Blog - Page 208 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik: Part One

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 12th, 2008|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

For those of you who follow the news about highly public evangelical Christian leaders and personalities you are most likely now aware of the resignation of
Richard Cizik as Vice-President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The story itself can be read at on a number of Web sites and is objectively reported in a number of news reports today, December 12. I read several of these, especially at the NAE site and that of Christianity Today.

I have already received emails asking me to comment on Cizik and his resignation. I know that if I do so, at least publicly, there is considerable risk. My comments about this matter will bring some condemnation and further misunderstanding of my own views. Yet I have a growing number of friends who want to dialogue about such public issues. In that spirit I enter the dialogue with my sense of this sad controversy.

Over the course of the past two years […]

We Need Showers of Mercy to Fall Again

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:13-05:00December 11th, 2008|Categories: Renewal|

The latest Wall Street Journal economic-forecasting survey suggests that the current recession may turn out to be the longest and most painful downturn since the Great Depression. On average, these economists expect the downturn to conclude in June 2009, marking an eighteen-month duration, the longest postwar period of decline. The economists on average said the unemployment rate will peak at 8.4% in response to this recession, as pain in the labor market extends into 2010.

We have lost more than two trillion dollars in personal savings already. A crisis of character linked to greed, fraud and arrogance plagues us profoundly. (Consider the hubris and corruption in Illinois alone!) An unprecedented national deficit reveals that both political parties are “out of control.” Many states, my own included are broke. Some are even seeking bankruptcy. And this doesn’t even deal with the looming insolvency of programs such as Medicaid and Social Security. The U. S. average, average mind you, for credit card debt is $13,000. […]

The Corrupt Politics of Illinois

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 9th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Well, as I long expected, Governor Rod Blagojevich will likely join his predecessor, Governor George Ryan, in prison. I am glad the "pay to play" schemes we have heard about for more than two years are finally out in the open before the public. The States Attorney did his job and the governor will now fall. The people of this state will be much better off when this man is gone. The sad fact, however, is this—my state is filled with this type of political greed and corruption. It has been for fifty-plus years. The Daley machine started it, or at least mastered it, and state leaders from both parties have followed the pattern for more than fifty years. I have lived in Illinois since 1969. Four governors will have gone to prison in my time in the state. Is another state remotely close to this ignominious record?

The most striking of the two […]

Apologetics for Postmodern Evangelism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 8th, 2008|Categories: Apologetics|

Thanks to all of my readers and friends who prayed for my class at Wheaton last week. I had twelve students for a five-day intensive graduate class in apologetics at Wheaton. This is my fourth year teaching this class. (I have taught several others; e.g. revival, spiritual formation, etc.) Each class has been a bit larger and thus it becomes a real challenge to me since I seek to use a method that involves all the class in open discussion and requires the students to present and defend their own views as we go along ("The Socratic Method").

This class included a pastor from Tanzania, a missionary to France, several InterVarsity staff, several pastors, several people in the world of business or commerce and one senior undergraduate student. It was a most unusual mixture of people and the Lord blessed us as we learned together. I use four text books and one supplemental guide plus numerous hand outs of readings from things I have collected over the years. […]

Tim Tebow is the Best College Player

By John Armstrong|2008-12-07T04:58:00-06:00December 7th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

I know Sam Bradford is good and so is Colt McCoy but I do not understand how any of them can beat Tim Tebow for the Heisman Trophy this season after watching Tebow single handedly beat Alabama 31-20 yesterday in the SEC Championship game. Alabama has a great defense—quick, fast and well-coached. No team in the Big-12 has a defense like this. And Tebow simply took over the game in the fourth quarter with Alabama leading 20-17 at the time. If you love great football then you had ot love this game. It had a bit of everything. I felt Florida would win but not easily. I was right.

I am not too sad about this loss. I believe Florida will win the chamionship game. I never felt Alabama would come this far, at least this fast, anyway. Now the Tide appears headed to the Sugar Bowl and to a date with undefeated Utah. 13-1 would be a dream season frankly. Utah may be a […]

Frazier vs. Ali

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 6th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

People in my generation, even if they were not fans of boxing for a number of different reasons, recall the famous fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. I was actually invited to see the most famous fight on a closed-circuit broadcast in a Chicago area theater. I will always remember the electricity and emotion of that evening. It is a part of sport's legend in my lifetime.

The Alabama vs. Florida SEC Championship game today (3 p.m. CST)
on CBS has been called, by analyst and former-star quarterback Gary Danielson, "Frazier vs. Ali" in college football. This may be hype to amp up the ratings for CBS but it rings true for me as a fan of the game and a die-hard Crimson Tide fan. How could you get so much in one game? A conference championship game between the top two teams in America and the winner advances […]

Why Does Recession Happen?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 5th, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

The talk of a prolonged recession is on all our minds these days. Though there is no "official" proof that we are in a recession yet, since it requires two consecutive down quarters to establish a recession, there is no doubt that we are presently in one and that the results of this one will be deeper than any most of us have ever known. Unemployment is rising every month, consumer confidence is in a virtual free-fall, and spending is down. In an economy in which 70% of the action is found in sales this is a very bad sign. So what makes an economy go into such a recession?

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisan body of economists, determines the official start and end dates of a recession, using a range of data. The bottom line, no pun intended, is that a recession is a prolonged and significant decline in economic activity. These […]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 4th, 2008|Categories: Film|

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of the most moving films I've seen in a long while. I doubt the critics will acknowledged it as they should but it is a four-star film to me. (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 64% rating, which is pretty good for the ratings of professional critics!) Only one other film that deals with the Holocaust from the perspective of a child's viewpoint comes remotely close. Life Is Beautiful (1998), starring Roberto Benigni. It has ranked as my favorite such film but now I have to put this new Disney film in the same genre and give it just as high a rating. This film is good enough to see in the theater before it comes out on DVD. It has already received a Heartland "Truly Moving Picture Award" and deservedly so. It is family approved for ages 12 and above. I think this is about right. Young children could not handle the dark side of the Holocaust […]

What Must a Christian Believe?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 3rd, 2008|Categories: Unity of the Church|

Having recently completed a book, Your Church Is Too Small, I have given a great deal of thought to the question: "What must a Christian believe?" The answer to this question is the very basis upon which we can experience the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace with other Christians, even other Christians who believe much more, or much less, than we confess.

It seems that the most common objection to relational unity with other Christians is based upon a prior question, "What must we believe in order to enter into a relationship in Christ that does not compromise the historic Christian faith in any essential way?" Doctrine matters because Christianity is more than a relationship. It is a relationship, and it includes a vital experience that comes in being united with the living Christ by the Holy Spirit. But this relationship and experience is rooted in teaching, or doctrine. If you do not have a doctrinal basis for this […]

The Hour I First Believed

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00December 2nd, 2008|Categories: Books|

Wally Lamb has written two hugely successful best-selling novels: She's Come Undone and I Know This Much. He has been called "a modern-day Dostoevsky" because his characters are introspective and search for a "mocking, sadistic God" in the process of coming to grips with life.

Lamb's new novel, recently released after some ten years in the making, is over 700 pages long and titled: The Hour I First Believed. The new book deals with tragedy in general and the teen killings at Columbine in particular. While Lamb was writing this novel 9/11 shattered our daily lives in an unusual way. Then this horror was followed by the widening war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina. Says Lamb, "I worried this novel into existence." A reporter writes that at one point Lamb was so vexed that he offered to pay back a large royalty advance and give up the entire project.

Lamb believes the media did not portray the shooters at […]