Missionary Carlos A. Donate (donate.carlos@yahoo.com)
Greetings in Jesus´ precious Name! My name is Carlos A. Donate Alvira, and I am 62 years of age. I have been an independent, Bible-believing Baptist missionary since 1984. I grew up in a military home, and grew up in Puerto Rico where both of my parents were born.
My first pastor was Dr. Hernán Cortés, of the First Baptist Church in Levittown, Puerto Rico. He was a staunch Reina-Valera 1909 believer, and preacher. Despite this, he did fellowship with the Reina-Valera 1960 crowd for many years, but he always insisted to be aware of their textual differences.
I attended Hyles-Anderson College from 1980 through 1984. During my years there, I studied Greek and Hebrew, and was always taught the importance of the KJB. Never did I ever hear anything negative being said about the AV. I also became quite able to collate and exegete verses in these biblical languages plus Latin.
When I went to the mission field, I began a series of messages and Bible studies to compare the AV with the 1909 and the 1960. Soon, I became aware in 1993 that there was a friend of mine, Brother Bill Park, who was working on a revision of the Spanish Bible to eliminate all the corrupt, Westcott and Hort renderings on both the 1909 but worse in the 1960. I soon joined him, and the church where he was attending, on the project to restore the Antigua Valera 1602. For 5 years, I was on their consultation team, traveling to several countries to teach and preach on the subject. In 1999, we published the first New Testament right here in Guatemala. 3,000 copies were printed, and I sent 2,000 to Mexico to the church that was sponsoring that revision, Iglesia Bautista Biblica de la Gracia or IBBG. At the same time, I was invited in 2000 to help Dr. Humberto Gomez with his desire to produce another revision, which at first, I wasn´t interested in. After much prayer, however, Dr. Phil Stringer of Landmark Baptist College in Haines City, Florida convinced me to share what I had contributed with the folks at IBBG. Afterwards, in 2004, I decided to adopt the RVG, realizing that all that was available at that time was the New Testament of the 1602P. This was not taken well by our brethren of the 1602P, but I did it for several reasons:
1) Firstly, I was convinced that the language of the 1602P was outdated, and that the Royal Academy of Spain, or RAE, had stated very emphatically that such regression to that style, particularly the proclitic and enclitic verbs, and a number of words, would do more damage than good in communication. Well, as a preacher, I wanted to communicate the Gospel of Christ in Guatemala the best way possible, but using European-style Spanish or Castilian Spanish, wasn´t going to be as effective in accomplishing such a goal. Hispanic-American sociolinguistics, hence, played a vital role in this decision.
2) Secondly, and more importantly, was my decision to go back to “Verbo” in John 1:1. The main reason for this is that “Palabra” comes the Latin “Sermo”, a word that is directly associated (etymologically) to the mythological gods of Jupiter and Mercury. Furthermore, Dr. Hugh Houghton of the Vetus Latina Institute, and other renown Latin scholars, helped me realize that “Verbum” was NOT of Catholic origin, much less attached to any catholic dogma whatsoever.
3) Thirdly, I wasn´t satisfied with the change from “Jehová” to “SEÑOR”, which entails over 5,000 times in Scripture. I always vouched for what both Mr. Reina, the original translator, said in his Introducción in his Bible in 1,569, and which was emphasized by Mr. Valera, his first revisor, in 1.602. I was therefore convinced that the change would dishonor their foundational work which was honored by God all these many years.
4) In the fourth place, I didn´t agree with IBBG´s philosophy of “by us, and for us”. I thought it meant that they were wanting their project to be “a local church” project. However, if that was true, then why did they reach out to others outside their church to carry out their textual work? All of the decisions had to be made by their pastor, Raul Reyes. He called the shots. This issue finally culminated in not just my departure, but also with the departure of other “boards members” including Mr. Bill Park himself, who thought it was best to go his way and produce his own revision a few years later. I and others would often send Pastor Reyes suggestions which we considered very important, only to be dismissed with their mantra: “Leave us alone!”
5) Last, but not least, I understood the sacrifice it entailed to bring all Hispanic fundamentalists together into this “arena”, both the 1909 crowd (which he and I were part of) but also the 1960 crowd, whom he knew him and got along well with him, too! After much prayer, the Lord gave me peace about working with Dr. Humberto Gomez himself, a man whom I had opposed at first. I understood that he had a better outreach to the IBF Spanish-speaking world. I knew, then and now, that the Lord would use him better than anyone else, not just because of his humility and willingness to fight for the pure words of God, but also because he already had a deep understanding on the issue prior to embarking on his project.
I love the RVG! God has allowed us to help in the project since 2004—20 years! We have seen many former Westcott and Hort churches in Guatemala revert to the pure words of God and the RVG. As of recent, we have counted over 100 churches in Guatemala that have embraced it. We are now raising more funds to import another 25,000 by the year 2026. We would certainly appreciate your prayers about this. Thanks!
John 3:16
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