U.S. House Approves Rules for Impeachment of President Trump

Last updated on: October 31, 2019 at 10:31 am By Kermit Zarley

The U.S. House of Representatives just voted in favor of certain rules for continuing an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had officially announced five weeks ago, on September 24, that this impeachment had begun. When Ms. Pelosi did this, her most profound statement was, “No one is above the law.” She thereby implied that if President Trump has committed “crimes and misdemeanors,” as the U.S. Constitution states, then the House should follow the Constitution about... Read more

Tiger Woods Ties Sam Snead’s All-Time 82 Wins on the PGA Tour.

Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 11:57 pm By Kermit Zarley

Tiger Woods made pro golfing history today by winning the ZoZo Championship in Chiba, Japan, with a three stroke margin over Japan’s best player, Hideki Matsuyama, to tie legendary Sam Snead, who for over fifty years has had the PGA Tour record for the most wins, which is 82. And Tiger certainly played against a somewhat more formidable competition. From seeing Tiger compete this year, in which he came back from four back surgeries and five left knee surgeries to win... Read more

Did the Early, Local Church Have a “Pastor” as Spiritual Head?

Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 11:39 pm By Kermit Zarley

During the early 1970s–nearly fifteen years into my non-formal theological education–I made some considerable changes in my understanding of the local church. In doing this, I was mostly influenced by the biblical teachings of Dr. S. Lewis Johnson. He and my former pastor, Bob Thieme at Berachah Church in Houston, were fairly close friends. But much of what Johnson taught about the local church clashed with what the somewhat authoritarian Thieme taught, and Thieme was a graduate of Dallas Theological... Read more

The Synagogue in the Life of Jesus

Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 6:35 pm By Kermit Zarley

In this month’s issue of Review of Biblical Literature, Donald D. Binder reviews Jordan J. Ryan’s book, The Role of the Synagogue in the Aims of Jesus (Fortress Press, 2017). Binder relates that in the 1990s and early 2000s there was a renaissance of writings on the historicity of the synagogue during the especially the time of Jesus. But he adds that there has always been a dearth of such writing on the relationship between Jesus’ teachings as recorded in the... Read more

Tiger Woods Leads Rain-delayed Zozo Championship

Last updated on: October 27, 2019 at 3:42 pm By Kermit Zarley

Tiger Woods had a three-stroke lead over Japan’s best golfer and PGA Tour player Hideki Matsuyama when play in the fourth and final round of the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, was stopped for the remainder of today due to rain storms. The two players started today early in order to complete their third round and then stopped play at the 11th hole of the fourth round. Gary Woodland is in third place four strokes back. After opening this... Read more

Hurtado Reviews Pardee’s “Scribal Harmonization of the Synoptic Gospels”

Last updated on: October 26, 2019 at 8:59 pm By Kermit Zarley

Dr. Larry Hurtado–a leading New Testament scholar, professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a friend of mine–has just reviewed Dr. Cambry G. Pardee’s book, Scribal Harmonization in the Synoptic Gospels (Brill, 2019) in the Society of Biblical Literature’s Review of Biblical Literature. Hurtado gives it very high marks. Even though I’m not a biblical scholar with a PhD, I’ve been interested in New Testament gospel harmonization for over thirty years. It’s because my first book was a single-narrative harmony... Read more

Tiger Woods Leads the Zozo

Last updated on: October 26, 2019 at 7:43 pm By Kermit Zarley

Tiger Woods has a two-stroke lead at the Zozo Championship on the PGA Tour in Chiba, Japan. After two rounds, he has carded two 64s, each of which is six under par on the water-logged Narashino Country Club. Friday’s round was canceled due to an astounding twelve inches of rain. Current U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland is alone at second. Japan’s hope, Hideki Matsuyama, is tied at third. Tiger Woods got off to a terrible start in this limited field event... Read more

Christian Bookstores Are About Gone

Last updated on: October 23, 2019 at 11:54 pm By Kermit Zarley

When I was young, I used to love to go to my local Christian bookstore, browse the many books, and buy some. Reading those books was one of my main ways to develop as a Christian. It broadened my perspective rather than only being taught at my church. One particular independent Christian bookstore I frequented was owned by a guy who had some sons, and we all used to discuss theology together. Twenty years ago, there were 7,000 Christian bookstores... Read more

Christians Mired in Trumpgate

Last updated on: October 23, 2019 at 5:39 pm By Kermit Zarley

I use the word Trumpgate, reminiscent of Watergate, for the apparent scandal of President Trump’s tenure in office. He is now under investigation for impeachment by the congressional House of Representatives. It increasingly appears that some of his closest presidential advisors, some of whom are professing Christians, could be implicated and thereby face legal jeopardy. First, there is the staunchly evangelical Vice-President Mike Pence. He is very vocal about his Christian commitment. His possible legal liability appears to be less... Read more

Trump: “Phony Emoluments Clause”

Last updated on: October 22, 2019 at 12:01 pm By Kermit Zarley

President Trump told the media today at a Cabinet meeting in the Oval Office, “You people with this phony emoluments clause,” referring to one or both of the two emolument clauses in the U.S. Constitution. I was watching that on TV when he said that, and I thought, “did he just say ‘phony emoluments clause’? Surely not.” I thought I must have misheard him. Not so! What a disrespectful statement about our Constitution. What was the context? President Trump was... Read more