Blog on the Lillypad
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
 | Brave words that clarify things
"Another characteristic of historic fundamentalism that we saw in our Dad was his constant study of the Word of God." So writes Joy Rice Martin, daughter of John R. Rice, to Shelton Smith, current head of SWORD OF THE LORD, in an open letter. Mrs. Martin takes Shelton Smith to task on the shameful isolationsim, paranoid autonomy, and incredibly stupid doctrinal blunders all endorsed by the SWORD in its current state. |
If you are an oldy like me, you may rememebr when the SWORD ran articles on church history, detailed analyses of doctrine, and sermons by truly great preachers of history. I was saved out of Roman Catholicism, and the day that the SWORD was delivered to my house always meant an afternoon leafing through the tiny newsprint pages. Each journey into that small newspaper was a journey of learning. When they had articles that were to be continued, I kept track and read the successive articles as the new issues came out.
As time went by, the minor points of dress code and church building became more prominent, and then took over. Squabbling replaced the doctrinal content. I outgrew the SWORD because the SWORD got more juveile as I grew up. It was a tragic loss. In a homne where my parents were not sympathetic with my beliefs, the SWORD was a friend and a lifeline that I held to because I knew there were people out there who valued these precious doctrines like I did. But those people got left behind too as the SWORD became the rag of Jack Hyles and Curtis Hudson.
This letter from Mrs. Martin is about 20-30 years too late by my reckoning, but at least it has come. Better late than never. And she writes an articulate and clear assessment of the transformation of the SWORD OF THE LORD from the well reasoned, representative, doctrinal and instructional news magazine it once was as it was turned into the dumbed-down, KJV-only, man-centered rag it is today.
Her open letter will give you a good read on how Fundamentalism has turned into something else. Click here to read the full article by Joy Rice Martin
