NEWS FROM HQ

Ministering for the Lord in Brazil, USA, Cameroon

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (II Timothy 1:7)

Dear Friends,

In our world today so many live in fear and upheaval. It has come to the point that many huddle in their houses and are afraid that if they go outside, they will die. However, God has not given us a spirit of fear like that which is in the world, but we can trust that God is in control and will take care of us. There have been much worse plagues in the past such as smallpox, typhoid, cholera, and even the 1918 Spanish flu, where the death rate was not 1% or 2%, but up to ten times that or more. In spite of plagues, calamities, and persecutions the church has always continued and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against it.

“O Fundamentalista”

We are continuing in our efforts to send out our newspaper, The Fundamentalist. We managed to complete our last edition just before the coronavirus came on the scene. Our agent in Brazil has had many troubles lately, and it has been increasingly difficult for him to send out the paper.

The printer that we have used for many years is the grandson of a printer that Dr. LeRoy used in his day. He noticed our problems and has offered to not only print the paper but also send out individual copies at a very affordable rate. He said that he thinks the paper is worthwhile and should continue. This arrangement should work much better. However, the only problem that remains is that he needs an updated address list that would be easier to copy and affix to the papers. And so this is our immediate job, to redo about 1,500 to 2,000 addresses out of the more than 3,000 that we use. We are now engaged in this substantial task.

Concerning distribution, we are also planning to send out the paper twice a year at this point. We sent the last one out at the beginning of 2020 and we hope to have the next issue ready to go in September. As we have said before, hard copies are still good to send out as is witnessed by the pile of hard-copy materials each of us receives in our mailbox every day.

Most of our papers go to Baptist and Presbyterian churches that have never communicated with us. And although we only hear from a few of the recipients, we believe and pray that copies are indeed read and are effective. We are confident that this works because of the similar distribution of another paper called Imprimis, put out by Hillsdale College. This paper is about the same size as ours, with eight pages in black and white, and a circulation of a couple of million copies. We personally have received and read this paper for many years and have always enjoyed it. However, we never requested the paper nor have gone out of our way to communicate with them. So, we trust it is the same with our distribution of The Fundamentalist.

We have been putting out The Fundamentalist for over 11 years now, and have written, printed and mailed out a total of 29 issues. We like to think of it as a “continual dripping in a rainy day” or “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” On the left is a picture of the last page of our latest edition, which is actually the outside page as the newspapers go through the mail. It is a small article entitled “Erotic Christianity?” where we discuss the contemporary music in which Christ is portrayed as our lover, which does away with all reverence.

Over in Cameroon, we continue to communicate with, and recently sent donations to, some pastors. They tell us that the seminary has continued as usual in spite of the coronavirus. Two of Ken’s former students are now pursuing PhD’s. Ken still hopes to go there for another visit after things open up some more.

Also, Ken continues his pulpit ministry at Kingsville and Marcus Hook every month, and is doing a series with them on the book of Revelation. Some pastors are hesitant to preach from Revelation because there are so many different views. However, Revelation 1:3 gives a blessing to those who read and hear this book. Each preacher needs to study and be confident in preaching his particular understanding of the book.

The Delaware prison is still closed to Bible studies. Pray for the materials that were presented in the past. Finally, we have enclosed two pictures of when Ken’s sister, Claudia, and her husband, John, recently visited here from Cincinnati. One picture is of a group of some of my sister Corinne’s family and our family; the other picture is us at Congress Hall in Cape May.

Thank you once again for all your support and prayers.

In His Service,

Ken and Ira Olson