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What About The Term ” Xmas “?
For my Christian friends and for those who are just curious.
The term “Xmas” really isn’t bad. In short, in the Greek language the word for Christ (Khristós or Christos) is Χριστός. A variant for Xmas is “Xtemass” and it was used as early, I believe, in 1551. If you go back as far as 1100 you will find the term of “Xp̄es mæsse”. The letter X, from the Greek word of Χριστός, was used as a short-term for Christ.
Also, terms like Xpian and Xtian have been used for the word Christian, not to mention that the term Xtianity has been used for the word Christianity as far back as 1634.
Basically these terms were just short versions of saying “ Christ Mass “.
So, when we see, today, the term “ Xmas “ we are actually seeing someone saying “Christ Mass“ or “Christmas”.
After seeing how this term began and how it has been used down through the ages, I feel that so many people, in their quest not to offend anyone are actually telling us Christians that Christ does live and they are unknowingly proclaiming His birth.
And, at Christmas time, isn’t that what we are celebrating anyway?
Now, with “Xmas” in mind, I came up with an idea and I’m sending it out to you as a good suggestion. To anyone or any business that uses the term “Xmas”, thank them for proclaiming Christ’s birth, smile and then wish them a Merry Christmas. Then happily walk away and let them think about it for a while.
I think Jesus would like that… 🙂
Salvation And Obedience
Is Obedience Necessary For Salvation
For they who are being saved from paying the penalty for their sins, salvation comes only by the grace of God. We cannot earn salvation, we cannot be good enough to be deserving of forgiveness for our sins, and we cannot do anything to please God so that He will look upon us with the favor of giving us eternal life.
In Ephesians 2:8, 9 we read, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
This verse is very clear that there is “nothing” we can do to be saved. Salvation comes only by the grace of God.
So, what do we do with verses like Hebrews 5: 9
“And having been perfected, He (Jesus) became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
This verse seems to say that only those who obey Jesus will be saved. Then when you add to this what we read in John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
As well as John 14:23
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
These all indicate that only they who obey the commands of Jesus will be saved. Well, that is exactly what they are saying, but not in the way that you might think.
You see, being obedient to Jesus does not mean that you will be saved. No, what these verses indicate is that having been saved by Jesus means that you will come to have a great desire to be obedient to Him. In this desire to obedience shows that Jesus has become the author of your eternal salvation.
If we cannot be saved by obedience, and salvation only comes by way of grace then, obedience to Jesus is “evidence” of having already been saved. If you are saved by grace, from having to pay the penalty of your sins, you will come to have a desire to be obedient to the commands of Jesus.
As you grow in your walk with Jesus you will find yourself wanting more and more to be obedient to what Jesus wants you to do. You will have victories and you will have defeats. Having been saved, we still live in a body that is tainted with sin. We war and fight against it as it still has the same old lusts and desires that it had before being born again.
In my own case, on a daily basis I face desires and temptations that I had when I was not a Christian but, having been saved by the grace of God, I find that I now want to be obedient to what Jesus has for me. I constantly fight against the things that I no longer want to do yet, in moments of weakness I find that I have given in and have done or thought those things that I do not want to do.
At these times I come to God in shame and sorrow for having done so, and to ask Him to receive me back in to His arms to comfort me for my having lost a battle; for the sin that I have done. I have already been forgiven for my dis-obedience, but in confessing my sin, and acknowledging that I have given in to something that was wrong, I admit that I cannot be obedient on my own and I need to look more to Jesus for the strength to do so.
You see, when I look to myself for the strength to fight the good fight I will always fail. It is only when I cry out to the Father for strength to turn away from what is pulling at me will I ever have any chance of success in my being obedient to the will of Jesus.
Having been born again, we now have a new life within us and it is that life that will spend eternity with Christ in Heaven. That new life is what wants to be obedient to Jesus and it will be that life that will fight against the flesh for domination of our body.
In our Christian walk we will find ourselves wanting to do more for Him than for ourselves, and as we do so we will see that our obedience becomes easier than when we first began. Know this, obedience is evidence of our having been born again by the grace of God and of the new life that now lives within us.
If you say that you are a Christian, but there is no evidence of obedience in your Christian walk, especially if there is no desire of obedience, then there is a good expectation that you have not been born again in the first place. You may still be dead (spiritually) in you sins.
You will do well to make sure that you are saved. If you just “accepted” Jesus as a “personal” Savior but did not submit and bow the knee to Jesus as Lord, that is a good indication that you may not have been saved at all. Just because you “accepted” Jesus as a “personal” Savior does not mean that you are saved.
We are commanded to confess with our mouth that Jesus is “Lord”, and we are commanded to call upon the name of the “Lord”, and the only way we can call Jesus “Lord” is to put Him first and to acknowledge Jesus as the one who will control our life as we live in this world and in the world to come. We must bow before Him as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords and to dedicate our lives to serving Him no matter what the end result will be.
Have you done that? Have you declared Jesus to be Lord of your life? if not, why not do so now. For Jesus will not be a Savior to anyone who will not bow the knee to Him as Lord.
As Jesus said in Luke 14:33
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
Do this now, forsake all that you have, which is to forsake yourself, your wants, needs and desires, and to submit to Jesus as Lord of your life, and declare that from now on you want only to please Him.
If you can do that, you truly are a disciple of Christ because you have been born again into the family of God. You will know without a doubt that Jesus is the Author of your eternal salvation and your obedience will be the evidence that He has done so specifically for you.
Obedience is the evidence that salvation has been effectively applied to the one for whom Christ died. I pray that Jesus will reveal this to you now…
Why Christmas
It really doesn’t matter when we celebrate Christmas. I say that because Christmas is not about having a holiday, buying gifts or decorating a tree, etc. No, Christmas is about reminding us that God lowered Himself and became one of us.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1 & 14
Many times in the Old Testament we read about the word of the Lord visiting someone. As an example of this, we read in Genesis 15:1, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
The Word of the Old Testament became man in the New Testament and we call Him Jesus. In order to be one of us, at our level, He had to born as one of us, but He had to be born sin free. In order for that to happen the One from Whom the seed would come would have to be sin free. God, Himself, is the only sinless being. So, from the Holy Spirit through Mary was God in man implanted and was born without a sin nature.
God, as a man called Jesus, came and dwelt among us and we did not know Him. He came to seek and to save the lost; those whom He would save through His sacrifice of death and separation from the Father, and to give us life through His resurrection from the dead.
He became the sacrifice for sin and, because of that sacrifice, those whom He saves has eternal life through the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life because of what He has done for man. Without the Word of God coming into this world as a man called Jesus, to become sin for us and to give us His righteousness to save us from our sinfulness and from facing the wrath to come, we would have no hope of salvation.
For this reason do we celebrate Christmas. It is a celebration of the forgiveness of sin, the salvation of our souls and the promise of eternal life in Heaven with God. Unless you have been born again by the Spirit of God, Christmas is not really for you, for you have not, as yet, received the gift of life. Life that only Jesus can give.
Christmas celebrates life, love, and the forgiveness of sins, as God, born of a woman, gave to us through Himself as a man called Jesus. When Jesus was born is not important. Why He was born is. If you celebrate Christmas for any other reason you are not celebrating Christmas at all.
Why Christmas? Because God, through the person and work of the man He became – Jesus – has provided for man what man cannot provide for himself….. salvation from sin and eternal life in Heaven.
The question is… do you have the right to celebrate the day when God, born of a woman, became man; the day we call Christmas? You can have the gift of God. If you will just repent of your sins, submit to Jesus and call Him Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead… you will have been saved, and you, too, can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
Free Will Salvation & The Rapture
The Rapture will never happen because of Free Will Salvation!
I base this on 2 Peter 3: 9 which reads, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
Now, let’s take a look at this. Most so-called Theologians will tell you that the “any” in this verse refers to everyone who lived or who will ever live, because of their belief in Free Will Salvation. Free Will Salvation is where one believes that God will never save anyone unless they first, of their own free will, choose to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
With that in mind, if God is not willing that “any” should perish think of this. Today is the day of the Rapture. However Jesus sees that tomorrow you will choose to accept Him as your personal Savior so it would not be just for Him to deny you the privilege of being saved. To do so would make Him unjust and a liar since He said that He is not willing that any should perish.
Maybe even now, there is someone who will hear the Gospel one hour from now and the Rapture has to be put on hold, for that reason, until that person chooses to accept Jesus. However, there will always be someone who will choose to accept Jesus later today, tomorrow, next week, next month or next year or even 10 years from now.
So, for God to deny any of them the opportunity to hear the Gospel for the first time and to become willing to accept Jesus would make God out to be a terrible God, for He would be denying them their rightful place in eternity. Instead they will die and go to Hell when they could have gone to Heaven.
Now you can see how the Rapture will never happen because God is not willing that “any” should perish but that all would be saved.
There is, however, one way that the Rapture could happen at any time and “all” who are to be saved will be saved and that there will be none left behind. If Free Will Salvation is not true but that the doctrine of Election is, then the Rapture could happen at this very moment.
Look at that verse again… “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
If this verse is talking about the Elect of God then you could also say this in this verse… “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward the Elect, not willing that any of the Elect should perish but that all who have been chosen to salvation should come to repentance.”
Then, when the last person, whom God has chosen to be saved, is saved the Rapture can occur and that verse will have been fulfilled. For God had been patient (longsuffering) towards His elect and waited until the very last one whom He has chosen to be saved is saved for He was not willing that any of those whom He chose would perish. Thus, all those whom He chose for salvation did come to repentance and they were “all” saved.
Then comes the Rapture.
With Free Will Salvation we will never have a Rapture but, with Election being the sound Biblical Doctrine that it is, the Rapture could occur at any moment as soon as the last person whom God Chose to be saved… is saved.
God will not leave anyone behind who is destined to be saved. He will patiently wait until the last of His elect is saved. For He is not willing that any of the Elect should perish but that all those whom He has chosen to be saved will come to repentance and so be saved.
God’s Word stands and it will be fulfilled…
What Is The Truth Of John 3:16?
So many Christians believe that John 3:16 says that God loves every individual. Is that true?
When you look at other verses in the Bible like Psalm 5:4 – 6 it makes you wonder:
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You.
5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Now, how can God love everyone if He also hates all workers of iniquity? I mean, we know that there is no one good but God and everyone is a sinful person. The word ” iniquity ” also means : a wicked act or thing : sin. So, if everyone sins that means, then, that we are all workers of iniquity, and if we are all workers of iniquity then it stands to reason that God hates us. If that is true, then who are they whom God loves?
Now let me finish… keep reading…
In Proverbs 6:16 – 19 we read:
16 These six things the LORD hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
I just wanted for you to see that there are other verses that speak of God hating individuals and we see that again here in Proverbs 6.
Now we seem to have a conundrum. If John 3:16 says that God loves everyone then He can’t hate anyone, but if the other verses are true, that God, indeed, does hate individuals then He can’t love everyone. So how do we reconcile this?
Let’s look, for a moment, at John 3:16 itself. It reads:
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It does speak of God’s love and that those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life. Now we know that those who have everlasting life God has forgiven them for their sins. Since they have been forgiven then that means that they are no longer workers of iniquity. Now that would mean that the “forgiven” are the ones who will know God’s love. Now, are there other verses that back this up?
Before we look, lets finish with John:3:16. We know that Jesus is speaking with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the Jews. You should know that Pharisees, more than all the other Jews, believed that God only loved the Jews, and they who became one of them. With that in mind, what Jesus was telling Nicodemus was that God’s love is not just for the Jews, they who were of Israel, but for anyone of any race, creed or color, no matter who they were or where they lived, if they were to believe in Jesus they would know God’s love.
In fact, in John 3:36 we read:
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
The reason that the wrath of God abides on them is because they are workers of iniquity and God hates them for it. So now we see that God loves individuals and God also hates individuals. Lets move on and study a few other verses that speak of whom God specifically loves.
In John 13:1 we read:
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Notice that in this verse we read that Jesus knew that the time had come and “having loved His own”, not everyone, but “His own”, “He loved them to the end.”
Then in John 14:21 – 23 we read:
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Notice that Jesus says that “He who loves me will be loved by my Father”, not is loved but will be loved. He also says that “I will love him”. Again He doesn’t say does love but will love. Then He is asked why doesn’t He manifest Himself to the world? The disciples knew what Jesus was saying and they wanted to know why He does not love everyone. See how Jesus answers? “If anyone loves Me… My Father will love him and We will come to him… ”
Clearly Jesus is saying that only they who submit to Him (obey His commandments) and loves Him only they will be the ones that God the Father and God the Son will love. He could not be anymore clear on this.
One more verse. In John 17, the great High Priestly prayer of Jesus, in speaking of they who will believe the Gospel Jesus says of them…
23…”that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
It is clear from all these verses that John 3:16 is not saying that God loves everyone. We have also seen that God hates people as well. And we have seen from these other verses that God’s love, in the words of Jesus, is only for those who believe the Gospel, submit to Jesus and obey Him and love Him. These alone are the ones whom God the Father and God the Son will love.
God loves only the true disciples of Jesus because they have been forgiven, because of what Jesus has done on their behalf, and have submitted to His Lordship. Those who do not do the same, they will only face the wrath of God because of His hatred of them for refusing to believe in His Son.
Look up these verses for yourself. Read them, study them and let the Holy Spirit speak to you from the Word of Jesus. I can only show you what the Word says, I can’t make you understand or believe; only the Holy Spirit can do that, and I pray that He does.
The 5 Points Of Calvinism
Part 5: Perseverance Of The Saints
Once a person is born again they cannot lose their salvation. That is a bold statement but I do believe that scripture backs that up. Before we look at some verses from John 6 think of this.
Since no one can come to Christ unless they are drawn by the Father, and since “all” who are drawn will come, you have to realize that all the work of salvation is of God. If God, then, has chosen those who will be saved and has promised them eternal life, then He is the one Who will assure that they will persevere until the end, that is death. At that point they will then enter eternal life promised to them by the Father.
Now, let us look at some quotes (promises) by Jesus from John 6:
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
These five verses alone guarantees that everyone who is saved will remain saved and will never ever lose their salvation. Otherwise God is a liar and is guilty of leading His children on. Salvation is all of God. The Father has chosen who will be saved, Jesus secured that salvation and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation. There is nothing required of the saved in order to receive salvation and there is nothing required of the saved in the work of keeping their salvation. The redeemed can do nothing to ensure they stay saved and the redeemed can do nothing that would cause them to lose their salvation.
Other verses you can look into are the following:
- John 10: 27 – 28
- Romains 8: 1
- 1 Corinthians 10: 13
- Philippians 1:6
Imagine, if you will, being the sinner that you are that God would require of you what is necessary in order to keep your salvation? If it took Jesus to do for us what we could not do in order to be saved, what makes you think you could do that and more in order to remain saved? After having begun in the Spirit you now believe that you could retain your salvation by your own righteousness?
If you are honest with yourself, and you are not, the answer to these would be “no” you could not. That is why it takes God not only to save you but to keep you saved as well.
I’d hate to think that my salvation, from start to finish, depended on me and not on God.
In my next post we will wrap all of this up and take one last look at how in John 6 the whole of “The 5 Points of Calvinism” is taught by Jesus. Yes, it is all there and it takes God to give one understanding into this for preaching Calvinism is preaching the Gospel.
Riff's Christian Journal 