Bruce S Bertram
AUTHOR

Bruce S Bertram

Religion & Spirituality
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Husband of Susan (43 years), father of Lynette and Chris, father-in-law to Eric, and grandfather to Raine, Keira, Isaiah, Cassidy and Lexi. By the time I was 13 my natural mom (I call her the egg donor; natural dad is the ‘seed donor’) was married seven times. In between step-fathers I was placed in foster homes five times, and went to 20 grammar schools. At 14, by the grace of God, I was adopted. I got baptized as a Catholic at six years old (first foster home), and spent time in California and Hawaii’s Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Wesleyan and Assembly of God churches. After marriage I was baptized a second time and spent a few years in three different Calvary Chapels. After the second Calvary, I interviewed for a youth pastor position in Susan's former Disciples of Christ church, and was briefly an unpaid youth leader in a Wesleyan. The third Calvary was in Colorado. There was also an Evangelical Free church, and I was an elder in a Bible church. I've been to Messianic synagogues and visited some off-beat groups such as the Worldwide Church of God and Seventh Day Adventists (we are not part of either of those). (Why so many Calvary Chapels, you might wonder? At one time Susan and I thought they had the best shot at going the right way. Their ideas of following the Spirit and reading the Word are good. Alas, like every other group they hardened into a bureaucracy and are now more concerned with what Chuck Smith says or said than what the Spirit says.) I self-studied through Seminary level with books such as those from the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary (Lewis Sperry Chafer), taken college courses on hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) from Tim Hegg, and studied populist books from people such as Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel). I even had a Mormon girlfriend in high school. I've actually listened to Jehovah’s Witnesses, got my own copy and read the book of Mormon (not a Mormon), browsed the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, talked with Hare Krishnas, and even checked out the book ‘Siddhartha’ when I was younger. That’s what happened when you grew up with the Beatles! All told, by age 40 I had been in 15 churches that were part of 10 different denominations (or non-denominations which is the same thing effectively). I've stayed with God, but it wasn’t because of the church. The churches I've been in have been a lot like the egg donor – lots of touchy feely emotion, a few good actions here and there, but overall just not doing what you would expect from the Body. When it comes down to loving or leaving, all too many "country clubs" choose the latter. Meaning that I was the one that had to leave. As we went through all these things one goal stayed certain: I wanted to touch God and have Him in my life in as many ways as I could manage. The Messianic movement offered something a little better than churches, but many of them miss the point also. The good thing about that movement is we plunged into reading the Bible for ourselves (I know. Weird concept, huh?) and actually doing what He says. That is how we came up with the concept of whole Bible Christianity. I wrote articles explaining my discoveries to my fellow elders in the last church we attended (a Bible church) and then started a website back in about 2001, which is now www.wholebible.com. We found out that following all of God's Word is not a Jewish thing. It's not a Christian thing. It's not a Protestant or Catholic thing. It's a God thing.
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