A Military Maneuver

Military leaders have studied the Bible to understand war or battle strategy.  Very many times, God makes military allusions in scripture.  Almost since the beginning of time, a war exists.  The Apostle Paul calls for soldiers and he himself fights a good fight.  What strategy does Satan use?

In his art of war, Satan often uses what armed forces call a “pincer movement.”  It is like it sounds if you understand getting pinched.  My dad would pinch me in church when I fell asleep, so I understand the threat and possible pain of a pinching.  The pincer movement is a military maneuver where an opposing army attacks simultaneously on what experts call, “both flanks.”

In 1943, General George Patton led the U.S. 7th Army in a pincer movement against Messina, Sicily, as part of the Allies’ attempt to trap Axis forces before they could retreat to the Italian mainland.  The pincer movement involved the British 8th Army moving up the southeast coast of the island, while the U.S. 7th Army moved east across the north coast.  During the American Revolutionary War, the British used a pincer movement, also known as a “double envelopment,” in several battles to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies and gain control of the Hudson River Valley.

Satan’s Pincer Movements

How does Satan use a pincer movement to attack a believer on both flanks?  On one flank, he attacks with a force of persecution or punishment.  Satan threatens the believer to succumb to his pressure of persecution.

As the believer looks at the flank of persecution and moves away from it, Satan lures the same believer with the allurements of the flesh.  He feels justified gratifying his flesh because of the poor treatment he experiences.  You can see these two working in tandem in different places in scripture.

Anyone in the world of Noah saw what he endured as a preacher of righteousness.  At the same time “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair” (Genesis 6:2).  Those are the very two pincers of lust and persecution.

Satan brought the pressure against Israel from Pharoah with his harsh treatment of those people before the Exodus. He made their work harder by not providing straw for brick making.  Israel also craved for the leeks, garlic, and onions that they had in Egypt.

Overall, the merchants of Babylon in Revelation 18:15 prospered through Babylon’s luxury under the leadership of the Satanic Antichrist. On the other hand, he makes war against and starves those who are against him in Revelation 13.

The Defeat of the Satanic Strategy

God uses many different examples in the Bible of Satan using the pincer movement in his war against God.  Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 12:11 of not being ignorant of Satan’s devices.  Satan employs a strategic approach often likened to a military pincer movement in his ongoing conflict against God and humanity. This tactic involves attacking from two flanks simultaneously, creating pressure that can overwhelm and confuse the target.

The flank of persecution and the other of lust are not the only pincers he uses.  Sometimes he couples lust with the intellectual onslaught of false teachers.   Other times one side are those false teachers and on the other are the personal conflicts with believers either inside or outside the church.  Very often Satan fights his war on two fronts just like the United States faced both the Japanese and the Germans on two different ones in World War 2.

Like all war and battle against Satan, believers must recognize what Satan does.  They should engage in prayer and put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).  Believers can also find support and relief from their brothers in the church (Hebrews 10:24-25).  They should focus on the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, and their future of eternal rewards that awaits them.