The Un-Cult

Posted by Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com

“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.”  (Heb 13:13) 

June 4, 2003 – Let us open this article solemnly with a warning and disclaimer.  First the disclaimer: This article is being written because most people who call themselves “Christian” are neither Christian in their spirit, their behavior, or their study habits.  In fact, most of them are too stupid and lazy to do any work at all, desiring instead that someone else study the Bible for them, pray for them, serve Christ for them and for the most part BREATHE for them.  Now the warning:  If you are too stupid to read the Bible, think for yourself, or defend your position OUT OF SCRIPTURE instead of out of the prideful insolence of your own fallen brain, then you might want to avoid reading the accurate descriptions of you and your ilk that you will find in this article.  Besides, IF IT DOESN’T FIT INTO YOUR 501-C3, TAX-FREE, FAT, BLOATED, STATE-SPONSORED, CORPORATE, APOSTATE, BLUE-EYED, LONG-HAIRED, HONKEY HIPPY-LUV, BRAINWASHED IDEA OF “CHURCH”…. THEN CALL IT A CULT!!!!!!

You might want to sit down for a minute.

Once again, many of my friends and brothers all over the country are being accused of being “in a cult”.  Give me a break.  Can we debate the scripture?  Well, NO – that would be too hard…

“Mr. Bunker, My Pastor told me not to listen to you or read your articles because you are a “cult”.  My Pastor said that you are leading people astray.  He says that God loves everybody, and that you teach that all babies are going to hell.  He says that you say the government is corrupt and evil and is trying to eradicate our freedom.  He says that the government should “lock you up” and shut your filthy mouth.  He says that you are a wolf trying to drag off the church’s sheep.  He says that you are “anti-tithing” and that Tithing is a law of God and those that don’t tithe are either going to go to hell, or God is going to really get them good.  My Pastor was so worried about me, he had some of the deacons and elders call me at home to make sure my “head was on straight”.  He says it is a very important responsibility that he holds, to make sure that no one deceives me.  He says that it is very important that everyone find a good church to go to so they don’t fall prey to “cults”.  One of the deacons had a print-out where he showed me that my tithes have fallen off since I started reading your books.  My wife is now very concerned about me, and my dad has refused to talk to us.  My aunt has gotten a restraining order against me.  What should I do?  My workplace has become VERY tense since I told them that I wasn’t sure that Christmas and Easter were Christian holidays.  I told them that NONE of the early church celebrated these Catholic holidays, and that they were even banned in America when this country was founded.  My boss ordered me to receive a psychiatric exam and has assigned me permanently to the mail room.  My cousin James called me and he is very worried for me too.  He said that only a heretic would believe in Predestination, and that he could not “serve or love a God who would send innocent people to hell”.  I asked him where I might find a verse in the scripture that said that any people were “innocent”.  I told him that because of the fall of Adam, all men were stained and corrupted by sin, and deserved to be sent to hell.  He just sighed in exasperation and said that Michael Bunker had led me astray.  My mother finally called me to tell me that she was worried that I was going to snap and kill somebody or blow up a federal building.  I asked her why in the world she thought that and she said, “because of that ‘cult’ you are in”.  I asked her if she could prove anything that I have said wrong in scripture and she said, “see what I mean… you are talking just like a cultist”.  Well, I guess I should go.  One of the elders just pulled up in the driveway.  He called and asked if I would agree to listen to some Dave Hunt tapes about free-will and go with him to see a Christian Counselor.  I didn’t want to, but our banker goes to my church and hinted that my home mortgage might get called in if I don’t cooperate.”

YEP, better watch out for us scary cultists!

Let’s strap on the gloves and examine the cult status of that scary extremist Michael Bunker, and for comparison purposes, we will look at his old ex-church Bacon Heights Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas.  I only use Bacon Heights because they are close and I know them.  You may choose to apply this to your church, or virtually every church in America and around the world:

CULTS DESIRE TO RECRUIT MEMBERS

MICHAEL BUNKER is an individual and not a group, church or other entity.  He cannot be joined.  He does not advertise for members or followers.  He is not a member of any affiliation or denomination.  He utilizes the scripture alone as his rule and authority.  Everything Michael Bunker does is the OPPOSITE of what you would do if you wanted to attract “members”.  Michael Bunker preaches that people should be saved and joined into Christ Jesus, not an institution.  Michael Bunker implores people to be reconciled with CHRIST and not to join themselves in league with unbelievers.

BACON HEIGHTS is a state created corporate tax-free institution.  It is ruled over by a Pastor and Deacons.  The first line of it’s corporate “mission statement” says this:  “Our mission is to attract and win members”.  You can “join” Bacon Heights (although this is not biblical) and even the Pastors and Elders would admit that by doing so you would be a) joining something that is not Christ, and b) joining yourself with “members” who are not Christians.  No one at Bacon Heights would be fool enough to claim that 100% of their members are truly Christians.

CULTS REQUIRE MANDATORY MONETARY GIVING, AND USE A MEMBERS ABILITY TO GIVE AS A MEANS OF JUDGING HIS/HER STATUS

MICHAEL BUNKER refuses to receive “tithes” and sends back any monies or checks with the word “tithe” written anywhere on them.  He believes that a man should give ONLY where the Lord directs and only in the amount the Lord leads him to give.  All donations should be given and received without manipulation, expectation or recognition.

BACON HEIGHTS bastardizes the Bible and manipulates their followers into believing that the Levitical “tithe” is still in effect. They also teach, in contrast to the Bible, that the “church” is a building and an institution rather than the fact that the “church” is God’s elect children.  Here is their faith statement on tithing:  “A tithe of everything you produce belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.  At Bacon Heights we practice giving for the support of Christ's Body (the church), as God commands. We recognize that giving 10 per cent of our income is the minimum Biblical standard of giving.”  While the paid Pastors refuse to be held to the law of the Levites by living the life of a Levite, or by proving their Levitical tribe affiliation from the documents stored in the Jewish temple, they still require the people to “tithe” in order that they can receive salaries.  If you are not a “tither”, you can not be a deacon or in any authoritative position at BHBC.

CULTS CONFUSE AND MANIPULATE THEIR FOLLOWERS BY HAVING ONE “LAW” WHICH APPLIES TO THE “REGULAR PEOPLE”, WHILE THE AUTHORITIES APPLY DIFFERENT STANDARDS TO THEMSELVES

MICHAEL BUNKER has lived his life as an open book.  His writings are all posted for anyone to read.  He cannot, and does not require anything of anyone else.  He has no authority over any one else’s conscience.

BACON HEIGHTS states that the “Bible” is their only and final authority, “Since God’s Word is the only completely reliable and truthful authority, we accept the Bible as our manual for living.”  Yet their statements of faith are both contradictory and unbiblical.  Examine this example:  “Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called sin. This attitude separates people from God and causes many problems in life.”  Yet the Bible says, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom 3:12).  The Bible does not say that sin is a bad “attitude”, but that it is what killed ALL of mankind.  Sin does more than “cause problems”, it kills – and it caused the spiritual death of every one ever born of Adam.  Bacon Heights ignores the Bible in virtually every way in their “Statement of faith”, yet requires Old Testament Levitical tithing as a law that must be obeyed by their members.

CULTS TEACH UNORTHODOX SALVATION DOCTRINES

MICHAEL BUNKER teaches the identical salvation doctrines that came out of the Protestant Reformation.  His salvation message of Grace is the same as these Orthodox giants:  Spurgeon, Edwards, Wylie, Knox, Foxe, Bunyan, Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, Pink, Wylie, Hodge, D’Aubigne, Whitefield, Toplady (Rock of Ages), Tyndale, The Puritans, and the original statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention.

BACON HEIGHTS BAPTIST CHURCH, though purportedly a Southern Baptist Church, has adopted a doctrinal statement about Salvation that would have been absolutely REJECTED by the early church, AND the reformers!  Their statement of faith agrees with:  The Roman Catholic Council of Trent, The Jesuit Order, The Branch Davidians, and the Hyper-Charismatic signs and wonders movement.  Their insistence on “co-operative salvation”, which was a hallmark of the Council of Trent, was TOTALLY rejected by the original Southern Baptists, and by the Reformed Church as a whole.

I want to post for you a quick exchange two young men.  I will post relevant scriptures, because you will soon see that the cultish, brain-washed young man, who throws around accusations, neither knows his Bible, or has any clue about Salvation.  This sad young man learned his craft from THE CHURCH SYSTEM in America, the False Prophet’s cult.  Let us listen in on a conversation between these two men.  One is named GODLY and the other is DECEIVED:

Deceived: Man I think that Michael Bunker is a cult.
Godly:  Why would you say that?  What evidence do you have?

Deceived: You’re following a man and not God.
Godly: Please show me in scripture how that is true.  How are we following a man?

Deceived: You believe everything he tells you.  You don’t need his book.  The only book you need is the Bible.
Godly: Of course that is true.  But maybe since you have such a high regard for scripture, you can show me in the scripture where Michael Bunker is wrong.

Deceived:  What does he think happens to babies who die at birth?
Godly: If it was God's will, then they will go to heaven.
Deceived: So, you’re saying all the aborted babies and babies who die at birth are in hell?  That ain’t the God I serve.
Godly: Why twist my answer and instead make up your own?  I said IF IT IS GODS WILL, they will go to heaven.

Deceived: I don’t think God would condemn a child who hasn’t had a chance.  God doesn’t condemn anyone to hell.  We do it by our choices

Godly:  Why worship what YOU think?  I thought you said we should trust in the Bible.  Nothing that you said is Biblical.  You say God does not condemn anyone?  But the Bible says that those who God has not elected do not believe because they are CONDEMNED ALREADY! (John 3:18, 10:26)  The Bible teaches that all humans are wicked and evil because they are dead and the products of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:17).  That verse says that because of Adam, ALL men are born fallen, and they rightfully received the judgment of damnation.  The idea that men only fall when they personally commit sin came from the Catholic Church.  Are you Catholic?

Deceived:  But babies have not chosen to sin yet.  They are innocent!

Godly:  Once again I though we were going to use the Bible and not the teachings of a man.  What you are saying came to you from your church, which got it from the Catholic Church, which got it from a heretic, a man named Pelagius.  The Bible says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3)

Deceived:  The Bible says god loves everyone and he created them equal, why would he send his own creations to hell?
Godly:  The Bible says no such thing.  Not one verse in scripture says that God loves “everyone”, or that He created them “equal”.  In fact, the scripture says that God hates the workers of iniquity (Psalm 11:5, Psalm 5:5), and the Bible even says that God hates some people before they do any good or evil! (Romans 9:13, Malachi 1:3)  The Bible says He creates one vessel for honor, and another for dishonor, and that He CREATED (fitted) some of them for destruction (Romans 9:20-22)!  That’s the OPPOSITE of what you are saying.

Deceived: So you’re saying that god plays favorites with his own creations?
Godly:  “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13).  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev 3:19).  Of Course God plays favorites.  He declares that he does.  You don’t like it because it flies in the face of what MEN have taught you.  Your cult won’t accept God’s sovereignty because your cult hates God.  That is why you declare you cannot serve Him.  I thought you were going to rely on the Bible and not your own opinion.

Deceived: John 3:16.  FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

Godly:  Of course He does.  But what “World” is he talking about?
 
Deceived:  World has to mean the WHOLE WORLD, not just a few people in Texas farming chickens.
Godly:  Does “World” always mean the whole “World” of people?  Everybody?  In the Book of the Revelation, it says that “ALL THE WORLD WONDERED AFTER THE BEAST” (Revelation 13:3).  Does that mean the whole world of people?  Do you wonder after the Beast?  Jesus said that He did not even PRAY for some people: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”  Are you saying that God so loved the WORLD, that He refused to pray for them?  Jesus said that if any man love the WORLD, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).  Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully MAN.  Was Jesus declaring that the Father did not love HIM?  God so love the world of HIS ELECT, that He died for them particularly (John 10:11).  The whole Bible preaches against your foul doctrine, yet you claim to use it as your only authority!  Too bad you have followed the teachings of men.

Deceived: Why would God create them if he was going to just send them to hell?
Godly:  God declares in His Bible, which you claim to read, but refuse to hear, that He does all things to show his manifold glory and wisdom to the principalities in the heavenly realms.  He said he created Pharaoh for the particular purpose of showing his Glory on Pharaoh by drowning him in the sea and then sending him to hell.  “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth” (Rom 9:17).  You will notice a pattern developing here… Everything you say directly contradicts the Bible, yet you accuse me of NOT respecting the Bible and following men!  Your entire belief system was created by the Catholic Church and propagated by the Jesuit Order in order to subvert souls!

Deceived:  I don’t think I want to continue this conversation.  You are impossible to talk to.  The God you are talking about is not my God.  I think you need to stop reading Michael Bunker and pray that God forgives you.

Godly:  So you refuse to heed the plain text of scripture?  You prefer to worship after the commandments and the traditions of men?  Just who is in a CULT here?

HEED THE WARNINGS PEOPLE!  Just who IS the cult here?  People are accused of “following Michael Bunker”, not because it is true, but so that they will turn on ME in order to defend themselves.  Paul said this:  “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Co 11:1).  People throw out the CULT accusation because they are too stupid to think for themselves, read for themselves or even seek the Bible for themselves.  Chances are, if history holds true, HUNDREDS of people will print out this article and hand it to people who are guilty of these silly and malicious slanders.  If you are one of these people, try something new… REPENT publicly.  Write me and apologize, or apologize to the person you have belittled with your stupidity.  Let’s see if the Bible’s exhortation to REPENT is still believed by so-called Christians who claim to be followers of the Christ.

That would be refreshing for a change.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker