Blog - Page 255 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Wise Thoughts from William Wilberforce on Culture and a Great Evening in Orange County

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 25th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

My friend David Bahnsen, a member of the ACT 3 board, hosted a lovely dinner last evening in Orange County. With all the fires and mayhem here I wondered if those who committed to the dinner would actually come. Every single confirmed person showed. About 20 of us enjoyed a great meal together and then David introduced me to his friends. I spoke for about 45 minutes, telling my story and how I came to where I am today as the president of ACT 3. I told the guests that I hoped to write more in 2008—articles, blogs and books—and that I wanted to promote ACT 3 Forums that would allow genuine Christian ecumenism to take place in public events that would foster our missional emphasis for the whole Church. I have in mind to host dialogs between Muslims and Christians, Christians East and Christians West, Emergent and Non-Emergent Christians, etc. These events would be video taped and made accessible to multitudes of people. I also want to host several smaller meetings where dialog can take place around important biblical subjects, like our upcoming […]

Abortion and Shades of Gray

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 25th, 2007|Categories: Abortion|

Michael Medved is an intelligent, engaging Jewish conservative. He began as a movie critic but is now a popular author, Right Turns, and talk-show host. His classic tag line line, on his the radio show, is that America is still: “The greatest nation on God’s green earth.” Some of my younger friends would find this signature statement corny, or even offensive. Like any simplistic slogan it can be faulted but in the end I like it because I agree with it. Tell me a place that is better, as a nation of laws and true opportunity, on God’s green earth than the United States of America? Tell me where freedom has brought so much blessing and so much prosperity? Michael Medved also regularly expresses a very high regard for Christians and for our Judeo-Christian culture. On top of that he also believes that a Christian revival is the long term hope for America. I’ve heard him say this more than once!

In the Wednesday (October 24, 2007) issue of USA Today Medved contributed The Forum, an […]

Watching Southern California Burn

By John Armstrong|2007-10-24T16:41:21-05:00October 24th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

I flew into the Orange County Airport yesterday. The wild fires could be seen from 60 or 70 miles away. As we got closer and closer the hot glow and the huge clouds were very apparent. The Santa Ana winds were blowing most of the smoke out to the ocean. Thankfully I am in a safe place but then the Santa Ana winds can shift and ocean winds could, and tomorrow likely will, move the smoke anytime. I read the Orange County Register this morning and the whole cost and consequence of this is staggering. The largest evacuation in state history is underway as I write.

One man, who had to flee his home, summed up the feeling of some here. He said, "This is a small price to pay to live in God’s country." I will admit that the hills and ocean views are majestic and the weather is often very nice but there are many nice places to live that are much safer. Why do people like a place, and live there? The real answers are a much underrated social […]

The Truth War and the Emergent Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 24th, 2007|Categories: Emergent Church|

A young friend, who reads my material regularly and has established a personal relationship with me via the Internet, informed me yesterday of an emergent site where there is an interesting discussion going on re: John MacArthur’s book, The Truth War. Since I am the subject of a great deal of John’s criticism in chapter one of this book my friend thought I would enjoy reading this online debate. I did find it helpful, even though I agree with neither John nor everything that I read on this emergent site.

This site is a blog called Vanguard Church. When I visited the site I found the dialog interesting and useful. If this debate interests you too check it out yourself. Listening to the dialog in this manner can contribute to removing erroneous understanding.

It is imperative that anyone who seeks to enter this whole "emergent church" conversation realizes that there is a very wide gulf between various types of emergent writers and leaders. One emergent leader put it this way, in a private conversation. There are […]

A World Series of Major Contrasts

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 24th, 2007|Categories: Baseball|

The baseball Fall Classic begins this evening with the Boston Red Sox, a team with a $143 million, payroll facing the upstart Colorado Rockies, a team with a $54 million payroll. When teams like the Rockies make the World Series fans of most other teams will root for the Rockies, especially given the hope they represent for the smaller market teams who spend less to win. The argument goes like this: “The Red Sox are rich. They win the way the Yankees win, by spending a ton of money.” (The Yanks spent $207 million this year to go out in the first round, which led to their letting go of manager Joe Torre, a class guy.) The Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games. This is the hottest a team has ever been going into the World Series. But they’ve had a nine day layoff now. This is a team that had to go to the 13th inning of the last regular season game just to get here. And except for Todd Helton who knows any of these players? It is, like […]

Jimmy Carter, Palestine and Peace

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 23rd, 2007|Categories: Israel|

Since the year of my birth coincides with the birth of of the modern state of Israel I have had more than a passing interest in matters related to the Middle East for my entire lifetime. As a young boy I was taught that Israel came into being by an act of God, not an act of the United Nations. (I believe in providence but that is not my point here at all.) I also heard that the whole land belongs to the Jews and thus to no one else. (Only later did I discover that both of these premises were extremely debatable conclusions and that the border issue was beyond any reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the pages of the Bible.) Once I gave up Christian Zionist interpretations of the Old Testament, in the 1960s, I began to study the question of Israel with renewed interest. I read histories, polemical volumes for and against Israel, and watched as each decade passed with no leader able to solve the tensions and crisis that rages over the existence and safety of Israel. I […]

The Great College Football Shuffle

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:40-05:00October 22nd, 2007|Categories: College Football|

I think pre-season rankings for college football teams is about the biggest waste of time in sports’ journalism. I have before me the cover story of Sports Illustrated, August 20, 2007. I check it each week. It listed the Top Ten teams for the pre-season. Currently four teams are in the Top Ten that are listed in the pre-season rankings: LSU, Virginia Tech. West Virginia and Oklahoma. 40% of the prognosis was right. And some people, like me, still buy these magazines and read them with real interest. I guess it proves that real fans like to see what the "experts" think before the first game is played. I wonder how these magazines impact teenage college students who play these games.

Anyway, some of the pre-season Top Ten are not even close right now. Louisville and Wisconsin are two examples of this category. And No. 1 rated Ohio State was not even listed in the Top Ten pre-season, coming in at No. 11 in the Sports Illustrated listing. Boston College is No. 2 and was unrated in the pre-season poll. And Arizona […]

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:40-05:00October 19th, 2007|Categories: Film|

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (PG-13) has been panned and criticized very widely by the vast majority of movie critics. I have read several dozen reviews online and most found the film a poorly written soap opera at best. I profoundly disagree. Maybe it is my own history background and maybe it is my love of pageantry but I rather liked the film. I would not rate it a “must see” but you could do much, much worse, especially if you have an interest in a very important time period in English history.

Starring Cate Blanchett (Queen Elizabeth), Clive Owen (Sir Walter Raleigh), Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish, the film runs for only 115 minutes. It is directed by Shekhar Kapur, who also directed Elizabeth (1998), the film which covered the early years of the Queen’s famous reign and how she came to power. Sequels are often built on smaller budgets, and this film is no exception. For this reason alone one expects less than the earlier film delivered, which was itself quite magnificent at the time.

“The Golden Age” refers […]

A Discussion on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

By John Armstrong|2007-10-18T19:51:38-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

A great deal is being done, over the past six months or so, to teach Americans in general, and patients who suffer indescribably in particular, about Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). Tomorrow morning, October 19, at 8:35 a.m. CDT, I will be on the Chicago station (WMBI) of the Moody Network with several other guests talking about CFIDS, an illness I have struggled with for nearly ten years now. The panel will include an expert physician and several others that I have not met or had dialog with previously. If you live in the Chicago region you can hear this on 90.1 FM. I am not certain of this but you may be able to hear it on the Internet. Check out the Moody Network site and see what you can find. I will also try to get the link from Moody and put it on the ACT 3 site eventually.

A Mighty Heart

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: Film|

A Mighty Heart is a fine film, based upon the true story of the abduction and death of journalist Daniel Pearl. Pearl was based in Pakistan just after the events of 9/11. A Mighty Heart came out on DVD this week and thus I watched it last evening. Angelina Jolie plays the role of Pearl’s widow, Mariane. I have to believe that this is the best performance she has ever rendered in her illustrious, though brief, career. Like Jolie or not, on a purely personal level, she captures the character of Mariane with perfect emotion and real nuance. She is also surrounded by an excellent cast and a brilliant director. Jolie appears in almost every speaking scene in the movie so her role is demanding. The filming was done in less than a month and most of it in a small space with hand-held cameras. This is a beautiful film that serious adults should watch.

Daniel Pearl, as most of you know, was a Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped by Islamic terrorists. After a little less than a month in captivity […]