9 Principles of War
…as defined in the Army Field Manual FM-3 Military Operations:
Compiled and edited by Betty Harrington, Focus Group Leader
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 NKJ
Although the objects of war are different in physical and spiritual warfare, there is much to be learned from traditional battle strategies and tactics. Each of the nine principles are listed and defined below with further military explanation and with spiritual explanation.
Principle & Definition
Offensive– Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative
- Military Explanation: You simply can’t win a war without eventually attacking. “Be active, always”. In battle, sitting still, or even just being predictable, often leaves control of events to the enemy. “Don’t stop, exploit success” – a victory in one battle can sometimes save other battles or even win the war if right after the battle is won, your forces continue to push forward, chase and decimate the retreating enemy forces, instead of giving them time to recover and build a second line of defense, e.g. Dunkirk.
- Spiritual Explanation: Church has been in retreat for decades, and we’ve traded Truth for political correctness and helping people feel good about themselves. Our only offensive weapon is the Word (Truth) and standing on the Truth.
Objective– Direct every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective
- Military Explanation: “Stick to the mission, persist.” Military action should have a clearly defined and achievable objective, and all efforts should always be directed to achieving that objective, even despite difficulties and diversions caused by the enemy or other reasons. (Did not have this in Vietnam.) To destroy the enemy’s combat forces, subordinate commanders must be given “terrain objectives” toward which they move.
- Spiritual Explanation: The nations are our inheritance, but we must re-take our nation first. Our territory is souls. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
Mass– Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time
- Military Explanation: The commander should concentrate his forces, and their fire, and by doing so achieve a decisive local superiority, that will overwhelm the enemy there, break the balance, and allow a breakthrough to victory. “Military superiority” can be attained against a more numerical enemy if you have superiority in such things as weapons, leadership, morale, and training. “Mass” is generally gained by “maneuver.”
- Spiritual Explanation: We’re disjointed in our efforts (both personally and corporately) and trying to do too many things (“wearing down of the saints”). Concentration of forces brings breakthrough. Israel was required to be in unity in: worship and war.
Economy of force– Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts
- Military Explanation: Focus the right amount of force at the right time at the right location. Make the best effort, not the maximum effort. Traditional warfare thinking no longer works in today’s environment, e.g. war against terror.
- Spiritual Explanation: “The effective prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The authority from God that comes in intercession is the force that initiates God’s plans and priorities. Force may manifest through a large mass or “Gideon’s army.”
Maneuver– Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power
- Military Explanation: Commanders of all ranks should constantly judge the situation and be flexible enough to find the best way to achieve the objective in the changing circumstances. Rigidly following orders, plans, or a doctrine in battle is often fatal. Wisely moving your forces before and during battle is the most common way to take the initiative. Maneuver is usually the way to produce local superiority which is often a key for victory.
- Spiritual Explanation: Requires ability to respond to the Spirit quickly and creatively. Rests on our ability to hear and our willingness to obey. Our ability to maneuver depends on how tied down we are (tradition, health, debt, etc. – personal or church). Jesus said His yoke is easy and burden is light.
Unity of command– For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander
- Military Explanation: This includes cooperation and coordination of different forces, especially from the different military branches. The idea is that to ensure optimal cooperation between the many commanders of all the various units and branches, which naturally have different views of the situation, different tactics and doctrines, and sometimes unrelated or even contradicting orders, is to bring all the units in the area of operations into one chain of command, so that all commanders receive their orders from one source, a supreme commander. This obviously results in better cooperation between the units under his command.
- Spiritual Explanation: Our commander is the Captain of Hosts. He delegates authority to all of us. True spiritual authority comes to the degree we’re abiding in the King. The King has a communication system with us and expects us to obey as a team by knowing our part and doing it to the best of our ability.
Security– Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage
- Military Explanation: In order to win, you must know more about the enemy than the enemy knows about you. This includes not letting the enemy discover your plans, strengths and plan of attack. In some cases this involves using special operations deep behind enemy lines to discover and exploit weaknesses. Don’t leave unprotected sectors, and also keep a reserve force to block a breach by the enemy, or to add it to the main attack at the right time and place to achieve a breakthrough. Don’t really concentrate everything in one point, because if the enemy will act elsewhere, you’re in trouble.
- Spiritual Explanation: Often requires ability to maneuver around a large force to guard its flanks and give chase. Requires courage coupled with wisdom. Cannot sleep while on watch. Three types of watchmen: (1) on the walls – elevated position to see afar; (2) walk streets of city – know the times; (3) on hill of Ephraim – in world watching trends, laws, etc.
Surprise– Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared
- Military Explanation: “Accomplish your purpose before the enemy can effectively react.” A corps may be “surprised” by an attack it has seen coming for several hours if this attack is too powerful for it to resist by itself and if no other unit is within SUPPORTING DISTANCE. The idea is to use secrecy, speed, and deception, to achieve the objective in a way that the enemy will be unable to efficiently resist.
- Spiritual Explanation: What is God going to do? (e.g. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle.) On a personal level: surprise is achieved when we abide and operate in fruit of Spirit. Do not lose peace! Anger or fear destroy peace.
Simplicity– Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding
- Military Explanation: Planning for war is important, but on the battlefield plans must accomplish changing conditions and targets of opportunity. Winning a war does not depend on Generals, but on the initiative, bravery, and courage of those on the front-line. To succeed, a battle plan must be simple. Simple to understand, simple to execute, and simple to adapt to changes.
- Spiritual Explanation: War is chaotic: not your fault, morality is relative, did God really say?… But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3) Stand on simple truth: God is love, My Word is Truth, Truth sets you free, etc.
Other Military Items to Consider
Logistics
During all of history, it was too common that proud and aggressive military leaders were too focused with their grand battle plans and with the mission and fighting, that they neglected the plain basic needs (of their combat forces and their unheroic but essential auxiliary units.
Morale
The psychological factor. The largest army, the best weapons, and the brightest Generals are not enough if the soldiers don’t believe in what they do, or in their ability to achieve the objective, so much that instead of fighting bravely and decisively they just want to get back to safety as soon as possible anyway possible. Low morale doesn’t always means losing the war, but it’s a major factor. To ensure high morale, the war and/or battle objective should be perceived a reasonable, achievable one that the soldiers will identify with, or at least accept.
A lack of morale on a large scale can be seen in the French military and political leadership in 1940. The German attack was a great victory not just because of the Blitzkrieg tactic and the quality of the German military, but also because of the paralysis and inactivity of the French Generals. They thought there would be no war in their time; they didn’t think that kind of modern war was possible; they were not prepared for any scenario other than the one they expected, and therefore they were totally shocked when it came at them with such force. A classic example of being mentally unprepared for war.
Those active in the military must:
- Constantly be in training mode:
- Understanding lines of authority
- Working to stay fit
- Attaining weapons proficiency
- Transforming unit into a team
- Establish lines of communication
- Build trust
- Be willing to take risks
When threat changed, Delta Force was established. (Delta Force’s primary tasks are counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency and national intervention operations, although it is an extremely versatile group capable of assuming many covert missions, including, but not limited to, rescuing hostages and raids.)
Their success was based on:
- Surprise – no self credit (not interested in publicity and/or denominational credit)
- Speed – force multiplier (depend on discernment and prophetic intercession)
- Violence – are trained to kill, not wound (We struggle against powers and principalities. Kingdom is taken by violence.)
Compiled and edited by Betty Harrington, Focus Group Leader, using various resources, including commentary of Rick Joyner and Lt.Gen. (ret.) W.G. Boykin.
