Blog - Page 94 of 318 - John H Armstrong

What Kind of President Is an "Idea Guy?"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:52-05:00January 5th, 2012|Categories: Politics|

In an editorial in the December 28 edition of USA Today two writers asked if America was ready for an "idea guy" as president? The person who they had in mind was Newt Gingrich. But the question goes much further if their thought is expanded. Newt Gingrich self-describes his candidacy as that of an Idea Guy who knows what America needs. You have to admit, love him or despise him, he is a bright guy. (He routinely reminds us that he is!) He was a history professor and has a good grasp of a lot of facts and ideas about America, past and future. Personally I would love to see him debate the president. Gingrich jokingly says he would debate President Obama and even allow him to bring his teleprompter along. But the real question here is not, "Who is the smartest guy in the room?" I know a lot of smart people who can get very little done. I know […]

Getting Some Help in Ministering to Children

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:52-05:00January 3rd, 2012|Categories: Evangelism|

Training children's and youth ministry team members (volunteers) is vitally important but good resources are all too rare. Those that are offered often lack a solid theological perspective and/or field-tested experience. Most of us face the problem of shrinking budgets. So how can we better prepare for reaching kids in 2012?

Crossroads Kids Club, the mission directed by my son Matt, is pleased to offer you an opportunity to access high-quality, live training for your leaders at a very low cost. It is cleverly called “Spring Training.” It is a series of three unique and affordably-priced workshops led by high-caliber leaders in children’s and youth ministry. Each session takes place from 9 a.m. to noon on a Saturday during the spring of 2012.

Information is available at Spring Training Workshops. Even if you do not live in the Chicago area there are resources Crossroads offers that you might find extremely helpful. […]

Breaking the Conventional Lies That Surround Us: The Prisons in Our Minds

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:52-05:00January 2nd, 2012|Categories: Psychology|

A Guest Post by Menno Fieguth

Menno Fieguth is a long-time friend and supporter of ACT 3 in Canada. He is also a gifted writer who still stays pretty busy long after formal retirement. When I saw this article that he wrote many years ago (Nelson Mandela was still Prime Minister of South Africa as you will see in the article itself) I asked him if I could re-publish it.

During my years in the Psychiatric Research Department we had numerous animals which were used for a variety of experiments. This included, rats, squirrels, and cats, among others. There were three cats however which somehow ended up being a part of an experiment not intended for them.

The dairy barns at the Saskatchewan Hospital housed not only the official residents, the cows, but a variety of cats which were always well fed. When the barns were to be shut down, there was the […]

Religion and Life

By John Armstrong|2012-01-01T04:00:00-06:00January 1st, 2012|Categories: Discipleship|

Reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reveals many striking things about our Lord that we routinely miss by having become familiar, all too familiar, with the stories and text. One thing I've noticed at the end of the old year, and at the beginning of this New Year today, is this: Jesus is insistent on the connection that exists between religion and everyday life. He will not allow you/me to compartmentalize my worship and private devotion from life. If I love God, as I wrote about yesterday, then I must love my neighbor.

I thought about this again as I read Luke 10:25-37 recently. This "expert in the Law" was quite sure of himself and his religion. He came to Jesus to ask about "eternal life." Don't miss this because of some theological presupposition you hold about what he "should have said" here. The man even provided the correct answer when Jesus pressed him about the heart of the Law. When Jesus asked which of the three men in the story/parable (priest, Levite and […]

The Greatest Commandment

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:52-05:00December 31st, 2011|Categories: Love|

The Greatest Commandment

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

For the religious leaders of Jesus' time religion was a very complicated business, much as it became over time in the Christian church. It was full of rules and regulations, often so many no one could even keep up with the list. It had become so complex that a great many people could not hope to fulfill the demands of the Law or experience peace in practicing their faith. It is not surprising then to find a devout man asking Jesus about […]

Killing Lincoln: A "Flawed" Book Well Worth Reading

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:53-05:00December 30th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Books|

You have to admit it, television talk-show host Bill O'Reilly is extremely popular. His nightly Fox News Channel program is the highest-rated cable news show in America. Love him, despise him, or simply ignore him, millions of people know Bill O'Reilly and most have an opinion about him, one way or the other. His often bombastic style irritates and delights, driving his ratings through the roof. While he defends conservative political points consistently he is willing to go where similar hosts will not go in criticising certain conservatives by using his famous tag of "pinhead." Yet he continues to get most political leaders and pop-culture icons to appear on his show, something rarely done in this venue. He may well be the most talked about political commentator of our day. But can he write a successful historical book that goes beyond his modern political opinion? (O'Reilly was a history teacher at one point in the past.)

I confess that when […]

The Complete Failure of Prohibition

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:53-05:00December 28th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Culture, Politics|

I spent a few days before Christmas watching the recently released Ken Burn's documentary series Prohibition. It is, as most Ken Burns' productions, a great success. This three-part series, lasting over five-plus hours, relates the story of American idealism, folly and unintended consequences.

In 1920, after literally a century of crusades and agitation, we passed the 18th Amendment which outlawed the manufacturing and sale of alcohol. For thirteen years we then battled to apply a law that had no chance of doing what its proponents had hoped for, namely saving families and ending vice. And who do we have to thank for this foolish amendment? Mostly well-intentioned moralists who were crusading and zealous Christians! These Christians may have had good motives but their actions were rooted in a terrible misuse of Scripture and a total misunderstanding of the role of government in terms of personal freedoms.

This series tells the amazing stories of small-time whiskey-jobbers, […]

War Horse: A Fine Film

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:53-05:00December 27th, 2011|Categories: Film|

The much-hyped Stephen Spielberg movie, War Horse, opened on Christmas Day. Since all the festivities at my house were over by early afternoon I decided to see the film in a packed theater at a matinee showing. (The prices are always much less at this first showing.) War Horse has to be one of the three best modern "horse" movies I've seen.

If you know little about World War I you will gain some perspective. You will even feel the theater rumble and shake from the sounds created by the bombs hitting the trenches of British soldiers. The insanity and cruelty of this war was particularly barbaric. So many died in the field with so little hope of survival. The war became a battle of attrition. Most of us alive today have almost no sense of either the reasons this war was fought or the true carnage that was involved for much of Europe. And the end […]

My Bride Still Delights Me

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:53-05:00December 26th, 2011|Categories: Marriage & Family, Personal|

Forty-one years ago this evening I married a beautiful young woman of 22 years of age. I, a senior on Christmas break at Wheaton College, could not believe this gorgeous lady would marry me. As I stood at the front of the Wheaton Bible Church watching her come down that long aisle I was simply staggered by God's blessing in my life.

Today we remember all the blessings that were given to us in the years since that wonderful evening of December 26, a cold Saturday night in 1970. We had only truly met (we talked for a few seconds about five months before but we really did not notice each other at all) in May of 1970. We fell in love very fast. I do not recommend it but it was sheeer joy. Our parents were totally supportive and thus we got married rather quickly. If truth be told we hardly knew each other, […]

ACT 3 & the New Year Ahead: I Need Your Help

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:53-05:00December 25th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3|

I want to thank all of you who read my various posts, whether here, on Facebook and Twitter or by subscribing to our ACT 3 Weekly articles that are sent each Monday to thousands of readers. Your interest and love over the past year is a blessing. I also want to thank many of you who faithfully and generously supported us. This ministry simply could not exist, at least in its present and fast-growing form, without you!

I hope you know that your support is helping me to challenge and teach thousands of Christian leaders across the country, even around the world. The Lord is using ACT 3 to mentor pastors, missionaries, educators, professionals, businessmen and women and homemakers. We impact Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians in an ever growing way. We uniquely combine a passion for mission with a vision for unity, some all too uncommon in our time. We are in partnership with a major Christian think tank, with a mission that reaches around the globe, with several growing churches and many other related […]