Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Walter Martin :

Be Bold!

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." Philippians 1:20

The apostle Paul is saying here that courage—boldness—should be a perpetual way of life...always. The word boldness doesn’t mean what we think it means today. Boldness isn’t intellectual or physical arrogance. Boldness isn’t snobbery; the “I know something you don’t know, you poor thing,” attitude. Do you know some Christians actually talk that way to people in the cults? By the time they get finished with them, the people are humiliated. They don’t even want to talk anymore, they’re so hurt.

We forget sometimes that people are not our enemies. Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual rulers of the darkness of this age. (Ephesians 6:12) That’s the war—that’s the battle—not the people. They’re just pawns in the chess game of satanic conception.

Boldness should be a way of life. It is putting on the whole armor of God and standing against the methods of the Devil. If we resist him, he will flee. But we’ve got to resist. We’ve got to stand up and be counted.

3 Comments:

Matthew said...

This post has been removed by the author.

9:55 PM  
Martin James said...

Jill,

I have enjoyed reading your site. I do have a question for you about something though.

I remember listening to your father speak at two churches. One was Melodyland C.C. and the other (if my memory is correct-or am I mistaken on this one?) was at Newport Mesa C.C. Melodyland was/is an independent charismatic church and Newport Mesa is an Assembly of God church.

You now seem to be lining up with the other side of the fence, i.e. John MacArthur.

My question is this: How close was your father to the Charismatic/Pentecostal interpretation of scripture? Do you still hold to your father’s position on this? Or am I mistaken in my memory?

Thank you,

Martin

8:59 AM  
Jill Martin Rische said...

Martin,

I'm glad you enjoy reading the site. Kevin and I take the same position my father did on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe God offers the same power to His children in the twenty-first century as he did to His children in the first century.

It's difficult not to believe this . . . since we've experienced it.

We didn't think we were "lining up" with anyone in particular on this subject, we just hope it is possible for Christians to disagree agreeably on these things (and on some others as well), and so we post different articles from people who don't necessarily agree with us on everything. :)

I hope that clears things up.

Take care,

Jill

11:46 PM  

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