All the components that are used in the modern computer today, were invented in 1833 by Charles Baggage, about one hundred and twenty years before the first ‘modern’ computer ever existed. He produced the concepts for mechanical and analytical engines. However, the computer has evolved and has multiple inventors to thank for various parts of it to thank for what we all now have in our homes and offices. In 1942 is where we see the first electronic computer emerge. It was the brainchild of Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff and a student graduate of his named, Clifford Berry. Thus, their invention was dubbed Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC).
The ENIAC came about in 1943, during World War II, which calculated artillery and was used for code breaking, developed on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for the U.S. Army. It was the first to use electronic technology and was over a thousand times faster than its predecessors. It weighed in at a poultry fifty tons and touted 18,000 vacuum tubes. A programmable ENIAC was developed in 1945, which could perform complex sequences of operations, including loops, branches, and subroutines. The UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was the first commercial computer built for the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951. It was massive, weighing in at 16,000 pounds, and boasting 5,000 vacuum tubes. It could do 1,000 calculations per second. For decades thereafter, though computers were powerful and made humans work lighter, they were massive and filled entire rooms. We have all probably seen these, if not in real life, in a movie or two from the early to mid-twentieth century. The first hard drive came about in 1956 by IBM, which took things even closer to the personal computer (PC), yet it still took an additional twenty-four years to develop.
Once upon a time, in 1939, two young men in their early twenties, who met on a camping trip while attending Stanford University, became friends and started their own company in their garage in Palo Alto, California with $538. It was not incorporated until 1947. Their first offering was a sound oscillator, which helped them make their mark, when Walt Disney Studios ordered eight of them for the testing of sound in the making of ‘Fantasia.’ “The company grew into the world’s largest producer of electronic testing and measurement devices. It also became a major producer of calculators, computers, and laser and ink jet printers.” As things evolved, forty-one years later, in 1980, they released the first actual PC called the HP-85. Their names were Bill Hewlett at age 67, and Dave Packard at age 68. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founders of Apple, got their start as young boys working as interns for Hewlett-Packard.
With all that behind us now and technology having come so far, we hold more capability in our hands daily in our cellphones than they had in an entire building back in the early days. We also have more technology at our disposal than the average person will even know what to do with. We find out how to do a couple of things, such as texting, the camera, social media, and a few games, and that is all we use daily. We do not tap the surface if what our devices are capable of. However, we could if we put our mind to it. The human mind that God created back in the garden of Eden far surpasses all technology in this world that we can even imagine. Case in point, any computer or device ever built came from the greatest computer around, ‘the human brain aka the mind.’ The only thing greater is God himself. When the concepts for computers came about, the machines themselves were not the intelligence in the room, but the engineers, the scientists, the astronauts, etc. We are battling an enemy now, called AI, artificial intelligence, not because machines are bad, but because the minds who are coming up with these concepts are evil and devious. We all have a choice to use our ‘greatest computer’ aka our ‘minds,’ for good or evil.
With great intelligence, ability, and opportunity comes great responsibility. We must not only hold ourselves accountable but those around us as well. We can affect millions of people’s lives with our knowledge and expertise. We are incredible machines. I have always tried to drill into my children that the problem with being so intelligent, is that when a problem or situation arises, you cannot say, “I didn’t know”, because you are smart, you know you are and everyone else knows you are, therefore, there is no pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes as to who was guilty.
Sickness and diseases have been around since the fall of man in the garden; however, illness seems more prevalent today. This could possibly be due to having more physicians, phycologists, nurses, and various other medical professionals around than in the past, therefore, the diseases or conditions could have been around for years, but just not diagnosed. However, you do have those who try to self-diagnose and we now call them hypochondriacs. The issue with this is that every symptom they read about, trying to find out what is wrong with them, they begin to believe they have. The issue could be a minor ache or pain, which will then grow into a huge ongoing problem for them because they assume they have it all. This is even more problematic with the invention of Google and other browsers, where information, whether right or wrong, is at our fingertips.
A story is told about my husband and his ‘Nere do well’ friends in college, how they conspired to play a mean trick on a classmate. On the targeted day, whenever each of them saw the classmate, they would say things like, “Are you feeling alright today?” “You look a little pale, are you okay?”, “Are you sure you don’t need to go lay down?” By the middle of the day, it is said that he was beginning to feel ill and finally decided to leave class early and go to bed. He had literally been persuaded in his mind that he was sick, when in fact he was physically fine. The power of suggestion is indeed a powerful tool that can be used for or against us. There is of course the other side of the coin where people who really are sick, and they will try to explain what is going on with them to a family member, friend or even a doctor, and the answer they get is the old cliche, “Oh, it’s all in your mind.” This can be discouraging and cause them to not go to, or back to, the doctor, when they may really have a serious condition. We are so smart and yet so dumb at times.
Everything that ails us will be an outflow of our mind. Every action that we take in life will be an outflow of a thought we had prior to it. The brain is our central computer system that is constantly sending us signals of destress, relief, pain, or comfort. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” This all begins in our minds. The brain, simply put, is a complex organ, which controls our emotions, motor skills, memory, through patterns, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger, and every function of our body. It is attached to the spinal cord, and the two house the complete nervous system of the entire body. It sends electrical and chemical signals that control different processes throughout the body and the brain is the interpreter of all the messages being sent. Some of these messages are relayed through the body’s vast nervous system network from the spinal cord to the extremities, while others are kept in the brain. Therefore, if we act upon any youthful lust as Paul stated to Timothy, or temptations, it will first come through the brain and what we do will be because of the decision we made.
The scripture does not give us these warnings because temptation is a sin, but because it can lead us to sin if we allow the thought to take root in our minds at which time we will act upon them. They need to be ‘nipped in the bud.’ These warnings are for the wellbeing of our minds, souls, spirits, and bodies. James 1:12-15 states, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Satan will use any means he can to trick you into living as unto yourself and not as unto God.
Any act of disobedience against God’s directive is sin. What is being presented to you by the god of this world through your thoughts, via your eyes, ears, and emotions? Jesus also had no choice in his humanity but to endure temptation as well, yet the bible says, he was without sin; therefore, he knows exactly what we go through daily. Hebrews 4:15 tells us, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” How did Jesus overcome? The answer is that he eradicated the temptation immediately when it was presented to him by using the word of God, which is our only offensive weapon. He did not give them a place to sit and fester in his spirit nor grow out of proportion. Do this sound familiar? Satan knew that after fasting for forty days and nights that Jesus was starving. So, he first attacked him where he was most vulnerable, physically, and when that did not work, he proceeded to try other tactics to bring him down emotionally and spiritually.
Matthew 4:1-11 gives us the account, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
Dr. Abhishek Hanook states, “The heart is the central part of the circulatory system. It pumps blood to all organs of the body. This blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your body and carries away unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products. Heart health is of utmost importance as a lack of it may lead to deteriorating changes in various organs over the long term.” Throughout scripture we see references to the heart. This is most often not referring to this pump we have in our chest, though it is of utmost importance, but the center of our emotional being, which is our mind. This is the greatest computer around. Jeremiah 7:7-10 says, “Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” We must trust the Lord and not be led by our emotions. David states in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” We see again that our weapon against sin, is the Word of God, stored in our heart aka our mind, which is the core of our being, our great computer.
Just as temptations begin in our minds before they become actions, so does doing the right thing to honor God. We must consciously decide to do good, humble ourselves, be kind, or love someone who may be unlovable. Philippians 2:2-8 admonishes us, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” This was not happenstance, but a conscious decision. You might say this is a tall order, but our computers aka minds are reprogrammable and upgradable. We are always up for challenges in our lives, and renewing our minds is the worthiest cause we could ever take on, so why not try? Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Here is a free hint from our IT guy at my job, “The first thing you need to do when your computer is glitching is reboot it.”
I heard a quote recently that said, “Silencing dissidence is an enemy of critical thinking.” We all have a mind, and have something to contribute to any conversation, but there are those who put their worth so far above others, that if anyone disagrees with what they are saying, they are completely shut down. This could be called micromanaging or legislating in some circumstances, but the bible would call it ‘lording over;’ however, this is an enemy to not only critical but creative thinking. We all need each other to get a job done well. Yes, any one of us could blunder through something and get it done, but if we incorporate team effort, we could excel and get the job done faster and in a more excellent way. Everyone has an opinion, and we do an injustice to ourselves, them, our families, communities, churches, and society if we do not let them be heard. Do not be afraid of other’s insights, because they will offer a plethora of angles and ideas of which you have never thought. Our minds, which are the greatest computers around, know how to spot an error and how to compartmentalize information, if you have a file in yours named, ‘The Word of God’ that you can access at any time, you do not need to let fear and doubt immobilize you.
We need to surround ourselves with smart people to even appear remotely so. In 2016 a movie called; “Hidden Figures” came out about three African American women who worked at NASA. Their team of female African American mathematicians served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. The actresses were compelling portraying the roles of these intelligent women, who had to claw and scratch for any advancement they received. Yet they ended up being instrumental in saving and developing programs at NASA. And in case you have not heard of this movie, it is based on a true story. Chances someone in the room is much smarter than you, and that is okay. Allow people around you to have a voice. We may all have different ‘software,’ but our ‘hard drives’ are all the same.
This is not something new, creation itself began in the mind of God. He said let there be and there was. No statement is made aloud without it first being a thought. John 1:1-2,14 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” The redemptive plan began in the mind of God. If you feel that you are not technologically savvy in today’s standards, just remember, you are a walking, talking, living, breathing computer, and you are powered by the Holy Ghost. You can live without sin, be healed of all diseases, defeat Satan’s temptations, live with peace of mind and purity of heart. You might be all thumbs when it comes to machinery and gadgets, but as a child of God, even on your worst day, you have more capability and power than on Satan’s best day. If you are ever having a weak day, sensing an error, feeling like there is an unexplainable glitch or you are under attack, reboot with the Word of God and plug back into the power source, which is the Holy Ghost! God made your computer, and He can fix it.