FIRST QUARTER 2025
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #10
MARCH 8, 2025
"RULES OF ENGAGEMENT."

 

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it”(John 8:44, NKJV).

“The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,

and delivers them” (Psalm 34:7).

“Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead” (Isaiah 37:36).

One of the most effective military psychological warfare events in history occurred during World War II, known as Operation Mincemeat. In 1943, British intelligence devised a plan to deceive the Axis powers about the Allied invasion of Southern Europe. They acquired the body of a deceased man, dressed him as a fictitious Royal Marines officer named Major William Martin, and planted forged documents on him suggesting that the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia rather than Sicily, the actual target. The body was released off the coast of Spain, where it was discovered by local authorities and the misleading information was passed to German intelligence. The operation’s success hinged on its meticulous attention to detail—fake love letters, receipts, and even a fabricated backstory made the ruse convincing. The Germans, believing the intelligence, redeployed significant forces away from Sicily, allowing the Allies to invade with reduced resistance on July 9, 1943, ultimately accelerating the campaign in Italy.

The psychological impact of Operation Mincemeat was profound because it exploited the German High Command’s trust in their own intelligence-gathering capabilities while sowing doubt and misdirection. The operation didn’t rely on brute force or direct propaganda but instead used subtlety and deception to manipulate enemy decision-making. Its effectiveness is evidenced by postwar German accounts, including those from Adolf Hitler’s staff, indicating that the Führer himself was convinced of the false invasion plans, leading to a strategic misallocation of resources. This event stands out in military history not only for its ingenuity but also for its demonstration of how psychological warfare can achieve outsized results with minimal physical risk, cementing its legacy as a masterstroke of military subterfuge.*

The cosmic conflict over God’s character and government has rules of engagement,  set down and enforced, if you will, by God Himself, who is the Creator and Sustainer of all life and being. Understanding the rules of engagement as best we can gives us better footing to take our place in this war, as it has come to earth and affects our everyday lives, our prayers, and our approach to our job as ambassadors of God (see 2 Cor. 5:20).

Because Satan, the self-styled god of this world, operating through his evil angels, is allowed to lie, deceive, and cheat, the war is asymmetric in some respects. He attempts to fool us, much as the Allies did the Axis powers, sometimes to great effect. However, God always tells the truth, and God also has unlimited power which is exercised in certain situations as the need demands and as truth, justice, and mercy allow. Perhaps you, as well as I, have experienced the miraculous rescue from an apparently hopeless situation through dramatic and (to human eyes) inscrutable means. 

Behind the scenes, good angels are battling the evil ones to influence others as in the case of Cyrus fulfilling his prophesied calling. At other times, they may slay thousands of Satan’s human servants to deliver the faithful. Satan attempts to rule the world through force, coercion, manipulation, deception, and gratuitous (to our view) harm. As the story of Job reveals, God sometimes allows things that appear unfair to us to occur so as to prove truth as against the lie, based on our faith response in trusting Him regardless of circumstances, because the issue of trust in His divine love and providence is the primary issue in the cosmic conflict.

While we may not currently understand all of the rules of engagement, we do need to understand this: Our only hope is in Christ and His strength, His righteousness. Our weapons, as God’s, are spiritual rather than carnal. We can trust that all of His actions, all things that He allows, are ultimately going to work out for good when we believe and rest in His love. We should not let Satan deceive us to put our efforts and resources anywhere else.

Ellen G. White

With pity and compassion, with tender yearning, the Lord is looking upon His tempted and tried people. For a time the oppressors will be permitted to triumph over those who know God's holy commandments. All are given the same opportunity that was granted to the first great rebel to demonstrate the spirit that moves them to action. It is God's purpose that everyone shall be tested and proved, to see whether he will be loyal or disloyal to the laws which govern the kingdom of heaven. To the last God permits Satan to reveal his character as a liar, an accuser, and a murderer. Thus the final triumph of His people is made more marked, more glorious, more full and complete....

     The people of God should be wide awake, not trusting in their own wisdom, but wholly in the wisdom of their Leader. They should set aside days for fasting and prayer.—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 3, p. 414.

 Fallen man is Satan's lawful captive. The mission of Christ was to rescue him from the power of his great adversary. Man is naturally inclined to follow Satan's suggestions, and he cannot successfully resist so terrible a foe unless Christ, the mighty Conqueror, dwells in him, guiding his desires, and giving him strength. God alone can limit the power of Satan. He is going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. He is not off his watch for a single moment, through fear of losing an opportunity to destroy souls. It is important that God's people understand this, that they may escape his snares. Satan is preparing his deceptions, that in his last campaign against the people of God they may not understand that it is he. 2 Corinthians 11:14: "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." While some deceived souls are advocating that he does not exist, he is taking them captive, and is working through them to a great extent. Satan knows better than God's people the power that they can have over him when their strength is in Christ. When they humbly entreat the mighty Conqueror for help, the weakest believer in the truth, relying firmly upon Christ, can successfully repulse Satan and all his host. He is too cunning to come openly, boldly, with his temptations; for then the drowsy energies of the Christian would arouse, and he would rely upon the strong and mighty Deliverer. But he comes in unperceived, and works in disguise through the children of disobedience who profess godliness.—Ellen G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 1, p. 341.

W. W. Prescott

Christ gave Himself for the world; He is able and willing to save the whole world, and will give His life to all who will have it; but He will not force His presence upon any. He says, "Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20. He will not force the will. His rule is a rule of perfect liberty. The wonderful and glorious liberty of the sons of God is beyond all human expression. The liberty of the kingdom of God is the perfection of liberty. Every man is to be absolutely free. And in order that every man may be absolutely free in His kingdom, God gives to every person on this present earth perfect liberty to choose what he will have. The right and liberty to choose life, which God extends to all, implies liberty to reject it. "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Deut. 30:19. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. So not only in the world to come, but also in this life, God gives to every person exactly whatever he wishes to have. Those who desire life will have it abundantly, and of the wicked the Lord says: "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of My counsel; they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Prov. i. 29-31.

It will be seen that there is nothing like force in the Government of God, nothing like compulsion. If there were, His reign would not be a reign of peace. It is altogether different from any earthly Government that exists, or that ever did exist. Christ explained this matter when two of His disciples were seeking for themselves places of power in His kingdom. Said He: "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 35-38.—W. W. Prescott, Present Truth UK, July 6, 1893 p. 212.

A. T. Jones

"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." What purpose? - Why, his eternal purpose concerning all creatures, concerning man with the rest, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. That purpose from eternity is purposed in Jesus Christ; and when we are in Jesus Christ, that purpose embraces us. When we yield to Christ, sinking ourselves in him, we become a part of that eternal purpose; and then just as certainly as God's purpose is to succeed, we shall be all right; for we are a part of his purpose, Then just as certainly as Satan can do nothing against God's purpose, so certainly he can do nothing against us; for we are in that purpose. Just as certainly, then, as all that Satan does, and all that the enemies of God's truth can do, working against God and his divine purpose, and at last all these things against us, - so certainly as all this cannot defeat or cripple that eternal purpose, so certainly it cannot defeat or cripple us, because in Christ we are a fixture in that purpose. O, it is all in him; and God has created us anew in him. —A.T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, February 27, 1895, p. 366.

I will say this here and can think upon it to all eternity: The universe of God rests upon the principle of self-sacrifice. The support, the stay of the very universe itself, is the principle of sacrificing self to win; that is, to win by nonresistance--to win by the sheer principle of the power of right in itself. That is what holds the universe up. In that it consists. That is simply the gospel. It would be plain enough to say the gospel is that that holds up the universe, but the principle of the gospel is the principle of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and of God denying Himself and giving Himself in Him.

So the Lord, in recovering this lost dominion, would not use any might that is not right in itself. Therefore, when He wanted to recover this whole dominion and all of mankind, He went at it in such a way that Satan himself and all of his partisans can never say that it was not fairly done. —A. T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, March 4, 1895, p. 446. 

E. J. Waggoner

But the devil is not satisfied with misrepresenting the character and government of God. To facilitate his work of deception, he has also misrepresented himself. The devil cares nothing about how bad a name he has among men. He cares nothing for the appearance of being an object of universal aversion and abhorrence, if only he can be the "god of this world" and the one whom men honour and serve in reality. So he has painted himself in the blackest colours, and created a conception in the popular mind which pictures him as a hideous being with horns, hoofs and tail, and dragon wings, who is associated with scenes of murder, riot and debauchery, and other outbreaking crimes, but not with anything that has an appearance of morality and respectability. Men expect him to be in the drinking saloon, the gambling hell, and a dark alley where men lie in wait to rob and murder, but not in the drawing-room, or the pulpit, or at the head of an organisation composed of persons of education and refinement. So they are not on the lookout for him in such places, and his suggestions are received without any suspicion of the real source from which they come.—E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, September 7, 1893, p. 360.

God designed man for a companion for himself. But there is no true companionship where there is restraint. Therefore, in order that man might associate with him on terms of intimacy, he made the will of man as free as his own. God can not work against his own purpose; and therefore he not only will not, but he can not, force the will of man. All men are as absolutely free to choose as is God himself; and when they choose to yield to the call of God, His purpose of grace is wrought out in them by the power by which he is able to make all things work together for good.—E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, May 28, 1896,  p. 339.

 

~Todd Guthrie

 

*Story research and summary using Grok AI.