Posted by
Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com
“And all the
army of the Chaldees, that were with
the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now
the rest of the people that were
left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with
the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry
away. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen” (2
Kings 25:10-12).
August 15,
2005 – In earlier portions of this series we have discussed Agrarianism as the
central, desirable system that God has decreed for his people. We discussed Agrarianism as antithetical to
the prominent system of urbanism that prevails in the modern antichrist
world. It is important, then, that we
discuss Agrarianism in greater detail in order to answer the question I receive
the most on this subject:
“So what’s
the big deal? Are you saying we should
all be farmers?”
Agrarianism is more than farming, and
Christianity is more than just doctrine or theology.
In the modern failed religious system erroneously dubbed “Christianity”,
there are two prevailing views, both of which are terrible, unbiblical errors:
1) Doctrine isn’t important. What
you believe isn’t as important as long as you believe in something; or at the
very least you must only believe in a skeleton list of undefined statements. The details of doctrine only cause division
and strife, and since Christianity is about a system of organizations and
relationships, we should avoid all talk and dispute over doctrine.
2) Doctrinal “theory” is everything.
You must believe a very specific list of doctrines. In this system, there is no understanding or
agreement that actually believing those things will inevitably bring about a
change in the “everything” of life.
Theology is all there is to Christianity.
In both of these failed systems, the professing “christian” remains in
the world and as a part of the world culture.
In both systems the “christian” merely tags new labels on the things he
has always done, and calls those things “christian”. So now we have “Christian” rap music and “Christian” coffee shops
and “Christian” icons and paraphernalia; while the command of God concerning
this present world system is to “come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2
Cor. 6:17). It should not be a light thing that the promise here is tied to
our obedience. Let us look at this
verse more closely and mark:
1. To whom it is written: It is written to “he that
believeth” (verse 15), and to “the temple of the living God” (verse 16).
2. It is conditional: “Come out”, “be ye separate”,
“touch not”… “and I will”.
3. There is a promise: “and I will receive you”. This promise is tied to the statement in the
earlier verse, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people”.
We should note that this conditional promise is not a cause and effect
promise. It does not say, “If you will
do thus and such, then I will respond by doing thus and such”. Obedience does not bring the reward of
Grace. Grace is a free gift of God and is
not a reward for obedience. This
relationship is a “means/ends” relationship.
Obedience to God is always the result of Grace worked in the heart of
the child of God. Our obedience, then,
is the means God uses to call us to Himself and usher us into the Kingdom of
God, whereby He receives us and calls us His people. The Arminian thinker can only see the conditionality of the
promise and conclude that God only chooses and saves after we obey, which could
not be further from the truth. They
cannot back up one step and look at the conditions required for any obedience to
be both real, and accepted by God. In
order to be obedient we must have received Grace in the form of the gifts of
faith, belief and repentance. Only then
can obedience be both real and acceptable to God. So the Arminian system says this:
Obedience causes God to receive us (when He otherwise would not have)
whereby we are saved.
The true system says this:
True Grace wrought in the heart causes obedience which is God’s means of
calling us to Himself whereby we are shown to be the saved children of God.
So, applying the truth of God’s means/ends system to the verse we are
studying here shows us that those who “come out”, “separate”, “touch not” and who
have no fellowship with the modern world culture are those who God calls the
“temple of the living God”. A
“christianity” that does not result in a vastly different worldview and culture
from that of the world is not really Christianity at all, it is practical
atheism. Where is the lesson here and
how does it apply to our topic? Let’s
look.
The great Puritan theologian John Owen saw similar worldliness and
practical atheism among the professing believers of his own day. Owen noted that there was a lack of
practical Godliness and a proper Christian culture among professors because of
the “peace they have in the world and the
divisions that they have among themselves” (Works of John Owen, Volume 6
Preface). If we examine the corporate
system called “Christianity” today, we will note that there are some important
characteristics of it. There are
multitudes of divisions between different denominations and sects, but they
virtually all have one thing in common… they are at peace with and in the
world. Worldliness is the one
characteristic that could possibly draw all these groups together because it is
the one thing they all share and love.
Now, if we were to distill the characteristics of the “world” (that God
condemns but professing “christianity” adores) down to a definable system, that
system would be called “The World Culture”.
That culture is known by its traits:
1. It is industrial.
2. It is corporate and driven by business.
3. It is “purpose driven”.
4. It is urban.
5. It is guided by secular principles, or secular principles with
amorphously religious facepaint.
6. It encompasses every area of life.
7. It allows for every worldview and culture except its exact opposite. It requires assimilation.
In my first Agrarianism article I stated that Agrarianism was the only proper
seedbed for Christianity. Where Christianity
has existed in an Agrarian culture, it has thrived and produced ample
fruit. Where it has existed nominally
in a non-agrarian culture it has proved to produce no fruit at all except
apostasy. Examples abound. Christianity was born “outside the camp” in
the rural areas of Israel and it found its greatest movement and growth once it
was scattered out of urban Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen. It has been hunted down and persecuted by
the great harlot city of Rome, while it thrived in the valleys and mountains of
the Alps. It found Reformation in Germany,
Switzerland, England and Scotland only to suffocate again when it became the
state religion in the great cities of those lands. It fled Europe for the wilds of Puritan America and thrived in
the fertile soils of the New World, only to be choked out once again by the
stony ground of northern industrialism and the growing urban state. Christianity is not just theology, and the
sooner we realize and accept that, the faster we will grow into maturity.
Biblical Agrarianism is a whole system of life, and it is the only
system that is designed by God to be the life-support system of true
Christianity.
We looked at the characteristics of the world culture; now let’s look at
the characteristics of an Agrarian culture:
1. It is Agrarian. It is based on
the right and sustainable management of God’s creation to the glory of God.
2. It is separatist, family driven and conducive of right religion.
3. It is process driven.
4. It is rural.
5. It is guided by truly Christian principles.
6. It encompasses every area of life.
7. It condemns every worldview, not in political terms, but by its
successful separation and disregard of them.
It does not require assimilation.
I fear that some people, when they read of Agrarianism, have far too
limited a view of what that really is.
Let us consider the parable of the sower. Every parable is both a mystery and a promise. It is a mystery locked away from those whom
God does not will to enlighten; and it is a promise made to all those who will
diligently seek God’s wisdom in the matter.
The parable of the sower shows us that the seed of the Gospel will only
thrive in proper soil (good ground).
The spiritual truth of this parable unveils the mystery of God’s
wonderful salvation. Only the heart
that is made flesh by the sovereign action of God in quickening it, will be
able to hear and obey the Gospel. The
heart is the “ground”. The “way side”
heart will never respond at all to the Gospel.
The seed is eaten up by the birds.
The heart of stone may produce a nominal professing “christian”, but it
never will produce a true Christian.
The thorny ground heart will receive the seed, but it will receive ANY
seed. In it lies the seed of the
Gospel, along with the seed of thorns and briars. The cares and love of the world, like weeds in a garden, grow faster
and stronger and choke out the Gospel in the heart. Only the good ground… the flesh heart, can receive the seed and
produce a crop of fruit from the seed planted by the sower. The seed remains the same in each case, but
it is the ground that determines the crop.
Christianity is preached around the world; in industrialized cities,
urban landscapes, businesses, etc. It
may even take root in those places, just as a tree will sometimes take root on
a rocky cliff. But to those hearers,
God has said, “Come out from among them and be ye separate”. We are not trees. We have legs. We are
called to come out of that culture and to be planted in good soil. The industrialized world culture is not good
ground for Christianity. The parables
of Christianity do not apply there. The
lexicon of Christianity is foreign there.
The lessons of Christianity are moot in that culture. Agrarianism is the only proper seedbed of
Christianity, and it is the only school where we can learn to be what God
created us to be in the spiritual world.
Christ called us immediately to enter His Kingdom, while stating that
His Kingdom was not of this world. To
the worldly professor, this is an unanswerable paradox. To the Agrarian Christian, it makes perfect
sense. Just as in the debate between
Calvinists and Arminians, we are left with the question, “What did He mean by
‘world’?” The Arminian argues that
whenever you see the word “world”, you must read it to mean the whole world and
everything in it. The Calvinist rightly
argues that the meaning of the world is only understood through its context,
and through a diligent study of the several meanings of the word in
scripture. However, the worldly, urban,
industrialized Calvinist soon finds himself on the Arminian side of the argument
when asked to examine what Christ meant when He stated that His Kingdom was not
of this world. The worldly “christian”
must rest in paradox, because if he ever comes to the conclusion that the
“world” Christ speaks of is the “world culture” in which he lives, moves and
has his being, then he will be undone.
Christ called us immediately into His Kingdom. We were bidden to come unto Him who was slain outside the
camp. We were commanded to come out
from among them and be separate.
Agrarianism provides the only stage for Christian happiness. It is not a dream to think that God has
provided a way for His children to exist outside the Antichrist cultural
system. I am not offering Christian
Agrarianism as an “option” available for those who profess Christ. Agrarianism is the only proper seedbed of a
Christian life and worldview. The whole
Bible teaches it, and every story and parable re-affirms it. In an article on Agrarianism by Ted J. Smith
III, Ph.D., Mr Smith said,
“Agrarians believe that the best society is one composed largely of
farmers who work their own land, local tradesman and independent artisans,
bound together in stable, harmonious communities in which citizens know one
another as persons, not just roles.
Under a regime of self-government, this arrangement offers the greatest
possible scope for the exercise of individual freedom, and the greatest
possible incentive to exercise that freedom responsibly.”
Mr. Smith added,
“Agrarian ideals were dominant in America through the end of the 19th
century, and in much of the South, Midwest, and West until well into the 20th. But they were gradually forced from the
scene by the inexorable spread of industrialism, modernism and the leviathan
state.”
Agrarianism is more than farming.
It is art, poetry and music. It
is culture. It is learning trades and
working and surviving with our hands and by the sweat of our brow. Just as Christianity is far more than
doctrine, Agrarianism is far more than just farming. This is why the world hates it so. We must realize that it is no coincidence that true Christianity
was stomped out of the American north with the advent of industrialism, which
brought with it a secular culture. Nor
was it coincidence that the war (both cultural and civil) against the South was
not a war against racism or slavery, but at its root it was a war against
Agrarianism and the successes of that culture.
Anti-agrarianism meant children in public schools and women in
factories. Anti-agrarianism meant men
punching clocks and buying food in stores.
The winners in that war were the agribusiness giants, corporations, merchants
and bankers. The result was feminism
and matriarchy, statism, and a debt culture. In the Agrarian system, there was no room for the Antichrist and
his system of culture, economics and politics.
Since Christians, for the most part, did not know they were in a war; or
worse than that – they were on the wrong side of that war, the Agrarian
culture, in most minds, is no more than a pastoral picture on a wall, or a mythic,
utopian memory of a bygone era. Family
farms are now things you might visit with the children or that you just dream
about while you remain a cog in a system that itself is concocted to crush that
same dream. Philosophers, Historians
and Anthropologists rightly called that war a “culture war”, but they wrongly
identified the participants in the battle.
It was not just a war between a secular and a religious worldview. It was properly a war between Industrialism
and Agrarianism, between Antichrist and Christianity.
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome
them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations”
(Rev. 13:7)
Typology and
Prophecy
Nebuzaradan was the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard. When the Babylonian army invaded and
destroyed Jerusalem, the rich urbanites that had not fled Jerusalem were
carried away into captivity. Only the
poor were left to tend the land. God
has ordered his people to flee the city.
By way of prophecy, and by way of direct command, the people of God have
been exhorted to get out while there is still time. The enemy is now taking men captive at his will, placing them in
captivity to the Babylonian system, and making slaves of those who still claim
to be the people of God. But listen
closely, for Christ has said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
The poor inherit the Kingdom, and are left to work the land as God has
commanded.
Agrarianism is more than farming.
Christianity is more than doctrine.
5 years ago it was hard to find right theological doctrine
anywhere. Now, if you look hard enough,
you can find it. But many of its
proponents are just as dead as they were before they filled their heads with
the Doctrines of Grace. Their lives
remain as they were. Sure there are
cosmetic differences, and they have religious themed music in the CD player,
but their culture remains unchanged.
Let us not forget that the product of Grace is obedience, and the
promise of obedience is that it will be the means of our coming unto God as His
children. The stakes are no less
important than that.
I am your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
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