Blog - Page 35 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Andy Stanley Gets Hammered for Comments on Revival

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:26-05:00June 16th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional Church, Renewal, The Church|

Pastor-author Andy Stanley is, if anything, a deeply passionate Christian leader about church growth and reaching the unchurched in the youngest generation. I am not a huge fan, thus I do not read him often. But I am not a huge fan of a lot of this kind of writing and teaching. But I profoundly respect Andy Stanley and believe that he contributes to the overall well-being of the church. Stanley, the son of the famous Charles Stanley, preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at five different North Point Ministries metro-Atlanta campuses. Like his father, who still reaches older viewers, Stanley also has a television program, Your Move. This program is estimated to reach an audience of nearly one million per week.

On Tuesday (June 10), Stanley tweeted,

•”Instead of praying for revival leaders of the SBC should go spend three weeks with @perrynoble Why pray for one when you can go watch one.”

•”Praying for revival equates to blaming God for the condition of your local church.”

•”Why not call the Church to pray for […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue? (Seventeen)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:27-05:00June 12th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

The Joint Declaration (1999) says, in section 4:6, in a part of the document called “The Assurance of Salvation” the following (italics are all mine):

Catholics can share the concern of the Reformers to ground faith in the objective reality of Christ’s promise, to look away from one’s own experience, and to trust in Christ’s forgiving word alone (cf. Mt 16:19; 18:18). With the Second Vatican Council, Catholics state: to have faith is to entrust oneself totally to God,[19] who liberates us from the darkness of sin and death and awakens us to eternal life.[20] In this sense, one cannot believe in God and at the same time consider the divine promise untrustworthy. No one may doubt God’s mercy and Christ’s merit. Every person, however, may be concerned about his salvation when he looks upon his own weaknesses and shortcomings. Recognizing his own failures, however, the believer may yet be certain that God intends his salvation. [See Sources for section 4.6].

The Agreement concludes with Article 5 (Sections 40-44):

5. The Significance and Scope […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue? (Sixteen)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:29-05:00June 11th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

Could it really be true that Rome misunderstood the Reformers teaching on grace and faith in what they wrote at the Council of Trent?

One evangelical respondent to the blog that sparked my initial interest in preparing this series of posts put the common view of so many quite well: “What is needed from the Catholic Church is repentance so shouldn’t the Church formally renounce what it said at Trent?”

Isn’t this really the bottom line? Shouldn’t the Catholic Church “repent” or we cannot trust a single thing that they now say about justification and the gospel?

The answer of many anti-Catholic apologists to this question is very simple. They say something like this: “The Catholic Church cannot change by its own confession about itself never changing so whatever they now say has no bearing on the fundamental issue of justification unless they recant, repent and remove the teaching of the Council of Trent on this central issue.”

My first response to this is to ask you another question: “What church removes the past and unconfesses what it once strongly […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue? (Fifteen)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:29-05:00June 10th, 2014|Categories: Faith, Gospel/Good News, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church|

For many Protestants the doctrine of the Council of Trent that was, and still is, the central point of the Reformation, is the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

This Trent question, it seems to me, comes down to this – did the Council of Trent reject a caricature of the Reformation view of sola fide and sola gratis or did it totally and completely reject the full blown doctrinal emphasis entirely? Or, have opponents misrepresented Rome’s position all along because they never denied the Reformation gospel in the first place?

The late Dutch Reformed theologian G. C. Berkouwer wrote in 1958:

People generally had the feeling that here was a decision of extremely far-reaching importance and that the entire controversy concentrated on this focal point. Does sola fide not imply a clearly drawn boundary which must be acknowledged by both sides? Does sola fie not function critically, just as do “only through Christ” and “only through the Holy Scriptures”? (G. C. Berkouwer, Recent Developments in Roman Catholic Thought, Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1958, 58).

It should be acknowledged that for centuries Rome understood the […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue (Fourteen)

By John Armstrong|2015-01-23T16:23:59-06:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

Latin America evangelist Luis Palau is a good friend of Pope Francis. Here he reveals openly what he knows about his brother and this pope’s strong commitment to the gospel. This interview, done in the summer of 2013 after the pope’s election by the conclave in Rome, provides further perspective on why the “Reformation Wars” should cease. Simply put, they serve no “good” purpose in the mission of Christ. They seriously hinder his love among us and harm the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. I pray that an army of Christians will arise in my lifetime who will say, “Enough is enough. Let us get on with making disciples for Christ and his kingdom!”

Jesus Prays for His Own – A Sermon (John 17)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:29-05:00June 6th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Death, Gospel/Good News, Homiletics/Preaching, Love, Personal, Prayer|

The life of our Lord Jesus Christ had an intentionally designed dramatic climax. He was “born to die.” This was not just any death for any person but a death which revealed the depth of God’s love for the world (John 3:16).

In John’s Gospel the glory of the Savior ultimately is his cross. In the death of Jesus we see his glory in the cross for at least five reasons:

1. His greatness is revealed by dying.

2. His work is completed by his dying.

3. He must obey the Father and thus glorify God by dying.

4. His cross is not his end – the resurrection will follow. Vindication is real. It is as if God pointed at the cross and said, “This is what men think of my Son.” But God pointed at the resurrection and said, “This is what I think of my Son.” The glory of the resurrection removed the shame of the cross turning it into glory.

5. The cross is the way back to God. The gateway to glory.

John 17 gives us […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue? (Thirteen)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:29-05:00June 5th, 2014|Categories: Church History, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Faith, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church, The Future|

Earlier this week Pope Francis spoke to the 37th Convocation of the Renewal in the Spirit, the International Catholic Charismatic meeting held in Rome. Fifty-two thousand people from fifty-five countries gathered for the two-day meeting at the Olympic Stadium. The pope’s address (transcript by AsiaNews) is below. It must be noted that such gatherings and messages clearly indicate to Christians who are not locked into a warfare mindset of the historical past that something amazing is spreading in our time in history. This is most certainly a work of the Spirit, thus a movement of true grace. Millions of Christians are tired of the older battle lines of the past and see a world that is looking for a message of true hope which points them to Jesus. The Father is seeking lost sheep from every nation, tribe and people group and he is calling us to work with him. Read this address and you will hear the heart of a Christian shepherd who is clearly a faithful man of God.

Pope Francis’ Address

Thank you so much for your […]

Must the Reformation Wars Continue? (Twelve)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:29-05:00June 4th, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Faith, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The various comments that were made on the iMonk site (April 24) – the post where Michael Mercer responded to Tim Challies’ negative post on Pope Francis – the most substantive concern expressed was about the Council of Trent (1545-1563). It is widely believed by evangelicals that the Council of Trent closed the door to the gospel of grace, leaving the Catholic Church in denial of the good news of God’s grace in Christ. It is always widely believed that this door has never reopened after nearly 450 years.

Here is the way Tim Challies expressed his point in he original blog where he said that Pope Francis is “the head of a false church.”

For all we can commend about Pope Francis, the fact remains that he, as a son of the Roman Catholic Church and as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, remains committed to a false gospel that insists upon good works as a necessary condition for justification. He is the head of a false church that is opposed to the true gospel of […]

Robert Barron on Effective Evangelizing in Our Modern Context

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:30-05:00June 3rd, 2014|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Ethics, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, Love, Missional Church, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church|

I am in the midst of a blog series titled: “Must the Reformation Wars Continue?” Today I share a short video that is worth watching if you want to see how an outstanding Catholic communicator, and a really good friend, speaks about doing evangelism effectively in our time. There are some exceptional insights here for all Christians.

The life of the Christ does not begin with the law but with Spirit, with profound joy and really good news. Joy begins in God because God alone is our true human joy. What Fr. Barron says about evangelization needs to be heard by both Catholics and evangelicals. When you begin with the law you turn people off, you skew the entire mission project. Begin with joy and you will get to ethics and obedience through the right path. This was precisely where the early church did in a most hostile context. It is also where the American church must go in our increasingly secular context.

The Catholic Church in America, only a few decades ago, was all about defending the law, about concentrating on (especially sexual) ethics. That face of the church […]

The Luminosa Award for Unity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:30-05:00June 2nd, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Roman Catholicism, The Church, Unity of the Church|

I announced, several weeks ago, that I would be in Hyde Park, New York, on June 21-22, to take part in the annual Luminosa Award weekend. The Luminosa Award recognizes persons, or associations, whose life and work have given a significant contribution to universal brotherhood – the Focolare Movement’s goal – by building bridges of mutual understanding and concern among various Christian churches, major faith traditions and people of good will, in all aspects of social life. Award recipients, for over twenty-five years, have been representatives of various Christian churches and faith traditions, of the film industry, educators, national leaders and highly esteemed peacemakers.

This award is sponsored by the Mariapolis Luminosa, the Focolare’s little city for North America, located in Hyde Park, NY. Both the Award and the Mariapolis take their name from Margarita Bavosi, called “Luminosa” because everything about her was luminous. She died in 1985, offering her life for the cause of unity. A native of Argentina, she directed the Focolare in Spain for many years.

You are cordially invited to share in this lovely […]