My journey

I've always been interested in what the Bible has to say. I believe the verse that says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness." This basic belief has led me on a journey I never expected.

My background

I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist, and I am still active in the SDA church. We like to call ourselves "The People of the Book," meaning the Bible, all of it. Historically, members of our church have tended to know more about the entire Bible, Old and New Testament, than those in many other churches, though I think that has changed over the years. I still put great importance on what the Bible has to say. I will believe the Bible before I believe a preacher or another Christian writer.

Against my will

While in my early 20s, I started questioning my faith, but I did not question the Bible. I looked around at other churches, and I discovered that there was no church that was as close to the Bible as the church I was already a part of. That is still the case in my experience to this day. For the following decades I cruised along, with spiritual ups and downs, good times and bad, and came to a time when a friend told me about the Appointed Times, the feasts. He said they were not ended at Calvary, as most people believe. I set out to prove him wrong. I studied the Bible, researched on the internet, studied the Bible, I read books, studied the Bible, listened to sermons, and studied the Bible, all trying to find irrefutable proof that he was wrong. Things were not going well, because there seemed to be evidence on both sides.

Then one sermon I heard blew me away, against my will. It was to change many things, and would enrich my life and Biblical understandings tremendously. I was at a meeting where John VanDenburgh was presenting the Travels of Paul, and he showed how Paul had continued to keep the feasts and to teach them. This sermon is something like the one he gave: Travels of Paul (Youtube).

That seemed interesting, stunning actually, because while I had noticed the verses before, I had not put them all together. It was something I would have to study on my own. While I was listening, I decided to listen to the rest of VanDenburgh's New Discoveries Series, which is available at the Bible Explorations website at the bottom of the page. Both audio and video can be downloaded for free. I downloaded the audio series so that I could listen while driving, and the second sermon I listened to, after re-listening to the Journeys of Paul, was The Third Witness. I thought that was an interesting title. VanDenburgh gave documented evidence of the feast-keeping practices of the believers in the Christian church during the first few centuries after Christ. Click here to listen: The Third Witness (Yah-tube)

Apparently those early believers had not been told that the feasts were done away with at the cross! I was astounded. I ended up listening to the rest of the series, then spent a lot of time studying what had been said. I saw that the arguments against observing the holy days were made by those who had set out to prove them wrong, who were so focused -- as I had been for years -- on proving what they already felt to be true that they couldn't look at any other interpretation, or any verses that might result in changing their solidly-held beliefs. Their convoluted explanations of verses like Colossians 2:14-17 didn't hold up to scrutiny.

Where I am now

I started observing the feasts about five years ago, at first alone, and sometimes with Jews, though it missed so much, since they miss the entire focus of God's Holy Days which point to the Messiah, Jesus, and what He has done, is doing, and will do for us. Then I found other believers who were a significant drive away, and I gathered with them for the Appointed Times for several years.

One of the side benefits, though I wasn't so sure it was a benefit to begin with, was learning how the observance of Christmas and Easter, in our traditional ways, is not God-ordained, and, in fact, is specifically warned against in the Bible. I was convicted to no longer worship God in "the way of the heathen." Most of the family is sweet about it, but they haven't changed their own practices. One member of the family is very negative about losing Christmas, and since giving up Christmas is apparently connected to observing feasts, will have nothing to do with the feasts. I quietly observe the Appointed Times by myself, hoping always to find a group close by that I can join for the annual Sabbaths.

I have a caution in my mind about some of those who have come to observe the feasts. I can understand why, when a person learns a "new" truth that has been hidden from them for years, that they want to learn more, are anxious to learn what else they may have missed. They are susceptible to strange and extreme interpretations and straying from the true Word. Many of these have become leaders and teachers, and they are constantly coming up with new ideas and drawing followers after them. They take a verse here or a verse there, and use it to bolster beliefs and practices that are not scriptural.

My journey is still a process. Our lives always are.