diff --git a/lib/cloudformer/stack.rb b/lib/cloudformer/stack.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/cloudformer/stack.rb
+++ b/lib/cloudformer/stack.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ class Stack
   end
 
   def apply(template_file, parameters, disable_rollback=false, capabilities=[], notify=[])
-    if ( template_file =~ /^https:\/\/s3\S+\.amazonaws\.com\/(.*)/ )
+    if ( template_file =~ /^https:\/\/.*(.json)$/ )
+      template = template_file
+    elsif ( template_file =~ /^https:\/\/s3\S+\.amazonaws\.com\/(.*)/ )
       template = template_file
     else
       template = File.read(template_file)
add open regex that checks on https and .json