June, 2023
Greetings from Guatemala to our dear Brethren in Christ,
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. Mathew 10:16
We live in an evil world that everyday becomes more wicked. I believe we are at that point where the Holy Scripture tells us that the posture of the world will be to accept evil as good and good as evil. We must be wise and continue to proclaim the true gospel of Jesus Christ even though most reject it. Our task continues to plant the good seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ in love and without fear to a lost and dying world. You and I, no matter where we are in this world, must stand firm in the Faith and let the world know that we are here “…for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Revelation 1:9
Montserrat and Los Angeles Churches
Since January we have had a new schedule at both of our churches. At the Los Angeles Church from 9:30 AM -noon is Bible school. The Lord has blessed and brought out as many as 15 new children and some adults. The 5:00 PM service is now the worship service. At the Montserrat Church, we have a 15 minute prayer-time before our 10:45 AM worship service; this way all are on-time to start the worship service. After the service, we have a ten minute coffee break, and then go to our Sunday School classes which ends at 1:00 PM. The result has been a blessing with almost 20 in the adult class, and seven in the young people’s class, and a room full of younger boys and girls. We are content that the Sunday Schools are growing, so keep praying!
There were also blessings in the month of April with the two weddings with couples of the Montserrat church, Michael and Patricia Resnik, along with Jose and Valeria Tay. Both are pictured here. Would you please pray for these new couples.
Starting this coming September, we will be having the Baptism and Profession of Faith classes. If you would, please pray for these classes that each one will be prepared to make their public profession of Faith.
Grace and Faith Presbytery of Guatemala
Prayer is also requested for our Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. Our meeting had been postponed twice because of health and other problems. People came from Mazatenango, about three hours away, and our host church provided breakfast for them. The meeting started around 8:30 AM with the moderator’s message, the Lord’s Supper, roll call, and other preliminaries, after which we had the examination of Pastor Stephen Ricker. He gave his testimony and then was questioned from the Westminster Confession of Faith. Previous to his exam he was required to write papers on Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, and Biblical Separation. His oral exam was sustained. After the close of Presbytery we had the ordination service with the laying on of hands with charges, exhortations and prayers. All the brothers encouraged Stephen to go forward, as an ordained minister of the gospel, fulfilling his ministry.
The Trinitarian Bible Society Of Guatemala
The Trinitarian Bible Society of London should have its new Spanish Bible ready by July 2023; it is being printed in Brazil and Holland. It will use the historic Textus Receptus, and not one part of Kurt Aland’s eclectic manmade cut-and-paste manuscripts. He did not believe in the inspiration of scripture or that the four Gospels were written by the names that the Bible gives them in the Holy Scriptures. He believes other men wrote the gospels, but whom? He does not give any real evidence. His influence was great in that he was able to get the Greek Nestle text changed to the Greek Nestle/Aland text. The eclectic text that Kurt Aland made up is from the weak and inaccurate and most corrupted texts that remove hundreds or even thousands of words from the modern Bibles.
CIEF of Guatemala
The CIEF of Guatemala held its last Executive Meeting on Saturday May 6th. Stephen, as its President, was not there because he was in New Jersey to work in preparation for the upcoming ICCC World Congress. The Vice President, Pastor Domingo, did an excellent job getting us through the docket of many things, such as which pastors and elders will help the Chimaltenango Church each Sunday, and the plans and details for our annual Bible Conference on August 15th. The theme this year will be, “The Differences between the World Council of Churches and the International Council of Christian Churches”. On Saturday, June 3rd, the CIEF men met for a time of study and fellowship. The study theme was, “The Christian Woman and Her Biblical Ministry”.
We look forward to seeing some of you at the 21st World Congress of the ICCC on June 21-28 in Collingswood, N.J.
May our Lord richly bless you for partnering with us in prayer and financial support.
Yours missionaries for Christ,
Hal, Stephen, Juanita, Samuel and Joshua