[speaking of 2 Timothy 4:1 ff] “I command you” – it’s a command! – “preach the Word, whether it’s convenient or inconvenient.” You know, there are some Christians waiting around for it to become convenient to talk about Jesus. And they sort of pick their spots. That is, they want to make absolutely certain that the first requirement is that nobody gets mad at them.

Secondly, that they don’t get any flak… [The Christian] is supposed to convince, to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort. And people don’t want to do that. The moment you rebuke evil somebody says, “that’s unloving.” Well, by that standard Jesus Christ was the most unloving Man that ever walked the face of the earth!

Because when He encountered evil He said, “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees; hypocrites!” That’s just for openers; it got progressively worse. “You children of the Devil; you slimy generation of snakes. Who has warned you to flee from the damnation of Hell!”

Do you hear that kind of preaching today? Seldom; seldom. There are so many Christians trying desperately to sound good to the world, and not to offend them for fear that they won’t believe the Gospel, that they never get around to preaching the Gospel. (The Spirit of the Age: Universalism, CD Rom, Walter Martin Religious InfoNet)

Dr. Walter Martin