Blog - Page 114 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Isn’t It Time to Turn Off Harold Camping?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:33-05:00June 2nd, 2011|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, The Future|

Christian broadcaster Harold Camping got far more attention than he deserved about his May 21 prophecy regarding the return of Jesus. Everywhere we turned, even on ESPN’s Sports Center last Friday night and Saturday, his prediction about the rapture on Saturday May 21 got huge attention. I wonder how much money was spent on ads, billboards and announcements? I wonder what this money could have done if it had been invested wisely in the kingdom of God? I wonder when Christians will honestly stop listening to this stuff? I wonder why we talked so much about these foolish prophecies?

Camping now offers a simple explanation for his failed prediction — he miscalculated the real date. We’ve been here before with this man and will be again if people keep talking about him and listening to him.

Instead of the world physically coming to an end on May 21 — with a great, cataclysmic earthquake – the 89 year-old Harold Camping said his forecast is now playing out "spiritually." The […]

Steve Brown Etc. "Religion: Sickness or Cure?"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00June 1st, 2011|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Humor, Islam, Missional-Ecumenism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, Theology, Unity of the Church|

One of my favorite persons is Steve Brown. He also does one of my favorite radio programs called Steve Brown Etc. Brown also teaches on Key Life, a fifteen-minute syndicated radio show heard around the country on around 300 radio stations and on the Internet, on which Brown teaches about grace and the Christian life. The show often ends with Brown's tag line, "You think about that. Amen." Key Life also distributes audio recordings and writings by Brown and is based in Maitland, Florida. Steve formerly taught at Reformed Theological Seminary and is the author of numerous books. The first time I heard Steve, many years ago, I was deeply disturbed. He preached grace so wonderfully that I dared not believe this could be true. His happy and affecting style disarmed me but I had my doubts about him. Later I met him and saw the man for what he is – a Christ follower who is free and filled with grace.

Love him or hate him, Steve […]

The Resignation That Rocked College Football

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 31st, 2011|Categories: College Football|

The resignation yesterday of head coach Jim Tressel at Ohio State was “the sports news” of Memorial Day. Rarely do I watch 35-40 minutes of video clips on a sports news story but this story so captivated my interest that I spent a good deal of time last night trying to absorb it. I am truly saddened by the actions of Jim Tressel and pray for him and those who love him.

I wrote about the problems Jim Tressel faced just a few weeks ago. I suggested then that he should resign. I can only guess that it took time to work out the details of his contract for this to finally happen. I have no idea why the announcement came on a holiday. Cynics have made several suggestions.

This is what we know. Coach Tressel made a decision to cover up the actions of five players, perhaps because he cared about the players deeply. He further chose to withhold information from the NCAA and his superiors at Ohio […]

Did America Lose Focus in the War on Terror?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 30th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, The War on Terrorism|

On this Memorial Day, 2011, I am thanking God for those who gave their life for the freedom that you and I enjoy. I am also thinking about the debate over America’s policy on terrorism now that Osama bin Laden is gone. How should we have prosecuted the war on terror? How do we go forward in the coming years? Is the terminology of a “War on Terror” even the correct way to understand what our response should have been post-9-11? Everyone has a view. I admit that mine is based on political, moral and practical opinion. And it is mine and very subject to how I see things.

First, I believe we were right to go into Afghanistan, and after the Taliban, for harboring al Qaeda terrorists who directed and staged 9-11. Our focus was clear, strong and right. The world, in general, agreed with us. We quickly pursued the leaders of the attack and removed many of them. We narrowly missed bin Laden but finally succeeded […]

The Scripture Must Always Have a Context

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 29th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Hermeneutics|

A reader forwarded a video to me that was meant to celebrate the life of the late Peter Marshall, Jr. and his idea of Christian America. Marshall died on September 9, 2010. Marshall, as some readers will know, was the less-famous son of the pastor Peter Marshall. The son became involved in teaching the idea that America was a distinctively Christian nation. He co-wrote several books that attempted to show why this was historically true, such as The Light and the Glory. I read this book, part of the second in this series, and then finally stopped reading his work many years ago. He was so unbalanced in his understanding of history that his message was deeply distorted and very problematic.

In a tribute given to Marshall after his death this misunderstanding of Scripture is advanced to the point of incredulity. The text cited is found in the Fourth Gospel.

John 14:1-3, ¹ “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In […]

The Wrigley Dump

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 28th, 2011|Categories: Baseball|

Cubs fans are unique. You have to love them for their zeal and their knowledge of the great game of baseball. I am not a Cubs fan but I live in Chicago and count dozens of die-hard Cubs fans as my best friends. I know these fans can’t get enough of their beloved Cubbies. They talk about them year-round and long to see them win it all. They bleed “Cubbie blue” and stick with their team through thick and thin, more the latter than the former since I got to Chicago in 1969, the year they folded down the stretch in a memorable season.

But Wrigley Field is treasured by great baseball fans everywhere. At least that is what I hear over and over. Everyone wants to go there to see a game. I have more requests, from out-of-town friends who visit me, to go to Wrigley than almost any place in this great city. They’ve heard about it, seen it on a gorgeous sunny day on television, […]

The Fault Lines in the Southern Baptist Convention

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 27th, 2011|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Southern Baptists|

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) remains a major factor in American Christianity. But the decline of the SBC, in recent years, is alarming to anyone who cares about the overall health of Protestant Christianity in America. There are things to be learned here by all Christians.

Steve Lemke, provost at New Orleans Baptist Seminary, recently examined various points of divergence among Southern Baptists in a four-part series for the blog SBC Today (April 5, 7, 8 and 9 posts). Lemke offered two possible solutions. I am more than intrigued by what he wrote and find the attacks on Lemke on the Internet to be both sad and irresponsible.

Lemke says the SBC fault lines include points of contention such as:

Greater versus lesser Baptist identity.
Smaller versus larger churches.
Anti-Great Commission Resurgence verses pro-GCR.
Majority Baptist theology versus Reformed theology.
Association and convention advocates verses association and convention detractors.
Those who place great value on the Cooperation Program (the fund raising approach to the budget) versus those who place a lower value on the […]

The Great Catholic Exodus

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 26th, 2011|Categories: Roman Catholicism|

Rarely do I hear Catholic commentators and apologists admit that the Catholic Church in America is losing people/communicants in very large numbers. The reasons for this exodus are complicated and rarely discussed by Catholics, the very Christians who ought to be profoundly concerned. Popular Catholic ministries use radio, television and the Internet to rally the faithful to “come home” and to better understand how important the church is to living faith. This is done in several prominent ways, some that even misrepresent Protestant evangelicalism in order to make the point that the Catholic apologist desires to make. Long ago I decided that such polemical attacks, launched routinely on both sides, served little or no purpose in actually helping Christians get to Jesus in real faith and obedience. AS I read the New Testament it seems to me that this ought to be the goal of all Christians and churches.

The common thread in popular Catholic explanations for this exodus is personal experience. Until recently there was very little […]

Cardinal George Looks Back

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:34-05:00May 25th, 2011|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Roman Catholicism, Unity of the Church|

Chicago’s Francis Cardinal George recently submitted his retirement to the Vatican. He is 79 years old and this is normal procedure. But the Vatican will very likely not accept this retirement, at least not quite yet. This means Francis Cardinal George will remain in his leadership position in Chicago for a few more years. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Cardinal George but not yet enjoyed a friendly, personal conversation in private.

The Chicago Tribune did a story on Cardinal George in their Saturday, March 19, edition. He noted that he wants to spend this year focusing on improving relations with other Christian denominations. He said, “It’s more a personal examination of conscience. We spent a lot of time on Muslim-Catholic, Jewish-Catholic relations. When I look at my own schedule of who I’ve been talking to, I haven’t talked as much as I should’ve to leaders of Protestant churches.”

Cardinal George believes ecumenical conversations fulfill a vital mission that has been neglected during his time in Chicago. “The point […]

A Christological Theology

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:35-05:00May 24th, 2011|Categories: Christ/Christology, Jesus, Theology|

I believe the greatest theological need in our time, along side the theological idea of what I’ve called missional-ecuemnism, is the recovery of a Christ-centered theological perspective. We desperately need a Christological theology!

Our theology is often centered on perspectives that are rooted in a number of good biblical themes but lack Christ. There is nothing more central to the biblical story of redemption than Christ. He is all. Paul, in perhaps the greatest hymn in all the Bible says:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather made himself nothing, by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the […]