June 24, 2004 - The Bible teaches that mankind, in his most perfect
state, is designed (and has a primary duty to) dress the garden and
to till, manage and overcome the land – for the pleasure and
provision of man, and for the Glory of God. Man’s duty then, apart
and above all other duties, is to manage the Creation for God’s
glory, for “The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the
world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1). The first
hint of any commandment or duty given to man in the Bible is from
the first chapter of Genesis:
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth”
(Genesis 1:28).
In a deeper explanation of this command, we find some details in the
second chapter:
“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden
to dress it and to keep it”
(Genesis 2:15).
Prior to the fall, the duty of man was primarily the management,
dressing and keeping of the Garden of Eden. Although we do have
facts that tell us that mankind was to have “dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth”, we have no indication that
man was in the practice of consuming animals at this time. Although
some denominations and cults have tried to prove that man was
strictly a vegetarian at this time, such teaching is merely
speculation – and really is a moot point, since we know that soon
after the fall God allowed the consumption of clean animals into the
diet of men. So we have solid evidence that man was designed
perennially to have primary duties in agrarianism and animal
husbandry. Specialization and urbanization did not exist for quite
awhile, and only entered into the human system by way of the
sinfulness and rebellion of mankind.
The parables of the New Testament go on to re-establish mankind’s
agrarian responsibilities, and also recognize man as the steward of
God’s possession who, in time, will give a reckoning and account to
God who is his absentee landlord. The earliest believers
inextricably linked our responsibility as farmers and land managers,
to the final judgment and the return of the One righteous landlord.
The stewardship and the working of the land was designed, not just
for our sustenance and provision, but to instill in the working
design of the mind God’s sense of orderliness, cleanliness, and
beauty. Our minds were designed by God to be trained at a
very young age by agrarian behaviors. Working the land and the
animals gave man a sense of dominion, but always a limited
sense of dominion. Whereas a man could certainly improve his
odds of a plentiful and bountiful crop by hard work and planning,
the results were always left at the foot of God, who alone was and
is sovereign over conditions, weather, war, plague, etc. Biblical
Agrarianism (and Biblical Agrarianism alone) trained man in the
godly balancing art of submission and dominion.
Agrarianism was never a system devised whereby man would “make
money”, or “earn a living”. Agrarianism was primarily beneficial in
that man could, though - Biblical methods, hard work and honest
obedience, provide for himself and his family and household – IN
ORDER TO keep himself and his household separate from the ways and
means of the godless world. Living an “off the grid” lifestyle
should not instill in us pride or a sense of self-sufficiency, but
should reassert a humble worldview, totally dependent on the grace,
mercy, providence and sovereignty of our God.
It is interesting to note that our assertion that God trains MINDS
through Agrarianism can be judged by a cursory view of Biblical
history. Where mankind thrived in godliness and righteousness, we
find an Agrarian society – and it is only in these types of
societies (like in Germany and Switzerland in the 1500’s) that we
ever find theology and Biblical knowledge being purified. In
contrast, wherever urbanization exists, we find the judgment and
wrath of God upon that people, and in those “seats of learning”
where specialization and urbanization are the way of life (say..
Rome, Paris, etc.), we find nothing theologically but liberalism and
apostasy. This is not to say that Agrarianism creates good
theology, rather, that Agrarianism is the only proper seed-bed for
good, Biblical theology. When the mind is trained in an
urban/specialized setting, it becomes so much more difficult for
that mind to embrace the mysteries of God that are unveiled in the
types, shadows and parables of God. The Bible is an Agrarian book
that rejects and condemns urbanization and specialization, and it is
written to an Agrarian people. Biblical Agrarianism tends towards
separation and a dependency on the Providence and Sovereignty of
God. Un-Biblical urbanism tends towards unification and
independency FROM God, but dependency on the beast system of finance
and commerce.
The shadow pictures (types/antitypes) of sin, separation,
reconciliation and redemption can only be properly understood from a
foundational knowledge of the Agrarian/Urban contrast. When a man
lives in harmony with God, we find him in an Agrarian/Pastoral
setting, dependent on God and not on neighbors, city dwellers or
other forms of commerce. When man rebels and rejects God’s ways, we
find him gathered together with like-minded rebels in cities. In
the picture of salvation/redemption, God pictures his own children
as wheat seed, which must fall in “good ground”, well prepared and
managed soil, in order to germinate and bring forth fruit. God’s
children should be found as workers of the soil. They are spread
out in good land, thinned by the sovereign gardener, and nourished
and pruned in order to bring forth good fruit. In contrast, when
seed falls among the thorns, meaning a crowded, weed-filled place,
with all manner of wild plants competing for sustenance, that seed
is said to be “choked” by “the deceitfulness of riches”. Most
urbanites today, especially those who claim to be Christians, would
deny that they are being choked by the deceitfulness of riches, and
yet their continued reliance on specialization in an urban setting
for survival contradicts their claims. Any urbanite today must find
himself in league with the ungodly in order to survive, whether it
be in a neighborhood or at the workplace, the city-dweller must be
in unity and union with apostates and professed unbelievers on a day
to day basis. Why? Well, “in order to make a living” you will be
told. This in itself denies the providence of God in giving gifts
and provision to His children.
God promised to deliver His people from such a land of bondage and
dependence, into a
land
of
Agrarian paradise:
“And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land
and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey…”
(Exodus 3:8).
Now God promised that He would give His children a good and
productive land, and that all they had to do was to go in and
“possess it” (which is to say, subdue it, till it and manage it),
but the children were rebellious, and preferred their urban (yes,
the children in the desert were really urbanites, city dwellers,
etc.) ways. They had become specialized and feared the job ahead of
them in overcoming the land.
“And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto
them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein,
whether they be strong or weak, few or many; And what the land is
that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they
be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; And
what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood
therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit
of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes. So
they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto
Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they ascended by the south, and
came unto
Hebron;
where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now
Hebron
was built seven years before Zoan in
Egypt.)
And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a
branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon
a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The
place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes
which the children of
Israel
cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land
after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and
to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the
wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and
unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou
sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is
the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the
land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw
the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the
south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell
in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the
coast of
Jordan.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at
once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the
men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the
people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil
report of the land which they had searched unto the children of
Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it,
is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people
that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the
giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in
our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight”
(Numbers
13:17-33).
For the wickedness of the people we see that God curses the whole
nation (over the age of 20) except Joshua and Caleb to perish in the
desert, never to see the true land that overflowed with milk and
honey. But why did Caleb and Joshua see what no others would see?
“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and
hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he
went; and his seed shall possess it”
(Numbers 14:24).
Caleb (and later we see him joined together with Joshua) had
“another spirit with him”, and God said of Caleb that he “followed
me fully”. Do you understand the importance of this as it relates
to separation? Most who hear these messages, but who still will not
separate themselves from the wicked, and who still live in cities,
and who still will not live a life directed by a truly Biblical
Worldview, are not able to SEE the good land, because all they can
see is giants and problems and things that cause fear. When people
contact me about “getting off the grid”, they are afraid because
they don’t think they can subdue the land, and they don’t know how
they will survive. They see with carnal eyes, and do not see the
providence and promise of God as if it were already completed. They
do not see with the eyes of faith.
God’s children were designed and created to live in Agrarian
communities, knit together by a common worldview and common faith.
Whereas there was always “micro-specialization” (every man did not
have to produce 100% of what he consumed) in that some individuals
and regions produced some individual items for sale to other
individuals and regions that might specialize in another product, it
is evident that most of the people were expected to provide for most
of their own goods and needs. Each family should produce the bulk
of their own food and supplies from their own homestead. Farmers
never produced just one crop, or one type of good, expecting to make
enough money from the sale of his goods to buy the rest of the
things he needed to survive. This concept left too much to
“chance”, “luck”, “circumstances”, and did not rely on the
Providence of God through the obedience of faith. Proper farm and
land management techniques (crop rotation, multiple and
cross-beneficial crops, etc.) were passed down from the Patriarchs
through the family and descendents – until inevitably the children
rebelled, sold or abandoned the land, and moved into cities where
specialization and segmented labor would “insure” temporal survival.
When the Puritans and Pilgrims left the crowded and corrupt cities
of Europe in order to experience religious freedom in the
New World,
we find that they reinstituted many of the traditions and laws of
ancient, Agrarian Israel. It is true that the Puritans were already
very theologically sound, but we must confess that the “good ground”
where the Puritans were led to plant their farms and families
insured that the Biblical Agrarian model brought forth great
temporal and spiritual fruit for many generations to come. Where
the people began to gather together (once again) into large cities;
where they began to be more urbanized and specialized (such as in
New York and Boston), we also see the slow absorption of Papist/Arminian
doctrines. Just as the rural/agrarian system is the proper seedbed
of good theology, the urban, specialized, worldly system that exists
in cities is the best seedbed for liberal, manipulative churches
teaching Romanist creeds.
Note where the “food” of a man is supposed to come from, and think
about it as a sign of how our spiritual “food” (The Word of God)
comes to us:
“He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied
with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth
food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth
man's heart”
(Psalms 104:13-15).
Spiritually, God puts forth those things necessary to bring our
spiritual food forth for our service. But who will understand the
Word of God? When man has put aside the Agrarian system and
knowledge that showed us how God brought our physical food to us,
how is man to understand the spiritual antitype (or fulfillment) of
this type? So much of God’s Word and so many of God’s mysteries are
hidden in the Agrarian system. Is it any wonder that we are a
people starved for wisdom and understanding (just as our bodies
starve for natural provision)?
The Evils of Urbanism
The modern economic system is actually crumbling around us, having
been built on nothing and suspended by mythologies and lies. The
economies of commerce that feed and support the large urban centers
today (and even most midsize and small towns) is a system built on
lies and worldly “good faith and credit”. When that system
collapses, more than 90% of any modern nation’s population will
suffer and starve, OR more wicked and statist means of production
will have to be brought forth in order to feed and provide for a
great majority of consumers who have neither the desire nor the
skills to produce and survive.
Many people read the commandments in the Bible to “come out of her”
and to separate from the world, and they think, “Listen, I don’t go
to bars, and I don’t do drugs, and I don’t go out and party, and I
don’t spend my money foolishly… so I have separated from the
world”; but in their rationalistic replies they show how foolishly
and ignorantly they have failed to discern the plain teaching of the
Bible. It is our mutual dependence and interdependence upon
the world and worldlings that evidences whether or not we are
Biblically separated people. Listen, if all the wicked worldlings
immediately perished or were stricken with some serious malady that
caused them to be unable to continue in their jobs – the cities (and
all those who rely on them) would collapse and perish. It is your
dependence on the world that is at issue here, not whether or not
you partake of ALL of their habits.
The
Underground
Church must be separated and dependent on God alone, instead of
dependent on the world that is perishing around it. Spiritually, we
must recognize that “Abram dwelled in the
land
of
Canaan,
and
Lot
dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched
his tent toward
Sodom”
(Gen. 13:12). I pray to God that He is still sending angels to pull
His children out of cities, and that He still strives with those He
plans on blessing. In the Bible, we see cities and city-dwellers
overthrown (Gen. 19:25), destroyed (Gen:19:29),
and terrified (Gen. 35:5); the children of Israel were forced
to build cities for Pharoah (Ex. 1:11); God gathered the people
together into cities to punish them (Gen. 47:21, Lev. 26:25); God
promises to lay the cities waste (Lev. 26:31, 33); God exhorts
Joshua and the children of Israel to smite all the cities with the
edge of the sword.
In one of the most telling types/shadows of all of history, God had
his people (the Christians) flee the adulterous and rebellious city
of Jerusalem for the surrounding countryside and the safety of the
caves of Pella. In the perfect picture of what we are each to do in
our own lives, (when we see the wicked city surrounded by enemies
and rebellious to the core), we are to flee from that worldly city
before it is destroyed. You see, we ARE the righteous city of
God,
the New Jerusalem, The Bride of Christ, purified and adorned for His
purposes. Separate yourself Holy City of God, you must separate
yourself. Return to the garden in the physical, and you will return
to the garden in the spiritual. Rely on the Providence of God, and
God will give you the fat of the land; a land overflowing with milk
and honey. If you would desire to understand spiritual mysteries,
then you must be willing to reject carnal fears. The giants are NOT
too big, and the land will not swallow you up. Our God is a mighty
God, and, as an absentee landlord, he will soon return for a
reckoning. YOU will give an account as to your stewardship of the
land. I pray that God will lead you out of
Sodom
before that reckoning comes.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
