“A Little Step” [Reflections on Sun Tsu's Art Of War #12-1A-1]

It’s just a little step to go from stove to using fire
To win some part of your attack, express your deepest ire;
For by it’s very nature fire is used, abused as well –
It breaks tough fibers in our steak, creates some victim’s hell.

It takes so little to be swept up in attacking flame –
Attackers and intended victims suffer just the same;
If it breaks loose, you lose control, or some conditions change,
What’s good for you is good for them, regardless who’s to blame.

Techniques once used on enemies can then be used on you
They’ll pick up your techniques and add them to what they can do;
Advantage of first-mover happens once in history,
And then it’s ho-hum horror that both sides begin to see.

Then that is part of mix, it’s added to the calculus;
Response to an attack, or accident, or crisis thrust,
Must to be assessed – “Is it put-on, or is it actual?”
Mistaking that can be a trap – sometimes it’s hard to tell.

For “Panic” is one part of reason why a fire is used –
Response to panic can be calm; or people get confused,
And mill about, all order lost, as crisis comes their way;
That’s when attackers seize the moment with their power-plays.

Destruction, in and of itself, can be objective too –
Five types of fire-attacks are based on damage done by you –
First, men at ease, within the air camps, not all dressed up for fight –
A fire, including accidental, can be day or night.

Fake panic can entrap the foe by having him attack,
As he thinks you’re distracted, so unable to fight back;
If you have set the fire to make it look like accident,
The timing’s yours so you can shift the message you have sent.

Both sides know this can be a ruse, so stay quite vigilant;
If fire is more intentional, defenders must be bent
On using such contingency to implement a shift
(Too late it is to set one up, more, use of sudden gift).

Lord, as I stand back and re-think what this is twisted from,
I see some constant elements in which such thoughts could run –
Like, “Panic when in crisis”, which makes bad get even worse,
When opportunists seize the day, and do what they’ve rehearsed.

Both offense and defense, that is, are subject to such acts;
And so I see a need for current data, and the facts
Relating to both sides at any time, as shifts take place
To base-line situations, lest response be made in haste.

Rehearsals, such as “Fire drills”, and “Lock-downs” like we do,
With added efforts used in war, are often what are used
To leverage a bad event into a better scene;
But that is only part of this, a part of what You mean.

A thing which causes crisis or disturbance in the ranks,
Can qualify as “Fire”, or be construed as such, with thanks,
If it’s a happenstance which can be used by either side
To generate a panic, giving foe a merry ride.

That was the case with UCC two decades in the past –
A local conflagration meant the “Conflict” die was cast;
Quite easy to blame “Instigator”, keep the focus there,
So outside force could get their wish, appear as showing care.

But they had their agenda – foisting outlook they maintained,
On unsuspecting locals who thought rule had been retained;
But they did not see enemy slip in unseen by night,
And gain some ground in larger war, so locals lost the fight.

’Course You told me, “Stand down, there Stu, do not so much as speak”;
I was confused; though angry was, agreed to hold my peace;
Despite the heavy losses to myself and kin around,
You got Your job done (Jubilee) so freedom there abounds.

Those folks were non-combatant types, caught in a battle zone,
Without so much as stepping onto battlefield from home;
But You were way ahead of us – sent me to blow things up –
Set dynamite, once view was clear – then go – I’d done my stuff.

At first I thought I was the force, and needed power to play;
But then I came to see my role – lay out for You a way
To blow the doors and windows off the prisons folks are in,
That life for them on Kingdom-layer, in You, might then begin.

Slow-burning fires beneath the sod, or conflagrations high,
Both have their roles within this war of worlds beneath your sky;
If we’re at home or on some field of battle You have seen
As best for us to act for You, know satan’s on the scene.

But now I see Your purposes are bigger than such fights;
That if we ’bide in You in such, You can make day from night;
That You are way ahead of us, and if we will comply
With thoughts You have ahead of time, we’ll triumph by-and-by.

Lord, “Works of Power” (Ka-boom You make), Discernment’s way as well,
Both implement Your Jubilee, release folks now from hell;
They’re not for everyone, of course, but vital in their place;
Thanks for allowing us to join in freeing human race.

Thanks Lord for this.

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