The Seven Archetypes of
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| Micah 4:1-7 |
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| 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 |
Victory: The Inevitability of the Conspiracy |
| 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, |
Catholicism: The Universal Appeal of the Conspiracy |
| 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. |
Law: God's Law vs. Man's "law." |
| 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. |
Peace: Beating the State's Swords into Plowshares |
| And each of them will sit under his | Family: God's Central Unit of Society |
| Vine and under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
Garden-Land: Reversing the Stalinization of the Farm |
| 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." |
Community: Man is not an Island |
Christians dedicated to extending the reign of King Jesus and overthrowing the demonic Empires of the world are inspired by seven archetypal ideas in Micah's prophesy which make up The Christmas Conspiracy
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.
There are
found in Micah's prophecy.
Stated
in broad propositions, Micah's prophecy teaches us about:1. The Kingdom: Christ established it at His First Advent.
2. Catholicism: He promises that it will spread across the globe, and will be universalistic, including all nations, all peoples, all races.
3. 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.
4. Peace: Biblical Law teaches attitudes of virtue and service; when mature, these qualities beat "swords into plowshares."
5. 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.
6. Garden-Land: Militaristic industrialism is then replaced with contentment and a harmonious relationship with the land.
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. Law: 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 they are not God's. The rates for embezzlement, adultery, divorce, and abortion are as high in churches as among non-Christians. Governments seize billions, murder millions, destroy continents; churches are silent.
Dictators 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.
Biblical Law will reconstruct 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. 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."
The State 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 Leviathan. The Christian Family will abolish the Church-State hybrid. Find out more.
6. Garden-Land: Return to EdenWhen 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 State rewards debt, impersonalism, and cut-throat competition.
Christian Patriarchy will restore Edenic conditions world-wide. Find out more.
7. Community: The Extended FamilyJust 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."
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:
Christ accomplished all these things at His First Advent. NOW is the time to begin fulfilling our mandate (Genesis 1:26-28) to exercise dominion under Christ.
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).
Christian Conciliation Extends Christ's Kingdom
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 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).
The Old Testament Prophets foretold (and Christ's Apostles confirmed) that the Messiah's Kingdom would be established when the following had taken place:
Christ accomplished all these things at His First Advent. NOW is the time to begin fulfilling our mandate (Genesis 1:26-28) to excercise dominion under Christ.
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." "Fringe" today; mass movement tomorrow.
Optimism: The Gospel ("Good News") is predestined to succeed.
What is the Gospel? Is "Vine & Fig Tree" a "new gospel"? NO! It is the True Gospel! It is the "Good News." The Good News is victory. "The Gospel" is the predestined success of "the Christmas Conspiracy" (Galatians 3:8).
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.
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
Christian Conciliation is Rooted in Sovereign Grace
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." "Fringe" today; mass movement tomorrow.
What is the Gospel? Is "The Christmas Conspiracy" a "new gospel"? NO! It is the True Gospel! It is the "Good News." The Good News is victory. The Gospel is "postmillennialism." The Gospel is the predestined success of "the Christmas Conspiracy."
The Great Commission vs. the Wimp Commission
Hal Lindsey: Passé Prophet of the Wimp Gospel
Appendix: A Scripture Checklist of Conspiratorial Success
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.
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
Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is
- love,
- joy,
- peace,
- longsuffering,
- gentleness,
- goodness,
- faith,
- meekness,
- temperance:
against such there is no law.
"Love" vs. Law
The Impossibility of "Legalism"
Christian Conciliation is Grounded in Law
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.
A Slave's View of Law and Politics
Legal Obedience and the Gospel
Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is
- love,
- joy,
- peace,
- longsuffering,
- gentleness,
- goodness,
- faith,
- meekness,
- temperance:
against such there is no law.
"Love" vs. Law
The Impossibility of "Legalism"
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
Biblical Law teaches us to pray and work for peace: personally, locally, globally.
Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: The State is institutionalized violence.
Obedience to Biblical Law will eliminate "the State." Justice is altruistic, not adversarial.
The Glory of God, not the Glory of the "Fatherland"
Militaristic Industrialism or Decentralized Harmony? Swords into Plowshares
Christian Conciliation is the Discipling of the Nations
Christ is the Prince of Peace. His vassal-subjects must be committed to Peace.
This means loving even our enemies. This means going to the cross.
The State was invented to replace Pax Christi with Pax Cain, 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).
Jesus Christ was executed as a threat to the "New World Order." His followers must be prepared to be punished as "anarchists."
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.
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.
Christian Conciliation Is the Product of the Home
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.
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.
"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?
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 see the anti-parallels:
The Life and Nature of Man are also ruined by Man's rebellion
Vine & Fig Tree
is a movement to restore Edenic conditions throughout the globe.Christian Conciliation Embraces All of Creation
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 see the anti-parallels:
- Instead of water
- Thirst
- Instead of the Mountain
- 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, IRS liens
- Instead of Stability
- Wandering
The Christmas Conspiracy is a conspiracy to restore Edenic conditions throughout the globe.
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.
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
Christian Conciliators Resist the Accuser
Explore Seventh Archetype: Community
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
Vine & Fig Tree
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