Foundational Woodworking Class

1/30/08 - 4th Day - Before Breakfast. Homestead Heritage, day 3 of 6. Larry and I are in Elm Mott, Texas - just north of Waco, taking a 6 day foundational woodworking with hand tools class.

Monday was a very busy day in class. Basically they did about a 2-3 day course in one day. We started by learning how to sharpen hand tools (mainly saws and chisels - on Tuesday we learned about sharpening planes) and how to saw. I never knew that I didn't know how to saw, but I didn't. There was a massive amount of good info and tips. We practiced sawing for awhile, then we learned how to make dovetails. The end goal of this exercise is to make a small shaker candle box. We practiced dove tails for awhile, then they started us on making the candle box. Every hour or so we would gather 'round and the teacher (Frank) would teach us a new skill or so. I finished the four "walls" of the box at 4:45. Yesterday we finished the boxes with a hinged lid and base. Then we began to learn dado joints. Today we start on a small arched shelf unit. Later we are going to make an "occasional" table, which is a small end or curio table. On Monday Frank took us to the shop and he showed us the stuff they sell. They have some VERY expensive furniture. They make a hand crafted Brazos rocker that goes for over $3000. The class where you make that rocker is $1800 and it is 12 days long, but you leave with a finished rocker. They also have a six day class where you start on Monday with a big chunk of log and you finish on Saturday with a finished Windsor chair. Their plain dinner tables are about $2400, and the occasional table we are making sells for $225. Frank showed us a bureau he just sold. He was asking $17,000 but sold it (he says "gave it away") for $10,000. Most of their rocking chairs go for $1800 to $3400.

I was quizzed a little on our homestead and our community, kind of just a curiosity thing. Frank and Mark are very nice and are very good wood craft teachers. I can't imagine how long it would take to learn all of this stuff out of books.

Oh, there are two females in the class. One short-haired, jeans wearing "missionary" and Bible teacher who lives in Cuba (VERY loud-mouthed). From her comes an endless stream of words about herself and her life, even if no one in particular is listening. I know more about her than I know about some of my closest friends, which is sad. When she isn't talking, a blessed quiet descends on everyone around her - but that doesn't happen often. There is also another lady from Oklahoma City who seems very nice. Several yankees in the class. I am very encouraged to take the more advanced classes, and to build a shop and get tools as soon as possible.

I am very tired. Standing in one place is hard work. You don't realize how long you have been standing in one place, hunched over, until it is time to go home. We start every morning at 8:30 and each day is a very full day.

We are taking a camera with us today and hope to get some pics to post at some time.

Hey, y'all be cool and I'll try to post soon.

Michael

Scattershooting

1/25/08 - 6th Day - Before Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. Herrick Kimball put up a good post entitled An Agrarian-Style Economic Self-Defense Plan. For you folks just now looking into Agrarianism, it makes a lot of sense. My only objection to it would be the "get yourself into a small rural church" idea. Since almost all churches today (as the Bible clearly prophesies) are corrupted and apostate, it wouldn't be a good idea to just go join a church for economic self-defense. The Bible says that Doctrine is one of the two marks of a Christian (the other is fruit), and that we are never to join with those with different salvation doctrines, and that it is a curse and a sin to even bid Godspeed to those who have bad doctrine. A.W. Pink said this (and I paraphrase from memory) - It is better to worship at home alone than to join yourself unto a Church where God's spirit has left. We have acquaintances and I have met literally dozens of people through the years who have told me that they believe in the Doctrines of Grace, and that they realize that Arminianism (Free Will Theism) is a Romanist heresy and is false doctrine, or that they realize that Pentacostal wizardry and such is false, but that they have joined themselves to such and such a "church" just because the people are "precious brethren" who "love the Lord". Thirty minutes of study on the subject should convince you that just because someone is nice and loves THEIR CONCEPT of God doesn't make them a Christian or a brother. It shouldn't take long to ask yourself why God would have us MARK them who preach or operate according to these false doctrines and AVOID them (Rom. 16:17). I have been in many, many churches with very nice people who absolutely smile their faces off and would hug you to death. They HATE sin (they say) and just want to love the brethren. That is they love you until you tell them the truth. Then the switchblades come out. Some of them are willing to call a truce so long as you are willing to zip it about God's truth.

I didn't mean to take away from my friend Herrick's good article, but I just wanted to put a disclaimer in there. Never compromise the only real truth that means anything in order to have friends, influence people, or to have support in an economic collapse. The last place I would ever want to find myself is in a trench in the middle of battle with an Antichrist watching my back.

Ok, so (If the Lord wills) I will be leaving on the Lord's Day afternoon to go to my 6 day woodworking class. Y'all be in prayer for Larry and I as we partake in "learnin'" at the class.

I put up the first two parts of the Darkness and Light series. Here are the links:

Darkness and Light, Part 1
Darkness and Light, Part 2

Well, we finally received some rain here. In fact, it is raining right now and has been raining and drizzling all night. I don't think we received even half an inch, but we'll take what we can get.

The Pope accused the media of imposing "distorting models" of life, and of being unethical. In a related story, a pot called a kettle "black".

In Kuala Lumpur, children can now get debit cards so they don't have to "carry so much cash". I've been to Kuala Lumpur, and I think this is a good idea. You don't want to be carrying a lot of cash when you're eaten by a tiger.

Funniest headline of the day: Pakistan Is Turning on Musharraf. Ok, despite the fact that someone might think that I am obsessed with Kuala Lumpur, this headline might be funnier: Thieves stuff cow into backseat of car, crash it.

This would be funny if it wasn't absolutely serious. Here is a sign outside the door of the headquarters of a marine corps unit in Falluja, Iraq:

Ok, enough for today.

Y'all have a great one.

Michael

Update and Some Such

1/023/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. All is well here on the ranch. It's been a bit cool and damp, though we haven't received any rain to speak of. We need it, though. The prognosticators are calling for "ice pellets" later in the week. Should be in the high 60's in Waco for most of the days of my woodworking class though, which will be nice.

We have been working on some projects around the land and I have been doing "computer stuff" for the last couple of days. I brought my old desktop computer from Lubbock, and I am trying to move all of my old work (sermons, audio sermons, etc.) off of that hard drive into more "permanent" storage. I also hope that this will allow us to complete the missing parts of the Isaiah series, and to post some other older sermons that might not have ever been made available. Stay tuned for that.

I see by peeking that the market opened down another 200 pts. Here is my latest commentary on what that means:

One of the ploys in this system is to make the words "stock market" and "economy" synonymous, although they are not. The stock market is SUPPOSED to reflect the economy, but it does not. Therefore if the stock market can be manipulated, then people can believe the economy is strong because the stock market does well. Yesterday, the market was set to open down close to 5% or more, but the manipulators wanted to make sure that didn't happen. Is that because the manipulators are concerned with the price of stock for just 30 industrial companies (the Dow)? Absolutely not. Nobody believes that. It is because they have built a system where the average guy believes that the Dow Jones Industrial Average IS the economy. The fact is that this economy has been built on smoke and mirrors for a century, and even the easily manipulatable parts are starting to come apart at the hinges.

Think about it. Last week, the manipulators decided that by announcing a "stimulus package", that the market would turn around. It didn't. Surprised? These people think that by just announcing that you might give some people $800 a year from now that the stock market will correct and all will be well! Notice, they didn't GIVE everyone $800. Even that would have been a joke. They just ANNOUNCED that they MIGHT give SOME people $800 in a year. They really thought that that would be a "stimulus"! So yesterday, they announced that they were going to let BANKS charge 3/4 of a percentage point less TO EACH OTHER. Wow! Thanks Government! And, after the stock market rebounded from - 469 to - 129 it was announced that the ploy had worked. In addition, the gov't encouraged stock companies (like A.G. Edwards, etc.) to send "experts" to all of the local radio and tv stations to "explain" why the government had acted, and how it was going to help. Thanks again government.

In the meantime, people continue to debt-spend themselves into oblivion, all for junk and JIT (Just In Time) materials and services. None of it for anything that is real or that will help them if and when disaster strikes. Oil prices hover near their all-time high, during a time when they should be at their lowest point of the year. Gas will likely very soon be more expensive than people can afford. The "stimulus" and the rate drop will only make each dollar that you own more worthless than it was the day before. Infused cash just devalues the dollar more and more. So you are poorer today (in cash terms) than you were yesterday, and tomorrow you will be poorer than you were today. All of this is prophesied in the Bible. Like in Robinson Crusoe, money will be as worthless as dust, but things of real value will become priceless.

Meanwhile, we are becoming cow/goat/chicken/rabbit wealthy, and the folks here are becoming more and more independent of the system.

"Somebody told us that Wall Street fell, but we were so poor that we couldn't tell"

Michael

Scattershooting Wildly

1/22/08 - 3rd Day - After Breakfast. Agrarianism Works. When it became obvious this morning that the stock market, which has crashed well over 2200 points since October 1, was going to seriously tank today, the "fed" reacted by cutting a key interest rate by a huge amount this morning, minutes before the opening bell.

Early this morning, headlines were announcing the collapse of the economy, and the massive sell-off of stocks around the world. Simultaneously, more huge banks announced huge losses. The Drudge report had an article predicting a 500 point drop from the opening bell. Many of the world markets lost 10% of their value yesterday while the US market was closed for some stupid "holy day".

The breaking news of the feds decision to drop the prime rate (the rate that banks charge each other for loans) was a bit shocking to some. The very fact that billions of dollars in INVISIBLE money can be saved by adjusting the rate that banks charge each other, and that somehow this protects and serves the average people in "amerika" ought to be solid proof that the entire Amerikan economy is built on smoke and mirrors. There is nothing real to it. There is nothing to really protect "savings" or other assets. It is all a joke.

Only people with "assets" in invisible and fictional financial "markets" or "tools" can be benefited when invisible machinations are employed to invisibly pump invisible vapor-money into an invisible economy.

The paper-shell system is manufacturing paper supports to bolster a collapsing system. When Bush announced a "stimulus" package last week, the market responded by dropping about 800 points.

The point is, for those of us who are out of the system and who provide for themselves... WHO CARES? It might have an effect on us, in that we still buy things like gas and some food items. But the best thing that could happen to many of us is that those things would become too expensive for us to afford. For those who are "planning" to, or are actually moving towards, going off-grid, I would say that this ought to be the stimulus to get you moving. You may not have much time.

If you haven't started moving yet.... well.... if any man love this world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Well, I haven't posted for a week. I left on the fourth day last week to run up to Lubbock to be with my mother in the hospital. She fell that morning and really shattered her left femur. It took the hospital almost 12 hours to get her a room, and 52 hours to get her into surgery. They put a long rod in from her hip all the way to her knee. I've started to call her "kickstand". I will spare you the rant on my frustration with hospitals, and with cities, and with the fact that trauma centers have to exist because of industrialism.

Robert and I returned home on Friday evening. We had a great sabbath and a great Lord's Day fellowship with the brethren here in the community. On the Lord's Day evening, Jennifer got really sick with some type of stomach bug, and I think I got a touch of it yesterday, but not bad. I'm feeling better today. Because of that, I didn't get my sermon finished yesterday, which was to be part 2 of the Darkness and Light series. I hope to have part 1 posted on BiblicalAgrarianism.com sometime today.

Well, I leave (if the Lord wills it) next week with Larry to go to the woodworking class in Waco. I hope you will all be praying for Larry and I, that we would learn a lot of valuable skills while we are there. I am certain that we will.

For those who have emailed me in the last week. I am absolutely snowed over with emails and questions, and many of them are very, very important. If I have not responded to you yet, please be patient and I will try to get you a response this week. If you do not hear from me this week, please resend your email and I hope to get it while in the motel next week.

Thank you all!

Michael

Making An Emergency Drip Water Filter

1/16/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. We use a British Berkefeld "Big Berky" water filter for all of our drinking and cooking water here at the ranch. For those of you who are new to the blog, we live in an off-grid Christian community in the center of Texas. We live in a small (less than 500 sq. ft.)cabin. We personally have about 37 acres of land, with 2 small tanks (ponds) that usually hold water pretty much year around, unless we have a big drought. There is a seasonal (run off) creek running through the property, but it is dry most of the winter. There is one well in the community, and we are thankful for it, but it is a low producing well and the water is heavy in minerals and gypsum. This water is generally only used for purposes where it will not be consumed by humans. All of our drinking water comes from our "catchwater" system which captures rainwater that hits our small cabin and funnels it into a 2500 gallon tank. This rainwater is then purified in our Big Berky for drinking and cooking. We have been using our Big Berkey for close to 9 years, and it works well for us and we would recommend it.

As part of the Cold Weather Camping and Survival course that I have been teaching to the men in the community, I was intending to teach them how to make a field drip water filter during phase two of the course. Well, we had to cancel phase two because of high winds and the fire danger (burn ban), so I had part 1 of the water filtering and purifying class here on the land for the men and anyone else in the community who wanted to attend. We captured the class on video, so I will be attaching it here in this blog. I made a passive drip water filter which works similar to the Berky - and I made it out of materials that were readily available on the land. The main purpose was to teach principles, so that the actual filtering could be adapted according to whatever materials are at hand or available in an emergency situation. ***Disclaimer - I am NOT a water professional, and I am not guaranteeing anything that you might do. This is provided for informational purposes to show how WE did it, and what I would do in an emergency. You are responsible for yourself****

Notes: I hadn't done this in awhile, and usually you have to change and adapt things as you make the filter based on what materials you have, etc. Sometimes you have to experiment a little to make it work, if you aren't getting good flow, etc. However, this filter worked on the first try, which was a blessing. The one "mistake" I made was that I took the creek gravel directly from being boiled and put it in the filter while it was wet. This meant that it had quite a bit of water soaked in it, and this was the water that came out first during the exhibition. Since we had boiled the gravel in well water, which is real "gypy", the first runnings tasted a bit mineral rich. This wasn't a problem, because it was clean and sterile having been boiled, and the amount of water ran through pretty quickly, so after pouring out about 8 ozs. the water ran clear and pure like from the Berky.

Check out the movie:

Here is a picture of the filter, made from two large Gatorade bottles, along with the pure and clear water that passed through it. This water started as VERY murky pond water.


This next pic is from a smaller water filter that Jennifer made. She was excited about the whole project and made her own after watching me. Hers turned out great:


Ok, this is the end of part 1. I will (Lord Willing) be making a part 2 soon.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael "Salty" Bunker

***PS - the filter is still working fine three days later. I have changed the coffee filter three times. The main change I would make is that I would use better "silica" sand (instead of "play" sand) or no sand at all. The sand we used is very powdery and blocks the coffee filter within less than half a gallon. I would add more gravel, a bit less charcoal, and better sand or none at all. That aside, we have run several gallons of pond water through the filter and it has performed admirably. Jennifer's little filter works great too!

God's Glory Manifest

1/13/08 - The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. I was listening to the Puritan Prayers early this morning, and there is a prayer there that caused me to meditate on it all the morning. I paraphrase: "Lord let me not rest on any doctrine, no matter how Biblical, that does not increase salvation". This caused me to think of all the "issue" cults out there who constantly hammer on their private causes regardless of how that cause intersects with salvation. I have always believed, and am even further convinced, that Agrarian Separatism is the only proper seedbed for salvation, and is the good field in which the good sower sowed good seed. My meditation on this once again inspired in me the knowledge that God has called us out for a purpose, that He has given us strength to do what others only talk about, and that He has enabled us to walk freely in our calling that the cause of salvation of the elect might be furthered. I have long been healed of the need to be popular or even liked, but this encouragement from on high has rekindled in me the desire to stay on message regardless of what others might say or think. I am grateful that God has kindled in us the desire to preach the doctrine of salvation, and that He has given us the message concerning the life that most encourages conversion and sanctification. We are poor vessels for His message, but we praise Him for so using us for His purposes.

In just about two weeks I will be leaving (Lord Willing) for my 6 day woodworking course. I am looking forward to it, and I hope the Lord blesses the lessons and the time for His further use and purpose. Thank you to those of you who have donated thus far for the class.

Ok, it's been awhile since I gave y'all a yummy food report, so here goes...

The other night we had sliced sausage with rice and green beans. Here is how the price breaks down:

The sausage is from our own pigs. At the high end, the sausage could have cost us $1.50 a lb. because that pig was one we bought, and we fed it most of its life. This no longer is the case since we are raising our own pigs born here at the ranch, and much of their food is coming from free ranging. However, we will call it $1.50 a lb. The rice is from our storage and we have tons of it, but we will put it at .02 cents an ounce. The green beans were from our garden that we canned last summer. I had probably 1/3 of a lb. of sausage and about 8 oz. of rice with green beans. So I figure, worst case scenario, I had about .66 in each plate of food. The fun thing is that this is a high estimate, and it is higher than many of our other meals. In the very near future we will be butchering our own hogs, so the price will drop even further. I also paid no taxes on the food. I didn't burn any gasoline in my truck to go and get the food. I didn't put my life on the line to procure it. There are no poisonous chemicals in the food. I did put soy sauce that we bought and stored from the store on the rice. I am such a sellout. I like soy sauce.

Thanks to "you-know-who" for the cigar sampler, and to another "you-know-who" for the Glenlivet Scotch. Y'all know how much I appreciate those who truly have me in your thoughts and prayers, and who show you care about me in diverse ways. So here is how your great gifts were manifest for my happiness. You city folks will likely be grossed out by this, but this is the reality of life off-grid with no running city water:

Most of our "baths" consist of a baby wipe bath or a bucket bath, and even those do not come all that often. I get a field shower once in a blue moon, and even more rarely I drive to the State Park for a hot running stand-up shower. Well, I haven't been to the State Park for well over a month, and my last bucket bath had been over two weeks ago. I told Danielle before the Sabbath that I was absolutely going to take a good hot bucket bath in the camper shower, and I was looking forward to it all day. We got the cigars in the mail on Friday afternoon. Our friend was coming up from Austin that evening, and we heard at about sundown that he was coming over. I had asked Tracy to prepare me a good hot bucket of water and to prepare the shower in the camper for me to take a bucket bath. I can tell you that that bucket bath was one of the best baths/showers of my life. It is hard to explain how such simple thing become such great blessings when you live this life, and I could not help but thank God for water and for heat to warm it, and for peace and quite. So I came out of the shower and got dressed and was glowing in my praise of the great bucket bath in which I had just engaged. Just then, our friend from Austin pulled out a glorious and wonderful bottle of 12 year old Glenlivet Scotch! Ahh! Praise God for aged and tasty scotch. I had a glass poured for me, and produced one of the wonderful cigars from the cigar sampler I had received that day. What a night! Ok, so can anybody not see the hand of God in such simple pleasures that we receive from His hand and that we enjoy for His glory? All natural, no preservatives, no additives or chemicals. This after the meal I mentioned earlier!

Sure I was told by a friend that I am called "the Son of Satan" by one of his relatives - but who cares when God provides for you directly from His own hand?

To God be the glory... amen.

Michael Bunker

Quickee

1/11/07 - 6th Day - After Dinner, but right before Supper. Preparation of the Sabbath. I am worn out and I'm ready for a Sabbath. Today I have been preparing for a class I am going to do with the group on the Lord's Day on filtering and purifying water. We are going to build a large-scale drip filter and a mini water purifier mainly from stuff we have on the land. Today I have been making activated charcoal and cleaning creek gravel (fun stuff) for the class. We are intending to videotape the process and maybe put it up here next week for y'all to watch. We'll see how that project works out. I can make fire from a candy bar and a coke, and I can make pure water from stuff on the land, but putting video up on the internet is a whole different ballgame. Not my speed.

Gotta run. Have a great sabbath!

Michael

Reflections, Part More and Scattershooting

1/10/08 - 5th Day - After Dinner. I got an Ipod. Not that I had a burning desire for the latest piece of technology, but it happened that I was owed a spot of money, and the fellow had a brand new Ipod that he did not want or need, and so I bartered for it. It is a 30 gig video Ipod. One of the first things I loaded onto it was the Puritan Prayers from the Valley of Vision. If you haven't purchased the Valley of Vision yet, then you are not doing yourself a service. The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan Prayers in print. I bought the leather version which is bound like a Bible, and I keep it in my camping gear and read it anytime I sleep in the bush. Anyway, they have an audio version read by Max McLean which is really great. I uploaded them into my computer as MP3's and then loaded them onto my new Ipod. I like to listen to them in the morning as I start my day. I want to learn to pray, and this is a good way to learn.

I was reflecting in the last post about the War of Northern Aggression, and I had recommended the Warriors of Honor DVD to anyone who wants to have a firm grasp on the real reasons for the war. Though it hints at it, the documentary fails to emphasize that the real reason behind the war was the insatiable greed and covetous of northern industrialism, and their desire to see the south as both a market for northern industrial goods, and as a source of industrial raw materials at cheap prices. The entire myth of a "backwards" south full of inbred, racist, ignorant, crackers was started by an unholy alliance between the industrial/commercial banking powers, and the liberals in yankee pulpits who could not stand that the mantle of conservative Puritanism had departed the north and had rested upon the fiery preachers of the South. It is a fact that the greatest division between north and south was in doctrine, and not in the several opinions of slavery. The north had, since the mid 1770's imbibed first Arminianism and then liberalism, to the point that the yankee "church" had become purely secular and humanist by the mid 1850's. Here is a quote from an article by Steve Wilkins that was recently posted on our BiblicalAgrarianism.com forum:

The New England intellectuals made Reason the supreme authority in matters of both faith and life. The Bible was rejected as a book full of errors, myths, and contradictions, while its doctrines of human depravity and God's sovereignty were denounced as the enemies of "progress." The ultimate authority was to be found in man rather than in the Book. Basic doctrines were abandoned. The fall of mankind was myth not fact. Evil was merely the consequence of man's environment or his lack of education, not his nature.

Salvation was the job of social reform, not God's grace. "Reform" became the new religion of the north. Ridding the world of "abuses" took the place of evangelism as the means of salvation.

The South, to the contrary, was never congenial to religious skepticism. Even prominent Southerners like Jefferson had little influence. Throughout the nineteenth century, the South grew more and more united in its theological commitment. In Civilization of the Old South, Clement Eaton states that by 1860, "All classes in the South adhered to a conservative faith, a common orthodoxy. The variations between the different forms of Protestantism...were principally in matters of ritual such as baptism and communion...In the beliefs that mattered -- the role of the supernatural in life, the efficacy of prayer, ideas of sin, salvation, and an over-ruling providence -- there was virtually no disagreement."

The division, then, was between a conservative, agrarian, freedom loving, Calvinistic south, and a liberal, industrial, government loving, Arminian north. These are the divisions that made war inevitable, and it is these divisions that also should make the war perennial. Only by casting off its religion did the south succumb to reconstruction. The documentary would have done well to drive home this point, though it does well at what it does.

I have also been commenting on my recent re-reading of Robinson Crusoe. If one is aware and is paying attention, the same themes make themselves evident in this book. First of all the book is basically a long conversion narrative, and I was not surprised to read that Defoe was a great fan of the conversion narrative, as a Puritan and the son of a Puritan dissenter. Second, Crusoe makes a point of emphasizing how worthless money is in a situation where God has separated someone (or some group) from the rest of the wicked society. Crusoe looks at the money that he saved from the sinking ship as more worthless than dust, and utterly useless to him. A tobacco pipe, or a dram or rum, or a small handful of corn and rice seed, however, was priceless to him. This made me think of how quickly we compromise by continuing in buying the world's goods. We convince ourselves that money will always be necessary, and we make decisions based on comfort and ease, rather than on how dependent we become on those things money can buy. I see in the book a condemnation of capitalism (though the idea of "capital" and "capitalism" wasn't created for some time after the book was written). The things of greatest value on a deserted island were more concrete - like a Bible, some goats, tobacco, tools, etc. Crusoe prays for and desires "society" or conversation with like-minded people, but he praises God for the solitude and the separation from covetousness and from the wickedness of the world. Sounds like an advertisement for Biblical Agrarianism to me.

Ok, so back to some scattershooting:

For those of you who like good music, here are some sites to visit and check out. Americanaroots.com is a great site for good roots music. They have tons of free music on that site and I found that I could subscribe to their podcast on Itunes and upload it into my new Ipod. They also have an internet radio station. The same folks that run that site have a new site called Emugga.com, which is similar to Myspace for music groups and artists, but the real roots music folks will be much more satisfied with the amount of attention and play you get from Emugga.

This idiot thinks Ron Paul is the Antichrist. Ron Paul is NOT the Antichrist, but, as I said last week - he does love the Antichrist.

Warning, Sarcasm and Satire to follow...

This pervert pastor was sending obscene text messages to young girls. Now, I have long said that Romanism, Arminianism, and Charismania will always eventually lead to sexual deviancy. My suggestion for the pastor's defense, however, is that he point out that at least he was wanting to molest young girls and not young boys, which would be sick.

EQUAL TIME: Catholic Pedophile Priests, the Effect on Society

EQUAL EQUAL TIME: Remember how the Catholics always belittle the millions and millions of murders by their Popes and Jesuits by claiming that "though there were some 'isolated excesses', the numbers claimed by Protestants are all a myth? Here is a Catholic Pedophile defender who claims that the "Pedophile Priest" phenomena is a myth!

A recent romanist commenter pointed out that the 10's of millions killed by the Roman Church had to be a myth, because the population of Europe didn't reach 40 million until XYZ year. Classic dissembling and propaganda. No one has claimed that the Church killed 100 million at the same time, or all in one country, or even all in Europe. What BS! They always admit "some excesses" when they deny the facts of history. Funny that when someone rejects the 6 million Jews killed number put forth by the Holocaust machine, they are called "history revisionists", "haters", and "anti-semites". But if someone denies that 10's of millions of people were killed by the Romanist Church, they can lie all day long and they are not accused of actual history revisionism. Message to the Romanist Agrarian real holocaust denier: Start counting with the millions killed in this hemisphere by the Papist Spanish and move forward from there. Read Robinson Crusoe where Defoe rightly identifies the "Spaniard" as the most hateful, murderous, frightful being in existence. It is pretty sad when cannibals look on your Church as a murderous and godless rabble. Read the G.A. Henty books, books based on actual history and not the made-up history that the Papal Church peddles. Sailors in the 1600's prayed that if they must be captured, they would much rather be enslaved by the Moors, or eaten by savages, then to be captured by the Spanish and maybe turned over to the Inquisition. I wonder what the Jews and other modernists would do if the Germans admitted "some excesses", but denied the Holocaust?

I remain Anti-Antichrist,

Michael Bunker

Reflection

1/09/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. Back to seasonal temps it seems. 25 degrees this morning was a bit cooler than the prognosticators were expecting. It's supposed to be 65 today though, but we'll see. I should spend most of it inside working on a sermon, but we'll see about that too. I'm currently uploading last weeks sermon - Suffer Little Children - which is about the importance of parents being active and concerned in the salvation of their children. I hope to have it up some time this morning.

Danielle and I watched a masterful documentary the other night entitled "Warriors of Honor: The Faith and Legacies of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson". I highly, highly recommend this documentary to any of you (which means almost all of you) who have been hoodwinked and lied to about the War of Northern Aggression which some of you still erroneously call "the Civil War". This is not a piece of southern propaganda, but is a factual examination of the truth of the war according to the photographic and documentary evidence (from both North and South), especially as it pertains to the character and motivations of some of the leading generals of the war. So many of the people with which I must communicate, including so many of the regular readers of this blog, are so ignorant about true history that I cannot emphasize enough how valuable this DVD would be to the spiritual maturity and growth of you and your family. The video properly begins by pointing out that so many southerners warned that the history of the war (and its reasons and beginnings) would be rewritten by the victors, to the point that in the future, throughout every jurisdiction of the south, southerners would be taught an alternative history that would completely turn the whole era on its head. The video not only goes through a brief and informative history of both of these legendary Christian generals, but it compares them, their motives, and their actions (from actual documents, letters, etc.) with those of their opponents in the north. If you are interested in a less "biased" opinion of the video, here is a review written by a yankee viewer from Wisconsin:

http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2005/warriorsofhonor2004.html

So many people hear my occasional comments about the war, and they respond in very typical ways:

1. They are offended that I do not accept the revisionist history preached by industrial globalists and Christ haters, and they do not care to hear any information that will absolutely destroy their delusions.

2. They are confused that I am not repeating the same old lies that they were taught in publik skool.

3. They agree that there may be something to what I am saying, but cannot believe that it would have any importance today.

4. They don't really care one way or another, and really couldn't tell you the difference between the "Civil War" and the Revolutionary War.

I have told the story before of the time I was up visiting and speaking in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a few of us took a trip up to the Gettysburg battlefield. I was in the car with two older friends and a young lady from that area who had graduated from college. After some time of hearing me rattle on about the true history of the war (I have been a student of the war since my youth), this young lady said, "I don't know anything about the war and don't know why it matters". I turned to her and said, "You have a college degree... can you tell me who fought in this war?" She said, "I don't know, like England and America I think". Hmmmm.....

Yet everything that she is; everything that informs her reality; even the fact that she doesn't even know who fought in the war or what it was really about, bears witness to how important the war really was. Stonewall Jackson said, "If the North triumphs it is not alone the destruction of our property; it is the prelude to anarchy, infidelity, the ultimate loss of free and responsible government on this continent. It is the triumph of commerce, the banks, factories." Now, after many generations of infidelity and the loss of free and responsible government, after many generations of the triumph of commerce, the banks, and factories, we see the product of it in the ignorance and carelessness too deaf and dumb to lift up head or heart to any modicum of truth. Repentance demands that we see and know the truth so we can be properly apprised of our condition.

Which leads me to another point. A week or so ago I watched Gods and Generals again with some folks from the land. The movie reminded me again of why it is so difficult to communicate with anyone in this generation. I read some reviews (this movie got AWFUL reviews, especially from the ignorant yankee-trained writers of the mainstream media) where the reviewer was laughing about how ridiculous it was to have the poor ignorant people of the south speaking such "big words" and such poetry. What the yankee reviewers are angry about is the proper portrayal of southern culture. Almost all of the dialogue in the movie is taken directly word-for-word from the biographies and autobiographies of those involved, including the letters written concurrently with the events. It is a stark point to note that the "little men" on both sides were highly educated and mentally acute compared to our generation of idiots today. Note the comparison made as two leaders leave their homes to go to battle:

1. Southern General Stonewall Jackson reads out of 2nd Corinthians with his wife, and prays with her that God will avert the coming danger.

2. Yankee Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain pleads with his wife to go to war, whereupon she quotes to him from Richard Lovelace "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars":

TELL me not, sweet, I am unkind

That from nunnery

Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,

To war and arms I fly.

True, a mew mistress now I chase,

The first foe in the field;

And with a stronger faith embrace

A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honor more.

Richard Lovelace

The point here is not to do a review of God's and Generals, but to point out that though the South was Christian and the north was secular and deist, both sides were peopled with educated and intelligent men whose very vocabulary and lexicon was poetic. Now, in trying to explain or document the war to modern folks, they would have to look up every other word in a dictionary because of how dumbed-down they are - which goes to prove the point of what Jackson was saying. The Southern loss made inevitable the loss of a culture which was intelligent, poetic, aware, and God-centered. We have instead a culture which is idiotic, crass, unaware, and self-centered.

May the South rise again.

An excerpt from Lee in the Mountains, by Donald Davidson:

If a word were said, as it cannot be said--
I see clear waters run in Virginia's Valley
And in the house the weeping of young women
Rises no more. The waves of grain begin.
The Shenandoah is golden with a new grain.
The Blue Ridge, crowned with a haze of light,
Thunders no more. The horse is at plough. The rifle
Returns to the chimney crotch and the hunter's hand.
And nothing else than this? Was it for this
That on an April day we stacked our arms
Obedient to a soldier's trust? To lie
Ground by heels of little men,

Forever maimed, defeated, lost, impugned?
And was I then betrayed? Did I betray?
If it were said, as it still might be said--
If it were said, and a word should run like fire,
Like living fire into the roots of grass,
The sunken flag would kindle on wild hills,
The brooding hearts would waken, and the dream
Stir like a crippled phantom under the pines,
And this torn earth would quicken into shouting
Beneath the feet of the ragged bands--

Peace,

Michael Bon Coeur

Robinson Crusoe and a January Rant

1/07/08 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. We had a great Sabbath and Lord's Day. Very peaceful. In addition to the other books I am reading, I picked up Robinson Crusoe - the unabridged version - that one of the children had left lying around. I had not read it since high school and I was curious if I remembered any of it. I was shocked how deeply spiritual and doctrinally sound it is. I can say that I do not remember any of the long chapters on repentance, duty to God, Sabbath keeping, sorrow over sin, the providence and goodness of God, etc. Specifically the conversion narrative chapter when Robinson has the dream of Christ coming to him in fire and judgment, and afterward prays for God to give him repentance, which he receives - this was an excellent read. After that, in several chapters Robinson is reminded of his duties to God in prayer and supplication, and he constantly reads the Bible, studies it, and seeks to serve God. This was very challenging and very motivating to me. I was not surprised to hear that Daniel Defoe was a Puritan and the son of a dissenting minister. The book has also encouraged me in my own writing, as I have often been torn about writing a fiction novel, though I have determined to do so if the Lord wills.

Anyway, I would strongly recommend Robinson Crusoe if you have either never read it, or haven't read it in some time. It brought to mind that I have the complete works of Daniel Defoe in my library, and I will have to read some more from him when and if I ever get my office finished.

There are several great things about writing a blog. It is a great journal that I can turn back to and read. I like to go back a year and read about what was going on then, and how much has changed. You don't notice change much when you are living life, so it is nice to be reminded how much God has blessed us in a year, and how much has changed. Another great thing is that my life is an open book, and when folks come visit or communicate with me, I usually don't have to go through a mini-biography. I am shocked sometimes how much people know about me and my life. It never ceases to amuse me when I meet new people and they say things like "have you had any long-term effects from that spider bite?", or "do you still have the cow that kicked you in the knee?" A blog is also a great way to hear back from friends, and to hear from new friends who are on the same path of life as we are. One of the bad things about writing a blog is that it seems to be an invitation for anonymous loudmouths, trolls, false prophets, and critics who like to pick apart what you say and pontificate to you as if they know you. Frankly, I refuse to listen or heed anyone who criticizes me anonymously. You see, some people have a tremendously high regard for the things that they think. In normal life, you would listen to someone because you know them and you know their own manner of life. You would seek out people you respect, and you would be glad to heed their counsel and advice. If someone I respect comes to me and has something to say to me, I would listen to them. Now, if some no-name loudmouth walks up to me at Wal-Mart and wants to deride me for my full beard, do you really think I give a flip what he has to say? I actually get Romanist antichrist worshipping stalkers who anonymously prophecy against me via the free "comment" service on this blog. The things about opinions is that everyone has one, and everyone seems to think that theirs has merit. Now, I do not surf the internet and participate in other forums, etc. I do not go to Romanist blogs and spew at the writer my opinions about the Papal Antichrist. I do not surf blogs anonymously and give people my opinions. I do comment on two or three Agrarian blogs because a) I respect the blogger and what he/she writes, and b) I am generally known by them and I comment under my real name. One of the greatest evils in the internet age is the plague of anonymous opinions, or the high regard people have for their own. It is one thing to write your opinions down on a business card and throw it into your garage so that only someone who is actually looking for it may find it - this is what a blog is. No one gets my opinion that doesn't ask for it. People seek out these things, they are not thrust into their faces. I don't buy "clicks" or google ads. It is quite another thing to surf around anonymously and force your own stupidities on other people who do not know you or care what you think. I encourage comments on this blog - in fact, I would like to have more of them. But I do not encourage anonymous sniping or opining.

Ahhh... an early January rant.

Ok, so we are in the midst of a heat wave here in January. I woke up to 60 degree temps at 4 a.m. this morning. It is supposed to be back in the mid 70's again today (it was near 80 yesterday), and then start heading down into the 60's throughout the remainder of the week. We continue working on our double-dug gardens and I will be working on some sermons today. I hope to have the sermon notes from a week ago up sometime today.

Hope everyone is doing fine,

Michael Bunker

Splatter Shooting

1/03/08 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Just some thoughts here early in this January:

- You are late because you are selfish and prideful, not because you didn't plan well, or because something came up, or because you forgot something. Being late, especially when it is a usual thing, is because you care more for yourself than anyone else. If you really didn't care about yourself, then you would never, ever, want to make someone else (especially a LOT of someone elses) wait on you. Something came up, or you forgot something, or you didn't plan well, because you are obsessed with yourself and you put everything and everyone else second. People who are always on time, or always early, are forgiven when they are late. Think about it. And by the way, if you are just "on time", then you are late.

- Every time I go to town I can actually feel my blood pressure go up. I am not sitting in judgment on "townies" because I'm better than them. My commentary is on my old carnal man, whom I desire to see die more daily. I used to be them. I know what they care about and what they love. I hate Wal-Mart, and I hate the whole Wal-Mart culture. I hate a culture that has sold out honor, respect, and virtue - and has deified physical beauty (which is such a stupid, stupid, passing, vain thing), temporal wealth, and comfort. Amerikan wars are not fought to spread "democracy", as if the rule of the ignorant masses of mind-numbed gluttons will ever bring any real peace. Amerikan wars are not fought for freedom, as you can well prove by merely listing the freedoms you have had to give up in order to fight them. I hate Rush Limbaugh, bumper-sticker conservatism. I hate mindless consumption and the glorification of stupidity. I can feel myself overwhelmed with stress when I go to town, and I can feel the stress fall off when I return home.

- I forget sometimes how children think. I used to be one of them too. Yesterday little Sarah asked us this: "If a stone man was walking around and you hit him with a rock, would he break?" My answer: "There are no stone men". Later, to the guys, I did admit that I used to know some "stoned" ones.

- It never ceases to amaze me how quick we humans are to defend our turf, to seek out offense, to never give others the benefit of the doubt, and to always assume the worse. I used to think I was cynical, but I included too many syllables. I am SINful.

Alright y'all. Be cool.

Michael

Dos aught aught eight

1/02/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. Greetings y'all. Man is it cold this morning! 15 degrees and frosty. We had our little propane heater going all night in the cabin and it is still only in the 50's inside. Danielle says, "It's too cold for breakfast". Today the high is supposed to be in the mid 40's. The prognosticators are calling for nice temps towards the weekend - 70's during the day and high 40's at night. That will be nice.

Today is our "first Wednesday" community work day. Each first Wednesday we all get together and do work projects on the land. Today we will be working on the west entrance to the property, and putting up a fence around the Ante's house to keep the cows out. We will also be gathering up stones for some low places in the community road that fill with water and mud when it rains. We all enjoy first Wednesday because it is a good time of fellowship for the whole community - and it reminds us why we are doing all of this.

Tomorrow we are having a party over at the Antes to celebrate that most of the "new folks" have been on the land for a whole year. The Antes, the Sustaires, and Chris Woods have all been here in the community for a year now.

This morning we will be moving two of my male pigs to their own pen. These will be the first two to get butchered here pretty soon. We plan on butchering the pigs ourselves, which will be a first for us. We also have some goats to butcher as well.

I think I mentioned that one of Tracy's rabbits had two bunnies - which seem to be doing fine. I think the other female is due to kindle sometime this month. It will be nice to have our rabbit production up and running after several failures (including that a rattlesnake killed our two females last year).

So the world says a new year has come, but I really do not feel much different. A year ago we were welcoming all of the new homesteaders to the community, and I was making cheese and doing a lot of canning. We're not milking right now, so I haven't been making any cheese, but everything else hasn't changed much. Reading my blog from a year ago, it was 22 degrees on this morning. Colder this year.

I think I turn 41 this year. I can only tell when it is this cold.

Michael