In these absurd days we use our spiritual walk as an oasis from a world of craziness. We shy away from thinking about the Bible as a Book of the Wars of the Lord. In reality, from the deception in the Garden of Eden to the end of Revelation it is book of war. While military strategists hesitate to learn from supernaturally infused wars, we can glean strategies of victory from the ancient pages of the Scripture.
The warfare that mankind has engaged against the enemy is going to change as the the Book if Revelation and the word of the prophets is revealed. War used to be linear, fought symmetrically.
Encampment
For some the Book of Numbers can be tedious. But in the early pages Moses was commanded to take a census of men that were capable of going to war. These family groups were positioned around the Tabernacle in a formation or shape of of the cross.
This is an example of a linear military encampment where a group would build up mass and overpower the other side. They would systematically go down a checklist.
Modern Army Formation
I found this organizational layout provocative because this format is very similar to the layout of the encampment of the Children of Israel.
Old Testament Biblical Formation
It is critical to note that whether ancient or modern, each encampment has a name, just as military bases today have names. Their names define their strategic operations, goals, and mission. For instance, the encampments of the Children of Israel are 42 Journey Pattern of our spiritual growth and prophecy. Another perspective of the encampments can be found at the Watchman.
Our Adversary
Our adversary is an intelligent and mighty foe. In his playbook anything goes. We underestimate his ability and that is why Scripture urges us:
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians 2:11
As you ponder your future there are characteristic traits that you should know about our adversary. This makes difference if you were on the ancient battlefield, modern theater, spiritual warfare, or the wars of the Lord soon to arrive.
Our enemy out imagines us. We all have a normalcy bias and it is uncomfortable to think outside of the box or let your imagination run free.
Imagination comes from i-maj-i-na'-shun (yetser, sheriruth; dianoia):
"Imagination" is the translation of yetser, properly "a shaping," hence, "a thought or mind. It can be a positive trait or negative one as when it is used in obstinacy, stubbornness or lust. It also mean understanding or reasoning. In Apocryphal Books enthumema can be defined as 'wicked imagination.
The enemy's tactics are very dispersed and not easily solvable. These are the wicked problems of our day and age.
Our enemy blends into the population. he is a shape-shifting entity who can like like your neighbor, friend, co-worker, social-media friend, anyone!
In fact, the day after 911 a leviathan program began to recruit average citizens to a shadowy allegiance. These are good and compassionate people in different fields of work, young to old, who were exploited for a dark agenda.
Believe it or not camouflage is a biblical principle!
- Joseph used a form of camouflage when he interacted with his brothers in Genesis 42:23
- The inhabitants of Gibeon pretended they were envoys in Joshua 9:3-6
- Avimelech used the cover of darkness as his camouflage in Judges 9:34-37.
- King David feigned insanity when he stood before Achish king of Gath in I Samuel 21:13
The enemy always has a great toolkit! He has been at it since the Garden he will deceptively and violently use any tool in his belt. Remember, this principle can be applied to any domain or dimension.
The devil’s primary work is deception, and thus the words wiles, tactics, schemes, and strategies are all appropriate.
Satan lies and blinds the truth or taking things out of context.
Satan has the power to put evil suggestions into our head.
The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him . . . ” John 13:2
Satan wants you to be unforgiving.
Forgiveness is a door or gate of entrance to Satan. Once he is in the dwelling place or in your camp he is difficult to get out.
Never before in history has Satan had so many tools in the form of technology at his disposal.
Satan tempts you to be spiritually and sexually immoral.
One time when I was back at the FEMA training center I arrived after a long day. I was getting my things in order as I was going to be there for some weeks. As I was settling I opened the night stand. There was a magazine in the drawer face down. I thought to myself, "That is very kind someone left me some reading material." I turned it over expecting a home and garden magazine but what met my eyes was hard pornography. I could not put it in my trash bin. I called security. A big burly African American came to my door. I handed it to him and though his skin was dark he blushed cherry red. Although we signed a significant contract that one was not to engage in this type of behavior on campus I was not forbidden to report it through chain-of-command. That was part of the training. Dirt on everyone.
When Jesus spoke of the devil, He used personal pronouns. Jesus said to Peter:
- “Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” Luke 22:31
- Later, the Apostle Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour 1 Peter 5:8
Satan incites persecution of Jews and Christians.
Right after 911 was the first experience I had with a raised eyebrow and later some very interesting experiences solely due to my beliefs which may yet come back for a visit. Such as when I once return from Israel and I loaned my superior my suitcase and that person conveniently left it unattended in front of the office. My name, tags, and customs were all over the suitcase. I landed on the Person of Interest List, no fault of my own.
According to the Bible, the devil is a created, personal, spirit being. Just because he is invisible does not mean that he is not real. As sound waves travel through the air, so does the Prince of the Power of the Air.
in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2:2
The Bible says he has his own synagogue (Revelation 2:9), his own gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), his own ministers (2 Corinthians 11:14-15), his own doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1), and his own communion service (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).
Take a peek at Americorp which even has its own Pledge of Allegiance.
Our enemy can be attractive or appealing.
Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee Ezekiel 28:15
The enemy has multi-domain operability. He can negotiate, land, sea, air, time, and various dimensions.
The enemy networks. There are many under the influence so to speak who are willing to help the cause of evil. They will contribute whatever assets they have, whether by free choice or coercion.
The enemy creates a chaotic environment where multi-dilemmas are thrown into the battle. This is only going to get increasingly worse.
A secret from the trenches...in my training we were taught several principles. A person can manage 5 people and 5 situations at one time. After five you becoming increasingly burdened and unable to function. Another tip is that 3% of people will do something consistently, 7% will do something once or twice, and 90% of people will do nothing. It does not matter if it is military, or church those statistics work every time.
Bootcamp for the Doctrinal Remnant
Some people get their feather ruffled when the word doctrine but Army's operate by doctrine. Your doctrine is the Bible. Your in the Lord's Army and I can't think of a better place to be.
You are the boots on the ground for Jesus.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you." Nor can the head say to the feet, "I do not need you." I Corinthians 12:21
This is not in the bible but it illustrates so many of the verses:
"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now." ~Saint Teresa of Avila
Solid doctrine lays the foundation.
The word translated doctrine means instruction. Doctrine is teaching imparted by an authoritative source. The Bible says of itself that it is “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). We are to be careful about what we believe and present as truth. First Timothy 4:16 says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” When we accept the Bible as God’s Word to us (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21), we have a solid foundation for our doctrine.
We need commonality of vision for victory.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18
You need to optimized for specific enemies.
We need to be alert, prayed up, use our armor, be agile, innovative, and adaptable, lean on God’s strength, grounded in biblical principles in all areas just in case the Lord calls you abruptly and an unknown enemy jumps out of the shadows.
You need a well rehearsed (exercise) plan.
I confess, I am the queen of failed plans. The good news about failed plans is that you can learn lessons from them and refine your next plan.
I can say that although I have had some belly-flop plans overall I exercised my plans from a biblical perspective so that when the battle came, I automatically responded to my plan. Simple things, such as when it falls apart pray, listen to the still small voice (when the noise of disaster hits you need to attune your ear), and no matter how I feel, if it does not align with the entirety of Scripture then I must adjust my feelings (not the other way around.
Every strategist will tell you, gain a position of advantage or high ground.
Spend time inventorying your capabilities so you gain a position of advantage.
You never want to concede your biblical, moral, ethical high ground. You also want to continually scan your horizon (situational awareness) and adapt to any new changes that might cause you to compromise. Like when Potipher’s wife approached Joseph.
Know that banding together these days is pretty much a thing of the past.
The enemy knows that we are good at it and he will strike. We may be scattered throughout the world and the Lord is orchestrating this for our advantage. move and synchronize them.
Identify your tools for success.
Know what you enemy values so you can exploit that vulnerability.
Prophetic Wars of Ezekiel & Revelation
In case you have not received the news alert the coming are days are unlike any in history! Even the Days of Noah will be tame compared to what is advancing into view. This change calls for a different type of warfare known as asymmetrical warfare. When the balloon goes up this is what you need to know.
War used to be linear until now. The Prophetic Wars will be extremely complex.
You will experience chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological, explosive, economic, environmental, earth changes, atmospheric changes, unparalleled demonic activity, relationship shifts, and creatures from beneath the earth, inter-dimensional creatures, possibly creatures from space, unprecedented pollution and death. Needless to say, these will not be the days for business as usual. That is why you need to form your biblical plan. Doctrine and trained leadership will be unable to fight a symmetrical war in this supernaturally infused Prophetic War.
Your Biblical Plan must not limit yourself to existing domains. Expect the unexpected from out in left field.
The Prophetic Wars will not be black and white, good guys fighting the bad guys. It is going to be like entering a dark haunted house where any number of things will jump out at you at any time. The Prophetic Wars will be entwined like a ball of yarn, colorful, dynamic, and chaotic. The military knows this and is preparing for it.
Your Biblical Plan must be scalable. You may be alone, you may need pallets of food to feed a community, and you may need to flee to another location. You plan should be flexible to do alone or with literally an army. Each person within a family should be able to do others jobs. We called it cross-training.
We must be unified in spirit and concept. The love of Jesus is the ties that bind us together in love. One of the biggest downfalls our side is that we allow division and in-fighting to defeat us. Let Jesus be our Command and Control.
Do not constrain your good ideas. Thinking outside the box is a good thing.
When the battle comes to your door and you must execute your plan you do not have time to think. That is why rehearsal is critical. You get to the point where your thoughts and actions become automatic.
When the battle comes to your doorstep do what you rehearsed. It works! Why do you think there are exercises upon exercises?
Realize ahead of time, your rehearsed plan will probably fail in this complex environment. Give yourself and others grace. Learn from those mistakes.
Thinking outside-the-box known as concepts are for the Prophetic Wars.
Understand, that most people are under the influence of their spiritual/political master.
Your ability to maneuver will gain you a position of advantage, asymmetrical advantage. You need to preserve that ability to maneuver or some people call it upward mobile.
Maneuvering through all domains is very complicated as most of you are probably discovering right now.
To maneuver you need intel.
Maneuvering in the Prophetic Wars is like the advantage of blood is to your body.
You will have established your doctrine and though difficult you can execute it quickly.
Maneuvering is an investment of time and energy; it is not a weapons system; but it can cause allot of small fires which the adversary not being omnipresent, will have to overcome, if he can.
Victory!
Submit yourself totally to God and His Son Jesus Christ.
The devil is a supernatural being, and it takes a supernatural power to respond to his devices. Jesus Christ is that power. In order to overcome the devices of the devil, we must surrender our lives to God and receive Jesus into our hearts by faith. When a person takes that step, he becomes a new creature with new desires and with new powers to overcome temptation.
Resist the devil.
As the days go by I am practicing my resistance and finding some incredible blessings and successes.
When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus said, “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus resisted the devil by appealing to the Scriptures.
Put on the whole armor of God.
The armor includes a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, and a shield of faith. He gives the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:10-18.
You can achieve victory in a multi-domain battle with cross domain synergy! My husband and I used this practice so often. Each of us had our strengths and together we had a synergistic strength, and the Lord. We were one powerful unit! This synergy allowed us allowed us to conquer multi-domains as we crossed our talents, weaving them together like a strong rope.
Imagine the possibilities!
May the good Lord provide you His wisdom and victory in the battles you each face on a daily basis.
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Author Information
Celeste has worked as a contractor for Homeland Security and FEMA. Her training and activations include the infamous day of 911, flood and earthquake operations, mass casualty exercises, and numerous other operations. Celeste is FEMA certified and has completed the Professional Development Emergency Management Series.
- Train-the-Trainer
- Incident Command
- Integrated EM: Preparedness, Response, Recovery, Mitigation
- Emergency Plan Design including all Emergency Support Functions
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Celeste grew up in a military & governmental home with her father working for the Naval Warfare Center, and later as Assistant Director for Public Lands and Natural Resources, in both Washington State and California.
Celeste also has training and expertise in small agricultural lobbying, Integrative/Functional Medicine, asymmetrical and symmetrical warfare, and Organic Farming.
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Sources:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/imagination/
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Camouflage
http://biblehelpsinc.org/publication/five-subtle-devices-of-the-devil/
https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-doctrine.html
Artist-Yossi Rubenstein