From the beginning of time, the God of heaven and earth has declared war on all wisdom that ignores his own. He will tolerate no rivals when it comes to our trust. That’s what makes artificial intelligence such a danger to the Christian, and especially to the minister. 

We need to be reminded that God’s wisdom is not the wisdom of a supercomputer. We need fresh conviction that God’s presence must do God’s work. We need to be warned that relying on artificial intelligence instead of the Holy Spirit must eventually end in defeat. To illustrate, I would like us to travel back thousands of years and bring AI to the Canaanite city of Ai.

Victory at Jericho

Let us begin on the eve of Joshua’s initial invasion into the land of promise.

Imagine you gaze at the fortified city of Jericho from a distance. You consult your military council, your maps, your men, and you double-check the steps of your invasion. You open your MacBook and take another bite of the apple, asking ChatGPT to review your strategy and recommend any alterations for your plan of attack. Well, Yes, it quickly replies. Alterations are needed for all of your plans, at every level.

Cross the Jordan during flood season? Impossible. Circumcise your army in enemy territory? Foolish. Expose your entire force to hostile eyes for a week? Unwise. March around the walls for seven days, and then expect a shout and trumpet blast to bring down the foe’s stronghold? Comical.

God’s strategy for victory defied computation. His thoughts were not the thoughts of men or angels. His ways were not the ways of a supercomputer. So Joshua must take the army, walk around the city for seven days, give a big shout and trumpet blast, and expect the miracle. Day one passes — nothing. Day two passes — no sign of progress. Day three passes — naught but amusement from the walls above. Where is the battering ram; where are the scaling ladders? the enemy wondered. What are they doing?

A ram’s horn could not unglue brick and mortar. What did Jericho need to fear from a box, seven priests, seven trumpets, or seven days of the enemy getting their steps in? The commanders of Jericho didn’t need superintelligence to compute whether these walks posed any real threat. If they could have asked, ChatGPT would have compiled the findings of the greatest architects and war generals of all time; it would have scoured all the books of science and warfare and found no evidence whatsoever that their wall was in any danger from quiet walks or loud shouts. But then they soon felt the tremor beneath their feet. The Hebrew God — in the foolishness of his wisdom — was against them. The wall crumbled; they were soon dead, their city ablaze.

What can we say of this victory? It was illogical, unfathomable, unreasonable, a perplexity to men, angels, and mainframes. The utter oddity of the triumph was a signature — this battle belonged to the Lord. Like so many other battles, it was promised of God, acted by man, realized by faith. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30).

They did not need the best of natural or artificial intelligence; they needed the foolishness of faith and God’s presence (1 Corinthians 1:25). On the eve of battle and the start of this seven-year campaign, God did not send technology to assist Joshua; he sent the Commander of his army to prostrate Joshua. What God gave to Joshua he gives to us today — not cheat codes and shortcuts but a promise: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Defeat at Ai

Now contrast this with the second battle, the only one Joshua loses. He sends out spies to Ai. The report returns, insisting this small population required only a fraction of their force. Joshua sends three thousand men, a reasonable tactic given the size of the opponent. Had they consulted their computers, three thousand would have been a logical strategy. But to everyone’s astonishment, Israel flees against the little brother of mighty Jericho. Thirty-six men die in the embarrassment.

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