John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

The truth is, if you see that like it ought to be, it doesn't matter much whether you have money or not; it doesn't matter much whether you have a fine house with three or four bedrooms and bath; whether you have a new car every two years, etc. If a Christian remembers that this is just a little bit of time, just a little practice before the game starts, just the entry hall to eternity, then things here don't matter unless they matter at the judgment seat of Christ. If they are valuable then, that is what we should give our attention to. - John R. Rice

Some others say, "Marriage is not essential if two people really love each other." In the first place, you are talking about the kind of love with no character, with no morals, not a love of unselfish devotion and lifetime pledges. The Bible still says that "marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4). - John R. Rice

"Oh, but Brother Rice, different writers sometimes had different vocabularies." Well, did any man or group of men writing the Bible have more sense, more vocabulary than the immortal, eternal God had? The simple truth is, God made the writers. Before they were born He planned their circumstances, their character, their vocabulary. The Scriptures says in Psalm 119:89, "For ever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." God inspired people to write down the very words that are already settled in Heaven, the Bible says. This is verbal inspiration, word-for-word inspiration. - John R. Rice

I say, the very words of all the Bible were given from God, breathed out from God. That is verbal or word-for-word inspiration. "Dr. Rice, do you mean science, too, and all the creation?" Yes. "But my teacher said...." Then your teacher is an infidel if he does not believe the Bible. An infidel religion says there is no God. It says the Bible is not true, that man came from an ape-like creature by evolution.
In the first place, that is silly and unproven. Does any intelligent... person in the world believe in a spontaneous generation, that life began of itself, without any Creator? Centuries and centuries have gone by. Ever since Pasteur, every intelligent man has learned that germs come from germs, and that none ever start by themselves. All science has proved that impossible. Do you think one type of animal turned into a distinctly different kind of animal, that which was a dog turned into a cow, by generations and generations- millions of years? You are a fool, for the Bible says, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." That is what Jesus said in Luke 24:25. - John R. Rice

Now Romans 3:17 and 18: "The way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes."
The worse thing wrong with America is that people are not afraid of God. They are not disturbed about Hell. They don't believe in the wages of sin. Many think little about breaking the marriage vow. They think little about vandalism, stealing, chicanery, crookedness by which they get money they didn't earn. People think nothing about going on relief rolls, while we work to make a living and provide for them while they loaf. I am just saying, no fear of God, no sense of honor and morality. God knows. That is a complaint about the whole human race. By nature we are sinners. - John R. Rice

I turn to Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"The wages of sin is death." The Lord doesn't say that God is so angry that He is going to kill you. The Bible says you sowed the seed naturally and there is a certain end to a certain road. If you travel that road, don't blame God where that road leads. "The wages of sin is death." - John R. Rice

Everybody who goes to Hell walks up to the ticket office at the railroad station and buys his own ticket. Everybody who goes to Heaven has to ride on a pass; it is the free gift of God. How often God takes this up in the Bible. - John R. Rice