Complete Stats on materials produced by the Shappley’s and Fruits registered

Links to previous reports, beginning with 2008, are also on the above Page.

Report from Dewayne and Rita Shappley

For the month of November, 2013

Mr. Juan Rivera Ruíz was baptized by Dewayne Shappley in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013.

Mr. Juan Rivera Ruíz was baptized by Dewayne Shappley in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013. María, Juan’s wife, has been a member of the Bayamón church for a number of years. A certified electrician, Juan, now retired, and María have been taking care of Juan’s chronically ill brother for a long time.

-Barrio Cubuy, Canóvanas, Puerto Rico congregation. Two young people and a young man twenty years old were baptized is this church during November. I am reporting this as evidence of how this congregation continues to be active and effective in evangelism. Though they do not have a fully supported, local evangelist, a number of members are very involved in evangelism, both in their own area as well as in places up to two hours driving distance away from Barrio Cubuy, for example, in Barrio Guardarraya, Patillas and the town of Yauco on the southern side of Puerto Rico. As a matter of fact, they also baptized a young couple in Yauco during November.

-School of Advanced Bible Studies, Puerto Rico. Curriculum for Six Year Certificate formalized. Being fully responsible for courses studied to earn a Six Year Certificate, it was my lot to finalize the two year curriculum of materials to be covered by candidates. By the grace of God, I have been able to complete that task, providing teachers and students with all the material on a CD, that is, with the exception of a quantity of graphics I plan to add as time allows. Instead of using printed editions, students are required, beginning in January, 2014, to have the courses on laptops or other digital devices. Naturally, candidates for the Six Year Certificate must already have the Two Year Certificate and the Four Year Certificate. I continue to teach material for Postgraduates.

E-mails and Relevant Info. Internet Stats. Stats on Antonio's site of hymns in Spanish.

-Valle de Los Chillos, Quito, Ecuador. Nov. 04, 2013. “Thanks for your kindness in responding to my commentary. I want to tell you I am a servant of the church of Christ in Valle de Los Chillos, a part of Quito, Ecuador. Your studies have been of much spiritual help in fortifying me in the truth of Christ. May you continue forward in this precious ministry. Many criticize you, but there are also many of us who are edified by your contributions, which are nothing more that clear expositions of the great truths of the word of God. Blessings from on high for you, beloved brethren in Puerto Rico. Your brother in Christ, Hugo Suatunce.”

-Place not identified. Nov. 05, 2013. “Esteemed friend, …I liked the studies on Mark and Timothy. They are excellent, but this about Pentecostalism I do not like. Christ did a great work in my life, similar to that in the life of Paul, and the Lord Jesus Christ took me to an evangelical Pentecostal church. … The Lord is coming to look for his church, without stains or wrinkles. A church that is alive, and not denominations or religions. Christ is not religion. On my behalf, don’t mess up the beautiful work you have begun with the lessons. They are very nice, but don’t go the way of criticisms.” Ángel Guerrero. Referer: "http://www.editoriallapaz.org/pentecostales_iglesia_Jerusalen.htm"

-The studies on Mark and Timothy are part of a series on “The Ideal Church: Its Evangelists.”The reference to Pentecostalism is a study entitled “Zero Pentecostals in the Jerusalem Church,” the third in a three-part series on the “History of the church of Christ in Jerusalem.” This in-depth analysis broadened my understanding of various aspects of that church. Both series are taught in the School of Advanced Bible Studies, in San Juan. Of course, Angel, converted to Pentecostalism, did not like “Zero Pentecostals…” Very often do I lament that the first, non-Catholic, message heard by most people in Latin America was, and is, Pentecostal. If only our brotherhood had been, and would be now, more aggressive in evangelism. My reply to Ángel responded to some of his observations and beliefs. By the way, when he says “A church that is alive…,” he means Pentecostal, charismatic churches. Most Pentecostals strongly, even fanatically believe, they are God’s true people. Their churches are “alive”; the rest of the churches are “dead”, and lost. Data I have read shows there are more than a billion people in the world who identify themselves as Pentecostal or charismatic. I could not find any in the Jerusalem church, and that did not sit well with Ángel.

-Place not identified. (Probably El Paso, Texas, judging by the e-mail address) Nov. 06, 2013. “Blessings for all. Thanks for your work in the Lord’s vineyard. The hymns are beautiful. For some time now I have been including a hymn at the end of my sermons recorded on CD.” Salvador Estrada, church, El Paso.

Referer: "http://www.editoriallapaz.org/himnos_Cristo_Rey.htm" Reference is to the hymns sung by Antonio Shappley, about 170 available on his site www.alabanzas.info.

-Worcester, MA. Nov. 11, 2013. “Very good material to be used.” Tamar Rosado. Referer: "http://www.editoriallapaz.org/apocalipsis_Capitulo1_contenido.htm" This reference is to Chapter One of the commentary on Revelation.

-Place not identified. Nov. 12, 2013. “I thank all of you very much for this Web Page. It will be of much blessing to my spiritual life.” Sylvia Rendón

-Madrid, Spain. Nov. 14, 2013. “Greetings, Homero, from Madrid. I received much documentary help from you in Cuba, a blessing. Now, I have been serving the church in Madrid for almost five years, where I carry out the rolls of preacher, teacher, evangelist, etc. If you come to Madrid, please advise us and visit with us, sharing your ministry with us.” Ramón Pérez

-Responding to this e-mail, I asked Brother Pérez how the church in Madrid was doing, for, in years past, a Christian from this area of the world visited that congregation, observing definite departures from New Testament doctrine. As a matter of fact, Juan Monroy, after supposedly identifying churches he had established in Spain as like churches of Christ we knew in the 1960’s, later influenced almost all of them to use musical instruments and name women preachers. I personally possess no small amount of corroborating evidence to that effect. Ramón Pérez sent the following reply.

-Madrid, Spain. Nov. 17, 2013. “As you well say, the church of Christ in Spain is heterogeneous. In my humble opinion, the Restoration Movement has not attained its objectives, which are to found and extend the church in all this country, with the same doctrinal format and worship. There is a lot to be said on this, but the church of Christ in Madrid, the first established in Spain by Juan A. Monroy, has remained faithful to the model in almost all aspects. We do not use musical instruments, do not have women preachers and worship follows norms of the first century church. Brother Jesús Manzano, preacher and elder of the local church in Calle Teruel 25, Madrid, has been a servant faithful to the principals of the Movement. The church is organized according to Biblical doctrine, and we are okay, in my opinion, against wind and tides.” Ramón Pérez

-This is, indeed, good news about the church in Madrid. As I informed Ramón, there were 40,853 visits from Spain to editoriallapaz during the first nine months of this year 2013, promising contacts among them.

-Barquisimeto, Lara, Colombia. Nov. 16, 2013. I have found a lot of helpful material and am using it in articles I put on my Blog. But, in reality, this material so valuable seems not to be so known in churches of Christ, and not to be used so much by brethren. I am giving my impression.” Francisco Guevara Chafarded Referer: "http://www.editoriallapaz.org/demonios_desglosedelecciones.htm"

-As the Referer indicates, Francisco was on the Page which presents a list, with links, of a series of studies on “Demons in the Time of Christ and the Apostles.” Though his impression of the use of such materials in churches of Christ is that of one man in one city of the world, I doubt not, from personal observation and some feedback, that he is right to a disconcerting degree, the reasons being too many and complicated to set forth here. But, I will give an example of one recently brought to my attention, and it comes from his own country of Colombia. Eight people were baptized in a certain city of that country after much study on their own and much study of material on editoriallapaz.org. They soon found out the little group already meeting there had existed for 25 years, hardly growing any. After attending a few weeks, they observed the man preaching and teaching there for a long time did not venture far from the fundamentals of the doctrine of Christ, having the church spend an excessive amount of time singing songs. When one of the eight respectfully suggested they sing less and study more deeply, mentioning materials on our site, the preacher became offended, telling them the materials were too erudite, of all things, and that they should stop reading them and be content with what he offered! It was pointed out that they had come to the church precisely by means of the site and the studies!

-On the other hand, not a few preachers and teachers of churches of Christ do testify to using the materials. Of course, there is no expectation on our part that most would, or even a large number. Much of the material is evangelistic in nature. All of it is set before the public with no pretention on our behalf about its being the best. All things considered, the consistently high number of visitors, in relative terms, I personally interpret as a positive indicator of its value, in addition to the many, many e-mails in confirmation.

-Place not identified. “God bless you, brother. I am sending you this friendly invitation because it so happens that someone sent me a message just to say to me that I am a false teacher, like those following Homero Shappley. Just as soon as I tried to answer the person, he blocked me and I was not able to answer. And for that reason I wanted to look and see who is Homero Shappley, for I did not know who you are. I found your Web Page, and you have very good studies on the tithe, the rapture and much more. God continue to bless you.” Don Nadie de Cristo [Well, the author did not give his very own name but signed “Mr. Nobody who is of Christ.”]

-Place not identified. “Hello, my beloved brother. May God continue giving you rich blessings. I want to thank you greatly for the help we have received on your behalf. We are a young congregation three years and seven months old, with 50 baptized and 20 more among young people and visitors. In addition, we have approximately 25 children. You will ask: ‘How have I helped?’ Thanks to your Web Page, we have learned many hymns, and we like to know we have brethren all over the world. You do not know how many times you have helped me to find addresses of other congregations, with the purpose of sending brethren to the congregations nearest their residence. We would like very much for you to visit us some day. Greetings for all the brethren who make possible this contact.” Rosalba Vázquez Juachin

-Place not identified. “Esteemed brother, may God bless you greatly for the work you are doing. Twenty-two years ago (I was a young man of 17), you sent me Bible studies that helped me so very much. When I listened to the album on Galatians, I said to myself: ‘I want to be like them.’ Today, I am 39 years old, and I have prepared myself in the Bible. Believe me, you were my inspiration. I no longer have the album. I gave it to a brother. But, in my mind I still have the teaching and the voices of the expositors. Thanks, and God bless you always.” Luis Barríos.

-That is really quite a beautifully worded and inspiring statement to me! The album mentioned by Luis was the first of four we did. Thirty-two studies, each about 27 minutes, on both sides of 16 cassettes and placed in a hard plastic album holding just that number. I did Galatians with Bro. Carlos Quiñones, of the Caguas, Puerto Rico church. He still attends there. Rita did almost all the work of producing thousands of those albums, plus large numbers of smaller sets and individual cassettes.

-Place not identified. Nov. 22, 2013. “Not long ago, I was given the Book of Mormon and read it, but the truth is by doing it I just realized it is totally fatuous. In truth, I feel compassion for all the people who live in deceit. ‘My people are lost because they lack understanding.’ I thank God for the great blessing of knowing the truth, and being free. Let us pray for all those who ignore the truth and live in darkness.” Antel Lagunas Referer: "http://www.editoriallapaz.org/mormones.htm"

-To all these expressions I would just say: Amen! The only document on Mormonism we have on editoriallapaz.org recounts the sad and violent origin of that religion and examines its major tenants and practices. Antel was on that Page went he wrote. With one exception I remember, Mormons react to it with fanatical, irrational zeal. There are a lot of them in the Spanish-speaking world, many bought, from what I have observed, with material favors offered by that church. Many years ago, one of their leaders was baptized in the Bayamón church.

-Place not identified. Nov. 24, 2013. “When we read information such as that you publish on this Web we realize more deeply where lies the root of all the evils sapping our society, which, of course, is due to all the bad actions committed by human beings, generally due to not fearing Jehovah our God. I congratulate you for all you publish. May God bless you always, and may Jesus Christ our Lord make it possible that, as I have been able to have access to all this information on this Web Page, many more people may come to enrich themselves with all this wisdom that is published here, for it comes from the eternal Father. Greetings.” Luis Montilla
Referer: "
http://www.editoriallapaz.org/romanos_5_12.htm"

-The Referer shows Luis wrote when he was on the Page of the study “Original Sin. Romans 5:12.” “What sin entered through Adam?” asked Ramón, of Santiago, Chile. Since I myself desired to better understand Romans 5:12-21, I dedicated no small amount of time to the text, writing two rather lengthy studies, sharing them with Ramón and, through the Internet site, with anyone else interested. Also, taught the material in the School of Advanced Bible Studies in San Juan.

-La Victoria Chiclayo, Perú. Nov. 25, 2013. “I am interested in learning more about the Papacy. I am infinitely thankful for your subjects published on the Internet.” Jorge Mendoza Ordoñez

-Apure, Venezuela. Nov. 26, 2013. “Very interesting.” Sr. Rivero [Mr. Rivero was on the Home Page of editoriallapaz when he wrote, so maybe he found the whole site “very interesting.” Hope so.

 

Internet Stats

For the month of November, 2013 (30 days)

Antonio has verified that we have 9,248 external links to editoriallapaz.

-Visits

-To editoriallapaz.org........................................................................................... 91,919

-To iglesia-de-cristo.com.......................................................................................... 180

-To apocalipsis.co........................................................................................................ 75

-To vimeo.com, for videos........................................................................................ 347

-Total visits.............................................................................................. 92,521

-Daily average of visits........................................................................................ 3,084

-Page views for all sites.............................................................................................. 170,410

Totals for the year 2013

-Total visits through November 30........................................................................... 1,186,684

-Daily average for 273 days.................................................................................. 3,553

-Page views................................................................................................................. 2,127,626

Grand Totals through November 30, 2013

-Grand Total of visits................................................................................................ 11,356,722

-Grand Total of Page Views (documents accessed by visitors)....................... 22,840,003

Data on www.alabanzas.info

This is Antonio Shappley’s site of hymns in Spanish

-Visits to this site from Jan. 01 – Nov. 12, 2013.......................................................... 54,496

-Approximate daily visits....................................................................................................... 250

-External links to this site................................................................................................ 67,090

-Registered users............................................................................................................... 1,618

 

Complete Stats on materials produced by the Shappley’s and Fruits registered

Links to previous reports, beginning with 2008, are also on the above Page.

  

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