“But I would not
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (Thessalonians
Let
me first say that we are not of those who believe that as a maxim “all babies
who die in infancy infallibly are ushered in to heaven”, or that “all who die
before the age of reason (or responsibility) go to heaven”. Our reasons for denying these falsehoods are
these:
1. They deny the
penalty of Original Sin that all men are fallen in Adam, born in sin and
corruption from their mothers wombs. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned” (Rom 5:12). “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in
sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). “The
wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3).
2. They deny that
God’s gifts of compassion and mercy are of Himself, and are dependent totally
on His own will and eternal divine purpose, and are never received by merit or
work by the creature – nor is God ever under compulsion to extend mercy or
salvation to any creature. Salvation is
of the Lord (Jon. 2:9): “For he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom
3. They extend comfort
to the children of those who are not extended comfort in the scripture, namely
the wicked and estranged from God. The
parents of the wicked have no promise that their children will be saved.
4. They are completely
foreign to scripture, and fly in the face of the plain teaching of the
scriptures concerning the Sovereignty of God in election and reprobation.
5. They deny the
Biblical doctrines of Original Sin, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election,
and Limited Atonement – and therefore they are fundamentally NOT Christian
ideas.
We
do believe that God is completely and utterly sovereign over salvation. God, who will be found at the last judgment
to have done all things well, is Omniscient and has all the information
necessary to rightly deal with all His creatures according to His own sovereign
will and decrees made from the foundation of the world. Contrarily to what is taught today in
so-called “christian” circles, our God is a King who reigns supreme over His
creatures. “Where the word of a king is,
there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?” (Ecclesiastes
8:4).
We
are not of those who believe in happenstance.
We have stricken from our lexicon the names of the pagan gods, such as
“Luck”, “Chance”, “Fortune” – we don’t even like the term “accident”. We believe that the Doctrines of an
Omniscient, Omnipotent and Benign God effectively lay the axe to the root of
all these false delusions. All things
come about under the Sovereign hand of our Lord, Master and King. We believe that the pulpits of
“According,
therefore, to the Scripture representation, Providence neither acts vaguely and
at random like a blind archer who shoots uncertainly in the dark as well as he
can, nor yet pro re nata, or, as the unforeseen exigence of affairs may
require, like some blundering statesman who plunges (it may be) his country and
himself into difficulties, and then is forced to unravel his cobweb, and
reverse his plan of operations, as the best remedy for those disasters, which
the court-spider had not the wisdom to foresee.
But shall we say this of God? It
were blasphemy. He that dwelleth in
heaven laugheth all these miserable after-thoughts to scorn. God, who can neither be overreached nor
overpowered, has all these wretched post-expedients in derision. He is incapable of mistake.” (Augustus Toplady,
Preface to The Doctrine of Absolute Predestination by Jerome Zanchius)
We
believe that God is Good; that God is wise; that God is powerful; and that God
does all things well, which is why we have chosen to place a scripture from
James the 1st Chapter in your memorial brochures:
“Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James
Now
then, how do we reconcile the idea and belief of a good, gracious and powerful
God – with the death of infants and children?
Are
we now, having praised the equity, justice and mercy of God, to question his
judgments concerning the dispensation of His creatures? Admitting our inability to know the fullness
of truth exhaustively, or to see that which is beyond our view, do we now rail
against the Creator or demand answers for that which we do not understand? God forbid.
God has done that which was necessary to serve the best interest of His
beloved, and to bring about His decreed will, and to chastise those who He
would have perfected, and to bring down the pride and insolence of those who
claim His name. God is good, and He is
good even when we don’t understand it.
God is good when we find ourselves under His rod. God is good when we are persecuted by our
enemies and abandoned by our friends.
God is good when the forces of evil seem to triumph, and the mouths of
God’s Saints are silenced by both ignorance and fear. God is good all the time.
Just
as we believe that God is sovereign over all things that befall His creatures,
we also believe that God is gracious towards those who He has called to Himself
– to reward the offspring of the Covenant, and to sanctify the product of His
true Church. God can and does save
babies, without any intermediate means.
We believe that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit of God
in his mother’s womb. We believe that
10’s and 100’s of thousands of God’s infant and children Saints, now in heaven,
were slaughtered by the Roman Catholic Antichrist throughout the dark ages and
during the Reformation – some while in the womb, some being just born, some as children who were learning
to say the Lord’s prayer in their native tongue. We believe that among the multitudes of
Saints that cry out to God from under the altar, that the voices of many of
God’s saved infant and children are heard.
We
who are the truly elect of God are the children of the Covenant. We have come to Christ as babes and as
children to worship Him with whom we have to do. The Apostle says: “But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope”. We would learn from this that there are those
who have no hope. There are those who
have no hope concerning the disposition of their departed loved ones. Paul, however, would not have us to be
ignorant of this issue. Those who are
the elect of God are not without hope, but we have a promise of divine help and
hope concerning our loved ones.
“For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.”
Now
we have to examine these verses carefully, so that we do not embrace false
hope. There are many who will perish
foully and finally who claim to believe that Jesus died and rose again. Millions in cults, including them modernist
free-will cult of Psuedo-Protestantism in
Paul
ends this dissertation in 1 Thessalonians the 4th Chapter by saying,
“Wherefore comfort one another with these
words”, which is to say, “Knowing these things, be comforted concerning
your loved ones and departed friends”.
We can rest upon God’s goodness and judgment and perfect justice. God’s providence extends to the falling of a
sparrow, and to the counting of the very hairs on your head; how much more does
that benevolent providence extend to the death of a small baby born to His
beloved?
I
want to mention here the fruit of the short life of Thomas Shepard Bunker.
I
have given here, a short and incomplete summation of our beliefs on God’s
sovereignty, predestination, election and divine covenant concerning His
beloved people. This is the firm Gospel
that Danielle and I have believed, and it is that Gospel that we believed as we
passed through this trial and chastisement.
Literally hundreds of people, maybe thousands, from around the world
have commented concerning the behavior, peace, and strength exhibited by this
family and ministry through this painful ordeal. I must tell you that it is of critical
importance that we trace this fruit to the proper place and person. The strength and peace exhibited by God’s
servants under the rod, under the scourge, under trials and tribulations – can
only have their fountainhead in the glorious power and love of God. This is the evangelism and mission provided
to the world by God through the life of His servant Thomas Shepard Bunker. Though we have been chastised for our sins,
and for our failures – God has indeed and unquestionably been glorified by
these events. God’s true Gospel has been
on display. The false gospel of
free-will theism has been on display in the mourning houses, wakes, cemeteries
and so-called “church houses” for about 500 years. If you have seen peace in us, then you must
agree that this peace is the fruit of God’s true Gospel in His elect. If you have seen strength in us, then you
must agree that that strength is only possible through Christ who strenghteneth
us. If one man, woman or child in this
world has been movingly affected by the grace of God shown through the behavior
of His children while on trial, then the fruit of the life of this small, precious
baby is made known. I for one must
praise God and give Him all the glory for His works. I cannot second-guess Him, or question His
benevolence and special love towards us.
I believe that I will see Thomas again in God’s heaven, and that just as
Jesus said about the damsel in Matthew 9:24, He has said to my spirit, “He is
not dead, but sleeps”, and just as Christ said concerning His beloved Lazarus,
“Our friend Thomas sleepeth”. The fruit
of Thomas Shepard Bunker’s short life convinces me that I shall see Him
again. The Puritan Thomas Case said,
“That which is
called death is not death indeed to the saints of God; it is but the image of
death, the shadow and metaphor of death, death’s younger brother, a mere sleep,
and no more”
(Mount Pisgah, Thomas Case).
We
are all here but a short time and pass quickly from the stage. We all rush towards the grave and do not
pause to consider it. While it is true
that the deceived religiousite, the wicked worldling and the atheistic humanist
have much to fear from death, those who are God’s sheep may rightly live their
lives and embrace the grave without fear.
I praise God for both the life and death of Thomas; He is safe from the
wicked influences of this world and protected from the wrath of God’s enemies. I pray that many of you would be in such a
safe estate here on earth, and that the truth of God’s gospel would usher you
into the assurance of such peace while you yet live. We believe that Thomas has passed into the
presence of God and that He is in a safe and glorious estate with Jesus Christ. We, however, believe that many of you who hear
and who read these words are in a more perilous condition. Our prayers are always for the living and
never to be for the dead. Do not pass
from this world without the true Gospel and without the true Christ. Do not rest on some assumption of salvation
by the performance of assumed duties. Do
not rely on your profession of faith, or your religious affections to get you
to Heaven. Examine yourself while you
have time that you pass not from this world in an unregenerate state. I do not pray, as the Catholics do, for the
soul of our departed Thomas. I pray to
the one who has the power of life or death over the body and soul of all who
live. If you would have peace in
tribulation and trial, and an assurance of salvation for eternity; flee to the
one who made all things. Do not just
flee from Hell, but flee from sin. Seek
Christ while He may be found. Humble
yourself in the sight of the Lord and throw yourself upon Him alone for
mercy. I pray that the further fruit of
the life of Thomas will be the eternal salvation of many who currently slumber
in false assurance while still on earth.
May
the Lord be glorified in our lives, in our families in our Christian community
and by the works of His Holy Spirit in and through all those who He has called
to Himself.
Peace
be unto each of you.
Your
servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael
Bunker