Blog - Page 244 of 318 - John H Armstrong

A Quick Peak at the New CBD Catalog

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:21-05:00January 18th, 2008|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

Many of you get a book catalog in the mail now and then from Christianbook.com, or Christian Book Distributors. This company is now the largest discount distributor of Christian books and materials in the mail, or it seems to be to me. Such a catalog will sometimes give you a general feeling for what is hot among evangelicals. What are American evangelicals reading and thinking about, at least based upon what is featured in this catalog?

A quick glance through this one reveals that the "hot" items are Max Lucado’s 3:16 project, which includes a book called 3:16, a study guide called 3:16—a DVD Study for Small Groups, a 3:16 NCV New Testament and The 3:16 Promise. Thomas Nelson, the oldest Bible publisher in America, is the firm behind all of this marketing push of 3:16.

Then there is a whole page of Max Lucado books that follows this opening salvo. Then comes Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore, two of […]

More of Bud Selig? You Have to Be Kidding

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:21-05:00January 18th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

Baseball owners have again rewarded commissioner Bud Selig, who was installed as their guy temporarily, with a longer contract, now running through 2012. What are these guys thinking? In 132 years of history the sport has never had such a scandal as the one we now have with drugs but the czar of the sport is rewarded. Something is wrong with this picture.
Selig has never taken serious responsibility for what happened and now he gets a pay raise and contract extension. This is how much the wonders care about the Mitchell Report and baseball as the great American game. It is appalling if it were not so sad.

Selig refuses to adopt independent testing that would remove all hints of cover-ups. Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, has called on Bud Selig to resign. I join him in that call but I doubt it will ever happen. And Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, rightly said on Tuesday that baseball is "rooted […]

The State of the How We Feel About the Candidates is Amazing

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:21-05:00January 18th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I saw a new poll today, in the Investor’s Business Daily, that took an entirely different approach. This poll asked if people found a particular candidate "appealing." Since we know likability is huge in elections this is a new way, to my mind, of asking an important question. Look at this poll. I think you will find it about what you expect if you are following this race at all.

What is quite surprising to me is that even the most popular person, Barack Obama, is not nearly as popular as you would have thought. And only Rudy Giuliani got 25% among the Republicans. I personally do not doubt that Obama can win this election. I would bet on the Democrats to win today, and even if Clinton is the nominee and she has high negatives, but there are more than nine months until election day. Even "junkies" like me are growing more weary by the day. This is another reason why talk radio, and all-news television, bores me to tears at times. I never paid much attention to these media forms and […]

Why Does Conservative Talk Radio Hate John McCain?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:21-05:00January 17th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I have been asking myself, since the primaries began in earnest with the Iowa caucus, and especially since John McCain won in New Hampshire, "Why does the conservative talk show contingent despise John McCain so profoundly?" Except for Michael Medved, who I think has openly endorsed McCain, the loathing for him as a presidential candidate is almost as pronounced as the conservative media’s loathing of Hillary Clinton. Why?

I have to say I was puzzled until I looked into this more deeply. (Understand, I am not formally endorsing a candidate, though some will insist that I am, but asking a serious question that I think thoughtful people should ponder.)

For the record John McCain’s well-deserved career title is that of a "maverick." But he is a very conservative maverick no less. I went to the Web site of the American Conservative Union, a lobby organization that ranks congressional members each year with a percentage of how consistently conservative they are in their voting record. John McCain got an 82% rating in 2006. […]

Teaching Apologetics and Reaching Students with the Gospel

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:21-05:00January 16th, 2008|Categories: Apologetics|

Sometimes a blogger runs the very real risk of sounding self-promoting, or even actually becoming self-promoting. I am acutely aware of these dangers. Blogs are understood by many as personal journals. Others see them as a place to put their essays on favorite subjects. Still others see them as a way to promote a cause. And some use them to sell, whether it is a candidate, a product or a religious special interest. I see this blog as a "think spot" where I can share what I am thinking about the Church, the culture and the way we live as moderns. This is why my blogs run all the way from issues of Christian faith, the renewal of the church and issues inside the Church to politics, music, art and film. Even college football and baseball gets blogged here since I love them both personally. (Sorry for you who do not love these items. You have my permission to skip them!) In some way I do all of this writing just because I just love to think and then write. It has become a […]

A Bumper Sticker Worth Remembering

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:22-05:00January 15th, 2008|Categories: Culture|

Bumper stickers are pop-culture icons.
I sometimes save them and then put them on the wall in my garage. Anita will not allow them in the house but the garage wall is mine! I have gotten more than a few interesting bumper stickers from street vendors in Berkley. I have also found a few interesting ones in Seattle and Santa Cruz. But I saw one yesterday that takes the cake. It said: Keep Portland Weird.
If you live in Portland forgive me for laughing but that one does say a lot about the Pacific Northwest.

The other one that I saw recently, and this one did make me laugh out loud, is in the picture to the side.
This is the way some […]

The Early Primaries Clearly Prove We Have Not Settled on Any Candidate Yet

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:22-05:00January 15th, 2008|Categories: Uncategorized|

Proving again that this year’s primary elections are wide-open Michigan seems to have chosen Governor Romney tonight in a primary that actually carries little weight in terms of actual delegates to the Republican Convention. But a win is a win is a win.
Romney, it seems, needed a win to stay viable. Now Fred Thompson must win in South Carolina (Saturday) if he is to become viable, which seems unlikely. Then comes Florida where Giuliani needs a win. Giuliani’s strategy all along has been to win big on Super Tuesday, February 5. He may still pull it off but the national polls show him lagging behind McCain this week. Interestingly, only John McCain was close to Clinton or Obama in a possible general election match-up. Romney did the worst of the big four and Huckabee was only slight better, both being between 15 and 20% behind in a national match-up with either Democrat. Any handicapper would have to say that the odds on money should […]

Statins: The Modern Wonder Drugs?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:22-05:00January 15th, 2008|Categories: Bio-Medical Ethics|

Like many of my readers, at least those who are over fifty, I take a statin drug every day. I take a very small dose (10mg) of Lipitor.
I have read a great deal about these drugs, as should any consumer who puts anything into their body. I also have the benefit of a brother who is a physician and several other family members who are in medicine and research. Several years ago I had a simple heart scan that suggested one possible blockage problem.
I went through a battery of tests with a cardiologist, just to be safe. The prognosis was that I had normal damage. My pipes have mild corrosion from aging, as the cardiologist put it.
That, by the way, does help you focus on your mortality and your real age when you are nearing 60 as I am.

But […]

Machen's Warrior Children

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:22-05:00January 14th, 2008|Categories: Reformed Christianity|

J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) is still an esteemed name among some conservative Reformed Christians in America. It was Machen who wrote the classic book, Christianity and Liberalism, in which he argued that consistent liberalism in theology was not Christian. He also authored a number of other well-regarded books such as: The Virgin Birth and The Origin of Paul’s Religion. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Princeton Theological Seminary, Machen was deeply influenced by pious parents of Southern demeanor and sympathy. He was also profoundly marked by the famous B. B. Warfield, and the older Calvinism, favored by Charles and A. A. Hodge.

During the 1920s Machen was at the very center of the theological debates that rocked the Presbyterian Church in America. He was a champion for orthodox Christianity and saw some real dangers ahead for the Presbyterians. He eventually left Princeton, after serious shuffles changed the school internally, and helped found Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia in 1929, where he was both the president and a New Testament professor. When the Presbyterian Church disciplined Machen in 1935 he then helped found […]

The Faith of Joseph and the Flight of the Holy Family

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:22-05:00January 13th, 2008|Categories: Biblical Theology|

Today I had the joy of preaching again at my home church, First Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois. The church is actively seeking a new senior pastor and just completed a 28 month interim ministry that was very fruitful. We enjoyed a joyful and holy time of worship. People were quite warm to me and received my ministry, as always, with warmth and deep appreciation. I truly feel at home at First Reformed Church.

I followed the lectionary today and thus preached from Matthew 2:13-23 on "The Forgotten Man (Joseph) and the Flight of the Holy Family." This story is amazing when you look at it carefully.

There are three episodes in the text, each ending with a reference to the Old Testament.

1. Matthew 2:13-15; cf. Hosea 11:1
2. Matthew 2:16-18; cf. Jeremiah 31:15
3. Matthew 2:19-23; cf. Psalm 22:6; Isaiah 53:3

The reference to the Old Testament in the third of these three episodes is rather dubious. There is not a single text that fits this point at all. Perhaps the […]