For the majority of my fifty-seven years following Jesus, I have recorded my discoveries in a private spiritual journal. Over time, it grew into several notebooks that were eventually transferred to my computer. They contained various thoughts and insights that seemed important to my spiritual development. Some were pivotal, others less so, but I recorded them all, not knowing how God would use them in my life. All of the notes I recorded were meant for personal use, and as my way of showing God that I was paying attention.

At a critical time in my life, I felt the need to reassess my accumulated theological knowledge, suspecting that it might contain both truth and error. Despite my trust in the good intentions and soundness of my teachers, I recognized their humanity and the potential for mistakes. This led me to reevaluate the teachings I gathered from various religious sources, such as sermons and Bible studies.

A commercial airliner that’s off course one degree for an hour is a long way off course, but not as much as it would be if it continued one degree off course for a ten-hour flight. That doesn’t put the pilot in danger of crashing, but since he has trustworthy instruments, he should not have allowed an incorrect course to continue without correction. Being off course in one’s spiritual life is also a very real possibility, so I needed to check my theological compass.

I drew inspiration from first-century believers, who despite having the Apostle Paul as their teacher, diligently verified his teachings against Scripture, as noted in Acts 17:11. Motivated by their example, I decided to scrutinize the doctrines and principles I had learned to ensure they aligned with the Bible. This book contains my insights from this comprehensive re-examination of my theological foundations.