Puerto Rico - Nearly 4 million souls in need of the Lord Jesus Christ.

***LATEST UPDATE - July 31, 2008***

Please scroll down to see What's New as well as our Progress Report

(From left to right) Clarissa, Maria, Jasmine, Manny

Thank you for visiting our site.  We hope that you will receive a blessing from our ministry and from the information found within this site.  Please pray for us as we are currently on deputation.  Brethren, our heart's desire for the people of Puerto Rico is that they might be saved.  Consequently, we are anxious to be on the field as soon as possible. But we know that everything must be done according to God's timing.  Be sure to check back with this page from time to time to stay updated on our progress.  We want to communicate with you.  So if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or prayer requests, contact us. 

Be sure to sign our guestbook before you leave.

Dios te bendiga!

  • Population Projection for 2010:  4,438,000
  • The major religions are: Catholic (85%), Protestants (8%), non religious (2.3%), and others (3%).
    Churches of many denominations can be found throughout the island.  Some islanders ascribe to spiritualism (espiritismo), and others practice Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean belief system brought to Puerto Rico from Cuba. There is also a small Jewish community.
  • About 40 municipalities in need of a Baptist church.
  • Divorce rate:  50%
  • Unemployment rate:  40%
  • Average family size:  3.5 people
  • Major causes of death per 100,000 population:  142.6 heart and cardiovascular disease, 95.4 cancers, 55.1 diabetes, 38.0 cerebrovascular disease, 29.2 pneumonia and influenza

For more information about Puerto Rico, go here.

     

WHAT'S NEW?

THE BIRTH OF OUR BABY GIRL!

On June 24, 2008, my wife gave birth to our 3rd child.  Her name is Mia Gracia Rodriguez.  (Mia Gracia is spanish for "my grace")  We had a close call however.  Maria's placenta ruptured which disabled the baby to receive oxygen properly.  The baby's heart rate plummeted from 130 to the 70s.  So Maria was immediately rushed to a different room to have an emergency C-section.  When the baby was delivered, it wasn't breathing.  Her skin was blue-ish.  The nurse immediately hooked the baby up to a machine to give her oxygen and by the grace of God the baby revived and started breathing again.  Praise the Lord!  Thus her name Mia Gracia.  The Lord said in II Cor. 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee".  Whenever I read or hear that verse, I will forever have a living illustration in my baby girl Mia.  Mia Gracia was 5 pounds 8 ounces.  Maria and the baby have recuperated quickly.  Thank you all for your prayers!  I apologize for not posting this news and the baby pic up sooner. 

Here's more pics of the baby:

                               This is Mia when she's peaceful like her Daddy.

                                This is Mia taking after her Mother!

                                    This is Mia again.

New Articles!

Guilt-by-Association Arguments and the King James Version by Manny Rodriguez

Is the Word 'Expiacion' an Error in the RVG? by Nelson Gimenez, Ulises Velasquez, and Manny Rodriguez

My Address to the Dean Burgon Society

It was a privilege to attend the Dean Burgon Society's 30th Annual Conference in Oak Creek, WI at the First Baptist Church on July 9-10th.  I was honored and humbled to have been voted by the DBS to be a member of the Advisory Council.  It was a blessing to see Dr. D.A.Waite, Dr. H.D.Williams, Dr. Humberto Gomez, Dr. Phil Stringer, Dr. Stephen Zeinner, and many other friends as well as meet some new ones.  It was also a pleasure to deliver a presentation during the conference on Why I Use The RVG Spanish Bible.  

You can watch a video of my presentation to the DBS here . 

For all the other excellent speeches on the Bible textual issue that were given click here. 

For those who follow the Spanish Bible situation, I encourage you to watch Dr. Phil Stringer's message in which he explains how the Spanish Bible became an issue at Landmark Baptist College in Haines City, FL and how the situation has evolved since then.  Click here.

The Trinitarian Bible Society on the RVG

During the annual business meeting of the Dean Burgon Society, Dr. Humberto Gomez gave a report on the progress of the RVG project.  Dr. Waite and the Council members of the DBS were pleased to hear how well the RVG has progressed.  Over 70,000 full RVG Bibles have been distributed worldwide in the past 2 years.  That's not including New Testaments and John & Romans. 

What was even more pleasing to hear was the report on the RVG given by a representative of the Trinitarian Bible Society.  Dr. Thomas Gilmore is the President of the Brazil division of the TBS.  He was present to give a progress report and to answer some questions and concerns of the DBS in regards to the revision of the Almeida Portuguese Bible.  Before discussing the Portuguese Bible Dr. Gilmore read a written letter from the Executive President of the TBS in which he made the following statements:

"The Reina Valera Gomez Bible is in our opinion the best Bible available in the Spanish language at the present time."

"We are aware that the latest revision of the Reina-Valera Gomez Bible has been released.  As soon as we were made aware of this news we ordered a copy of it.  The Trinitarian Bible Society views the work of Dr. Gomez as most admirable, and we applaud his efforts to provide the Hispanic world with a better Bible than that which had been previously available."

The Sword of the Lord on the RVG

Recently the Sword of the Lord has decided to take a public stand on the King James Bible.  Though the SOTL have stood strong for other areas of Fundamentalism, they have not always stood as strongly for the KJV as they do now.  Dr. Shelton Smith, the Editor of the SOTL, recently published an excellent article entitled What Is That Book You Hold In Your Hands.  This message outlined his position on the KJV as being without error and therefore superior to all other modern versions.  We applaud Dr. Smith for taking a stand on this important foundational issue.  

I was especially pleased to see Dr. Shelton Smith's positive statement on the RVG in that article in which he said:   

"Now in recent days, there is a Reina Valera Gómez Spanish Bible. Humberto Gómez has carefully aligned the 1909 Reina Valera with the King James text. Reports coming to me indicate that the RVG is getting strong support and wide acceptance among the Spanish brethren."  

You can read Dr. Shelton Smith's article in it's entirety here.

The Parallel RVG & KJV Bible

GOOD NEWS!  God has answered our prayers!  The $40,000 needed as a down payment to start printing the Bilingual RVG Bible has been provided!  Praise the Lord!  This is a Bible with the RVG and the KJV parallel to it.  The digital templates for the Parallel RVG are complete and ready to be submitted to the presses!   Now we just need to pray that the remainder of the $80,000 needed to pay for the entire printing will be provided.  Of course, we know that God will provide as he always has.  We'll announce when the Parallel is available and where to purchase it. 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

  • Please pray that I will be able to fill up my itinerary for 2008.  If you are interested in having us in your church to present our calling to Puerto Rico, or you know of another church that might have us in, please contact us.
  • We have a closing date for the sell of our home which is Aug.10th.  Please pray that nothing will hinder us from closing.

WHAT IS THE RVG?

For those not familiar with the situation of the Spanish Bible let me define for you what the RVG is.  The RVG is an acronym for Reina Valera Gomez.  The RVG is simply a revision of the 1909 Antigua edition of the Spanish Reina Valera Bible.  Cassiodoro de Reina and Cipriano de Valera were the 2 Protestant Reformers that produced what has become the standard Bible text in Spanish since 1602.  Humberto Gomez Sr, a native Mexican,  is a Fundamental Independent Baptist preacher who has served as a Missionary to his own people as well as the Aztec Indians in Mexico for over 30 years.  He simply revised the 1909 edition of the Reina Valera by totally eradicating all Critical Text variants, bringing it in line with the Textus Receptus 100%.  Thus, the RVG is essentially the 1909 Antigua version of the Reina Valera Bible minus the Critical Text.  The first edition was printed in 2004 and has enjoyed much fruit in Spanish-speaking countries all over the world.  The latest edition is finally becoming available.  Consequently, this Spanish Bible reads parallel with the King James Version barring language differences.  It is this Spanish Bible that we use and promote.  Information on this Bible can be found all throughout this website as well as it's official site www.reinavaleragomez.com.

BUY THE RVG!

You can purchase your own copy of the Reina Valera Gomez Spanish Bible through the ministry of Victory Baptist Press of Milton, FL.  Just go to www.rvg.bz.

The RVG is also available at the following links:

"Bro. Manny, what is your ministry?"

While on the deputation trail,  we are continually asked this question, "What is your ministry?"  This always comes across to me as a strange question because I take it for granted that God's people are all on the same page as to what the work of missions is all about.  But the more I get out, the more I'm finding out that this is really not the case.  There is actually a little bit of confusion as to what exactly the work of missions is.  Over the past few decades so many different types of "ministries" have passed through the church in the name of "missions" seeking financial support.  The true meaning of missions has been somewhat skewed.  As a result, those with a sincere desire to invest their money in true mission work have developed an extra sense of skepticism whenever someone calling himself a "missionary" walks through the doors asking for their support.  And I don't blame them. 

Without going into all the details, I just want to make a simple statement here for the sake of those interested in our ministry.  Perhaps in the near future I will write a little more in detail concerning what the Bible teaches about missions.  But let it be made plain what exactly our ministry is for those who want to know.

Our ministry is to plant local New Testament, Bible-believing, Independent, Fundamental, Baptist churches in Puerto Rico.  In a nutshell, church planting is what God has called us to do.  We plan to accomplish this, through God's leadership and power, by aggressive soul winning and intense discipleship.  For soul-winning, we plan to spend hours upon hours of door-to-door visitation on a weekly basis.  I intend to fall back on my 10+ years of experience in "door knocking" and to apply that experience to the communities of Puerto Rico.  We also plan to saturate the areas with Gospel tracts, Church invitations, Bibles, and other Gospel literature.  We will go to the plazas and preach the Gospel in the open-air and on the street corners just as I have done all over the US for the past 10 years.  One of our goals is also to preach on the radio airwaves as there is an open door in Puerto Rico to preach the Gospel on the radio.  We will pursue every avenue we possibly can to get the unadulterated Gospel out.  We will not wait for sinners in need of Christ to come to us, we will go to them wherever they are.  Aggressive pursuit of souls is what we have employed in the US, and we intend to continue that same tactic in the field of Puerto Rico by God's grace.  The weapons of our warfare are prayer and God's holy word.  And we still believe that red-hot, old-fashioned, straight-laced, Spirit-filled, Christ-honoring preaching gets the job done!   

So to those who are already financially supporting us, let it be clear that what you are investing your money in is a ministry to win souls and plant local churches in the island of Puerto Rico.  To those considering supporting us, this is what we are presenting to you.  We are asking you to see whether or not God would have you to allow us to be an extension of you and your church in the field of Puerto Rico.  We are asking you to let us represent YOU on the field.  We are asking you to do something about the 4 millions souls in Puerto Rico that are neck deep in Roman Catholicism and other false religions by allowing us to propagate the truth of the Gospel in Puerto Rico on your behalf.  We are offering you an oppurtunity to have a part in the salvation of needy souls in Puerto Rico. 

Will you go?  And if you cannot go, will you support those whom God has called to go?  It is YOUR responsibility to go into "all the world" and preach the Gospel.  Puerto Rico is part of "all the world".  What are you doing about this part of the world?  God has called us to give you an oppurtunity to help reach this part of the world for his honor and glory! 

One way or another, will you work with us?  I write this in tears because my heart's desire and prayer to God for Puerto Rico is that they might be saved.  Dear brother and sister in Christ who stand for the fundamentals of the faith and the Bible, let's put petty differences aside and work together to rescue the perishing and care for the dying in Puerto Rico.

Luke 10:2 "Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest."

COMING SOON!

More articles are in the works such as:

  • Can Errors in Textus Receptus Based Bibles be used to Vindicate More Error?
  • Recapturing the Glorious Heritage of the Original 1602 Valera in the Reina Valera Gomez
  • Can the King James Bible be used as a Standard for the Revision of Foreign Language Translations?

We'll keep you updated as to when these articles will be available.

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The Mission agency that takes care of our finances is Word For The World Baptist Ministries.

All financial support and donations should be directed to the following address:

Word For The World

P O Box 849

Rossville, GA  30741

(706) 866-8826

www.wftwbm.org

     

 

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