Blog - Page 227 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Are There Conditions to Salvation?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:48-05:00June 20th, 2008|Categories: Uncategorized|

In the classic The Knowledge of the Holy the famous A. W. Tozer laid out seven conditions to be met if we would have the knowledge of God. By this Tozer did not have in mind some kind of special experience or knowledge for only a few but the normal experience of all of those who truly want to “know” God in Jesus Christ. These seven steps are:

Step One: Becoming a child of God requires us to forsake our sins. It is sin that keeps us from a relationship with a perfect, holy, sovereign God who is without sin. Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in hear; for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). There must be repentance and an acknowledgment of our complete inability to save ourselves. We must be “justified.” Note: Tozer links justifying faith to repentance very clearly and plainly. He never separates them since the Bible doesn’t either.

Step Two: After we have turned from our […]

What Should We Make of A. W. Tozer?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:48-05:00June 19th, 2008|Categories: Spirituality|

The famous A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) is widely respected by many modern evangelical Christians. He is the author of fifty-plus books and is often referred to, rightly I believe, as “an evangelical mystic.” When Tozer was alive he was not so widely respected precisely because he was so profoundly prophetic. His writing often irritated people and made many leaders nervous. He was unsparing in stating his concern for how he saw evangelicalism selling itself out and this was all the way back in the 1950s. Now his words have proven accurate in most every way imaginable. I guess most prophets are heard after they’re gone!

Born in 1893, in Newburg, Pennsylvania, Aiden Wilson Tozer was converted at the age of 18. He had no formal training but began a lifelong pastoral ministry in the Christian Missionary Alliance in 1919. (One thinks of other great ministers who had no formal training, including C. H. Spurgeon, who was never ordained either!)
What made A. […]

The First Martyr of the Christian Era

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:48-05:00June 18th, 2008|Categories: The Persecuted Church|

All agree that the first martyr of the Christian Church was Stephen. I do not think we ponder this man or his sacrifice deeply enough. Stephen’s story of dying for the faith is recorded, of course, in Acts 6 and 7. This story follows immediately the account, in the opening verses of the chapter, of how the Jerusalem leadership chose seven men "who [were] known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:4) to care for administrative matters in the congregation. Stephen was one of these men.

These seven, who may have been the prototype of the office of deacon, were chosen to free up the apostles, who were in effect acting as the elders in that church. This was done so the apostles could give themselves to the Word of God and prayer. Stephen, one of the seven men chosen, was obviously a gifted speaker. This in itself is interesting. Here a man is chosen to do what we […]

The Passing of a News Icon: Tim Russert (1950-2008)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:48-05:00June 17th, 2008|Categories: Current Affairs|

Tim Russert (1950-2008) will be sorely missed by many, many people, especially those who knew him personally. I am a “news and political junkie” so I saw him often on NBC. I was also a long time fan and admirer. Like so many I too feel that I lost someone I personally cared about even though I never met the man. Television personalities come and go. Some leave a positive mark. Others make no real difference at all. Tim left a huge mark and made a great and lasting impression. He was a professional and he stood out in an age of “silly” television and bad journalistic methods.

I watched the NBC morning show on Saturday and listened to a one-hour tribute the various news staff of NBC gave to Tim after his sudden passing on Friday, June 13. It was amazing to listen to Tim’s boss, the president of NBC news, as well as his colleagues. Tim was not only the host […]

Paul: Missionary of Jesus

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:48-05:00June 16th, 2008|Categories: Biblical Theology|

Paul: Missionary of Jesus
Paul Barnett
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
Pages xvi + 240
After Jesus Series Volume 2 A Review by Dr. Don Garlington, Toronto, Ontario Paul Barnett’s book on the apostle Paul is a fine contribution to the literature. Barnett’s writing style is flowing, easy to follow and often elegant. From page one, this volume is extremely interesting and, for its size, sheds an uncommon amount of light on Paul’s life and mission. Its main thesis is that Paul was not “the real founder of Christianity.” Barnett poses the issue in these terms (2): "Was Paul a true missionary of Jesus?" Embedded in that question are others. Did Paul know about Jesus’ life and teaching? Did Paul preach Jesus’ message? Was Paul true to Jesus’ intentions? Did Paul continue in the trajectory […]

A Rare Opportunity for the Voting Public

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:49-05:00June 15th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Lost in the shuffle of Hillary Clinton’s exist from the campaign ten days ago was a proposal from Senator McCain to Senator Obama to have as many as 10 town hall meetings before Labor Day. Let me explain.

Debates, as we have known them since Kennedy and Nixon, the most famous of all television debates, and of course the first, have taken a turn for the worse over the years. Incumbents, like Nixon and Johnson, ran away from them since they held big leads. When we have had debates they have generally been all about "not making a huge mistake" or looking ridiculous. (Remember Al Gore looking imposing and making foreign policy mistakes when this was supposed to be his strength and George W. Bush looking at his watch?) These "debates" have become sheer spectacle, or bad theater, and little comes out of them that is truly helpful in assessing the character and views of the two candidates. And they are so worked over by both campaigns in the planning stage, and thus so many compromises go into the outcome, that they end […]

You Can't Beat Fun at the Old Ballpark

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:49-05:00June 14th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

The famous announcer Harry Carey used to say, so often, "You can’t beat fun at the old ballpark." As many of you know I share that feeling. It is a great place to be for rest and just "a time to veg." I forget almost everything else when I am at the park.

My daughter, granddaughter and I recently went to beautiful Miller Park in Milwaukee to see the Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1. We took, Jeff Malass, along with us. Between Stacy and me we have turned Gracie into a real true-blue baseball fan: Go Sox and go Braves!!!

Stacy always tries to get Gracie to the park early. She then works her way to just the right spots and with Gracie’s cute smile and sweet face she gets some serious autographs and photo-ops. Such was the case in Milwaukee. […]

The Weather Underground and the Radical 1960s

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:49-05:00June 13th, 2008|Categories: Current Affairs|

The Weather Underground
A Documentary Film by Sam Green and Bill Siegel
The Free History Project: New Video (2003)
92 minutes

Recent political discussion about the background,and friendships, of Barack Obama has brought up the issue of the Weather Underground. The reason for this chatter is Obama’s association, especially in Chicago, with two leaders from the Weather Underground, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Ayers and Dohrn are now husband and wife and are both professors, one at Northwestern and the other at the University of Illinois. Obama has known them both and had close association with them for many years. This has raised questions about his ties to more militant groups on the far left, at least historically, and thus questions about his judgment in having such associations, which are now being more carefully scrutinized.

The Weather Underground was a […]

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:49-05:00June 12th, 2008|Categories: Race and Racism|

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
2002
4 programs, each 56 minute episodes

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow series caught my attention because of the blog I wrote on May 6 regarding race. The producer, William Jersey, is a Wheaton College graduate and learning this prompted me to familiarize myself with his documentary film work, much of which deals with race issues. This series of four programs is, in some ways, more powerful than Ken Burns’ famous Civil War series and the civil rights series, Eyes on the Prize, both award winning documentary films. In the words of Newsday, "It demonstrates why we can’t hope to understand current issues of race and prejudice without facing up to our own ungodly brutal past." I concur and highly recommend this series. In my quest to understand the issue of race much better this proved to be as moving and gripping a presentation, quite honestly, as […]

Knowing God

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:49-05:00June 11th, 2008|Categories: Spirituality|

The mystic Catholic, Thomas Merton, once noted that: “If you find God with great ease, perhaps it is not God that you have found.”

This statement underscores one of the deepest problems I have encountered over the course of my own life. I settled for thinking that I knew God, or God’s will or purpose, when I am quite sure that I was overconfident many times. The ease with which I spoke, and the ease with which I processed this knowledge, should have warned me but I was too dull oft times.

Theologians rightly speak of the deus absconditus, or of the God who is absconds, or is absent. The Psalmist knew this reality and do did Mother Teresa. Great mystics have known it and so have ordinary saints. Luther and Calvin knew it too. Just when we think we have God, or we have figured him out, he is absent from us again. He will be sought but finding is […]