It's been an interesting, if unexpected, Jericho March for me this year. An aspect of this historic event with spiritual ramifications for believers seeking a complete entry into their rest in Yah'shua (Jesus) is revealed in asking a different question, perhaps. Most of the drama of Jericho centres on the walls and, to a lesser extent, to the deliverance of Rahab and her family. What we may perhaps forget, in our occupation with the 'miracle of the walls', is what the falling walls revealed behind them.

What lay behind those thick walls and the large moat in front of it? Firstly, there was a hill rising high above the walls which is not usually depicted in the modern art work of the fortress. There was a small 'mountain', and hills or mountains symbolise kingdoms and their power. Behind the walls lay a pagan society.

Later Jericho became an outpost of Eglon of Moab during the period of the Judges and was known locally as the "City of Palms" (Judg.3:13), doubtless because of its beautiful location. This was not just a mighty fortification, it was also, it would seem, prosperous and a desirable place to live. It offered security and wealth, much as the modern neo-pagan West does for those who like to rely on the "arm of flesh" (2 Chr.32:8, KJV).

It was at Jericho that David's abused ambassadors recouperated (2 Sam.10:51; 1 Chr.19:5) and later it became a seat of the School of the Nevi'im (Prophets) (2 Ki.2:4-18) and it was to Jericho that Judahite captives were repatriated (2 Chr.28:15). It became important in Hellenistic times and is used, amazingly (given its ultra-pagan roots), as a metaphor for wisdom (Sirach 24:14). However, the Jericho of Joshua's day was a heathen Canaanite settlement. It represented all that was wicked about the paganism of the day that merited the judgment and wrath of Yahweh.

Canaan was a sophisticated agricultural and urban society but its religion was perverse:

"The religion of the Canaanites was an agricultural religion, with pronounced fertility motifs. Their main gods were called the Baalim (Lords), and their consorts the Baalot (Ladies), or Asherah (singular), usually known by the personal plural name Ashtoret [2]. The god of the city of Shechem, which city the Israelites had absorbed peacefully under Joshua, was called Baal-berith (Lord of the Covenant) or El-berith (God of the Covenant). Shechem became the first cultic center of the religious tribal confederacy (called an amphictyony by the Greeks) of the Israelites during the period of the judges. When Shechem was excavated in the early 1960s, the temple of Baal-berith was partially reconstructed; the sacred pillar (generally a phallic symbol or, often, a representation of the ashera, the female fertility symbol) was placed in its original position before the entrance of the temple.

The Baalim and the Baalot, gods and goddesses of the Earth, were believed to be the revitalizes of the forces of nature upon which agriculture depended. The revitalization process involved a sacred marriage (hieros gamos), replete with sexual symbolic and actual activities between men, representing the Baalim, and the sacred temple prostitutes (qedeshot), representing the Baalot. Cultic ceremonies involving sexual acts between male members of the agricultural communities and sacred prostitutes dedicated to the Baalim were focused on the Canaanite concept of sympathetic magic. As the Baalim (through the actions of selected men) both symbolically and actually impregnated the sacred prostitutes in order to reproduce in kind, so also, it was believed, the Baalim (as gods of the weather and the Earth) would send the rains (often identified with semen) to the Earth so that it might yield abundant harvests of grains and fruits. Canaanite myths incorporating such fertility myths are represented in the mythological texts of the ancient city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in northern Syria; though the high god El and his consort are important as the first pair of the pantheon, Baal and his sexually passionate sister-consort are significant in the creation of the world and the renewal of nature" [3].

According to the Torah, sexual sin curses and contaminates the land (Jer.23:10). Jericho was a very ancient place and may possibly have existed before the flood too so it could have been a centre of the perversions introduced by the original fallen Watcher malakim (angels) and perpetuated by their offspring the nefilim giants. The ground was so cursed, it would seem, and the place such a major symbol of the false religion Israel had been commanded to wipe out, that Yahweh issued a ban on the city ever being rebuilt (Josh.6). Later Hiel of Bethel would ignore this instruction and rebuilt the city at the cost of two of his sons (1 Ki.16:34) because of the curse Yahweh had additionally put on the place.

I don't think it would be wrong to say that what is being culturally built in the West - and indeed worldwide - today is a spiritual restoration of the ancient City of Jericho, protected and enriched by a powerful military-industrial complex with its sophisticated hi tech society, a modern 'City of Palms'. The West has become a type of Jericho with all its sexual immorality which is cursing the ground of the nations and inviting judgment.

Human sacrifice was also practiced by the Caanite pagan religion:

"At times of crisis, Baal's followers sacrificed their children, apparently the firstborn of the community, to gain personal prosperity. The Bible called this practice "detestable" (Deut.12:31;18:9-10). God (Elohim) specifically appointed the tribe of Levi as his special servants, in place of the firstborn of the Israelites, so they had no excuse for offering their children (Num.3:11-13). The Bible's repeated condemnation of child sacrifice shows God's (Elohim's) hatred of it, especially among his people" [4]. This was, and still is, even more of an abomination in the eyes of Yahweh than sexual perversion and it is reasonable to assume that this was also the practice of the Jerichoites.

Modern-day 'Jericho' is not much different although it is on a scale orders of magnitude greater than that of the ancients. I speak, of course, of the abomination of pre-natal murder or 'abortion'. Infant sacrifice is well know amongst devil-worshippers, a cult that is mushrooming in our day, along with cannibalism, the ultimate lawlessness. It is astonishing to think that today, as then, urban sophistication and prosperity accompanied these vile practices. Add to this the epidemic that is pedophilia throughout the ruling élites and their institutions and you will appreciate why Judgment can't not happen. The West - and indeed the world as a whole - is standing at the threshhold of a cataclysmic 'Jericho moment'.

So this is what lay behind the walls, and on the mount that was ancient Jericho. This is what the walls were protecting and Yahweh ordered them ripped down and the population eradicated. No, this was not an act of genocide but of just execution for the perpetuation, culturalisation and defence of heinous crimes against Heaven and humanity. To be of the world is to partake, even in a non-direct participatory way, of its abominations and to become 'accessories after the fact'. Those who refuse to speak out against pedopholia, abortion, satanic cults or sexual perversion, are giving a nod of assent, thinking that by being neutral that they are off the hook of judgment. There is no such thing as neutrality in the moral sphere. To refuse to speak out against wickedness is to declare your approval of it. It is a declaration of your true 'tribal allegiance' which is contrary to Yahweh's Kingdom. You can't have your feet in both kingdoms - you must be for the one or the other.

We are offered, at this time, through careful meditation on and study of, the Jericho event, an opportunity to have the walls of sin-protection torn down and have what remains of the world, Jericho or Babylon, exposed before the Light of the Creator, and to then make a final choice: to allow 'Jericho' to own a part of you and so receive its judgments or to be finally quit of it and escape Yah's wrath. This is such a time, beyond question.

Tomorrow (the 6th day of the 2nd biblical month) is the final day of the Jericho March and a grand opportunity for this community to come into agreement and allow Yahweh to tear down these demonic strongholds, expose what remains of worldliness in us, and to give him permission to extirpate it, whatever the cost. Such spiritual surgery is not without pain but this pain is better than coming under wrath.

Whatever attracts you to the world system must be relinquished. Will you now do it? Will you have your hidden vices put to death, your sin attitudes, and whatever is contrary to the Kingdom of our Elohim (God)? Did you know that the date of the Flood was on the 17th day of the 2nd month? That's in 11 days' time. And the flood lasted 150 days or 5 biblical months. I'm not saying World War 3 or anything like that is going to happen in 11 days, just pointing out the divine tavnith or patternm to you in case Yahweh intends something then, particularly for those who are being called to make teshuvah (repentance) now.

I hope none of you, impatient with waiting, have stopped prepping or started consuming what you have stored, because you're going to need it. Some mighty big walls are coming tumbling down in the world but best to get your junk burned out before that happens. I pray Yahweh will do a wonderful thing for you tomorrow if you have been in earnest prayer during this year's Jericho march.

Further Reading

[1] For Archaeology on Jericho, see Bryant G.Wood, Jericho
[2] From which we get the modern word 'Easter'
[3] Robert A. Guisepi, Canaanite Culture and Religion
[4] Ray van der Lahn, Fertility Cults of Canaan