Editor’s Note: Where I write this from, I can hardly say. The Word of the Lord moves through me, the Holy Spirit guides my pen. I have known neither friends nor family for nights too numerous to name. Yet this is the Word of the Lord—or at least history as I know it to be.
The world shrinks and grows depending on the amount of information doled out. Here is an apple orchard: was the harvest successful if the ground is littered with rotted-out fruit fallen from its porch? Here is a lake: if you catch one fish, can you tell the health of the water?
Rumors would later persist of a community living in the mountains of North Carolina, an off-grid community, who were former Vine residents. The same rumors would later persist in Georgia, Virginia, even as north as Pennsylvania. In these rumors, the people were movements in the forest. The people were unblinking pairs of eyes appearing then vanishing in the pitch of night. The people were sharp- and snaggle-toothed, clothed in rags, at one with the dirt. Awake in the dirt. Sprawled throughout the tree canopy. The people of Vine were a creation of God, all right. In these rumors, the people spoke to no one, yet seemed to communicate harmoniously with one another, as though they could read one another’s thoughts.
There are communities across the United States of America where people wish to live humbly and serve God.
It was long known that James Sherman VIII spent the majority of his time in Massachusetts, keeping residence in Vine strictly for Council votes. The same was the case for Adam Vance VIII and living in Utah. James Davidson VIII made it all the way out to Los Angeles. Jonathan Sevier VIII, of course, stayed in Tennessee, as did John Franklin VIII and Robert MacHenry VIII. Jefferson Smith VIII, Franklin Davies VIII, and Lysander Adams VIII decamped to Florida, witnessing to the assembled Church Leaders of America in various coastal Mariotts. Alyosius Wilkinson VIII set up his own church in Atlanta, George Polk VIII in Louisville. Seth Ruth VIII walked with God, and was not seen.
All Elders maintained a Vine residence as of this writing.
This information was not known to the people of Vine, but was an open secret among Captains of Industry and Seminarians.
There are communities across the United States of America where people do quite well for themselves serving God.