Israel has sinned and they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have taken some of the accursed things and have stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed things from among you. Joshua 7:11-12 Israel had just experienced one of the mightiest victories that has ever been recorded in history. After Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan River on dry land because God had caused the waters flowing down the river to stand still and the water rose in a large heap after the priest carrying the Ark walked into the river. Once they crossed the Jordan, God instructed Joshua to return to the covenant He made with Abraham and circumcise all the men. In Joshua 6, God told Joshua, “See I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go around the city once, this you shall do six days… But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.. and the walls of the city will fall down flat.” Once the children of Israel came back into covenant with God with their obedience of cutting off the foreskin of all males, they walked in victory. All they had to do to experience victory over the fortified city of Jericho, was to walk around it once a day for six days and on the seventh day, they were to march around it seven times and shout. The priest carried the ark of the covenant on their shoulders and blew their rams horns as they marched behind the armed men. On the seventh day, after they had followed the instructions of God, they children of Israel defeated Jericho! Before they went into battle with Jericho, God instructed the people of Israel to utterly destroy all the people except for Rahab the Harlot who had protected the spies. They were told not to take any treasure from the battle, but that all the silver, gold and bronze would to into the treasury of the Lord. Can you imagine the excitement and confidence they had after the Battle of Jericho? They thought they were invincible! The next conquest was the city of AI. Sadly, there is no record in the Bible that Joshua asked the Lord how to take the city instead he decided to go and spy out the country so they could come up with a plan of war without asking God for directions. They decided to send 3,000 men of war to attack Ai because it was a small city. Instead of having victory, the children of Israel suffered defeat, thirty-six men died and they rest of the army ran from the inhabitants of Ai. Instead of asking God what went wrong, Joshua blamed God for their defeat. God told Joshua the defeat was caused by the sin in the camp that had to be dealt with. One man, Achan, chose to disobey God and took the silver, gold and Babylonian garments from Jericho and hid them in his tent, stealing what belonged to God. Achan confessed his sin and was stoned for his disobedience. Once the sin in the camp was dealt with, God gave Joshua clear instructions how to destroy the city of Ai, this time, the people were allowed to keep the spoils of the victory, they could keep the money and animals they found. The Church as a whole has forgotten there are consequences of sin. The truth of the gospel has been watered down and people lean on their own judgement to determine whether something is sin or not. A woman told me a few years ago, “we have to do what feels right.” I do not know about you, but my feelings that are not brought into submission to the word of God can get me into a big mess fast. It is easy to walk in the flesh and give someone who offends us a piece of our mind (maybe that is what is wrong with many Christians, we have given our mind away a piece at a time), or allow ourselves to judge someone’s actions and assign wrong motives against that person that they had no intention of, or how many Christians fall into addictions or sexual sins because it feels good at the time? Proverbs 14:12 warns us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is destruction.” Just because something feels good or seems right, does not mean it is pleasing to God. Achan fell into the trap of doing what feels good at the time. He took things that did not belong to him, and it cost him and his family their lives. God warns us in Isaiah 1:19-20 “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judged according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” We are called to be a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. May Modern Churches do not teach the consequences of sin. We have bought into the lie, that all a person has to do to inherit eternal life is to say a “sinner’s prayer.” It is true that if we acknowledge we are sinners, believe on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and confess with out mouth that He is Lord we will be saved. That is just the beginning, salvation is a lifelong walk with God in a personal relationship that strives to live a life without sin. In the Bible when Jesus dealt with a sinner, he often told them He did not condemn them, and instructed them to go and sin no more. It is easy to ask Jesus to be your Savior, but we are required to make Him our Lord as well. The title Lord, means that God possesses supreme power and authority, He has authority, control or power over Christians, He is our master and ruler. Too often we want to be saved from sin and the destruction it brings, but we do not want to submit the authority of God. Living a Republic, we do not understand what it is to live in a kingdom with a King. In a Kingdom, the King has the ultimate authority and influence over a group of people. Whatever the King says Is law and the people have to obey the King’s command whether they feel like it or not. Mankind was made to have dominion over the earth, and it is not easy to willing submit our will and our desires to Jesus, allowing Him to be our Lord and Savior. We want the benefits of living in a God’s Kingdom, yet do not want to obey His laws and commands. When we refuse to accept Jesus as our Lord and King, we fall into the trap that we can do what feels good and still be okay. Judges 17:6 “In those days, there was no king in the Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” I believe this is why so many Christians are struggling, they have not made Jesus their King. The one defeat the Israelites suffered was at Ai. The defeat at Ai was caused by sin and the failure of Joshua and the leaders to seek God’s plan of attack. I find it interesting that the new “intelligence” that is coming out is also called AI which stands for Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is man created by inputting broad sets of data into a manmade algorithm. AI is used in business for reasoning and creating advertisement. It is teaching a computer to “think” based on data collected. Those who are pushing for a one world government are wanting AI to replace human logic and make mankind obsolete. They are predicting that AI will write a “bible” that is all inclusive to every religion, offering more than one way to God. Sadly, the Church has not kept up with the concept of the technology. I heard a woman talk about how great AI is, when asked it can write amazing worship music. That is a scarry thought to me, the same AI that will rewrite the world’s bible is writing worship music to a God it does not know or recognize. I have even watched a pastor deliver a message that AI wrote. While I understand that AI is a specific form of artificial intelligence, let me propose that any knowledge that is not based on or contrary to the word of God is Artificial Intelligence. Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.” God designed us with the need to seek Him for direction and answers, He gave us His Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us all things. Ai means ruin. The enemy would love to ruin our lives and out future by enticing us to look for Artificial intelligence instead of the divine Wisdom that comes from God. Just like thirty-six men lost their lives in the battle with Ai, when Somone was tempted with sin and take something that does not belong to them, like Achan did in Joshua by stealing the tithe, or we take someone else’s spouse, or someone else’s’ reputation with slander, withholding the forgiveness that someone who has wronged us needs, or we take credit we do for something we did not do, we are allowing sin into our lives (camp). When people chose to sin and the blessing of God is lifted from their lives, they want to blame God and accuse Him of being unfaithful. The truth is most of the times when bad things happen, it is because we do not seek God’s will and way for the situation. Just like when Joshua asked God for clarification and the sin was confronted, God will forgive us when we go to Him with defeats in our lives. (I know there are somethings that just happen and are not a consequence of a choice we make.) We must be quick to ask for forgiveness and do what is right if we want to walk into the promise land of our future. God has clear instructions that He wants to share with us to make our journey a success.
Cathy Nesmith