Blog - Page 230 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Senator Kennedy's Tumor

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:54-05:00May 20th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

The news of Senator Ted Kennedy’s brain tumor just became known a few hours ago. Ted Kennedy has never been my favorite politician. But I found that my first reaction to the news this afternoon was one of sadness that led me to intercessory prayer. I have stood within a few feet of Kennedy at a press interview on Capitol Hill on one occasion. I watched him answer questions during this taped television interview. I do not even remember the subject he was addressing, quite frankly.
I do recall that on that same say I met John McCain and spoke to him for about thirty seconds in the stairwell of the Senate. He was quite cordial to me. We spoke about his book, Faith of My Fathers, which I had just read at that time and appreciated quite profoundly.

I think the media […]

Prince Caspian: A Wonderful Film

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 20th, 2008|Categories: Film|

The second Chronicles of Narnia film, based upon the second of C. S. Lewis’ famous Chronicles of Narnia children’s books in the series, opened this weekend in theaters across America. It opened as the number one attraction, replacing Iron Man, a fabulous action film that I much enjoyed. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a truly wonderful film. I loved it from start to finish. The actors are good, though the story is not nearly as faithful to Lewis’ original as was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In taking liberties with Lewis’ book director Andrew Ferguson is making the story into an epic fantasy battle. I agree with Christianity Today’s Peter T. Chattaway that this makes this film “more consistent, and consistently entertaining” than Wardrobe was. Films are never consistently true to novels but in this case some of the book’s most basic spiritual themes are missing. The storyline remains in tact but re-arranged. And the battles and action scenes are […]

Will Iran Legislate the Death of Thousands of Christians?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 20th, 2008|Categories: Islam|

The state religion of Iran, as everyone I suppose knows, is Islam. In fact 98% of the nation’s 66 million people are Muslim. The problem this presents for people of any other faith, especially Christians, is a major human rights issue but few world leaders pay attention.

Satellite television is having some impact within Iran
and there is evidence of Christian conversions taking place. When this happens believers remain underground and are often directed to other believers where they can find encouragement and a Bible. But publicly these new Christians remain Muslims, going through the motions of prayers and practices that keep the government at a distance.

Leaving Islam has always invited serious consequences from the Iranian government. If a person is born into a Christian home it is acceptable to be a Christian. What is not acceptable is any […]

Can We Develop a Truly Christian Psychology?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 19th, 2008|Categories: Counseling|

No subject is more divisive, at least in many conservative churches in America, than Christian psychology, or better stated, Christian counseling.
One reason for this problem is that Christians who engage the social science of psychology often do a very poor job of submitting their reflections to biblical authority. The result is that there are many Christians doing psychology and counseling who are not actively submitting their practices to the types of biblical patterns and principles that offer real solutions.

Because of this confusion a virtual “war” has broken out, over the past ten years in particular, between the various types of counseling done by Christians. One side we have what has been called “biblical counseling” while on the other we have what is often referred to as “integrationist counseling,” or, to some who are very critical, non-Christian counseling.

A recent reader of this blog, who is himself a Christian counselor (Rev. Rick Sholette of Norman, Oklahoma), recently sent me […]

Trinity Sunday

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 18th, 2008|Categories: The Trinity|

Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost Sunday in the Western Church. Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday.
I love the way the cyclical and seasonal Church calendar requires the people of God to remember the great historical facts and doctrinal truths of the Christian religion. I grew up in a conservative church and yet I do not ever remember a serious discussion of the Trinity, much less a Sunday given to the celebration of the doctrine of the Triune God.

Following the lectionary I will preach this morning at First Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois, from Matthew 28:16-20. This is one of those rare texts where you have all three persons in the Godhead referenced in one sentence. And the words are attributed to Jesus by the Gospel writer Matthew. We are to baptize those who embrace the Christian faith in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Notice, Matthew does not say "names."

[…]

Is Big Oil the Problem or the Solution?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 17th, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

Big Oil is taking a beating these days, especially now that gasoline prices are above $4 a gallon in most areas of the U.S.
It is as common as “daily workplace chatter” to attack the major oil companies for their greed and huge profits, all the while blaming them for some, or even all, of the economic problems that we currently face.

Last week the congressional Democrats blamed Big Oil with their usual attacks while they did nothing serious to address the need they have never addressed for over thirty years—the production of more energy within the borders of the United States. So, expect to hear the same message that we have heard in every election since the 1960s–“we must find more energy (alternative sources) within the U.S.”–but this time expect that the next president and the Congress will finally have to do something about it. We cannot depend on alternative energy for decades so something has to be done with oil supply […]

Do You Really Believe in Freedom of Religion?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 16th, 2008|Categories: Islam|

A 24-year old Assyrian Christian woman, who is a citizen of Iran, was
recently rejected for a job as a flight attendant with Air Iran, the state-run airline. What was the reason for her rejection? She had not read the Koran. Her comment about her rejection underscores a major point that I believe is true with regard to all religion in public society. “Religion without the freedom to reject it is not a true religion. It makes life very claustrophobic.”

Christianity has not always recognized this principle clearly, given the history of certain events that followed the conversion of Constantine and the millennium long developments of European Christendom. Christendom plainly had long periods where there was little or no freedom in European states that allowed a person to openly “reject” the Christian faith without real personal and social consequences.

But there […]

John Hagee and the Catholic Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 15th, 2008|Categories: Roman Catholicism|

John Hagee, an influential Texas televangelist, is a huge supporter of the state of Israel. His theology is plainly dispensational and his support of Zionism is well-known. The same could be said about the views and practices of many other evangelicals. What has created considerable public conflict, in Hagee’s case, is his endorsement of John McCain. John Hagee’s anti-Catholicism, not his pro-Zionism, has been made an issue in recent weeks. Since McCain had previously accepted Hagee’s endorsement the media has made strong comparisons between Hagee’s anti-Catholicism and Jeremiah’s Wright’s anti-Americanism.

This issue became even more contentious when the association of Jeremiah Wright with Barack Obama was made an issue over the last few months. This support of McCain by Hagee has been compared to the Wright-Obama matter, even by Obama’s campaign on several occasions. It seems to me that fair-minded people, who are not blindly committed to either one of these two candidates, can see an obvious difference here. Whereas John Hagee […]

The Rise of a New Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:55-05:00May 14th, 2008|Categories: Unity of the Church|

The word ecumenical has suffered great harm over the past
100 or so years. A movement that bore this name began well in the early 1900s but
it came to represent something that had less to do with the gospel of Christ
and much more to do with alliances for political and social change after World
War II. In opposition to these more liberal tendencies in the worldwide ecumenical
movement more conservative Christians raised up various groups to unite their
churches and constituencies around the gospel.

The most noted group for unit was the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), born in the 1940s. It has
now, at least to my mind, come to mean very little at this point. NAE
was once “a white male club,” back in the 1980s when I attended its meetings
actively. Now it has adopted an agenda that sounds much more like a politically
left-leaning evangelicalism, in opposition to the equally politicized Christian
Right movement.

Much more important to the mission of Christ […]

Preaching on Pentecost Sunday

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:56-05:00May 13th, 2008|Categories: Homiletics/Preaching|

This past Lord’s Day (May 11) was Pentecost Sunday. For many it passed with little or no recognition of this great truth of our Christian faith. But for me, and the congregation of First Reformed Church in South Holland (where I am preaching regularly until the new pastor is installed on June 15,) it was a great day to worship God the Holy Spirit in the fullness of joy.

I preached from the Lectionary and thus the Gospel text was John 20:19-23. This text seems not to be appropriate to the feast of Pentecost since the events presented here happened on Easter eve. But it actually fits perfectly with John’s great theme of “sentness.” This is connected to the Spirit’s power coming upon the disciples (corporately) in order to give witness to Christ and thus to speak with authority and power. This is John’s emphasis here without doubt. I think we sometimes get caught in a bind of trying to create a “harmony” […]