Featured The Unknown John R. Rice

Yes, I do. Got it for a birthday, I believe it was. It was his only effort at a book aimed at kids.

 

Truly an oddity.

 

Amen.

 

It may also depend on their respective definitions of revival.

 

Here is John R. Rice wrote to Bob Jones, Jr.:
“You did not agree with my position that there is no way to know when the end of this age approaches. And, as you said plainly, you do not believe that great areawide revivals are possible now in the same sense that they were in other days because you think we’re approaching the end of the age” (John R. Rice to Bob Jones, Jr., September 20, 1971, John R. Rice Papers).

Here is Rice's definition of revival:
"And what do we mean by revival? Some would make a distinction between revival of the saints and evangelism, winning the unsaved. But all the great soul winners have used the word revival to include not only the stirring of Christians and winning them to a new consecration, a new cleansing of heart and life and a new obedience, but the winning of the unconverted to Christ. These two greatly-to-be-desired results cannot be far separated" (Rice, We Can Have Revival Now, p. 10).

 

John R. Rice believed that.

 

Other biographies have the fact that John R. Rice was in the US army during WW1, but caught the measles and missed going to the front. What they do not reveal, though, was his unit and his willingness to actually go and fight. Also, in one of his books he revealed that he had not been afraid of going to the dangerous Western Front, knowing that God was with him.

My biography has a whole chapter on "John R. Rice the American." I was reluctant to write this chapter, suggested by my son, but found some fascinating facts about Rice and his positions as an American. For example, he did not refer to the USA as a Christian nation, unlike many other preachers. He even wrote way back in 1949, "Our country is a heathen nation”
(The Power of Pentecost, 1949, p. 16).

 

John R. Rice knew Billy Graham when Billy was still a student at Wheaton College. Billy was paying his school bill by working for a friend who delivered pianos. (Read about this in Billy's autobiography, Just As I Am.) One day they delivered one to the Rice home, where there were already two, since Mrs. Rice and all six daughters played the instrument. So, my grandparents, my mother and her sisters knew Billy long before he became famous.

Billy wasn't interested in any of those lovely Rice daughters, though. His heart was already turned by the lovely daughter of medical missionary to China Dr. Nelson Bell.

I remember well the Rice home in Wheaton. When I was a boy, we'd go there for Sunday dinner every week. I once got in trouble there with my Grandmother Rice for climbing on her rose trellis--incredibly sweet lady that she was, it wasn't much trouble. However, at the same address I was spanked by Grandpa Rice for touching the TV when I had been told not to.

 

In time, as Billy Graham got out into evangelism after pastoring for a short while, Rice became his mentor. The young Graham once wrote Rice:

"How foolish I have been so many times. I have worked so hard to build a message, replete with illustrations, with perhaps an experience or two of my own thrown in. True, God blessed those messages in the past.

"But oh, how He blessed the plain and simple Word of God in this campaign! The Scriptures say…The Bible says…The Scriptures say…The Bible says….

"I got to the place where I could not preach any of my old sermons. Studying from six to eight hours a day, I received new sermons, burned into my heart by God. I did away with all illustrations. I used from twenty-five to one hundred passages of Scripture each evening. People, I found, cannot stand under the impact of the Word of God. Even the hardest sinner will capitulate."
(Rice, We Can Have Revival Now, 103-104)

 

So, John R. Rice and Billy Graham were close until 1955. I had thought that the Graham NY Crusade in 1957 was the beginning of their differences, but my research revealed an exchange of letters in 1955 revealing that JRR was not happy with his protegee. Why? Billy had written an article in the Texas Baptist that was favorable to the SBC doctrine of storehouse tithing--the Cooperative Program--and that was anathema to Rice.

 

Some think that John R. Rice separated from Billy Graham, but that is not true at all. What happened is that in 1957 Graham was still a board member of Rice's ministry, the Sword of the Lord Foundation. Rice asked Graham if he could still agree with the masthead statement of the newspaper, and Graham said he could not, so Graham resigned.

Here is the statement: "An Independent Christian Weekly, Standing for the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, His Blood Atonement, Salvation by Faith, New Testament Soul Winning and the Premillenial Return of Christ. Opposes Modernism, Worldliness and Formalism.”

Graham no longer opposed “Modernism, Worldliness and Formalism.” Rice wrote, “He asked to be removed from the Co-operating board of the Sword of the Lord since he could not now sign the statement on the front page of every issue of THE SWORD OF THE LORD" (Rice. Earnestly Contending for the Faith, p. 157).

However, the two men remained friends, and wrote back and forth at birthdays and anniversaries until Rice died in 1980. Graham and his wife were in Europe at the time, but had a huge wreath sent to the funeral. I took a picture of it, and that photo should be in the biography.

 

I have a chapter in my book on Mrs. John R. Rice, my grandmother. She was a wonderful Christian, and after her husband died preachers and laymen often came to see her and have her pray with them.

She had a wonderful sense of humor. Once she advised my wife, "Be sure to make the bed every morning, but not while your husband is still in it!"

 

Excerpt from Ch. 3, "John R. Rice the Man":

John R. Rice lived life to the fullest—or perhaps I should say at full throttle. Al Byers, the long-time financial manager of the Sword of the Lord Foundation, once told me a story about that. Apparently, when Rice left home early every morning to travel Franklin Road to the neighborhood of the Sword buildings, without noticing, he would travel faster than the speed limit. The police would not stop his car but instead would bring the citation to Mr. Byers, who would then pay the fine for Dr. Rice. Finally, the city tired of this arrangement and did the logical thing: they raised the speed limit so that their famous citizen no longer had to pay the fines!

 

There were three Rice brothers. John R. was the oldest, lived the longest, and was the most famous.

John R. Rice (1895-1980), was the oldest of the evangelist brothers. His mother died when he was just a boy, and his father later remarried and had two more sons, as mentioned. These two additional sons, John’s half-brothers, were therefore quite a bit younger than John, who mentored them.

Joe (1907-1958) was the second of the evangelist brothers, but he was least in influence and fame, perhaps because he died comparatively early in life. He attended Moody Bible Institute and married a girl named Zora Stockton. He pastored in several churches before becoming an evangelist. Unfortunately, Joe keeled over with a heart attack at a comparatively young age while walking home from the train station after preaching in revival meetings. One of my aunts, Joe's niece, wrote me, “Uncle Joe was an evangelist, a dear, sweet, sweet, man, gentle and loving." Another niece wrote, “He was a sweet, kind man with heart for souls. Not as much a story-teller as Bill nor as dynamic as Daddy [John R.] but he was a very good preacher.”

Bill (1912-1978), the third brother, lived longer than Joe and was also a very successful evangelist, known for his great story-telling ability. His cowboy stories were enshrined in his books, Cowboy Boots in Darkest Africa and Brother Super. He was the founder of Cumberwood Christian Retreat, the official name for the Bill Rice Ranch, a Christian camp founded by Rice’s brother Bill. The camp was originally founded in 1952 for deaf people, and may have been the first Christian ministry for deaf people ever. Let me know if you know differently. Bill went to Heaven in 1978, two years before his big brother did, having suffered a massive stroke.

All three brothers and their wives are buried in the Memorial Garden of the Bill Rice Ranch, My parents are also buried there. I'll add a photo of the grave of JRR and his wife, my grandparents.