Testimonials

https://youtu.be/2_v-fbBd7xE

• I’ve been tracking your ministry online for years and it brings me joy to see Tru316 come to fruition. Ministries like yours are actually a healing balm for women and bring true reconciliation between women and men through Biblical equality.
• … we need ministries like yours in the Black community, because we are being ravaged by an attempted resurgence of patriarchy due to the various vulnerabilities of the Black community at this time (low marriage rates, high rates of single mother households, and Black male under-performance).
• Patriarchy is flying under the radar in the Black community and it’s taking a backseat to police brutality. As a result of the lack of awareness, lack of Christian apologetics against patriarchy, and the complete total lack of regard for Black women (even among Black women themselves), the rate of Black femicide has jumped up to every 5 hours (a Black woman or Black girl is murdered by a Black male). Black women who are Christians are brainwashed to submit to male violence and other forms of oppression, and told to just focus on racism and White supremacy.
• My passion on this issue and my love for Christ and His word is what drives me to pay close attention to how corrupt theology influences gender dynamics and exacerbates abuse/violence in interpersonal relationships.
• What you are doing is so important, beyond what you can comprehend at this time. People will be set free, and therefore, your ministry needs to be covered in much prayer. Godspeed to you!

The Tru316 Foundation reaches out in various ways including The Eden Podcast (more than 100,000 downloads) and The Book of Eden! Here is some of the feedback we’ve received.

• Popular Canadian podcaster Sheila Wray Gregoire has interviewed Bruce more than once. She posted their discussion on her YouTube Channel for The Bare Marriage Podcast. Here’s the header she posted on their exchange “You’ll be SHOCKED at this translation of Genesis 3:16!” You can also find that episode on the Tru316 YouTube Channel.
• From Natalie Anne Hoffman. Hi Bruce! I’m wondering if you would be interested in coming on the Flying Free podcast to talk about your podcast and your book and your YouTube classes. I have a pretty large following of Christian women in abusive marriages. Most of these women have been brainwashed by their religious communities to believe that being mistreated is actually glorifying to God and part of the way things are on earth because of exactly what you expose in your podcast. One of my passions in life is to separate the abuser god from the true God. Your podcast does that. And I want everyone I help to hear it. 
• From Susan O. Sooooo glad to have found you. … Tru316 has been the only place so far, that  clearly articulates Gen 2 -3 not skipping over any detail. I feel as if I  have been drawn to Genesis 2 -3 in particular my entire Christian walk  but only since 2001 have I had the time and resources to go deep, it is  an unyielding pull to understand in truth what the original intent and plan of God is for men, women and how we then read and understand the  rest of God’s Word and plan for all of humanity.
  During this journey for the truth I have had “almost” no feedback  from our fellow Christian body as it is usually seen as an unnecessary, unpopular and divisive subject to them. I also sense in some that they  are terrified of being led astray and find it difficult to even consider  any deviating interpretation other than the erroneous explanation we  have been traditionally taught. I feel that this study just might give me the insight and understanding I need to clearly articulate the truth of Gen 2-3. Thank you for your devotion to the truth I am so looking forward to diving in deep!
• Here’s a testimonial from Joanne Hagemeyer we found posted on social media. The single most mind-changing resource (and I’ve been on this journey for a good twenty years) that I have found is on the tru316.com website. This is -literally- the “One Stop Shop” on Genesis 2-3. However, the bonus is, this site also provides excellent resources for the other seven passages. Bruce Fleming just finished a comprehensive podcast series on Genesis 2-3, and a series on Ephesians 5, another series on 1 Timothy and one on 1 Corinthians. He also provides an entire workshop series on the seven key passages, and I am telling you, I have never seen such comprehensive research, up-to-date and groundbreaking scholarship, and yet total accessibility to the regular person, anywhere else. [Thanks Joanne] 
• From Connie Collins on The Book of Eden. Dear Bruce C. E. Fleming. I’m looking forward to reading all four books in The Eden Book Series! We’re still moving slowly through Book of Eden in my Haverot group. So many rich discussions and so many “Aha‘s!”
• From Melissa Klassen on Season Four and the episode on 1 Peter 3. I’m working my way through your study of 1 Peter 3. I’m struck again by the laziness (likely due to ignorance) of most preachers in their hermeneutic. How often I’ve heard words and verses tossed around without any consideration for context, usage, or the author’s voice and personality! I am loving the handling of all these verses in robust exegesis.
• From Sandy Bittrick on The Book of Eden. I quit being comp, when my ladies’ bible study was on 1 Timothy 2. When I read verses 12-15. I said wait a minute to myself and began to research. I discovered the word translated “authority” in my bible was a hapax legomonen (a word used only once in the NT). So I realized this was not the ordinary word for authority. During the lecture, we were told we as women were more gullible than men and had to be careful to not lead our husbands astray. All the women (except me) shook their heads in agreement. One thing I began to wonder about was, wasn’t Adam more guilty than Eve if he wasn’t deceived and disobeyed anyway. So this study clears that up. Everyone should read this book. I love it when I get more information that clears up my questions.
• Anonymous. I listened to last week’s episode of The Eden Podcast two times. I’m having all my teens listening as well. My 18 year old and his girlfriend are listening together. The message that is being told them at church is so disempowering. 
• From Trina Garrison on the episodes in Season Four. Thank you so much for this ‘headcovering study.’ It was excellent. I grew up in a group that required a certain headcovering for women during and after the process for church membership, and they still do. I haven’t agreed with that teaching for 60 yrs., and after hearing your teaching, I’ve gone one step further. IMHO, I now think that this head covering mandate, because it began in Europe and “we’ve always done it this way” because that’s what the Bible teaches in I Cor., has now become idolatry. BTW, they also practice the ‘the holy kiss’ with men kissing men on the lips and the same for women while greeting each other for Sunday services, for the same reasons as the head covering!
• From Josephine Ngahu in Nairobi, Kenya. It has been amazing listening to the podcasts! May the Lord continue to use you.
• Here’s another listener. I started working my way through your podcast after hearing you on Sheila Gregoire’s podcast, and I am really appreciating your content! Just wanted to let you know that I have also enjoyed your references to flying on missionary airplanes in Congo. I am assuming that the pilots who flew those planes were with Mission Aviation Fellowship? My husband and I served with Mission Aviation Fellowship for 7 years and lived in a remote area of Indonesia where he did that same type of bush flying. We know people who served all over the world with MAF, and likely have some friends in common. Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your stories about mission flying! And, of course, the great insights I’m learning about the Bible and women and men!
• From Melissa Carter. Dr. Fleming! Wow! I just finished listening to your teaching on 1 Cor 11:4-10, and it’s the most logical, well-argued, consistent-with-the-rest-of-scripture explanation I’ve ever encountered. No mental gymnastics trying to reconcile apparently opposing views, no defending of oppressive Jewish rules that scripture elsewhere refutes, no inserting words or making figurative what is literal or what is literal figurative. Thank you so much. For the first time in 15 years, since the last time I studied this passage, I have peace that I have a thorough and settled understanding. I had resigned myself to accepting that Paul commands head covering, because I couldn’t argue with a plain reading of vv 4-6. From the text, I couldn’t accept that long hair is an acceptable covering (as some argue). And while I had decided that if God commanded it, I would submit myself to it, even if I didn’t like it, the truth was that it didn’t sit well with my spirit. Your explanation is so thorough and logical, and I can settle the issue in my heart now. Again, thank you. You have spoken freedom and life into my walk with God.
• From Don on Facebook. Your insights helped me rewrite a chapter in my upcoming book, Cultivating Kids. Appreciate your work!
• Here’s from another listener. Bruce C. E. Fleming- I have been devouring your book… reading and re-reading! Now, on to the podcasts. Thank you so very much for your work!
• And another. My pastor loved your podcasts for Ephesians
• Here’s one from Texas. Bruce C. E. Fleming. My Bible study is studying your book now. 4 weeks on chapter one. What an eye opener. I want to thank you and your wife for the work you do restoring the word and spreading truth. As a woman, the mistellings and misteachings have been devastating. I felt so loved and validated in the eyes of our Lord when I heard y’all’s discovery on the incorrect translations. God loves me! Even though I’m a woman! I wasn’t cursed and created to be less than a man!  I am valued in my own rights. You both are wonderful blessings. Thank you so much. 
• We read this endorsement on a thread on Facebook. This man has a LOT of beneficial perspective shifts for us based on the texts in Genesis. What if humans were never cursed? What if Adam ruling over Eve after the fall is both dysfunctional and reality, never the command of God? Important questions. Thank you for all making these resources accessible.
• Here’s another. I just finished listening to episode 2 of the second season, regarding the structure of Eph 5:15-6:9, and I am thrilled and blown away. I love how you’ve arranged everything like a building with foundations (I’m nerdy about architecture), and expanded on how the ideas are supported by what’s beneath. What a beautiful building God has created, through Paul! I’m excited to keep learning as I work through these studies. These passages have definitely never been explained to me in this way before! I also greatly appreciated your (and your wife’s) handling of Genesis 2-3. Your work has redeemed that passage for me. For so many years I have hated Eve for her stupid gullibility, for causing her husband to sin, and for bringing curses upon all of humanity. But I see now how the protoevangelium really IS good news. My childbearing is complete (we have 7 children), but your words have helped me reform my view of pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. Beyond that, it’s so freeing to me not to have the so-called “curse of Eve” hanging over my head anymore. I’m NOT disregarded by God as needing to be ruled over because of my inherent susceptibility to deception, like I’ve been taught for 15 years. I AM equally Imago Dei as man. I’m on a beautiful journey, as God is taking the lies I had accepted as truths and is redeeming them with his manifest truth. Thank you for helping me along that journey. I’m looking forward to your handling of the “submission” passage. My last pastor stressed that [my submission] was not submission if I only submitted when I agreed with my husband; the true test of my submission (and therefore my good-standing with God) was my complete submission when I DISagreed with my husband. My believing and submitting to that teaching held me in bondage to my husband’s foolish decision making for many years. I am still navigating a thoughtful reinterpretation and correct application of true biblical submission, even as I’m still married to and living with my husband, who sees nothing wrong with our previous teaching, and believes I am in rebellion for questioning it.
• We now have downloads from 107 countries worldwide. Here is a testimonial from Africa in French. Which I’ll translate for you here. Not long ago I discussed this subject with the Sunday School Superintendent of my church. He said that God cursed more than the serpent. He cursed the woman and the man. We agreed to disagree. Your teaching reinforces what I was telling him and makes it more clear. I sent him the link to your YouTube video in French. I asked him to watch it carefully in order to not go back again into his erroneous interpretation.
• Here’s one from Ellen Mays in St. Louis. Good morning! I read your book about the Garden of Eden and Genesis, and I felt reassured that some of my personal struggles with the passages you discuss were solved with your translation/interpretation. I was raised Catholic/Christian, but my family has always wondered if certain passages were not translated/interpreted incorrectly. I shared some of your main ideas with my family and they were also in agreement with your findings. I felt like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders with your translation and interpretation, and feel closer to God because of it. Thank you!
• From L (name withheld). Thanks so much for reaching out and for offering this. I am really enjoying your podcast, truly eye opening and liberating hearing the truth about these passages that I have struggled for years to understand. Something in my gut told me that there was more to these passages than the literal reading of current translations.  I went to Bible college but because I was an education major never studied Greek and Hebrew. Recently, I’ve been learning how cultural influences and religious patriarchal system of belief has greatly influenced Bible translations on these key passages. So your podcast is literally an answer to prayer for me! It has been liberating to truly and finally learn the truth about what these passages say in the original languages and to understand the cultural context after all these years. Thank you to you and your wife for the invaluable work you both do!  
• Here’s another. Hello Bruce–I’ve been really enjoying your studies!! Are you still doing live Zoom classes? I’d love to go deeper. I’ve come to a point where I’m really examining my relation to the ways I was taught the bible growing up and what I’m coming to understand now. As someone with no understanding of ancient Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic, I feel I’m at a distinct disadvantage in trying to figure out these things alone. And coming from circles where I heard such ridiculousness as “Adam only ate the fruit because he loved Eve and knew they’d be separated forever if he didn’t eat, too!” (yes, really), I have a lot of re-learning to do. Response. About those zoom classes. The answer is yes! Our classes are called TruSchool! You can enroll now for the next Study Unit. Here’s the link: Tru316.com/workshop.]