One of the most well known, and probably most obvious rules of combat is know your enemy. Knowledge of your enemy allows you to identify their strengths, their weaknesses, and how to exploit either. Unfortunately, the knowledge of our enemy seems to have disappeared over time. As people stopped studying their Bibles, not surprisingly, they lost sight of our enemies. Not only their traits, but even their very identity.
When the Jews were waiting for their Messiah, they unintentionally thought more about the second coming than the first. They expected a conquering war hero who would restore Israel and eliminate the Romans. What they failed to realise is that their enemy wasn't a foreign army occupying their lands, but sin occupying their hearts. Jesus did not come to kill a physical enemy, but a spiritual one.
In the modern day, the situation is the same. We look around us, we see the wicked prosper, we sense the stench of corruption reaching all the way up to the highest authorities in the land, and we often make the mistake of hating these people. But do you know what? Our enemy is not them. Joe Biden is not our enemy. Kier Starmer is not our enemy. Vladimir Putin is not our enemy. Kim Jong Un is not our enemy. These politicians, and many more whose names time would fail me to cite, have done, and are doing some very bad things, but I can tell you how much they are not our enemies: Jesus is calling them to repentance. His arms stretched out on that cross for them. His blood drenched the ground for them. His lifeless body lay in a tomb for them. They are not our enemies, they are our imperiled rescue targets. Not just the four political figures I mentioned, or the many I did not, but all who follow them, their ideology, their religions, if there is a single person on this planet who does not know the love of Christ, they need to receive and believe the Gospel, and it is our responsibility as the Church to give it to them.
Christianity has never been about physical warfare. Sure, there is a time for that, and when that time comes, a Christian may well get involved, but our war was never about physical violence. In fact, more often than not, physical violence is sin. Christ said it Himself: If His Kingdom was of this world, His followers would have fought to prevent His crucifixion, but His Kingdom is not of this world, and so He does not command us to fight. Rather, we are to destroy arguments, and every lofty opinion that raises itself against the knowledge of God, giving reason to everyone who asks for the hope that we have, keeping a clear conscience, because we revere Christ as Lord. Edward Bulwer-Lytton was 100% correct when he said "the pen is mightier than the sword". The sword can kill many enemies, but the pen can turn them into friends. Remember, know your enemy. It isn't the group causing you the most worldly grief. It is the demons who keep them blinded to the saving power of Christ.