{"id":53162,"date":"2020-12-08T15:27:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T19:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=53162"},"modified":"2020-12-08T15:28:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T19:28:13","slug":"john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html","title":{"rendered":"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007<\/a>. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified slightly), to mark the sad occasion. It also offers an opportunity to briefly \u201cpreach the gospel\u201d (I am an apologist and evangelist, after all) and ask readers to seriously ponder their status with Jesus \u2014 Who is God \u2013, and their eternal fate.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

I thought I knew just about everything there is to know about the Beatles, but I had never heard this before. According to well-known Christian writer \/ author\u00a0Steve Turner\u00a0(\u201cJohn Lennon\u2019s Born-Again Phase\u201d<\/a>, Christianity Today<\/em>, 1-3-07), this occurred in April-May 1977. Lennon had shown considerable interest in several of the TV evangelists, including Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, and Oral Roberts, and even started announcing to friends that he was \u201cborn again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apparently, Yoko Ono played a key role in making sure this was simply a (typically) passing interest, by strenuously arguing against the belief that Jesus was God incarnate, etc., and continuing her interest in various false religious practices and beliefs.<\/p>\n

This is fascinating and a bit eerie on a personal level, because it happened at exactly the time I seriously devoted myself to Jesus as His disciple, in my evangelical conversion (what I described as being \u201cborn again\u201d at the time). A big influence on John Lennon in this regard was Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s magnificent film,\u00a0Jesus of Nazareth<\/em><\/a>, that also made a huge impact on me in early April of 1977 (I mentioned that in my conversion story in\u00a0Surprised by Truth<\/em><\/a>). How sad that John didn\u2019t choose to continue this newfound path. I knew he had been raised as some sort of Anglican.<\/p>\n

I also have a very distinct memory of\u00a0 an article about John Lennon in The Detroit News<\/em> within a few weeks of his murder, where Lennon said he was reading the Gospels and really understanding what Jesus was saying for the first time. I have a very good memory. I tried a bit to find it, but couldn\u2019t. But I remembered it particularly from not long before in time, when I heard that he was murdered. I\u2019ve always hoped that this indicated some spiritual commitment or at least avid interest, such that he might have been saved in the end.<\/p>\n

If Turner\u2019s article is correct, and Lennon eventually turned away in 1977 from Christianity and became fairly hostile (an instance of the gospel \u201cseed\u201d falling on \u201crocky soil\u201d), then it is a good sign that he was still willing to, and chose to read and ponder the words of Jesus in 1980, shortly before his death. God has mercy on every soul. God knew John didn\u2019t have long to live. We can only hope and pray.<\/p>\n

We all have to decide Whom we will serve, and no one knows when their time on this earth will come to an end. Today is the day to commit yourself to Jesus Christ if you have not yet done so. I believe that the Catholic Church preserves the fullness of Christian truth and moral teaching. But even if you are not in a place where you can accept the teaching of the Catholic faith, I urge you to commence or renew your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the time. God gives all the grace for repentance and ultimate salvation. Jesus died on the cross so that we could obtain eternal life.<\/p>\n

But you (like John Lennon) can decide to act upon this cross-enabled grace or not. God gives you that freedom because He is not interested in forcing people to follow Him and enter into the Kingdom and joy. Don\u2019t wait! And whatever you do, don\u2019t turn away from what you know is the truth, for then your soul is in exceedingly great danger of hellfire. Not popular or fashionable words these days, but true nonetheless, and if I didn\u2019t proclaim this message in its fullness I would be lax in my duty as a Catholic Christian evangelist.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re on the fence, or in a miserable place in your life; if you are in despair; now is the time for you to decide to follow Jesus and be His disciple. He\u2019s calling you. Will you answer the call and act upon it?<\/p>\n

Related Reading<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Review of US Version Beatles Albums: 1964<\/a>\u00a0(lots of interesting comparisons of US and UK tracks) [12-1-04]\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Beatles and Schubert: Musicological Comparisons<\/a>\u00a0[12-22-04; expanded on 3-1-18]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
Amazon Review of the 2009 Beatles Stereo and Mono Box Sets<\/a>\u00a0[9-13-09]<\/span><\/div>\n
*<\/div>\n
\n

Defense of John Lennon Contra Scathing Critique<\/a>\u00a0[12-28-13]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeatles Heaven\u201d Again (New \u201c1\u201d Album)<\/a>\u00a0(see<\/span>\u00a0Amazon review<\/a>)\u00a0[11-9-15]<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon Review of\u00a0Sgt. Pepper<\/em>\u00a0(50th Anniversary Edition)<\/a>\u00a0(see also<\/span>\u00a0my own posting at Patheos<\/a>) [5-26-17]<\/span><\/p>\n

Review of\u00a0The White Album<\/em>\u00a0(Beatles): 50th Anniversary Remix<\/a>\u00a0(see the\u00a0<\/span>review on Amazon<\/a>)\u00a0[11-14-18]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

*<\/div>\n

***<\/p>\n

Photo credit:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Jack Mitchell\u2019s<\/a> photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1980<\/span> [Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0Attribution-Share Alike\u00a04.0 International<\/a>,\u00a03.0 Unported<\/a>,\u00a02.5 Generic<\/a>,\u00a02.0 Generic<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a01.0 Generic<\/a>\u00a0license]<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified slightly), to mark the sad occasion. It also offers an opportunity to briefly \u201cpreach the gospel\u201d (I am an apologist and evangelist, after all) and ask […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":53165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,50],"tags":[110,2352,427,5018,12485,12488,2341,12494,12491],"class_list":["post-53162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-page","category-salvation-justification","tag-discipleship","tag-gospel","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john-lennon","tag-john-lennon-christianity","tag-john-lennon-evangelicalism","tag-salvation","tag-saved","tag-yoko-ono"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-08T19:27:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-08T19:28:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/12\/LennonOno.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html\",\"name\":\"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-08T19:27:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-08T19:28:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?","description":"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?","og_description":"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_published_time":"2020-12-08T19:27:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-12-08T19:28:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":507,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/12\/LennonOno.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html","name":"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death? John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-08T19:27:08+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-08T19:28:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"John Lennon was murdered forty years ago today. This is an article I first uploaded on 27 March 2007. I am bringing it back to my blog today (modified Beatle John Lennon was murdered in New York City 40 years ago today. I've noted his interest in Christianity, expressed particularly in 1977 and 1980. One can hope & pray for the best.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/12\/john-lennon-christian-right-before-his-death.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"John Lennon: Christian Right Before His Death?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}