About – From Death Into Life

MEET THE AUTHOR

Hello!
I am Ray Shelton. I was born on Dec. 11, 1929 at Springfield, Illinois and was named Edgar Ray Shelton. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 10 years old. While I was a junior in high school, I believe the Lord called me to a teaching ministry. I began preparing for this task by majoring in Bible and studying New Testament Greek. In my senior year at Wheaton College I switched to a philosophy major to broaden my background. But I still took a fourth year of Greek. I married my wife, Edith, on June 17, 1950 and our first son, Stephen Ray, was born on October 14, 1951.

After I graduated from Wheaton College in August of 1952, we came to California so I could study at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. I studied theology under Drs. Carnell and Henry and also took a fifth year of N.T. Greek. On October 14, 1952 God showed me something in the original Greek of Romans 5:12 that changed the entire direction of my ministry. So at the end of that year I left Fuller to begin graduate study in philosophy at the University of Southern California. While I was pursuing this study, I was hired in 1954 to teach liberal arts courses at Pacific States University, College of Electronic Engineering. While assisting in the algebra math lab, the dean at PSU urged me to study mathematics and so I began to take courses in mathematics at USC and Los Angeles City College. (Later in 1964 I completed an undergraduate major in mathematics at California State University at Los Angeles). While pursuing this study, the dean at PSU moved me from teaching liberal arts to teaching mathematics, physics and chemistry. Meanwhile my wife, Edith, graduated in absentia from Wheaton College during 1956 with a major in Bible.

In 1959 I attempted to study at Fuller again, but because of financial problems I did not finish. Beginning in 1960 I taught mathematics and physics for three years at Los Angeles Pacific College before it merged with Azuza College to become Azuza Pacific University. Spiritual problems brought me to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which I received on Nov. 10, 1962. Since then the Lord led us into the Episcopal Church and I attended Bloy Episcopal School of Theology at Claremont School of Theology. In the fall of 1973 I enrolled at Melodyland School of Theology and received the Master of Divinity degree in June of 1975 and was ordained to the Christian ministry by Melodyland Christian Center. I taught New Testament Theology and Apologetics at MST for a couple semesters.

While engaging in Christian ministry, I worked as a computer programmer and software engineer. After working in this field since 1966, I retired from it in 1995.

We have a total of six children, Stephen, Barbara, Judy, David, Jonathan, and Adrienne, seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Stephen, our oldest son, died in 1973. All of our children know and love the Lord.

My beloved wife, Edith, went to be with the Lord on 19 April 2002. She was 75 and died of liver cancer.

I want to thank my son, Jonathan, and my daughter, Adrienne, for the artwork of our web pages. Jon did the artwork on the opening pages and Adrienne on the diagrams in the Three Aspects of Salvation and in my book, From Death to Life.

For a more detailed autobiography, click here.