absolutely faithful in his witness. His whole family down
to great great grandchildren are in the Lord and many faithfully serving
Him. Every spouse marrying into the Johnson clan got the challenge: Do you
know where you are going if you were to die tonight? And do you really know
Jesus in a living way? And every telephone solicitor was his delight - he
very soon gave them the same challenge and explained “Here's How” you can if
you don't! He was faithful as a writer and Translator; faithful to His
family; faithful to his friends; an example in not losing his temper, and
not allowing worldly music or literature in his home. One attorney wrote
Ross - that it was a copy of his father's “Here's How” - that led him and
his whole family and many friends into the Kingdom of God.


 “Abu ben Adam - may your tribe increase” comes from a famous poem. I apply
that to Ray - “Ray Johnson, son of Henry - may *your tribe* increase.” Jim
Watt



 *NOTE**: Ray Johnson's booklet “Here's How” went out to over 66 million
people in 50 languages.*

*All of his booklets combined had 173 million go out over the past decades.*

*Ken Taylor of the Living Bible of Tyndale House Publishers encouraged Ray
Johnson of Life Messengers to translate the “Last Days Bible”. This was
completed before his home-going. Pray that the editing and printing will
soon be completed so it can be published. The Last Days NT is available now.
Jim Watt - Life Messengers Board Member.*



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