Vine & Fig Tree University takes its name from the Bible verse which historians claim was the most popular Bible verse in America from 1600 to the American Revolution. (That's saying something significant, because America's public school system was designed primarily to teach everyone the Bible. If you were to ask today's Americans who their favorite opera singer is, they would draw a blank, because they can't name a single opera singer. Likewise if you asked today's Americans what their favorite Bible verse is. Some may have heard of "John 3:16," but otherwise know as much about the Bible as they do about opera. This was not the case in early America.)
| The Curriculum of the colonial American one-room schoolhouse 2.0 will give students a vision for a Christianized world. We are all created in the Image of God, and hard-wired to aspire to the vision described by the Old Testament Prophet Micah 4:1-7: |
| Micah's Prophecy |
Archetype |
Controversy |
| 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 |
“Predestination” “Preterism” Audio |
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| 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, |
“Optimillennialism” Audio |
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| 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. |
“Theonomy” Audio |
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| 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. |
“Pacifism” Audio |
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| And each of them will sit under his | “Patriarchy” Audio |
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| Vine and under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
“Anarchism” Audio |
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| 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, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. |
“Theocracy” Audio |
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You won't agree with everything in my curriculum, but you will be a better person for having wrestled with these ideas: Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other. |
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Micah 4:1-7 is a representative of many “Vine & Fig Tree” verses in the Bible (left column), with some observations on how this passage is expressed in the VFTU curriculum (right column).
Micah 4:1-7 |
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Vine & Fig Tree University |
| 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 |
We are not in "the last days" of the Old Covenant. We are in the first days of the New Covenant.
The "mountain" of the "house of the Lord" was Jerusalem, but before that it was the Garden of Eden, an elevated plateau from which flowed four rivers. Adam and Eve were called to transform the Garden of Eden into "The New Jerusalem," or as Augustine called it, "The City of God." The establishment of this "mountain" took place when Jesus the Christ/Messiah came, 2000 years ago. Daniel 2 predicts that this Mountain-City will spread over the entire world. |
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| 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, |
Today, in stark contrast to the days in which Micah delivered this prophecy, a majority of human beings on planet earth claim to worship the God of Abraham.
Galatians 3:8 The concept of "blessing" is seen in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and Leviticus 26:3-13. Micah would be astonished to see that in 2023, billions of human beings enjoy the "blessings" that are described in those passages. Micah could not have imagined that billions -- thousands of millions -- of human beings could live on this planet at the same time without mass starvation and total war. |
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| 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. |
Jeremiah 31:33 predicts that the Torah will be written on the hearts of New Covenant believers. | |
| 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. |
The Protestant Reformers and the Founders of Harvard missed this point. They rejected the "pacifism" which was advocated by the "Radical Reformation" a.k.a. the "Anabaptists." | |
| And each of them will sit under his | What is a family? What about private property? |
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| Vine and under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
What about technology? What about the military? What is it that really brings "security?" | |
| 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. |
What if all the politicians, university professors, college accreditation agencies, TV commentators, bloggers, newspaper editors, rock stars, scientists, CEO's, celebrities, athletes, authors, and think-tanks repudiate the Vine & Fig Tree vision and tell you not to believe it? | |
| In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. |
Should we strive to be on top, or to help those on the bottom? Is God on the side of those who have accomplished much by their own power and initiative, or is He on the side of those who are willing to be used by God to accomplish much to His Glory? |
Micah 4:1-7 |
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Vine & Fig Tree University - Concise Themes |
| 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 |
"Bibliolatry" - We teach students that the Bible is the Word of God. Micah can predict what "will come about" because God revealed it to him.
Predestination -- God knows what "will come about" because He predestined it. "Creationism" -- We teach students that the "mountain" of Eden actually existed. We teach students that "Evolution" is the religion of archists. |
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| 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, |
Preterism -- We are not in "the last days" of the Old Covenant. The "second coming" and establishment of the "mountain" -- the reign of the Messiah -- took place in the past.
"Optimillennialism" - A majority of church-going Christians in the last century believed that the world would get worse and worse until a "rapture" took place, leading to a "Great Tribulation," the "Antichrist," and Armageddon, followed by a "Second Coming" of Christ. This was called "premillennialism." Gary North called it "pessimillennialism." |
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| 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. |
"Theonomy" -- "God's Law" -- A controversial position that sees the Bible as a blueprint for a reconstructed society. | |
| 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. |
Pacifism -- Elimination of the Department of Defense and the Military-Industrial Complex.
Anarchism -- Conversion of those who believe they have the right to impose their will on the rest of the planet by violent force and threats of nuclear annihilation. |
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| And each of them will sit under his | "Patriarchy" "Homophobia" |
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| Vine and under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
Agrarianism | |
| 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. |
Character -- Sometimes described as the actions you take when nobody is watching, but today describes the actions you take when Big Brother is watching you, and social media is denouncing you. | |
| In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. |
"Socialism"/"Communism"
The first "anarchists" called themselves "socialists," because they fought not only for individual rights, but for social deficiencies among those who could not fight for themselves. The first ("native") Americans did not hold land under Lockean "homesteading" theory, and the land they lived on was stolen from them by archists. |
Reduced to Single-Word Concepts
(Linked to VFTU Home Page)
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| Micah's Prophecy |
Archetype |
| For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
|
| 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 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, |
|
| 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. |
|
| 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 |
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| Vine and under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid. For the LORD of hosts has spoken. |
|
| 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, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: |
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| and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. |
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You won't agree with everything in my curriculum, but you will be a better person for having wrestled with these ideas: Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other. |
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