Blog - Page 207 of 318 - John H Armstrong

What Was Auburn Thinking When They Hired a Football Coach?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:11-05:00December 22nd, 2008|Categories: College Football|

I am just not sure what a number of these BCS college football athletic directors were thinking since the regular season ended only a few weeks ago. Seven major programs have fired their head coach and chosen a replacement. The seven schools are Mississippi State, Auburn, Tennessee, Clemson, Washington, Kansas State and Syracuse.

Do you see any pattern here? Three of the seven are from the SEC. When Alabama hired Nick Saban, right after New Year’s Day (2007), I made three predictions to my buddies. One, Phil Fulmer would be gone from Tennessee in two years. I got that one right on the button. The second prediction was that Tommy Tuberville (photo at right)
would be gone at Auburn inside of four years. I missed it. He was gone in only two. The third was that Alabama would play in the BCS national championship game within five years. I almost got that in two years as well, with Alabama ranked No. 1 and leading […]

Visit us on Facebook

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:12-05:00December 21st, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

Check out our newly added ACT 3 page on Facebook. I think you'll be a fan. Don't forget to visit our ACT 3 ministry site as well, where you can subscribe to ACT 3 Weekly by email and register for events and activities.

Barack Obama and Rick Warren's Prayer at the Inauguration

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:12-05:00December 20th, 2008|Categories: America and Americanism|

President-elect Barack Obama, as many of you no doubt know by today, chose the popular evangelical minister Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his January 20 inauguration, strongly rejecting the criticism that it slights gays. Gay rights advocates were strong supporters of Obama during the election campaign, even though he did not endorse “gay marriage” in his promises or commitments. What angers these gay rights advocates about Rick Warren is his backing of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative banning gay marriage. That measure was approved by the voters last month, millions of whom also voted for Barack Obama. This was especially the case among black and Hispanic voters who voted heavily against gay marriage and generally do elsewhere.

Anyone who has bothered to study the words and actions of Barack Obama should not be surprised at his choice of Rick Warren, as well as noted Civil Rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, to pray at his inauguration. Obama’s […]

A Life Well Lived: On the Death of Erwin Lutzer's Father

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:12-05:00December 19th, 2008|Categories: Death|

Since I was a young pastor in my early twenties Erwin Lutzer and I have shared a deep friendship. This has led to many wonderful times of conversation, ministry and prayer. Erwin's dad and mom are both over 100 years of age. This in itself is a remarkable fact but then his dad and mom are two rather amazing people. Erwin's dad finally passed away this week at the ripe old age of 106! Since I have heard so much about Erwin's dad for most of my adult life I thought it only right to share Erwin's account of his dad and his passing with all my readers. (If course, I have Erwin's permission to share this story with you. I also ask you to pray for him in light of this loss.)

Here is Erwin's brief account of his dad's amazing life and his death this week.

My father, age 106, laid his burdens down and entered the presence […]

The Visitor

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:12-05:00December 19th, 2008|Categories: Film|

Director Tom McCarthy’s new film, The Visitor, is what Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, calls “a heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you.” I could not agree more. This is a sensational movie and a true sleeper that people who love a great film and a truly good story will likely miss.

The premise is rather simple—in a world of six billion people it only takes one to change your life. An “intriguing drama” The Visitor truly allows the viewer to see and feel the story of an illegal immigration scenario in a way that puts a human face on the issue. Starring Richard Jenkins (from the HBO series, Six Feet Under) the story line involves Dr. Walter Vale, a sixty-two year old Connecticut College economics professor who is still adjusting to the absence of his late wife.

Passion is gone from his life and […]

ACT 3 Needs You

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 18th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

One of the most famous ads in American history is one that features "Uncle Sam" saying, "I need you!" It is a piece of cultural iconography. During World War II, and after, it symbolized something of the spirit of the nation.

Well, in the spirit of "need" I must tell you that ACT 3 "needs you." Every similar ministry will tell you at this time of the year that they need gifts to finish the year well. ACT 3 is in the same place. But I have been thinking a great deal lately about how you could help ACT 3 and me do this ministry.

We all know, by now, that President-elect Barack Obama unleashed the largest Internet response to a political candidate in history. He did this by putting his message before people who then shared it with their friends who then they shared it with their friends and eventually both the man and his message connected millions of people into a large movement. One of the most important keys to his political […]

The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Five

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 17th, 2008|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

In my final look at Richard Cizek’s resignation as vice-president of NAE I want to make some specific observations and issue a personal plea for a different kind of Christian presence in the public sphere.

Many Christian writers believe that Cizik should have resigned, some as far back as two years ago. Mark Tooley, a writer for the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), believes that “Cizik has been very outspoken and in some ways ‘off the reservation’ for the last five or six years in terms of his global warming-activism, which the board of NAE had initially somewhat disavowed—but that had not discouraged him.” The terms Cizik’s critics use are often quite revealing. Tooley believes he is “off the reservation.” What an ironic expression. I doubt that Tooley meant this metaphor in the way I actually hear it. I know him to be an honorable and good man. But in his terms I suppose that I also live “off the reservation.” Frankly, […]

The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 16th, 2008|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

One of the more perceptive voices addressing Christianity and public policy is that of Calvin College’s Joel Carpenter (photo at left). Joel was once the director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE) at Wheaton. He is someone that I listen to much the way the old E. F. Hutton commercials suggested people listened to Hutton's advice about the market. Carpenter is an astute observer of evangelicals and the NAE. He has also followed the Richard Cizik matter very closely.

Last week Carpenter observed: “I think the public affairs office (of NAE) has been the most vital and important thing that the NAE has been doing in recent years. Joel Carpenter actually contributed a chapter on the history of the NAE to the book Revive Us Again, a history of fundamentalism and evangelism in America. He suggests, as a historian of this 66-year old organization which was birthed in opposition to the World Council (WCC) and National Council of Churches […]

The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Three

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 15th, 2008|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

The “forced” resignation of Richard Cizik has brought a great deal of attention to evangelical Christianity in America and most of it is very negative. We live in a time when spiritual interest is actually rising but respect for the church is in sharp decline. Most non-Christians associate our response to leaders like Rich Cizik with the gospel message itself, like it or not. We can say this is not the case but they see this very simply as Christians attacking Christians. To them we are all fundamentalists, whether we like it or not. And our standing in the culture is at an all-time low based on everything I have seen.

Statistics reveal that an unsettling exodus is also taking place in the American church. This is not a passing fad but a real, observable and much-studied trend. What makes young people leave our churches? And why is the name “evangelical” so […]

Priests and Prophets

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 14th, 2008|Categories: Biblical Theology|

The Advent Sermon that I heard at the Lutheran Church of the Master (Carol Stream, IL), preached by the interim pastor Curt Gerald, was excellent. He preached from the two liturgical texts found in Isaiah 61:1-11 and John 1:6-9 and 1: 19-28. He explained quite well the frequent tensions that existed between the two ends of the Old Testament spectrum: the priests and the prophets. His point was that both were always needed but often they clashed and people tended to miss the importance of one or the other side of this emphasis.

I quite agree with Curt and this take on the Old Testament story. Our churches have both types of people in them. The "priests" want to make sure the church is run right and the worship remains sound. They are concerned about the operation of the ministry and in things like "decency and order," to use Paul's well-known phrase. The prophets, often less in number, want to make sure that […]