Heartland Sabbath

6/29/08 - The Lord's Day - Early. Good Morning everyone. I hope everyone had a pleasant and restful sabbath day. Word is that the ranch received over an inch of rain last night, praise God! This morning we wake up in western Ohio. Thus far we are well over the 2000 mile mark on this trip. On the 6th day we met with a local brother in Ohio Amish country and he gave us a tour of the area. We started at Lehman's in Kidron, Ohio, and then we wound our way through many beautiful miles of Amish country for most of the day. Then we went to brother Russell's awesome little country store in Johnsville, Ohio for some great coffee and some goodies for the road. We ended the day near Fairborn, Ohio - near where I spent 7 years of my youth back when my father was in the military and stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. We spent a peaceful sabbath here, and today we will be continuing our trek west.

The Lord has granted us the opportunity to do some ministry during the trip, and to meet some great and gracious hosts up here. Today,Lord willing we will be zig-zagging our way across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas - meeting folks in three different states as we make our way towards Topeka, Kansas. Don't know how far we will get today, but ideally we will be in Topeka late this evening to pick up a brother who is coming back to Santa Anna with us. On the way we hope to meet quite a few people, and we might even be performing a baptism in a pond in Missouri!

We are open to the Lord's leading, but if he wills, we will be steaming down I-35 some time tomorrow towards Texas and home... all to begin planning a return trip to Pennsylvania - to tear the roof off of brother Jim's Civil War era home. Maybe you'll join us in PA for that endeavor?

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Deliberately Meeting a Deliberate Agrarian

We drove up to New York to meet Herrick Kimball (The Deliberate Agrarian). This picture is of me, Herrick Kimball, and Joseph. Our brother Chris Woods was gracious enough to take the picture. We met with brother Herrick at the Cracker Barrel in Binghamton, New York. We had an awesome time, some great conversation, and we really enjoyed the fellowship. Herrick told us a little about what's going on in his world, and we were able to get to know a guy we all look up to in this Agrarianism movement. I liked him more in person then I already liked him via his great blog. I told the brothers that I would have driven all the way from Texas to meet Herrick even if I didn't have other business up here in "Yankeeland".

I have a lot of other great things to talk about, but time is short and we are still on the run. We had some great fellowship in Gettysburg, then we drove to Fairfield and met a neat Agrarian extended family who took us on an awesome tour of their farm and barns (pictures to come). Tonight we are in Cleveland, Ohio and tomorrow we will be touring Ohio Amish country and we will be meeting another brother who lives closer to Columbus.

Ok, so we totally changed our route, and we are now taking a northern route. I am sorry if we missed out meeting or seeing any of you, but we have been somewhat flying by the seat of our pants (we call it being "fluid"). We will be spending the Sabbath here in Ohio, and then heading towards Kansas on the Lord's Day. We will be passing through Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Kansas City on I-70.

Ok, I have to run. I'll be blogging more about the trip, and hope to have some great pictures posted soon. Y'all stay tuned.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Safe in PA

6/23/08 - 2nd Day - Early Morning. We made it up to Gettysburg, PA last night and we had a very joyous reunion with our friend Jim and with a couple of other brothers who used to live with me and work in the ministry. We had a good night of fellowship, and today we will be looking around the house and property to see what we can do to help brother Jim since he is currently too weak to work. The brothers have been here for several days and they have been working at getting Jim's garden in order. I'll know more about what the plan is after we get an opportunity to look around today.

Anyway, I wanted everyone to know we made it safely and we are up here in Pennsylvania. I will send out an update on my email list as soon as I am able.

Peace y'all,

Michael Bunker

On The Road

6/20/08 - 6th Day - Late Afternoon. Preparation of the Sabbath. We are on our trek up north. We stayed the first night just outside of Little Rock, Ar. after about 9 hours of driving. Tonight we are staying in a Motel 6 in Knoxville, TN - and we will also be staying here through the Sabbath. We haven't had much internet, so it has been hard to keep you updated. In Little Rock, we ran across an interesting vision. The picture is bad, so I will have to explain to you what happened...


In the picture, there is a sign that says WARNING: PREPARE TO MEET GOD, and the picture is in front of the Applebee's. You see, these three guys - we'll call them Tim Lahaye, Hal Lindsey, and Rod Jordan - came up to us and said, God is coming back any day to rapture us! They didn't quite agree on WHEN, but they swore that he was going to be at the Applebee's, so we drove over there. We stood outside for hours, although we did wonder why God was going to be meeting us at the Applebee's. Anyway, after several hours we began to get depressed and angry, and we started fighting amongst ourselves and wondering what had happened. Then another three guys - we'll call them Hymaneus, Philetus, and Bryan Lewis - came up to us and said, "What are you guys doing?" We said, we're waiting for God at Applebee's. They said, "You dolts, God came to Applebee's way back in 70 a.d. You missed him. We're already in the Kingdom, Satan is bound, and the lion is lying down with the lamb. All nations have made their swords into ploughshares, and the resurrection is past". We sat and looked at eachother dumbstruck and decided to eat somewhere else.

The trip is going well, and we have had good and safe travels so far. We look forward to being in Pennsylvania tomorrow if the Lord wills.

We won't be traveling on the Sabbath, so we will leave Knoxville on Sunday morning. I'll try to post some more pictures later.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Just a touch of rain...

Well, we did receive a touch of rain last night. The first in a long, long time. We are grateful for it, and we pray for more. The plan is for me to leave on my northern trip in the morning. Two of the brothers here (Chris and Joseph) have graciously agreed to accompany and assist me. Money is going to be much tighter than I had originally thought, so y'all be in prayer that God will make appropriate provision for this trip. The problem is that things must continue here at the ranch while I'm away, and usually the donations that come in for a trip like this are actually (or close to) the normal donations we would receive anyway, so in effect we end these trips in a great big hole. I pray that that is not the case this time.

Things are going along well here, considering the drought. We have graciously been spared any major problems - such as fires, etc. The ponds are drying out and we are having to travel to town to get water, because we have still been unable to complete the catchwater on the office... AND, we haven't any rain to catch.

The Gospel changes you... Here is an interesting visual for you. A picture of my wife Danielle and me back when we got engaged:


Here is us in 2005...


Now, I think we can agree that the Agrarian separatist life changes you a bit. Especially when you are awakened at 5 a.m. by a 4 foot rattlesnake eating your rabbits... which almost never happened back when that first picture was taken.

Semper Agrarianos,

Michael Bunker

Heading Up North

6/16/08 - 2nd Day - Late Afternoon. Ok, Here is the deal on my trip. A good friend of mine who lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is really sick. He's been sick for some time, but he has gotten worse and I need to get up there to see him and minister to him if possible. This is a friend who was with us when we made the move here from West Texas. He helped me build this cabin, and he went through the first really hot summer with me - even when we didn't have an outhouse, any water, or any way to cool off when it was 104 degrees. He returned to PA to get married, and not too long after that he was diagnosed with cancer.

As of right now I am planning on leaving here on Thursday morning the 19th. I may or may not have one or two of the men here from the ranch with me. My plan is to drive through Dallas, Texarkana, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Western Virginia (I 81) all the way up to the Gettysburg area of Pennsylvania. Our trip back will be wide open, and if anyone wants to plan for a visit or a get-together, meeting, sermon, etc., let me know what you have in mind and I'll see what I can do.

I hope to be up to Pennsylvania sometime on the Sabbath, but we'll see. My days of driving around the clock are way behind me. I do hope to take pictures and to keep my blog updated on the trip, so y'all can all go with me.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

A very slight probability...

Clouds... rain? I learned I can blog directly from my cell phone and send pics too, so check back more oftener and you might see some cool stuff.

Michael

R&R

6/13/08 - 6th Day - After Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. Hey friends. Writing here today from historic downtown Fredericksburg, Texas, an old German town about 2 hours south of our ranch in Central Texas. Every year (usually in February) for many years Danielle and I have gone to San Antonio for our anniversary. This February we were unable to go because of financial limitations, and we had pretty much given up the idea of taking a trip together at all this year. Then our brethren the Antes asked us if we wanted to accompany them on their anniversary trip to Fredericksburg. Logan offered to give us a donation sufficient to pay for most of our room and board, so we agreed to go. We have had a lot of fun and relaxation, and today is heading-back-home day. One of the coolest things we did was to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. The museum is actually made up of about three different museums. On the first day we went to the Chester Nimitz museum and the "George H.W. Bush" museum (which is actually the museum which chronicles the entire pacific war), and on the second day we went to the Pacific Combat Zone museum, which was really interesting. They had a mock-up of an aircraft carrier hanger deck, a PT boat exhibit, and an outdoor area built exactly like an island occupied by the Japanese, complete with tunnels, pill-boxes, etc. Anyway, we really enjoyed visiting the museum. We also visited The Pioneer Museum, which was a museum built on 3.5 acres which showed what life was like in Fredericksburg in the mid-1800's when the colony was founded by the Germans.


It is alway interesting to us when the tour guides on these Pioneer tours say things like, "Can you imagine what it would be like living in the heat without air-conditioning, running water, or electricity?". Ummm..... Yes. We can imagine it, thank you. These tours are always interesting though, and we always take note of building designs, building methods, and any tips we can learn about how these folks lived.


Today we head back north to the ranch, and I am ready to be back home. We had a good time, the weather was perfect, and we got a lot of good rest and relaxation. I hope to be back to blogging regularly after the Sabbath. Back at home, the weather continues hot and dry:

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
97° F | 72° F 36° C | 22° C	97° F | 72° F 36° C | 22° C	97° F | 74° F 36° C | 23° C	97° F | 74° F 36° C | 23° C	97° F | 74° F 36° C | 23° C
Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Clear

Peace y'all,

Michael Bunker

Banned from Sermonaudio!

6/09/08 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. News from the Rants continues... It is funny how sometimes a story just begs to be told. I have received quite a few emails recently asking me why I wasn't on Sermonaudio(dot)com. I get the question every couple of months, but lately I have been receiving it quite a bit. Then, the other day, Brother Herrick Kimball over at The Deliberate Agrarian wrote that he had run across the sermons of Ian Paisley at Sermonaudio and it seemed to me that this story was just begging to be told, since the owner/operators of Sermonaudio are affiliated with Mr. Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church.

So here goes...

One day (I don't remember what year it was... probably early 2003 some time) I started receiving an enormous amount of communications (emails, etc.) about a sermon I had done and that had been posted on my Lazarusunbound.com website. The amount of emails I was receiving was inordinate, so I started asking people where they had heard the sermon. It turned out that someone (I don't remember who) had posted one of my sermons on Sermonaudio. Several people, including a few folks who were helping me in the ministry, asked me why I didn't have all of my sermons posted there. Well, so we ended up starting a Sermonaudio account and we began posting my sermons on there every week.

It didn't take long and we started noticing something. For years (we are told) the most downloaded sermons on Sermonaudio were those of Ian Paisley and one or two other Free Pres. preachers. Back then, Sermonaudio had a "hottest" downloads counter on the front page with the top five downloaded sermons, and they had a longer list of top downloaded sermons linked elsewhere on the site. But the top 5 list was right on the front page. Almost inevitably, the top 5 sermons were all sermons by Ian Paisley or, like I said, one of the other popular Free Pres. preachers. Well, within a week or so of us uploading sermons, we noticed that my sermons were getting into the top 5... usually at number 5. Then, within a month or so, we noticed that the previous weeks sermon was moving up to number 4, and then the new sermon was going to number 5. This would stay that way all week. Well, long-story-short, it wasn't long before my sermons were taking up all top 5 spots. Week after week. Every day. I was shocked by this because Sermonaudio is the largest pulpit in the world, and the sermons downloaded there make up the largest amount of downloaded sermons on the entire internet. I wondered what the institutional, formal denominations thought about this non-affiliated, radical, separatist preacher being the number one downloaded preacher on the internet. I actually speculated many times that "they" would find some way to get me booted off of there, or worse.

Well, as I predicted, it didn't take long.

It started with a sermon I did about Christmas. I don't even think it was a sermon about Christmas, but I think I derided and made fun of the celebration of pagan holy days by professing "christians" in one of the sermons that was very popular on Sermonaudio. About that time I was also doing a series of sermons on the identity of the Antichrist:

The Doctrine of the Papal Antichrist Listen Download
That sermon was part of a series which included:

Testimony of the Spirit Concerning Antichrist
The Testimony of History against Antichrist

and culminated in a "shocking" sermon:

The Shocking Truth About the False Prophet

Ok, so here is where the story gets interesting. After the "christmas" comments, I received some emails that speculated (or warned me) that the owner of Sermonaudio, a big supporter of the pagan holiday of XMAS, wouldn't like me talking bad about his festive holiday. I don't know if this is true about the guy or not, but this is what I was told. So I kind of figured when my sermon which condemned XMAS was number one on Sermonaudio and blowing the doors out with the number of downloads, that something was going to happen.

So when this False Prophet sermon came out, we received an email from Steve Lee - owner of Sermonaudio - that we were being summarily kicked off of Sermonaudio and that all of our sermons would be removed. No reason was given at all, we were just kicked off and all of the sermons were removed. The next day, Mr. Paisley and his Free Pres. preachers were returned to their rightful place in the top 5 downloads at SA.

So I went public with the story. First, I admitted and agreed that Mr. Lee was fully well able to kick off any preacher he wanted to. He owns the site and he can do with it what he wills. But I said that, as a professing Christian, Mr. Lee ought to owe me and his own listeners an explanation as to why he was booting us off. Here was the reply I received from Mr. Lee:

From: "SERMONAUDIO.com" <info@sermonaudio.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 20:24:19 -0500

Dear Mr. Bunker,

In our Articles of Faith we state: "SermonAudio.com embraces the historic Protestant faith."

Since you have stated your view that the Protestant churches are daughters of the Harlot, it would be entirely inconsistent for us to carry your sermons.

Sincerely,
Steven Lee
Founder, SermonAudio.com

Mr. Lee obviously could not discern a difference between Modern apostate Protestantism, and "Historic Protestantism". Here was my response:

Mr. Lee

I have always stated that the "modern so-called" Protestant churches are the daughters of the Harlot. I have always and will continue to exempt true Protestantism from those accusations. The historic Protestant faith which you embrace is based on God's sovereign Grace alone - this Protestantism I defend humbly every day. I do find your willingness to embrace Arminians like David Cloud suspicious, when he vocally disputes virtually every tenet of true Protestantism. I think you will find that if you study our statements on this subject, you will find us in total agreement on this subject. Although I do not expect to be re-instatedto SermonAudio, I would be glad to publicly clarify my position if it would satisfy your suspicions regarding our adherence to historic Protestantism - but it would not answer for many people why you are so quick to challenge our adherence to your Statement of Faith, while you embrace Arminians who absolutely adore the doctrines of Papal Rome.

So far as a strict adherence to historic Protestantism, you would be hard pressed to find a more sincere defender.

Once again, I support your right to do what you will with your website. I pray that God will move within you to research the topic and examine your own motives in this regard.

Peacefully your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Of course, this all caused a great controversy at the time. You'll have to remember that it wasn't just us quiet Agrarians at that time, this was all taking place around and about the largest pulpit in the whole world. In response to the controversy, I sent this explanation out to my listeners:

Brethren,

In answers to the "suspicions" and accusations of Mr. Steve Lee of SermonAudio.com, I provide here a direct quote from a sermon which was for many months broadcast daily on SermonAudio.com. It can be found in my sermon entitled THE SHOCKING TRUTH OF THE FALSE PROPHET, and it plainly states that APOSTATE Protestantism is the False Prophet, and elsewhere (in numerous places) that MODERN so-called Protestantism is the False Prophet and the daughter of the Harlot. If Mr. Lee holds to his view that these statements mean that we deny "Historic" Protestantism, then he does not understand the plain difference between MODERN and HISTORIC, and he also needs to explain why he believes that Apostate Protestantism is Historic Protestantism. If Mr. Lee requires it, we will provide the names of scores of Historic Protestants who also believed that apostate (arminian) Protestantism would be the False Prophet.... Editor

"America is the home of Apostate Christianity. Her churches evangelize the world with the false doctrines of Arminianism and Miracle worship. She is the home of the biggest so-called Protestant ministries in all the world, and she causes all the world to worship according to Papist Arminian Free-Will doctrines. The False Prophet is a nation (America). The False Prophet is a church (apostate Protestantism), and the False Prophet rules over the world, a world that shakes in fear of the fire that America has called down on her enemies. Although Protestant America has the form of a Lamb, she speaks as a dragon, threatening the world with her miraculous weapons. By the way, she says, “If you are not with us, you are with the terrorists”. (Michael Bunker - The Shocking Truth of the False Prophet, June 3, 2003)

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

In the sermon, I clearly delineated between Apostate Protestantism and True or Historic Protestantism. Mr. Lee chose not to consider that there could be a difference.

Next, with the encouragement of many of Mr. Lee's audience and supporters, I sent to Mr. Lee some historic evidence so that he would not think that I had made up my conclusion on my own... I also included a quote from Dr. Ian Paisley to emphasize the point:

Mr. Lee,

I respectfully submit, along with my previous communications, the following historical evidence that it has been a common teaching among many prominent historical Protestant teachers throughout history (of several denominations) that modern apostate Protestantism is in fact the False Prophet and daughter of the Roman Harlot:

“The second beast, the false prophet, is the ecclesiastical organisation of the Antichrist, the spokesman of the first beast. Such are the priests of Rome... today we see the most influential clergy of apostate Protestantism crying and rushing to Rome that they too might have this power.” (Dr.Ian Paisley)

In 1120, the Waldenses in Italy taught that the False Prophet would be false preachers who taught the doctrines of the Antichrist.

In 1259 Ubertino of Casale of France taught that the False Prophet would be false christians who would follow the Beast of Rome.

In 1637 Dr. Thomas Goodwin of Britain taught that the Protestant image of Ecclesiastical Rome would be the False Prophet.

In 1768 Thomas Pyle an Anglican preacher taught that Jesuitism would be the False Prophet. In my book (Swarms of Locusts) I prove that modern Arminian apostate Protestantism is Jesuitism. Augustus Toplady also proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt in his “Arminianism, the Road to Rome”.

In 1778 British Presbyterian John Willison wrote that Protestantism would be the False Prophet.

In 1788 British Dissenter James Bicheno taught that apostate Protestantism would be the False Prophet.

In 1799 American Congregationalist Samuel Hopkins stated that apostate Protestantism would be the False Prophet.

Sincerely,

Michael Bunker

Mr. Lee chose not to respond, not to explain, and not to help any of his audience who had a problem with what he had done to understand his actions. Here is a letter sent to me by a Sermonaudio listener. It is pretty representative of hundreds of such letters sent to Mr. Lee and cc'd or copied to me:

Mr. Lee

(info@sermonaudio.com)

I don't see where Bunker is at odds with you. I like statements of faith if they are given upfront. This shows folks that they are not Christian "weaklings" and will boldly stand up for what they believe.

I've listened to his sermons (Bunker's) and have also read 2 of his books. Bunker's delivery is man-like and he doesn't deliver like an effeminate, however, this should not disqualify him; he believes strongly in what he preaches.

Since you mention your statement of faith I do have a question for you regarding "other" members I see broadcasting on SermonAudio. There are a ton of Arminians currently listed that I know full well don't support the statement of faith, in fact preach vehemently against what you personally believe, especially the guy over at O Timothy magazine, which has e-mailed his written sermons all over the world, ridiculing great reformers such as Calvin, Luther, and CH Spurgeon, while lifting up doctrines right out of the Catholic Church.

As I take this time to reply to your message, my computer has alerted me to other incoming messages. One of the messages is a reply back from Mr. Bunker regarding this issue. In the mail I received from him, he quotes you as saying, "In our Articles of Faith we state: "SermonAudio.com embraces the historic Protestant faith."

Oh my goodness! Please make reference to my previous paragraph! There are a bunch of broadcasters who don't embrace your "historic" Protestant faith that currently have sermons that ridicule your personal perspective on Protestantism. I have been Pro-SermonAudio recommending your site since I first stumbled onto it a long time ago and have found it sickening to my stomach when I hear the same old traditional garbage from those broadcasters who trash the TULIP and insert their views on salvation in which the Historic Reformers proclaimed were the traditions of Rome and men. Actually, I'm surprised that SermonAudio allows the preaching of a Pre-tribulation Rapture and Dispensational Futurism that is inexorably linked to the Vatican since you're opposed to the ecumenical organizations such as Tim LaHaye's Evangelicals and Catholics Together. You have many broadcasters that would say that you're in error and hindering the cause of Jesus Christ because you cater to people that adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith.

In conclusion, if you don't have a problem with Ian R.K. Paisley, Francis Nigel Lee, and Arthur W. Pink, (of whom I highly respect) you shouldn't have a problem with Mr. Bunker either. If you're offended by Mr. Bunker's proclamation that some of the so called Protestant Churches are "daughters of the Harlot", check your recent church history. Van Impe, Graham, LaHaye, TBN, are so called Protestant Organizations that are filled with like minded Protestant Churches and they and their leaders are once again following that great whore of Rome to varying degrees. Ian R.K. Paisley in particular has drawn very similar conclusions as Mr. Bunker regarding these Protestant churches, in which he calls their pastors and professors, "hypocrites", "generation of vipers", and "whoremongers". You can't be a whoremonger if there is not a whore involved! If a Protestant Church decides to teach Dispensational Futurism and teaches people that Antichrist is yet to come, is a singular evil person, and salvation is ultimately the personal choice of the man, they are by default "flirting if not actually sleeping" with the great whore of Rome, for they are the originators of this filth. Brother, the whore of Rome and her emissaries have invaded SermonAudio and are spreading their anti-Historic position and all it's vileness to all that listen.

Personally, brother, I'd trade at least 10 of your current crop of Arminians for 1 Mr. Bunker any day of the week!

Get this straightened out for the benefit of all. You might also want to have them reaffirm their compliance to SermonAudio's Articles of Faith and adhere to Historic Protestantism without glorifying the positions of Francisco Ribera and Emmanuel LaCunza (Rabbi Ben Ezra).

In Christ,

(name withheld)

Ok, so that is the Sermonaudio story. We shook the dust off of our feet and have moved on. It is interesting to me, though, that preachers and listeners on Sermonaudio continue to refer to me and Sermonaudio really can't do anything to sanitize themselves from the influence of Michael Bunker. Read the "brief sermon overview" for this sermon recently placed on Sermonaudio:

"I was about to preach this sermon and had my notes out and made one last click and came across a comment by Michael Bunker about Romosexual(ity) and how the reprobate mind is in and of it's self a judgment of God." (Pastor Michael Slattery)

Like the ironically and comedically inappropriately named APuritansMind website, it doesn't matter how much they hate me, they can't quite flush my influence from their site. By the way, as an aside, don't ever tell The Right Reverand C. Matthew Mc(Pope) over at apuritansmind that you are in any way affiliated with me. He will have you filleted, excoriated, mind-raped, verbally chastised and figuratively chained and thrown into a lake. Like his father the Archbishop Laud, he will have no fellowship with "covenant breaking anabaptists", and he looks forward to the day when the powers that be (the future Reformed Kingdom of Protestantopia) will let his ilk kill you like they did in the good old days.

Anyway, I know a lot of you just love Sermonaudio(dot)com; and it is likely that there are a few Christ-loving preachers there who do not know that the only reason that they are still preaching on that site is that they haven't committed the three cardinal crimes:

1. Thou shalt not be more popular than our own stable of homeboys.

2. Thou shalt not dare to point the finger of blame at those who finance our internet kingdom.

3. Thou shalt not slay or in any way attempt to melt our own private idols.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and we will let things fall out however the Lord wills. There is no idol so important to me that I will not ask the Lord to slay and kill it, even if it hurts me in this carnal world to do so. We are commanded to seek first the kingdom of God, and by doing so we must lay aside and put behind our backs all things that build the kingdoms of this world. Pride, greed, and slavish service to private worldly interests do not serve the Kingdom of God.

We know that the truth makes enemies, and the truth cannot be bullied into conformity or syncretism with worldly interests. That is just a fact we must deal with. If you choose to tell the truth, you will be persecuted and slandered. It is a fact, then, that if you are not persecuted and slandered, if you are popular and accepted, if you do not make enemies, then you are NOT preaching the Word of God.

Facts are facts. I have to live with them. So should you.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

A Short Break....

06/08/08 - The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. I figured I would take a short break in my recent rant barrage and give y'all an update on what has been going on around here. As some of you knew, we had a pretty large forest fire around here last week...


This is just about 4 miles south of our ranch, and the winds were blowing at over 20 mph straight from the south. The forest service was called in after the first day (Wednesday) when over 1500 acres burned. The forest service planes were coming in over our land at a VERY low altitude, and several of us stood up on one of my hills and watched them line up to drop flame retardant on the fire...


Here are some more pics of the fire fight...



We heard from a lady in Santa Anna that a total of somewhere around 3500 acres burned, and a Coleman fireman told us that on Friday evening they had the fire about 95% contained.

We now have a 40% probability of rain on Monday and Monday night, so y'all continue to be in prayer for us here. Other than with the drought and our water challenges, things have been going pretty well. Danielle and I will finally be going on our belated (by 5 months) anniversary trip next week. Usually we go to San Antonio every late February, but this year we were unable to go. So on Tuesday she and I will be heading down to Fredericksburg, Texas with the Antes (Logan and Kris) for some R&R. Fredericksburg is a little german town about 2 hours south of here in the hill country. Fredericksburg is one of the biggest "getaway" locations in Texas, and some of you might remember that three years ago my son Robert and I were photographed by the New York Times travel section while sitting outside a store in Fredericksburg...

The NYT didn't think I was as cute as Robert, so I only got my arm in the picture, but if you go the original link and click on Robert's picture, you can see the whole picture. Oh, and I don't wear baseball caps or a goatee any more either.

Ok, so I wanted to give you all an update from the Ranch. Back to "News from the Rants" tomorrow when I will tell you the story of how I was kicked off and banned from Sermonaudio(dot)com when I was the most downloaded preacher on the internet...

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Wait... I'm not done...

6/06/08 - 6th Day - After Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. I've been on a string of rants and I'm far from done, so stay tuned. Hey, thanks to Herrick Kimball for linking to my beard articles. Funny thing, in the same post Herrick mentions that his chicken plucking blog had been commended in Slate Magazine (Congrats Herrick!). In his next blog post, Herrick mentions that the Slate mention had gotten him over 2,500 hits on his chicken plucking blog (WOW!). Well Herrick, what Slate did for your traffic, you do to mine. Just think - when you linked to my beard articles it really increased my hits on this blog! See... we can call it trickle down blogonomics. When I link to some smaller blogs, their hits sometimes double. Someday we ought to get a good chain link fence going... We'll get Time Magazine or someone to link to Herrick, Herrick links to me, I'll link to the Sifford Sojournal or some other great blog, and we'll see how far we can keep it going. So Herrick, you are the Slate Magazine for us radical/extremist separatist-agrarian bloggers. By the way, everyone should buy Herrick's Whizbang Chicken Plucker Book.

Thank you also Herrick for actually reading or listening to my sermons on The Beard before commenting on it. Some folks don't feel they need to do that. Frankly, the "I prefer the 'Christian' freedom of 1st Corinthians" comments and emails from people who didn't bother to read the sermons just make me sad and disgusted. But, the topic gives me a good place to continue my rant...

So... did you all know that, apparently, the whole book of 1st Corinthians is a "trump" card that eradicates any moral requirements or Godly commands in the Old Testament? A "trump" card is a card you can pull out and it automatically beats any other card. There is this opinion in modernist "christianity" that the Bible is contradictory and that some parts need to be "trumped" by other parts. I know that Paul said "God forbid", but let's run with this theory for a minute. The regulation that Godly men not trim or mar their beards is found in Leviticus the 19th Chapter...

(break for second: Listen, I know that this is repeat information for those of you who actually read or listened to the sermon, I know that there is an enormous section in Part 2 of the beard sermon where I answer objections to the very literal and plain command concerning the shaving of the beard. But many people don't like to read the actual material before they comment on it, thus they missed the very important information)

Anyway, so the regulation on the beard is found in Leviticus the 19th Chapter. Modernist religionists now say that "Christian freedom" (what they mean is Christian license) allows them to throw out any of these old rules and regulations if they don't particularly like them. Historic Christianity taught that all of the MORAL laws of the Old Testament were binding unless particularly abrogated in the New Testament, therefore only the laws concerning the priesthood and the sacrifice - the ceremonial and sacrificial law - were abrogated in the NT. I ran into this "trump card" theology most blatantly one day when I was debating a homosexual in Dallas. According to him, homosexuality is acceptable and the laws against it were all "Old Testament" and therefore didn't apply. I know, you're thinking "but Romans surely condemns it", but you have to know that Homosexuals don't choose to read it that way. It doesn't mean that to them. Besides, if you can use 1st Corinthians to trump one part of the Bible, you can use it on Romans too... right? So, the theory is that homosexuality is now permissible because of "Christian freedom". The same argument, based on the same foundation, is now used to "trump" the plain and blatant regulations on the man's beard.

So, since this very recent "trump card theology" has reared its ugly head, I'm trying to figure out how to use it to my advantage...

SARCASM ALERT (you have to picture this portion as an infomercial for the new BIBLE TRUMP CARD)

There is this verse only a couple of verses after the beard verse in Lev. 19 that has caused me some trouble. You see, I've been wanting to prostitute out my 15 year old daughter (Lev. 19:29), but something kept telling me that it would be wrong. This commandment against that kind of thing kept hindering me from doing whatever the hell I want to do. Thanks to the new "trump card theology" of 1st Corinthians, I now have a clear conscience in doing many things I once mistakenly thought would be wrong! Thanks Trump Card! Here are some other things I've been wanting to do, but from which I have hitherto been hindered:

I've been wanting to... disobey my parents (vs. 1), make a couple of idols to worship (vs. 2), defraud some Christians (vs. 11), swear falsely on the Lord's name (vs. 12), cheat my neighbors and withhold the pay of employees (vs. 13), curse some deaf folks and put stumblingblocks in the path of the blind (vs. 14), mistreat the poor (vs. 15), spread some lies and gossip (vs. 16), hate my neighbor and get revenge (vs. 17,18), get some tattoos for the dead (vs. 28), use some enchantments and witchcraft (vs. 26), etc...

Man... THANKS 1st CORINTHIANS TRUMP CARD!!!!

Now, the modernist free "christian" will say, "But... but... but... if I am a TRUE Christian, I won't WANT to do those things". They will say, "God doesn't work through law anymore (that was the Old Testament 'god'), he uses our wants now. What? You won't WANT to have other gods and have idols, but you will WANT to violate the sabbath, mar your beard, and observe false holy days? Is that right? So the 1st Corinthians trump card only covers those things that we want to do? An aside: I really, truly had a friend tell me this, and I have heard it hundreds of times since then. I was asking him if the Ten Commandments were now abolished in Christ, and he said, "You see, if you are a true Christian, you won't WANT to do those things". I said, "then why don't you WANT to keep the Sabbath?", and he said, "Well, that one was abolished". "Where? I asked." He said, "You don't get it... If I am a Christian, I won't WANT to murder, I won't WANT to steal, I won't WANT to covet". I said, "Yes, but there are TEN commandments in that section, why can you violate one (the sabbath) just because you WANT to?". He had no answer. He said I just didn't get it. But what if I really WANT to prostitute my daughter? Does Christian freedom allow that? I agree with the Apostle Paul... GOD FORBID.

Lord give us the wisdom to reject modern antinomianism and lawlessness and to rightly divide the Word of Truth so that we might keep your Word by your power and strength - and honor and obey you to your glory before men and angels.

Anyway, again Herrick... thanks for the link. My warning to you though, brother. If you keep calling me your friend, and linking to my articles and sermons, you are going to rankle some of the folks in your readership. I would be surprised if you weren't already receiving warnings and hate mail. I do thank you for considering me your friend, and as always I look forward to reading your blog every day.

By way of clarity, so someone doesn't waste his time emailing me and telling me how I am cursed now to continue in ALL of the law. As we have said, Historic Christianity teaches that the laws pertaining to the sacrifice and to the priesthood (the ceremonial and sacrificial law) were abrogated in Christ who is our sacrifice and our Great High Priest (after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron and Levi). The moral law, according to all of Historic Christianity until the Antinomian heresy, is and has been perpetually binding on the true Church, for our good and for the glory of Almighty God.

"But some may ask, "Has not the Law been fully abrogated by the coming of Christ into the world? Would you bring us under that heavy yoke of bondage which none has ever been able to bear? Does not the New Testament expressly declare that we are not under the Law, but under Grace; that Christ was made under the Law to free His people therefrom? Is not an attempt to overawe men’s conscience by the authority of the Decalogue (ten commandments) a legalistic imposition, altogether at variance with that Christian liberty which the Savior has brought in by His obedience unto death?" We answer thus: So far from the Law being abolished by the coming of Christ into this world, He Himself emphatically stated, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets (the enforcers thereof): I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17, 18) . True, the Christian is not under the Law as a Covenant of Works nor as a ministration of condemnation, but he is under it as a rule of life and a means of sanctification." (A.W. Pink - The Ten Commandments)

"The black devil of antinomianism is just as wicked and destructive as the white devil of legalism." (Charles Spurgeon)

Boy, and I haven't even gotten started yet.

More to come....

Michael Bunker

Down with all "isms"?

6/05/08 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Maybe I'll have to start each blog here for awhile with a "it's so hot" joke. It is so hot that when a coyote chases a rabbit... they both walk. Well, that joke is a little too straight-forward for me. I like jokes that are more "groany" (they make you groan) and which have a bizarre twist at the end. Like this: It is so hot that if you tried to cook an egg on the sidewalk... you'd die from the heat. The next joke in my stand up routine would be one that just didn't make any sense at all, but used a word in a weird and unexpected way, like this: It's so hot you could poach an egg from a game warden. My routine would then be interrupted by me looking around to see if anyone... anyone at all, laughed.

The prognosticators are calling for a minuscule probability of rain tonight, so y'all continue to remember us down here. They are also saying that the high temps should drop a bit over the next few days. The high today is only supposed to be 94, and they are saying maybe 91 tomorrow. That is like a cold front after the last couple of weeks.

"So, Michael, Isn't Agrarianism just another 'ism'?"

Sometimes people offer up a protest or an argument that is all fat and no meat. This is an argument I hear pretty often. Isn't Agrarianism just another "ism"? Since most people have no experience in challenging presuppositions, or in pointing out the weightlessness of an argument, the average agrarian would shift into defensive mode here, trying to explain (with red face and shuffling feet) why they have been so foolish as to fall for the latest "ism".

But the question is really rooted in a very modern thought. What they are really saying is "I don't trust anything that can be defined". Sure, some (but not all) don't mind being labeled a "Christian", because someone way back when was wise enough not to call Christianity - Jesusism or Christianism. If the exact same belief system - the exact same Gospel, was called Jesusism or Christianism, then (according to this modern idea) it would have to be rejected. All "isms" are bad. In fact, in this modern world, all labels are bad. Well, not all labels, but any label that goes back more than about 50 years is bad. So, for example, you have people who are willing to call themselves "Red-letter Christians" (as if God didn't speak and write the ENTIRE Bible), but they wouldn't dare define any attribute or philosophy of the Bible with an "ism". Rejecting "isms" has become another way for confused or arrogant people to differentiate themselves or lift themselves up without actually saying or believing anything. For example, you have probably heard "I am not in a religion (the word religion is spewed like it is a poison), I am in a relationship". Forget how un-Biblical that thought is for a moment (James 1:27), but let us examine the heart of the people that say this stuff. Is it true that they have this extraordinary close and personal relationship with God? I mean, are they going over to God's house for milk and cookies while the rest of us are genuflecting at corn flakes shaped like Mary? The fact is that they have learned a MANTRA, and it makes them feel better about themselves. So, a professing "christian" tells you that Agrarianism is just another "ism", and you are expected to grovel around this high and transcendent thought. The funny answer is to look back at them very thoughtfully and say, "Oh, like Baptism... huh?" Then it is your turn to sit and watch them try to squirm their way out of it. But the fact is that this is another modern mantra that doesn't have any meaning. An "ism" is a distinctive and consistent system of beliefs, doctrines, or theories. an "ism" then, is a system or policy that actually shows forth what someone believes. Our method of BAPTISM reflects what we have believed concerning the Bible's command that true believers be Baptized. Our entire philosophy of who we think Jesus is and what He has done is embodied in our philosophy of Baptism. How silly and stupid would it be to toss out Baptism just because it ends with "ism"? It would be equally stupid to reject "Jesusism" (if the religion of Christianity had been so named) out of hand, without first examining what it is that is being defined. The fact is, people want to tilt at verbal windmills and reject any thing that is challenging or condemning because it is easier to beat the air than to actually have to defend what one believes and how what one says lines up with God's Word.

Now, I will admit that there are many flavors of agrarianism out there today - and the flavor you get from me is going to be far different from that you will get elsewhere in the thought-o-sphere. There is Mercantile Agrarianism which is the prevalent form of agrarianism being pushed by the neo-agrarianism movement. Second to that would be what I would call Syncretistic Agrarianism (or Worldly Agrarianism) which, like Mercantile Agrarianism, attempts to blend the holy and the profane, the world kingdom and God's Kingdom, and takes the failed industrial model and puts agrarian lipstick on it. If you search the internet much or read many agrarian blogs, this is mainly what you are going to get. However, if you reject those faulty schemes (as you should), you should reject them based on what they believe, what they say, what they teach, and on the errors in their philosophy... you should not reject them because of a suffix that you don't particularly like or understand. On the other hand you have Christian or Biblical Agrarianism, and here again each portal of information ought to be examined to see what it is and what philosophy it holds. Some so-called "Christian" agrarian blogs or adherents are maybe Christian, and maybe agrarian, but usually not both. One so-called "Christian Agrarian" blogger pontificates from his on-grid farm, from atop his expensive industrial tractor, about why more people don't go for "that old time religion". What he means by "old time religion", of course, is the Arminian Charismatic/Pentacostal movement, which has only existed for a little over 100 years, being created by a sodomite (Charles Fox Parham, the father of modern pentacostalism) and a bunch of women around 1900. So you have to be careful, just because someone claims to be a Christian Agrarian, doesn't mean he is. The point is that you have to judge things with righteous judgment, and examine something for what it is and not by the perfume it wears or the costume it puts on.

Man, these last few blogs have turned into rants. But I have more to say...

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

No Rain, But at least it's Hot!

6/03/08 - 3rd Day - Midday. Peace y'all. Still no rain in sight, or in the prognosticators forecasts. It is so dry here that we have to chew up sand to make spit. Everything around here right now revolves around water. Watering animals, watering the gardens, running to get water, hauling water, trying to drink enough water. As I mentioned in the last blog, we are taking our drought here personally, and Elder David and I, following the pattern set by the Puritans, have called for a day of sorrow and repentance here on the land. If any of you would like to join us, the day will be tomorrow (Wednesday). I am not asking any of you to fast, etc., unless you would like to. I don't believe that those kind of things can be requested or commanded. God has to lead us to such things. However, if you are joining us in this day of repentance and sorrow (prayer, confession to God, affliction of the soul, etc.), please let us know by posting a comment here on the Process Driven Life blog. Particularly ask the Lord for rain here at the ranch, and that He would forgive us of our shortcomings and of our sins, and that He would show us mercy. Here is the prayer I wrote towards the end of the drought in 2006:

You are eternally mighty, Jehovah. We ask you to give us that portion of your rain that will make our land fruitful and verdant when it is now dry and barren. You have used the image of water in your scripture to symbolize your might and power. You have used the rain or lack thereof to bless and to chastise your people. It is your power that caused the rain to fall that brought the flood upon a wicked world that perished.

It is your power that caused Elijah the Tishbite to prophecy that there would be no rain upon the land for years according to thy Word. You are our God and the God of our forefathers. We petition thee to provide sufficient rain to us in the merit of your great faithful ones, our forefathers of Israel. Remember the righteous Abraham, who was drawn after You like water. For his sake, we petition thee for rain.

Remember Isaac who digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father. For his sake, we petition thee for rain.

Remember Jacob, our Agrarian model who dwelt in tents, watered his herds and his gardens, and to whom Isaac said, "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine". For his sake, we petition thee for rain.

Remember Moses drawn forth from the water. He helped the seven daughters of the priest of Midian by drawing water for their flocks. For his sake, we petition thee for rain.

Remember thy Son Jesus, in whose name we come to thee Lord. He turned water into wine and stilled the waters of the tempest that frightened His disciples. He was pierced for our iniquities and water and blood ran from His side. For His sake, we petition thee for rain.

Father we know that we have not perfectly kept your commandments or obeyed your statutes, and you have said "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit" (Lev 26:3-4). More than rain we desire to keep thy commandments and to do them and to walk in thy statutes. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Cause us to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do we trust: cause us to know the way wherein we should walk; for we lift up our souls unto thee. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. We know that you have said "if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full" (Deu 11:13-15); so we pray Lord that you will cause us to hearken diligently unto your commandments, because we know that the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, YOU LORD hath made even both of them.

You are our God who makes the wind blow and the rain descend, and we come to you by Jesus Christ the righteous one and petition that for his righteousness sake you will send us rain, Father.

Nevertheless thy will be done.

Absolutely, let the Lord's will be done.

We have been working hard on the roof of the office. But it has been so hot and breezy, that the last few days we have had to find other work to do. We have been in the high 90's and low 100's almost every day. Last night, at 9 p.m. it was 95 INSIDE the cabin. I can go straight to sleep if it is 90 or less, but if it is in the 90's, falling asleep can be kind of miserable. Danielle has been going to sleep on the porch. When the wind is blowing at 20 mph and the temps are up around 100, we call that the blowtorch. It is almost impossible to keep the gardens in any type of shape during the blowtorch, because the wind and heat strips all the moisture away faster than you could possibly water the plants. June is still the midst of the rainy season here, so we are very hopeful that our rain is still on the way. One good tropical storm or hurricane (sorry Houston/Galveston, but we need it) would fix us up good too.

We will be taking our last male pig to the butcher on the 18th of this month. My two females should be pregnant at this time, so we hope to have piglets sometime in August.

I'm still working on a couple of different ideas for Fall (SUPER)Ranchfest. One of the ideas would be an Amish style barn-raising. That would take some work, and some funds, but it would be an awesome experience. For those who have written me about my lack of blogging more often, I will try to do better. But here is a secret for those of you who are fascinated with life here in the community... Most of the blogs I link to on the right side of the page are blogs of people who live here in the community, including the Process Driven WIFE blog (Danielle) and the Bunker Children blog (my children). Here are the links:

• A Process Driven WIFE
• Bunker Children Blog
• Ante Family Agrarians
• Irbs and Stuff
• Sifford Sojournal

There are usually stories from the community here from another perspective, so you can check on them daily and sometimes I'll show up in one of their blog posts. I'll try to do better on this blog though.

Listen, I know my approach and philosophy here is "radical". I don't mind that, and it doesn't offend me. I'm the guilty pleasure of some of you less radical folks, and I know it. You don't want your friends and neighbors to know you read 'ol Bunker every day, but you do because you can't help it. This blog is like the beer store in a Baptist town, it gets more and more popular every day, but no one will admit to reading it, and very few of the more mainstream agrarian blogs will link to us. Like I said, I'm fine with that. Deep down, you folks know I am right, and that is why you sneak back here to listen to what I have to say. For some reason, we've gone from being ranked in the 3.5 million range (not bad) on Alexa to about 1.5 million in the last 60 days, and that with almost none of the agrarian blogs linking in. We're up 189% in visits in three months, and we've gone up 1,455,253 places in those three months, so some one is out there. The thing that scares folks is that I am proposing an actual Biblical philosophy of Christian Agrarian Separatism, rather than just offering agrarianism as a pretty good lifestyle choice. Our approach condemns the world that hates Christ, and the industrial system that it has produced. It doesn't mollycoddle syncretists and worldlings, but challenges them to examine their foundations, and to read the Bible as it is written, and not through the rose-colored and skewed filter of industrial and commercial colonialism. The fact is, if folks listen to me (and they are listening in ever larger numbers) AND do what I am proposing, the world system that has corrupted and destroyed so many billions of souls would collapse around us. I have always preached that people have a fear of freedom, and nowhere is that more evident than in the nascent agrarianism movement. People want to live in a picture postcard, or imagine living in one, but they want to bring Egypt with them. They want renovation without revolution. They want a life with barnyard animals and chicken tractors, but they want them and air-conditioning and Wal-Marts and toaster pastries too. Every movement is killed by syncretism, and every attempt at change is destroyed by compromise. I understand that not everyone is going to agree with me. In fact, I expect almost nobody is going to agree with me. But I don't need a million man march to change the world. One man and one family at a time will be enough. Each family that unplugs from the modern apostate industrial and religious world, is a leg being kicked out from under the hologram of freedom and security most people have accepted as reality. That is a fact. Which makes me dangerous. You may write me off as a kook and an extremist, but don't ever think that I'm not dangerous. There is no more dangerous man than one who believes and who attempts to live what he preaches.

Think about that.

Michael Bunker