The Sword of the Lord
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| Type | Biweekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Sword of the Lord Ministries |
| Founder(s) | John R. Rice |
| Editor | Shelton Smith |
| Founded | September 28, 1934 |
| Headquarters | Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
| ISSN | 0039-7547 |
| Website | www |
The Sword of the Lord is a Christian fundamentalist, Independent Baptist biweekly newspaper.
The Sword of the Lord is published by Sword of the Lord Ministries, a non-profit organization based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which also publishes religious books, pamphlets, and tracts from a fundamentalist Christian perspective, as Sword of the Lord Publications.
In 2012 the newspaper was a 24-page, biweekly tabloid with a circulation of "just over 100,000."
The Sword of the Lord was first published on September 28, 1934, in Dallas, Texas by John R. Rice, who edited the publication until his death on December 29, 1980. At first it was simply the four-page paper of Fundamentalist (later, Galilean) Baptist Church of Dallas, where Rice was the pastor. The paper was handed out on the street, and Rice's daughters and other Sunday school children delivered it door-to-door.
The Sword of the Lord moved with the Rice family to Wheaton, Illinois in 1940, and then to its present location in 1963. Upon the Sword's move to Tennessee, Rice co-edited the paper with his brother Bill (1912-1978) until Bill's death. Curtis Hutson replaced Bill Rice as co-editor, and he became the sole editor two years later when John R. Rice died. Hutson died in 1995, and editorship passed to Shelton Smith, former pastor of the Church of the Open Door/Carroll Christian Schools, Westminster, Maryland.
The name of the ministry and publication is taken from a phrase in Judges 7:20: "And they cried, The Sword of the LORD, and of Gideon." The verse is featured in the banner, as is the newspaper's stated purpose:
"An Independent Christian Publication, Standing for the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible, the Deity of Christ, His Blood Atonement, Salvation by Faith, New Testament Soul Winning and the Premillennial Return of Christ; Opposing Modernism (Liberalism), Worldliness and Formalism."
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