A Process Driven Life

Rants-fest, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:35:00 +0000

10/08/08 - 4th Day - Late Afternoon. I am a conspiracy theorist who, strangely enough, cannot usually stand the company of other conspiracy theorists. Really, they're quite nutty, and usually (and this is my big problem) they have no real love of the truth - in that they will believe any theory that takes responsibilty away from them, and they will reject any theory that is true, but hurts.

So why am I a conspiracy theorist? Because I could not possibly accept the alternative. You see the only alternative to being a conspiracy theorist is to be a.... Coincidence Theorist

The Bible does not allow for a world where earth-changing events happen coincidentally. I mean sure, if you take the word "coincidence" and apply it's true and actual definition, then things happen coincidentally all the time. The word "coincidence" literally means "when two or more events happen at the same time". Right now I am writing this, and I am also drinking water - literally a coincidence. So, if we actually spoke good and true English, coincidences happen all the time. However, due to the prevalence of free-will anarchic thinking (predominantly from pseudo-"christians" in the "church") the word "coincidence" has come to mean "when two or more events which are not likely or naturally likely to happen at the same time, DO happen at the same time as if by chance, fate, or by some unknown or unknowable power". So, since I cannot be a Coincidence Theorist, I am stuck with being a Conspiracy Theorist.

I do believe our world has been shaped by grand conspiracies. The Bible teaches it from cover to cover. Some conspiracies were purely good, for example "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26). Here we have a conspiracy within the Godhead, where our triune God conspires to elevate man to a position of power, authority, and dominion over the whole world (insert conspiratorial cackle here). Other conspiracies were purely bad, for example "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision" (Psa 2:2-4). Here the kings of the earth and all of the rulers conspire to gather together against the Lord and against Jesus Christ and His anointed in order to break the bands of God's rightful authority and to live out from under the rule of God's commandments. Of course, again, we here the conspiratorial cackle as God directs derision at these plans.

Some conspiracies are mixed. God (who is perfectly and eternally good) empowers and permits Pharaoh (who is wicked) to come to power, to hold Israel in bondage and to treat them contemptuously, and to do so for many hundreds of years. Why? So that God would get honor on Pharaoh: "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so" (Ex. 14:4). Then God conspired to make things hard on the Israelites because of their murmuring, so that they would turn against Him, and that all but a few would perish in the desert having not received the promises. Then God conspired to bring the offspring of Israel into the promised land to make war with the people of Canaan and to utterly destroy them. God conspired with the enemies of Israel and Judah, time after time, to bring them with a sword to chastise and rebuke His people.

It gets more interesting.

God allowed Satan to conspire with Judas and with the Pharisees to betray and kill the Lord of Glory; and all of this was part of God's plan. Would anybody dare contend that Jesus wasn't killed by a conspiracy? Do coincidence theorists really deny the conspiracy to kill Jesus Christ? Would they deny that the Jews conspired together, brought forth false witnesses, broke their own laws and ordinances, and paid money to Judas Iscariot to betray Christ? When someone says "I don't believe in conspiracies" what they are saying is "I don't believe the Bible, because I believe everything happens coincidentally".

Oh, I am a conspiracy theorist. I don't deny it. Our world is shaped by conspiracy. I even wrote a book about the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic Church and their conspiracy to overthrow, twist, and catholicize Protestant doctrine. I believe that the current economic meltdown goes back many centuries (even further than that) to the machinations of wicked men who desired world power and domination. I don't believe that it was just a coincidence that George Bush, Sr. talked about a New World Order, nor do I believe it is coincidental that modern socialist/liberal spokesmen and conservo-fasicst commentators refuse to talk about it. I believe that the conspiratorial intent today is to crash the world economy in order to bring about chaos and fear. I believe it is very likely that a huge world war will soon be fought between the Communists (communism started by the Jews) with the Muslims on their side (Islam started by Jews and Catholics) and the fascists and capitalists (fascism started by the Catholic Church via Hitler and Mussolini) on the other. I am not promising it will happen, but I believe it will. And I believe all of this is designed to redraw the world map after the order of Medieval Europe (with dozens or hundreds of vassal monarchies) all controlled by the temporal power of the Pope of Rome.

Hey, I even believe that the whole two-party system in Amerika is a conspiracy to keep people dumb and addicted to comfort, and to steal power and authority from the people. I think the "vote but do not do" mentality in Amerika is a conspiracy of dunces to stop men from separating from the world.

So, I think I am a qualified conspiracy theorist.

But I tell you that I cannot stand the modern conspiracy movement. Not one bit. To some people, that makes me part of the conspiracy.

You see, modern conspiracy adherents have no love for the truth. They refuse to recognize their own responsibility. They don't want to DO anything, they just want to talk and fret. They want to get people in a tizzy, and get them to spend money, but they don't dare give them any advice or counsel that doesn't make people dependent on whomever the conpiratorialist is. They will mobilize (such as in the patriot/militia movement) but only if mobilization means the sharing of any ramifications of that mobilization. In other words, they love this world the way it is. They rhapsodize eloquently about their love of "the old days" and "the old ways", but they will not do anything to actually improve the lives and lot of their families or their progeny, or anyone that listens to them. They generally refuse to identify what it is that turned things bad in the first place, and they, for the most part, just want the freedom to do whatever they want to do without any responsibility (xtian anarchy). I have long been astounded at the scope and the grandeur of the conspiracies they imagine or that they teach - all without any actual proof at all. I mean, I think these globalist conspiracies and the people who engage in them are bad enough, but do they really need to be reptillian half/people who drink blood and eat flesh? I mean aren't George Bush and the Clintons wicked enough without having them shape-shift and rape babies? (Please do not email me and ask me to read a book of stories written by "people in the know" who have seen Hillary Clinton eat a baby, or Barbara Bush turn into a reptile)

Here is the problem. The conspiracy/militia/patriot movement is completely overrun with agitprops and agents provocateur, liars and propaganda mouthpieces. Their job is to take a whole lot of truth, mix in a dollop or a truckload of untruth, stir it into a frenzy shake, and pour it down the throats and into the ears of a bunch of fat, dumb, lazy victims who will believe anything they hear without any sane or logical examination of the facts. And let me tell you, there are great profits to be made in conspiracy. I had everyone and their dog trying to co-opt and con me into their conspiracy camp... and the promise of endless amounts of dollars came with it. The loudest and most idiotic conspiracy theorists are generally in it for the loot.

Take the Jesuit short-robe and government agitprop Alex Jones... please. There's too much information out there exposing Alex Jones for me to go into it in this blog, and I've written about it plenty. But I still get inundated with emails from people pushing Alex and his junk. Why? Because it is easier to curse the darkness than to light a match. It is easier to blame Roosevelt or the Creature from Jekyll Island than it is to separate from this modern industrial toilet and go to work producing food and a society and culture for our children. Alex Jones gets paid when you do nothing but buy his junk. He doesn't dare tell you to move out of the cities and live off the land. He doesn't dare tell you anything that will help your family and your people in the long term. People like Alex Jones, or even Ron Paul have a vision for Amerika. They have a vision where we all zoom back to 1959 where we can all own guns and come home to a wife who wears high heels to cook supper. Their ideal world is the HEIGHT of industrial success. Their world is the epitome of Amerikan industrial might and power, where every man can have a 1/4 acre of heaven with a white picket fence. Sounds great, unless you realize that this is what poisoned our people in the first place. Sounds great, unless you realize that this fake world of success in advertising was built on the smoking ruins of our Agrarian heritage.

Oh, and by the way, they will be glad to sell you some program or plan that will guarantee you that you can live in wicked Amerika with all it's industrial largesse... you can use the roads and highways, the bridges and stores, etc., and all without a social security number! Just send $400 to Alex or some other agitprop goon and he will teach you how you can have it all without planting a single potato! Viva-Industrialism!

I could go on and on... but I won't.

So, write me down as a conspiracy theorist who generally cannot stand conspiracy theorists.

And that's my rant for today,

Michael Bunker

October Rants (or "Rants-fest") Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:47:00 +0000

10/07/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. Separation is more than just a philosophy. It is a natural result that is inevitable when certain things occur. When you speak a different language, operate on fundamentally different principles, reject the worldview and foundational basis of the world around you, and are determined to live contra-mundum (against the world), then you will naturally be a separatist. I will give you an example. If you were translated into a strange and foreign country, where you did not speak the language of the people, and where the practices and actions of the people were not just foreign to you - but were offensive, and where the people operated on principles that were fundamentally opposite to yours, but where, for a time, the people were willing to let you live somewhat peacably and according to your own principles, you would be a separatist would you not? This is the problem with the modern "christian". Modern "Xtianity" has concluded that syncretism is acceptable despite the fact that the Bible says these things:

1. That we are not citizens or "nationals" of this world, but we are citizens and ambassadors of another Kingdom.
2. We are not to be conformed to this world.
3. If we come to love this foreign land, then the love of our true King is not in us.
4. Our true country is not of this country at all, and we are to live separated in it, and are to be obedient to our true sovereign, and are not to become entangled or burdened with the cares of this foreign country.

Now, with those marching orders, modern "xtians" still argue - endlessly - that they are supposed to live just like the world in order to convert it, and that they do not love this present world, even while they are telling everyone around them that Jesus did.

Ok, so here we are in the midst of this foreign land and an economic disaster (or at least severe hardship) is upon the land. The people are crying out to their "god" (government) for help, and they want you to cry out to him too. Our God has, so long as there has been Bibles written in the language of the people, been calling His people to live separately from the wicked of the world, and to operate on different principles, and to not live in dependence on the world. We have been called to live off of the land, off of the world grid, away from the system of urbanization and separation that has so crippled the sons of Adam. We are called to be a testimony to this wicked generation, and to give God's Gospel to it, but we were never called to join it, live with it, or fornicate with it. It is very likely (although not automatic) that we will feel the trepidation and fears from pending economic collapse in direct relation to how much we have sinned with this present world.

Preparedness

Now, once again, people are talking about preparedness. They are talking about storing up dehydrated foods and fuel supplies and generators, etc. I want to talk about that.

First of all, we are a preparedness people. All true Christians ought to be. We all ought to be relying on God's providence today, and trusting in Him to provide for us tomorrow. We all ought to "forseeth evil" and hide ourselves, lest we pass on (as the simple do) and get punished (Prov. 22:3). We all ought to "prepare our meat in summer" (Prov. 30:26). Preparedness is not an event, it is a lifestyle and a worldview.

One of the problems, though, with the preparedness folk, is that they do not see beyond the fundamental errors of the people. Whereas the ignorant folk say "I have no need of storing up any goods when there is a nice, shiny, clean store just down the road", the preparedness folk say, "Yes, and I will go to that store and buy up enough food for X years", as if they know that X years supply of food will be sufficient. In both cases, the people are relying on the store. The ignorant folk say, "the government will take care of me if I run out of food, water, or shelter", and the preparedness folk say, "Well, I would rather rely on myself and chance". By this I mean that neither desires to make a wholesale change in the very principles and worldview that inform their decisions. Neither desires TODAY to be dependent on God and His Word. Neither wants to give up modern comfort and modern security in order to throw themselves on a Holy and Righteous God. I've seen it for years.

Many of you may not know that I was a preparedness teacher many years before the Y2K scare of a decade ago. In fact, I was teaching preparedness before I had even heard of Y2K. I finally gave up when I realized that people will prepare for events, and they will prepare for hardships - but only so long as their fundamental principles are not challenged. They will not accept the idea that the very fundamentals of their industrial/commercial society is Anti-christ, and mentally and spiritually crippling. They will not accept that the way they have chosen to live is why the system is evil and must eventually collapse. They will not accept that their perpetual 72 degree lives are designed to ease them into hell. They will prepare, so long as the preparations guarantee a certain standard of living, and say to them that they will not die hungry or thirsty, or from some horrendous calamity, and that some day... things will return to "normal", which is to say that they will one day get to return to their lives of colonized leisure and comfort.

So... we can see that some will not leave Sodom at all because they are Sodomites,and some will leave, but will turn back hoping it is not utterly destroyed.

Preparedness for events is a recipe for eternal and spiritual failure.

I am not saying you should not buy food from stores, especially when it is on sale and you have not yet developed a system of food production for yourself and your family. I am saying that you should not rely on a band-aid when you have a potentially fatal bullet wound.

Remember, the pied-pipers of event preparedness are generally in it for the money. Not all of them are - some are true believers (in industrial preparedness), but most of them are trying to make a buck. Only someone who truly cares about your soul will tell you to separate from the world and begin a life of true preparedness, where you will be relying on God's provision and His daily bread, rather than on the wicked system of commerce which currently runs the world. If you want to be prepared, plant a garden - or at least plan now for your spring garden - and this year, plan for a garden big enough to feed your family. Make plans to preserve the bounty from your garden, and make those plans right now. Plant trees this fall.... trees that will produce fruit and nuts for your family in the future.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify... sell almost everything and attempt to pay off your debts. Cut off your cable and sell your TV. Sell, sell, sell... right now is the time to liquidate. While the world is selling stocks, you should be selling bonds (the things that keep you in bondage). Buy only those things that will guarantee you something in the future.

Anyway, I've covered all of this in my Off-Grid Living series... Go read it...

Oh, and don't fall for the Preterist lie that all prophecy has been fulfilled, and that this is just a bump in the road on the way to a worldly Christian Kingdom. And don't fall for the futurist lie that it doesn't matter what you do, because this is the end of it all, and either the rapture is going to happen, or you will only have to make it for 7 years through the tribulation. Both of those lies are crippling heresies and will never lead you to obedience and true submission.

Later,

Michael Bunker

The Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:49:00 +0000

10/06/08 - 2nd Day - After Breakfast. Things had gotten pretty dry around here again, so thank the Lord that we received a good amount of rain last night. Nothing severe, and the wind didn't blow as hard as had been expected, but we probably received near a half an inch of rain, which is really nice for the fall garden and the pastures.

Speaking of rain... I see this morning that the stock market is down another 500 and sits at 9800... about where it was on my birthday in January of 1999 on its way up. I wonder if tonight a bunch of stock brokers are going to party like it's 1999? I think that after this economic crash is over, a whole lot of you are going to be living like it's 1799.

That's one big frog... and you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Rant coming.... maybe later, so check back!

Michael

More Scattershooting

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:18:00 +0000

10/03/08 - 6th Day - After Breakfast. Preparation of the Sabbath. So it turns out that we had 12 piglets and not 11 from Bitty the wonder sow. One of them is still not likely to make it, though she (or he) seems to be hanging on pretty well. Last year, out of the 7 piglets we had, one of them was pretty brutally injured - probably by being stepped on by the sow. We took the piglet away from the momma last year, but it died within a day or so. This year, the injured piglet had a wound that was much, much worse than the one last year, but we decided to just leave the piglet with the momma and pray that it works out the way God would have it work out. So, as of now (2:30 PM on the 6th Day) we still have 12 piglets.

Things have dried up here again, and it has been very hot in the afternoons and dry. Today it is about 92 degrees, and it was near 95 yesterday. It has been very nice and cool in the mornings. The prognosticators are calling for maybe some rain on Monday and Tuesday before Super Ranchfest, and cooler weather starting on Tuesday. This far out, here is the weather report for Ranchfest:

Starting Friday and Saturday with very nice and warm temps (80's and 90's) in the day, but cool temperatures at night (50's and high 40's). Sunday through Tuesday they have cool days (mid to high 60's) and 40's at night. Wednesday through Friday has 70's during the day, and 50's at night.

We could really use a good inch or two of rain before Ranchfest starts.

Ok, so we were all told that the 700 Bubbillion dollar bailout was necessary in order to save the world from anarchy and the people from having to go without flush toilets. When the original bill failed, we were told the stock market panicked and fell 777 points (this wasn't true, the market was already down well over 300 on the anticipation that the bill would pass!). When the bill failed, we were told the market fell another 432 points because of the imminent invasion of soul eating worms caused by the failure to rescue the bankers. But then the market went UP over 500 points while the politicians were dickering over exactly how bad the armeggedon was going to be if we failed to give million dollar lollipops to rich securities thieves. Then, when the Senate voted to approve the new 700 Bubbillion dollar bailout, the market fell almost 400 points (yesterday). Then the market went up over 300 points today, until the House approved the measure, and now it has fallen over 300 and sits again in the negative (while writing this, the market closed down over 150, meaning that it dropped almost 500 AFTER the house approved the bailout bill).

Does anyone else out there think that maybe the 30 Dow Industrial stocks have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on? And does anyone else think that this whole thing is just a huge scam and that rich fat-cats are laughing their butts off all the while? I mean, are there really millions of investors who are waking up every morning and listening to CSPAN and then deciding whether to sell or buy stocks today? I mean, are there people who get up, eat their store bought pasty white eggs and toxic toast, then drive to their job where they call their broker and say, "I heard they might or might not pass a 700 bubbillion dollar bank bailout bill today... SELL EVERYTHING! Sell my Wal-Mart stock! Sell my Payless Shoe Store stock! Sell my Ipod stock!" Then, the next day, they do the same thing again, get to work, call their broker and say.. ."Forget what I said yesterday! Buy everything you can get! Buy Dollar General! Buy Chuck-E-Cheese! Spend thousands that I don't have! Put my retirement account in Cheetos!"

Does that really happen?

Around here, it is much more subtle and laid back. The Antes come over and say, "Yep... bought a milk cow today". And I say, "Oh... the livestock market is up". Except that means that Homer sold a cow in order for the Antes to buy one, so maybe the market is still neutral. Which it should always be. I get confused.

I read that when Wachovia bank was collapsing, apparently there was a "silent" run on the bank. By silent I guess they mean that people were going to the ATM and pulling out all their money, which just makes good sense. I guess a non-silent run on the bank would be like that scene in It's a Wonderful Life, where everyone goes down to the Bailey Savings and Loan and tries to get George Bailey to give them their money - and he tells them "Shucks, I don't actually keep your money here, it's all a sham! It's a shell game, and the only way we all lose is if you all wake up at the same time and see that the emperor has no clothes and you all demand your money back." Ok, so this time it is George Bush instead of George Bailey, and he isn't getting the 700 Bubbillion from his honeymoon fund.

The headline of the Brownwood Bulletin (the local paper) today:

Pope pleads guilty to child molestation charges

If only.

Ok, now things have gone too far. California wants to get bailed out!

Now I'm getting on the list. Here is my official announcement...

Attention federal government. I may need a billion dollars because of the failure of the federal government to do something or other that they could have done, but obviously did not. Had the government done its job (whatever that is) and did the something or other they they clearly did not do, I would not be in the position of needing this billion dollar bailout. Evidently, someone in the federal government should have been watching out for me. In fact, there should be one federal government employee for each of us out here who might someday need bailing out. Bailing out is a fundamental right, and, of course, my fundamental right to be bailed out has been overlooked to the tune of a billion bucks.

Make the check out to Michael. Thank you.

Michael

Scattershooting: Piggies Born!, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:09:00 +0000

10/02/08 - 5th Day - After Breakfast.

Well, Bitty finally gave birth last night. Here you have 11 beautiful piggies. One you cant see in the picture because she is under the others, and the 11th one you will see if you look by momma pigs face. One of the piggies is injured and probably will not make it, but we'll see. We are very excited about having such a big litter, and we pray that God will protect and grow as many as he deems necessary for us. The biggest litter I have had before was the 7 born last year (Bitty was in that litter), of which 6 survived, and two remain. We were very disappointed that it seems that Mimi is not pregnant, but the large litter from Bitty makes up for the loss.

We have arranged for Pedro (our steer born here two years ago) to go to the Butcher next Wednesday. So we are also excited about having some fresh, grass raised, pure Longhorn beef in the near future.

As the economy tanks and as your elected representatives make plans to steal hundreds of billions of dollars from you to give to their fat-cat banker masters, it seems more and more people are getting into "survivalism" and event based preparedness. The problem with event based preparedness is that it is not real and it does not last if the government or some other entity is able to temporarily mitigate the crisis. I believe events can be used to teach people about the proper LIFESTYLE of preparedness and God-sufficiency, but to prepare for events as if we can avoid God's judgment, protect ourselves from chastisement, or insulate ourselves from an event-based crisis or emergency, is just a bad policy that will yield disasterous results when a real, long-lasting, or permanent calamity (or reality change) happens. I was stopped in the store the other day by a guy who asked if I was Amish. When I told him no, he seemed terribly upset. Then he told me he needed someone to talk to about emergency preparedness and food storage. I was amused.

Three present and former presidents, and two current presidential candidates believe that your entire world will crash around you, all commerce will cease, and America will be plunged into an economic nightmare worse than the Great Depression... IF you aren't willing to allow $700 billion dollars to be stolen and given to their fat-cat banker friends. So, do you still believe your economy is based on Godly principles? On a free-market? On honest work and trade? Do you still believe your life is built on solid ground, and that the foundations of your so-called "republic" are sound? Do you still believe that the money you have in your pocket is based on anything at all other than the whim and wish of gamblers in New York and around the world?

Just Kidding....

Here is a portion of an article on the economic situation written by Chris Laird in 2008:

What would be the outcomes if the USD world financial / economic system fell apart?

Supposing the USD devalued by over 50 to 70% in a year’s time, after endless attempts to save a collapsing world consumer credit economy, we may see:

First of all, the savings of the US would drop drastically in value. That means everything from savings accounts to pensions would lose much purchasing power, and prices of every necessity would skyrocket.

Second, our major trade partner’s economies would have to do massive readjustments. They are not in a good position to do that. We can take the present rapidly spreading economic weakness of the EU zone as an example. Asia will not escape either. They will desperately try to keep their currencies from strengthening too much at first as the USD falls. This is why the USD seems to have 9 lives. These attempts to debase along with the USD allow the USD to stay higher than it would.

World inflation will spiral out of control, lowering standards of living. Other major currencies such as the Euro and Yen will be heavily pressured as well. Until the world figures out how to actually delink from an imploding US economy, they will suffer along with the US’s fate. So far, the delink theory has been shown to be completely wrong. Why? Because the world economy is tied at the hip to the USD (The delink theory is that other strong economies of Asia or the EU will be able to carry the world economy even if the US economy falls apart. So far, that has been completely discredited in this latest world economic slowdown).

Big geopolitical turmoil as regimes combat out of control food and fuel prices.

A war in the Middle East over oil. The Iran / Israel situation might also be called a proxy war/struggle over Mid East influence for China, the US, Russia, the EU, and Asia because energy is so expensive.

A very possible period of insurrection, riots, shortages, and chaos in large US cities. I also believe that the EU and China and India are at risk for this too.

A 10 year world economic depression, that China in particular cannot tolerate, as the world economy readjusts out of necessity into a totally new form, one that is less global and probably more warlike.

Debt deflation where a rapidly dropping USD effectively wipes out outstanding debts, while the population struggles merely to exist.

Vast bank failures in the US and major Western economies, and likely China as well.

Efforts of world central banks to ‘bail out’ ‘everything’ resulting in their currencies falling drastically in value while inflation skyrockets, until either they learn better, or have hyperinflation and their own currency collapses after the USD falls apart. In effect they will have to either ‘let go’ of the USD or suffer the same fate.

Stock markets at 10% of where they are now in 3 or 4 years if the USD actually lets go by 50% or more in 09 (nominal stock prices might actually stay higher but the devaluation of the currencies would effectively cut the purchasing power in half anyway.)

Prices of most essentials effectively 4 times higher, worldwide.

Big increases in energy and food prices causes many other sectors of world economies to fall apart, as all ‘money’ is used merely to survive.

Gold at $3000to $5000 plus and oil at $300 plus putting a further huge crimp on world economic growth. Obviously if the USD did a real collapse, say to 10% of its purchasing power now over several years, gold is over $10,000 and in some areas you will buy a decent house for one ounce of gold. Oil will be traded/priced in other currencies, and probably rationed in the US at a cost of $20 or more a gallon. In this case, the present world economy that depends on cheap transportation totally devolves. Globalization becomes de-Globalization, and China either figures out how to migrate to its own domestic demand or faces a huge collapse of their export economy.

Severe world currency restrictions and foreign exchange controls. You won’t be able to move your money out of your country. Likely restrictions of withdrawals to monthly limits from bank accounts as governments attempt to deal with currency chaos.

Rationing of necessities as the world economy enters paralysis and governments have no choice.

One bright spot for all, the return of employment to local instead of outsourcing. Production and consumption returns to local economies, as it should have been all along. That is a long 20 year process and involves a severe deep economic depression until the world economies/economy is rebuilt from scratch compared to what it is now. Debt repudiation on a massive scale as the world emerges from the ashes (hopefully not real ashes…)

Many new governments worldwide after revolutions during economic collapses and or wars. Democracies falter worldwide, and more authoritarian governments appear to deal with the chaos as the democracies enter paralysis.

In case you think these outcomes are exaggerated, these are the things that happened after the French Revolution, the fall of the Roman Empire, The fall of the Spanish Empire, the Fall of Byzantium, the fall of the British Empire… etc. The fall of the US economic system, the world USD system, and the US as a superpower won’t be any different. Also, a lot of these outcomes happened during and after the Great Depression of the 1930’s. That all happened commensurate with the decline and fall of the British Empire and Pound that dominated world economies for 200 years, and eventually led to the USD system taking prominence after WW2 and the USD was used to stabilize the European currencies during the war.

Ok, enough fun for today.

Y'all be cool...

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Separatism, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Separatism as a Fundamental Principle of Christian Agrarianism, Part 3
Posted by Michael Bunker
editor@biblicalagrarianism.com

The Kingdom of God

In the last part, we cursorily examined the history of the world's system of mammon, and of the beast system which would arise that would cause all manner of men to become slaves to their own primitive and carnal lusts. As prophesied in the Holy Bible, a system arose from among the people that allowed them to join together in order to fulfill the desires of the flesh. This system, despite and contrary to the commandments of God, allowed man to come together and develop a system of specialization which severed man from his connection to the creation and gave him duties and employments that were unproductive or counter-productive to his spiritual well-being, causing him to rely inordinately on man and governments rather than on the providence and sovereignty of God, and it eventually stripped man of his position of authority in the lives of his people, his family, and his children. Through time mammon became the operative principle of life, and, as the scripture promised, even very religious men and women were deceived by it, taken captive by it, and would become slaves to it - even to the point that the religious authorities in the time of Christ were willing to purchase, betray, and extinguish His mortal life for money. From these truths we come to understand that arguments for syncretism and against separatism are really arguments for the maintenance of (and service to) the system of mammon that feeds and coddles the flesh as opposed to God's ordained system which nurtures and grows the spirit. Jesus said that every man would serve either Him or Mammon (Matt. 6:24), and His Word teaches us that in the last epochs of this period of world history the system of Mammon would grow to be such a powerful entity that men would not be able to separate from it without great personal cost – in persecution, pain, and suffering - and that those who are enslaved to it would only be able to continue in it by agreeing to willfully choose and serve (worship) it, as opposed to serving God in the Kingdom of God.

In the first part, we discussed the Kingdom of God (or Heaven) as it is taught to us in the parables of Christ. We should take another look at these parables here. I will relate to you two of the parables from Matthew the thirteenth chapter that the Lord uses to explain and display the Kingdom of God:

“And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:3-9).

And again:

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt. 13:24-30).

We should note that Jesus chose not to explain the parable to the masses:

“All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field” (Matt. 13:34-36).

Jesus did not intend for the religious pharisees or the carnal man to understand the parable. We should also note that he sent the multitude away so that he could explain the parable to his elect disciples alone:

“He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 13:37-43).

In explaining the parable to his disciples, He chose to use agrarian terms - terms only those who understood a farming based life could understand - so even among the disciples (and those that would come after them) His words were intended to be clear and understood chiefly among the people who understand, live in, and work, the soil. His words would have meaning to those who understand the soil, and whose society is built and designed around the proper management and dominion of the land. Think about that for awhile. We have to confess upon reading the Word of God, that God had no intention of showing truth and mysteries to those who have no love for Him or His ways. He intended this truth for a separatist - agrarian people.

So let us look at the parable:

Jesus Christ is the one that soweth the good seed – and we know that the good seed is the Gospel of God and His Kingdom.

The field is the world (not the “church” as is claimed by some), and we know from the parables in this very chapter that we studied earlier, that the world has wayside areas where the hearts of men receive the Word of the Gospel, but understand it not, and it is said that the seed which spills there is snatched up by the Devil (Matt. 13:19). Remember, these people were not intended to hear or understand the Gospel:

“And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matt. 13:14-15).

Some people receive the Gospel in stony places, which means that they are unregenerate religious people who claim to understand and believe the Gospel, because the Word says that they receive the Gospel with “joy” (Matt. 13:20). These people have stony unconverted hearts (Eze. 36:26) that are blind, deaf, and dumb to the Kingdom of God. These religious professors have no good soil (meaning they do not have regenerate hearts) and therefore the Word cannot root in them. These make a good profession for awhile, but at last, when things get too hard, or when persecution and suffering arises, they fall away.

Some people receive the Gospel among thorns. The thorny ground is that unfruitful ground which is encumbered by the cares and deceptions of the world. There is much activity (like in Vanity Fair) and much commerce, and much activity, but no separation or true righteousness. When these people receive the Word of the Gospel, they try to combine it with the ways of the world. These folks say they love Christ and are Christians, but they truly love mammon and the ways of the world. The ways of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches then choke out the Word. Sadly, the Word of God says that this false believer may look and act like he thinks a Christian should look and act, but alas, in the end, he is unfruitful (Matt. 13:22).

So these are the explanations that Christ gave of the way the Word of God is spread and received, and how the Kingdom of God is grown in the world. Now, within the world, in the best soil, Christ has sowed His seed. Not long after this sowing, though, the enemy (Satan) sows tares (or false wheat) which grow up in the world in the same places where the Gospel was preached.

Jesus Christ says that the good seed are the Children of the Kingdom, and the tare seeds are the Children of the Wicked One.

When the time comes that the Word begins to bear fruit (the Gospel leads to conversion in the hearts of God's elect), angels come and separate the wheat and the tares. The tares are gathered together (not out of the “church”, but out of the whole world, including the professing “church”). What is this gathering together if it is not the gathering of worldlings to the centers of mammon and worldliness? The people gather together, just as they did in the days of Babel, in the days of Nimrod, and in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. These are gathered together to be burned, as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were burned.

This gathering together of the wicked, from my understanding, happens twice – once because the wicked tend to gather together in this world – and again when they are gathered together at the great judgment to be thrown into a furnace of fire:

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world” (Matt. 13:40).

God will also gather together His own:

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah” (Psalm 50:3-6).

The wheat is gathered into the barn (Matt. 13:30) and onto the threshing floor which is the place of purgation or purging (Matt. 3:12). This is not some spiritual “purgatory” like that which has been made up by the Papists, but is the Church of God and our life of obedience in Christ while still here in this world:

“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:12).

Our verses here and our knowledge of the agrarian art of threshing teach us some valuable lessons. First we should note that tares are never brought to the threshing floor. They are already gathered to be burned. Only wheat is gathered to the threshing floor. On the threshing floor the wheat is spread and it is thoroughly beaten with sticks. This purging does not separate the wheat from the tares (who have already been separated and gathered together) but it separates the wheat from the chaff. Chaff is the part of the wheat which not desirable to the farmer. He desires to purge the chaff away from the wheat, so he beats the wheat - “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19a). The Holy Spirit – the fan of the Lord – thoroughly purges the floor, blowing away all that which is displeasing to the Lord. The wheat is then gathered into the garner, which is the Lord's Kingdom. When the Lord desires to use the wheat, it is ground into flour and used to make good bread.

This is a story of separation through and through.

Now let us take a look at how horribly these beautiful parables have been mangled, distorted, and mis-taught by the prophets of syncretism.

They teach that the wheat and tares are supposed to stay together, and that they are indiscernible, and that they are never separated, and that these verses teach that there is no telling where a Christian may be found, and that a Christian may grow just as safely and healthily in an urban city among the wicked and surrounded by unbelievers as he will when separated into a true Christian agrarian society.

They teach that the field is “the church” (although Christ says it is the world), and therefore it is no wonder that there are unbelievers and believers in the church. While it is true that there will almost always be deceived unbelievers in any “church”, the Bible teaches that they are the Children of the Wicked One and that they should be rooted out. The prophets of syncretism teach that it is natural for a “church” to be filled with unbelievers (after all, it is evangelism), and that tares and other weeds are to be encouraged, and that the “church” ought to be filled with them. In fact, the entire modern “church growth” movement is based on the premise that tares need to be brought into “church” so that they can be changed into wheat! The modern dominionist movement doesn't believe in filling the “church” with tares, instead, they believe that the wheat ought to be about the business of expanding the fields and taking over neighboring farms, so that more tares will be converted to wheat.

Contrary to the teaching of the Bible, the prophets of syncretism teach that tares become wheat when they “get saved”, and that all men were once tares but that the saved tares become wheat. The Bible, however, teaches that wheat comes from wheat seed, and that tares come from tare seeds.

The Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the sower, who plants only good seed. The prophets of syncretism teach that evangelists and all believers are sowers, and that they plant indeterminate seeds, some of which grow into tares, and some that grow into wheat.

The prophets of syncretism teach that the wayside is to be purposely sowed, as is the stony ground and the thorny ground. While the Bible teaches that sometimes good seed happens to fall in these places, the syncretists manipulate others into giving money, and gather together huge amounts of it, to hire professional “sowers” who are then purposely sent out to sow seed among the rocks and thorns.

While the prophets of syncretism teach that any man can and should be a sower (despite the fact that Jesus calls Himself the sower), they also teach that only spiritual angels – actual created angels from heaven - can be reapers or harvesters. Syncretists teach this error despite the fact that Christ asked the disciples to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers to the harvest: “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38). The Bible teaches that the word “angels” means “messengers”, and that sometimes ministers of the Gospel are called “angels” (Rev. 1:20). Now, if we look at the Bible and we see that these harvest labourers are supposed to separate wheat from tares in this world, and then gather the wheat to the threshing floor, does the false gospel of syncretism still stand up to scrutiny?

Since the parable of the sower says that these harvest events are to happen “at the end of the world”, the prophets of syncretism teach that physical separation will only happen “at the end of the world”, and by this they mean, after we are all dead. The Bible, however, teaches that the phrase “at the end of the world” often means “during the time of the Gospel”, after Christ has suffered and died on the behalf of His elect, and has put away their sin in order to separate and purify them unto Himself: “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”.

The Lord Jesus Christ used these parables to accomplish two things:

To give enlightenment, truth, direction, and encouragement to the elect of God – those who have been given by Divine Grace the ability to hear and see the Kingdom.
To hide these sublime truths from world lovers and mammon lovers – the Children of the Wicked One – who naturally and angrily reject the truth of God.

“And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:10-13).

To those whom it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, more shall be given to them, and they shall have more abundance. The phrase “he shall have more abundance” is one word in the Greek which means “to superabound” or “to have in excess”. Since the child of the Kingdom has a heart towards spiritual things, and towards eternity, he will superabound in spiritual gifts when he is separated by God into the Kingdom. Those who believe themselves to be in the Kingdom of God, but who are actually the “children of the wicked one”, will have even those gifts that they think are theirs taken away from them. This is why it is constantly reaffirmed in the scripture that the professing believer is to examine himself that he be in the faith. There are those who love the world, who serve mammon, who separate only invisibly and never actually, who think that they are in a good condition, and that they are bound for heaven after they die. They have been blinded to the truth of God found in His parables. The kingdom of this world has a religion called Christianity, and the prince of this world has a people who call themselves “christians”. This truth is plainly evident in the prophetic scriptures, yet it doesn't often cause mainstream “christians” to question their affiliation, their lives, or their understanding of God's Word.

In the next part we will examine God's plan in using separatism to teach and train His children for the Kingdom that is to come.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Late September Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:47:00 +0000

9/29/08 - 2nd Day - Afternoon. It was a bit chilly this morning... 52 degrees. We are in the time of great swings again because it is supposed to be near 90 today. I love this time of year. We are getting the fall garden put in a bit late, but it is doing alright so far. I hope to have the next portion of the Separatism series posted later today or tomorrow, so check back for that. Here are some ranch pics from early this morning. This first one is of two of the small beds planted with lettuce, pickles, and squash...

This next pic is of our sweet potato bed.

Here is our pregnant pig Bitty... still no sign of piglets yet...

Yesterday, when Danielle went to go get milk from the milk ladies, they gave us a young boer doeling that had been rejected by their herd and was bottle raised. Her name is Heather and she is very friendly. Here is Jennifer with her newest pet...

Alright, back to work on the Separatism series. Check back later today or in the morning for that!

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

A Confluence of Events

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:49:00 +0000

9/26/08 - 6th Day - Late Afternoon. Preparation of the Sabbath. Well, I never did get around to posting the Bunky Awards winners, but I will try my best to get on that early next week. A confluence of events occured, as I mentioned in my last post, which brought about a flurry of canning activity around here involving the whole family. In addition to the windfall of the large amounts of inexpensive tomatoes, our hens starting increasing their egg production this week. Providentially, at about the same time we received a surprising call from our "milk ladies" (the ladies from whom we used to get good, fresh, raw milk) saying that their cows were now back "online" and they were getting an oversupply of milk. So we arranged to take them a supply of eggs in exchange for 4 gallons of whole milk. This led to us making butter from the milk, then canning the butter and 4 half gallons of milk in addition to our tomatoes. This week we put up somewhere around 80 quarts of tomato product, including bloody mary mix, salsa, and spaghetti sauce. I went back to Sligers Produce in Brownwood today and they still have a pretty large amount of tomatoes left. We definitely could put up some more spaghetti sauce and salsa, so if I have time next week I might go buy a few more flats. We are also (Lord Willing) going to go get 4 more gallons of milk from the milk ladies on the Lord's Day so we can put up some more milk and butter. After that, we will start working on cheese and sour cream - two of our favorite farm products.

Today, out of necessity, I was re-arranging our root cellar and I thought about how quickly it was filling up. As is expected on an off-grid farm, we are particularly low in stored meat, and we were remarkably low on vegetables and other canned goods until this week. Usually, around this time of year, a larder will be low on meats because butchering is usually done in the late fall or winter, and the vegetable harvest is usually overflowing. Because of our drought year, we are where we expected to be on meats (very low), and before our tomato windfall, we were very low on vegetables as well. We are doing very well on fruits, jams, and jellies. On the hoof we have 8 or 9 cattle, of which one steer (Pedro) is scheduled to go to the butcher on October 8th.

This is a picture of Pedro. Pedro was our first full-blooded Longhorn born to us here on the land. He was born about 3 weeks or so premature and we bottle fed him for awhile before he was able to reach and start suckling on his momma. He has always been a little fella, and at about 25 months old he is about the same size as some of our one-year-olds. But it is time for him to go, and we can use the beef and hamburger to put into storage.

Also on the hoof we have the two pigs, both of whom we hope are pregnant and will drop before Ranchfest. One of them (Mimi) we will butcher some time in late November. We also have two goats which will be butchered (Lord willing) in December or January. If the Lord wills it, our Holstein should drop a calf in February or early March, which means we will be getting all of our own milk and dairy products from right here on the ranch., and if all goes well, we will have some more pigs ready to be butchered before the cold weather goes away in March.

So, that is our plan. It is all a process and we take one day at a time. We make our plans, and the Lord directs our feet.

In the meantime...

a bunch of rich politicians are going to be robbing their constituency of over $700 Billion in order to maintain a failed economic system which was built on and supports a failed industrial system - all so that rich bankers won't lose their yachts, and fat, dumb colonized urbanites won't have to give up their Blackberrys and Iphones as they grow more and more dependent on the hologram of freedom, liberty, and prosperity all defined and explained to them in the Holy Bible.

Peace,

Michael Bunker

Tom8o's

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:07:00 +0000

9/24/08 - 4th Day - Late Afternoon. Sorry I haven't got the final announcements and "stuff" for the Bunky Awards posted. I'll get to it soon. We've been too busy canning tomatoes. We had a horrible garden this summer due to the drought, so we were not able to get much canned or stored, so Danielle and I went to Sligers Produce in Brownfield to buy some tomatoes. Sligers is an awesome little store that sells tons of fresh farm produce, much of it from area farms. They will even buy produce from small farms like ours, so we hope someday to sell them excess vegetables or fruit if we have any. Anyway, they had a huge shipment of beautiful farm fresh tomatoes at $1.49 a lb. On Monday I asked the lady if I could get a bulk discount since we were buying 75 lbs. of tomatoes and she sold them to us for $17.95 a flat (of 25 lbs.) which comes out to about .72 a lb. which is about half price! We immediately started canning tomatoes, and yesterday I sent Danielle back for another 100 lbs. and the owner of Sligers sold them to us for $15.00 a flat (.60 a lb.!). So, as you can expect, we have been busy today making spaghetti sauce and salsa. Yesterday we canned about 42 jars of tomatoes, and we are still going at it today. We have spaghetti sauce in the canner now, and after supper we will start making salsa. It's all hands on deck for this one...

Nice, beautiful, red tomatoes...

And lots of them...

Sarah says - "These are some nice tomatoes!"

Robert standing on a stool first drops the tomatoes in boiling water for a bit, then puts them in cool water so the skins come off easily...

Jennifer carefully chopping up some fresh basil from our garden...

Jennifer skins the tomatoes and Tracy chops them up...

My job... chopping up onions which had been carefully stored from our spring garden...

The Product... some jars of spaghetti sauce...

An even more satisfying product. Here is Danielle with a full quart of dried ground basil from our garden. Do you know how much basil it takes to make a full quart once it is dried and ground? A LOT!

Now to the Salsa!

Semper Tejas,

Michael Bunker

Q&A Fridays! Issue #43

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:29:00 +0000

9/19/08 - 6th Day - Late Afternoon. Preparation of the Sabbath.

Welcome to Issue #43 of Q&A Friday for Friday the 19th of September, 2008. I want to thank you all for your great emails and questions. I want to remind everyone of the rules by which I will be playing: Not all questions will be answered, and not all those that are submitted can be fitted into one issue. Those that did not make this issue (for length reasons) might be included in a future one. Questions might not be answered or included in the Q&A for the following reasons:

The scope may be too broad, or it may involve a topic on which I have taught at length... ex: “Can you explain the whole Creation?”. The question might need to be asked more specifically, or with fewer presuppositions that I would have to handle before actually getting to the question (I do reserve the right to rewrite questions to make them more clear and understandable or to make them more amenable to the format here). Answering the question might drag me off of “message” or into an area on which I am currently teaching, but at a point where I haven’t gotten to yet. If the question is answered in an upcoming teaching, or would involve getting into a topic I have planned for the future, then I will likely choose not to answer it yet.

The question might be considered rhetorical, or might involve me bearing witness against myself... such as “Who are you?”

As always, send your questions to Q&A Fridays:

editor(at)lazarusunbound.com.

Michael,

What is the proper way for a community of biblical agrarians to handle death and burial? What do you do there at the ranch? I am familiar with what the Amish do and it is quite beautiful how they arrange funeral services from casket making to wake, fellowship and burial. I am asking because I would like to get away entirely from the modern corporate funeral, burial in a steel reinforced casket enterprise. Could you elaborate?

Thank you for your question. I think that, first of all, although a community might have some cultural practices or traditions, in the end death and burial are very personal things for the family involved. We try to be there for people in any situation, but we also (as elders and/or leaders) try to keep in our place. We can advise and direct, we can counsel and support, but we try not to dictate. Death is an inevitable part of life and living in a community, and I agree that simple services are likely the best. We must remember that burial services are for the living and not for the dead. If someone dies in the Lord, then we know that they were translated into His presence, and therefore there is no need for expensive or showy services. We do teach that excessive grief is a sin, but we do believe that Biblical and moderate grieving is encouraged and acceptable. We do encourage folks to have a right view of death and dying, and we do accept that it is a normal part of life to mark the passing of a loved one. We have had only one death here in the community, and the circumstances (and the immediacy) required that a steel casket be purchased for transport. If someone were to actually die here on the land, we would have a much better likelihood of being able to build or procure a simple pine or wood casket. Texas really has very good laws that secure us much freedom in the burying of our dead. We do have a burial ground/cemetery here at the land. Now, as I said, the actual memorial service and other types of services would be left up to the individual family and their wishes, within bounds of course and subject to oversight and counsel from the elders here. Every situation is different. When our son Thomas died, we did not have a burial or graveside service. We had a memorial service some time later. You can read the memorial sermon here:

Memorial Service for Thomas Shepard Bunker

I know that in most cases, an Amish style simple service is preferable, though I also understand that in some circumstances – say the death of a notable person (like Spurgeon's funeral perhaps) there might be a need to make arrangements for many more people to come and fellowship. I do plan on dying, and I don't plan on being here for my wake of funeral, but I would encourage everyone involved with it to be moderate, but to still make allowances for the fact that there may or may not be people from around the country who might want to come here in support of my family. I guess that is a side cost of being notorious. Maybe my enemies would like to have their own celebration!

Michael,

I was reading with some amusement the exchange between you and “Robbie” (the Arminian syncretist) on the comments section of your blog. I agree that he never dealt with the issues, created straw men, and skirted around your answers. I am curious though how you would deal with his assertion that Lot was chosen because he was righteous. I read 2 Peter where Lot is identified as just and righteous, but we know that when someone is considered just and righteous by the apostles, it is because of Christ's righteousness imputed to them. How can you miss that? I read Gill on the subject and he agrees. How do you explain this to someone who already too puffed up to hear? Thanks in advance for your answer.

I received another filibuster from Robbie just yesterday which emphasized this very point. Remember, Robbie insists that he reads the Bible for what it says, while everyone else who disagrees with him reads it for what they want it to say. Indeed Lot, a type of the wicked sinner, living among the wicked who is regenerated and saved by grace, upon his regeneration was vexed by the sin and wickedness of Sodom. We know that Lot was not righteous in an of himself, because the Bible says that there are NONE righteous, no not one. I offer these scriptures for proof:

Psalm 14:3

Psalm 53:3

Rom. 3:10,12

In fact, it is a permanent and unchangeable tenet of Christianity that we acknowledge that there are none righteous among men, and that all acceptable righteousness is imputed by Christ and is of grace and not of works, that no man may boast. So, we learn from reading the verses in Gen. 18 and in 2 Peter that Lot was saved AND SEPARATED OUT by God for His own purposes, and not for any act or work in the creature. Why was Lot saved and separated from wicked Sodom? Because he was to be the father of the Moabites, of which Ruth was to be one, who herself was to bring forth Obed, who begat Jesse, who begat David, who was the forerunner precursor and type of Christ. So Lot was saved by the righteousness of Christ, for the ultimate purpose of Christ, and for the sake of Christ and His kingdom – which is contrary to what Robbie claims and believes. As an Arminian, Robbie believes that men are saved by their own free will, and that God is a responder and respecter of men. It is funny how they accuse true Christians (those who believe in the Doctrines of Grace (like the Protestant Reformers, Puritans, etc.) of making God a respecter of persons, when we say that men are all sinners, and that God saves men for His own purposes, while there is no difference between them, and that salvation is a complete and utter work of God with no admixture of the works of men. The Arminian insists in freewill, and therefore they cannot read the Bible for what it says (in its entirety) but must put portions of God's Word in competition with other portions of God's Word. It absolutely makes a Papist or an Arminian (they are actually the same thing) sick to their stomachs that God might save sinners without their help, and that he then sanctifies them and perfects them as His own work, separating them out from the world and unto Himself. Note that the syncretist almost always also has really bad doctrine, in fact it is quite common to find syncretism and Arminianism in the same corpse. It is also not uncommon to find such pride and arrogance wrapping that corpse.

So, to answer your question, if someone is humble and enabled by the Spirit of God to hear, then you can explain it to them. If they are puffed up and unteachable, all you can do is send them on their way. Not to say that such men are harmless – because they are not. Unorthodox doctrine and bad orthopraxy swirled into the same man is a recipe for danger. These men do not now have the power or authority to silence me, but some day they will. Anyway, for now the Bible teaches us to separate from such men – and to have no fellowship with those who come bringing another doctrine. These men have no idea that their Arminian free-will doctrines are new, and were birthed by the heretic Pelagius, and brought forth in the heart of the Antichrist Papal Church during the Counter Reformation and the Council of Trent. They will learn it in time though – unhappily – on the judgment day. To those who are new to all of this, I recommend my book Swarms of Locusts, and A.W. Pink's wonderful book The Sovereignty of God.

Michael,

Do you think that someone who lives an urbanized/industrial life and who thinks that is just fine, but who has good salvation doctrine – for example they go to a Reformed Church – is damned?

Thank you for your question. Of course I cannot see what invisible work has been done inside a man. All of us who are now saved were once children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). We know, however, that God's work in His children does not finish at regeneration. It also involves bringing them the Gospel that they might believe the truth and be converted. Conversion involves a whole lot more than going to a good church, sitting and listening to sermons, or any other such superficial works. We know that, as it is said of Lot who was mentioned earlier – concourse with the wicked vexes the soul of God's elect every day. God sends men the truth in order to separate them from the wicked world. He commands them to flee the City of Destruction and to not look back, and to flee all the way to the mountain (Christ). So it would surely be folly to assume that a man who feels happy and satisfied in an urban/industrial setting is saved. If a man feels at peace with the wicked, it is likely that he is a Sodomite and not a Lot.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

Ranch Updates and Important Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:16:00 +0000

9/18/8- 5th Day - After Breakfast. Good Morning y'all. Things at the ranch are going fine here. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for a week or so, since the rains came We have had beautiful days with absolutely stunning blue skies with the temps around 80 or so, and cool nights in the low 50's and even some high 40's, which is highly unusual for summer in Central Texas. Anyway, we have enjoyed the gorgeous weather. We didn't get a drop from Ike, so we were spared the flooding and other devastation. My sister is still in Houston, but is doing well, though she has been without power since the storm.

We have been doing some work on the garden, though a lack of resources has prevented me from doing everything I want to do. My sweet potatoes are still thriving, and we harvested a BUNCH of basil the other day. I have 9 basil plants that have absolutely thrived since the rains came. We harvested about 60% of the leaves off of them the other day, and we are drying them as we speak. I am pretty certain that we will end up with well over a quart jar of dried, crumbled basil - which is a lot of basil. My peppers have also revived, and we have planted some fall items like lettuce, squash, egyptian walking onions, and broccoli. I am planning on planting a large amount garlic this fall as well.

None of our cows have dropped calves yet, which is surprising, and, as I mentioned in a previous post, our pig Bitty is highly pregnant, but hasn't delivered yet. Mimi, the other huge gilt, doesn't even look pregnant. If she doesn't start looking pregnant really fast, she will be butchered, maybe at Ranchfest if we can get some morning cool enough to do it. According to my figures, the last date our gilts were with the boar was on June 18. A female pig has a gestation period of 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. This means the absolute last day that these pigs should deliver is October 10, the first day of Ranchfest. So if Mimi has not delivered by then, we will probably have some pig butchering as a Ranchfest event. From the looks of it, Bitty should have delivered long before then.

Speaking of Ranchfest, things are looking good, and we are expecting a fairly large crowd this year. Donations have been basically zero, so we hope that improves, or we will have a fairly large crowd sitting around looking at eachother, or butchering a big fat pig. We need Ranchfest donations in early, because we need to be able to buy supplies and get things prepared for the week. This way we'll know what we are doing. I will be sending out an email to my friendslist today. If you do not receive it, it is because you are not on (or you have been removed) from my private email list. Please see the post below to see about getting added to the list.

I hope you all didn't lose everything in the stock market! The governments of the world are throwing untold billions of funny money at the problem to keep the world from crashing. Except the Russians, they just closed their markets and announced they would sieze a large portion of the Arctic in order to drill for oil... makes sense. The politicians are all pointing at eachother with one hand, while they jam the other down into your wallet to throw your money at the problem. I told my chickens, pigs, goats, cows, and rabbits that Wall Street fell. They didn't get it. Not one of them panicked. Of course they usually don't panic when they are going to the butcher either. Only the goats do. Somehow they know. Which maybe explains why the stock market fell.

Michael

How to get added to my Email List

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:22:00 +0000

Quite often I get requests to be added to my email list. As far as modern "ministry" types of email lists, I do not have one. I do have a private email list called my "friendslist" which is a very small, heavily vetted list of friends/supporters who want to keep up with, pray for, and support the ministry and help out with what I do. My friendslist is not for the merely curious, nor is it for trolls or tourists. If you are seriously interested in being added to my email list, here is what you must do...

You will have to SNAIL MAIL me a request, which means that you will have to address an envelope and send your request to me through the mail. Why? Because it keeps out the trolls and the tourists, and it lets me know that the people who are getting the materials care about them and want to receive them. Then, to stay on my email list, you will have to contact me at least three times a year by snail mail and request to stay on the list, otherwise you will be peacefully and painlessly deleted.

Right now, I haven't determined what resources will be available where, but for right now (until further notice) the email list will be the place to get sermons and other materials emailed to you within a day or so of them being preached here in our community. I won't be posting sermons on BiblicalAgrarianism.com until further notice, and we are usually several months behind in publishing them on Lazarusunbound.com.

If you used to be on my email list, but haven't received any emails from me in the past week or so, then that means you have been deleted. You will have to SNAIL MAIL me a request to be put back on the list.

Send requests to:

M. Bunker
1251 CR 132
Santa Anna, Texas 76878

If you want to be added immediately, you can email me at editor ( at ) lazarusunbound.com and inform me that your snail mail request is on the way.

Thank you,

Michael Bunker

Scattershooting in the Cool of the Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Michael Bunker) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:15:00 +0000

9/17/08 - 4th Day - After Breakfast. Scattershooting on a cool morning. Well, since the rains came a week or so ago, we've had fall-like temps here in Central Texas. Woke up the last two mornings to 48 degrees, though it has gotten into the 80's during the day. Oh, by the way, don't let this short scattershooting blogpost keep you from reading the latest parts of the Separatism series:

Read Part 1-A
Read Part 1-B
Read Part 2-A
Read Part 2-B

Here is a picture of one of my big fat pigs...

That picture is of Bitty. Bitty is very, very pregnant. We had hoped she would have dropped her piggies by now, but she hasn't yet, as you can see. Bitty is famous because she is responsible for hundreds of homely men getting dates. It's true. About a year ago, we were trying to remove bitty from her momma so we could clip her ear and mark her. She weighed about 7 lbs. or so at the time I would guess. Anyway, I asked Kelly Sustaire to come over and help me, because the momma sow (Luella) didn't like us messing with her piggies. Anyway, I ran in the pen, grabbed Bitty, and right about that time Luella comes charging at me yelling and screaming. So I threw Bitty like a football to Kelly who was standing outside the pen. Kelly dropped her for an incomplete pass. Anyway, I then commented to Kelly that, since a pig flew, hundreds of people were legally due dates with women who had previously turned them down. Anyway, I don't think anyone will be picking Bitty up and throwing her now. She probably weighs upwards of 450 lbs. I really hope she has her piggies soon. Our other pig, Mimi, should be pregnant too (she might be), but she is nowhere near as pregnant as Bitty.

Hey, I'll get around to announcing the final winners of the Bunky Awards, and sending out the delicious mesquite coffee next week. Your job, if you are a Bunky Award winner, is to send me your mailing address so I can send you your coffee.

Herrick Kimball has a great article that he posted this week over at The Deliberate Agrarian:

Emerging Crisis, Population Shift, and the Rural Remnant

I highly recommend that you read it and heed it.

I have received quite a few questions lately reminiscent of the Q&A Fridays question. So if you all would like a Q&A Fridays episode, just email me your questions and I'll put out one this week (if the Lord wills)... editor (at) lazarusunbound.com. For those of you who are not familiar with Q&A Fridays, I used to answer emailed questions (about anything) in an episodic (or quixotic) emailed and blogged Q&A journal, sent out fairly regularly. You can read past Q&A Friday episodes over on BiblicalAgrarianism.com.

Peace y'all,

Michael Bunker