Blog - Page 295 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Star Power of Personality

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:14-05:00July 20th, 2006|Categories: Culture|

Marketing is king in America. There is no question about it. Everything from politics to religion is powerfully marketed and almost everyone who promotes anything understands this reality. I am not an exception to this reality I assure you. I think it is important to recognize that marketing is not inherently evil. But it is always a tricky component in promoting any person or event and it does impact and corrupt virtue in certain cases.

I saw evidence of the power of marketing in the sports page of today’s Chicago Tribune (July 20). When it comes to endorsement powering today’s marketplace the Tribune reported that race car drive Danica Patrick is at the top right now. The Davie-Brown Index (DBI) determines celebrity influence on consumer buying behavior in the U.S. The DBI uses an interesting six-point scale to evaluate seven key attributes: appeal, notice, trendsetter, influence, trust, endorsement and aspiration. Danica rates higher than all other NASCAR drivers on the DBI Index. She even tops Michael Jordan’s numbers. Her ratings also exceed those of other star female athletes at the present time. […]

The Value of Listening to Brian McLaren

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:14-05:00July 18th, 2006|Categories: Emergent Church|

Pastor and author Brian McLaren is a controversial guy. It seems evangelicals either love him or hate him. There is little neutrality at work when his name comes up. If a person has read him, or perhaps heard him, they have already formed an opinion. And many who have never heard him, or read him, also have strong opinions. These particular kinds of opinions are usually based upon what someone else, whom these folk highly respect, has said about Brian. (One such speaker spent fifty minutes trashing Brian and then concluded his seminar by showing why it was important to do this since he wanted to warn people about my errors! He then proceeded to take several of my published comments completely out of context in order to show why I was a relativist and someone who no longer properly believed in the category of absolute truth.) Labels are tossed about freely (“liberal,” “postmodern,” or “relativist” all come to mind) and strong conclusions are drawn before the dust has settled. The first category of response allows for some kind of meaningful discussion. I am […]

Ted W. Engstrom: A Good Man Who Lived Well

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:14-05:00July 17th, 2006|Categories: Personal|

Ted W. Engstrom died last Friday in Bradbury, California, at age 90. Ted was known and loved by many who worked for him or who heard him teach his famous seminar on time management, which I enjoyed on two different occasions in the 1970s. (I suppose I needed a lot of help in this area or maybe I just enjoyed the seminar so much that I wanted to go back again!)

Ted Engstrom was best known for his many years of service to the Zondervan Corporation and World Vision, an international ministry of Christian compassion. He had an incredible ability to integrate the gospel with everyday life and was a highly respected leader. He could address, very plainly, the kinds of issues that we all face. He was not a particularly “charismatic” personality but he was an uncompromising visionary who impacted leaders around the world through the use of his spiritual gifts and an insightful approach to life. I first heard Ted teach when I was only 24 years old. His simple ability to communicate a “how to” approach to managing my life […]

A Great Game at Any Level

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:14-05:00July 15th, 2006|Categories: Baseball|

Readers of these blogs know that I love the game of baseball. This love has opened many doors for good friendship and real enjoyment. The truth is that I love baseball at almost every level of play. I have seen three consecutive Minor League games the past three evenings in Huntsville, Alabama. After hot, hot days the evenings have been tolerable and the baseball has been quite enjoyable. The local team is the Huntsville Stars, the AA team of the Milwaukee Brewers. Their opponent has been the Mississippi Braves, the AA team of the Atlanta Braves. All three games have been well-played and well-pitched. The Stars won 3-1 on Thursday night and the Braves won 3-1 and 3-0 the last two nights.

This evening I enjoyed a brief conversation with Eddie Perez, a former Braves catcher and one-time post-season MVP. Jeff Blauser, a former NL All Star, is the manager of the Mississippi Braves. He signed a ball for me, after the game was over, to give to my granddaughter, providing I still part with it when I get home. (I still […]

How Should Christians Respond to Israel?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:15-05:00July 14th, 2006|Categories: Current Affairs|

I grew up with the idea that God would bless any nation that supported the state of Israel. Why? Because the modern state of Israel was established in fulfillment of biblical prophecy and thus Christians should support this secular state on the grounds that God created this modern nation. I eventually came to question the entire system (i.e., dispensationalism) behind this idea. But I have never questioned the idea that supporting Israel politically was a good idea for the United States of America. My good friend Andrew Sandlin has expressed my view so clearly that I can’t improve on what he wrote today. Check out his argument at http://www.christianculture.com/cgi-local/npublisher/viewnews.cgi?category=3&id=1152907961.

The Impact of Donald Bloesch on My Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:15-05:00July 13th, 2006|Categories: Personal|

Friends of mine know that Donald G. Bloesch has had a shaping and formative influence on my thought and life for at least three decades. Dr. Bloesch, now a retired professor of theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (Iowa), continues to bless many of us by his prolific writing ministry. I had the unique honor of sharing a meal with Don again this past Monday afternoon. He is in good health, was encouraging to me as always, and recently celebrated his seventy-eighth birthday. He still has a keen mind and a lovely spirit and is working on four new books at the present time. Dr. Bloesch has often supported me very deeply (he is one of my stated formal Advisors to ACT 3) and has frequently shared in the ministry of ACT 3 personally. Don and Brenda, his kind wife, were also present at a lovely ACT 3 event we held at the seminary on Tuesday evening. It was a real joy to be with this special teacher/mentor again. It was also a pleasure to meet with about twenty to twenty-five folks, […]

Pirates of the Caribbean: What's the Fuss About?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:24:15-05:00July 11th, 2006|Categories: Uncategorized|

I am not a film critic but I do like films, especially good action films. I tend to see less of them in the summer months since baseball takes my entertainment time and dollars. Last night I had a few hours, since there was no baseball to watch on ESPN. (I know, the all-star home run derby was on but that doesn’t count to me.) I was also out of town and staying in a hotel, thus I was a little bored. So, I went to see the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest." This Jerry Bruckheimer movie just broke previous US box office financial records for an opening weekend and is highly acclaimed by many critics. I thought it would be sheer fun. It was not. This is either a very bad movie or I am out of touch with what is really fun today. It may be the latter, which I am sure teen viewers would likely tell me. (The place was packed with kids and young couples!)

Is it a Johnny Depp thing or maybe it’s the co-star […]

Are You Being Converted?

By John Armstrong|2006-07-10T07:34:17-05:00July 10th, 2006|Categories: Renewal|

I sometimes despair about what is called Christianity. Churches and Christians disappoint you at some point, if you live this faith for very long. Yet I still confess my deeply held Christian faith in “one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church” every Lord’s Day. I would not think of living such a life without the church. This is why I pray for the church and minister to her and within her, that she might be truly converted to Christ alone. But I pray this same prayer for myself too, that I will be truly converted to Christ every single day.

A wise writer once said: “The greatest service that could be rendered to the Christian peoples would be to convert them to Christianity.” I agree. Conversion is what each of us needs. Conversion is not a once-for-all event, but a daily experience by the grace and work of the Spirit. Are you being converted to Christ?

Living in Peace with Others

By John Armstrong|2006-07-09T21:54:56-05:00July 9th, 2006|Categories: Personal|

Watch the Christian who is always fighting battles, building their life and ministry on the need for continual warfare and always identifying everything that is wrong in other believers. While it is true that we must fight vigilantly against evil, and the evil one, it is not true that we should be continually at war with fellow Christians. There is not one good reason to be in a continual state of conflict with those who also love the Savior.

An old aphorism puts my point very well: “Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.” Fifty-seven years of life have shown me how true this really is.

More Left Behind Nonsense

By John Armstrong|2006-07-08T12:55:22-05:00July 8th, 2006|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

The Left Behind series, which is very bad theology and not-so-hot fiction, continues to influence ordinary Christians in some rather sad ways. A friend has compared this series to the Ever-Ready battery commercials—these books, and the series of things related to them, just keep going and going. Please do not try to convince me that money is not a major part of this whole development.

Now a video game called Left Behind is being marketed. In it the Christians wipe out the non-Christians proving, I suppose, that there really is no one left behind. I understand that the theme of violence in this game is so great that parents are warned to beware.

I have to tell you I am as offended (I can’t think of a better way to put this) by this stuff as anything produced by the Christian left, in fact more so since the left doesn’t market “Jesus junk” like this. With over sixty million Left Behind books sold one can only ask: “What next?” Probably the answer lies as much in the marketplace as anywhere […]