Robert L. Sumner is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Christian author, Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 pastor, evangelist

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 and editor of the fundamentalist newspaper called The Biblical Evangelist.

Personal

Born to an educated family in Upstate New York

Upstate New York

Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

 he graduated from Norwich High School

Norwich High School

Norwich High School Chenango County, USA. Chenango CountyLisa Schuchman, Interim Principal89 Midland DriveNorwich, New York 13815 334-1600 x1439...

 and Baptist Bible College & Seminary

Baptist Bible College & Seminary

Baptist Bible College & Seminary was founded in 1932 in Johnson City, New York. It is a fully accredited, Christ-centered educational institution. The College originally used the facilities of First Baptist Church in Johnson City, with the student body growing from the first enrollment of 40...

 in Johnson City

Johnson City, New York

Johnson City is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 15,535 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area....

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He was the brother-in-law of auto racing legend Hector Honore

Hector Honore

Hector H. Honoré Jr. , was an American racecar driver, mechanic and owner.-Personal history:...

.

Ministry

He was pastor of a number of Baptist churches in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 from the 1940s through the 1960s. He has also attended many Christian conferences and lectures. In 1959, he created the non-profit Sumner Evangelistic Foundation. In 1965, he was on the Council of 14 (now Council of 18) of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches

General Association of Regular Baptist Churches

The General Association of Regular Baptist Churches is one of several Baptist groups in North America retaining the name "Regular Baptist"....

, and he changed the name of his foundation to Regular Baptist Evangelism. In May, 1966, this group launched a newsletter called The Regular Baptist Evangelist, which 9 months later became just The Biblical Evangelist. In November, 1980, The Biblical Evangelist stopped publication and Sumner became Managing Editor of a Christian newspaper, The Sword of the Lord

The Sword of the Lord

The Sword of the Lord is a Christian fundamentalist publisher, based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, that publishes a newspaper of the same name as well as religious books, pamphlets, and tracts.-History:...

. In 1982, Sumner left The Sword after a dispute with the editor that was mediated by Jack Hyles

Jack Hyles

Jack Frasure Hyles was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, from 1959 until his death. He was also well-known for being an innovator of the church bus ministry that brought thousands of people each week from...

. After the ordeal, Sumner complained that he was left "without an editorial voice", so he re-started The Biblical Evangelist by sending letters to former subscribers asking them to resubscribe.

Hyles Expose

Sumner received some attention when he criticized Jack Hyles

Jack Hyles

Jack Frasure Hyles was a leading figure in the Independent Baptist movement, having pastored the First Baptist Church of Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, from 1959 until his death. He was also well-known for being an innovator of the church bus ministry that brought thousands of people each week from...

 in 1989 when he wrote a story in The Biblical Evangelist called, "The Saddest Story I've Ever Told," which accused Hyles of sexual scandals, financial misappropriation and doctrinal errors. These charges were denied by Hyles who deemed them "lies".

Author

Sumner has now published a total of 39 books including his latest, Jewels from James, a 15-chapter, 317-page expository and evangelistic commentary about the book of James

Epistle of James

The Epistle of James, usually referred to simply as James, is a book in the New Testament. The author identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ", with "the earliest extant manuscripts of James usually dated to mid-to-late third century."There are four views...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. He is also the official biographer of John R. Rice

John R. Rice

John Richard Rice was a Baptist evangelist and pastor and the founding editor of The Sword of the Lord, an influential fundamentalist newspaper.-Childhood and Education:...

. As of 2007, The Biblical Evangelist is sent out for free to all that request it.

Books and tracts by Sumner

• Fights I Didn't Start ... And Some I Did -- Biblical Evangelism Press (2009) ISBN 978-0-914012-3-2
• Jewels from James -- Biblical Evangelism Press (2008) 317 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-39-8
• HEBREWS: Streams of Living Water -- Biblical Evangelism Press (2003) 546 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-36-3
• "Jesus Christ is God!: an Examination of Victor Paul Wierwille and His "the Way International, " a Rapidly Growing Unitarian Cult -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1983) ISBN 0-914012-24-X
• Mormonism -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1981) 47 pgs. ISBN 0-87398-559-1
• Falsities of Seventh-Day Adventism -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1981) ISBN 0-873982-72-X
• After the revival—What?: Searching Sermons for the Saints -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1980) 114 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-22-3
• Saved by Grace...for Service!: Evangelistic preaching in Ephesians -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1979) 333 pgs. ISBN 0-873987-97-7
• Bible translations: Is the King James Version the only trustworthy translation? What text is inerrant, infallible, God-breathed? Can we trust any translation? ... is the historic fundamentalist position? -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1979) 30 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-20-7
• Powerhouse! -- Biblical Evaneglism Press (1978) 203 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-18-5
• Armstrongism: the "Worldwide Church of God" Examined in the Searching Light of Scripture -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1974) 424 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-15-0
• An Examination of Tulip: The Five Points of Calvinism -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1972) 23 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-13-4
• The Christian who refused to go to church -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1971) 31 pgs.
• The Menace of Narcotics -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1971) 72 pgs.
• Sumner's Incidents and Illustrations -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1969) 480 pgs.
• The Wonder of the Word of God! -- Biblical Evangelism Press (1969) 35 pgs.
• Biblical Evangelism in Action -- Sword of the Lord Pub (January 1, 1966) 344 pgs. ISBN 0-914012-29-0
• Balaam: the World's First Ecumenical Evangelist -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1964) 24 pgs. ISBN 0-716202-89-1
• Herbert Armstrong, A False Prophet -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1961) 23 pgs.
• Sin's Surprises! -- Sumner Evangelistic Foundation (1961) 23 pgs.
• Evangelism: The Church on Fire -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1960) 220 pgs. ISBN 0-873982-11-8
• Man Sent from God: A Biography of Dr. John R. Rice --Sword of the Lord Pub. (1959) 264 pgs. ISBN 0-87398-550-8
• Hell is No Joke -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1959) 121 pgs.
• The Worst Thing That Can Happen to You -- (1959)
• A Review and Expose of the Interpreter's Bible -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1957) 47 PGS. ISBN 0-873984-05-6
• Hollywood Cesspool: A Startling Survey of Movieland Lives and Morals, Pictures and Results -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1955) ISBN 0-873983-57-2
• The Blight of Booze -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1955) 24 pgs. ISBN 0-873980-63-8
• Separation from Sin and Worldliness -- Sword of the Lord Pub. (1955) 30 pgs.

External links

• The Biblical Evangelist– Sumner's official page
• The Biblical Evangelist: Jack Hyles Story