Blog - Page 185 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Obamacare and Ending the Bush Tax Cuts, Part One

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 24th, 2009|Categories: Politics|

The full court push is now on to pass sweeping health care legislation. The goal is to provide care for (almost) all Americans. The last time we endured this debate was in the early days of the first term of Bill Clinton. The plan then, doomed from the beginning, went down in flames. This time there is a much better chance that Congress will pass a plan of some sort. Like every American I am very interested in this issue. But like almost every American I think the devil is really in the details. This is precisely what makes me so nervous. (I'm not losing any sleep over this, however, so take my words in their context!) We are all being asked to trust the federal government to create a program that involves hundreds of thousands of administrators and more red tape than we know what to do with. In my lifetime I have learned one thing about the federal government—it does a poor job of running large […]

The Summer Crunch and the Ministry of ACT 3

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:09-05:00July 23rd, 2009|Categories: ACT 3|

I stay in touch with a number of other ministries like ACT 3. Several are led by my closest friends. As a result of this fellowship I know that all of us are undergoing challenging times this summer. Ministry for us has never been stronger and opportunities beckon on many fronts. I have been granted amazing freedom to speak, teach, counsel, write and encourage. A DVD will come out in August that tells our story powerfully. The future for ACT 3 looks bright beyond words. Yet these summer months, with the economy in recession, have been more than a test for us in terms of meeting our small budget. We have cut our budget several times. We cut salaries 25% last September and have made other cuts since then. We operate in a responsible manner and our board takes oversight of the mission seriously.

I write this because I need you help right now. Today!

We will not make our payroll unless we get about $2,000 by early next week. This is not a huge sum […]

A Lovely Day With Stuart & Jill Briscoe

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 23rd, 2009|Categories: Personal|

Most of us have role models. Children learn best from role models and the very best role model is a good parent. Sometimes our role models even become our heroes. If we actually get to know our heroes they will eventually disappoint us. But if we learn to rightly understand our role models they will become powerful guides and bring great blessing to our lives.

In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 the apostle tells believers to “follow our example” (by which he means the example of the apostles). In 2 Thessalonians 3:9 he says that the work of the apostles is to “offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.” That is a great encouragement to all of us who influence others in Christian ministry.

It has been rightly said that “precepts may lead, but examples draw.” The Puritan Thomas Brooks concluded that “example is the most powerful rhetoric.” and Albert Schweitzer said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it is the only thing.” I do agree.

I […]

The Greatest Baseball Pitcher I Ever Saw

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 22nd, 2009|Categories: Baseball|

Greg Maddux, clearly one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, was honored last Friday by his reception into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. In four more years Maddux will be chosen by the writers for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The only reason it will take this long is because the rules for induction require a five-year period following retirement.

Greg Maddux was the best pitcher I saw pitch in my lifetime. I saw a whole lot of great ones pitch in person. I had the privilege of seeing Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Ferguson Jenkins and a host of other great pitchers from the 1950s until today. But Greg Maddux is still the best, at least for my money. He was clearly the smartest pitcher I ever saw perform, which I shall explain in a moment.

For those who don’t follow baseball Greg Maddux was the […]

Should a Christian Use Acupuncture?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 21st, 2009|Categories: Science|

In the growth of complimentary medicine over the past few decades acupuncture has become a fairly standard practice that many Christians ask me about. My first exposure to this practice led me to assume that acupuncture might have a lot to do with New Age religion and non-Christian spirituality. I decided to investigate this assumption and eventually came to an entirely different conclusion.

The first Christian question to be asked here is quite pragmatic. “Does acupuncture actually bring relief from pain?” If it does then it can be a good thing. Any procedure that can help a person recover health and well-being is good unless it inherently teaches one to deny the faith. We should avoid superstition and silly practices but acupuncture is neither of these if you carefully study it.

The general medical opinion about acupuncture has changed over the years. It was first opposed in the West because science did not have a way of explaining how it could […]

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 20th, 2009|Categories: Separation of Church & State|

America has a long history of protecting the legal rights and religious freedom of all people. This protection is now being stretched by two radically different views in the debate over same-sex marriage. Advocates of same-sex marriage often use the same legal opinions to promote their views that their opponents use in opposing them. Let me explain.

Some opponents of same-sex marriage clearly use the teaching of Scripture to oppose the legalization of such unions. Believing that same-sex marriage is immoral (as a confessing Christian I believe this way) these advocates then go on to argue that the state’s actions should always reflect the opinion of the majority. If the courts rule otherwise then they see the court decision as a denial of religious freedom. But a law that creates moral controversy, and even opposition to Christian doctrine, does not mean that there is a clear denial of free exercise as stated in the First Amendment.

On the opposite […]

Clement of Rome on Unity in the Church

By John Armstrong|2009-07-19T05:00:00-05:00July 19th, 2009|Categories: Unity of the Church|

The church father, Clement of Rome (died c. A. D. 90 to 100), intervened in a local congregational schism while serving as an early church overseer in the first century. Some historians believe that this same Clement was identified by Paul in Philippians 4:3. That may be. Later tradition saw Clement as the third pope, something that I do not believe is terribly clear in the record that we actually possess from the era in which he lived and died. In Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians (this congregation continued to fight and divide long after Paul was deceased) he urged the people of this troubled church to be distinguished by humility. His words are still moving and powerful. His purpose was to call out people who had rebelled against the authority of their presbyters.

Clement wrote that "we should be especially mindful of what the Lord Jesus taught us about meekness and long-suffering: Be merciful, and you will be shown mercy; forgive, and you […]

The Continually Changing State of Christian Publishing

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 18th, 2009|Categories: Current Affairs|

Christian publishing is risky business. When I launched a quarterly journal way back in 1992 I was told the first three years would make or break us. That proved to not be true. We lasted for sixteen years. We funded a quarterly that never made a profit with mission dollars because we believed in what we were doing. But keeping a journal in print was a major problem for such a small ministry. When we finally decided to "pull the plug" there was a great sense of grief in my life. I felt as if I had failed in some way. I missed the work of editing and writing and seeing this journal come out every three months. In time I realized how stressed I was under this burden and realized I should have given up six years earlier than I did. Peace finally followed that realization.

I thought of all of this when I read last week that Discipleship Journal (DJ) […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Five

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 17th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

In this, my final look at Paul’s instruction about marriage in Ephesians 5:21–33, I want to look more closely at what I believe is the central quality of Christian love. Without love no marriage can succeed for long. And Christian love is the real basis for Christian marriage. Without this love no marriage can be truly Christian.

Surely you have noticed that non-Christians can and do have great marriages. And you have also surely noticed that many Christians do not have great marriages. While it is true that Christians have the hope and grace to have a great marriage it is not true that they always do. In fact, some statistics suggest that divorce is as high, if not higher, among Christians as among non-Christians. One reason could be that non-Christians are not marrying as often in modern culture. Either way Christian divorce is much, much too high. Please note that I did not say Christians should never divorce, or that they can never […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 16th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Paul makes a case in Ephesians 5:21–33 that what is essential in conjugal love is rooted in a “man leaving his father and mother to be united with his wife” (5:31). This takes the reader back to Genesis and the created order. But what makes this unique is not the appeal to origins and the pre-fallen state but rather the application of this principle to the union of God with humanity in Christ, the true Beloved (Mark 2:19).

Here we encounter the central core of what is going on in this text: divine mystery. This means that what Paul is saying here could not be understood before Christ came. If this teaching is not “new” then the point is lost. Marriage is not without a divine and historical foundation, thus it is rooted in Genesis. But it is new here in the sense that no one before Christ could have understood marriage in the fullness of what is being taught by Paul. This is why […]