One of the most important lessons Churchill learned from World War I was that wars must be fought with the proper government structure. This principle also applies to our spiritual war as true Christians.

In British government, every issue must be first discussed in a committee. The chief decision-making committee is the cabinet, the top-ranking ministers in the government.

During World War I, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith’s system of committees was disastrously sprawling and disorganized. He was often more engrossed in writing letters to his mistress than in the business of war. This helped create the Dardanelles disaster.

In an April 12, 2024, co-worker letter, Philadelphia Church of God Pastor General Gerald Flurry commented on this weakness in the British government at this point in history: “The problem was, the campaign was run by a committee, and you know how committees operate. They couldn’t agree; there were all kinds of delays. When they finally did go, the army arrived well after the navy; it was not coordinated, and many of them ended up getting slaughtered. (God still delivered many of them.)”

This was among the many experiences that guided Churchill’s thinking on war government. The International Churchill Society states: “On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Churchill set up the Admiralty War Group, which consisted of himself and the four most senior admirals there …. This concentration of power worked well and agreed upon the overriding objectives for the Royal Navy in the conflict. Elsewhere in Whitehall, however, the organization of the war under Herbert Asquith, the prime minster, was ludicrously haphazard. Decisions were taken by a few ministers called together ad hoc in emergencies without minutes being taken. Only at the end of November 1914 was a War Council of eight members formed, which soon grew to thirteen. From his own experience, therefore, Churchill learned how important it was to take a grip on the organization of the central decision-making bodies and to keep the numbers involved as small as possible.”

True Christian spiritually warring against Satan, society and self must strive to implement this principle. Spiritual war can only be fought successfully using God’s government structure. God does not use committees; He uses His government structure as revealed in the Bible. However, there is an important lesson we can learn from how Churchill formed his war cabinet.

Within the body of Christ, we are each individually responsible for making the decisions in our spiritual battles. We follow orders, and we must also give out orders to those under our authority, like a husband to a wife, or parents to children. Sometimes we receive input from those in authority over us, as well as those under us, like a husband consulting his wife, though he has the authority to make the final decision.

Similarly, Churchill’s war cabinet policy was a concentration of hand-selected counselors, with one individual having the authority to make the final decision.

God does not expect us to make decisions in our spiritual war alone. He expects us to use counsellors: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

We need to establish our own “war cabinets,” the group of counselors we turn to in order to make wise decisions. Whether we realize or not, most of us already have a set of individuals we turn to for help. But we must be very wise in where we turn to for counsel.

Who is on your “war cabinet”? Is God the Father and Jesus Christ? Is your regional director, local minister, spouse? Or do you bring in others who shouldn’t direct our war, like unconverted family members, friends, work acquaintances, or the world?

Choosing who is on our “war cabinet” is entirely up to us, but to be successful, it must align with God’s government structure. The chairman and leader of our “war cabinet” must be God the Father and Christ. Other primary counselors should be our local minister and regional director. We should strive to develop relationships with both men. Many decisions should involve your spouse and family members, but we should be careful not to expand our decision-making to an unwieldy committee.

“We cannot rely on ourselves in this spiritual war. We must fight God’s way, with God’s government, or things will never work,” Mr. Flurry wrote in a Sept. 1, 2023, co-worker letter “We must reason with God in this war.” Isaiah 1:18 says: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord ….” We need to be reasoning with God, not using human reasoning or reasoning with other humans!

God reveals His government structure and our role within it. We must be wise in selecting our counselors. But then it is up to us to do our part: make effective, godly decisions led by the Holy Spirit!

In a letter to his wife Clementine in the 1930s, Churchill noted: “[The Coalition government] are a really bad government in spite of their able members. The reason is there is no head and commanding mind ranging over the whole field of public affairs. You cannot run the British cabinet system without an effective prime minister.”

This is true for us to: we must know our role within the Church and be effective at applying God’s wise counsel. A man can know academically the God Family government, but if he’s not an effective father, his family with not thrive. The same is true for leadership in congregations, churches and nations.

We must strive to be effective Christian soldiers, fathers, wives, young people within God’s system.

Build your “war cabinet” with the government of God. Be effective at your role in God’s system, and give God spiritual victories!