The board of Reformed Believers Publishing gives thanks to God for his preservation of Sword and Shield magazine in the past year. Month after month the Lord has given zeal for the truth and astounding insights to the editor and writers, as well as the fortitude necessary to fight against the false doctrines promoted in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC). These lies come from manifold sources—by her ministers in their preaching, by lectures, decisions of her assemblies, and they are even propagated through “family letters” that are intended for broader distribution. The magazine continues to fight against these lies, old and new, wherever they are found.

The board stands in full support of the magazine’s polemical nature and gives praise to God for the believers who have joined themselves to this cause: the writers, who have spent many hours in labor for the kingdom to set forth the truth and expose the lie; the editor, with his seemingly endless capabilities; the copy editors, to whom so many talents have been given to aid in this worthy cause; and all who have contributed behind the scenes to enable the magazine to continue to exist.

The magazine forges forward as a believer’s magazine, which is evidenced by its array of writers, membership, supporters, and the fact that the magazine is without ecclesiastical oversight. We pray to Jehovah for his continuing care in the year that is ahead, for the Lord alone is the fountain of all good.

The ability for believers to express their joy in the truth and to read article after article that confesses the greatness of God and the abasement of man in salvation is a refreshing blast of fresh air after years of confusion and smog. That salvation is not dependent on his own working and doing is a comfort to the child of God, for the believer who knows his sinful nature and sinfulness knows that there is nothing he can offer to God. The magazine continues to warn the children of God of dangers and to equip them with the knowledge and tools to war against the proper works of the devil, the false church and those who try to defend her, and our own totally depraved natures, which rise up to try to condemn us.

It has been several years now since the first triumvirate editorship of The Standard Bearer silenced the truth and allowed to win the day the lie that if man is to be saved, there is that which man must do, which gave birth to Sword and Shield magazine. The path of this false doctrine is nearly impossible to recap in its history, with all its twists and turns in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Yet through its many variations and in all its forms, the doing of man for his salvation and the experience of his salvation is alive and well in the PRC today. The insightful articles in Sword and Shield are a tremendous encouragement to the believer who wearies in the battle. Like an eagle renewed in its youth, the believer is strengthened to continue the battle in the warfare for the name of Jesus Christ.

God be praised for the battle cry of the free forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ that resounds from this magazine, a cry that is hated and reviled by those who insist on their repentance as a means or way unto forgiveness. God be praised for the battle cry of Jesus Christ as a complete and perfect savior over against the teaching that Jesus Christ is not enough for salvation and that something else must be done by man. God be praised for the battle cry that there is nothing that man must do or can do to save himself, for there is one way man is saved, Jesus Christ. Not in the way of obedience but in the way of Jesus Christ for salvation and the experience of salvation is the sound of Sword and Shield magazine by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

29. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isa. 40:29–31)