There’s More than One Way to Win the War: The Art of Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Advantage with Sam Stone

As a cat lover, I think the proverb, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” is one of the worst proverbs in the world. I discovered it originated from “There’s more than one way to kill a dog than hanging.” Then it changed to “There’s more than one way to kill a cat.” Then it evolved to “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” The dog lovers must have changed the proverb, and they won!

Anyway, this proverb indicates that there is more than one solution to a problem or more than one way to achieve a goal. It teaches us to be resourceful and open our minds to think outside the box.

That reminds me of an ancient Chinese story. There once was a farmer who lived next to a hunter. The farmer made his living by raising sheep. The hunter next door had two hunting dogs. One night, the dogs discovered a hole in the sheep barn and went inside to attack the sheep.

The farmer went to the hunter to complain, and the hunter apologized and promised to ask his two sons to lock the dogs in at night. A couple of days later, the dogs managed to leave the home and come to make a mess in the sheep barn again.

The farmer knocked on the hunter’s house, and the hunter said the dogs jumped out of the windows. He promised to ask the kids to keep the windows shut at night. However, the problem persisted, and the farmer decided to go to the judge to complain. He told the judge, “I don’t want to make this public, but it’s getting intolerable.”

The judge said, “I have two solutions. The first is to punish your neighbor for his carelessness, and he will hate you. Do you want to live next door to an enemy? Otherwise, you have a second option. You must do as I say.” The farmer asked, “What must I do?” The judge’s idea didn’t make sense to him, but he decided to give it a try.

The next day, the farmer took two lambs and knocked on the hunter’s door. The hunter looked annoyed, but the farmer said, “Sorry to bother you all these days. I want to apologize by offering you these lambs as a gift for your children.” The two boys loved it because the lambs were cute and fluffy.

Suddenly, the hunter’s family built a nice fence to secure the lambs and kept the dogs inside the house at night to prevent them from harming the lambs at night. The farmer stayed awake at night, expecting the dogs to come again. But, to his surprise, the dogs never intrude on his barn from then on.

A few days later, the hunter showed up at his door and offered him fresh kills, reciprocating the gift the farmer gave their children. They became good neighbors. The farmer thanked the judge for his wisdom. There was indeed more than one way and better ways to win the fight.

Jesus said,

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Mt 10:16).

Previously, we discussed how Jesus had greatness thrust upon us. This greatness is to proclaim the good news of the kingdom to reconcile the world. However, this fallen resists change and is hostile to the good news, so Jesus describes our mission as being sent out like sheep into the midst of wolves and advising us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Most people think Jesus is teaching us to be innocent and nothing more, but we need more than innocence because we are sheep among wolves. We are fighting spiritual warfare, and our enemy is formidable. We need to learn the art of war.

Like Sun Tzu’s Art of War, Jesus teaches us how to win the war without a fight. Today, we will look at Jesus’ art of war and learn how we can make a difference in this world victoriously. Let’s begin!