We are Called to Accept Christ as our Savior, be Born Again, Baptized in the Spirit Catholics

by Mike Olock

I was just shopping online for Christian t-shirts & came upon a new design – Salvation is Free…but it wasn’t cheap!  It also included verse 8 of chapter 2 of Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith-and this not from you, it is the gift of God”

We all know John 3:16.  It is the most recognized verse (but possibly the most misunderstood) in scripture & in many ways is the cornerstone of the entire Bible.  If we believe, if we accept Jesus the Christ as our Savior, we will have eternal life.  It is truth that we cannot earn it; all fall short .  But if we accept as true the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we shall receive the gift of heaven.

I dare to ask the question; is it really as simple as some evangelicals profess?  Is it simply the act of professing our faith in Jesus that guarantees us our eternal reward?  This is the stepping off point of the ministry of the WILL OF THE FATHER.  It is my belief that our fundamentalist brothers and sisters may be taking things a little out of context.  Yes, it is foundational that we believe; yes, we are instructed to profess our faith.  Where I have issue with those who believe that they cannot sin their way out of heaven (other than the one unpardonable sin) once they have been “saved” is that accepting Christ as our Savior is a bit more than just answering an altar call.  The misunderstood part of this salvation equation is the meaning of accepting Christ . 

Some of you may have noticed that I did not finish the quote from Ephesians.  It ends with verse 9 – it is not from works, so no one may boast.  For some reason, many Christians believe that Catholics work to earn our salvation.  Indulgences, confession, works of mercy, Eucharistic Adoration, and Lenten sacrifices are looked upon as ways we attempt to become worthy of our salvation.  For some reason they truly believe that Catholics are still trying to accrue more good marks than bad ones in our Book of Life and that Saint Peter is keeping track of our holy deeds versus our sinful ones. 

This ministry is being developed to educate Catholics as well as our “reformed” brothers and sisters of the truth of the Catholic Church.  Our goals are simple – teach the TRUTH.  We will use Scripture and the Catechism to inform all who read and listen, the truths contained within the teachings of the saints, our popes, and holy men and women who have passed on a tradition of faith, works, hope, and charity.  We will attempt to clarify misconceptions and to correct fallacies and erroneous beliefs. 

Now back to the subject of salvation.

Accepting Christ is to accept His laws and His laws are twofold.  Love your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself .  Read that sentence a few times.  There is an incredible challenge contained within those 17 words.  Jesus wants us to love the Father as He has loved the Father and we all need to work on loving ourselves more and then the hard part comes; we must love our neighbors that much, especially our enemies .  Accepting Christ means following John 14:12; Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.  Accepting Christ is to accept the Golden Rule .  Accepting Christ may even mean to reject mother and father, brother and sister .

This is the foundation for the first of our talks: We are born again, we’ve accepted Christ as Savior, we are baptized in the Spirit; we are Catholic.  We will have lots more to say about being born again and what that really means.  We will discuss James 2:26 and the question; Can our eternal life giving faith be dead?  What about the Eucharist and the discourse in chapter 6 of John.  I want eternal life and it says that I must eat upon the flesh of the Lamb.  The last time I checked, John 6 and James 2 were in the King James Bible as well as ours.

The quote from the beginning of this blog about salvation being free but not cheap was to invoke the thought that Jesus paid the ultimate price and did the Will of the Father to purchase this gift.  This also may mean that for us it is not cheap as well.  To accept Christ is to live as Christ did.  Tall order but, that’s what makes saints.  The Good News is this: We have all the help we need – “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you .” And the Holy Spirit is much, much more powerful than any fallen angel; we just have to listen and stay straight the path.

AMEN