During World War II, I was working at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in Pasadena, California doing rocket research for the US Navy. I was able to devote a good portion of my free time to my passion for classical music, taking vocal lessons and also playing the violin. Fortunately the Pasadena Civic Auditorium was a favorite stop for all the leading artists of the day on their tours to Los Angeles. They would always schedule at least one concert in Pasadena. A fellow musician and I would purchase tickets for the least expensive seats in the auditorium located at the top of the gallery. We needed binoculars to observe those on stage, but we also used our binoculars to look for empty seats in the front row on the main floor. These were seats that either hadn't been sold or the ticket owners hadn't showed up for the concert. The ushers were usually dismissed at intermission time so we would leave our gallery seats and wander down the aisle to our front row seats for the remainder of the concert.
We particularly enjoyed yelling 'encore' at the end. Frequently this paid off with one or two additional numbers. Some performers were quite generous while other were not. Once when Tito Schippa was walking off stage we loudly yelled 'bravo' and he stopped and bowed. We also made it a practice to go backstage after the concert and get autographs, and I have quite a collection of these. Another type of encore is the curtain call. This was done when there was more than one performer. After the curtain came down they would come out one at a time and then as a group to take their bows to a cheering audience.
The word encore comes from the French, meaning 'once again.' According to the demands of a cheering audience it was the custom for a performer or group of performers to graciously acknowledge the applause and sometimes perform additional numbers.
The example of actors performing on a stage before an audience has been used by a number of poets and philosophers as a fitting scenario for the enigma of human existence. Shakespeare and others have pictured the world as a stage upon which we are all actors. We have our entrances and exits, and we each have a unique role to play. Before a play or concert is performed the script must be written, the stage must be set with proper backdrops and properties, and the principals and extras must be chosen for the various parts. And indeed there does seem to be a similarity here. God chose a tiny world rotating around a small yellow star as the stage for the great drama of the ages. He equipped that stage with all the necessary attributes to sustain a prolonged engagement (Isaiah 45:18); He wrote the script ahead of time (Dan. 10:21). The scenario had villains and heroes, good guys and bad guys, lovers and haters, and political intrigue, and a cosmic audience of holy beings. However, there is one difference, in God’s drama there are no encores.
There are some religions in which man has tried to introduce the concept of a second chance, but these scenarios are contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible, which is God’s scenario. The doctrine of reincarnation, of the secret rapture, of purgatory have no Biblical foundation, for they are all based upon the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul. God tells us that only He is inherently immortal and that the dead know not anything (Eccl. 9:5) We are told that in God’s scenario there is a judgment after which there is no second chance at salvation. In the great drama of the ages there are "no encores."
