Blog - Page 184 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Checking My Dashboard for the Spirit of the Pharisees

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:08-05:00August 3rd, 2009|Categories: Spirituality|

We all know the Pharisees were the religious conservatives of Jesus’ day. We also know that the word Pharisee is today a virtual synonym for hypocrite. The Pharisee is synonymous with the critical spirit, the person who has answers and feels compelled to always remind people that they know more, and do more, than anyone else in the church.

The problem is that most of us never stop to find out where we might have become too much like the Pharisees. A few weeks ago I heard an excellent sermon in Plano, Texas, from my friend Rev. John McCracken (Trinity Presbyterian Church). John’s text was Luke 18:9-14 and his title was: “The Prayer God Won’t Answer.” John is an engaging, warm and solidly biblical preacher. He is very effective.

In the last part of John’s sermon he used an analogy of a car dashboard. He said we should pay attention when a warning light comes on and correct the […]

Is It Time to Do Church Differently?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:08-05:00August 2nd, 2009|Categories: Missional Church|

I have written in numerous contexts that the church needs to rethink its mission as soon as possible. Sadly, most churches are not doing this.

We must grasp anew the way to do church in the twenty-first century. The message of the gospel does not change but the way we make disciples is changing and must change even more than most people are ready to acknowledge. The complexities of the modern cultural context are unique. The way we gain real access to people's minds and hearts is being altered so quickly that only those who are doing evangelism in the trenches seem to recognize the real significance and power of this hyper-change.

The recently retired U. S. President of the Navigators, Alan Andrews, succinctly sums up what I see when he says:

In my opinion the time has come to do church differently. I am convinced that we must shift our focus from highly programmed ministry to developing Missional/Transformational Communities that are formed as a seamless organic whole. These types of communities are […]

Do We Have a "Theological Deficit?"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:08-05:00August 1st, 2009|Categories: Biblical Theology|

In the early 1980s the president of the United Church of Christ (UCC), clearly one of the most liberal of all Protestant denominations in America, suggested candidly that the real problem in their ranks was their "theological deficit." In 1980 Time magazine did a study on what congregations wanted in their pastor. The article concluded that people wanted "a pallid but personable faith." The word pallid is a synonym for the word pale. To be pale or pallid is to be dim, faithless or colorless. It also means to lack in texture because one is exhausted. I cannot think of a better way to describe the current state of things in the church.

This statement sums up things today much as it did in 1980. Can anyone honestly believe that things have dramatically improved in the mainline since 1980? What about the evangelicals? I am convinced that on the whole there is an obvious "theological deficit" in almost every corner […]

Judge Sotomayor: A Look Beyond the Partisan Questions

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:08-05:00July 31st, 2009|Categories: Current Affairs|

By now we know that Judge Sonia Sotomayor has faced a Senate committee's inquiry and passed the process without any serious hitch. Isn't the goal that she escape a slip and get confirmed? Since the term "borking" came into our legal experience it seems this is almost always the case in these high profile nominations. Sotomayor will be confirmed by the U. S. Senate and soon will serve on the Supreme Court, replacing Justice David Souter. For most people the issue of her confirmation was primarily about partisanship. Where does she stand on certain issues that routinely come before the Supreme Court? What is her judicial approach to interpreting law? Can we get her approved and make sure the court reflects our partisan views? Is she pro-life or pro-choice? Where does she stand on guns?

The wild card in all these proceedings is that once a judge is appointed we never know how they will really vote or respond once […]

The Simple, Godly Wisdom of Ian Thomas

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:08-05:00July 30th, 2009|Categories: Spirituality|

I mentioned last week my visit with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. One of the subjects we discussed was the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, begun by the late Ian Thomas.
I first met Major Ian Thomas through his book, The Saving Life of Christ. I later read several more of his books on the “deeper life.” I seem to recall reading all four of his books at some point. I went through a time when this emphasis seemed too mystical to my analytical mind. The older I have become the more I prize the “Christ life” in me by faith in the risen life of the Savior.

The late Ian Thomas was born in London on September 13, 1914 and died at 92 years of age on August 1, 2007. He is probably best known as the founder of both Torchbearers International and the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, both begun in the United Kingdom. Today there are Capernwray Fellowships in twenty-three locations around […]

Is the Body Sinful? Living in Hope of Resurrection

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 29th, 2009|Categories: The Future|

In Romans chapter six the Apostle Paul says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (verses 6–7).

The reference here to the body has created a number of serious errors over the centuries. These errors remain with us to this day demonstrating that there truly is “nothing new under the sun.”

Question: If our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit in what sense can we rightly speak of them as “sinful” or “ruled by sin?”

Some early Christian heresies said that the body of human flesh was sinful. This is not what Paul is saying here at all. He refers to the body as “ruled by sin” not just the body period. The simple, and obviously correct, way to read this text is to see that Paul is saying that the whole person […]

An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God (Part Two)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 28th, 2009|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

In his religious memoir, An American Gospel, author Erik Reece relates the heart-breaking story of his father’s suicide. His dad, a second generation Baptist minister, took his own life at thirty-three, when Erik was only three years old. Erik describes his father as having too much “self awareness." He was controlled by a system of Christianity that felt like a penal system. Erik eventually came to his father’s dim view of Christianity and saw it as “a set of rules meant to inflict self-loathing.” This led him to look for an "American gospel."

Reece writes: “Eighteen years of compulsory churchgoing, followed by eighteen more years of trying to extract myself from the church, has convinced me that Tolstoy was right: the more Christian fundamentalism emphasizes that the kingdom of God awaits us as a reward in the afterlife, the more it ignores the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. That is to say, the […]

An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 27th, 2009|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

One of the most famous authors of the late nineteenth century, Leo Tolstoy, once read the New Testament Gospels and then wrote a book titled: The Kingdom of God Is Within You. In his book Tolstoy argued that one cannot believe in the Sermon on the Mount and the Nicene Creed.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told his followers to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, to give to those who beg and to avoid all hypocritical judgments. By contrast the Nicene Creed is an assertion of the divinity of Jesus as “the only son of God.” He was born of a virgin, crucified as a bloody sacrifice for the sins of humankind and rose from the dead on the third day. Tolstoy argued that one either has to accept the Sermon’s rigorous demands for how we must act in this world or choose the Creed as a way of escaping from this world to another. He concluded, “The man who believes in a god, in a Christ coming again in glory to judge and […]

Love Believes All Things

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 26th, 2009|Categories: Love|

S.
Michael Craven is the president of the Center for Christ in Culture in
Dallas, Texas. He is the author of a very important new book Uncompromised Faith
(NavPress, 2009). Michael is my dear friend and currently serves as the
chairman of the ACT 3 board of directors. We shared some time together
in Dallas two weeks ago and I was refreshed again by the friendship of
this dear brother. Michael writes a weekly article much the way I do
with the ACT 3 Weekly. His article last Monday was so good that I want
to share it with those of you who read my blog. I encourage you to sign
up for Michael's Truth in Culture Weekly and to get a copy of his fine book too. You will not regret adding this thoughtful man's insights to your own mind and heart.

Love Believes All Things

S. Michael Craven

Last
week I wrote of marriage and its […]

Obamacare and Ending the Bush Tax Cuts, Part Two

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 25th, 2009|Categories: Politics|

President Obama has made the rich a popular target in his rhetoric ever since he began his campaign for the presidency in 2008. He plays on the desires of the poor and the middle class for fairness and argues that they already pay enough. It is the rich who should carry more of the burden for the rest of us. So, how will the proposed federal health care program be paid for? We need to know. The president tells us we can have great health care and pay absolutely nothing.

Basic Armstrong Premise: Anyone who tells me that I can have something great and pay nothing, at least if they represent the government, is not telling me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There is more here than meets the eye. The rich 1.2% will pay for the rest of us! In Obama's own words, “I think the best way to fund (health care) is for people like myself who have been very lucky, […]