Every Catholic Mother and Father is blessed to be reminded of Gideon and St. Peter as we battle evil forces that threaten our families.
In the 200 years after God chose Moses and Joshua to lead The Twelve Tribes into Israel, many people had put themselves “before God”. The nation fell into sin. God punished them by having the Midianites conquer and rule Israel between 1214 and 1208 BC.
Families, faith, and freedom began to be restored when God led Gideon to destroy altars of Baal and Ashera. They were the region’s versions of evil deities who ruled the world. Then, Gideon faced the Midianite army of 135,000 with 32,000 soldiers. God told Gideon to make The Power of God undeniable by reducing the number of soldiers to the 300 who drank water from their hands, rather than kneeling and drinking from the spring.
Gideon and those 300 soldiers were outnumbered 450 to 1 by the huge Midianite army. They began shouting and smashing pots! The Midianites were panicked and destroyed because God confused their minds. In the remaining 40 years Gideon lived, God’s families were saved from being ruled by the self-serving vanities of peggalas. That easily remembered One-Word Catholic Acronym stands for pride, envy, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, and sloth, summarizing the Catholic understanding of all seven tribes of hateful demons.
God chose Peter to fight and win a bigger battle against the most overwhelming odds in History! When God took Human Form on earth, He sent His First Catholic Pope and 12 Disciples against the evil forces that ruled three hundred million people on the planet.
God’s First Pope and 12 Bishops defended The Church-Creating Word of God despite being outnumbered 23,076,921 to 1: “And I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Today, The Catholic Army begun by those 13 Catholic soldiers who marched in Gideon’s footsteps now gives over a billion and a half Catholics on earth “the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven”. Those “keys” include The Seven Catholic Sacraments that He Who Fulfilled over 300 Prophecies left nowhere else on earth.
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “May no one fail / to let God prevail.”
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