LazarusUnbound.com - The Bunker Mentality

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faq...

frequently asked questions:

"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." Gal 6:6

Please check here, and in the discussion forum, for frequently asked questions...

We thank you for spending time at lazarusunbound.com. Many of the questions that naturally occur to people when they begin to study the Doctrines of Grace, Christian history and our current world situation, we have answered hundreds of times. We offer this faq section to you for your edification and encouragement. If you have received an answer to an important question from us by email, and you think it would benefit others - please email it back to us and we will post it here for the edification of others.

Questions Regarding...

what "church"/denomination, etc. are you affilited with?

what is the 501(c)(3)?

did adam have free will?

what is an arminian?

antichrist

false prophet

christian confessions

questioning salvation

why lazarusunbound?

How can we participate in your bible studies when we live so far away?

What is your nationality?

What is your position on violence or self-defense?

what church/denomination, etc. are you affiliated with?...

Gentlemen,

I am curious what church or denomination you are affiliated with.

Sincerely, a reader

Where is the church?

We at lazarusunbound get this question a lot. The question is most often asked by professed christians in an effort to fit our "extreme" views into one of their pre-existing schemas. This is laughable. But it gets even funnier when we we tell them, "Hey bud, we are the church!" What follows is a contorted look that I would imagine was very similar to the look on the Apostles' face when, asking for Jesus' thoughts on the Israel temple, Jesus sharply replied: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19

When it comes to the topic of church, the question is most always in the "where" category. But it needs to be addressed in the "what" category. So we ask the question, "What is the church?"

The Church Is People

The true church is not a building built with mans hands. The church is people, and the builder and corner stone of these people is Jesus Christ. Jesus, speaking to his disciples, says: "Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?" Mat 21:42 The church is people, and Christ is the corner stone. If you accept Christ as your corner stone, pay careful attention to the fact that your corner stone was rejected. Rejected by who? It was rejected by any and all who attempt to define the "church" as anything other than the people who are built on Jesus Christ. If you call a building a church, than you have rejected the corner stone. You have rejected Christ.

The Church is a Bride.

To say that the church is the people of Christ gets us closer to the essence of what the church is, but to realize that the church is a bride is to fully realize the beauty of what Christ has built. In Ephesians 5, Paul is writing of the relationship between husband and wife. He is careful to denote every aspect of what a Godly marriage should look it. But Paul makes an intriguing parallel to Christ and the Church that we would do well to study and prayerfully contemplate.

Paul writes: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph 5:25-27

The church is the Bride of Christ. This is the most wonderful thing that we can ever come to understand about the church! We are his Bride. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself so that He may sanctify us and make us worthy to be His bride for all of eternity. Friends, it just doesn't get any better than that!

There are scarce few blasphemies so horrible than to usurp the the title of Christ's bride and call it a building. You ask: "What is the church?" Dear friend, you're looking at it. We are people. And we are the Bride of Christ. You are too if stand solely on the stone the builders rejected, Jesus Christ.

Our official position: There is one "Church" or "Body" of Jesus Christ, existing throughout all ages of those who were chosen by the Father, called by the Holy Spirit and particularly redeemed by Jesus Christ. There is no other Church than that church. The "visible" church, though on occasion used by God, has ultimately turned Apostate in every age, first in it's manifestation of the Antichrist Catholic Church, and secondly through the second beast, the Apostate protestant church. The real, remnant church is Christ's body, his bride, his temple and his purchased price.

The LazarusUnbound.com Editorial Team

what is the 501(c)(3), and how does it affect "church"?...

Michael,

Can you explain how the 501(c)(3) tax status affects my church?

Sincerely, a reader

We are not a 501(c)(3) religious entity created and controlled by the "state". In order to get a deep and abiding understanding of the "state church" tragedy, please listen to my sermon: THE DOCTRINE OF INCORPORATION.

The LazarusUnbound.com Editorial Team

predestination...

Michael,
My brother in law and my wife and I were having a bible study with a friend this past weekend trying to teach the truth to her. We feel she is getting it but still is harboring some anger towards things. Mainly why God would choose some for eternal life and some for eternal death. I gave her the article by Pink on the Objections to the Sovereignty of God, and also some things to show her we cannot choose God because our carnal minds are at enmity with Him. This part of predestination is hard for her and some other people we've talked to. Now having said that, before I say anything else to someone I want to make sure I'm coming across as understanding this correctly.

By predestination, He not only has chosen His elect but everything we do has been predetermined. (Example- me crossing my legs right now). Am I understanding this right or am I taking a bit far?

Yours in Christ Jesus,

Alex

Alex,
When we say that all things that come to pass are predestinated, we do not infer that man has no volition whatsoever.

While it is true that God has controlled every aspect of events leading up to your decision to cross your legs, including the angle of the earth, gravity, the development of your brain, etc., it is also clear that he has allowed every event that has occurred to you in your lifetime, whereby you are the product of what you have seen and experienced. God formed you in your mothers womb, and withheld or allowed your natural dispostions based on His eternal plan for your life, so that neither can you have altered it, or impressed upon it in any way.

Just as water is free to flow downhill, conforming itself according to gravity and the laws of science, as well as according to the geography of the land that God creates and recreates according to His will, we must also hold that the water is not acted upon by any present force of God, other than all those laws and realities that He has placed within the creation that act upon the force of water flowing downhill.

Water flows downhill, and it is free to do that according to all of God's decrees.

What water is NOT free to do, is to flow UPHILL without an appropriate force being exerted upon it from outside of it.

So our assertion remains:

You were free to cross your legs or not cross your legs according to the eternal decree of God and all the laws and realities upon which He alone has first and final control. What you were NOT free to do, is alter the will of God or subvert His decrees concerning you in any way, so that without a force acting upon you from outside of you, it is natural that you would cross your legs or NOT cross them depending on your own volition, subject to all the above.

I hope that helps, because I need a beverage.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

foreknowledge...

Michael,
I'd hate to bother you bud, but I can't remember where I read something you said. It was talking about foreknew meant love or knowing meant love. I think I read it on the forum but it might have been in the archives. Been reading so much lately alot of stuff is running together. Could you point me in the right direction to this please. I'm at work and can't go thru everything like I could at home and for some reason it's bugging me why I can't find it. Thanks for your help!

God Bless,

Alex

Alex,
Here is a quick primer.

The word "foreknow" can mean two different things. It can mean PRECOGNIZANT - which means to "be aware of before" or to have mere "knowledge" of before. Or it can mean to "have affection for" previously.

Let us examine this in relation to God.

Those who say that God merely "pre-knew" or simply foresaw faith in those who he elects have a huge problem.

They must declare that then there are those that God was not COGNIZANT of, or those that he did not have knowledge of before the judgment. This is to say that there are things or people that God does not know. That would destroy the Doctrine of God's omniscience - which claims that God knows everything, and that He is in posession of ALL knowledge and information.

However, quite often the Bible uses the term "know" in a much different way.

Gen 4:1 And Adam KNEW Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

The Arminian must declare that before Genesis 4:1, that Adam didn't even know he had a wife! But clearly this is not true. In this context, Adam "knew" his wife with affection, in that he became intimately familiar with her.

The New Testament concurs:

Luk 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I KNOW not a man?

After that (and this one destroys the Catholic concept of Mary's perpetual virginity): p>Mat 1:25 And (Joseph) knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

So we can see where the word KNOW, or KNEW, has a more intimate, affectionate meaning in these cases.

Also the Arminian is at risk of calling God a liar when he claims to KNOW those that he did not FOREKNOW, and those that he will later say, "Depart from me... I never KNEW you." To unbelievers in the Gospel of John, the Bible says:

"But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because HE KNEW ALL MEN, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." (John 2:24-25)

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"But I KNOW YOU, that ye have not the love of God in you." (John 5:42)
If this is mere "cognizance", then why will the same Jesus later say to them, "I never knew you"? Because it does not mean mere cognizance. Clearly God knows everything and everyone. The word "foreknow" and "foreknew" in the scripture means that he ORDAINED those who he had an AFFECTIONATE knowledge of. Those who were "IN HIM" from eternity, he foreknew - as God has perfect knowledge and affection and joy for Himself.
The Arminian (and many who call themselves "Calvinists) who says that God elected based upon foreseen faith in those who He elected, baselessly slander God, and throw a stumblingblock in the path of God's children. It would be better that a millstone be tied around their necks and for them to be thrown in a river. When Jesus tells the reprobate, "Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." (John 8:19) He is clearly identifying that these people have NO AFFECTION for God, and it is here where we find the basis for the Higher Christian life.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

election/reprobation...

Michael,
Does humanity's fallen nature serve to blind those not elected to eternal life from what appears so obvious to the elect? 2 Timothy 3:8 appears to indicate that mankind's corrupt mind reprobates us concerning the faith. Is this a correct interpretation of the scripture in 2 Timothy?

Carlos

Carlos,
You are correct. Reprobate: unapproved, that is, rejected; by implication worthless (literally or morally): - castaway, rejected, reprobate. The inability to have faith is a product of first, BEING REJECTED of God, unapproved and therefore worthless. Second, having been rejected, the mind stays in its fallen corruption, unable to exercise faith towards God.

Those who are NOT rejected, who ARE approved - receive the new mind (Rom 12:2), the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). As we know, the carnal mind is enmity with Christ, but the new mind is the very mind of Christ.

Only the new mind can obey the command of Jesus in Luke 10:27 that we love the Lord God with all of the MIND.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

free will...

Michael,
Question: where does "free will" enter into all of this? Do we not have free will? I thought this was one of the things that differentiated us from angels. We have a choice it seems, but then again it seems that God has already made that decision (heaven or hell), so that in essence we do not have a choice, that God has already made it for us.

David

David,
Nowhere in scripture is it claimed that we have a "Free" will. We certainly have a will, and we do make choices, but the will is never "free". I have written much on this topic. Please start with THE DOCTRINE OF RESPONSIBILITY as it will help you immensely.

Our will is merely the apparent product of the decision made in the MIND. The Bible utilizes the terms "heart" and "mind" interchangeably to represent the seat of cognitive acts. The Bible teaches that the mind (or heart) of fallen man is corrupted and can only desire evil:

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

The product of the desire of the heart is manifest to the world as the WILL. It can only choose that which is the natural proclivity of the heart. So as the heart and mind desires, so does the will manifest. The will is as corrupted as the heart is. Both by observation and by the plain text of scripture we can conclude that the will has never been "free". Before salvation, the will is in bondage to Satan and the fallen nature. After salvation, we become bondslaves of the risen Christ, and we are enabled by God to will to do good in the sight of God. Our will has always been limited. As I told a woman who challenged me one time saying that she had a "free will", "Go to the moon right now! Go ahead, I'll wait." You see that she is not free to go to the moon by the might of her own will. She is limited by all those laws that God Himself built into the universe. Our will is limited to the condition of our hearts and minds. I have also written this concerning the will:

"Just as water is free to flow downhill, conforming itself according to gravity and the laws of science, as well as according to the geography of the land that God creates and recreates according to His will, we must also hold that the water is not acted upon by any present force of God, other than all those laws and realities that He has placed within the creation that act upon the force of water flowing downhill.

Water flows downhill, and it is free to do that according to all of God's decrees.

What water is NOT free to do, is to flow UPHILL without an appropriate force being exerted upon it from outside of it."

There is no contradiction between the concept of a will that is in bondage, and the righteous commands of a Holy God. Please read The Doctrine of Responsibility and let me know what you think.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

more on free will...

Michael,
Is the concept of "free will" as promulgated by the corporations that call themselves the Christian church seductive because it elevates mortals to "god" status?

Carlos

Carlos,
At its root, the "Free Will" agenda of antichrists is to overthrow the Christian's focus on appropriate means/ends.

Let me explain:

The original "end" to which man was to focus was eternal life in communion and fellowship with his Creator. The "means" to that end was to be obedience to the commands of God.

Satan offered a new "end" to which man was to focus: being "as gods". The means to achieve this end was: DISOBEDIENCE to the commands of God. Note that whenever different "means" are offered, a different "end" is in view.

The true Christian has the original end in view: eternal life in communion and fellowship with God. The "means" of this end remain the same: RADICAL obedience to the commands of God. The "means" of salvation were completed for the believer by the benevolent mediation of Jesus Christ.

The Free-Willer has altered drastically the "means" of salvation, and so we will see that the "end" is also unavoidably altered. The Free-Willer believes that the "means" to salvation is co-operational, in that he must act and participate in his own salvation by some act of will or work. Logically this means that the work of obedience by Jesus Christ on the Cross was not, in and of itself, sufficient to procure the "ends" for which it was offered, that being ETERNAL LIFE in communion and fellowship with God.

The result is that the "ends" are also changed. If it were possible that "Free Will" cooperational salvation were effective, the result would not be eternal life in communion and fellowship with God. Free-Will salvation necessarily has as its end that a person will be "as god", and as such, we can see that GODS purpose in salvation will have been thwarted.

So what is GODS PURPOSE?

"...that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God..."

God's glory would be inescapably damaged by Free Will salvation, as He would inevitably share a portion of the glory of the finished work with the creation. (This is why Free-Willers like Kent Hovind and others state that people will thank THEM in heaven for their salvation)
This is impossible.
So the end sought by the Free-Willer cannot be the same as the end sought by the true Christian. The end sought by the Free-Willer is the same end sought by Adam, Eve and the Serpent in the garden.
To reject the benefit, is to reject the BENEFACTOR. Their is no benevolence where the benefactor and the benefit are both rejected, neither can the benefactor be embraced while the benefit is rejected.
We must reject Free-Will theology as patently and fundamentally NON-Christian, for the same reason that Adam and Eve should have rejected the serpent's offer in the Garden.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

Did Adam have free will?

Michael,
Michael....got a question from a guy on another site....did Adam have free will when he fell? What say you? I replied that he had free will to sin...I know that is probably a woefully inadequate reply, but does that arrow at least hit the board? Thanks...

Bill

Bill,
Adam was created without a proclivity (tendency) to do good or evil, in fact, the Bible says he KNEW neither good nor evil - which means that neither had a dominant hold on his choices - we can see this also in the fact that God put BOTH the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, AND the Tree of Life before Adam. On his own, he chose neither; even though the Tree of Life was allowed and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was banned. Left alone, Adam chose neither.

Now here is where it gets interesting... God purposely allowed Satan to enter into the garden to tempt Adam through Eve. Even the most staunch Pelagian/Arminian has to admit that God knew about it and allowed it. God didn't send Gabriel or Michael to tempt Adam to do good (and eat of the Tree of Life, which was permitted), but He did allow Satan to beguile Eve.

It is evident that it was part of God's eternal plan that Adam would fall, because God built the redemption into the Creative act. He did not send Jesus in order to "fix" a plan that went awry, but we see Jesus as the Lamb slain BEFORE the foundation of the world.

So, did Adam have a free will? If by "free will" we mean that he was not compelled by any inner tendency to choose one thing over another, then we can say he did. But was Adam built with an additional inate ability to resist evil and choose good on his own? No.

He did not know good or evil, because the fruit of the knowledge of good or evil had not yet been consumed.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

antichrist...

Dear Mr.Bunker,
I consider you a wise man. A man of GOD. Therefore I consider you my elder in Christ Jesus. So I am coming to my elder for knowledge and maybe wisdom too. I know that you keep up with what is really happening. Is Saddam really rebuilding babylon? Is it a real place called Babylon in the prophecy? Are we seeing prophecy fullfilled in front of our eyes? Are these the signs of the last days? But Bush can't be the beast because it says in Daniel that the beast does not desire women. So he can only be prepareing the way for the beast. What country has a leader who is not married?

Property of Jesus,
Kitty

Kitty,
I will tell you this, it has always been the position of the real Church of Jesus Christ that the "antichrist", that man of sin, the son of perdition is THE POPE. He is the head of a country (the vatican), does not regard women and is forbidden to marry, he sits over the false church which has gotten drunk from the blood of the saints (close to 100 million murdered by the Roman Catholic Church), he sits on a city of seven hills (that is what Rome is called) and is considered CHRIST ON EARTH, the vicar of Christ, and proclaims himself to be God's only emissary and leader on earth. The Beast is already enthroned, and most of Christianity (all of Catholicism and almost 100% of Protestantism) teaches Catholic doctrines whereby the Beast sits in the Temple (the professed body of Christ) claiming that he is God (the Pope is to be seen as God on earth according to the Catholic Catechism).

Please read my articles on Antichrist: About Antichrist

Check out this website: iconbusters.com (keep clicking "forward" to go through the pictures)

I do not believe that physical Babylon will play a part in endtimes prophecy other than what it is doing now (Iraq). Who knows?
The rest is mere speculation.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

christian confessions...

Hi Mr Bunker,
I noticed on a lot of old post and in some of your articles you've used quite a few chapters from the Westminister Confession of Faith. I just wanted to know if there are any chapters you disagree with? Also do you have any info or links that might teach me some about it's history. I have only been able to find the actual Confession and not much on it's beginning and history.

Thanks, Christal

Christal,
Thanks for your question.

1. I cannot in conscience agree that the Sabbath has been "changed" to Sunday, nor do I agree that the scripture references given by the WCF say this at all. I must conclude that the Sabbath is perpetually on the 7th day of the week, when God rested from His works. I believe that Sunday is the Lord's Day and should be used for group worship, fellowship and for making use of the means of grace. I believe the Christian ought to keep one day in seven, and that that time period (on whatever day the believer consecrates to the Lord) should be spent in holy pursuits, prayer, family worship, quiet and separation from worldliness.

2. I cannot agree that the Civil Magistrate has any authority whatever over the true Church of God, and would state plainly that honor and obedience is only due the Civil Magistrate so long as that Magistrate is a legitimate authority, and is no usurper or rebel. The Christian owes no obedience to Antichrist, rather he ought to be at war against that man of sin perpetually.

3. I must disagree that there is a "lawfully ordained" minister of the Lord, but believe that all TRUE believers are lawfully ordained by God through the person of the Holy Spirit, and is a priest of God co-equal in the Body of Christ, able to dispense the sacraments of God as led by the Holy Spirit. I do believe that there are different positions in the body, different dispensations of gifts, and that each gift is important and should only be exercised by those whom God has prepared and qualified for the dispensation of that gift to the Body.

4. I reject the concept of Infant Baptism as "tradition" handed down from the Catholic Church and not supported in scripture. I believe that believers should be baptised by immersion as soon as is practicable, and that baptism can be performed by any true believer, and not necessarily by any so-called "clergy".

5. I respect the idea of Church Censures or "shunning" as an important and vital element of Christian discipline - but in no way believe that such admits that the "officers" of the church hold the "keys of heaven", remitting sins or forgiving them, etc. I believe that the keys of heaven are held by Jesus Christ, our rightful judge, and that the forgiveness of sins is in Christ alone.

6. I reject the idea that synods or councils have the right or authority to move the conscience of men, or to impose rules or regulations that are not patent in scripture, or that such synods can be legitimate unless plainly called by legitimate authority to plainly state the plain teaching of scripture, and I believe that the authority lies in the scripture and not particularly in the synod or council.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker

Questioning Salvation...