Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman in the U.S.  Oprah is second on that list with Laura Bush in third.  Here is the link:  Link

Who do you admire most?

1. Hillary Clinton

2.  Oprah Winfrey

3.  Laura Bush

Mike Huckabee went hunting in Iowa and we have some great photos of the event.

This photo below has Mike Huckabee holding a pheasant he shot.

Standing next to Mike Huckabee is his trusty dog.

Does it make you want to vote for Mike Huckabee now that you know he is a great hunter?

People don’t really like the word resolution so we try this another way.

What would you like to be different in your life a year from now?

This message from ana4jackirose made me laugh:

“Do you think it’s wrong to google the gifts you receive to see how much they cost? I do it, because I am always so curious and I just can’t help myself. My husband says it’s wrong. What do you think?”

Is it wrong to google your gifts to find out how much they cost?

What was the best thing you had to eat today?

So where are you going for Christmas today?

This is also a reprint from two years ago:

If you were Joseph, would you have believed Mary when she said she conceived by the Holy Spirit?

This is a reprint from two years ago:

The reason most of us celebrate this Christmas season is because of Jesus Christ.  About 2000 years ago, a man walked the earth claiming to be the Messiah.  He was the one who would bring salvation to the world.

I used to struggle with this whole idea of Jesus.  I thought Jesus was sort of God.  I thought He was God but something less than God the Father.  So I looked at Jesus as sort of a step down from God the Father.  I believed Jesus was sort of God.

I have talked before about how my life went through a major change when I was 19.  I was sort of doing my own thing.  I read my Bible every day and went to church every Sunday and Wednesday.  But I was living my own life.  Around that time I had doubts about Jesus.  There was so much literature about Jesus and there was some people who would point to evidence that they said questioned the reliability of the Bible.  There were others that would say that the Bible was reliable but they were Christians so I didn’t know if they could be trusted.  I always thought that some of the Christians I knew were the least critical thinking people I knew.

I certainly didn’t want to believe anything any of them told me.  So I went on a quest.  I decided to figure out God.  So I prayed.  It appeared to me that there were all kinds of religions out there and how could one be picked over the other?  I wondered if the only reason that I believed in Jesus was because I was told that Jesus was God my whole life.  I wondered if I lived in some other country if I would have believed what they believed.

I read several books from several different religions.  I tried to understand what others were thinking.  I also started to do research concerning the reliability of the Bible.  I cannot in one post mentioned what I figured out.  I would simply like to point out one issue that had a huge impact on how I live my life today.

It centered around the story of Jesus.  I noticed from my teaching of my youth that Jesus was mentioned in the New Testament.  I had this impression that the Old Testament was about God the Father and the New Testament was about Jesus. 

I started to look more carefully at the Old Testament.  I found something out that I would like to share with you today.  The Old Testament makes over 330 references to a Messiah that would come.  That was why the people in the New Testament were looking for a Messiah.  They wanted to know if Jesus was that Messiah.  It seemed pretty odd to me that so much of the Old Testament made over 330 references to that Messiah.  That must mean that Messiah was pretty important.  As I started to study those references I was shocked.  I thought the whole Old Testament pointed to this Messiah and Jesus was fulfilling the predictions of these Old Testament writers.

I thought to myself “I wonder if the Old Testament was written before the New Testament?”  It seemed to me to be an important point.  If people were able to rewrite these predictions after Jesus came into the world, the predictions would not be that big of a deal.

The Old Testament is full of these predictions.  For example, in Genesis 3:14 God told the serpent “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  The prediction indicates that there will be a time when the woman’s offspring will crush the head of Satan.  That is what we see in the New Testament.  This is just one prediction.  If you are not familiar with these predictions there are over 330 of them.  They can be stunning to read. 

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet told of a special baby that would be born:  “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:  the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).  So the prediction was made in advance that a child would be born of a virgin. 

In the Old Testament book of Micah, a prediction was made.  In Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”  So this Old Testament prediction indicates that He would be born in Bethlehem. 

There are over 330 of these predictions.  They tell about how He would die on the cross.  They tell about how people would cast lots for His clothing.  As I was studying all of these passages, I was stunned by how many of them there were.

The issue then for me centered on whether these predictions were written in advance of Jesus birth.  If these Old Testament passages were rewritten after the time of Jesus, then they could have just changed them.  In other words, people could have rewritten the predictions to match Jesus and His life.

I found out that those predictions were compiled before the life of Jesus.  No one serious even contest this point.  I looked among historians that were not Christian.  I figured Christians were biased.  The Old Testament has been discovered in ancient cities that existed before the time of Christ.  We can look at those ancient text and see that the Old Testament was totally together.  These predictions were in place before the time of Jesus.  Don’t take my word for it.  I wouldn’t take the word of a Christian either.  I had to research it myself.  I encourage you to do the same.  Don’t stop at one book.  Do all the research on this one point that you can.  Check the research material the person cites.  It will stun you.

The Old Testament was totally together before the time of Christ.  With recent discoveries in the last 50-60 years, we have further confirmation of this point. 

So I knew that these predictions were made in advance.  They pointed to a Messiah.  Jesus came and claimed to be the Messiah.  He fulfilled these predictions. 

So the only thing I had a question with was whether these disciples colored the New Testament to make it appear as if Jesus fulfilled these predictions.  In other words, I was wondering if the New Testament was biased by the writers.  I came to a conclusion on that issue too.  The disciples were being killed one by one.  It seemed to me that at some point their story would break down.  After all, if I really didn’t see Jesus raise from the dead, I wouldn’t die for the lie. 

I can’t think of many things I would die for.  I think someone can die for something that they think is the truth but is actually a lie.  But in this case the disciples either saw Jesus die and then raised again or they didn’t.  They either saw Him float away into heaven or they didn’t.  If I was about to die for a cause, I would fold at that point.  But they professed Jesus until the death.

I will tell you what I believe now.  I believe those disciples saw Jesus alive.  I think they saw Him alive and it changed their lives.  They realized at that point He was the Messiah.  The miracles were impressive.  But Jesus was raised from the dead.  And they were willing to give their lives to spread that message.

When I came to these conclusions, I was changed too.  I remember thinking to myself one day, “If Jesus is God, then that was a pretty big sacrifice.”  If God stepped into the world and gave up everything to come to the earth and die for me, how could I not live my life totally for Him.  I felt it would be difficult for me to live for myself again.  I needed to live my life totally committed to God from that point on.

So the question to me centers around who Jesus really is.  If Jesus is a good teacher with a lot of great little sayings, then I will think about following Him and His teachings.  But if Jesus is God, then my only response is to drop to my knees and pray to Him and worship Him.  My life cannot be the same.  I was created by a God who stepped into earth to die for my sins.  He deserves absolute devotion.

Do you think Jesus is God?

Imagine that President Bush, the Pope and Paris Hilton are in a plane with you.  The plane is going down in flames.  You have a parachute and get to jump out.  There is only one parachute left.  You get to decide who receives that last parachute.

Who do you save?

1.  President Bush

2.  Pope

3. Paris