Print This Article“All warfare is based on deception. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” – Sun Tzu
Roughly twenty-five hundred years ago, military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, which may be the most influential text on military strategy and tactics in history. It is so highly regarded that the United States Military Academy, aka West Point, uses it as instructional material in the Military Strategy course and is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.
The Art of War has remained relevant over the years because it is about strategy and tactics rather than specific warfare technology. General Douglas MacArthur, five-star general and onetime supreme commander of the Allied Powers, said, “I always kept a copy of The Art of War on my desk.”
Divided into 13 chapters or arts, one of the work’s key ideas is the importance of deception and distraction in any conflict. Many of the most famous and consequential battles in history have utilized the art of deception and distraction in order to achieve victory.
The Trojan War famously ended thanks to a ruse and the resulting distraction of a giant wooden horse. Believing the enemy had fled and their city and homes safe, the people of Troy let their guard down. However, the enemy was closer than they ever imagined; he was in their midst, and they had no idea.
The Allied landing at Normandy on D-Day during WWII was one of the most significant battles in history, and it relied heavily on the art of distraction to achieve victory. It marked the largest military invasion in history as Allied forces launched an assault on Nazi-occupied Europe.
On the night of June 5 into June 6, 1944, a significant number of Allied paratroopers descended over Normandy. However, they weren’t alone in their descent on D-Day. In order to mislead German forces as to the true focus of the attack, hundreds of inflatable paratroopers were also dropped over both Normandy and Calais.
Known as Oscars by Americans and Ruperts by British forces, these decoy soldiers were part of Operation Titanic. Their purpose was to help distract attention from Normandy by making the Germans believe Calais was the actual target for invasion. These dummy paratroopers came in various forms and played a significant role in sowing confusion among German troops during those critical initial hours of the operation, allowing the invading forces to gain a foothold. And a foothold is often the only thing necessary for an enemy to secure a path that leads to destruction.
Mankind may use the art of distraction, but it originated and was perfected by “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” As Peter warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
The word “sober” refers to sober-mindedness. It’s the idea of self-control, clarity of mind, steadfastness, and keeping your passions under proper restraint. Without a doubt, Satan will use distractions in order to gain a foothold in our lives. We need to “be vigilant”—ever watchful against the subtle and wicked designs of our spiritual enemy.
Distracted from God
“Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.” – Sun Tzu
When God introduces mankind to his enemy, Satan, He does so by describing him as “more subtil than any beast of the field” (Gen. 3:1). If the old axiom “Know thyself and thy enemy” is true, then mark well the very first attribute of Satan that God warns us about: he is “subtil.”
The word “subtil” (Hebrew arum) can have either a positive or negative connotation. In the negative sense, which is no doubt the intent here, it means crafty, as we see in Job 5:12: “He [God] disappointeth the devices of the crafty [arum].” Satan is indeed crafty. We may be acutely aware of Satan’s goal to destroy us while dangerously unaware of his tactics.
There are two areas in a person’s life that Satan wishes to attack above all else, the first being our relationship with God—as evidenced by his first recorded action—working to create separation between Adam and God. How did Satan go about this? What tactic did he use? He baited Adam and Eve by dangling a distraction in front of them. He distracted Adam and Eve with the opportunity and thoughts to have something they did not at that moment have—to “be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).
The art of distraction is one of Satan’s most commonly used and most successful tactics. No wonder then that God warned Israel prior to leaving the wilderness and entering the promised land, “Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God” (Deut. 8:11). He warned them repeatedly not to forget Him (cf. 6:12; 8:14,19).
God’s warning to Israel was simple: when you go into the land and have “eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein…and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God” (8:12-14). God knew that Israel would turn their attention from Him and to the things of this world. It is easy to become distracted from God when we stop living as though our lives are entirely dependent upon Him.
God’s warning to Israel to “not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deut. 5:32; Prov. 4:27) was basically a warning not to become distracted but rather stay the course and keep their focus on Him and His commandments. The “first and great commandment” to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37-38 cf. Deut. 6:5) essentially conveys the need to avoid becoming distracted and giving God less focus and attention than one should.
Paul tells us that the god of this world (Satan) “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4). Literally, Satan obscures the light of the gospel. How does one obscure something? Often, they simply put something in the way.
Satan puts various things (distractions) between the non-believer and the gospel. He has always done this. We might recall what Christ told the twelve Apostles regarding some who encounter the Word of God, “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).
It makes no difference if you are a believer or non-believer; our enemy is actively engaged in trying to create separation between you and God, and we should not be so foolish to think he will ever stop. We must be watchful of anything that would draw our attention from God, the study and meditation of His Word, and prayer.
This world has a way of providing many places to focus our attention other than on God. But the good soldier doesn’t “entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him Who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Tim. 2:4). Or as David said, “I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psa. 16:8).
Paul told Timothy, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.…Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them” (1 Tim. 4:13-15). “Wholly” to what? To “reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Believer, understand and know that this world is set up in such a way as to demand your time and distract your mind. Do not accept it; fight the course of this world and make time for the Lord—“Let the Word of Christ dwell [inhabit] in you richly [abundantly]…” (Col. 3:16).
Satan will also try to distract our service to God. We see an example of this just before David fought Goliath. When David arrived at the Israelite camp, he “came and saluted his brethren” (1 Sam. 17:22), but then, hearing the taunts of Goliath and saying, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God” (v. 26) David is presented with a distraction. Immediately, after hearing what David had said, his eldest brother Eliab’s “anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart” (v. 28).
But David didn’t take the bait. After a quick rebuke, David “turned from him toward another” (v. 30). David kept his focus on serving God and did not allow himself to get distracted for any reason, including defending himself. It’s not uncommon for people who genuinely love the Lord and start out with the mindset of serving Him to get distracted and end up serving themselves. Our enemy is good at pulling the right heartstrings to get us to focus on our wants instead of God’s instructions.
Distracted Spouses
The second area in a person’s life that Satan wishes to attack above all else is our relationship with our spouse. In marriage, we find the first relationship to exist beyond that between man and his Creator. It is the most important human relationship a man or woman can have. Consequently, it is the most important human relationship that Satan would seek to divide. No matter what we see in this world, no matter what baits are out there, we can rightfully expect that Satan’s true focus is on dividing and destroying marriages.
When, in the Garden, Satan sought to create separation between mankind and God, he was also seeking to create separation between man and his wife. How quickly, in Adam’s eyes, Eve went from “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23) to “the woman whom Thou gavest to be with me” (Gen. 3:12).
The relationship between husband and wife existed prior to all other human relationships and takes precedence over all other relationships. Our marriages come before and are above all other expectations. In a Godly marriage, each puts God first and their spouse second. Nothing interrupts that order: not children, not work, not politics, not entertainment, not yourself; nothing comes before your spouse
except God.
Christians, your homes are under attack! Satan has every intention to invade your home, and with the use of subtleness (craftiness), he intends to divide and conquer. The surest way to lead the world away from God is not through the secular culture but by dividing the home—God’s first and most important institution.
Distraction will be his tactic that you can be sure of and, better yet, plan for. He is like the general who sends troops in one direction simply to distract his opponent and capture his attention so that he is not focused and becomes vulnerable.
What are the distractions that capture most people’s attention and which become Satan’s tool? Entertainment, politics, world events, and even ministry responsibilities. There are many things, even good things, that distract us from what is most important. We need to ensure we don’t have a misplaced ministry. Our spouse is the first and always most important ministry. It comes before every other ministry.
There are some sobering truths that should cause us to question ourselves: in the U.S. the average Christian spends more time listening to political news and pundits than to their spouse. As important as being informed and even involved in the current state of politics and culture is, it pales in comparison to the importance that God places and expects you to place on your spouse.
Like with Eliab and David, the enemy will present you with another enemy to fight to distract you from the more critical battle. The home is the more critical battle. For many, 75% of the time they get to spend with their children is over by the time they turn twelve. 90% by the time they turn eighteen.
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).
The importance of these words and their relevance to marriages hits home when we recognize that they come just prior to Paul’s instructions to husbands and wives (vv. 22-28). “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (v. 25). Is Christ distracted? Do we ever find Him too busy to talk to, lean on, or learn from?
One of the main tools of distraction today is the mobile phone, and social media in particular. It truly is a weapon of mass distraction. According to one source, more people in the world own a mobile phone than a toothbrush. On average, in the U.S., Americans check their phones between 60-144 times per day and spend 4 hours and 30 minutes on their mobile phones each day. That equates to more than one day per week, six days per month, and seventy days per year.
Most children get their first phone by age 12, and based on current life expectancy, that means they will likely spend 12 years of their life looking at a phone. According to a 2022 study, 78% of all females say they spend more time on their smartphones than with their partners. On average, people spend 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media daily. Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, X, Pinterest, Reddit, and Snapchat are all ways spouses are distracted, and the home is being attacked.
Seventy-eight percent of people check their social media feeds before any spiritual involvement in their life, i.e., prayer or Bible reading. We have a problem when a spouse is more interested in the most recent post than they are in prayer, more interested in Snapchat than chatting with their spouse, with Facebook than the Good Book. We need to have our face in the Book much more than being on Facebook. If we don’t, we aren’t merely inviting trouble; it’s already there, much like the people of Troy, who had no clue that their homes weren’t safe and the enemy was already in their midst.
Social media isn’t the only tempter when it comes to our phones. Wake up in the morning and look at how many notifications you have. We get notifications from news sources telling us about the latest events around the world, the latest sales on Amazon, and so much more. Look at your email, and there is bound to be one right after another trying to get your attention. Attention from whom? Attention from what? This grasp for our attention is by design. What is the cost? What is the price of allowing so much of our time and focus to be pulled away from our spouse and our marriages?
Remember the old saying, “You got time to lean; you got time to clean”? Christian husbands and wives, you got time to play, you got time to pray. How much time have you spent praying for your spouse? How much time have you spent contemplating them, their struggles, their needs, and their wants?
As believers we know that we live in an evil day. We know that we have an enemy. We need to put the world aside and focus on our spouse. They need us to do this. Every day, our spouses face temptations and trials, and we need to communicate with each other and pray for each other. In marriage, the two become one, and we need to spend time each morning preparing each other for the day ahead if we are to succeed at thwarting the enemy’s schemes to divide us.
Finally, consider the eternal consequences of becoming distracted from our spouses. In Colossians 3:18-25, the Apostle Paul lays out responsibilities to various groups of people, but not surprisingly, he begins with spouses. Note the warning of verse 25, “But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”
Our spouse is a gift of God, they are the most important ministry we will ever have. To God, our
spouse is precious. I’m reminded of Leah and Rachel. Jacob was married to both, but he loved Rachel. Apparently, seeing Leah not loved didn’t sit well with our God: “And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb” (Gen. 29:31). How would God see our marriage and the time we spend occupied in things less important? Are you spending your time wisely with God and your spouse as your focus?
