John H Armstrong

Praying for the Acts of God to Continue in Our Time

The Book of Acts is very often misunderstood, like so much of the Bible. It is a unique book. It is actually a sequel to the Gospel of Luke and continues the narrative of the early church, from the ascension of Jesus to the coming of the Holy Spirit and the early accounts of the spread of the gospel "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). It ends with Paul's imprisonment in Rome. There is a marked parallelism between Luke's Gospel and Acts.

Christians sometimes debate how to title the book. It is rightly called "The Acts of the Apostles" though it is clearly a record of how the Holy Spirit worked through these first followers of Jesus who were the foundation of the Christian Church. The Holy Spirit is poured out in the second chapter, reversing the movement of the ascension. He becomes the major player in the drama called the church providing energy, courage and power for the mission of Jesus.

A Reformed Church missionary from Taiwan (David Alexander) has summarized some of the highlights of the first ten chapters in an April 2009 article in the Church Herald. I borrow some of his ideas, adding a few of my own, in the following reflections on the first ten chapters of Acts:

1. Risen. Christ corrects misconceptions about his role and the task he has assigned to his friends. He teaches them to live without his bodily presence and promises them the Holy Spirit.

2. The Holy Spirit comes to people in ways compared to nature's power, enabling them to hear God's word anew. Peter becomes the anointed preacher and thousands are converted in one day.

3. A lame man leaps and praises God when his mercy arrives in the person of "country bumpkins" who have heard and declare good news. Divine presence is evident and Peter preaches of a new day coming.

4. Witness moves from courtyards to courtrooms. God brings in more to hear the Word. People respond and go out to tell others. The church is strengthened and people become bold in their witness.

5. Flawed people must deal with a troubled church. Churches are all flawed and need grace and mercy. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to work if the church is to be fruitful.

6. Some who had their feet washed by Jesus come to see themselves as too important for humble service. God's power is shown in those who replace them. Pray for servant leaders in the church today.

7. The Word goes out with power but not all ears are open to it. Some cry out against the Word and stop their ears.

8. Driven out but not under the Word emerges along the roads and among foreign peoples. 

9. Enemies are won to the faith. Pray for scales to fall from the eyes of people who do not see the kingdom of God.

10. Dreams and visions trump traditions and rules. It is hard for faithful people to allow their human traditions to not get in the way of the Spirit's power and work.

Luke expands the story of the church and the apostles in the latter chapters to show how converts were welcomed from every strata of Roman and Greek society. New members become the lifeblood of the infant church. This remains the case in every age. The church that fails to listen to what the Spirit is saying and doing in the Book of Acts will soon die.

A Prayer for My Witness for Christ

A Prayer for Christian Witness

Dear Lord, I have friends and neighbors who do not seem to know you. It troubles me that they do not know you the living and true God. They struggle, just like I do, but they only have their own strength to get through each day. I know you love them and that you could help them beyond all they can hope or imagine at this moment.

I don’t want my friends and neighbors to miss out on the resurrection of life and the glorious new heavens and new earth. They need to know you the Triune God. They need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord. They need to follow the one who gives eternal life to all those who come to him.

I ask you to strengthen me to be a faithful witness so that I can help them come to know you as their Savior. Open for me an opportunity to love them and to share with them the good news of your grace. Prepare their heart to listen and to receive your message, the message that gives life to all who receive it. Help me to be loving, bold and wise.

Open my mouth, in the right time and way, to share my faith with those I love. I look forward to seeing you do amazing things through my life and witness for Christ. I will be available to enter into a relationship with those you bring to me, and those you place around me, so that I can help influence them to enter your kingdom and become your followers.

In the precious name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, I pray. Amen.

A Refreshing Word from My Friend Becky Pippert

Becky Pippert is a friend who has been a great encouragement to the mission of ACT 3. Many of you will recognize her name as the author of one of the best-selling books on evangelism of all time: Out of the Saltshaker (IVP). Becky, and her husband, Dick routinely send me their prayer letters. In June Becky's prayer letter spoke of an upcoming trip but in the same letter she also reflected on her recent experience of ministering in the Netherlands. I thought this report was so interesting that I secured her permission to share it with you. Here is what she wrote (with some minor edits by me):

We spent several days exploring the Netherlands. It’d been decades since either of us had been there. We were delighted in the light that is peculiar to Holland – caused perhaps by the large expanse of sky in the absence of hills. The brightness, it is said, inspired the Dutch painters, famous for their use of light. The museums were extraordinary, the tulips were still in bloom, and we were deeply moved to visit again the homes of Anne Frank and Corrie ten Boom.
 
I truly enjoy the Dutch, which is fortunate since I’m married to one! They often describe their character as eigenqijs (stubborn) and say so with pride! They are straight forward, you always know where they stand, and I find their direct, no-nonsense approach to life refreshing. 
 
When I spoke in Linz, Austria, last Easter at the triennial European Evangelism Convention we met many Dutch students. What we heard repeatedly was: “I understand God’s truth with my head – I just don’t feel it in my heart.” In fact, their theological sophistication was quite impressive. Dutch Reformed Christians can trace their roots almost directly back to Calvin! Yet it was clear these students hungered deeply to KNOW at a deeper level that God is real. As one student said, “I’m weary of having a formal, polite and correct kind of faith. I want the things I believe by faith, to be made more real.”
 
I gave three plenary talks to 600 University students and a workshop on Seeker Bible study. I asked the leadership to select a team to do prayer ministry after all my talks. They were eager to do it but wondered if the students would come for prayer: a combination of Dutch reserve and it being a rather new practice.
 
But how they came! No coaxing or pleading – I simply invited anyone who wanted prayer to come while the worship team led us in quiet worship. We “officially” ended each evening around 10:00 P.M. but no one wanted to leave. Many students stayed until midnight! In fact, so many came for prayer that the staff had to jump in and help. While waiting in queues I often saw students turn to the person next to them and say “Why don’t we just pray for each other?” That is exactly what we had hoped!
 
Each night I addressed different doctrinal themes and showed how biblical truth has profound implications for holistic witness. We must express the reality of the gospel through our being, doing, sharing, defending and living. On the last night I felt led to pray for 3 issues from the stage: forgiveness, salvation, and the head-and-heart issue they so often mentioned. I asked them to raise their hand high if what I was praying pertained to them.
 
So with their heads bowed and eyes closed I started to pray. Or at least I tried to. Before I could get out the first word, it suddenly felt as if a lion had attacked my throat. Out of nowhere I began coughing loudly and uncontrollably and I couldn’t stop. I motioned for Dick to come to the stage and he began praying for the first two issues, while several rushed to the side of the stage to help me.
 
I know of no other explanation than it was a demonic attack. Yet I KNEW I was supposed to pray for the third issue. So after Dick prayed in considerable power for the first 2 topics (and he himself was not feeling well all day), I took the microphone. My voice was weak but I gradually gained strength as I prayed. It may seem like a very odd way to begin a prayer but remember, the Dutch are serious about being biblically and theologically faithful. So I said:
 
“I believe the Scriptures teach that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit when we place our faith in Christ. Romans 8:9 says that we aren’t truly Christian unless the Spirit dwells within us. In Acts 2 at Pentecost, all the believers were filled with the Spirit. But in Acts 4, when they turned to God in prayer because of the Sanhedrin’s threats, they didn’t ask for another outpouring of the Spirit. That had already happened! They simply asked God for boldness and supernatural power to continue being witnesses. How did God answer? The room was shaken, God filled them all again with the Holy Spirit (the very same people who had been filled only two chapters before) in order to strengthen and enable them to boldly witness under difficult circumstances.”
 
“I think this means we may ask God for a deeper and fresh filling of His Spirit not once, but all the time! We must tell God that we long to see more of His glory, to sense His presence and be filled with His power. One of the chief characteristics of the indwelling and filling of the Spirit (besides making us more Christ-like) is receiving boldness in witness. It is the Spirit, and our faith and obedience to the Word, that makes Christ real and takes what we know in our heads and makes it a deeper reality in our hearts. Therefore, for anyone who wants to ask God for a fresh filling of the Spirit, who longs for God to reveal His presence and to take what we know by faith in our head and make it a deeper reality in our soul, please raise your hands as I pray.”
 
I wish you could have seen it! Nearly 600 people raised their hands high! Just remembering it brings tears to my eyes. The prayer ministry that followed the service was extraordinary as people poured out the aisles to go to the prayer ministers. I finally left the auditorium at 11:30 that night and there were still people there. What struck me most about the people for whom I prayed was their fresh awareness of God’ glory and their deep conviction of sin – which is always the evidence of the Spirit’s work. It was profoundly moving.
 
I will include a few lines from an email I received from the IFES President for The Netherlands:
 
“It is amazing to reflect on what God did. A lot of students (non-Christian and nominal) came to Christ, turning to Him and confessing their sins etc. We felt as if we could touch the Holy Spirit. As you well know, the prayer ministry lasted for hours. I have never experienced this before. And very important to me, it was nothing about mere human emotion – it was only about God Himself. The students were so hungry to experience and see a sign of God - to know that He really exists and still is alive. And He showed us that He is!
 
So praise God with us! We have also received some wonderful emails from students who have started Seeker Studies.
 

When Coexistence Is Compromise

During the time of King Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-33) the leader of Israel married a princess of Tyre. When the princess arrived in Jerusalem she brought with her the worship of the Phoenician God Melkaart. She had a temple built for Melkaart in Jerusalem. She did not want to do away with Israel's God but rather to create a condition of mutual peace and co-existence. She was an ancient pluralist. Everyone can worship the god they choose, the god they desire, so long as we all follow our own truth and way. But God revealed himself to Israel as the one, true God and all other gods were vanity according to him. As the minister/theologian D. T. Niles noted in his classic little book, The Message and Its Messengers (Abingdon, 1966), "Coexistence may be good policy, but it compromises the nature of truth." (Niles was the president of the Methodist Church in Ceylon and was a very active leader in the World Council of Churches.)

I believe in tolerance in our social and legal stance in a secular society but I do not believe in coexistence with non-Christians faiths. There may be a fine line between them, at least there appears to be at times, but there is a line nonetheless. Niles says that when he became the secretary of the department of evangelism for the World Council of Churches he soon discovered that everyone believed in evangelism, at least generally speaking. It is almost like saying everyone in America believes in "apple pie and motherhood." Most churches talk about evangelism, even if there moral and theological stance is quite liberal. But, said Niles, he soon found out that "very few seemed to be anxious that people were not getting evangelized." Niles concludes that "Evangelism has become, in many minds, something which a church must do, but not something that must happen to people."

This last statement sums up what I have seen again and again. We are quite committed to talking about mission and evangelism in most churches. We even hope for what Niles calls " a few stray conversions" but we are fundamentally satisfied with coexistence. "Let each man have his own religion."

I wrote a few days ago about the need we now have to live in peace in a modern world where there are many religions, and many people with no religion. I pray for peace in the modern world. I am fully prepared to allow each person to live as they wish, so long as they do not break laws that will take away the rights and freedoms of others. But I am not content to talk about evangelism and not actually do it. Niles said, "It is so rare to meet someone who is really troubled because his neighbor, or her companion, does not know Jesus Christ."

I sat behind two young women at a baseball game last week who were kissing and expressing various forms of outward affection throughout the entire game. As I watched these two lesbian women I found myself uncomfortable but not deeply moved by their spiritual plight. (I am not saying I know their spiritual plight for certain, simply that I did not want to consider it too carefully at that moment.) I soon realized that my growing concern was likely too political and selective. I am not concerned enough about my own neighbors, much less these lesbians I do not know. As a Christian I do not personally condemn these two women, as if I was superior to them in any way, but I am concerned about their eternal well-being. What bothered me even more was that I did not feel the same for the other 18,000 fans at the game.

Don't misunderstand me. I do not go to a baseball game to judge people I do not know. Nor do I go to overtly work on my compassion for the lost. But I cannot easily divorce my feelings at a ball game from my feelings in any other environment. If these two attractive young women are without Christ then I should deeply care. What troubled me was my private response. I "judged" them (in my heart) and didn't remind myself that there were thousands of other people all around me, regardless of their sexual preferences, who needed to hear the gospel and come to know the living and true God. I think the truth is that there are times when I would rather not say any of this since it makes people sure that I am one of those narrow bigots. If I say, "There is no coexistence between good and evil. Men and women need to know the love of God in Jesus Christ and become his followers" what will people think of me?

Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith

Joe Eszhertas grew up in refugee camps and then in America's back alleys. When his mom died he was twelve years old. He turned against the church and God and dedicated the rest of his life to attacking everything virtuous and religious that he knew. Eventually he became a police reporter and covered robberies, shootings and serial killers. He then wrote dark, sexually graphic, and very violent films like Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Jade.

Joe knows a whole lot about darkness. He became addicted to cigarettes at 12 and drugs and alcohol by 14. He did everything within his power to dull his pain and to live out his anger at God and the world. But in his late 50s, on a very hot day in the summer of 2001, Joe came to faith in Christ on a street in suburban Cleveland, Ohio. Battling to save his life from the throat cancer that had caused him to stop alcohol and cigarettes Joe, the big, dark sinner, cried out to God to have mercy on him. In his own words, after he understood what happened, he was "born again." I believe him after reading this 242 page memoir.

I only knew the old Joe from various things that I read about him, a very few pages I had skimmed in a popular book of his written back in the 90s, and from his terribly dark, dark work in writing screen plays for the sixteen films that made more than a billion dollars at the box office. This was not your normal candidate for church and faith, that much I was sure. When I saw Joe on "Religion and Ethics Weekly" on PBS a few weeks ago I ordered the book. I was not disappointed.

Joe the young Christian is fresh, edgy and very interesting. This book will put off the self-righteous but those who want to see a rough-cut man working his way to the light, all by the grace of God changing him from day-by-day, will love it. Be forewarned: the new Joe is still growing. His language will offend some. I can't remember a memoir of faith making me laugh so much. This was not because Joe is unreal at all. No, he is so real that his story is compelling beyond words. What made me laugh so often was just how unlike so many Christians Joe Eszterhas really is. And this is a good thing in so many ways.

The title of this book, Crossbearer, comes from Joe's unique role in bearing the crucifix in the processional before the Mass in his local Catholic Church. (There is a very funny story here of Joe and his family trying a local evangelical mega-church and how they felt. It should be read by every evangelical pastor.) Joe has more good sense about the Christian faith than many, so-called, "mature Christians." This is part of the reason the book was so real for me.

I am working on a major article about this book, and another memoir about losing faith, written by a man who became a Christian and then left the faith after twelve years. I want to show, side-by-side, how one great sinner was converted and how another convert finally left and why. The lessons are important for us all. I will say more about this article when it is published by a major Christian magazine that has tentatively agreed to my idea. Now I just have to write the article and turn it in. Stayed tuned.

Do We Have to Offend Unbelievers to Share the Good News?

I often make the point on this blog that evangelism can be seriously carried out, albeit in personal and very direct ways, without making non-Christians angry or hostile because of the way we share our faith. There is a an offense to the gospel, I am well aware. But often the offense is more in our approach than in our message. A recent You Tube post by cable television's Penn Jillette demonstrates this point very well. Watch this five minute video and you will see how Penn Jillette describes his encounter with a “good” Christian who personally gave him a New Testament as a point of direct witness. You will also see how much this unbeliever actually respects Christians who sincerely want to convert him.

Penn Jillette (b. 1955) is an illusionist, comedian, writer and juggler. He has appeared in several movies, often makes wild allusions to sexual pleasure a part of his programming, and has had a feature on NBC-TV at one point in the past.

Jillette presently has a featured show, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, that appears on Showtime. Jillette, and his partner, Raymond Joseph Teller, analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths and criticize people and aspects of society that he and his partner call "bullshit," thus the name of their program. Jillette is a libertarian who praises Ayn Rand's writings and is an avowed atheist. All of this only makes this video all the more instructive to us as Christians. 

 

What's Happened to the Campus Greek System?

I was never a big fan of the campus Greek system while I was at the University of Alabama (1967-69). There was just too much silliness and nonsense for my tastes. And when I saw how the Greeks partied and how they "cheated" on exams I became less than impressed.

I was thus surprised to read in a recent AP report that a new fraternity and sorority exists at my old campus in Tuscaloosa. The Lambda Sigma Phi house, right in the middle of fraternity row, is a Christian Greek house. Here Bible study and mission projects trump booze and late night orgies. Lambda Sigma Phi is part of a wave of Christian fraternities and sororities that have gained a foothold on college campuses in America. There are 210 fraternities in this group nationwide. Some of these exist where schools have made it very difficult for them to be accepted. Members of these houses focus on prayer, Bible study and service projects as a part of membership requirement.

Founded in 2001 Lambda Sigma Phi hopes to show other groups on the college campus what following Jesus is really all about. Alabama chapter president Daniel Weaver says, "We want to be a light on this campus." Alpha Delta Chi, a Christian sorority with 14 active chapters, is just as straightforward about its requirements at Alabama. No smoking, no illegal drugs, no premarital sex and limited use of alcohol for those old enough to imbibe. The group features "sisterhood retreats" as well.

At the University of Florida such houses have been rejected and lawsuits have followed. The 11th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Florida to recognize the groups on campus while the lawsuit winds its way through the legal system. At Auburn members of Alpha Kappa Lambda decided in 2000 to switch their fraternity from athletics to Christianity. Junior Drew Bonner visited the group and said, "I really like it. I'm active in a church here, too, but it's not the same as this."

I think this is a good trend but I would love to see how these students engage their non-Christian Greek peers. Have they withdrawn from the campus culture altogether or are they impacting those around them with the gospel? In my days we had Christians inside all the fraternities and sororities and they lived as light to those who were their Greek brothers and sisters. There is likely a place for both approaches though the darkness of secular fraternity life does present real problems for serious Christians.

The Evangelism of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort

I have not followed the controversies surrounding the evangelism methods of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort until I saw the movie Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron. Then, in discussing this movie with friends, I got into this story.

Ray Comfort is an evangelist from New Zealand who has created quite a storm in his appearances across the United States. He is bold, if nothing else. And he is determined to never water down the rough edges of the gospel, at least as he understands it. Cameron, who also starred in the Left Behind movies and Growing Pains in the 1990s, has linked his efforts with Comfort in an approach called "guerrilla evangelism." In late 2001 Cameron and Comfort launched The Way of the Master to teach Christians how to share their faith "simply, effectively, biblically . . . the way Jesus did." Something about this troubles me, especially the assumption that they are sharing "the way Jesus did." What makes them so sure? And is this claim truthful and relevant contextually?

Look, I teach evangelism. I share my faith. I preach the gospel. I do apologetics, formally and informally. I am not attacking these two men or their motives, which I feel sure are solid. They obviously love Jesus and want to do a great deal of good. They may do more good than I could ever dream of doing. But their methods are debatable, as are their claims.

Ray Comfort has made a name for himself regarding his distinctive doctrinal emphasis as well. He regularly says that most church members are not regenerate and then argues that the Ten Commandments are the way to show them that they are still sinners. Two of his favorite sermons are titled: "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversions." His stress is on "biblical repentance," which he defines in generally accurate ways but with his own unique mixture of passion and application. He speaks in churches and seminars all over the world but particularly in America.

Comfort, who was born Jewish, was raised with no religious faith at all. He was converted in his 20s. He has since designed and distributed scores of tracts and is known for his passionate proclamation. He made himself into quite a celebrity by arguing that he could prove the existence of God. ABC television picked this up and their Web site featured the question: "Does God Exist?" Two atheists took on Comfort and Cameron in a dialog on the ABC site. These two atheists had already produced a "Blasphemy Challenge" on You Tube that challenged youth to denounce the Holy Spirit and "damn themselves to hell." When all of this happened in 2007, many Christians came out in force to support Comfort and Cameron. But many then wished that serious apologists like Ravi Zacharias or William Lane Craig had led this public effort.

The problem with the evangelism of Comfort and Cameron is that, though they are obviously sincere and filled with immense passion, they are simply wrong at some points. They were unprepared for these debates with the two atheists, and showed a lack of understanding of the issues that were at hand. Neither of these men has serious theological training and it shows, very sadly. Cameron even attempted to "prove" that God existed by showing why evolution would not work. This is a debatable point among Christians but as a serious apologist I do not think you can prove God by showing that evolution did not happen. This in no way proves the existence of the God of Holy Scripture. In fact, I do not think that you can "prove" God's existence in the way these two evangelists argue at all. But Comfort insists that he can prove God's existence without faith or biblical reference.

Cameron comes across, as in Fireproof, as likable and winsome. But his arguments are the real problem. Dealing with professional debaters who attack Christianity is one thing, while bearing faithful witness to another person who is your friend is a different matter altogether.

These two men are clearly sincere Christians who have a great deal of courage. I admire them for this more than you may know. What I question is the wisdom of their witness and approach.

I have referred before to a pastor before who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. We have never met except by letter and email. I have kept up with this friend for nearly 25 years now. I feel as if I know him better than most of the people I have met face-to-face. I would assume that we will never meet until we are both in the church triumphant. But we have shared prayer requests, friendship and support, with me trying to invest in his life and work when I can do something. He wrote me a few days ago the following letter:

The church here is doing fine although we have not seen as many conversions recently. Last Sunday we had about 100 attendants. This is amazing because the previous Sunday we were only 20 attendants. I do not know what to think about the coming Sunday but hope we will be having an encouraging attendance. One thing I need your prayer about is that to reach out to newcomers is hard since many are not open to such a ministry. They pretend they have their own churches despite the fact that they do not often go to their churches. Another thing is that many people say they are saved because they attended a crusade preached by a prominent evangelist and say they made a decision. But they appear to only deceive themselves. So in this situation the gospel reaches to rock hard hearts but does not penetrate. But I pray that God may bring revival among our people.

How is the ministry there? We are experiencing inflation and in many parts of Kenya there is hunger after the election war among the people. I hope all of those involved in this will learn a lesson and many will get hunger of God's Word and start to seek God. May our good Lord keep you all.

James

In Kenya a great deal of western-style decisionism has left the country filled with professing Christians who do not regularly attend church or live outwardly Christian lives. This is one of those unique African countries where American influence has had a less than positive effect upon real discipleship and conversion. When people act as if our exporting of this kind of ministry is not that much of a problem I think of my friend James and what he routinely tells me about the hard nature of his work in Kenya.

It's Important That They Know Who You're Not

My friend Steve Brown is big on being real, on being authentic. The cool thing is that he is that in real life, unlike so many religious professionals I've known. Steve sometimes says that most Christians think it's very important that other people think you're mature, pure and spiritual. He says it's far more important that people know that you're not. We're so worried that our Christian witness will be harmed by our lack of total obedience and near perfection but this is not the reality of the situation at all. Our witness will be hurt more by our pretense of being holy and obedient. Steve says, "I don't think I've met a person who found Christ because a Christian was pure and righteous. More often it makes them think that this thing is only for good people."

The famous Indian Christian D. T. Niles, in an oft quoted statement, said evangelism was one beggar telling another where he found bread. If this is true, and it really is, then it changes our entire perspective on witness as Christians. We are to point others to the place where we found food, not to ourselves as bread makers and saints. What turns people away from Christ is not our disobedience, at least not generally speaking, but our dishonesty, especially about the way we live and what we tell them about our lives.

By the way, Steve Brown will speak for ACT 3 at our first annual "Friends of ACT 3 Evening" on Friday, September 5. Watch for details. This will not be a fund-raiser but an opportunity for fellowship, fun and a chance to get to know our ministry first-hand.