Morse-Barton-Kathy-1988-USA.pdf

7/29/2019 Morse-Barton-Kathy-1988-USA.pdf

1/4


2/4

Page TWo SPANISH AMERICAN EVANGELIST September 1987

. . .F ROM THE DIRECTORWHOSE FAITH DO YOU HAVE?"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to dogood? But even ifyou should sufferfo r what is right,you are blessed. Do no t fear what they fear; do notbefrightened. Bu t in your hearts se t apart Christ asLord. A lway s b e prepared to give an answer toeveryone who asks you togive the reasonfo r the hopethatyou have. But do this with gentlenessan d respect,keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speakmaliciously against your good behavior in Christ may

be ashamed of their slander." I Peter 3:13-16 NIVHave you everexperienced a knock at the door only to realize that it camefrom a member of the Watchtower TVact and Bible Societythe Jehovah'sWitnesses? You know from just a few moments of listening with them thattheir teaching is not consistent with what the entire Bible says, but you haveno answer for them. You stutter and s tammer around and convey to themthat you are no t interested in what they have to say and finally get the doorclosed to them. You lean up aga inst the door and finally exclaim, ' 'Boy, Ireally suffered fo r Jesus that t ime"Is that what Peter meant when he wrote, "But even if you should sufferfo r what is right, you are blessed."? Many times as Christians we feel thatwe are properly using the scripture in that instance along when misfortunemight hit us whether it be car trouble or crop failure. Car trouble and cropfailure happen to non-Christians as well as Christiansthat cannot be construed as suffering for Jesus. By taking the verse out of context, we fail tosee that it is tied to the following, "Always be prepared to g ive an answerto everyone who asks you to give the reason fo r t he hope t ha t you have."Suffering for Jesus does not mean that we just sit back while someonemakesa mockery of God's Wordas hestrivesto twist the scripture in order to justifyhis particular doctrinal position. It means being willing to stand up for whatyou believe and defend it!As Christians, many times werely on the faith of our parents or our ministerwithout really developing a faith for ourselves. We may become Christiansbecause of our parents or a particular friend without making that faith ourswe live with another's faith. Under such a circumstance, it is impossible todefend ou r faith to those who would try to distort it. In this short column,I do not want to try to givescriptures which would right every false doctrinepresently being shoved down our throats by those who claim to have the onlyanswer; that would be equally impossible. I hope to be able to encourage you

to find ou t what you believe and why. By knowing that, you will not bevulnerable as different people knock on you door.In the area of El Paso where I am working, weare experiencing considerableinfluence from the Jehovah's Witnesses. They are knocking on the doors ofthe neighborhood where our church is located every week (several times aweek in many instances). One of the tests for a cult is how it deals with theGodness of Jesus. "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Everyspirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in theflesh isfrom God,but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is notfrom God." (I John4:2-3aNIV) Jesus made many claims that He was God during His ministry.Jesus was Godthe Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus was th e son of Godbut not God . This is a very ser ious doctrinal mistake . Would you like a fewscr iptures which you could share with these callers at your door?In order to deal with the divinity of Jesus easily, the first and last chaptersof Revelation have some profound verses. Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alphaan d the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is tocome, theAlmighty." That verseclearly statesthat the Lord God isalso referredto as the Alpha and the Omega. The following verse expands upon that,Revelation 22:13, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, theBeginning and the End." Logically speaking then, God can be called any oneof these three names. Let us now retu rn to Revelation 1, at the las t part ofverse 17. "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last." Before sharingthe next verse you might ask your Jehovah's Witness friend who is speakingin verse 17. Logic demands tha t God is the answer to that question. Thenyou might read verse 18. "I am the Liv ing One; I was dead, and behold Iam alivefor ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death an d Hades." Thenvery lovingly ask the question, "When did God die?"I realize that these verses are very simplistic but they do clearly state thatJesus came to earth as God in human form. People around the world aredying with their souls condemned to hell because of their false ideas concerning God and His Son, Jesus Christ. They havenot searched out for themselveswhat God's Word says. To be wrong in matters of salvation and God couldresult in being wrong for eternity.We cannot rest upon what ou r parents or preachers or Sunday schoolteachers have taught us. We must search ou t and know for ourselves whatwe believe and why. Whose rel igion do you have? Is it yours or is it that ofsomeone else? Having someone else 's religion is not necessarily wrongprovided that we have studied the scriptures to know for ourselves that whatis being taught is correct. "Now the Bereans were of more noble charactert han the Thessalonians, fo r they received the message with great eagernessand examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."Acts 17:11. Paul ha d by this time in his ministry established quite a nameas a leader in the church. His name o r reputation was not enough for th eBereans. Name and reputation is not enough for us today. Let us developour own f ai th even if it is th e "faith of our fathers!' BB


3/4

Page Three

From the Mai lbox :Normally wetranslate a fewof the letters whichwe have received from Spanish to English for the

benefit of the readers of the Spanish AmericanEvangelist. These letters needed no translationbecause they werewritten in English. Wehope thatyou appreciate the message which they bring.Spanish American Evangelism:I am enclosing $ to buy Spanish NewTestaments an d pray the Lord will bless it to your

ministry./ go to the First Christian Church here inChelsea, Oklahoma an d I have requested prayerfo r you and your work. I belong to the ChristianWomen's Fellowship in this church an d I told themabout your work and the money needed to pu rchase New Testaments for those hungering fo r aBible that they decided to sendyou $ andI think you have already receivedit. I gave a report(was asked to) so I read portions of your lettersto them an d they felt we should help.I counted up an d / have eleven Bib le s in myhouse and I treasure everyone of them. Several weregiven to me an d it hurts me to think that there arethose beggingfo r a Bible. I 'l ldo what I can to helpyo u in the Lord's work.Your Sister in Christ,

MLWEd . Note: Th e above letter shows one end of th e Gospelchain from supporter to mission field. The next letteris f rom Bob Pate, a missionary in Comayaguela, D.C.,Honduras, Central America.Dea r BillThank you very much fo r the boxes of NewTestamentsjust received at the bodega being temporarily used in Depto. de Francisco fo r the

distribution of Christian literature in the easternan d southeastern part of Honduras an d fo rNicaragua. This isgreat! The time of arrival could

SPANISH AMERICAN EVANGELISTno t have been betterfo r this past week a new operation was commencing in Liquidambor an d alongthespine ofMontana de Escobales. In 1977my sonand I surveyed this remote area along its fringe,bu t we di d no t th en ha ve the oppo rtuni ty topenetrate into mountain valleys an d dense rainforests . Ten years later a mountain road enablesmission teams an excellent jumping off place forthe Gospe l invasion of the area.I am very grateful to you and you r Christianliterature program fo r aiding us in getting NewTestaments into the area along with our hu t Biblestudies. The first day into the area a school waslocated that is serving as a temporary base. Theschool built in 1983 with funds provided bythe United States government. Overfifty studentsare currently enrolled an d two teachers share theteaching responsibilities. Ourmethod though isno tto use t he s ch o ol or t h e s tuden t s in th e distr ibution program but to go to each hut family personally. We certainly have nothing against placing acopy of the New Testament or Bible with each boyan d girl, but have made it a practice first to go thethe head of the family where possible.

Thank you again for your help!Tothe Lord God be thepraise an d glory an dfo rthe purpose tha t His Son be presented to these

people.In Christian esteem,Robert L. Pa te

Ed . No te : The New Tes tament s mentioned above wereprovided by Spanish American Evangelism through ajoint effort with Chris tian Gospel Dis tr ibutors ofMonroe, Oregon. They were part of a shipment of 8,000New Tes tamen ts wh ic h wer e d el iv er ed t o C en tr alAmerica in March of this year. Veteran missionariesGordon Clifford and Ron Cochran made the trip alongwit h two i nt er es te d c hu rc h membe rs f rom t he Uni tedStates. Bill Baker was scheduled to make the t ri p butwas prevented doing so by a bout with the flu.

More New Test amen ts a r e now avai lab le a nd a no the rdelivery will beorganized as soon as funds are in hand.>sccoeocosoocc< vcococo; i O OOGCOOCCCO !

September 1987

PESOS AND POSTAGEHow would you feel? Wouldyou be happy ifyour minimum wages increased by 1250% during

a five yearperiod? I am sure you would if it wereno t for th e fact that during th e same five yearperiod, the value of the Mexican peso decreasedby 3800%. To put those figures in perspectiveinstead of a wage increase of 1250%, the averageMexican worker has experienced a 10% decreasein earning power during the last 5 years.The inflation rate in Mexico last year was more than 100%.The United States has never experienced thisamount of economic unrest. It is impossible forthe average American citizen to imaginethe presenteconomic s i tuat ion in Mexico.A recent article in an E! Paso newspaper reportedthat 5 years ago the minimum wage in Mexico was$280 (pesos) daily. Since the peso at that time was26 pesos to 1dollar, the minimum wagewasa littlemore than $10.00 per day. The current minimumdaily wage is over $3,000 pesos, but the value ofthe peso is approximately $1,5000 to 1the dailyminimum wage is less than $3.00!During this period of time prices haveskyrocketed. Recentlywefound a note which statedthat five or six years ago, one 30# box of NewTestaments was being shipped in Mexico for about43


4/4

ONE SHIPMENTPictured at right ar e eighteen

boxes which were prepared forshipment in April. Five differentcount r i es rece ived l i terature as aresult: Chile, C olomb ia, th eDominican Republic, Spain andth e United States. Over 50,000pieces of evangelistic materialswere i ncluded.All of t h e ma t er i al s were sentby surface mail and the bill still

came to $326.98. Foreign postageis costing us approximately $1.10per pound .Spanish American Evangelism does no t charge

for the evangelistic materials which are provided tomissionaries, local preachers and church workers.We feel that if charges were made, s ome of th epeople who use our materials most effectivelywouldno t be able t o a ff or d such a purchase. It is th efriends of SAE which make this ministry possible.Thank you for your help an d prayers!S PEND THE WINTER HERESummer is almost over and winter is just around

the cornertime to begin considering your winterretreat fo r 1987-1988. Hundreds of thousands o f"snow-birds" leave th e cold of winter behind an d"retire" to South Texas, New Mexico, Arizona andCal i fornia .There is nothing wrong with becoming a "snowbird" . However, a la rge percentage of church

members leave their obligation to Christ at homewhen they head south . If you would like to enjoyth e mild winters of El Paso an d provide a servicefor t he Lord, you might consider parking yourmotor home on our parking lot. (We can providehook-ups.)Last winter we were privileged to have Gene and

Doris Hemphill from Mexico, Missouri, and RillaWiggins from Craig, Colorado. Much of their timewas spen t in co ll ati ng and stapling tracts andpreparing New Testaments for distribution.Why not consider spending some time this winter

in El Paso? We can alway s use a few extra pairso f hands . Please contac t us fo r f u r the rarrangements .

SPEC IAL PURCHASE . . .... SPEC IAL SAVINGSOne of the ongoing special funds of SpanishAmerican Evangelism is the New Testament fund.

There are many supporters of this ministry whoregularly contr ibute designated funds for NewTestaments. These funds are used to purchase NewTestaments. No administrative or shipping expensesare deducted from this account. Normally inquantity we have been able to purchase NewTestaments for 50 to 60c a copy. Sometimes whenfunds are available, special savings can be realized.In August of 1986 we received a notice fromChristian Gospel Distr ibutors (Ray and HazelEwing) that the American Bible Society was doinga special printing of Spanish New Testaments for35

Documents

Morse-Barton-Kathy-1988-USA.pdf