By Brenda Cannon Henley
I once heard a well known minister of the day that was seemingly very popular, sought after for speaking engagements, and a caring individual. But, he said something that evening to a large crowd of over 3,000 people gathered to hear him speak that I did not agree with then and I disagree more with his statement now. And that is exactly how I sometimes get in trouble.

His statement that was disturbing to me went something like this, “Well, I will never change my mind or my view.” He added, “I will believe just like I do right now for the rest of my life.” I thought, “I will change if I learn something I did not know or believed incorrectly about a matter.” We must continue learning and Heaven knows, we surely don’t get everything right the first time around.

I have been known to express my view, position, and determination, which I have learned makes some folks angry. If you disagree with some supposed scholar’s view, you are obviously wrong.

Perhaps working closely with Dr. John R. Rice, founder of the Sword of the Lord, prolific speaker, writer, publisher, and powerful evangelist closely for the last 17 years of his life has something to do with my mindset. Dr. Rice tackled many subjects in his day that few other writers would touch. He dug deep, studied relentlessly, and stood his ground. He also made enemies, but cultivated and kept many more friends.

One incident became very clear to me on January 1, 1979, when a big hardbound book (445 pages) was published by Dr. Rice and the Sword. It was a huge project, very costly, and highly anticipated. John R. Rice Bible Stories became a good seller, favorite gift, and a good addition to thousands of homes.

Dr. Rice was an honest writer. He penned what his truest thoughts were and God blessed with wonderful success. I heard a man say last week that Dr. Rice could take the most complicated or difficult of Scriptures and break them down so any member of his audience or most any reader could understand what he said. And, he always reminded us what we should do about the message in our lives.

Not a day goes by that I don’t remember something Dr. Rice taught me. Writing this series on Hagar, Abraham, and Sarah these past few weeks brought back some rich memories, and some that are downright funny.

We had all worked hard on that big book to get it into homes and we were proud of it. When Dr. Rice wrote this story, he was up in age and Mrs. Lloys Cooke Rice, his beloved wife, was also elderly. He wanted us to get the picture of how strange it was for God to tell Abraham and Sarah that she would conceive and bear a child in her old age.

He wrote about Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. In describing Sarah, he said she was up in age “with sagging breasts.” Now, any women reading this will understand the fact of life and know he was making it crystal clear that she was considered too old to bear a child. Remember, this happened in 1979, in a religious culture that was very strict.

When the book hit the streets, our phones started ringing, and in just a few days, grievous mail started arriving at our door. Particular friends of our employees called privately to petition for a reprint. Some Pious Pauls and Correcting Carls, along with Busy Body Bettys and Loopy Louises, brayed loud and long about how awful it was that we had published a book with such vulgarity in it by Dr. Rice. Surely it was an error or poor proofreading. It wasn’t!

Dr. Rice fired up the big German press and ran thousands of copies that we needed to keep up with massive sales. No one that read that story about Sarah and Hagar ever forgot the difference in ages and the true miracle God performed.

Today, in 2022, more than 40 years later, that one line would likely not even cause a stir. And, hey, Sarah was old and well past the child bearing age. We all remember that.

I have rather changed my mind about Hagar while doing this series and I’ll tell you why in the next article or two.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at 409 781 8788, or
[email protected]

[BCH: Nov-29-2022]