Bound by Truth: A Critical Course Correction in Christian Theology

By John McGrane

Biblical beliefs addressed according to scripture and not man's understanding, particularly in the New Testament, about the life and ministry of Jesus, the ministry and belief in what has happened and what is to come. And the necessary path of righteousness. In these pages, that path is set straight. Answering many beliefs in proper context

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors' Tranquility Press
• Release date: Mar 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781960675200

Book preview

This Certain Future

I wish to pour out a truth and an encouragement. The truth is, for many, your faith is weaker than it is called to be for the times that we are living through and that are coming upon us. The true believer requires correction, strength, and power. Some are being fed milk like a newborn in the faith and that milk is soured. The encouragement is that I believe that many of you will begin reading scripture in a new way and worshiping God in truth when the truth of scripture is revealed, and you will gain power and strength in true faith. For those whose faith is secured, lift up your weaker brothers and sisters. For those whose faith is weaker I pray God unveils your heart rather than giving you over to delusions.

We live in a world where there is a real battle for purity. God calls the scripture a sword, not a feeding bottle. There is a certain future prophesied, whether that happens in seven years or decades from now is irrelevant. We are mortals and our time is finite. However, we meet our end, whether by seeing the coming of the Lord or in death beforehand there is no allowances after the fact.

It is for this purpose and encouragement that I have taken to task writing down many misconceptions within the church today. Understand that Scripture is true, Holy, profitable, and good but over the course of time organizations and Christian corporations have desired to make the word say what it does not.

Isaiah 59

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

² But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

³ For your hands are defiled with blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

⁴ No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in empty words and speak lies;

They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

Mega churches, corporations and small-town churches alike have been found to be teaching amiss. Deliberately or by way of laziness through lack of prayer, wisdom, and study, the result is the same, the truth of the Gospel is all but lost in darkness and the believers minds therein are poisoned like an abscess that has burst.

If you’ve ever had an abscess tooth burst, then you understand the imagery. It must be washed out thoroughly. Swallowing the poison will lead to hospitalization. A critical situation. A situation we find ourselves in now.

However, we came to believe what we currently hold true, we must realize that the learning of scripture and serving the one true God of Scripture is our responsibility, there is no excuse in being taught amiss. How are we to know what is good and evil unless we understand Gods Word? We must work to internalize it. This is our responsibility as individuals, It is not on another. We are to take our relationship with the Savior personally and serious. Let us be mindful that our salvation is in our own hands as a personal decision to accept or reject, by way of faith and understanding, the path of truth.

Isaiah 5

²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

And prudent in their own sight!

Mathew 23

²³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

‘Woe’ is God’s strongest language, warning of forthcoming judgment. For those with a pedestal, who teach afoul deliberately, when challenged, they speak with disdain. They say we who question them do not know what we are talking about, they speak from their many degrees and their authority proffered to them by their professors and universities and condemn critical thought if it differs from their messaging. Such are many among us.

Deuteronomy 30

¹⁵ "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,

¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,

¹⁸ I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Joshua 1

⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Hebrews 10

²⁶ For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

²⁹ Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

³⁰ For we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The LORD will judge His people.

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Previously it was ordered that faith and mercy are in keeping with the Law. Here in the New Testament, it states that continued disobedience to the law will end in death with no mercy. The salvation that comes through Jesus through belief was given by and through the law.

Consider all promises made unto man, including future promises, to be in keeping with the Law. To dismiss the Living and written Word is to separate yourself from God. It is your choice to choose death, but you can no longer claim ignorance. Not that ignorance is an excuse for sin, for surely it is not. Just as the rich ruler found himself in Hades without measure with Abraham telling him his brothers had the law of Moses for correction and upright living, so you to and those in your family have heard that Jesus loves you and was willing to give himself to be a sacrifice for your sins. All have heard and most have rejected the knowledge of the truth choosing their own false security.

The words of Paul are straightforward, there is no longer a sacrifice in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins if we reject the truth. In ignoring or dismissing truth because it’s not what we believe, one will find themselves in the hands of the Lord. The Lord has said that heaven and earth would bear witness to this sin.

Proverbs 3

¹¹My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,

Nor detest His correction;

¹²For whom the LORD loves He corrects,

Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 12

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge,

But he who hates correction is stupid.

All that is coming upon the earth, all those killed, the earth burned, death and destruction is for one single reason, and it is not a lack of grace on the part of God. It is lawlessness in the hearts and minds of the people.

The Day of the Lord

While interest grows in scripture, particularly end time studies; critical thought and reading comprehension has diminished. The Bible calls Jesus Christ’s second coming, the Day of the Lord. Yet, for so much preaching, there is still much confusion. Let us now know what it is, when it is and what it includes.

The Day of the Lord is the start of the seventh millennial. His return to Earth to set up His kingdom here on earth. It includes on that day the reward and justification for those who have believed faithfully and have done lawfully what has been given to us, and the punishment on earth for the lawless.

Zachariah 14

Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,

And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

² For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;

The city shall be taken,

The houses rifled,

And the women ravished.

Half of the city shall go into captivity,

But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then the LORD will go forth

And fight against those nations,

As He fights in the day of battle.

⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,

Which faces Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,

From east to west,

Making a very large valley;

Half of the mountain shall move toward the north

And half of it toward the south.

⁵ Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,

For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.

Yes, you shall flee

As you fled from the earthquake

In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the LORD my God will come,

And all the saints with You.

⁶ It shall come to pass in that day

That there will be no light;

The lights will diminish.

⁷ It shall be one day