Vine & Fig Tree
Targeting 200 Million Christians in America
If American Christians simply gave a tithe rather than
the current one-quarter of a tithe, there would be enough private
Christian dollars to provide basic health care and
education to all the poor of the earth.
Book
Review: The Scandal Of The Evangelical Conscience -
Acton Institute PowerBlog
(And
Christians would still have an extra $60-70 billion left
over for evangelism around the world.)
How three
trillion Iraq War dollars could have transformed the Arab
World by sending missionaries
instead of Marines.
Legalize
the Three H's!
The "Works of Mercy"
(Mathew 25) in the
Jefferson Bible.
The Myth of
Left vs. Right
| The name "Vine
& Fig Tree" comes from the
fourth chapter of the prophet Micah, and is set forth here.
You've probably heard Micah's words before -- we beat
our "swords into plowshares" and
everyone dwells safely under their own "Vine
& Fig Tree."
America's
Founding Fathers were familiar with this vision:
"Vine & Fig Tree"
is the worldview
that made America "the greatest nation on God's
green earth."
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George Washington's Diaries are available
online at the Library of Congress. That website
introduces those writings with these words:
| No theme appears more
frequently in the writings of Washington
than his love for his land. The diaries are
a monument to that concern. In his letters
he referred often, as an expression of this
devotion and its resulting contentment, to
an Old Testament passage. After the
Revolution, when he had returned to Mount
Vernon, he wrote the Marquis de Lafayette on
Feb. 1, 1784: "At length my Dear
Marquis I am become a private citizen on the
banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow
of my own Vine
& my own Fig-tree."
This phrase occurs at least 11 times in
Washington's letters. "And Judah and
Israel dwelt safely, every man under his
vine and under his fig tree"
(2 Kings 18:31). |
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Under My Own Vine and Fig Tree, 1798
Jean
Leon Gerome Ferris
Virginia
Historical Society
Lora
Robins Collection of
Virginia Art
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Many
other American Founders wrote of this ideal.
"Vine & Fig Tree"
is the original "American Dream."
The
phrase occurs a
number of times in Scripture. These references are
visual reminders of the Hebrew word for salvation,
which means
- peace,
- wholeness,
- health,
- welfare, and
- private property free from pirates and
princes.
- When today's Americans hear the word
"salvation," they usually think about
going to heaven when they die. When the writers of
the Bible used the word "salvation,"
they wanted you to be thinking about dwelling safely
under your own Vine
& Fig Tree during this life -- much
more often than they wanted you to be thinking
about what you'll be doing in the afterlife.
The best place to see the Vine
& Fig Tree ideal is in the book of
Micah.
|
| Let's look at Micah's prophecy (on
the left) and ask a few questions (on the right): |
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 |
|
Are
we in the "last days?"
When did this establishment take place?
|
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, |
|
Is
Christianity doomed to minority status throughout
history? |
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. |
|
What
should be the Christian's attitude toward the 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. |
|
Are
we commanded to beat our swords into plowshares today?
Or do we wait for the Second Coming? |
| And
each of them will sit under his |
|
What
about private property? |
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, TV
commentators, newspaper editors, rock stars, CEO's,
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? |
After being sworn in as President of the United States, George
Washington delivered his "Inaugural Address" to a
joint session of Congress. In it Washington declared:
[I]t would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official
act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules
over the universe, who presides in the
councils of nations, and whose providential
aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction
may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of
the United States a Government instituted by themselves . . .
. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every
public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your
sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens
at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge
and adore the
Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than
those of the United States. Every step by which they have
advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have
been distinguished by some token of providential
agency; and . . . can not be compared with the means by which
most governments have been established without some
return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation
of the future blessings which the
past seem to presage.
[W]e ought to be no less persuaded that
the propitious smiles of Heaven
can never be expected on a nation that disregards the
eternal rules of order and right which Heaven
itself has ordained . . . .
Messages and Papers of
the Presidents, George
Washington, Richardson, ed., vol. 1, p.44-45
next: Campaign Finance, Corruption and the
Oath of Office
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