“…for we are not unaware of Satan’s schemes”.  (Apostle Paul’s second letter to the early church in Corinth, Greece)

It isn’t a popular topic and is one I’d rather overlook, but this has to be said in view of recent and current events. The notions behind my musings may not be new to some of my readers.

The enemy of our souls, that ancient dragon and deceiver, will eventually be thrown into a fiery lake along with his false prophet, the beast, death and Hades, plus anyone whose name isn’t recorded in the Book of Life, as is foretold in the twentieth chapter of The Apocalypse.

Afterwards, a new earth will appear and the new Jerusalem will descend from a new heaven, because the old ones have passed away. But before all that, those evil ones will have been defeated upon the return to earth of “The Word of God”, as described in part of an end-time vision Jesus gave Apostle John:

¹¹ Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹² His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. ¹³ He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴ And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵ Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶ And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev 19:11 NKJV)

Satan’s Strategy?

It may be presumptuous of me, but it seems there’s a verse in each of the Old and New Testaments that Satan could be using to thwart God’s plan for his eventual demise.

Could his strategy be to prevent Jesus’ prophesied return? If he were to achieve that, then what’s foretold in scripture just wouldn’t be able to happen!

However, in view of the facts that Jesus defeated him at Calvary and then ascended to sit at God’s side as His only begotten Son, how could Satan achieve such a goal?

Answer: by ensuring the reasons for Jesus Christ’s promised return have been nullified; that is, no longer exist.

OT Aspect

When Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives the gathered disciples were told by two men in white linen that He’d return in the same fashion (Acts 1:9-12). This would comply with the prophecy of the Day of the Lord given to Zechariah, which states in part…

For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem… ³ Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. ⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east….Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You. (Zech 14:2-5 NKJV courtesy BibleGateway.com)

Therefore, which people will be there?  The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the Jews, with whom God has an everlasting Covenant. So, to prevent that Satan could cause people to eradicate them by genocide; that is, by wars, massacres, pogroms, holocaust, politico-religious ethnic cleansing. Hence, Islamist regimes’ goal of wiping the Jewish state of Israel from the map. (Some mullahs want all Jews to be gathered there so they can be more easily destroyed!)

Thus, once all Jews are removed from the land there’d be no point at all in Jesus returning for a people that don’t live there!

NT Aspect

But Jesus could return to snatch away, or ‘rapture’, the Christians into heaven anyway, as Paul foresaw, for that above OT verse says He will return with all His saints. But if all the followers of Jesus are no longer fit to be His bride then they’d be useless and He wouldn’t be able to use them. Hence, the snake insinuated itself into Christendom, got churches to unwittingly promulgate false teachings and lose the Holy Spirit’s anointing and powerful inheritance of the first disciples.

Better still, the devil could scheme to destroy and wipe them out too! Then there’d be neither Jew nor Christian left for Jesus to return to earth. He might as well stay up in heaven and let Satan continue to rule the roost on earth

So, as stated in Revelation 12:17, Satan immediately began “to make war on those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus”.

Perhaps the easiest and most subtly unseen way of doing that is the Machiavellian strategy of ‘divide and rule’; that is, disunity. Get these ‘little anointed ones’ to fall out and dispute doctrine, let them build and rule over man-made institutions instead of being filled by the Holy Spirit and led by Him.

But even better, get them to hate and turn on one another, then wage war upon and kill fellow believers and thus disobey not only Jesus’ own command to them to love one another (John 13:34-35), but also His prayer to Father that they be one in them both (John 17:20-26) so the world would believe God had sent Him. And so Satan’s tactic is to render these foundational points of Christian discipleship null and void.

And on top of that, if Satan can get Christians to despise and turn against the Jews then he’s laughing, he’s ‘home and dry’ – we will have done his job for him!!  And better still, why not make everyone else in the world hate Jews too?  Even better, create a religious scripture that justifies, commands and honours killing them.

Doubtless, the Devil thinks prevention of the fulfilment of holy writ is practically guaranteed! Let’s consider some evidence for these claims:

Historical Evidence

1. The opening quotation refers to a matter on which Paul was advising church leaders. About 20 year after Jesus’ ascension a rebellious conflict grieved leaders and believers of that early assembly in Greece. They reacted severely but Paul cautioned forgiveness and comfort. Otherwise it would allow Satan to take advantage of the discord within the church (New Spirit-filled Life Bible notes). NKJV has Paul’s guidance; “…I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices“.  (2 Cor 2:11)

2. Another devilish tactic that has persisted is mentioned by the author of the Book to the Hebrews: “Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it (Heb 12:15 Amplified Bible).

3. 300 years later, in post-conversion zeal, Emperor Constantine turned against Jewish opposition to Christianity. Being empowered as the official religion it dominated that empire’s territory and Sylvester, the bishop of the Catholic church in Rome, withdrew its long-standing brotherly support of churches led by the ‘desposyni’ (“the Lord’s blood-kindred”). Thus began centuries of official anti-Semitic indoctrination and persecution, the fruit of which appalled me when a child upon hearing my devout Catholic mother referring to Jews as “Christ killers”. So we can understand how the strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism in Europe enabled Satan to complete one phase of his strategy: the infamous Holocaust.

4. Yet the Bible calls Christians to live as peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

5. 1,500 years ago along comes a new religion that invades other lands, tramples upon their culture and persecutes and kills anyone who thinks differently; including Jews and Christians. (Other than refer you to website The Religion of ‘Peace’, I’m not citing any details because those familiar with the subject will already be well informed.)

6. Britain has a mixed history of treating Jewish residents, including persecution during 12th-13th Centuries. After returning in 16th Century they integrated well into one of the most tolerant countries in Europe (Virtual Jewish Library). However, during the last century there’s been noticeable anti-Semitism in diplomatic circles, and in the military during the British mandate to govern the Palestinian territories. However, of the latter, honourable mention must be given to two distinguished British officers:

• Lt. Colonel John Henry Patterson, commander of the British Army’s Zion Mule Corps at Gallipoli in 1915 and in 1918, after becoming 38th Kings Fusiliers, they served under Gen. Allenby in driving the Turks out of Palestine (source). Israeli PM Netanyahu personally presided at the re-interment of his ashes last year.  Patterson had been a very close friend of his late father, as well as of Israel’s first two Prime Ministers Ben-Gurion and Eshkol. (Click image for more)
• Major General Orde Charles Wingate DSO, creator of special behind-the-lines WW2 units (later became the SAS) operating in Abyssinia, North Africa and Burma, where he formed the famed ‘Chindits’. His template for this had been in training the Haganah during 1936-39, which later became the IDF (source).

7. Anti-Semitism in todays’ media and traditional churches in Britain, as in Archbishop Welby’s speech against it and silencing of anti-Zionist Stephen Sizer.

These musings soon developed further as An Insight into a Global Satanic Strategy  and then into a 3-part mini-series on the biblical ‘End-game’ (click for Part 1).

 “…the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” (Rev 12:12)

[All Bible quotations courtesy of Bible Gateway.com]

Further Reading:

1. The real reason for the Israel-Palestine issue and anti-Semitism.
2. What did Jesus foretell about the First World War?
3. Arabs & Jews unite to agree only solution to conflict is Jesus Christ.
4. A call for clarity on Israel and Gaza.
5. PM Cameron’s 1st state visit to Israel warns about Iran’s “despotic regime”.