John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

The Bible is God's authority on earth. When it comes to judgment time, Romans 2:12-15 says that every man in the world will be judged either by the written law or by the law written in his heart. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me" (John 5:45, 46). And again Jesus said, "...the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). All judgment is given to the Son, but the judgment will be on the basis of the Bible. The Bible is God's written authority for everybody. - John R. Rice

Oh, there are those who call the name of Christ, but they do not believe the Bible. And it is blasphemy, it is hypocrisy, it is insincerity, it is a fake kind of religion that would claim to take Christ, then deny the Word on which He relied and which He claimed is the eternal and perfect Word of God. So Christ and the Word go together. - John R. Rice

Somebody says, "I have a leading to do so and so." But we are commanded to "try the spirits whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). A woman said, "I know the Bible says I shouldn't marry this man, but I feel led to marry him in order to get him saved." No, she fooled herself about it. She was so anxious not to be an old maid that she made up her mind and convinced herself; God didn't go against His word in leading her. Any so-called leading which is contrary to the Bible is of Satan and of evil spirits; it is not of God. You cannot follow any leading nor any premonition nor any feeling, if it goes against the Word of God and be safe. Saved people all must rely on the Bible. - John R. Rice

That means since the Bible says, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink," a Christian can't serve liquor. Since the Bible says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging," that settles it for a Christian, if he believes the Bible. That is the authority; it is not what somebody else says, not what the doctor says, nor what the scientists say, nor public opinion. No, no! For a Christian, the law is the Word of God. - John R. Rice

So some say, "If I run with infidels I believe I will be able to do more good." You don't have to believe about that; you just take what God says: "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers" (II Cor. 6:14) and "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Ps. 1:1).
You take what God said. All authority for a Christian is the Word of God. I ought to live by that all the time. - John R. Rice

You say, "Crime is excusable because somebody is poor." I was poor, too. My family was poor. I wore "hand-me-down" clothes. Eight of us lived in a four-room country house without plumbing, without electric lights, without running water; and we were decent and honest, and went to church, and paid our bills, and did right. Being poor doesn't give any excuse to break the laws of the land. - John R. Rice

Some say that we can do away with poverty. No, we won't do away with poverty until we do away with sin in the human heart; not until we do away with drunkenness; not until we do away with laziness; not until we do away with deceit and gambling. Jesus said, "...the poor always ye have with you" (John 12:8). I am not under any obligation to feed the man who won't work. The Bible says, "If any would not work, neither should he eat" (II Thess. 3:10). Work is God's plan. I am for helping those who are in special need. I am for charity for those who need it. I am for helping the sick and others who can't work. But America needs to come back to honesty and integrity, and reaping what we sow and sowing what we reap, and earning what we get and getting what we earn. That is what we need again in America. - John R. Rice