Blog - Page 73 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Lincoln on the Big Screen (2)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:03-05:00December 5th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Film, Politics|

The famous English/American journalist Alistair Cooke (1908–2004), best known for his moving works like Letter from America and Alistair Cooke’s America, was one of the most devoted students of American history, and personal life in the states, in the twentieth century. Most of you will remember him as the host of Masterpiece Theater, from 1971 to 1992. “Letter from America” was actually the longest running radio broadcast of its kind, lasting for 58 years. Cooke loved all things America! It was Cooke who once said of President Abraham Lincoln, “It is difficult, and in some quarters thought to be almost tasteless, to talk sense about Lincoln but we must try.” Yes, we must try. And the new film “Lincoln” should require us to try once again.

A recent reviewer of the new “Lincoln” movie wrote in the National Review that “few topics of discussion bring men and women of the Right to sword’s point faster than the significance of Abraham Lincoln in American history. He has been decried by some as the first significant champion of creeping statism, […]

Lincoln on the Big Screen (1)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00December 4th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Film, History, Leadership, Race and Racism|

In Steven Spielberg’s new movie “Lincoln” we get a powerful glimpse of one small period in the life of President Abraham Lincoln, a period of only a month just before his death and right after his re-election to a second term (November 1864). The film opens in January of 1865 with an appropriate scene of the carnage of the Civil War. This terrible struggle is still being actively pursued by both sides. The south was near the end but would not yet surrender. Negotiations for peace are ongoing in private. Quickly the viewer is brought into the two major struggles that the president faced in early 1865: the end of this long, bloody, bitter war and the permanent end of slavery with the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment.

As many of you may know by now this movie is based, in small part at least, on the popular book by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Goodwin. Several other Lincoln scholars, several of whom I have had the privilege of knowing […]

ACT 3 Network – Our New Web Site

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00December 3rd, 2012|Categories: ACT 3|

Our transition to a new web site was successfully completed over the weekend thus our new, and wonderfully improved, site is working today, Monday, December 3. The old web address will still get your to our site but the new address is: www.act3network.com. Please make note of this address in your bookmarks and please check out our new web home page as soon as possible. It is clean, graphically sharp and includes a blend of ancient-future faith that reflects rather well our vision of “empowering leaders and churches for unity in Christ’s mission.”

I am sometimes asked, “What does ACT 3 actually stand for?” Some have mistakenly referred to our mission as Acts 3, thinking this is a reference to the third chapter in the book of Acts in the New Testament. This is not the case at all. ACT 3 is an acronym that stands for: Advancing the Christian Tradition in the Third Millennium. We chose this name six years ago because of our missional-ecumenism and growing relationship with the catholic church in its various expressions; e.g. Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox. This ecumenism is openly reflected […]

Taizé Returns to America in 2013: A Unique Event for Students and Millennial Leaders

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 30th, 2012|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Renewal, Unity of the Church|

I wrote a blog about the Taizé meeting held at DePaul University in Chicago last May. I also announced this unique event at our March 26 Conversation with Cardinal George. I devote a section of my book, Your Church Is Too Small, to Taizé. Taizé’s ministry in America has rightly been called a “pilgrimage of trust” in North America. This “pilgrimage” is continuing in the new year with another special gathering for young adults. This one is very unique and I expect some of my youngest readers will be deeply interested.

Over the past few years, a relationship has grown up between Taizé and some Native Americans who live in South Dakota. A large group from South Dakota, including many Native Americans, took part in the May 2012 meeting in Chicago. As a result of this relationship, the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) people, who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation, have welcomed Taizé to have an event on the reservation during Memorial Day weekend May 24-27, 2013. Here Taizé will stage a pilgrimage of trust in an entirely […]

More Whacky Eschatology Gone Bad?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 29th, 2012|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Civil Rights, Eschatology|

A 15-year old high school student in the San Antonio (TX) has sued her school district for requiring her to wear “the mark of the beast.” I’m not making this up friends.

Andrea Hernandez believes a locating device, increasingly used inside various contexts as an ID, is a violation of her rights to freedom and more directly to her Christian confession. The school actually allowed Angela to remove the chip but she was still required to wear the badge anyway. In the suit filed against the San Antonio district the Hernandez family objected to Andrea wearing even the badge because it was tantamount to “submission to a false god.” Their reasoning is that the badge itself, even without the locator chip, indicates her participation.

A state judge will rule whether the school district can transfer Andrea Hernandez to another school district to end the problem, at least temporarily.

The wearing of micro-chips is becoming more and more common. I recently use a tracking device in my iPad to locate it when it had been taken. I then went to the home, with the police helping me, where my computer […]

Common Ground: God's Gift of a Restored Marriage

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 28th, 2012|Categories: Counseling, Marriage & Family|

Common Ground: God’s Gift of a Restored Marriage, by Gordon Bals, is a book “God can use” according to best-selling author Larry Crabb. I agree and this is why I endorsed the book by writing:

Books on marriage are very numerous, but really good books on marriage are quite rare. This is a really good book! Couples will surely benefit by reading it. By practicing its truths they may enjoy much-needed growth and healing in their relationship. Highly recommended.

Dr. Gordon Bals is a professional Christian counselor who writes from the perspective of a flawed husband who is still trying to get it right. He doesn’t have all the answers but does offer a way to journey into wholeness that will lead married couples from entrenched places of battle to common ground.

Larry Crabb is right when he says a book cannot restore a marriage, only God can. But, says Crabb, “Common Ground is a book God can use. Gordon tackles tough issues with soundly biblical creativity, practical wisdom, personal integrity, and fresh insights that provide real […]

The Spiritual State of the Nation (6)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 27th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Culture, Current Affairs, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Politics, The Church, The Future|

I continue my series , now in six parts, on the recent federal election. I believe the election, and the exit polling results, reveals our current spiritual state quite starkly. I thus begin by making a suggestion that will likely offend some who do not grasp the nature of what I am really saying in this series of blogs.

Stop Worrying About the Decline of America

For fifty years I have heard wave after wave of preachers and politicians talk about the decline of America. Each election has become a referendum on whether we had a future or not. Again, we are a nation deeply in love with the idea of “the city set on a hill.” We believe we have a unique and special place in God’s plan. We promote this theory as if we have obvious biblical support for it. In one pre-election interview I saw Sarah Palin interviewed about this point. She spoke about us having enjoyed a “most favored nation” status because of our Christian values. She then recited 2 Chronicles 7:14. Besides misquoting she had no earthly idea what the biblical-theological context of […]

The Spiritual State of the Nation (5)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 26th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, Culture, Current Affairs, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Politics, The Church, The Future|

The recent federal election reveals that the social, religious and political landscape of America invites new coalitions that are broader than any one church, community or tribal faction. If only one party benefits, and that by the force of raw will, then large numbers of people in this increasingly diverse nation will continue to resist the ideas being proposed. The reason for this is quite simple–common purpose requires cooperation.

The Defeat of One Terrible Death Proposal

In the recent election a number of social and moral items were accepted by large numbers of voters, alarming many Christians. What might have been missed in this “new normal” context was a vote on legalizing euthanasia in Massachusetts. You would have thought that if any state (besides Oregon and Washington who have already passed such a law) adopted legal euthanasia it would have been Massachusetts, but such was not the case. Why?

I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who did not know the church opposes assisted suicide, or legal euthanasia. But in Massachusetts something different happened that I think models the way forward in the public square. Instead […]

Acton University–June 18-21, 2013

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:04-05:00November 23rd, 2012|Categories: Acton Institute, Business, Economy/Economics|

The Acton Institute is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2013 Acton University (AU), which will take place on June 18-21 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For four days each June, the Acton Institute convenes an ecumenical conference of pastors, seminarians, educators, non-profit managers, business people and philanthropists from more than 50 countries in Grand Rapids. Here, 800 people of faith gather to integrate and better articulate faith and free enterprise, entrepreneurship, sound public policy, and effective leadership at the local church and community level. With this week of fellowship and discourse, participants build a theological and economic infrastructure for the work of restoring and defending hope and dignity to people around the world. This is Acton University.

This year’s distinguished international faculty will once again guide participants through an expanded curriculum, offering even greater depth of exploration into the intellectual foundations of a free society.

Space and scholarship funds are limited – so register or apply now! Please visit university.acton.org where you will find the online registration form along with complete conference information. If you have any questions, […]

How Shall We Remember our History This Thanksgiving Day?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:05-05:00November 22nd, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, History|

Thanksgiving Day remains my favorite U.S. holiday. It is so simple, so unencumbered by troublesome trappings. Though the infamous “Black Friday” specials begin almost before Thanksgiving Day is over this day essentially remains non-material in its orientation. It is also family-centered in most instances. Celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving has officially been an annual tradition in the U.S. since 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens” during the Civil War.

The event that so many of us call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, and was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “thanksgivings,” or days of prayer. (They also celebrated “fast days” to seek God for forgiveness and renewal.) These days of prayer were designed to thank God for blessings such as military victory or […]