Virulent Attacks

4/11/07 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. I suppose that of all people, I should expect more of this - but it still doesn't make it easy. Being attacked by worldlings and religious zealots is all part of the job description for what I do. I've been attacked by everyone from nameless Internet terrorists to big name charismatic hucksters. I've been threatened by just about every type and class of professing "christian" that is out there, and even by some folks who don't even pretend to be God's children. I've had the brother of a slain CIA agent threaten me because I called into question the VERY questionable public account of his brother's death; and I have had husbands/sons/daughters/friends, etc., threaten me because their loved one no longer subscribes to the worldly false gospel of industrial free-will Amerikanized churchianity any more. It's all to be expected. This is all right there in the scripture. The Bible says that we must be persecuted and attacked, because evil men and seducers must wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:12-13).

While all types and ages of people are prone to threaten and rail when they are angry or when they feel they have suffered loss, most (but not all) of the most slanderous, wicked, and defamatory attacks come from a certain group... young (20-something) men, knowing nothing, mental and spiritual midgets, ignorant and deceived, who have fashioned themselves as teachers, prophets, even apostles to the unlearned and unwashed masses.

When a young man first comes upon a tiny bit of knowledge, if he is not yet tempered and trained by wisdom and understanding, if he is not guided by an elder or by divine discretion, he soon sees himself NOT in relation to the perfect Word of Life, but in relation and comparison to the ignorant masses around him. He sees that his generation is woefully ignorant of any truth whatsoever, and that they have no knowledge of anything to do with the Bible or with truth. In a few short weeks a man can know mountains more than the blind crowds swirling around him. He realizes that he knows more than just about anyone he knows, therefore it is said that "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". We've seen it happen a thousand times. So many times a young, enthusiastic man has contacted us about learning from me in the ministry. Whether he travels here to learn in person, or whether he stays away and learns from a distance - very shortly he begins to believe he knows something, and, becoming puffed up, he soon finds that he must attack me (or anyone else) who tries to tell him that he really doesn't know anything at all. It is for this reason that young men in Israel were not allowed to teach until they had reached 30 years of age, and this after having studied from the age of 12 or less. Young Israelite men being prepared for the ministry were to have the Pentateuch memorized by the age of 15, and STILL they were not permitted to teach for another 15 years! Of course, Bible memorization and age are not sufficient to make anyone a good teacher, but the lack of knowledge and the pride of youth are certainly a dangerous mixture, and wise elders sought to mitigate the damage by making it more difficult for these puffed up young know-nothings to deceive others. This is also why the practice of choosing teachers, elders, overseers, etc. in the New Testament Church required that a man chosen for such a position be "not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil" (1Ti 3:6). A novice is:

One who is new in any business; one unacquainted or unskilled; one in the rudiments; a beginner (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

Now, do not do as these young, puffed up men do - and conclude that I have said that because a man is 30, he is then qualified to teach. Clearly age alone does not qualify a man to teach. This type of fallacious reasoning (basing opinions on logical fallacies) is the same thing that leads these young teachers into such grave error.

You see, when a man is young, he is more likely to be suffering from 2 conditions which generally preclude him from rightly examining information reasonably:

1. He has a wrong view of himself; which usually means that he has a desire for acceptance, reputation, the praise of men, fame, etc. He sees that he knows more than the ignorant masses, so he wrongly concludes that he is special, and that others should see in him what he sees in himself. He does not see his limited knowledge in comparison with the perfect and true Word of God. He sees his knowledge in comparison with those around him, and concludes that he is gifted, special, talented, and worthy of respect and honor. The Apostle James, brother of Christ, said that these men looked into the mirror (the perfect Word of God, and the Royal Law written therein) and walks away, not knowing what manner of man he really is. He has a skewed view of himself. He is not careful with God's Word, but operates mainly out of a sense of "self". He must defend and build "self" and reputation at all cost.

2. He does not have the humility or the experience to place things in their proper perspective and context. He operates mainly on emotion, and cannot dispassionately examine all the information available. His passions override his reason. He cannot calm himself (cool his jets), give something time, study it out, or let something go. Every slight or perceived questioning of his honor, integrity, honesty, knowledge, or perfection must receive maximum retribution. While in this condition, he is a base creature, somewhat of a monster, unreasonable, stumbling into all error and, according to the New Testament, liable to fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Pride was the first sin of the devil, and those who walk his path fall into the same condemnation. The devil, through his pride, rails and attacks the children of God, and sets himself against God's servant ministers.

Let us look at the latest case-in-point.

“Andre” (also called “Werner” and several other aliases. He does not offer his real name or any information about himself on his website – a sure sign of cowardice and that he is a deceiver) is a young man who first came to our BiblicalAgrarianism.com website shortly after we first opened in the fall of 2005. Andre was ignorant, unlearned, very difficult to understand (because his English is poor, and because he thinks unclearly). After several public rebukes, Andre (then as “Werner), was kicked off the forum and banned for un-Christian behavior. Andre tried to weasel his way back on the forum using several aliases, that were all exposed – and his entry was blocked. Shortly after that, Andre/Werner sent me several emails attacking me personally and calling me every name in the book. Emotionalism is common in those who operate according to the flesh and not the Spirit. Only a week or so after his attacks, Andre emailed me again begging my forgiveness and asking that I would PLEASE let him back on the forum, because (according to him) I was the only one out there preaching the truth, and he needed to learn. After a brief and light rebuke and warning, I allowed Andre back on the forum, but told him that he was NOT qualified to teach, and that his main purpose on the forum was to learn. Of course it was not long before Andre blew it again. Once again he took any challenge to anything he had to say as a personal attack, and always responded WAY out of proportion to the rebuke. Once again Andre was kicked off the forum, and once again he followed his pattern of personal attack, followed by remorse, apology and the plea to be given yet another opportunity. Each time I accepted his offered apology and let him back on the forum. Each time, in very short order, Andre would blow up on the forum and be kicked off again. This final time was the last straw. Early this year Andre once again wrote me and asked if he could be allowed back on the forum. He claimed that this site was the only one where he could learn. He claimed that he had learned from his youthful errors, and that he recognized his folly, and that he really wanted to sit and read quietly and learn. You should note that at this time “Andre” had started his own teaching website, and that he had always claimed that my book SWARMS OF LOCUSTS was really good and valuable. He had never voiced any concerns at all about the book.

Well, once again I took Andre at his word and let him back onto the forum. Once again, Andre began to try to teach and preach on the forum, and once again he “blew up” and was booted from the site. This time I told Andre that it was the last straw, and that he would never be allowed back on the site.

KABOOM

Here is the latest from “Andre”, the anonymous “man from Germany”:

CLICK HERE

http://germantelegraph.blogspot.com/2007/04/michael-bunker-preaches-another-christ.html

In his attack piece, “Andre” makes allegations that are patently untrue; he purposely and wickedly claims that I teach and believe things that I do not teach or believe. He takes out-of-context statements from my book (a book he formerly championed) and twists them in order to prove his lies.

IRONY

The main point that “Andre” is trying to make, is that (he says) I deny “imputed justification”. I suppose he means “Justification by imputed righteousness” (it is righteousness that is imputed, so that we might be justified – his terminology betrays his ignorance). Of course, he knows that I teach no such thing. Anyone who has read any of my materials know that the foundation of my whole ministry is the teaching of Justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ.

“Andre” takes a specific point I was making concerning the false Papist/Arminian teaching of continued justification through repeated sacrifices on a temporal/physical altar, to claim that I believe exactly what I was disproving in those texts! “Andre's” errors, misstatements, slanders and lies are so numerous in this piece that it would take me weeks to unwind them, and since he is a nobody with no real audience I will decline to do so unless I have to. It is sufficient to point out the foundation of several of “Andre's” errors.

#1 “Andre” falsely assumes (as do the Catholics) that “heaven” is some place up in the clouds, just outside of our view, up in space.

#2 “Andre” falsely assumes that Christ's blood can only be in one “place” in one “time”, despite the fact that a) Christ himself was in more than one place at once (I will show this in a minute), and b) Christ's work was purely temporal and had no spiritual/eternal component.

Let us look at some verses:

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:12-13 KJV)

Now, this verse plainly teaches that Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, and that He had come down from heaven and was then among them speaking to them. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man here. This verse ALSO plainly teaches that as Jesus Christ is speaking these words, He is also in heaven!

If I taught (rightly) that the Bible teaches that the Son of Man was in in heaven at this time, “Andre” would claim that I was teaching that Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh! However, If I claimed that Jesus Christ was NOT in heaven at this time, but was on earth, “Andre” could claim that I was denying the deity and perpetual and unchangeable Godhood of Christ!

You see how easy ignorant deceivers are able to deceive others. They are deceived themselves, so they can easily distract and deceive others.

This has nothing to do with my teaching on Justification, which is clear, orthodox, and widely known. This has to do with “Andre's” shattered pride at being rebuked and chastised as a know-nothing who is unqualified to teach. He twists my words, lies about my meaning, and defames and slanders me for two reasons:

1. Because he believes it vindicates him. He has been pouring over the tens of thousands of pages of my writings that are available on the Internet and in print with a fine-tooth comb for months trying to find ANYTHING he can use against me.

2. Knowing that he has been unable to find anything substantial, he fabricates a position he personally knows that I do not hold in order to make his attack. He builds a straw man because if he does not try to hurt me, his rebuke and rejection stands.

Now, this is not a defense of me. My position on Justification by imputed righteousness is well known and documented. This sermon by me:

THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION

has been available on the Internet and widely heard for several years – even before young “Andre” ever even heard of the doctrine. I will be posting the full text on BiblicalAgrarianism.com very soon.

Ok, so the attacks have not stopped there. One of "Andre's" friends, another man from the forum who was recently rebuked by one of our elders for his behavior, had his wife call one of our friends and supporters to allege (or imply) that we had stolen or embezzled money that was intended for her. When the wife was informed that not only was this NOT true, but that she had received money from me in excess of what she could have possibly expected or hoped, the wife apologized to the women (but not to me of course) and tried to act like it was not part of a very concerted and organized effort to slander me and try to bring me down.

This stuff happens all the time. If Jesus was crucified by His enemies, and if Paul had assassins, dagger-men, and professional slanderers who made it their duty to try to end his ministry, we can expect that those of us who are far less than them should expect like treatment. Are we surprised? No.

The purpose of this blog entry is to, once again, warn people against the devices of the enemy; to strengthen the brethren in trials and persecutions, to caution young men against falling into the snare of the devil; and to glorify God for His strength and power in causing us to persevere against such evil attacks.

Just another day at the office.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker