DR. JOHN R. RICE, Giant of Evangelism, hero of the Faith

So, what am I supposed to do with my coppies of Rice's and Hutson's booklets as they differ from each other. And will Independent baptists now be in "limbo" as for what to believe about the end times?

All I can tell you bro. is to read the Bible and decide for yourself.

I didn't personally find Dr. Rice to be the deepest theologian on the block about some issues, but he was a wonderful evangelist and preacher, and he certainly wrote some excellent books.

Dr. Hutson I didn't agree with because he got involved with the NKJV way back when.

But that doesn't take away from the fact that he preached hard against sin and tried to win souls for the Lord.

See, while I like a lot of the sermons the Sword prints and some of their books, I don't consider them at all to be the voice of fundamentalism.

For one thing, they allowed Jack Hyles to stay on the Board way too long. That made me lose respect for them in a way.

And they do sell a lot of Bibles. Scofield among them. But Scofield held some beleifs that most Independent baptist wouldn't.

***All I can tell you bro. is to read the Bible and decide for yourself.***

The best advise anyone could give.

By the way, I use the Cambridge, Oxford (England version)and World reference KJVs. No more so called "Study bibles" for me.

Plus a few modern ones for comparison only.

During the depression years of the 1930's, charlatans using evangelism as a cloak of respectability and for a paycheck brought true evangelism and evangelists into degrading disrepute. Every evangelist became suspect until proven honest, honorable and holy. Reformed theologians and pastors chilled the spirit of evangelism nationwide. Men like Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, cataloged evangelists as "false forces in evangelism" and charged that invitations to accept Christ and confess Him in public services "implied salvation by works." Evangelists were labeled "grafters," "racketeers" and "Elmer Gantrys." It was into this kind of a religious climate that Dr. Rice entered full-time evangelism.

On page 4, in the October 19, 1973 issue of Rice's The Sword of The Lord magazine, Rice wrote a book review titled "Tremendous! Remarkable! The Best Ever!" In the review of said book, Rice says "I am amazed at this encyclopedia of scholarly answers to these Bible questions."

The book reviewed was Dr. Rice, Here Are More Questions. It was his own book. Even though Rice "never accepted a salary for his ministry as editor" of Sword of the Lord, he wasn't above using it to generate for-profit sales of his own book.

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