God's Gospel
Delivered to a Post-Modern Pastor
Date: Wednesday,
January 11, 2006 @ 09:10:39 CST
This is a letter I wrote to a modernist “pastor” in Louisiana after the Katrina disaster in 2005. It is a response to his letter to me attempting to scold me for pointing out the wickedness of New Orleans in two sermons “The Whirlwind” (audio) and “Romosexuality” (audio; print). In his rant, this post-modern pastor made it evident that he believed that we ought not be talking about sins, or the effects of sins, but that we ought to just "preach the gospel" (undefined) and take advantage of the disaster for religious ends; he also challenged me to give him the gospel (very sarcastically), and invited me to come to New Orleans to “help out.” What follows is my response to his challenge... MB
Joshua,
You have made two
offers that I would like to accept. First, in a statement about
ministering in the wake of disaster, you said:
"...or
better yet, come here yourself. you have an official invitation."
Well, I officially accept your invitation, provided that I
get to minister... which means that, as pastor of a congregation, you
will permit me to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your Church.
If that is agreeable, myself and at least one other brother will come
down there at our own expense, work with you or for you in
"ministering" to those affected by the disaster, and will
allow you to take an offering at the service where I preach so that
100% of the money can go for the relief of those involved in the
disaster.
Second offer. You said:
"i
would love to hear the gospel... please enlighten me"
I
take that offer very seriously, although I am unable to enlighten
anyone - I pray Christ, through His true Gospel, will enlighten you
and bring you to repentance. What follows is the Gospel. I apologize
that it must be so long, but it is a sign of the times, your
erroneous presuppositions being such that much labor must be engaged
in correcting them. I started out by listing some scripture
citations, but left off half way through when I recalled that Paul
and the Apostles did not do this. If you need the added help, I will
endeavor to finish citing the whole work... let me know. I do expect
you to read it and send me your reactions, since I am not there to
look you in the eye...
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You asked for the Gospel, so I will endeavor to give it to
you, though I suspect your asking was not out of a sincere desire to
look into that great mystery of God, but rather was more of your
post-modern, snide, winking and eye-rolling at the Holy things if
God. However, since you have asked, I will not give you a serpent or
a stone – but I will see that the bread and water of life is
brought into view. You should beware though, because the false gospel
you have heretofore believed and spread about is no gospel at all;
and once you have heard the true Gospel, you are no more to be
considered ignorant and foolish – but as a responsible party
before the throne of God Almighty.
God Almighty... Not the
weak and wimpy “god” you have produced before men; one
who vainly hopes for the salvation of all men, and who is desperate
for their love. Our God is an All-Mighty God, Omniscient (All
knowing), Omnipotent (All powerful), Omnipresent (Everywhere
present). After the fall and complete and total ruin of the race of
man by the sin of Adam, this Almighty God chose an elect people out
of the wicked world (the sons of fallen Adam) for Himself (Matt.
13:33-35); He called that family (of righteous Abraham) to Himself,
and created a special nation of faith FOR Himself (Exodus 19:5). The
race of man at this time was completely spiritually separated from
God (Isa. 59:2); unable to do any spiritual good (Isa. 64:6); unable
to obey God or to seek their own spiritual well-being (John 5:40);
there was no king in the land and each man did whatever was right in
his own eyes. God's covenant of works, abhorred and violated by Adam,
was now made with the nation made up of the seed of Abraham, through
Isaac and Jacob. That covenant, though honestly offered, and
sincerely honored in His part by God Almighty; was impossible for the
wicked sons of Adam to keep (Heb 3:19) – they being separated
from the Spirit of God (Eph 2:12) through Original Sin (Rom. 5:12),
and completely ruined through their own depravity (Jer. 17:9). God
intended and purposed this failure from before the foundation of the
world (Isa. 14:26-27) (knowing all things and everything that could
and would come to pass according to His own divine decrees from
before the creation) so that His own perfect purposes in the creation
would be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly
realms (Eph. 3:10) through the very Ecclesia (Assembly of Called-Out
Ones - the Church) that He would create through, by and for His only
begotten eternal Son, Jesus Christ (God of very God, the 2nd Person
of the Godhead).
This covenant of works being broken,
violated, and rejected by the sin of fallen man, and being found
faulty (Heb. 8:7) in that it could not bring any corrupt son of Adam
back to Spiritual Life (Heb. 9:13-14) – God was pleased to
unveil His eternal plan through the promise of Jesus Christ, the seed
of the woman, in order to utilize His Life, Ministry, Obedience,
Sacrificial and Propitiatory Death, Burial, and Resurrection, in
order to call all of the elect of God from all time (going back to
Creation and forward to the culmination of all things), give them the
gift of the Spirit through regeneration (quickening), bring these
living ones to repentance so that they grieve for their sin and
rebellion and turn from it, and spiritually seek a deliverer
(physician/redeemer). He, through the Spirit, makes available the
Gospel to those repentant saints so that their carnal minds and lives
can be converted and brought into accord with the nature and reality
of their redeemed state, whereby He sanctifies (separates) them unto
Himself for His own divine purposes and for the fulfillment of His
will, so that He alone will receive all glory in all the world and in
all the creation for His marvelous and mighty works done by and for
Himself.
Since no man is able, in and of himself, neither by
the revealed works in the creation, nor by the divine light reflected
in nature, to come to or love God at all, or to see their need for
redemption and salvation – God provided for one single way for
men to be be saved. That “way” is Jesus Christ. The
sacrificial and propitiatory work of Jesus Christ on the Cross was a
timeless act, sealed in eternity when as yet there was no creation.
Only those for whom Christ died; whom the Father savingly called;
whom the Holy Spirit of God quickens by the spiritual new birth; are
then enabled to HEAR the Gospel, that they might HEED the commands
therein and be saved.
It is evident both in history and in
the Word of God, that the revelation of the Gospel unto sinners has
been completely according to the Sovereign Will of God. The majority
of men who have lived and died on this planet have neither heard of,
nor obeyed the precepts and requirements of the Gospel. The very fact
that the Gospel itself has been kept from the majority of men, and
then only spiritually revealed to a very, very few of the descendants
of Adam's sinful and rebellious race, is evidence that the “promises
and precepts for the obedience required therein, as to the nations
and persons to whom it is granted, is merely of the sovereign will
and good pleasure of God” (LBCF 1689). As opposed to the
post-modern (actually Papist) view that the Gospel is God's plea to
the whole world, begging them to believe on Him, the Gospel, though
honestly offered to the whole race of men, is only physically made
known to a few, and only spiritually made evident to those who have
had their stony hearts removed, and who have received a heart of
flesh. This fact is neither capricious nor unfair; neither can any
man who has in him the Seed of Spiritual Life, deny it, slander it,
or defame Him for doing what He wills with what is His.
Just
as it is true that there are “false Christ's”, “false
brethren”, and “false Apostles”, it is also true
that there are false gospels (Gal. 1:8). Prophecy teaches us that the
predominate “gospel” in the last days will be a false
gospel, and that the sign of those times will not be a great,
worldwide revival – but a great, worldwide apostasy from the
true faith. We are told that, even in the very earliest days of the
Church, that this spirit of Antichrist was already gone out into the
world, and that the Antichrist himself would soon rise from
professing Christianity and would pervert the Gospel and corrupt the
Temple by sitting in it, proclaiming Himself to be God. This
Antichrist has been revealed to the whole Church as promised by the
testimony of Scripture. He has been uniformly identified by the voice
of the Father through the elect martyrs (millions upon millions of
whom still cry out to God from beneath the altar of God); and he has
been testified against by God's elect Church even unto this day. That
Antichrist (the Pope of Rome and his false religion) has
counterfeited the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and now has pushed that
counterfeit down the throats even of the Protestant Churches, whose
millions of martyrs died to unveil and identify him. The so-called
“gospel” pushed by the post-modern puppets in the pulpits
of the world is EXACTLY the gospel of the Antichrist made evident in
his cursed Council of Trent.
For God so loved the world...
The world His creation, with His elect in it, for whom His
Son was crucified even before the world was.
...that He
gave His only begotten Son...
Not unto revilers, rebels,
unbelievers, or sons of Satan, but for the specific ones who He loved
from the foundation of the world; who He gave His life for, so that
they could be brought by the Spirit to believe in Him, die to
themselves, and follow Him.
...that whosoever believeth in
Him...
Whosoever being a limiting term, disallowing most
every man, since most cannot believe in Him, nor would they if they
could. They must savingly believe in Him, which is only possible as a
miraculous work of the Holy Spirit wrought in an elect child of God.
...should not perish...
Should not, could not,
will not... for He hath purchased them with eternal life, having
given them to eat of the Tree of Life.
...but have
everlasting life...
Not temporal life, as if one moment
they have it and the next they don't... but ETERNAL life, which was
in Him from before time was, and was promised to the elect seed and
brought to fruition through the work of the Godhead on their behalf.
The Council of Trent and the Roman Catholic Church (and
modern "protestantism") declares:
God's love
for the entire world of men, all men in all ages – even those
He has said He hates; even those who perished having never heard the
gospel, or having lived in ages and nations where the gospel was not
known or preached.
God's sacrifice for all men – most
of whom will never believe on Him or be saved. They believe that
Christ died for men who are in Hell, and loved them as He sent them
to Hell, and that in their case... His sacrifice and blood was
worthless.
God's inability to save men – who stubbornly
refuse to be saved, though he “desperately” desires to
save them.
God's unwillingness to save men – whom He
evidently could save, if only He wanted to bad enough.
The
inefficiency and limited power of the Blood of Christ – which
is unable to save men without their partnership and help; and that,
though equally (they say) applied to all men, is only effectual for a
very, very few.
God's inability to keep men saved –
whom He evidently died for and sacrificed Himself for. His sheep are
on their own, any man or devil may pluck them out of His hand –
or they can jump out if they want to bad enough.
God's
Gospel declares:
God's love for His creation (which is
one in His mind with His plan for it), and His special and saving
love for those who He foreknew (loved before) from the foundation of
the world.
God's unique love for His sheep – not for
goats or tares, but for His sheep and His wheat which He will
unfailingly gather unto Himself.
God's hatred for the wicked,
the rebellious, the iniquitous.
God's anger at the wicked,
and His patience in storing up His wrath for His day of judgment.
God's purpose in allowing wickedness for a season, so that
His perfect wrath might be known to the whole creation... in order
that His mercy towards His children will have meaning.
God's
intention to glorify Himself by keeping His elect, according to His
divine will, in order that His manifold wisdom may be known to the
principalities and powers in the heavenly realms.
God's
command that the whole world of fallen men, repent and throw down the
weapons of their warfare against Him.
God's willingness to
save those who are enabled to believe on Him by faith, and his
faithful promise to destroy those whose hearts He has hardened so
that His righteous wrath and justice will also be made known.
These
are two different gospels. One leads to eternal damnation for having
believed a lie, the other leads to eternal life for having loved the
truth.
Your “gospel” of a desperate, powerless
“god” is a lie, and I can and will prove it so
contextually out of the Bible any time you like.
The True
Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of God's Kingdom, into which
dogs, and sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie may not enter. I deliver this
Gospel to you, for the time is come that judgment must begin at the
house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of
them that obey not the Gospel of God?
I remain your servant
in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
www.biblicalagrarianism.com
www.lazarusunbound.com
editor@lazarusunbound.com