John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Doctors are sometimes taught that lying is permissible under certain circumstances - that to tell the truth would sometimes do more harm than good. So they sometimes deceive patients and deceive the families. I will say frankly that I want no doctor to wait on me or my family who is a lying agent of Satan. A man who will lie about one thing will lie about another if he has enough to gain by it, and a liar can never be trusted. - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 117]

Parents, especially, feel that lying is permitted in their case in dealing with children. Children ask so many questions that parents don't want to answer, so lying is a customary business in the average home. Parents think that lying threats are better than honest punishment and discipline, they think that pleasant lies are sometimes better for small ears than unpleasant truths. So parents lie. They glibly explain that storks bring babies, that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, that rabbits lay Easter eggs, that " 'the booger man' will get you if you don't go to sleep." An adults idea of a joke on children is, "I am going to give baby sister to the neighbors." In fact, books and magazines even have helpful hints to parents on how to deceive their children. The churches help all they can, and pastors and Sunday School teachers faithfully propagate the lie about Santa Claus and reindeers at Christmas, liking that better than the truth about the Babe born in a manger, the shepherds in the fields, the wise men from the East and the angels who praised God saying, "Glory to God in the highest." Churches have their Easter programs where children are taught not about the resurrection of the Saviour, but about Easter eggs, little chickens, and baby rabbits. Children's classes are given miniature gifts of rabbits with their little nests of candy eggs which they presumably have laid. Thus the whole background of a child's life is formed of a tissue of lies! Small wonder that he soon learns to have no confidence in the opinions of the mother and father who dealt with him so falsely. If any parent reads this, I suggest you check and see which one your child will believe first, you, or his high school teacher! Children instinctively know that one who brazenly lies about Santa Claus and "booger man" and whipping, can't be trusted when they express opinions about dancing and drinking and gambling and picture shows. - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 118-119]

I am sure there are honorable, upright lawyers who scorn and hate a lie, but the public generally has been led to adopt the attitude of the Irishman who wandered in a graveyard reading the epitaphs. On one headstone he read, "Here lies a lawyer and an honest man." And he exclaimed in astonishment, "Begorra, here are two men buried in the same grave!" - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 117]

A backslider is a saved person who falls into sin. A lost sinner cannot be a backslider. You have to go somewhere before you can slide back. But one who is truly born again, a child of God who falls into sin, is a backslider. It may be outrageous and gross sin known to everyone, or it may be merely coldness of heart, a lukewarmness of heart instead of the burning fire of love for God. But when a Christian loses any of his joy, or loses part of his sweet fellowship with God, or falls into sin, then he is a backslider. Remember that only Christians can backslide. - John R. Rice, What Is a Backslider?

Was there ever a time when you were nearer to God than you are today? Was your heart ever happier than now? Was your life ever more fruitful? If you need to answer yes to any of those questions, then today you are, of course, a backslider. - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 126]

The Scripture teaches us to take up our cross DAILY and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). We must come DAILY, according to the model prayer, to ask forgiveness for our sins (Matt. 6:11, 12). The proper attitude for a child of God every day is the attitude of penitence, confession and turning from sin, judging ourselves so that we need not be judged in the wrath of God (I Cor. 11:31, 32; I John 1:8-10). Yes, if you had a revival only yesterday, you need one today! - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 127]

All of the things that are wrong with us are wrong in the heart. Our sins, our prayerlessness, our worldliness, our absorption in trivial things, our carelessness about souls, our spiritual blindness, these all proceed from our hearts, stubborn, carnal, sin-cursed, unbroken hearts! Our lack of revival does not proceed from circumstances. Our fruitlessness, our barrenness is not a fault of the head; it is a black sin of the heart! It is not so much that our minds need to be taught, but rather that our hearts need to be broken up. May God give us grace to set about to seek the broken and contrite heart that God will not despise. - John R. Rice [The Ruin of a Christian, pg. 134]