Vine & Fig Tree
Christianity for the Third Millennium

Greetings in the Name of our Savior and King!

I am very grateful and encouraged that you chose to visit this page. 

You have already read my letter and probably have many questions. Some of the letter is repeated below with a few links to web pages that may help answer your questions. But I cannot anticipate all your questions. I would be delighted to correspond via email or meet with you in person.

A Paradigm Shift

You hear that phrase thrown around a lot these days. Nevertheless, I believe Vine & Fig Tree represents a change as momentous as that described by Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, upon hearing of Locke's rejection of the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings: 

Never before had I heard the authority of kings called in question. I had been taught to consider them nearly as essential to political order as the sun is to the order of our solar system.

For Rush, who was present in the Congress as a representative of Pennsylvania, the events surrounding the creation of the Republic marked nothing less than a turning point in the course of human history. "I was animated constantly," he reflected in later years, "by a belief that I was acting for the benefit of the whole world, and of future ages, by assisting in the formation of new means of political order and general happiness."11 ___________________           11. The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, edited by George W. Corner (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1948), p.161.

I am convinced that Vine & Fig Tree will contribute to the Glory of God and the greater happiness of mankind. It will animate future leaders and captivate the hearts and minds of many. I know it's captivated me, and I get enough enthusiastic e-mail from people who have discovered the Vine & Fig Tree web pages (even though I haven't listed them with any search engines yet) to believe that there is something here that will resonate with a broad section of Americans. 

Rush speaks of "a turning point," which is to speak of a turning  from something to something else. From what should we turn? To what should we aspire? 

I believe we must move

• From a world of priests and princes ruling over the immature and irresponsible, a world which is simultaneously "secular" and suffused with a host of pagan faiths
• To a world of self-governing families in which all believers are priests and kings under Christ, where the knowledge of the LORD covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

Many people balked at the "turning point" which the Declaration of Independence represented. Many will balk at Vine & Fig Tree -- it is the overthrowing of ideas which many have believed are as essential to social order or the Christian faith "as the sun is to the order of our solar system." You may have already heard some of the leading lights of the Christian Reconstruction movement denounce these ideas as heresy. But Vine & Fig Tree was the aspiration of many of America's Founding Fathers, and made America "the greatest nation on God's green earth" (Michael Medved). Read their hopes here.

Detractors have called this vision "patriarchy," "anarchy," and "theocracy." In an age of sound-bites and slogans, when packaging is more important than substance, I admit I am hard-pressed to propose a consumer-tested label for Micah's Vine & Fig Tree vision. Perhaps the next generation will have to adopt the most popular label of our opponents, just as Marx coined "capitalism" and Bloody Mary derided Calvin's "Geneva Jigs."

My goal is to set forth the basic outlines, blueprints, or "institutes" of this new social order in a well-researched and persuasively-stated manner that will allow people to break out of old patterns of thought, and raise up a new generation of Christian missionaries; missionaries in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, law, science, etc., who will guide these disciplines to Micah's world of Vine & Fig Tree.

To accomplish these ends, I would like to pursue the following goals in the next 5 years:

2. Campaign for political office to introduce the Vine & Fig Tree ideas to the public.

3. Incorporate ideas learned through #1 above into the Vine & Fig Tree web pages and other publications.

If you would like to learn more about the Vine & Fig Tree vision, click here. In most respects it is standard Reconstructionist theology. There are a couple of apparent and controversial departures from the Reconstructionist norm. Click here to investigate them. Or continue reading and I will discuss the V&FT vision in terms of my strategy.

Study

I developed a contempt for the University from reading Rushdoony. I have not pursued advanced degrees because I wanted people to believe the truth based on the Word of God, not because "Dr. So-and-So" or "Professor Whatzisname" says so. I have come to conclude, however, that it is just as likely that someone might not consider my expositions of God's Law at all if they have no reason to trust my competence to research and analyze. Not that a university guarantees that, but many people will simply not read anything by someone who lacks that credential. I don't want to close doors unnecessarily.

In addition, pursuing an advanced degree will provide access to resources which will enhance the presentation of Vine & Fig Tree ideas. Additional doors, such as teaching opportunities, may be opened.

I am presently negotiating with Whitefield Theological Seminary to complete a program with George Joseph Gatis to cover the bases in the Biblical doctrine of Church and State. This involves 

• completing a program of reading which I have already begun, and which will be supplemented by Dr. Gatis, and 
• incorporating this knowledge into a web site I have been working on for some time, against the modern myth of "separation of church and State." 

When completed this will be the largest Christian web site on the Internet to counter the extensive pro-secularization websites developed by Americans United for Separation, Internet Infidels, and other secular humanist organizations.

I also want to be able to say to potential readers that I am thoroughly familiar with secular attempts throughout history to provide social order, and to assure readers that secular humanism has failed. I will be able to provide this assurance after completing Ph.D. studies in political science at UC Riverside.

Campaign

Americans today believe in politics. A political campaign is therefore a great way to promote the Vine & Fig Tree vision, even though politics is, in a very real sense, the enemy of Vine & Fig Tree.

The 20th century has proven to be the most violent in all recorded human history. The root of this violence has been the decline of laissez-faire capitalism and the rise of socialism, a shift that resulted from the secularization of the Christian West. Socialism is, of course, the political expression of the Tempter's religion of man-as-god (Genesis 3:5). As Bastiat put it, "The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else." The modern secular Leviathan is the incarnation of America's morality of lust, expropriation, and assassination. 

"Getting people to become Christian" is not the answer. Polls show so-called Christians lust, divorce, abort, sue, and vote for adulterous socialist politicians as much as Secular Humanists do. The answer is to persuade people to become "anti-government extremists" (again, appropriating the calumnies of our opposition as our own labels). 

• "Extremist" -- Jesus said we must love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength. This infuriates the mediocre, the apathetic, the lover of Entitlements. The Lukewarm make Jesus puke (Revelation 3:16). 
• "Anti-government" -- A commitment to capitalism earns this tag from liberals. We can deny the negative connotations while accepting the phrase at face value. "The government" is no longer a source of social order, but undermines true order and true morality. "The government" -- as opposed to a well-governed family, business, school, or society -- is inherently socialist, and is nourished by the immoral foundations of the Tempter's religion. This consistent opposition to socialism is a "paradigm shift" of substantial proportions, just as the transition from the distrust of government (which our Founding Fathers held) to the love of government (upon which socialism rests) took over a century to effect. The shift begins here and here. 

In addition, our political action must be such as earns us that most opprobrious epithet:

• "Theocrat" or "religious fanatic"  -- we must oppose the "separation of church and state" (which really means the separation of Christian morality and "the government"). To say this is to horrify secularists who fear anyone who threatens to "legislate morality." Their horror is an expression of their own religious fanaticism. Both sides are theocrats, and for both sides, legislation is the imposition of a religion-based morality, but as those who call us "anti-government" rightly note, we do not use the State to impose our morality. 

These apparently-contradictory positions force people to think. While we do not seek to have Washington D.C. impose our morality, we do seek the freedom to impose our morality in every area of life, in a decentralized, non-political manner. As an example, we do not ask politicians to imprison or execute homosexuals, but we will encourage Christians in every area of life to speak of God's Law against homosexuality "when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up," and to encourage repentance and give homosexuals hope for change. Failing that conversion, we will work to remove all legal obstacles to permit fathers to disinherit homosexuals in their family, employers to fire homosexuals on the job, teachers to expel homosexuals from schools, landlords to evict homosexuals, and media to refuse to air the programs or advertisements of homosexuals. Secularists who criticize the "Religious Right" for their "anti-choice" legal proposals are stunned to discover that a completely libertarian approach yields results 180° away from their immoral secularist agenda. Instead of priests and kings only in church and state, we have a holy nation where all are priests and kings. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea," yet without bureaucrats, police, "special forces" or secret service agents. 

The current weight of intervention by "the government" is overwhelmingly on the side of evil -- abortion, homosexuality, and virtually every sin listed in the Westminster Catechism's exposition of the Sixth and Eighth Commandments. Billions of dollars in subsidies and the force of law (e.g., against abortion protesters) are against Godliness. The complete abolition of the Civil Magistrate would only level the playing field. Polls suggest that super-majorities (more than two-thirds) favor prayer in schools, oppose most abortions, and in other ways claim to be Christians. The most important thing a legislator can do is eliminate government obstacles to the practice of their faith, not practice their faith for them. A Godly legislator (or even a Godly campaign) would use the "bully pulpit" to remind citizens of their duties to God.

Publish

During the next five years I hope to put the finishing touches on an average of one Vine & Fig Tree web page per day. This should bring the entire website to completion at the end of these 5 years. (Nearly 1,000 individual pages have already been started, and already draw readers through search engines whose "spiders" have found my web pages without my requesting that they be listed.)

Academic certification and further experience in the political arena (including lots of exposure in the media during a controversial but respectable campaign) should lay the groundwork for a successful ministry through publication on the Internet and in traditional book-distributing markets.

With this, the work has just begun.

What follows is a survey of Vine & Fig Tree publications. I am in the process of setting up the Vine & Fig Tree web pages under two thematic packages, one for the "left" and one for the "right":

Most of the web pages below are standard Reconstructionist fare. They should confirm my orthodoxy. The links to "Peace" and "Family" are where I depart from standard Reformed and Reconstructionist sociology. You may continue reading this survey, or click here to jump into the midst of controversy.

The Christmas Conspiracy!

CONTENTS/OVERVIEW

One major organizing theme of Vine & Fig Tree web pages is “The Christmas Conspiracy.” I hope this will appeal to “right-wingers.” The same organizational structure will be re-packaged to appeal to those on the “left.”

The true meaning of Christmas is that the King has come, and all other kings must step aside. If we have been king of our own life, we too must step aside. The word “Gospel” means “good news.” The “good news” of Christmas is that Christ is a powerful King who is going to re-create a Christian world of virtue, peace, and security.

The true meaning of Christmas has been obscured by the consumerism, materialism, and militarism of the American Empire (a.k.a. the “New World Order”). The Prophets described the Coming Messiah as One who would inaugurate a “Vine & Fig Tree” society. This Messiah came at the First Christmas. God's people are called to work for a “Vine & Fig Tree” world, not to wait for another Christmas.

There are many people out there who believe (or are ready to believe) that the State, along with its institutional yes-man, the church, profits from ignorance of the radical message of Christmas. The Church-State hybrid does not want people to know about The Christmas Conspiracy. I think many people would like to know about it.

Micah's “Vine & Fig Tree” Prophecy

While the true meaning of Christmas can be found throughout the Bible, the prophecy of Micah (chapter 4) is particularly illustrative. I have divided it (and all of the Vine & Fig Tree web pages) into seven themes, which I presumptuously call “archetypes.”

I know you have long been a supporter of Chalcedon. Chalcedon has been the most formative influence in my life. Before I graduated from college I knew I wanted to follow in Rushdoony's footsteps, and I had already published my first column in The Chalcedon Report. There are several points at which I depart from the Christian Reconstruction movement. I believe my departures are consistent with the foundational beliefs of Reconstructionism. Any atheist comparing me with Rushdoony would initially think we are just two peas in a theocratic pod. Tragically, many Reconstructionists are utterly unable to even consider the possibility that these departures represent valid Biblical extensions of Rushdoony's core beliefs.

The Bible is our Foundation

The reason why this non-profit corporation and all its web pages are based on Micah's prophecy is because he foretold the coming of Christ, showing that he was a prophet of God. All of the Vine & Fig Tree web pages are built on the idea that the Bible is God speaking to us.

Find out more about this vital presupposition.

Let us take apart Micah's prophecy theme-by-theme. Each of the links below will take you to a new, separate page. We will see the overall theme of global Divine-human Reconciliation emerge. Or Click Here to read a short summary of all seven themes.

1. Victory: The Inevitable Triumph of the Conspiracy
2. Catholicism: The Universal Appeal of the Conspiracy
3. Law: God's Law vs. Man's "law"
4. Peace: Beating the State's Swords into Plowshares
5. Family: God's Central Unit of Society
6. Garden-Land: Reversing the Stalinization of the Farm
7. Community: The Extended Family welcomes the lost and lonely

Other areas to explore:

Litigation: Confronting Society

Mailing Lists

About the Author

“A Christmas Conspiracy.” FAQ.”

There are nearly 1,000 pages on the various Vine & Fig Tree web sites. There's no set order in which the pages must be read. You can click anything that's underlined if it interests you. Links will take you (eventually) to all the pages. Here's a little bit more information about each of the “archetypes.”

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.”
      Co-conspirators in The Christmas Conspiracy 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.

6. Garden-Land: Return to Eden

      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.

7. Community: The Extended Family

      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.

Vine & Fig Tree's Web Pages

Here are some more doors to take you wherever you think you might find something interesting.

The Bible | | 1. Presence | | 2. Globalism | | 3. Theonomy | | 4. Peace | | 5. Family | | 6. Garden | | 7. Community
Index  | | Theology  | | History  | | Culture | | No State | | No Church | | Godly Families -- Everywhere | | Overview

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Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
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