Are you sold out, or a sellout?
Rarely does a book come along that shakes the foundations of the church like Whole Bible Christianity by Bruce S. Bertram. Starting with the Garden and using almost 1,500 references from every book in the Bible, Bruce first shows that there is no church in the Bible. Then he identifies modern Pharisees and illustrates how they have led many churches to abandon the New Covenant, pursuing instead worldly ideas of self-seeking. If these weren't enough to rattle cherished church doctrine, next Bruce dares to suggest that the solution to church and culture rot is to get back to the Bible. Believers need to be sold out for God rather than selling out to the world.
The author shares how he discovered whole Bible Christianity and calls the church to repentance. He quotes Jesus who commands we eat His body and drink His blood, which simply means living the whole Word of God. Bruce explores the near wholesale discarding of the Old Testament and suggests a return to the plain meaning of the whole Word unfettered by the philosophies of the world systems. The joker in the deck is that this includes the Law. The church tries to explain it away, yet it's the key to abundant life and the New Covenant.
Bruce's controversial views have brought many to a fresh understanding of the Bible and renewed relationship with Jesus. He tackles many of the extra-biblical negative teachings about the Law, redirecting attention to what the Bible actually says about the issues. For instance, he points out that the New Covenant is directly stated in the Old Testament at Jeremiah 31:31-34 and that the main feature of it is God's Law written on a heart of flesh. Twenty objections to incorporating the whole Bible into a believer's life are refuted, along with presenting 24 blessings from it. Bruce also identifies the Nicolaitans, returns the teachings of Paul to their whole Bible base, and answers the question "What Did Jesus Do?"
The book recovers lost meanings of words such as faith, sin and idolatry, pulls out instruction from the Bible on how to understand the Bible, and gives some practical suggestions on application of the Law.
About the Author: Bruce Scott Bertram was in and out of foster homes, had six stepdads and was adopted at 14. This partly explains his experience going through 15 churches in 10 denominations, from Catholic to Protestant to Messianic. The other part was a lot of searching. Still married to his beautiful wife Susan after 37 years, God also blessed him with two kids and four grandkids. He built four businesses from scratch and is self-educated through college level. He helped grow two churches, was a youth leader twice and an elder once. He's been told he could pass ordination exams but prefers to stay free so he can keep asking the questions that need to be asked. He likes to say that while he has no initials after his name, no mega-church and absolutely no influence whatsoever that does not mean the truth he has discovered is not worth sharing.
His continuing studies took him to seminars with Josh McDowell and Bruce Wilkinson (Walk through the Bible) in the late 1970's, and he later self-studied his way through a college-level education with books such as 'Chafer Systematic Theology' by Lewis Sperry Chafer (the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary), 'Protestant Biblical Interpretation' by Bernard Ramm, and 'Christianity through the Centuries' by Earle E. Cairns in the early 1980's. Most recently he spent a few years evaluating the Messianic movement through writings, seminars and congregation visits. At the present time he and his family are not part of a particular church, but not by choice. After you read his book you might understand why.
Gradually we came to realize that much of the church is more concerned with preserving itself than with teaching the absolute truth of the whole Word of God. While we were going through this stage we were still part of a Bible church where Bruce was an elder and shared the pulpit for a while. However, as we worked some of what we were learning into our teachings the people there slowly worked us out of their church. First by keeping Bruce from the pulpit, then blocking him from teaching adult Sunday school (where several visiting pastors had overheard some of his classes and complimented him in public for the quality), and finally freezing Bruce and Susan out of the church altogether.
At the present time our family touches God (and He touches us) on a regular basis through a home bible study, Sabbath days off, and biblical holidays.
