John Lindell My blogs on life, family and ministry.

With Twitter and Facebook–saying as much as you can with an economy of words has become the new challenge. Especially during the Christmas season, with only 140 characters on Twitter, you have to keep it short and on many of my posts Christmas has been written as X-mas which has caused a bit of stir.

Some have thought me disrespectful or using slang. So whether people agree with using X-mas or not, perhaps a little background on its use will at least help people understand why at the very least X-mas is not slang, disrespectful or “taking Christ out of Christmas.” I am indebted to WikiAnswers for helping me provide a concise but detailed explanation.

Writing Xmas is not slang nor is it taking Christ out of the season. In many respects, Greek is the language of Christianity–the New Testament was written in Greek and utilized the Greek alphabet. There are still traces of the Greek in symbols and phrases used today, like calling God ‘the alpha and the omega’ meaning ‘the beginning and the end’ because alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and omega is the last. It’s like calling Him the A to Z!

Another place you might see Greek symbolism used in modern western Christianity is the Ichthys or fish symbol. You’ll have seen it somewhere, it’s the classic fish shape that people sometimes use to show they’re Christian. It’s called an Ichthys because that is Greek for fish. Why a fish as a symbol of Christianity? Because ‘Ichthys’ stands for Içsous Khristos Theou Huios, Sôtçr which means “Jesus Christ God’s Son, Savior.” The ‘ch’ in Ichthys stands for Christ, and the Greek symbol used to for ‘ch’ looks a lot like an ‘X.’

Similarly, the ‘Chi-Rho’ symbol that looks like an ‘X’ superimposed over a ‘P’ is actually the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P) which are the first letters in Christ’s name. This symbol, like the fish, is almost as old as the Cross symbol and can be found scratched on the walls in the early Christian Church catacombs in Rome. The coincidence that the ‘X’ Chi letter also looks like a cross resulted in the ‘X’ being adopted as an abbreviation for “Christ.”

From ancient times, Christians have used the Greek letter that looks like an ‘X’ as an abbreviation of ‘Christ.’ Therefore, ‘Christians’ is abbreviated to ‘Xians,’ ‘Christ’ is abbreviated to ‘X’ and ‘Christmas’ is abbreviated to ‘Xmas.’ This is useful when people want a shorter way of writing something and is a reminder of Christianity’s roots.

The word ‘X-mas’ should never be pronounced ‘Ex-mass’ as the ‘X’ in it is not the letter ‘X’ in our alphabet. The letter is actually the Greek letter Chi “χ” (which looks like an ‘X’) which is the first letter of the Greek word ‘Christos’ meaning ‘Christ’.” Therefore ‘X-mas’ should be pronounced simply ‘Christmas’ because that is exactly what it is.

While you may not like the use of X-mas as an abbreviation for Christmas…the ‘X’ stands for Christ…it has since the earliest of times. Christ is the reason for the season… and for everything else.

The following is from James Emory White who produces a weekly editorial you can subscribe to online called The Serious Times Update, Vol. 5, No. 20

A Halloween Story

I grew up in a day when Halloween was little more than pumpkins, fall festivals, hayrides, and dressing up as a pirate or a farmer to go trick-or-treating. That is what it held for my now very post-Halloween-age children as well. As a result, I’ve had a built-in resistance to those Christians who bash October 31st as a pagan festival that followers of Christ have no business supporting, much less engaging. Yes, I know its history, but few celebrations in our day are free of pagan roots, and the idea that donning a costume and receiving a mini-Snicker bar is an invitation to the occult is ludicrous to my thinking. And if you want to really push me, I’ll bring up the fact that at the very least it can be celebrated as Reformation Day (when Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg church). So I still hold to the child-like fun the night can hold, but I no longer view the day itself as innocuous.

For example, the costumes (among adults, at least) might as well be advertised as “Dress like a Slut” day. This is not original with me. In an article in The New York Times titled, “Good Girls Go Bad, For a Day,” Stephanie Rosenbloom writes of the changing nature of women’s Halloween costumes in the last several years. Little Red Riding Hood, in her thigh-highs and miniskirt does not seem en route to her grandmother’s house. Goldilocks, in a snug bodice and platform heels, gives the impression she has been sleeping in everyone’s bed. And then there is the witch wearing little more than a Laker Girl uniform, a fairy who appears to shop at Victoria’s Secret and a cowgirl with a skirt the size of a – well, you get the point. As Rosenbloom notes, the images “are more strip club than storybook.” It’s a wonder, she adds, that “gyms do not have ‘get in shape for Halloween’ specials.”

Of course, experts are often trotted out to speak of this as the “empowering” of women as they embrace their sexuality, and look for deep and positive meanings in the evolution of Cinderella from virgin to vixen. But take a walk through your neighborhood mall’s costume store, as I recently did – mine featured a prominent “no one under 18 allowed without a parent” sign out front – and you can cut through the sociological analysis. And need I even delve into the gore side of things?

Then there is the Christmas-ization of Halloween. There are now Halloween trees decorated with ghosts and pumpkins, orange lights on houses, and even Halloween displays on lawns. In an article in USA Today on how Halloween is getting “Christmassy,” Maria Puente writes that “Halloween…is second only to the December holiday in spending.” Don’t believe it? According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent $5.7 billion in 2008 on Halloween. Yep, 5.7 billion.

But here is my biggest complaint of all: we are giving the world of the occult what it most wants. And what does the world of the occult most want? To be trivialized. C.S. Lewis, in his famed Screwtape Letters, said that what demons hate most is to be mocked. Perhaps during Lewis’ time, that was true. But they’ve gotten wise. Now, I think they like it. Why? It is one more way to mask their reality. I was jolted into how we have removed the reality of the occult from our American culture during a recent trip to the Philippines. Reading the Manila Bulletin one morning (the nation’s leading newspaper, I saw the following headline: “93 students possessed by evil spirits.” It was striking in how “matter of fact” it was. Just a story about what happened.

The story detailed how at least ninety-three students at a public high school in Bontoc (the Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School) were reportedly possessed by evil spirits while they were attending classes. The event led to the suspension of regular classes for several days. They took them to the Bontoc General Hospital for treatment. It didn’t help. Later, they were brought to the churches in the town where they were blessed by priests, and this reportedly brought them back to their normal condition.

Happy Halloween.

September has been an amazing month at James River Assembly. As hundreds of people joined in the Daniel Fast, God’s grace and power have been evident in so many ways:

• In the last 4 Sundays, 129 people have made decisions for Christ.
• James River Assembly became 1 church with 2 locations!
• We had an amazing attendance last Sunday:
  • James River Campus:                                                              7,827
  • Wilsons Creek Campus:                                                          2,165
  • James River Assembly Total Attendance:                                9,992
• At the Wilsons Creek Campus, 46 Elementary children made decisions for Christ on Sunday!
• Life Group Link placed 442 new people into Life Groups.
• Realife Student Ministry has raised over $130,000 for Speed the Light (Youth Missions) and had one offering in September of $20,000!
• Already there are over 1,500 women registered for the Designed for Life Conference.
• This week, we will be traveling to Havana, Cuba to present medical equipment to one of the leading cardiac hospitals.

Once again, we have been amazed by the willingness of so many people to serve God with passion and excellence. At both campuses, hundreds of people have committed to getting involved with a “whatever it takes” mentality to reach people for Christ, encourage other believers, and build the church! We pray God’s greatest blessings will rest on each of you!

The Daniel Fast may have come to a close, but God is still working. The prayers we have been praying will be answered. This praise report from Michael and Jeanine summarizes the kind of faith-filled attitude that God will honor:

Thank you for inviting us to join with the church for the Daniel Fast. When it began, we were facing a job loss and prodigal son. So in addition to praying for Wilsons Creek, we also have been praying for these needs. 14 days, many, many prayers and pounds of broccoli later, we have a new and better job. One down and one to go. I can hardly wait!!! Back to prayer and broccoli.

We love you much and pray God’s very best over each of your lives.

The Best is Yet to Come!

Sunday was another awesome day at JRA – in fact sometimes it’s hard to wrap your mind around all God is doing. So if you have a minute here is a summary of some of the incredible things that are happening!

• So far in July we have had 81 people come forward to receive Christ on Sundays @ JRA.
• At the first of 4 Jamesriverkids camps we had: 163 campers, 76 staff, 56 decisions for Christ, and 19 baptized in the Spirit.
• Sunday, nearly 300 people signed up to participate in Project Partnership. On August 8, hundreds of JRA volunteers will be working on two elementary schools (Sherwood Elementary in west Springfield and Republic 3 Elementary in Republic). Each year for the past 11 years, JRA volunteers have made a huge impact on the community by painting, landscaping, building cabinets and doing general maintenance on area schools.
• Cherish Kids is a ministry that was launched this year to raise awareness of the need for Christian families to consider adoption or foster care. In response to Sunday’s message from James 1:27, 70 families filled out cards expressing interest in participating foster care and adoption with an additional 33 families indicating interest in offering support to those families. Here are a few excerpts from some of the emails we have received:

“May God bless the efforts!  Ron and I have seen miracles from our adoption of Annya 6 years ago.  It was like he drew us together and paved the way through the whole adoption process.  It is not easy but it is a reward like no other.  Annya is going to church camp next week, she loves the Lord and 6 years ago she had never had a visitor or been considered for adoption by anyone but us.”

“I was so touched by the sermon. We already have filled out our paperwork for foster care and are scheduled to start the classes soon. We are very excited by what God is going to do through us and the church. I am praying that adoption is in our near future!”

“Thanks for a wonderful message today! This week is our last foster care class and we will soon have 3 little kiddos, hopefully a sibling group, in our family! We have 2 boys ages 6 and 8 of our own, so this is an exciting and scary adventure for all of us.  I didn’t know why my 8 year old wanted to come with me to service today, but now I understand! What a God thing!! It was just what he needed to hear. “

“Loved the message. So life changing for my family and I. Kids have always been in my heart but I thought our own 2 were it for my husband but not after today. I have never seen him like this before.  We are going to start out as foster parents and see where the Lord leads us from there.”

It’s pretty amazing – the church is being the church – engaging society – encouraging people – changing history. We’re excited about all of it and we know the best is yet to come!

What a great day the Lord gave us at ILA! The weather was beautiful: sunny, 82 degrees and a nice breeze. We had a record attendance with over 120,000 people in attendance! Our goal was to share the Gospel and, to that end, we had 121 people come forward and make decisions for Christ! In addition, we had a large influx of first-time guests at JRA on Sunday, Scotty preached a great message and 40 people made decisions for Christ.

Think of it…over the weekend 161 people came to know Christ! Imagine the difference the power of Jesus will make in their lives. One couple that came forward at ILA had been living together for 18 years. Having watched the Wicks’ testimony, when the invitation was given they came forward, gave their lives to Christ and now have plans to get married! The following is a testimony we received on Sunday morning. This woman writes:

I started praying for my dad’s salvation when I was about 8 years old. He was abusive in every way. He became a full-time drug lord when I was about 11 or 12 and eventually went to prison when I was 15. I didn’t have much contact with him during the next 15 years of my life, but I continued praying for him over the years whenever I could get out of the flesh long enough to quit hating him.

A few years ago, he reinitiated contact with me and my family. It’s been awkward and difficult to say the least. We’ve invited him to church on different occasions, but he would never darken the door of a church.

He just “happened” to be passing through on July 3rd and said he’d stop for a visit if we were going to be around. I told him, “Sure, we are going to a fireworks event and he could come along.” I couldn’t quite get the “it will be put on by my church” part out of my mouth so I was a bit nervous, wondering how long it would take him to realize we brought him to a “church” event. However, the setting was comfortable enough and everyone was so down-to-earth-JRA-friendly that nothing was said.

Money is a big deal to an old drug lord and about halfway through the day my dad, in rather deep thought, leaned over and said, “You know most places would’ve charged you to do all this stuff. When we pulled in and saw all the [inflatables], I was wondering if I brought enough money.” And then he said in total shock, “And anywhere else like this would try to get five dollars out of you for a bottle of water, but here someone just gave me one.”

I don’t know who the volunteer is that God prompted to bring water to the people standing in line at the helicopter ride, but your thoughtful generosity in that one small act of service was the straw that broke a 50-something-year-old ex-con and opened his heart to hear the message.

Some of you planned and prepared, others waved and smiled, but all of you made it happen and on Friday night I got the privilege of walking my father through the crowd and “into heaven.” I also got to lay down my own baggage of abuse by finally confronting him and forgiving him. Thank you church for being the church and for bringing the church to someone who wouldn’t have ever come to it. (emphasis added)

That testimony is an example of the amazing things that can happen when a church works together to love people in the community!

We want to thank each and everyone one of you who prayed, served and gave of your time, talents and resource to make the I Love America Celebration a reality. Words fail to adequately express our gratitude or to describe how truly blessed we feel to be leading such a vibrant, talented and dedicated family of believers. We love you much, thank God for you every day, and pray God will wonderfully bless you in return for your giving yourselves to Him, this church and to us. You’re AMAZING and we are so excited to be serving the Lord with you!

And to think, after all we have just experienced, “The best is yet to come!”

ILA late afternoon-60,000 people