Blog - Page 213 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Evangelism of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:20-05:00October 22nd, 2008|Categories: Evangelism|

I have not followed the controversies surrounding the evangelism methods of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort until I saw the movie Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron. Then, in discussing this movie with friends, I got into this story.

Ray Comfort is an evangelist from New Zealand who has created quite a storm in his appearances across the United States. He is bold, if nothing else. And he is determined to never water down the rough edges of the gospel, at least as he understands it. Cameron, who also starred in the Left Behind movies and Growing Pains in the 1990s, has linked his efforts with Comfort in an approach called "guerrilla evangelism." In late 2001 Cameron and Comfort launched The Way of the Master to teach Christians how to share their faith "simply, effectively, biblically . . . the way Jesus did." Something about this troubles me, especially the assumption that they are sharing "the way Jesus did." What makes them so sure? And is this claim truthful […]

Fireproof: A Movie Made By Christians for Christians

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 21st, 2008|Categories: Film|

The new movie Fireproof is is conceived and produced by the same folks who brought us Facing the Giants, the football movie that stirred some evangelicals so deeply. The congregation of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, is to be commended for its noble efforts to present the gospel to modern men and women. The church, and numerous friends of this congregation, have invested thousands of dollars and probably millions of hours of personal sacrifice to produce these two films. I have no doubt that some people have been profoundly changed by seeing both films. I saw Facing the Giants on DVD and I saw Fireproof in the theater a few weeks ago. I had not planed to go but more than a few Christian friends urged me to, so I spent an afternoon at the theater.

Fireproof highlights the marriage of a non-Christian couple in Albany. The man (Caleb), played […]

Pray for My Dear Friend Sean McCallum

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 20th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

Sean McCallum is the Web master for ACT 3. He is a talented and wonderful 31 year old designer. He is a great husband and father. And he is one of my dearest friends. I simply could not do all I do without him. I met Sean about four years ago and we connected instantly. I loved his humility, teachableness, generosity of spirit and commitment to do a job right. The more we got to know each other the more we liked one another. We often share meals and brainstorm about ACT 3 stuff. We talk about everything under the sun. We even like baseball and share games. (Sean is an extra special friend since he is a Sox fan and likes the Cubs about as little as I do.) He has become more than a employee for me, he is much more like a son.

One of the things I learned about Sean early in our friendship was about his transplanted heart. He was the first such person I had ever met as a friend. In 1991, […]

How and When Did the Present Financial Crisis Begin?

By John Armstrong|2008-10-20T05:00:00-05:00October 20th, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

Several of you have perhaps seen this already, but friends have been circulating an article from the New York Times taken from a September 1999 issue that now has huge bearing on the present financial crisis in the United States. Most people can now understand what the writer was warning about now that we have seen the collapse of the housing market in America.

Many ask: "Who caused this mess?" Well there is enough blame to go around for sure. But a major share of it should be laid in the right place. This article, coming from the New York Times as it does, makes that place abundantly clear. Numerous financial voices were raised about this problem for nine years but we merrily moved along without listening. Now we are paying the price. Read and then pray and weep for our nation while politicians play games with our lives.

STEVEN A. HOLMES

New York Times (September 30, 1999)

In a move that could help increase […]

Andrew Jackson: His Times and Ours

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 19th, 2008|Categories: America and Americanism|

The two-hour DVD Andrew Jackson is a well conceived historical account of the life and presidency of our seventh president. The story of Jackson is of great personal interest to me because as a school boy I was routinely taken on school field trips to his home and burial site in Tennessee: The Hermitage. What a boy sees, a man must come to understand. So it has been with my lifelong interest in Major General Andrew Jackson, born in backwoods North Carolina, but an adopted native of my home state of Tennessee.

Jackson was orphaned at age 13 and scarcely educated in any formal sense. By his late teens he had read law and became a Tennessee attorney. He was fiercely jealous of his honor and even killed in a duel a man who cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel. Jackson prospered in Tennessee so much so that he was able to buy slaves and […]

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 18th, 2008|Categories: Evangelism|

I have referred before to a pastor before who lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
We have never met except by letter and email. I have kept up with this friend for nearly 25 years now. I feel as if I know him better than most of the people I have met face-to-face. I would assume that we will never meet until we are both in the church triumphant. But we have shared prayer requests, friendship and support, with me trying to invest in his life and work when I can do something. He wrote me a few days ago the following letter:

The church here is doing fine although we have not seen as many conversions recently. Last Sunday we had about 100 attendants. This is amazing because the previous Sunday we were only 20 attendants. I do not know what to think about the coming Sunday but hope we will be having an encouraging attendance. One thing I need your prayer about is that to reach […]

The Beautiful Humanity of the Presidential Candidates

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 17th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

If you watched the annual Al E. Smith Foundation dinner in New York last evening you saw both Barack Obama and John McCain at their very best. This is the event at which the presidential candidates speak just a few weeks before the election every four years. Both men are expected to speak humorously for fifteen minutes. They were both brilliant and charming. McCain has an amazing sense of humor and showed incredible deference in congratulating Obama on accomplishing a number of historic firsts in his campaign. McCain said, at the end, "I can not wish you luck Senator Obama, but I can wish you well." What a great line.

And Obama was in the most humorous form I have ever seen in him. It prompted me to see a side of him that I do not think we have seen as a nation. (McCain has been around a long time and many of us have seen his incredible sense of humor on other occasions. We also know he used this to his advantage in prison for five and […]

I Love Baseball

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 17th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

The sign a fan held up at Fenway Park last night said it best: "I Love Baseball." And why not? Boston was down 7-0 in a deciding game in the ALCS in the bottom of the seventh inning and they won the game 8-7. What an amazing accomplishment. It was the ex-Braves factor at work: Mark Kotsay and J. D. Drew came through, among several others. Like them or not Boston has a way of hanging in there. I still doubt they can win two in Tampa this weekend but I wouldn't say never given how these Sox have come from behind before. In October you really have to love this game if you understand it at all.

The Debates Are Over

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 16th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

The last of the three presidential debates ended last evening, as most everyone knows by now. I suppose the way you felt about the whole evening depended on who you are inclined to support. Most observers felt McCain did the best he has done but almost all agree that the difference was so slight that it matters very little to the outcome. I agree with this assessment. I believe debates generally do not swing elections unless one candidate really messes something up badly. One remembers Al Gore's sights and groans with George Bush and how much that turned people off. (Plus, Bush was expected to be a total dud against Gore and the low expectations helped him, so it seems.) Or we remember the last Reagan debate with Jimmy Carter and how he convinced millions that he was capable to lead us.
The most noted of all was the physical […]

Joerg Haider (1950-2008): The Death of a Modern Admirer of Adolph Hitler

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:21-05:00October 16th, 2008|Categories: Current Affairs|

Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider died last Saturday in a high-speed car crash. Much of the world paid little attention to his death, but I noticed. I admit I thanked God that this extremely charismatic politician never came to complete power in Austria. Haider had recently enjoyed some measure of success and was having considerable influence upon the national political scene. He was the governor of Carinthia and the leader of far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria, a political organization that carried on some of the ideas and policies made famous by Adolph Hitler and the fascists in Germany in the 1920 and 30s. The president of Austria describe Haider as "a human tragedy." That is putting it mildly. Haider's spokesmen, sounding eerily like a devotee of the fuhrer, said, "For us it's like the end of the world."

Haider was active in politics in the affluent Alpine country since his teenage years! In 1999 he received 27% of […]