Welcome to the special “Letters Edition” of Sword and Shield. This special issue is due not only to the amount of correspondence that we have received for publication, but also to the importance of the matters that the correspondence addresses. Rather than trying to include these letters in the regular issues of Sword and Shield over the next several months, by which time some of the matters might be far removed from the minds of our readership, the board approved this special issue exclusively devoted to these letters. This special issue will not interrupt the regular issues of the magazine, but is an additional issue to the twelve regular issues. God willing, the October issue will still be in your mailbox on or around the first of the month.

On behalf of the Reformed Believers Publishing board and the other editors, a hearty thank you to all the correspondents. Whether you have written privately to the board or to the editors, or whether you have written for publication, as in this issue, we very much appreciate your interaction with Sword and Shield. We believe that the truths appearing on the pages of the magazine are of utmost importance, and it is encouraging to see such interest in what is being written. We also take this opportunity to invite our readers to continue to write to us. Likely, you will be giving voice to what some of your fellow believers are thinking, as is undoubtedly true of the letters printed here. The issues are worthy of the time it takes to write a letter and worthy of the readers’ study.

Also, a warm thank you to all the readers of Sword and Shield. The abundant correspondence, both in support of the articles and against them, indicates a wide readership. We are grateful to God for giving us an audience on such important doctrinal issues. We are also grateful for the time that you have given us in reading, even in those matters where you might disagree with us. Whether you wait by your mailbox the first of each month to drink in Sword and Shield or to spit at it, we are thankful for the attention you are giving these matters.

We are still working out all of the details of how to deal with letters submitted to Sword and Shield. The only strict policy so far is that letters for publication must be signed. At the request of a letter’s writer, we may withhold that writer’s name from publication. Nevertheless, the letters or emails must arrive to the editor with the writer’s name. Next, although this is not necessarily a strict policy, our practice is not to edit the letters for content, spelling, grammar, and the like, but to print them exactly as we receive them. Also, writers sometimes request that their letters be published in a specific issue of Sword and Shield. Often this is not possible due to the necessary lead time for printing and mailing. However, we are committed to printing our readers’ letters in the earliest possible issue of Sword and Shield. We are as eager to see your letters in print as you are.

With that, dear readers, read on. And write on!

May God speed the truths written herein to your heart, and the next issue into your hands.