First of all, I pray that you would have a blessed Christmas season, not only in your home, but also in your heart. I pray that you would experience the Love of God in a deeper and more real way and that you would be able to share that fullness of Love with your family, friends and neighbors.

The book of Ruth, a traditional reading at harvest time during the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), is a book of only four brief chapters that is both a classic love story and also an essential book of prophecy.

Last month we began a new series of articles called “Reflections of His Image,” based on my new book (same title), which is due out this month. I am so very excited about this little book because it really clarifies many of the Christian terms and phrases that we so cavalierly banter around but truly don’t understand.

The early settlers of America, who braved the privations of those incredibly difficult years, were a fabulous lot, indeed. We can hardly imagine the burdens they endured to make a new life for themselves in a new land. Their turning point began one Friday in the middle of March, 1621.

The first thing to notice about the Gospels is that they are skillfully designed; each one is tailored to suit its specific perspective. Matthew was a Jew, a Levite; he presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel-the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. This first book of the New Testament plunges right in to establish Jesus as the Meshiach Nagid, the Messiah the King.

Since my new book Reflections of His Image: God’s Purpose for Your Life is due out this month, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little about it.

In the year 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, a baby boy was born to a poor coal miner. As he grew up and observed the poverty of his father, this boy, named Martin, chose to pursue a different vocation. He decided to become a lawyer and, in 1501, entered the University of Erfurt, where he excelled in his studies.

As we explore the track record of fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, it becomes evident that Scripture has portrayed-centuries in advance-the rise and fall of the major empires on earth. Often we find the Biblical record of historical events contradicted by traditional secular scholarship, only to have subsequent archaeological discoveries later vindicate the Biblical historical record.

For students of Bible prophecy, even the title of this communique should set off alarm sirens. I just received some electrifying intelligence data - first, from the DEBKA-Net-Weeklys briefing, and second, from some personal intelligence sources (which I carefully guard) that confirm Debkas report.

The discovery of DNA as the blueprint of life in the 1950s was the starting block of a race to understand the molecular basis of life. One of the more intriguing findings to follow was that specific pieces of DNA can be used to study human history. Genetic anthropologists are now busy decoding that history, written in the molecules of life since the beginning of time.

Continuing our series on loving God, Jesus says in John 13:34, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

The books of James and Jude are part of a section of the Bible known as the Hebrew Epistles (the other books are Hebrews, I & II Peter, and I, II, & III John). They were, in large measure, written to the Jews, and yet they have important lessons for us all.

In the last several newsletters, we've been studying obedience and what it really means. We confirmed that there are three essential parts to obeying God. 1) Learning to love (agapao) God; 2) learning to renew our minds; and 3) learning to have unshakable faith in all circumstances.

This year marks 230 years since our Founding Fathers gave us our National Birth Certificate. We continue to be the longest ongoing Constitutional Republic in the history of the world. Blessings such as these are not by chance or accidental. They are blessings of God.

Continuing our series on the fruit of longsuffering, we turned our attention last month to what it really means to obey the Lord. Since the word ''obedience'' is such a very broad term, we narrowed it down to meaning three essential things: 1) Obedience means learning to ''love'' (agapao) God; 2) Obedience means learning to moment-by-moment renew our minds; and 3) Obedience means learning to have unshakable faith in our difficult times.

Even while Americans focus on things like war, Iran, and high gas prices, its good to know that there are some positive things happening in America. For decades, conservatives have battled things like abortion, teen pregnancy, and a faulty education system.

Last month we began our inquiry of ''What Is Truth?'' by examining the boundaries of our reality. We touched on some of the bizarre discoveries of quantum physics, including the nature of hyperspaces and the discovery that our physical universe appears to consist of more than the three dimensions we commonly experience.

Quick! Name all the Islamist regimes in the Middle East. Most likely you said Iran and the Palestinian Authority. But there's a third country that should also be on this list: Sudan.

Last months issue of National Geographic magazine featured an article about a 1,700-year-old manuscript discovered in Egypt. The manuscript claims to tell the story of Christs last days from the point-of-view of history's most notorious traitor.

Continuing our series on ''the fruit of longsuffering,'' in the next few articles we want to turn our attention to what it means to obey and love the Lord. When we encounter various trials and tribulations, we have two choices we can make.