In other words, "open home," "personalism," "extended
family," Clicking on any of these archetypes will begin a chain of links which
flesh out each theme, showing the "Vine & Fig Tree"
vision for life in Christ's Kingdom.
But don't take our words for it. Another way to look at this passage is to examine
Micah's prophecy word-by-word. It's very revealing. It's part of "A Vine & Fig Tree FAQ."
In 100 words or less, Micah's prophecy teaches us
about:
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1. The Kingdom: Christ established it at His First Advent. |
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2. Catholicism: He promises that it will spread across the globe, and will be universalistic, including all
nations, all peoples, all races. |
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3. God's Law: This global spread of Christ's reign
will be in terms of obedience to Biblical Law, which is Christ's
Standard of Love, Justice, and Holiness. |
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4. Peace: Biblical Law teaches attitudes of virtue and
service; when mature, these qualities beat "swords into
plowshares." |
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5. Family: Rightly related to those who gave
us birth.
Rebellion against the natural authority of parents and elders gives rise to tyrannical,
"paternalistic" institutions. We reverse this trend. |
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6. Garden-Land: Militaristic industrialism is then
replaced with contentment and a harmonious relationship with the land. |
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7. Community: Christians do not practice "rugged
individualism." The "nuclear family" is culturally sub-Biblical. Living in extended-family communities, Christians exercise dominion and resist the
pressure of worldly peers spouting the myths of the pre-Christian "principalities and
powers." |
Let us take apart Micah's prophecy theme-by-theme. We will see the overall theme of global-human-Divine
Reconciliation emerge.
Stated in broad propositions, Micah's prophecy
teaches us about:
1. The Kingdom: Christ established it at His First Advent.
Micah says man was created in a Garden, "the Mountain of the
Lord." We rejected God's Providence because we wanted to "be as gods"
(Genesis 3:5). In our poverty, we sold ourselves to the demonic slave-traders of the polis.
Jesus paid the price necessary to "redeem" us (buy us back)
from the slave-traders. Satan has been bound. By
destroying this slavery, Christ established His Kingdom. If we accept His gentle yoke, we
escape the harsh taskmaster of addiction to sin. Christ's plan is not to
"rapture" His people, but to empower them to "overcome" sin and the
demonic State. He is not "coming soon" to establish an Empire in Jerusalem.
Churches preach defeat, slavery, impotence,
and self-centeredness. "Shepherds" paralyze and castrate "the sheep."
Liturgy and rituals replace dominion. Spontaneous obedience to the Blueprints of Life is
muzzled by "doctrinal" diversions.
Politicians legislate dependence and serfdom.
Flag-waving replaces dominion, vengeance replaces mercy and "voting" soothes the
conscience.
The Media tempts us to self-worship. Meditation on God's Law is crowded out by
"entertainment." Mousketeers graduate to cocaine.
Yet whenever the Gospel has been believed and fleshed-out, culture
has blossomed. Science, the arts, schools, hospitals, "justice, mercy and
faith," are the products of Christ's Kingdom.
Christ has established His Kingdom. Find out more.
2. Postmillennialism: It is a
global Kingdom; a New Earth.
Jesus promises that His Kingdom will spread across the globe, and
will be global, or universalistic, including all nations, all peoples, all races.
Though the "dominant culture" only reluctantly admits it, Christianity has
leavened the loaf, and the dough is rising. "The earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
(Isaiah 11:9)
Churches teach that everything is getting
"worse and worse." Reforming lives and nations is thought to hinder the
"return of Christ." Sectarianism and ecclesiocentrism is their sorry substitute
for a Christianized Earth.
Bureaucrats stalk the borders to keep
"illegals" out. "My country right or wrong."
Christ's Kingdom will grow to cover the planet. Find
out more.
3. Theonomy: Man's law will be replaced by God's Law.
This global spread of Christ's reign will be in terms of obedience
to Biblical Law, which is Christ's Standard of Love, Justice, and Holiness. We do not
adjust our interpretation of the Bible to fit our culture; we reconstruct our culture
according to the Blueprints of the Bible.
Churches teach that "we are under grace,
not law." They still enforce their own laws and traditions, but not God's. The rates
for shoplifting, perjury, adultery, divorce, and abortion are as high in churches as among
non-Christians. Governments seize billions, murder millions, destroy continents; churches
are silent.
Judges assert that law and justice are
"culturally relative." All cultures are equal — except Christian culture,
which is "oppressive." It becomes politically incorrect to condemn massive
human-rights violations in so-called "left-wing" dictatorships.
Biblical Law will reconstruct all human society. Find
out more.
4. Peace: "Swords into Plowshares."
Biblical Law teaches attitudes of virtue, reconciliation, and service;
when mature, these qualities beat "swords into plowshares," disarming the heart
of the individual and the polis.
Decentralization replaces institutionalization.
Churches support wars, bless bombs, cheer
executions. When institutionalized violence is approved by the pulpit, it is practiced by
the people.
Organized government has murdered an
average of 10,000 people per day throughout the 20th century. More killings are planned.
Copy-cat street gangs protect their "turf."
Non-violent Christians follow the
Prince of Peace. Find out more.
5. The Family: Home of God's global Shalom
The Family is the root and center of Kingdom
growth -- overthrowing the violence of the State, abstaining from the sycophancy of the
Church. Vine & Fig Tree means a return to
Biblical Patriarchy -- and then new growth in terms of this
family-centered paradigm.
When families begin exercising independent dominion, the
"shepherds" question their loyalty to the church. Inquisitions
keep would-be patriarchs docile and "submissive."
Leviathan is at war with Jefferson's
"yeoman farmer." Free men of independent creativity and political skepticism
have been replaced by consumer zombies easily managed by the State.
The Christian Family will abolish the Church-State hybrid. Find out more.
When families put Biblical Law into practice, militaristic
industrialism is replaced with contentment and a harmonious relationship with the land.
When Christians attempt to live debt-free, church finance
boards call them "unrealistic" and "impractical."
Industrialist peonage is nurtured.
The Federal Reserve Board rewards debt,
impersonalism, and cut-throat competition.
Ecological destruction is a result of polluted hearts.
Christian Patriarchy will restore Edenic conditions world-wide. Find out more.
Just as we were adopted into the Family of God, Christians extend
their families, bringing in the solitary and abandoned. Christians do not practice
"rugged individualism." The "nuclear family" is culturally
sub-Biblical. Living in extended-family communities, Christians exercise dominion and
resist the pressure of worldly peers who spout the myths of the pre-Christian
"principalities and powers."
Modernist church hierarchies pressure
Christians who question birth control, HMO births, mass-schooling, and Secular Humanist
degrees. Christians who practice hospitality, sanctuary, and home Bible-study threaten
ecclesiastical monopoly.
The nuclear-armed State is no less hostile
to the decentralized provision of social wholeness.
The Creeds say "I believe in the Community of Saints." Find out more.
Let us take apart Micah's prophecy theme-by-theme. We will see the
overall theme of global-human-Divine Reconciliation emerge.
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains
And it will be raised above the hills
Micah 4:1
Many Christians are not participating in
The Christmas Conspiracy
because they believe that they must wait for Christ to come to earth a second time. The
Old Testament Prophets foretold (and Christ's Apostles confirmed) that the Messiah's
Kingdom would be established when the following had taken place:
- Satan is bound and his power to deceive
the nations curtailed (Revelation 20:1-3).
- The Eternal King is enthroned upon the
Throne of David (Psalms 2 and 110).
- Believers are anointed as priests and kings
to reign and rule with the Messiah (Isaiah
61:6; 66:21; Revelation 5:10).
Christ accomplished all these things at His First Advent.
The New Testament clearly states that Jesus lived, died, and rose again in "the last days" of the Old Covenant order.
His last act under the Old Covenant was the destruction of the Old "House of the Lord" (Matthew 24) and the
establishment of a new House, a new Mountain (Daniel 2:35,44; John 4:21,23).
This is the beginning of The Christmas Conspiracy.
NOW is the time to begin fulfilling our mandate (Genesis 1:26-28) to exercise dominion
under Christ.
The Christmas Conspiracy Extends Christ's Kingdom
Explore First Archetype: Victory
[Back to Archetypes]
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains
And the peoples will stream to it.
And many nations will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the House of the God of Jacob,
Micah 4:2
We sometimes decide whether or not to follow Christ based on whether it's popular. We
don't want to be "different." We should realize that what is important is the
long-term, and in the long run, Vine & Fig Tree
Christianity will be "mainstream." "Extremist fringe" today; dominant
culture tomorrow.
Catholicism: The entire planet
— all races, all cultures, all languages — will be governed by Christian
principles.
"Roman Catholicism": A Contradiction in Terms. Ecclesiocentrism: racism;
statism.
Optimism: The Gospel ("Good News") is predestined to succeed.
What is the Gospel? Is "Vine & Fig Tree" a "new gospel"? NO!
The word means "Good News" The Good News is victory. "The
Gospel" is the predestined success of "
The
Christmas Conspiracy" (Galatians 3:8).
Postmillennialism or Apostasy? Why postpone "the
Rapture" by working for Global Reconciliation? Man's work of reconstruction is backed
by the Power/Promise of the Spirit.
The Great Commission vs. the Wimp Commission
Hal Lindsey: Passé Prophet of the Wimp Gospel
Appendix: A Scripture Checklist of Conspiratorial
Success
The Christmas Conspiracy is Rooted in Sovereign Grace
Explore Second Archetype: Catholicism
[Back to Archetypes]
And many nations will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the House of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths."
For from Zion will go forth the Law
Even the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:2
The whole Bible -- including the Old Testament
-- is God's Law-Word.
From Moses to Malachi, God sets forth an unchanging standard of Justice, Mercy, and Faith (Matthew 23:23). When
faithfully taught and obeyed, observance of the Law of God mends the torn fabric of life.
Bringing our lives under the total jurisdiction of Christ is the key to social renewal,
not reforming the lives of others through the impersonal violence of statist bureaucratic
regulation. Biblical Law is God's pattern for peace, justice, and harmony.
Theonomy vs. Autonomy
The Comprehensive Scope of God's Law: Every
Area of Life, Every Activity
Obedience in Life pleases God more than Ritual and
Sacrifices in Church
A Slave's View of Law and Politics
Legal Obedience and the Gospel
Theonomy in Christian Ethics
Liturgy vs. Law
"Spirit" vs. Law
Law or "Fruit of the Spirit"?
Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is
against such there is no law.
"Love" vs. Law
The Impossibility of "Legalism"
Living Faith
The Origin of Greasy Grace
- Getting in Touch with Your Feelings
- Emotions in Psalm 119
Can you be a Christian if you don't "worship" God?
Can you "worship" God if you don't worship
His Law?
The Gospel Message is a Word from God. Every Word
of God is Law.
The Christmas Conspiracy is Grounded in God's Law
Explore Third Archetype: Law
[Back to Archetypes]
For from Zion will go forth the Law
Even the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift up sword against nation
And never again will they train for war.
And each of them will sit under his
Vine and under his fig tree,
With no one to make them afraid.
For the LORD of hosts has spoken.
Micah 4:2-4
Christ is the Prince of Peace. His vassal-subjects must be committed to Peace. The
Prince of Peace commanded us to love our enemies. True Christians are willing to follow
Christ to the cross (Matthew 16:25; 1 Peter 2:21).
But the religion of Secular Humanism (America's State religion) teaches vengeance. Modern Man believes it's better to make someone
else die for you than to give your life for another. Entire populations are organized on
the principle of institutionalized vengeance.
The State was invented to replace Pax Christi
with Pax Lamech, Pax Nimrod, Pax Pharaoh, Pax Babylonia, Pax Romana, and Pax
Americana.
"The Christmas Conspiracy"
is a conspiracy to crush the "New World Order" into powder (Daniel 2:44).
Biblical Law teaches us to pray and work for
peace: personally, locally, globally. Obedience to
Biblical Law will eliminate "the State." Justice is altruistic, not
adversarial.
Jesus Christ was executed as a threat to the "New World Order." His followers
must be prepared to be punished as "anarchists."
The Chief End of Man: The Glory of God, not the Glory of the "Fatherland"
Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: War is the Health of the State
Militaristic Industrialism or Decentralized Harmony?
Swords into Plowshares.
The Christmas Conspiracy is the Discipling of the Nations
Explore Fourth Archetype: Peace
[Back to Archetypes]
For from Zion will go forth the Law
Even the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
And each of them will sit under his
Vine and under his fig tree,
With no one to make them afraid.
For the LORD of hosts has spoken.
Micah 4:2-4
In the Garden of Eden there was the Family. There was no priesthood, no State.
All human beings are created in families. Patriarchy is an inescapable concept. If
the Christian pater does not train his family in the Ways of Peace, he will be
oppressed by a "paternalistic" State.
The Institutions of Church and State are unBiblical. They reflect rebellion against
God's Law.
The whole history of man as recorded in the Bible
is the history of sinful rebellion against society as created in the Garden of Eden, and
the construction of institutions based on coercion and violence. It is the history of
Politics vs. Patriarchy.
Not Priesthood, nor Statecraft: The Family is God's
Central Institution.
Training Ground for Morality, Forgiveness,
Self-Discipline, Competence.
Obedience through the Family eliminates tyranny,
protects property.
Institutions such as Church and State were formed in
rebellion, not faith.
The Christmas Conspiracy Is the Product of the Home
Explore Fifth Archetype: Family
[Back to Archetypes]
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the House of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains
And it will be raised above the hills
And each of them will sit under his
Vine and under his fig
tree,
With no one to make them afraid.
For the LORD of hosts has spoken.
"The Mountain of the Lord" is a
reference to the Garden of Eden.
The original Garden had the following characteristics.
The Life of Man was characterized by the following:
In general, each of the characteristic Blessings of the Garden and of Man's Life in the
Garden are reversed as man rebels against the Lordship of the Creator. We will soon post
links to the anti-parallels:
| Instead of water |
Thirst |
| Instead of the Mountain of the Lord |
a desert Valley |
| Instead of the Botanical Garden |
a Wilderness |
| Instead of Precious Stones |
Clay, wood, stubble,
asphalt |
| Instead of God's Presence |
Separation, "Hell
on earth," alienation |
The Life and Nature of Man are also ruined by Man's rebellion
| Instead of Dominion Man |
Neanderthal Man |
| Instead of a Garden |
"The Concrete
Jungle" |
| Instead of Knowledge |
Mythology |
| Instead of Harmony with Nature |
Conflict, Pollution |
| Instead of Freedom to Enjoy and Glorify God |
Economic Scarcity |
| Instead of The Family |
"Singles,"
"Careerism " |
| Instead of Long life-spans |
Sickness, Death |
| Instead of Unmolested stewardship over land |
Serfdom, slavery |
| Instead of Stability |
Wandering, Unpredictability |
The Christmas Conspiracy
is a conspiracy to restore Edenic conditions throughout the globe.
| "Deep" Creationism vs. Evolutionism / "Deep Ecology"
/ Fascist Genocide Dominion
vs. Domination: The Model of Christ or The Survival of the Fittest?
Culture vs. Commerce: Salvation by Grace or by
the Machinations of Man?
Agrarianism vs. Industrialism: Covenant Blessings or Humanistic Idolatry? |
Vine & Fig Tree
is a movement to restore
Edenic conditions throughout the globe.
The Christmas Conspiracy Embraces All of Creation
Explore Sixth Archetype: Garden
[Back to Archetypes]
Though all the peoples walk
Each in the name of his god,
As for us, we will walk
In the Name of the LORD our God
forever and ever.
"In that day," says the LORD, "I will assemble the lame,
I will gather the outcast And those whom I have afflicted;
I will make the lame a remnant, And the outcast a strong nation;
So the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.
Please watch for coming links!
Patriarchal Communities: Beyond the "Nuclear Family" and "The American
Dream."
The Weak and Illegal: Standing Against the Principalities and Powers
Perseverance of The Saints in Community
Encouragement from Believers vs. Social Peer Pressure
Social Darwinism vs. Personalism
The Christmas Conspiracy Creates Community
Explore Seventh Archetype: Community
[Back to Archetypes]
More Ideas
A Random Assortment
People who refuse to
be categorized as either "left" or "right" click here
The Christmas Conspiracy
No, this isn't "Let's stay inside and be glum because Christmas is 'a pagan
holiday.'"
This is "Followers of the Babe born in a feeding trough are plotting to topple all
Empires."
The Conspiracy is exposed here.
Have You Seen . . . ?
Answers to your questions!
A Vine & Fig Tree FAQ
Previews of coming pages!
An Outline of Vine & Fig Tree WWW Pages!
In our House of Hospitality
In the Courtroom
C.A.U.S.E.
On Radio
Our Prayers
Ideas Need Friends
So writes the author of this webpage. My name is
Kevin Craig, and sometimes I feel like the loneliest guy in the world. I was formally excommunicated from the "Religious Right," but as a Bible-believing
Calvinist I am not comfortable with the anti-"Religious Right," even though for
the last 10 years the "radical leftwing"
Catholic Worker movement has been a
large part of my life.
I do not wish to be anyone's leader. I'm not trying to be "ordained" or
"elected." I want to join you and other kindred spirits in a life-long search
for the Vine & Fig Tree ideal I find in
Micah's prophecy.
I have this gut feeling that there are a lot of other people like me; people who are
terrified at the emerging secularist dictatorship ("The New World Order"); but
uncomfortable with the cold machismo of the militia-minded "Reconstructionists"
and the manipulative rituals of the churchmen. If you find the "Vine & Fig Tree" vision attractive, please write
me: Kevin4VFT@aol.com.
Updated January 20, 1999
Vine & Fig Tree is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
educational and charitable organization.