All Posts Tagged "Walter Martin"

An index to the articles written in response to Walter Martin’s public criticisms of the teaching of Witness Lee and the local churches.

October 13, 2015 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

An index to responses written by members of the local churches to criticisms of the churches and of the ministry of Witness Lee.

June 13, 2014 church ground, deification, denominations, division, index, lawsuits, litigation, mingling, Norman Geisler, oneness of the believers, Open Letter, response, Ron Rhodes, scholars, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

The articles on this site responding to criticisms of the local churches and the ministry of Witness Lee are centered around three primary issues—the Trinity, God’s complete salvation, and the practical expression of the church. The first round of responses were published in the 1970s in response to the criticisms of inexperienced apologists who had a limited understanding of biblical truth and even less of the ministry of Witness Lee. After an interim in which many additional resources presenting Witness Lee’s teachings were published, beginning from 1999 Harvest House Publishers and others associated with that company raised the same issues again, essentially repeating those earlier accusations without regard to the responses or other writings already published. Those renewed criticisms called forth a second round of responses.

March 6, 2014 church ground, deification, denominations, division, History, lawsuits, litigation, mingling, Norman Geisler, oneness of the believers, Open Letter, response, Ron Rhodes, scholars, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

An historical overview of the controversy surrounding Walter Martin’s criticisms of the teaching of Witness Lee and the local churches.

March 1, 1994 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

The oneness of the Triune God can be seen in three categories of Scriptures, which this article calls interpenetration, identification, and interchangeable Scriptures.

March 4, 1978 2 Corinthians 3:17, Christ and the Spirit, coinherence, Isaiah 9:6, Orange County Register, the Son and the Father, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

This article points out key faults in arguments concerning the Triune God presented in the pamphlet The Teachings of Witness Lee and The Local Church. It contrasts:

February 25, 1978 coinherence, Orange County Register, Sabellianism, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

This article gives brief rebuttals to accusations in the pamphlet The Teachings of Witness Lee and The Local Church concerning:

February 11, 1978 Bible, denominations, division, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

God is moving today to recover what was lost by the historic Christian church. This article presents:

February 4, 1978 Orange County Register, recovery, subjective experience of Christ, Walter Martin

Those who desire to return to the “historic Christian church” should consider the epistles to the seven churches in [Revelation chapters 2 and 3]. The prophecies there trace the historic development of the church and its degradation from the New Testament standard.

January 22, 1978 Christianity, clergy-laity, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, recovery, Walter Martin

Calls to return to “historic Christianity” as represented by the great ecumenical councils are misguided. This article gives many examples of deviations from the Bible brought in through some of those councils.

January 21, 1978 Christianity, creeds, Walter Martin

Those who call for a return to “historic Christianity” should consider the Lord’s speaking in Matthew 13, in which He prophesied concerning the deviation of the church from His original desire and intention.

January 21, 1978 Christianity, creeds, Walter Martin

A rebuttal of Walter Martin’s claim that the Roman Catholic Church does not teach or practice idolatry.

January 14, 1978 Catholicism, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A critique showing that Walter Martin’s explanation that the Three of the Divine Trinity are separate persons sharing an ill-defined common nature is tantamount to having three separate Gods.

January 7, 1978 Orange County Register, Sabellianism, Trinity, tritheism, Triune God, Walter Martin

A critique of Walter Martin’s insistence that Christ is not actually present but is only represented in the believers by the Holy Spirit.

December 31, 1977 identification, Isaiah 9:6, Orange County Register, the Son and the Father, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

An affirmation of the biblical truth that the believers partake of the divine nature in contrast with Walter Martin’s preference that “nature” in 2 Peter 1:4 be translated as “attribute” instead.

December 24, 1977 2 Peter 1:4, Orange County Register, partakers of the divine nature, Walter Martin

An examination of Walter Martin’s claimed educational credentials.

December 24, 1977 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

The writer of this article called on Walter Martin to correct errors spoken in public concerning Witness Lee, the local churches, and vital biblical truths.

December 10, 1977 2 Corinthians 3:17, Christ and the Spirit, exclusivism, mingling, modalism, Orange County Register, partakers of the divine nature, pray-reading, Sabellianism, Walter Martin

Some Christians believe that man has two only parts—body and soul. However, the biblical view that man has three parts—body, soul, and spirit—is vital to our experience of Christ.

December 3, 1977 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Orange County Register, soul, spirit, tripartite, Walter Martin

Witness Lee used the expression “four-in-one” to express the marvelous reality that the Triune God and the believers in Christ mutually indwell one another (John 14:20; 17:21, 23). However, some have misrepresented this “four-in-one” mutual indwelling to falsely claim that Witness Lee makes the church part of the Godhead.

November 5, 1977 four-in-one, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, standards of scholarship, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

Walter Martin brandished a single sentence from a footnote in the Recovery Version of the New Testament as “proof” that Witness Lee was anti-Christian. His out-of-context quotation of this sentence obscured Witness Lee’s biblical critique of the deviation of “isms” from the revelation in God’s Word.

November 5, 1977 Catholicism, Christianity, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

In response to Walter Martin’s counseling of a radio listener to remain as a believer in Roman Catholicism, this article presents a biblical evaluation of the Roman Catholic Church who degradations caused the Lord Himself to cry, “Come out of her, my people” (Rev. 18:2).

November 5, 1977 Catholicism, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A consideration of mingling as the most accurate term to describe the union of God and man based on 2 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Timothy 4:22, and 1 Corinthians 6:17.

November 5, 1977 2 Corinthians 3:17, Christ and the Spirit, identification, mingling, Orange County Register, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

A brief exposition of the proper place of the subjective experience of Christ in the believers’ life as witnessed by the Holy Scriptures.

November 5, 1977 Orange County Register, subjective experience of Christ, Walter Martin

To those who hold that Christ is only at the right hand of God and does not actually dwell in the believers, this article offers a strong biblical corrective.

October 29, 1977 Orange County Register, subjective experience of Christ, Walter Martin

A clear biblical corrective to those who attempt to negate 2 Peter 1:4, which says the believers have the divine nature.

October 29, 1977 2 Peter 1:4, Orange County Register, partakers of the divine nature, Walter Martin

A testimony that as believers in Christ we can enjoy Him as the one who dwells as the Spirit in our human spirit and who supplies Himself to us as the bread and water of life through His Word and our calling upon His name.

October 29, 1977 Orange County Register, subjective experience of Christ, Walter Martin

A 1977 response to a speaker at Melodyland Christian Center who belittled members of the local churches as theologically untrained.

October 22, 1977 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A 1977 answer to Walter Martin’s claim that a footnote in the Recovery Version of the New Testament altered the meaning of a word in the Bible.

October 22, 1977 Bible, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A brief examination of some key verses in the New Testament on which Walter Martin erred and of his condoning of idolatry in the Roman Catholic Church.

October 22, 1977 1 Corinthians 15:45, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Catholicism, Christ and the Spirit, Orange County Register, subjective experience of Christ, Walter Martin

An overview of the scriptural meaning of the Triune God, including the basic facts, the value of being limited to biblical terminology, the principle of the twofoldness of divine truth applied to the oneness and threeness of God, an understanding of how the Bible reveals the Triune God, the relationship among the Three in the Godhead, and the meaning of the Triune God in the believers’ experience.

October 22, 1977 coinherence, Orange County Register, Trinity, Triune God, Twofoldness of Divine Truth, Walter Martin

An answer to Walter Martin’s accusations that Witness Lee and the local churches practice “dividing the Body of Christ,” “proselytizing among other Christian groups,” and “sheep stealing.”

October 22, 1977 church ground, division, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

In this statement Witness Lee responds to criticism of his teachings by explaining three reasons for different understandings of the Scriptures:

Witness Lee closes with an appeal for conduct becoming of Christians in disagreements of understandings of Scriptures.

October 15, 1977 Bible, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, partakers of the divine nature, recovery, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

An Introduction and Conclusion that frame the controversy surrounding a speaking at Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim in 1977.

October 8, 1977 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

Two articles that point out flaws in criticisms of Witness Lee’s teaching concerning the Divine Trinity.

October 8, 1977 1 Corinthians 15:45, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Christ and the Spirit, Isaiah 9:6, modalism, Orange County Register, Sabellianism, the Son and the Father, Trinity, Triune God, Walter Martin

A short article showing the basis for the teaching of the mingling of God and man in both the Old and New Testaments and how mingling is the most appropriate word to describe the relationship of the divine and human natures in Christ.

October 8, 1977 mingling, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A brief survey of the truth concerning the oneness of the church, both spiritually and practically, and of the truth that the church is God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).

October 8, 1977 2 Peter 1:4, church ground, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, partakers of the divine nature, Walter Martin

A return to “historic Christianity” and a creed-based faith would bind the church to the church councils that brought in many deviations from New Testament Christianity. The second and third parts of this post address the truth concerning Babylon and denominations.

October 8, 1977 Babylon, Christianity, creeds, denominations, division, oneness of the believers, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A short article on man in creation and in the fall with particular attention to the nature of indwelling sin and the needing to forgo the lust of the flesh.

October 8, 1977 fallen man, Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A brief survey of the biblical revelation of God’s desire to enter into man.

October 8, 1977 Orange County Register, salvation, Walter Martin

A brief look at the release of the spirit and its relationship to the practice of calling on the name of the Lord and at taking the Word of God through means of prayer, or pray-reading.

October 8, 1977 calling on the Lord, Orange County Register, pray-reading, Walter Martin

This article decries the association of the local churches with cultic groups by a speaker at Melodyland Christian Center in Anaheim and his endorsement of The Mindbenders.

October 8, 1977 cult accusation, Jack Sparks, Orange County Register, The Mindbenders, Walter Martin

A defense of Witness Lee by one of his co-workers against a personal attack launched by a speaker at Melodyland Christian Center in 1977.

October 8, 1977 Orange County Register, Walter Martin

A 1977 response to a speaker at Melodyland Christian Center concerning the study of the Bible in the local churches, the Recovery Version of the Bible, and biblical interpretations related to the Divine Trinity.

October 8, 1977 2 Corinthians 3:17, Bible, Christ and the Spirit, Isaiah 9:6, Orange County Register, the Son and the Father, Twofoldness of Divine Truth, Walter Martin