More Than New Mexico Dirt, or The Salvation That Truly Saves

About 30 miles north of Sante Fe, New Mexico, is one the holiest spots of the West - or, depending on your viewpoint, another spot of plain old New Mexico dirt. Regardless of your viewpoint, it is one of the more significant Catholic pilgrimage sites in the United States.

Here is the official description of this site, as posted on the New Mexico True webpage, "Nestled in the village of Chimayo along the High Road to Taos sits a national historic landmark, El Santuario de Chimayo. The sanctuary is well known for the unusual legend of its creation and as a present-day pilgrimage site. It receives almost 300,000 visitors per year and has been called 'no doubt the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States.' It is also often called the 'Lourdes of America' for its magical healing soil. In the small prayer room next to the sanctuary is a round hole filled with this soil. In fact, many come to the church in pursuit of this soil, hoping to find a cure for their afflictions."

You can read more about the miraculous nature of this site here: El Santuario de Chimayo (U.S. National Park Service)

To make a very intriguing story short, a crucifix was discovered buried in the desert on a Good Friday, it was moved in a sacred procession to a church, but the next morning the crucifix was gone. It was found back at its original site. This happened two more times before the locals asked the priest for permission to build a shrine at the original site.

Some people mix the sandy soil of Chimayo with water and apply it to themselves; others have been known to eat the dirt. Many have left behind braces, crutches, and other symbols of their miraculous healings.

But are these healings authentic? Are they psychosomatic? Do the healings last?

There are so many questions.

This is true with many spiritual matters, I have learned. I say I believe in God, you tell me to prove God exists, and I cannot provide the kind of empirical data you require.

Or can I? (Refer to our early articles dealing with evidence for the resurrection.)

Recently I've been mulling over the sacred Baptist doctrine of eternal security. Most Baptists know this as the "once saved, always saved" assurance.

It goes something like this: I felt God speak to me, I walked the aisle, I repeated a prayer, I got baptized (full immersion in a Baptist church, of course), and I officially joined the church.

That is the salvation story for many of us. Maybe it was a Sunday school teacher, maybe it was evangelism night at VBS, maybe it was a revival where the speaker scared the devil out of us with visages of hell itself.

Is this all that salvation requires of us - that we be sufficiently afraid of hell and have even just the same amount of faith you could fit on a small mustard seed?

Want to know my secret fear? Here it is. If my salvation is based on my willingness to say I believe, then can I lose my salvation based on my doubts and questions, that are sure to come at some point?

A guy named John Calvin had a great deal to say about eternal security. But long before Calvin jumped into the conversation, Jesus had it on his mind.

John 10:22-30, NLT

“It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. [23] He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon's Colonnade. [24] The people surrounded him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."

“[25] Jesus replied, "I have already told you, and you don't believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father's name. [26] But you don't believe me because you are not my sheep. [27] My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, [29] for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. [30] The Father and I are one."

Jesus plainly says He gives eternal life to His sheep, and no one can snatch His sheep away from Him. But when we look more closely, we find other details.

Jesus defines His sheep, or His people, as those who listen to His voice and who follow Him. These people have eternal life and eternal security.

I think John 10:29 is one of my new favorite scriptures.

John 10:29, NLT

" ... for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand."

My salvation is secure because He who saves us is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch us away from Jesus, and thus, from our salvation.

My secret fear was never about the ability or power of Jesus to save me. My secret fear has always been, "am I saved to begin with?"

With something so final and fearful as hell on the table, this seems like a valid fear.

Think about that magical healing New Mexico dirt. Were all those people actually healed? How can we know?

Well, if a person was actually dependent on crutches to walk and the people around him knew it, and that person visited El Santuario de Chimayo and rubbed the dirt on his legs and was subsequently able to walk without the need of crutches, it would be easy to believe that person was healed.

The person's life was changed by something, and the change was demonstrated by the lack of a need for crutches.

Likewise, a person who has experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ will demonstrate - through his or her life - the absence of some things and the addition of other things.

Romans 6:5-11, NLT

"Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus."

Romans 6:12-14. NLT

"Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace."

Think of the crutches. If a person has been healed, he no longer needs crutches. Likewise, Paul says, if a person is united with Christ ("saved"), he or she no longer needs sin ("dead to the power of sin").

Furthermore, Paul writes this about how a person united with Christ ("saved") feels about sin.

Romans 6:20-23, NLT

"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul lays it out in more clear language in Galatians.

Galatians 5:19-26, NLT

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another."

If you make a pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo and experience healing, you will likely hang your crutches on the wall. You longer need them. You are free of them. You no longer desire to have them.

When I experienced the salvation of Jesus, I, too was healed. I was healed and set free from the power of sin. My old sin nature was crucified with Christ. I don't need sin in that old way anymore, nor do I desire sin the way I once did. I am free. The old sin nature will still pop up from time to time. I just remind it that Jesus has taken away its power and I am free. When I do sin, I repent and believe that Jesus forgives me.

What has Jesus changed about me? How am I cooperating with what Jesus is doing in my life and through my life?

Have I been to El Santuario de Chimayo?

The more important question is, have I been with Jesus?