Truth Magazine

By Joanne Beckley

(The following article was researched and written in 1991 when my husband and I returned from living 16 years in South Africa. We would like to encourage everyone, but especially all elders and those responsible in seeding and bringing back men and their families from foreign lands to read these words. There are no exaggerations contained within this writing Please, we are losing too many preachers back into the world from discouragement and burnout for us to treat this subject lightly.)

“Excuse me sir, where do you keep your baking soda? And sir, which of all these choices of coffee should I choose?” My mailbox is always so full! How does anyone ever read it all? Am I automatically supposed to know banking/ telephoning/standing-in-line procedures? I feel angry. I feel helpless. Enough is enough! My husband has gone silent and morose, and my teens . . . Why can’t we rejoice in being “back home”? Moving back to our native country should have been a lark. In America we don’t have to iron the bed sheets and towels or wrestle with lilliputian washing machines, and everyone here speaks English!

What I’ve just attempted to describe is sometimes indescribable  these feelings that are caused by the confusion and emotional pain we experience as “returnees.” We came to learn we are were not the only ones who have had this pain, but like ourselves, no one else around us knew how to help us face and deal with “reverse culture shock.”

Since then, I’ve been talking . . . and reading . . . and talking There is something we can do for our fellow returnees and their support groups. We can reduce everyone’s stress to manageable portions by providing information about this kind of change so as to prepare for “that” day. It will give all of us understanding and useful guidelines when yet another preacher and his family attempt reentry to the States. Don’t allow others to return without support and virtually ignorant of their needs.

The following observations and suggestions should be read by any family now in a foreign country. Each congregation involved with overseas work needs to consider the following and be aware of this additional responsibility to-ward their workers. The congregation who invites one of these men to work with them when they do return to the States should also be aware of the familys need to be held, often literally, with both ears available for the next two years. Truly, it will be had for Christians who have worked in foreign lands, spending years keeping personal problems under lock and key, to now learn to open the cupboard now locked with pride. We know, weve been there.

To the Family Returning

When you and your family left the United States you had to relinquish close relationships with your families, your friends, and your sisters and brothers in Christ. You gave up cultural supports that made life comfortable and secure. By leaving you separated, gave up and lost much. This action of leaving has important consequences when one day you return to America. Your long range goals for leaving America will affect your return, and not always happily.

Your family was probably quite young when you left to go overseas. You didn’t find leaving the USA. a particularly difficult hurdle for you were still in the process of setting down roots and open to new adventures. Your new roots grew and developed tenaciously in your adopted foreign soil. You developed certain mannerisms and thought processes. (And these will be recognized by your brethren when you return.) At first, because you had to leave loved ones, you may have tended to limit your love in many ways by making short-term relationships. Yet as the years flew by, you began to trust and to share yourselves again with new dear ones, the native Christians.

Because dad, the evangelist, was often away from home, mom felt the brunt of the new culture and the greater child rearing burden. Strain between husband and wife often developed when the stress of transition was not communicated. The wife may have had a servant to bear the housekeeping/child rearing load and yet she suffered in her adjusting to having another woman/man in the house. There were new languages, new neighborhoods, new friends, new schools, and new laws that all had to be learned and made. And ah, the amusing stories you were able to share in writing to those back home. Or, you may have found it was impossible to settle in overseas and this has bred feelings of defeat and pessimism. Truly, I have discovered, the attitudes you develop overseas will be the tools you will have to work with upon your return.

While overseas, you developed and accumulated special abilities and skills which helped you to adapt to your new situations successfully. You learned to use the available transportation, you became increasingly proficient in working with different peoples, and you developed a wider understanding of the world and her needs. Life gradually became easier with all of this under your belts and it con-tributes to your feelings of being distinctive.

But when you return, despite your determination not to succumb to being special because you were always treated special, there will be a feeling of being let down. Seemingly none of your accomplishments, learned through tears, will be appreciated or be recognized as useful. You have a language you cannot share, empathy for others that no one understands. In your conversations, you cannot truly share what made you, how you lived, whom you met, what you had done and what you are now. Many Christians will ask sincere questions but they will begin to fidget and their eyes will begin to glaze over. Truly. You may grow silent and feel so very alone.

Returning to the States

When we return, we leave a significant part of ourselves behind. We have to say goodbye to cherished friendships that were developed from intense mutual needs. Goodbyes are hard. Yet, to this day I still suffer from those who could not face telling us goodbye. It left us feeling incomplete and it made our new beginnings that much harder. Most of us who have returned manage to adjust on the surface, but gradually we have had to face our feelings of uncertainty, alienation, pride, anger, guilt and disappointment. (These feelings are similar for those “merely” moving to a new city, here in the States  only much more serious.) I would even catch myself saying in amazement over some labor-saving device, “Aw, you Americans are wonderful!” Laughter and tears seemed to go hand in hand.

We want to be “Americans” again; we want to fit. Yet our values are now different. What was unacceptable in our adopted country is now acceptable all around us. In our adopted country we could not participate in helping our extended family. Now we can . . . Issues that grip the United States lose their urgency. Religious issues were often not applicable to the foreign country’s situation. We had lost contact with the necessary anchoring points of daily life in the United States.

There are clues to help recognize reentry shock. There are symptoms that can help us view our progress or lack of progress as we gingerly and blindly step out on the road of assimilation. Accept these clues as reality. At first there is euphoria. About six months later feelings of discomfort, restlessness and vague dissatisfaction with life develop. It is hard to pinpoint the source of these feelings. Why now do these feelings surface? In about a year you may become totally dissatisfied with your preaching method, your effectiveness and feel you are on a treadmill of no growth. There will be fear and anger; Christians can adjust, so why aren’t you? Doubts of faith can become long-lasting and heart-breaking if they go unrecognized.

Personal Observations

My husband and I have experienced the following problems, not immediately recognized, and found them to be common for others. May they help you.

1. Pride was a heavy companion during our period of adjustment. From feeling fairly confident and competent overseas, we experienced real or imagined judgment from fellow mature preachers and Christian. We began to feel that we just “weren’t in the flow” and resented the renewed exposure to “politicking” among brethren. We didn’t want to fit into the molds of traditional requirements we were expected to fit. We missed being special in the eyes of others. We also found it very difficult to say, “I need help.” Preachers and their wives don’t like to be seen as weak. Or it seemed like we were bothering others with a “hangnail” of a problem. After all, we are Americans, so why are we feeling paralyzed? Bending and adapting  accepting  proved to be very difficult until we acknowledged that our problems were based on pride and selfishness. “Let love be without hypocrisy . . . be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor .. . contributing to the needs of the saints . . . be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind . . . Do not be wise in your own estimation” (Rom. 12:10-16).

2. Anger expressed toward ourselves, toward each other for making life difficult, and toward “the system” all contributed to feelings of anxiety, depression, self preoccupation, or insomnia. This sense of powerlessness and insecurity where everything seemed to be on top of us brought feelings of fumbling in the dark. Laughter was for-gotten and burdens seemed unfair to bear. “Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit” (Prov. 25:28).

3. Guilt dogged our footsteps. We were very hard on ourselves for breaking down. We felt guilty for being given so many gifts and becoming in a very short time seemingly just as affluent as others and never as we had been over-seas. We felt guilty that we had left our brethren “in the lurch” overseas. Of course we understood that our thinking was unbalanced but gradually these three problems led us down the path toward depression and contrived alienation from the very ones who now realized we had problems and wanted to help. In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men (Acts.24:16).

Only by repenting on our knees (clean the inside of the cup, Matt. 23 :25) and with the help of others could learn to understand and forgive ourselves  to spite of our feelings  which gradually reduced and are now viewed with fond amazement! We learned to accept that our adapting would be on-going and we can control and over-come through God’s help. We learned that reentry can be as intense as experiencing the death of a loved one with similar stages of grief to challenge us as a part of change.

As we began facing our-selves, we also listed our strengths. By living overseas we now have a deeper under-standing of human nature, developed through working with a variety of cultures. We are richly blessed by knowing and loving many, many brothers and sisters in many countries. We have a wider knowledge of the need to spread the gospel and we’ve developed various teaching methods in doing so. Above all, we have personal satisfaction in playing a small part toward reaching and teaching lost souls through shared sacrifice, our offering to God (2 Sam. 24:24).

Obviously, each one of you will differ in his reentry process, both in duration and degree of difficulty. We each bring to the process our own fears and expectations. And therein lies the rub; our expectations never match reality. We arrive determined to mix a new palette of colors and we want everyone to rejoice in an amazing picture, our very own creation. How subtle Christ’s command to serve again seeps into even this problem and demands that we turn about and serve. The Apostle Paul stated it well, “I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more” (1 Cor. 9:19). If we would only realize we are now a potpourri of the world and not make an issue of it. Americans will not fight us! In fact none of our “foreign” habits would bother any-body if we would just stop reminding people of them. So we must learn to live quietly and realize that judgment by others may be wholly imagined by us. Coming back can truly be another adventure, educational, amusing, confusing, rewarding, “knee scraping” and just plain fun. But remember, it may take weeks, months, or even years to complete the transitional process as we integrate new and old experiences while we serve God and others.

Suggestions and Recommendations

1. Provide three crucial needs: (a) A place to go and a means of support, (b) a strong person (not your spouse) who will constantly reassure you that you are able to resume life as a whole and adequate person, and (c) seek out Christians who will be neither patronizing nor protective.

2. Recognize and grieve over losses involved in moving to a new situation. Seek out information in advance to help you as you begin new routines.

3. Say goodbye so that you can enter as whole-heartedly as possible into your new beginnings. Welcome this as a gift from your loved ones, honor their love and do not cheat them or yourself.

4. Integrate the past with the present. Reflect on the positive. Be patient with yourself.

5. Realize and accept that overseas life will leave a permanent mark on you. Become reserved, soft-spoken, a listener. Let others learn to value the new you. Accept that there is an emotional cost of adjustment. (And be assured, these periods of loneliness and discomfort will alternate with periods of effective coping.)

6. Seek out other Christians who have previously experienced reverse culture shock. Destroy pride. We cannot afford to lose you!

7. Seek contentment. Seek solutions in God’s word, in prayer and in your brother’s help. Learn to truly serve. We go on in

8. Focus on daily tasks (hourly, if necessary) until you begin to cope again. Talk to each other and make sure each knows and recognizes what you are both going through.

9. Return to a learning environment, studying with other preachers, etc. You not only provide yourself with common ground but it will provide you with a chance to admit neediness. As a student you can assist yourself in your battle with pride.

A Special Note to Parents of Returning Teens

Living in another country gives tremendous potential for our young people. To maintain the positive, we need to give them a chance to be prepared for their own return to the United States.

Try to gather information on USA educational requirements and assist your children in their transition. Talk together about yours and their expectations of America. If possible, seek pen-pals among American churches, prefer-ably where you will be locating or where your teen will begin his higher education away from you. They will need to know U.S. dress styles, hair length, and how to use a telephone. They need to understand U. S. currency, how to balance a checkbook, and the dangers of plastic money. They need usable vocational training  “all” American teens have jobs.

The skills you can provide will help them over the rough period of feeling like a cultural misfit. Reverse culture shock is shared by all the family. Because their world changes faster than anyone else’s world and peer acceptance is crucial, teenagers are very susceptible to reentry stress. Becoming depressed, they will withdraw, some trying alcohol, drugs and sex as a means of seeking acceptance. They are not adults yet. Help them.

Beware of America’s spread of influence in the community you join. The school system is based on humanism and its satellites of extra-curricular activities can hurt your family life. Research has revealed that children returning from overseas experience an extended adolescence as compared to those raised in the united States  even up to the age of 28! There is seemingly a lack of full acceptance of all life’s requirements. Recognize theirs and your frustration.

Above all, reentry will be a time for tremendous spiritual challenges. Your teens will be faced with hypocrisy, unconcern and manipulation among their American Christian friends  and their friends’ parents. Help them not to be disheartened. Help them to learn to recognize the world around them as America shouts, “Do, taste, enjoy, read, feel  and do it quickly!”

Your teens will resent and refuse to face freedom restrictions (isn’t this the “home of the free”?). Help them to develop an inner security and spiritual wisdom that will carry them through. Communicate while they are young so they will hear you better when they are older. Be supportive when they are young so that they will recognize your sup-port when the time comes to face many problems and grow stronger from their experiences.

How Can Churches Help?

1. Make a plan. A commitment to send a man overseas inherently contains the need to include plans in helping him to return. Plan monetarily and plan a support system. This support must be a continuous process of care, prayer and inquiry on their behalf. Let us not create any more casual-ties (quit preaching, adultery, yo-yo’s of continuous dissatisfaction) but rather keep them whole, able to continue their work in spreading the gospel.

2. Exercise patience and caring love. Your family is re-turning with grief. Encourage them to trust again. Validate them in their struggles. You will indeed be doubly rewarded with their richer experience and love.

3. Be aware. Realize that their reentry holds adjustment problems whether they were gone two years or twenty. Watch for the corresponding “low” after his “high” of the first six months with you. Help him to continue to seek hungry souls.

4. Return your man and his family for a six-week visit/ preaching trip back to the foreign work within two-three years of their return. This will help them to complete their adjustment. If possible, plan for one of your elders to ac-company them. New relationships are forged and mutual appreciation develops. The fear and intense grief of never seeing their loved ones will be relieved. We just recently returned from a seven-week trip back to South Africa. It was filled with teaching/preaching/sharing. Yes, one day may bring about the possibility of returning, but the pressure of grief is gone now. Why? There is hope now!

5. Remove unnecessary pressure. Recognize the pressures that are placed on a returning family. Don’t demand verbally or with body language that they give up his or her strange and unpredictable behavior and expect them to be the comfortably predictable people you may have once known. New relationships are built on the NOW from both sides.

6. Reassure, reassure, reassure your man of a job well done, then and now. And don’t forget his wife and children. Value the valuable.

(Various Christians have shared with us their own experience with reverse culture shock and I have used several outside sources from the military and denominational writings which included some useful suggestions while we were needy.)

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 12-15
April 4, 1996

By Ferrell Jenkins

On the fourth day we left Adiyaman and headed south-easterly on highway 875 to Sanliurfa and Harran. The road isn’t even on a map I bought about 10 years ago. We were able to see Mount Nemrud in the distant mountains about 35 to 40 miles away. We saw the lakes that have been formed as a result of GAP; in English this acronym stands for the Southeastern Anatolian Project. When completed in 1997 the project will consist of 22 dams on the upper Euphrates. Already the water is providing electrical power and irrigation water for the dry southeastern portion of Turkey. A large tunnel takes water to Harran and the Mesopotamian plain. Lack of water is a big problem in the Middle East and this project is a source of concern to Syria and Iraq because they depend on the Euphrates for water.

The River Euphrates:

Boundary of the Promised Land

We were excited to see the Euphrates River. A drive of about one-half mile east of the highway brought us to the southernmost dam of the water conservation project. The river is wider than I had imagined it would be here. The water is clear and some fish can be seen jumping. I have seen the Euphrates at Nasiriyah near the traditional site of Ur of the Chaldees north of the Persian Gulf in Iraq. There the river is wider, deeper and contains more mud. The Euphrates is called the Firat in the Turkish language.

The Euphrates is the largest, longest, and most important river of Western Asia. It is nearly 1800 miles long and was the boundary of the land promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). The empires of Assyria and Babylon, the greatest enemies of Israel, lived east of the Euphrates. The prophets often put the Euphrates by metonymy for these countries to designate the place from which the punishment of God would come (Isa. 7:20; 8:7; Jer. 46:10). In the book of Revelation the Euphrates is dried up so that the kings of the east can gather at a place called Armageddon (16:12-16). When Revelation was written the Parthians, dreaded enemy of Rome, lived east of the Euphrates. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858-824 B.C.) mentions frequently in his records that he had crossed the river Euphrates. In one of his annals he says he had crossed the Euphrates twenty-one times (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 279-80). That means war! For more details see my Studies in the Book of Revelation, 39.)

South of the highway we visited a typical village of the area with mud-brick houses, piles of stored grain, stacks of dung cakes which were being dried for cooking and warming the houses during the winter. Along the river there were flocks of sheep and goats and two horses. While I was photographing the scene, a young woman came to the river with two buckets to get water for her house. As she walked out in the water I focused my camera on her and she turned her back and then walked back toward her house leaving her buckets behind. We realized that life styles had changed little in the past four thousand years.

As we continued toward Sanliurfa we saw some people winnowing lentils in one of the villages; they had already winnowed some wheat. They gladly went through all of the stages of the process for us to photograph.

Most of the people we talked with from Sanliurfa east-ward stated they were Kurdish  not Turkish. This is an ethnic problem for Turkey which is outside the interest of this article.

Sanliurfa: Birthplace of Abraham?

When we arrived in Sanliurfa, with a population of 276,000, I told Curtis and Kyle that here they were seeing the thoroughly oriental Middle East that I have known for more than a quarter of a century. The culture, the dress of the people, the streets, and the markets remind me of Damascus, Antioch of Syria, Amman, and Jerusalem before Israeli modernization. Yet the city has a modern touch, too. It is the home of Harran University. The name Sanliurfa means “Glorious Urfa,” but the town is often called Urfa.

Many Moslem pilgrims come to Urfa to visit a cave where it is believed Abraham was born. Some have equated Urfa with the Ur of the Chaldeans of the Bible (Gen. 11:28, et al.). Ur may not equal Urfa but a fairly good case can be made for placing the Biblical Ur in the northern sectors of Mesopotamia, rather than the traditional Ur in ancient Sumer. For more information see The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, 80, and International Standard Bible Encyclopedia IV:954-5.

We visited the Cave of Abraham and saw the pilgrims worshipping there and drinking the water which flows from the spring in the cave. We also visited the nice museum which contains many items from the Bronze Age, including the period of the biblical patriarchs. One of the most impressive items is the stele from Harran of Nabonidus, the last ruler of the Neo-Babylonian empire (556-539 B.C.). Nabonidus was king of Babylon when Daniel was made third in the kingdom [after Belshazzar, son of Nabonidus] (Dan. 5:7).

The earliest name for Urfa was Ursu. During the Seleucid period, about 300 B.C., it was named Edessa. Here Crassus and the Roman army were defeated by the Parthians in 53 B.C. Trajan visited the city in A.D. 114. Edessa became a strong center of Christianity during the third century A.D.

Harran: Home of Abraham

Driving twenty miles south to Harran (spelled Haran in many English versions of the Bible) we knew we were in Mesopotamia, the Greek name meaning the land between the rivers (Euphrates and Tigris). In the Hebrew this territory was called Aram-naharaim, “Aram of the two rivers” (Gen. 24:10; Deut. 23:4; the NASB has Mesopotamia). This term may apply only to the area between the Euphrates and the Balih rivers, also known as Paddan-aram  “field of Aram”  in the Bible. The region is part of the wet steppe of Mesopotamia which receives about 12 inches of rainfall annually. It is part of what has been called the “Fertile Crescent,” primarily in contrast with the arid desert which surrounds it (The Moody Atlas of the Bible, 7).

The Genesis record tells us that Terah and his family, including Abraham and Sarah, left Ur of the Chaldeans “in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there” (Gen. 11:31). After the death of Terah, Abraham and Sarah continued south to the land of Canaan. Genesis 12:5 indicates that the time spent in Harran was one of prosperity for Abraham. See also Acts 7:2-4.

Paddan-aram was the home of Laban, the brother of Sarah (Gen. 28:2). Rebekah came from this region to be the wife of Isaac (Gen. 24-25) and Jacob spent many years in the area working for Leah and Rachel (Gen. 28ff). All of his children except Benjamin were born here (Gen. 29:32 – 30:24): The Israelites were able to say, “My father was a wandering Aramean” (Deut. 26:5; Syrian,.KJV). The life we see in the area today is reminiscent of the events recorded in Genesis. The women wear colorful costumes even when working in the field or getting water at the well (now re-placed by the running water at one place in the village). Wells supplied the necessary water in Patriarchal times (Gen. 24:11; 29:2).

Harran is mentioned in texts as early as 2000 B.C. as the location of a temple of Sin, the moon-god. Assyria maintained a presence here from the 14th century B.C. The city rebelled against Assyria in 763 B.C. and was sacked (New Bible Dictionary, 453). Sennacherib used this fact to intimidate the Judeans (2 Kings 19:12, Isa. 37:12). After Nineveh fell in 612 B.C., the Assyrians maintained their capital at Harran until 609 B.C. when the city was captured by the Babylonians. Ezekiel, in prophesying against Tyre, mentions the trade with Harran (Ezek. 27:23).

Before reaching the Syrian border we turned east and headed straight for the mound of ancient Harran. Ruins of the oldest mosque in Turkey, from the 8th century A.D., stand on the tell, as do ruins from the time of Saladin (A.D. 1192) and the time of the Crusaders. Ruins of the famous Moslem university are also visible. Harran has a population of about 2300 persons today. Many of them live in beehive or conical-shaped houses. It is said that these houses are warm in winter and cool in summer. Throughout our journey in eastern Turkey we marveled at the way man is able to adapt to his environment and utilize the local material to provide housing.

Everything we saw in Harran was interesting, but it was the association with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that drew us here. We got a little feel for the place they lived for so many years. In a way this was our ancestral home: “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).

More adventure to come. The Tigris River, the land of Urartu (Ararat), and Mount Ararat.

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 10-11
April 4, 1996

By Berry Kercheville

Early in the morning on January 6, 1996, Mack Kercheville breathed his last after fighting various illnesses for over four years. Mack had preached the gospel for over 56 years. He preached his first gospel meeting when he was fourteen years old. Yes, you read that right, fourteen years old. He had gone with his father Berry (my grandfather), who was scheduled to preach a two week gospel meeting. The meeting had gone so well that at the end of the two weeks the brethren were unwilling to close the meeting. Berry, however, needed to go to a nearby town to start an-other meeting. So he suggested that his fourteen-year-old son, Mack, continue the meeting. Mack gladly took the meeting up where his father had left off. When his father returned, the brethren told him that he could go on because they had a preacher in Mack that was doing just fine.

At sixteen, Mack began regular preaching and did not stop until illness restrained him. He preached his last sermon in December of 1991. How many men today have not only determined at such a young age that they will preach the gospel, but have also prepared themselves for the task? How many parents have raised their children to give such dedication to God?

In 1943, Mack moved to El Paso, Texas to begin work in Spanish at the Rivera Street church. When he first arrived, he could barely introduce himself in Spanish. He would write out his sermons so that he would be able to deliver them in an understandable way. However, within a few months he had learned the language well enough to deliver his sermons from notes alone. From that time on he would give his life to bring the gospel to the Mexican people. He traveled to Chile, to Argentina, and repeatedly to the interior of Mexico. Since Mexico would not allow American preachers to live in the country, Mack chose to live in El Paso where he would have easy access to the country.

Because of Mack’s work, numerous Mexican preachers were trained, and many churches established. The Rivera Street church, as well as the churches in Juarez that Mack so often worked with, are all self-supporting. In fact, it is the English work in El Paso that has the greatest need, not the Spanish work.

Mack did not seek to attain a name for himself. Mack quietly went about his work of teaching the Mexican people. He slept in one room homes with dirt floors. He was out night after night teaching. He traveled with hardship and sickness (from contaminated water), but never complained or turned back from the task before him. At the funeral, all of us in the family cried as we heard the Spanish speaking people sing. Many related to me how grateful they were to Mack for bringing the gospel to them.

Mack Kercheville was a champion of the faith, a man willing to fight spiritual battles that others were unwilling to fight. He was a true servant of God. He gave his life to save lost people in a foreign land. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Nell, three daughters, and six grandchildren. You may write Nell at 1803 Jerry Abbott, El Paso, Texas 79936.

(The following article is a summation of the work of Mack Kercheville in Mexico as told by his wife of 51 years. Mack died January 6, 1996. He preached for 56 years, predominately in Spanish.)

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 8
April 4, 1996

By Ron Halbrook

“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, where-unto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain” (Gal. 4:8-11).

We must distinguish days God forbids us to observe from days he permits us to observe. Galatians 4 forbids imposing upon the church special days of religious observance, but does not forbid what we commonly call holidays. A holiday appointed by custom or government celebrates some person, event, or season, often including cessation from work. National, seasonal, secular, and family activities are emphasized. God may be recognized, as he should be in all phases of life, but the day’s activities are not the function of the church. A holy day is appointed by a church or other religious body to be observed as a religious festival, often including cessation from work and special worship activities. The following chart summarizes the distinction between the two kinds of days:

Holy Day Holiday

Set by church of other Set by custom or

religious body government

Special religious services National, seasonal,

and activities not secular, and family

authorized by God activities

Bind as church function, Recognize God, but not

claim to honor God bind as church function

Some holy days are recognized only within a certain religion, such as Hanukkah by the Jews (commemorating the rededication of the Temple at Jerusalem after its defilement by Antiochus of Syria) or Ramadan by the Muslims (commemorating Muhammad’s first so-called revelation). Other holy days have developed into national holidays with both religious and secular elements and activities, such as Christmas or Easter. Separation of church and state has diluted some holy days into holidays of national, seasonal, and family significance.

God has set aside no holy days involving religious festivals and exemption from work in the Gospel Age. God ordained that Christians worship him on the first day of the week, but otherwise there are no special instructions or limitations defining what can or cannot be done on that day. Holidays should be limited to national, seasonal, and family oriented activities and not imposed upon the church.

Authority to Appoint a Holy Day

Only God has the authority to appoint a holy day. Under the Law of Moses, God commanded the Jews to “remember the sabbath day (our Saturday), to keep it holy” by abstaining from work and reflecting on their deliverance and rest from Egyptian bondage (Exod. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15).

God ordained three annual feasts requiring all Jewish males to come to Jerusalem (Exod. 12; 23:14-17; 34:18-23). The Passover Feast or Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring commemorated their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. God’s blessings in the first fruits of the harvest were celebrated as the Feast of Harvest or of Weeks, also called Pentecost because it occurred fifty days after Passover (thus on our Sunday). The Feast of Ingathering came at the conclusion of the year’s harvest.

The Annual Atonement involved sacrifices offered “for all their sins once a year” (Lev. 16). Every seventh year was to be “a sabbath of rest unto the land,” when no crops were planted, and every fiftieth year was proclaimed The Jubilee, when all debts were cancelled (Lev. 25). Holy days were to be observed exactly as God commanded to the detail.

The Law of Moses made man more conscious of sin and of God’s provision for forgiveness which ultimately would come in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When Christ died, he removed the Old Law, “nailing it to his cross, ” thus ending all of its holy days (Col. 2:14-17). Christ arose “on the first day of the week” and his church was established on Pentecost Sunday (Mark 16:2; Acts 2). Through his Apostles, Christ ordained that Christians meet for worship “on the first day of the week,” especially to eat the Lord’s supper in remembrance of his death and to give a portion of their financial prosperity for the work of his church (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). Christians may meet any time, even daily, to teach his word, sing, and pray (Acts 2:46).

Christ ordained his church to worship on Sunday but authorized no holy days, feasts, or festivals requiring exemption from work or other special observances. The Holy Spirit warned that when Christians teach people to “observe days, and months, and times, and years,” they return to “the weak and beggarly elements” of false religion (Gal. 4:8-11; 5:1). Weak Christians may feel compelled in con-science to set aside a certain day for special devotion to God on a personal and private basis, which God permits until growth removes the scruple, but to bind such scruples on others is “contrary to the doctrine” of Christ (Rom. 14:1-6; 16:17-18).

Holy Days Appointed by Men

As prime examples of what the Holy Spirit forbad, Holy Days in Roman Catholicism are festivals honoring God, Jesus, or dead people declared “saints” (Mary, the Apostles, and others). Such observances were borrowed from Judaism and pagan-ism in an effort to “convert” people by adopting and adapting their false practices. Easter began as Pasch when apostate Christians of the 2nd-4th centuries revived the Jewish Passover as a festival of Christ’s death and resurrection each spring. The celebration gradually absorbed pagan concepts and practices associated with Estera, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility in the 8th century (with roots back to Astarte, an ancient Chaldean goddess of heaven). Christmas began in the 3rd-4th centuries as a festival of Christ’s birth, absorbing Roman celebrations for the sun gods Mithra and Saturn in December. God has always warned his people not to borrow or copy pagan practices (Deut. 12:29-32; 2 Cor. 6:14-18). Such compromise with error is the work of “the man of sin,” the spirit of all who “depart from the faith” (2 Thess. 2:3-4; 1 Tim. 4:1).

Many such days have been designated by Catholicism through the centuries. Holy Days of Obligation are feast days other than Sunday on which Catholics are obligated to attend mass and abstain from unnecessary servile work. There are ten such days but the number in force varies from one country to another: Circumcision (of Jesus; Jan. 1), Epiphany (first manifestation of Christ to Gentiles, the Magi; Jan. 6), Saint Joseph (earthly father of Jesus; Mar. 19), Ascension (of Christ to heaven; 40 days after Easter), Corpus Christi (Christ’s body offered in the Eucharist; Thursday after Trinity Sunday), Saints Peter and Paul (June 29), Assumption (Mary taken bodily to heaven; Aug. 15), All Saints (Nov. 1), Immaculate Conception (Mary not inherit original sin; Dec. 8), and Christmas (birth of Christ; Dec. 25). God authorized none of this.

Holidays, Not Imposed Upon the Church

Holidays are not necessarily holy days, but some holy days have a dual status as holidays involving seasonal, secular, and customary activities not imposed upon the church. A number of these activities had their roots in religious associations which largely have been lost (just as the names of the days of the week originally honored ancient gods). Common U.S. holidays include New Year’s Day (first day of calendar year; Catholic holy day focused on events of infancy of Jesus; Jan. 1), Valentine’s Day (token of affection sent to one of opposite sex on anniversary of third century Christian martyr; Feb. 14), Easter (resurrection of Christ; first Sunday after first full moon occurring on or after Mar. 21), Mother’s Day (memorial honoring mothers began in West Virginia, then in churches of Philadelphia on May 10, 1908; proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914; second Sunday in May), Father’s Day (memorial honoring fathers began in Spokane, Washington in 1910; third Sunday in June), Independence Day (American colonies declared independence from England on July 4, 1776), Halloween (British tradition developed from All Saints’ or All Hallows’ Eve, the evening before Catholic “saints” are honored, originating 600’s-800’s to replace night druids feared god and spirits of wicked dead; Oct. 31), Thanksgiving Day (day to thank God for blessing families and nation, began in Plymouth Colony in 1621; proclamation by President George Washington in 1789, made legal holiday by Congress in 1941; fourth Thursday in Nov.), and Christmas (birth of Christ; Dec. 25).

Guidance From God

What does God teach us to do about holy days and holidays?

1. For the church to observe holy days not authorized by God dishonors God. We cannot obey God’s word by adding to or diminishing from its commandments (Deut. 4:1-2; Rev. 22:18-19). God’s faithful prophet cried out against King Jeroboam when he “ordained a feast” not ordained by God himself (1 Kings 12:32-13:2). One of the marks of men who “pervert the gospel of Christ” is that they teach men to “observe days, and months, and times, and years” such as Christmas and Easter (Gal. 1:6-9; 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-23). The church honors God by worshipping as he directs in song, prayer, and Bible teaching, and on the first day of the week giving and the Lord’s supper (Col. 3:16; Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).

2. Christians must avoid compromising with error by participating in holy days. God teaches us not to be “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” by supporting their error but rather to “come out from among them, and be .. . separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Rev. 18:4). Holy days ought not to be brought into a true church of the Lord, and Christians ought not go into digressive and denominational churches to participate in their holy days. Neither should Christians compromise by allowing their children to sing religious songs with instrumental music in school holiday programs, or to sing songs promoting holy day error even without instruments (such as songs teaching Christ was born on Christmas, Christmas honors Christ, worship of Mary, etc.). Rather than having fellowship with such activities, we should lovingly and firmly reprove them (Eph. 5:11).

3. Civil rulers, families, and individuals can acknowledge God without imposing holy days on the church. After King Darius saw Daniel delivered from the lion’s den, he proclaimed that all men should “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever,” but he did not propose a new feast day be added to God’s pattern of worship for the Jews like Jeroboam did (Dan. 6:25-26). We should pray that all rulers today will acknowledge and honor God both privately and publicly (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

Jewish families banded together to form synagogues to teach God’s word in a setting similar to family devotions, but did not compete with the Temple worship by offering sacrifices or by calling Jews to Jerusalem for a new feast day. God approved the synagogue system, just as God approves of families providing religious training today without intruding on the work and worship of the church (Deut. 6:4-9; Luke 4:16; Eph. 6:1-4). Governments and families can thank God for his blessings on such occasions as Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day without imposing any of the trappings of a holy day on the church.

4. Christians must use caution in authorized liberties. Holy days are not authorized for the church, but most holidays in America can be observed on an individual basis where national, seasonal, and family activities are involved. Some people may confuse liberties with obligations. The scruples of new converts and weak Christians may make them feel obligated to offer special devotions to God on an individual basis on certain days until they learn better, but such acts must not involve sin or be imposed on the church (Rom. 14:1-6; 16:17-18). A person converted from Judaism or from a sabbatarian denomination might feel conscience bound to offer God certain devotions on Saturday. Those who understand such liberties should not compel the weaker Christian to violate his conscience.

We must remember the rule, “Let not your good be evil spoken of’ (Rom. 14:16). That is, we might do something that is technically right, but do it in a way which misleads others. We could violate that rule by causing someone to violate his conscience, or even by doing something that suggests approval of sinful error. It is right to eat meat, but if someone makes a point of saying the meat was used earlier to honor an idol, Paul said do not eat it lest people think we honor idols (1 Cor. 10:25-29). It is right to sing songs about the birth or resurrection of Jesus, but if young people are asked to sing such songs in Christmas or Easter programs at school, they should decline lest people think we honor such days as holy. Songs like “Frosty the Snowman” and “Jingle Bells” are simply seasonal and leave no such impression.

5. Sin is still sin on holidays. Holidays do not justify willful absence from worship services, failing to give as prospered each Sunday, drinking intoxicants, or wearing immodest dress (shorts, swimsuits, tank tops, and other revealing attire in the presence of the opposite sex). Drinking parties, beach parties, extravagant spending, and other sins are very popular on certain holidays. Christians should stand out as beacon lights of purity in a world darkened by sin (Matt. 5:14-16).

Conclusion

God is not honored by perverting the gospel to add holy days but by obeying his word in worship as in all things (Col. 3:17). If we are in a church which observes holy days, we are not in a church approved by God. We leave sin and error by accepting the gospel of Christ. When our faith in him leads us to repent of our sins, to confess him as God’s Son, and to be immersed in water by his authority, our sins will be washed away in his blood. Then, we will learn to observe all things he commanded and to abstain from all other things (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 3:19; Rom. 10:10). Christians who err confess their sins and pray for forgiveness in order to be cleansed by Christ’s blood (1 John 1:7-9).

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 16-18
April 4, 1996