THE BATTLE OF JERICHO

By Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, President of Human Life International

It is the nature of evil to fortify itself with worldly power and might. Evil usually imposes its agenda in a top-down fashion and then once it is in control, seeks to maintain its hegemony by walling itself up in fortresses so that any attempt of good people to change it will bounce off the fortification like a canon ball off a granite wall. Such is the nature of evil. Many have been the frustrated warriors of conscience whose individual and collective efforts to dismantle the structures of evil in our day have been stopped by the impenetrable strength of evil interests. The walls of evil are just too high and strong.

It is said that when archeologists discovered the ancient walls of Jericho in southern Israel they discovered the bones of little babies in jars which had been placed in the walls of the city. The babies had been ritually sacrificed. In other words, the institution of child sacrifice was flourishing behind those high walls of Jericho, and although it was probably hidden to the eyes of the world, it was plainly seen by the eyes of God. It was a sin that cried out to God for justice, and God who hears the cry of the poor decided to put an end to it. Jericho, a leading commercial and metropolitan center of its day, was corrupt, but it could not be destroyed by human means. Reform could not change it from within because the whole system was corrupt. Change could not come from without either because the walled city was just too strong. Only God could put an end to the killing. And God who is rich in mercy still hears the cry of the poor even today. These poor are the voiceless, defenseless unborn children who are being sacrificed on the new altars of a massive evil which has become an institution and a fortified industry. Abortion is just Jericho revisited. Like the ancient city, it has all the trappings of a smug, strong, sophisticated social concern, but it is corrupt down to its very heart of darkness. As a so-called medical reality it is the most protected and least regulated of all medical institutions; as a political reality it has bought and paid for politicians who protect the sacred rite of child sacrifice in order to please the ones who put them in power; and as an economic reality it is a multi-billion dollar industry which is almost totally impenetrable to any human force from inside or out. How can one actually fight against such a fortress? What could one possibly do to penetrate this hermetically sealed evil?

Joshua provides us with the answer, and it is very simple: pray and follow your priests.

Isn’t that what God sent him to tell the people after all? Re-read the story of the fall of Jericho in chapters five and six of the Book of Joshua, and you will see that the walls of Jericho were penetrated not by weaponry, strategy or the strength of a military siege. None of those techniques would have worked if they had been tried. It is likely that many other nations had tried those techniques of war and failed. The walls stood firm, and the evil inside got worse. God did something different to collapse those walls. He used the power of united prayer and spiritual leadership to blast those granite walls to smithereens, and the formula for defeating evil is the same today. Prayer and priestly leadership.

Joshua lined them up according to God’s pre-set plan. First came the vanguard of picked troops to shield the people. Then came the priests blowing the horns. Then seven other priests took up the Ark of the Covenant, and carried it into battle. Finally all the people fell in line behind their priests and were protected by a rear guard of seasoned troops.

The only problem was that this was a perfect formula for failure in terms of worldly combat. The Jerichoans must have stood high and proud on their walls and laughed the Israelites off the battlefield. “Are we to fear the blowing of horns or take seriously a big gold box with angels on it carried by some old men?” But the people did not listen to their taunts and obeyed to the letter what their spiritual leaders told them to do even though it must not have made much sense to them at the moment. They marched seven times around the city in silence for six days and the priests just kept blowing the horns. Only on the seventh day did they do anything different, and when Joshua ordered them to shout, the whole massive edifice of evil collapsed in on itself in an instant.

Mark my word: evil will not stand when the Church is so prayerfully united behind its spiritual leaders carrying the Holy of Holies into battle against the most corrupt institution in history. The gates of hell will not prevail against a united church. Abortion will collapse in the same way too – in an instant – with spiritual leadership.

God is ready, the people are ready, but where are the priests?