Hail to Pope Leo XIV in Calling for Christians to Unite

Last updated on: May 30, 2025 at 10:03 pm By Kermit Zarley

Mennonite Anabaptists Celebrate Their 500th Anniversary Christian Mennonites are gathering in Zurich, Switzerland, to celebrate the 500th year of their origin, which occurred in that city. Although they number less than 2 million people, Mennonites are the largest church denomination among the Anabaptist movement that they started. Anabaptist means to be baptized “again” (ana) or “re-baptized,” although they did not accept either of those terms. These terms refer to Christians who had been baptized as infants in especially state church... Read more

Some Israeli Leaders Want to Annex the West Bank and Gaza

Last updated on: May 28, 2025 at 2:15 pm By Kermit Zarley

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Israel Is Making Life Difficult for West Bank Palestinians According to Forensic Architecture—a research group at Goldsmith’s, University of London—the IDF forces of Israel are using some of the same tactics in the West Bank in a military campaign called Operation Iron Wall that it uses in the ongoing Gaza war. According to some of Israel’s foremost political leaders, its purpose is to seize control of Palestinian territory in the West Bank and eventually include it with Jewish settlements in... Read more

Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza?

Last updated on: May 20, 2025 at 10:18 pm By Kermit Zarley

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The present Gaza war started in October 2023 because Hamas—the Muslim terrorist organization that governs the Gaza Strip—foolishly attacked the western flank of Israel on October 7 that year, killing about 1,200 Jews. The Israel Defense Force then invaded Gaza to wage a war in an effort to root out Hamas which was dug into an intricate system of tunnels. The result has been that the IDF has now killed over 53,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Most of them... Read more

Why Is This Pope Called “Leo”

Last updated on: May 19, 2025 at 10:53 pm By Kermit Zarley

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There’ve Been Fourteen Pope Leos On May 8th, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago was chosen as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church and the first American pope as well. In accordance with the tradition of popes taking the name of a previous honored saint, he chose to be called Pope Leo XIV. Thus, the Church has had fourteen popes who have called themselves Leo. What does Leo mean? And why did this pope choose Leo? Leo is... Read more

Scottie Scheffler Wins the PGA Championship

Last updated on: May 19, 2025 at 12:57 pm By Kermit Zarley

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Yesterday, Scottie Scheffler shot an even-par 71 to win the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, by five strokes over second place finishers Harris English, Bryson DeChambeau, and Davis Riley. It was Scheffler’s 15th win on the PGA Tour and his third major title alongside his two Masters wins in 2022 and 2024. The PGA Tour announced that 28-year-old Scheffler has now reached rarefied territory by joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only... Read more

Palestinians in Gaza Are Uprising Against Hamas

Last updated on: May 17, 2025 at 8:13 pm By Kermit Zarley

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The war in Gaza continues despite a temporary cease-fire that failed. Donald Trump, the former real estate mogul and now U.S. president, last month called for an outlandish proposal for solving the Gaza war if not the larger conflict between Palestinians and the State of Israel—to remove Palestinians from Gaza and turn the place into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” And this week he has called for them to be removed to Libya. Uprising in Beit Layiha The Wall... Read more

A New Book about Mark Twain from Hannibal, Missouri

Last updated on: May 14, 2025 at 10:52 pm By Kermit Zarley

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Just Published—Mark Twain Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow has written a 1,200-page biography of the famous novelist, satirist, essayist, and humorist who built his famed literary career by using the pen name Mark Twain. Chernow’s Mark Twain was published Monday, two day ago, in hardcover by Penguin Press. Mark Twain lived in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. My book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, entitled Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia, (269 pp.) was published in 1990 as... Read more

When Romans 13 Meets Tyranny: Interpreting Obedience

Last updated on: May 14, 2025 at 2:14 pm By Kermit Zarley

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Paul Did Not Teach Unconditional Obedience to Civil Rulers The apostle Paul wrote in his magisterial, theologically in-depth, and lengthy letter to “all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints” (Romans 1.7 NRSV), that they should do the following: Romans 13:1-7 1“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore, whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and... Read more

New Pope Leo XIV Echoes Jesus in Saying, “Peace Be With You”

Last updated on: May 12, 2025 at 10:33 pm By Kermit Zarley

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Robert Francis Prevost: The 267th Roman Catholic Pope Last Thursday, the Roman Catholic Church’s Conclave—a gathering of 135 cardinals at the Vatican—selected the Church’s 267th pope after only two days of deliberations. For the first time in the Church’s history, the pope is an American. He is from Chicago; he is 69 years old; he is a devout Chicago White Sox baseball fan; and his name is Robert Francis Prevost. His predecessor and friend, Pope Francis, had made him a... Read more

Trump as Pope? Isn’t that Being Sacrilegious?

Last updated on: May 4, 2025 at 10:39 am By Kermit Zarley

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President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attended the funeral of Pope Francis last week at the Vatican. Many Catholic Church cardinals from around the world were there as well. They were mourning the pope’s death, honoring his legacy, and discussing who will replace him. Next Wednesday, 130 cardinals will officially begin deliberations to choose Francis’s successor. On Tuesday, President Trump said to reporters gathered outside the White House, “I’d like to be the pope.” Was he being real or... Read more