The following material was taken from the back dust cover of the LP (record). The only editing that has taken place is lay out. There was no editing of the written materials. Again IMARC is grateful for the permission of Dr. Jones III to allow this sermon to be published. We trust that you will be edified by it. May God give use more Fighting Bob's in the Wesley family.


God's Man
Isaiah 32:2


A great man of God.

Dr. Robert P. Shuler, Sr., called "one of the ten most influential Methodist preachers in America," was licensed to preach when just a boy. Following his father and grandfather in the Gospel ministry, he became a great revival preacher. Three of his five sons also became preachers in the family tradition under the calling of God.






"Fighting Bob," as he was known because of his courageous stand against liberalism within the Methodist Church, was the author of What New Doctrine Is This? and editor of "The Methodist Challenge," a 16-page publication issued twice a month for some 20 years. Its avowed intention was to "scrap liberalism, pacifism, humanism, unitarianism, universalism, and all the other little foxes that are destroying the vineyard that was planted by the Methodist fathers." it struck a responsive chord in many directions. Dr. Shuler said after the initial publication, "Literally hundreds of men came back fighting mad in their desire to stand against the iniquitous trend of liberalism tlirough our church."

Dr. Shuler was a contemporary and warm, personal friend of Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Bob Jones University until his death on September 15, 1965. In 1936 the University conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of humanities. For several decades his pungent and unique messages made him a popular and respected speaker at the annual Bible Conferences on the BJU campus.

The Alabama native became pastor of Trinity Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California, at 40 years of age and served there for 33 years, retiring by law of the church when he was 72. God's hand on his forthright and uncompromising ministry built the church until it had become one of the largest Methodist churches in the United States. Great audiences attended the Sunday services, and several

hundred came to the weeknight prayer meetings. Dr. Shuler opposed sin in high places in Los Angeles. He preached against vice, graft, and oppression with such violence that his life was threatened many times.

The heart of the Gospel was the center about which all his preaching revolved. His wife wrote in the foreward of his collection of sermons called Some Dogs I Have Known:

Life with a Methodist preacher is not always enviable, yet we have had a most happy journey over the fifty years of itinerant ministry, all but two of which years I have shared with him. His ministry has been rather hectic and at times turbulent. He has steadfastly refused to conform. He has attacked sin and evil conditions about him, and, as a result, has made some enemies. But on the whole, this ministry to which God has called us has been a joyous experience.

A seasoned warrior for the faith, Dr. Shuler went Home to be with the Lord at the age of 84, convinced that all efforts to save the Methodist Church were wasted efforts and deeply regretting that even one of his sons still remained as a minister within its ranks. Upon his arrival in the Lord's presence he must have heard those words that make every ministry, no matter how difficult, worthwhile: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."