MY MEMOIRS ARE MY LEGACY - Bruce Atchison

I'm convinced that one way to leave a good lasting legacy is to write memoirs. Having read many in preparation for writing my second book, I found the personal stories of being in a blind school most helpful. Learning the details of life in those institutions reassured me that my recollections were valid.

Though I wrote about some bad things which happened in my life, my latest memoir shows how God providentially used those to give me a passion for his truth. Being in a cultic house church and learning the minister's blasphemous doctrines now fuels my desire to study the scriptures as God meant them to be understood.

I learned so much from excellent Bible teachers such as Hank Hanegraaff, John MacArthur, and R. C. Sproul. They taught me the concept that everything in Scripture must be taken in its proper context. This includes cultural and literary aspects. Much of the Bible is a mystery to new believers because they weren't taught about the Old Testament times and cultural norms. Neither do they know how to interpret the various genres of writing in the scriptures.

The danger regarding reading the Bible  without an understanding of its history and the Lord's character is that people come up with bizarre ideas and misconceptions. The house church I attended had many false notions. One of those was the idea that evil spirits could be kept out of a person's home by dedicating it to the Lord. The lay minister got this notion from Deuteronomy 20:5 which reads, "And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it." As you can read from the context, demons are totally foreign to the context of Israel going to war. Uneducated believers, as I once was, would never know this without being taught how to read verses in context.

This is just one example of how my latest book is a perpetual blessing to my familial relatives as well as my siblings in the body of Christ regarding reading his Word. Showing, rather than telling, demonstrates how gullible I was and how wicked the church elders were. The end of How I Was Razed shows our heavenly Father's gentle leading as I transitioned from naive believer to biblically-equipped saint.

Furthermore, he bore my angry words when my eyesight grew worse instead of better, no matter how I psyched myself up to believe he would heal me. Now I understand clearly about providence and how the Lord works through disabilities. I'm much happier now than I was in that cult  because I understand the true nature of our heavenly Father.

One thing I want to do for my family members is to write a memoir about my sister Diane and our adventures during our formative years. Before I was exiled to Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, Diane and I were best friends. We walked everywhere together and had so much fun. I'd like to share that part of my life, especially with Diane's children. My sister died in 2004 of a liver disease so I now have nobody who I can reminisce with about those relatively carefree days. The book will be a memorial to my beloved sister who I still miss today.