Blog - Page 216 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Christianity East & West

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:28-05:00September 28th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

Tonight ACT 3 hosts another in its series of ecumenical dialogues that are aimed at giving Christians the opportunity to meet believers from traditions and churches other than their own. We have done several of these events with Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant discussions over the past twelve months. A major ecumenical dialogue was held in September of 2007 at North Central College, Naperville, Illinois. Then on March 30th of this year I shared the platform with my good friend Fr. Thomas Baima, the provost of Mundelein Seminary at St. Mary of the Lake. This event was focused on our agreements and differences regarding the Eucharist, as seen in my book: Understanding Four Views of the Lord's Supper (Zondervan, 2007).

Tonight I will moderate a discussion between two Protestant evangelical scholars, Dr. George Kalantzis and Dr. Grant Osborne, and two Orthodox scholars, Dr. Bradley Nassif and Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon. The site […]

Smoke and Fire Theology: Lessons I Learned from Brother Yun

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:28-05:00September 27th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

Paul Hattaway, co-author and editor of Brother Yun’s two books (The Heavenly Man and Living Water) is also committed to defending the character of Brother Yun. You can read his entire “Open Letter” at Asia Harvest. I have read this response to the critics twice, once about 18 months ago and then again just after Brother Yun was here this last weekend. I waited to read Hattaway's letter for the second time in order to form my own views based upon what I actually saw and experienced myself.

Paul Hattaway says that when he worked on the first Yun book he knew two things would surely follow. First, many people would be blessed simply because Yun’s testimony is so remarkable. We all hunger to know people who demonstrate the power of kingdom life like Brother Yun. When we are touched by their lives we are better for it. Second, he knew that a sleeping Western church would attack the messengers of change that God sent to it. To not attack would be to accept the verdict of the prophet, and thus […]

News About Brother Yun's Time in Denver

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 26th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

When I was working on Brother Yun’s schedule for his Chicago visit, about six weeks before this last weekend, a good friend and solid missions leader, Rev. Ray Prigodich, became involved in my efforts. Ray is an elder at Village Bible Church (Sugar Grove, IL). Ray wanted to know more about Brother Yun before the church invited him to speak on September 21st, and thus did some serious, open-minded, research. (Thank God for men like Ray who ask and remain open to the truth.) In his reading Ray came across an online blog comment by a professor at Denver Seminary that was very favorable toward Brother Yun. This discerning and favorable word came from the well-known author Douglas Groothuis. As a result of this comment by Douglas Groothuis I passed this blog along to the Zondervan publicist and suggested that she contact the seminary. The publicist did this and thus Brother Yun was invited to speak at Denver Seminary on Tuesday, September 23.

The following report is from a Denver Seminary news source. I share this information so that you might see […]

USC: Overrated!

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 25th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

The college football polls rated USC a near unanimous number one team in the land the last two weeks. The experts, after they blew out Ohio State a week ago Saturday, said this team could only lose to USC and to no one else. Well, I suppose USC lost then to USC tonight. Truth be told USC lost to Oregon State University in Corvalis. Yes, Oregon State.

Oregon State came into the game unranked and 1-2. They had already lost to Stanford 36-28 and Penn State 45-14. (Their only previous win was over a decimated Hawaii team, 45-7.) To say the least USC was overrated big time. They may not lose another game and they may finish the season as the National Champion but the old adage was proven true tonight: "You are only as good as the game you played this week." This is why every game counts in college, every game.

This is really what makes college football so […]

Brother Yun: Do Not Let Good Be Spoken of As Evil

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 25th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

In this my third blog on the visit of Brother Yun to the Chicago area, I am following the admonition of Paul in Romans 14:16: "Therefore do not let what you know to be good to be spoken of as evil."

My purpose here is to show you how this man’s good has been spoken of as evil and then how this has caused incredible harm to the body of Christ. I write this post not only because I believe in the ministry of Brother Yun (and Brother Ren, his translator seen in the photo here) but even more so because I believe in the church and believe that this needs to be addressed with deep repentance if we are to see God’s Kingdom power in our land.

Slander involves speaking untruthfully about another person. The common definition of the word also carries with it the idea that the reputation and character of the party spoken against is directly harmed […]

Brother Yun and the Slander of Christians

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 24th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

As noted in yesterday’s post I had the opportunity to spend several days with the Chinese minister Brother Yun, who has lived in Germany since his escape from China in 1997. Brother Yun’s story is widely known. I urge you to buy his book, The Heavenly Man, and read it for yourself. I will tell you again, it changed my life. My copy is signed by my new friend and the Scripture text that he used, in Chinese of course, was from Acts 26:19 where Paul says to King Agrippa, "I obeyed the vision from heaven." He urged me to "obey" the vision God had given to me when he signed it and handed it back to me. Over dinner on Saturday evening we spoke about the vision that God has given to me and he reiterated that no matter what the cost I must obey God, not man. I listened with intense interest and a deep sense that God was encouraging me directly through this "heavenly man."

[…]

Brother Yun's Weekend in Chicago

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 23rd, 2008|Categories: Missional Church|

Many of you know, from the several posts that I put up last week, that ACT 3 hosted the well-known Chinese minister Brother Yun this past weekend (September 20-21). We invited Brother Yun to speak at several different events we sponsored. We could not have done this without the support and cooperation of Zondervan. As a result of Zondervan’s commitment to mission, and a wonderful new book, Living Water, we did not have to invest ACT 3 money into this venture, which we could not have done. There was a lot of hard work and a great deal of earnest intercession going on for weeks but this was a great joy to be honest.

Over the course of the next few days I want to tell you about this wonderful man and his ministry to over 2,000 people in our area Saturday and Sunday. No event, and no speaker, has ever done more for me personally, and no one has ever […]

The Economy and the Candidates: The Week That Shook Our Economic Tree

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 22nd, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

The past week was one of the most amazing weeks in U. S. economic history. Yet the stock index closed higher at the end of the week than it was at the beginning, reminding us of how volatile the market can be in such times of upheaval. For many of you these events may seem immediately irrelevant, but the failure of investment banks and insurance giants impacts all of us in one way or the other. The Congress will now be asked to pass a government program to correct this crisis, a program that none of us knows what the long term consequences of it all will really be.
It appears to me that Congress would be wise to pass this short bill. And President Bush, who gets credit for almost nothing positive, was wise to let Secretary Paulson handle this crisis, especially since the people who know trust his judgment. In this case Bush led best by staying behind the scenes and listening […]

More on Tyler Perry: African American Actor and Producer

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:29-05:00September 21st, 2008|Categories: Film|

After seeing several of Tyler Perry’s earlier films I began to read more about the man and his life. I signed up for his emails at his Web site and have followed his career with some interest. I soon came to see that Perry was a man under attack from many quarters. There are people who hate this man. This made me more than interested in finding out why.

To underscore how much some people hate Tyler Perry I did a good bit of Internet reading after seeing his most recent movie, The Family That Preys Together. I came across so much hated and rumor that it was utterly amazing. One critic wrote: “Perry is a cross dressing Black man hating clown.” And whole Web sites exist that suggest Perry is a Gay man.

Erik Lundegaard, a critic on MSNBC, wrote in March of this year the following story:

In June 2006, when the bulk of papers belonging […]

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys Together

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:30-05:00September 20th, 2008|Categories: Film|

The new film Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys Together is a heartfelt melodrama that will either prompt you to leave the theater encouraged and uplifted or, for some professional critics, leave filled with angst or predictable disappointment. I experienced the former when I saw the film Thursday afternoon.

Tyler Perry’s films, if they are anything at all, are often controversial with the critics. Because Tyler Perry, the writer and producer, is black and because all his previous actors have been black, at least until this new movie, the African-American community has a very mixed reaction to his work. This reaction is much like that associated with the work of Bill Cosby on television in an earlier era. In my judgment this new film is a character rich movie that uplifts courage, faith and family. It includes a major sub-plot about betrayal and healing that also works quite well.

[…]