Hello, this is Paul Scharf for Whitcomb Ministries. I'm here today with Dr. John Whitcomb. Dr. Whitcomb, we're talking this morning about a very special topic that's going to be seen for those who are benefited from Whitcomb Ministries. And in fact, we're hoping to reach a whole new audience very soon because we are forming a partnership with a man named Dante Rosso. who you're going to tell us about in a minute. He is an expert Spanish translator, and our hope is that very shortly, within the next couple of issues of your monthly monograph, an email newsletter that goes out to nearly a thousand people every month, that that electronic newsletter is going to be available in Spanish through the work of Dante, who we're going to begin working with. And we're excited about that. And you're also, I know, have for years had a heart to reach Spanish people. So this is sort of something that fits in with a long pattern in your life, isn't it, Dr. Whitcomb? Yes, it's amazing as I look back over the years how God has equipped me, to some extent at least, or fascinated me with different language groups around the world. From the age of three to the age of six, I was raised in China, where my father was there in the military, and came back speaking Mandarin, which is the greatest language group in the whole world. 880 million people speak in that language. And far down into the 300 million comes English and Spanish and some other languages, as we realize. But later on in my young life, My father, who was fluent in Spanish, taught me that language. He never spoke Chinese, and I soon forgot mine, I'm sorry to say. But my fascination with and commitment to the Chinese-speaking world, the Mandarin-speaking world, still continues. But this story focuses on Spanish, spoken by hundreds of millions of people all over, of course, Central America, Latin America, increasingly the United States, and Spain, and other such countries. We thank the Lord that in His providence He gave me a connection with that language, too. So that very early in my life, my father, who was bilingual, having been raised in Cuba, because his father was stationed there just after the Spanish-American War. My father went to West Point and was sent to Madrid to polish up his Spanish to come back around 1920-21 for several years to be an instructor in Spanish at West Point. He was very fluent. In fact, after the Second World War, he became the American military ambassador to Peru and lived in Lima for 19 years. And he loved the Spanish-speaking people and they thought actually he was a Spaniard. But nevertheless, I picked up some of the language which was God's way to fascinate me again with vast language-speaking groups of the world. You know, when you look into the final book of the Bible, friend, you see that God is interested in language groups too. As a matter of fact, we know that He created them at the Tower of Babel to set up barriers against Satan, permanently and deeply poisoning people, groups of the world, which now number over 6,000. And so we read in Revelation chapter 5 that when we get to heaven, we will sing a new song. It'll sound like this. Worthy art thou to take the book, and to break its seals, for thou was slain, and it's purchased for God with thy blood. Speaking of Jesus Christ, our Savior, of course, the Lamb of God. Thou didst purchase for God with thy blood men from every tribe and tongue, that's language, and people and nation. And thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God that they will reign upon the earth. And so I say, well, thank you, Lord. Help me to be interested in what you're interested in. And so, very soon after I began to teach at Grace Theological Seminary in the early 1950s, I became involved with the Spanish World Gospel Mission, as it was known at that time, led by Florentino Toirac, a Cuban who had a tremendous burden to reach the Spanish-speaking world through broadcasts and through preaching here and there. In later years, when the Lord took him to heaven, God replaced him with an outstanding leader by the name of Cornelius Rivera in what is now called Spanish World Ministries. From time to time, I keep in contact with that fine ministry as well. At this time, I am very involved in trying to get certain important books into Spanish, especially my theological mentor, my theological father, as I've called him, Alva J. McLean, spent really his theological life preparing a masterpiece called The Greatness of the Kingdom. We are now putting this, I say we, I'm not personally doing this, but I'm very involved and concerned and promoting this project. The last two of the four volumes of the Spanish edition are now published. And the first two volumes are about to be published as we are seeking God's help in promoting and carrying through this important project. At this time, I am now involved also with Portavoz, which is the Spanish division of Greigel Publishing Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have published my book, The Early Earth, in Spanish, La Tierra Primitiva. They have published one of our most popular books, The World That Perished, El Mundo Que Perseo, in Spanish, and also my commentary on the books of Daniel and Esther, and Norma's famous book for children called Those Mysterious Dinosaurs. We hope and trust that we may continue to work through portables at Cregill and Grand Rapids to make these books available in the Spanish-speaking world. At this time, I am very happy to mention my friend Dante Rosso. who was the translator of some of the books I've just mentioned, who was my personal interpreter on a lecture tour in Argentina in the mid-1980s, who was a professional translator in New England, and who is dedicated to making the truths of God available to the Spanish-speaking world. He's the one who translates Israel, My Glory, which is the beautiful magazine, of course, of Friends of Israel. So I am trusting God that somehow these meditations that we put out from time to time, these monographs dealing with biblical, theological, and spiritual issues may be available to a wider and wider audience of people who speak the beautiful Spanish language. And my prayer is that God may be pleased to use these means to help many to come to a deeper knowledge of the precious truths of God's Word. So Dr. Whitcomb, what would be your hope and prayer as you consider the possibility that this monograph, which, as I mentioned before, is already going out to several hundreds of people every month in the English language, and we've seen a tremendous response from that, but what do you think we should hope to accomplish as we begin to put this up in Spanish? People are going to be able to sign up for the Spanish edition on the WhitcombMinistries.org website. There will possibly be some information, some resources in the Spanish language also on the website in the future as this all unfolds. What do you think we should hope to see the Lord do as we watch this process begin? There are many outstanding pastors and Bible teachers in the Spanish-speaking world today. They desperately need resources, materials to help them to implement their ministry of teaching the whole counsel of God in their own language. And so it's our desire to make, as it were, available ultimately, of course, a library of books and tapes and DVDs and so forth, CDs in the Spanish language that might encourage people all over Central and South America, and as we said before, 20 million Spanish-speaking people now in America as well. An enormous subculture in this country that needs desperately to be a lumen helped, encouraged along the pathway of spiritual life and biblical truth. So anything that we can do to encourage them along that line will be our desire. Now these brief meditations we put out each month are not massive in depth, but hopefully will catch the attention of people who love the Spanish language to understand certain important facets of theological and spiritual reality that we might be able to help them along the way. We are so thankful for the enormous response in the English-speaking world to these monographs and want to see, in God's mercy, the door open in the Spanish-speaking world also to these thoughts from God's precious Word, the Bible. As I mentioned at the beginning, then Dr. Whitcomb, our plan is that very soon within the next couple of issues, the monthly monograph that we produce from Whitcomb Ministries, an electronic newsletter that is sent out each month free of charge to anyone who would like it, will be available in a Spanish edition, and this will be through the help of Mr. Dante Rosso. He is the Director of the Spanish Translations Ministry in Beverly, Massachusetts, and as you said, a very good friend. I wonder if you might close this short discussion on this very important and encouraging prospect by just saying a final word about what this might do to put forward the biblical truth that we want to get out through the monograph each month, how this might impact Whitcomb Ministries and then maybe lead us in a closing word of prayer for Dante and Whitcomb Ministries as we begin this push here in the coming days to begin an attempt to get the word out in Spanish through Whitcomb Ministries. Yes, we just look back over these more than 80 years that God has given me on this earth in amazement and profound humility and thankfulness for the opportunity to to travel around the world, to learn some of the great languages of the world, especially, as I've said, Mandarin Chinese, then the English language, and now the Spanish language, and others beyond, that we might be able to present to people in those language groups, and hopefully others beyond. the massive truth of God's written revelation in the Bible, how the world began, how it's going to end, and everything in between. Jesus Christ is not only the Alpha, He's the Omega. He's not only the beginning, He's the end. He not only started the universe, He's going to finish it. And to Him all glory belongs as we see more and more clearly now through study and meditation, and prayer, and of course searching the scriptures daily, the things that we just have to have to guide us through life's labyrinth of confusion, frustration, temptation, and sin. We need a Savior, not only to bring us into eternal life, but to teach us along the way. As Jesus said emphatically, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me. He wants His friend to come the whole way with Him, to have the whole truth with Him, to experience the whole depth of life that only He can provide through the Spirit of God who wrote the Bible to tell us how great, how great He really is. Well, thank you, Dr. Whitcomb, and I wonder if you could just wrap up this session then with this exciting news by just leading us in prayer for this effort from Whitcomb Ministries and especially for Dante Rosso as he begins to partner with us in this important endeavor. And so, Father, I do thank you for Dante Rosso and his deep desire to make your biblical, theological, revealed truth available to the whole Spanish-speaking world. I thank you for Cornelius Rivera at Spanish World Ministries in Winona Lake, Indiana, for his desire to do the same. and to reach out with messages for radio stations to transmit to millions and millions of Spanish-speaking people. I thank you, Father, for Portavos Ministry at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and for their effort to also make these things available in the Spanish language, for our project to put the greatness of the kingdom into Spanish, Not to honor Alba J. McLean, one of the greatest theologians of the last century, but to see something of the massive truths that God has revealed about the glory of the kingdom that's coming. that we'll all know the trends and the preparations and the points of anticipation that God has given us of the kingdom that he will establish yet upon this earth. Father, I just thank you for your truth to help us to puncture, to penetrate all these cultural linguistic barriers that still remain from the vast catastrophe of the Tower of Babel, and that people all over the world, as we read in Revelation 5 and Revelation 7, will praise Jesus Christ for who He is because someone told them the truth in their own language. My prayer, Father, I offer in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.