Satan’s Thirteen-point Plan

Satan’s Thirteen-point Plan to Take Over the World
Prof. Johan Malan, Mossel Bay, South Africa (January 2011)

We live in a critical time of world history, right at the end of the church dispensation and shortly before the revelation of Satan’s world empire which will be headed by the Antichrist and the false prophet. Christians proclaim the second coming of Jesus Christ and the future revelation of His kingdom, while the non-Christian world is preparing for a new world order which will be in direct opposition to the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan are, apart from a conflict in spiritual realms, also heading for a physical confrontation which will lead to the second coming of Christ and the battle of Armageddon at the end of the great tribulation. On this occasion the Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire, their followers will be destroyed and Satan will be bound in a bottomless pit for one thousand years (Rev. 19:19-21 to Rev. 20:3).That will be followed by the revelation of God’s kingdom on earth.

Satan is the adversary and enemy of God since his casting out of heaven in prehistoric times because of his self-exaltation and rebellion. He wages an unabated battle against God and His kingdom as he aspires to be worshipped instead of God and also to become the sole ruler of the universe. He has a large following of fallen angels (demons or evil spirits) as well as unsaved people who are doing his will on earth. Together they constitute the kingdom of darkness, and they occupy such a dominant position that the Bible refers to them as “the rulers of the darkness of this age” (Eph. 6:12; cf. 1 John 5:19).

We have not been surrendered to the control of these satanic powers, since the Lord Jesus came to spiritually “deliver us from this present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) and to establish His kingdom in our hearts. But we still physically find ourselves in an evil and hostile world in which we have to put on the full armour of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph. 6:11).

In the end-time, with an interval of only seven years between them, both these kingdoms and their kings, Christ and the Antichrist, will be publicly revealed on earth. First, the kingdom of darkness under the leadership of the Antichrist will be revealed. During the subsequent tribulation period he will physically control the world. When the withholder of the Antichrist – that is the true church as the temple of the Holy Spirit – has been taken out of the way at the rapture (2Thess. 2:6-8), the Antichrist will be revealed.

During the seven years of the Antichrist’s reign the judgements of God will be poured out upon this evil kingdom right up to the moment when it will lose all authority on earth. The climax of these judgements will occur on the last day of the tribulation when Christ will return to earth to destroy the satanic powers and have Satan bound in a pit. After this, Christ’s kingdom will be revealed and established on earth.

Satan is fully aware of the dire future prophesied for him in the Bible but he altogether rejects it. Since the origin of humanity he has been waging a war to gain more control over people and eventually also to be worshipped by them. He does not want to be known as Satan but as Lord and God. That is the reason why he comes as an angel of light and employs all the powers of his cunning to deceive people in such a way that they would worship and follow another god, another Jesus and another spirit, which are all impostors from his kingdom (2Cor. 11:3-15).

We are in the final phase of the church dispensation, during which evangelical Christians have all reason to expect the imminent coming of Christ. That is why Satan is intensifying his efforts to bring humanity under the power of delusion to such an extent that they will rather engage in preparing the way for his false kingdom than waiting for Christ. Deceived people do not realise that they are advocates for Satan’s kingdom since they have lost the ability to discern between the truth and the lie. Their minds have been blinded by the god of this world (2Cor. 4:4).

This deception is so subtle and convincing that even those many Christians who have a poor knowledge of the Bible are falling for it (compare the saying that “if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything”). Consequently, they will “depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”
(1Tim. 4:1). The Lord Jesus also warned against this serious deception: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many… For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:4-5,24).

The deception is aimed at perverting and falsifying the principles and characteristics of God’s kingdom, and then applying them to Satan’s kingdom. Humanity should still expect God’s kingdom and also actively promote it, but in such a way that they actually prepare the way for Satan’s kingdom. Changed thinking caused by spiritual deception should be the driving force behind people’s actions to support Satan’s alternate kingdom rather than the true kingdom of God.

This other way of thinking and believing is the fruit of deception. Some people refer to it as a paradigm shift; others see it as the emergence of a new, ecumenical belief system, while large groups justify it as postmodern reforms brought about by the demands of a new world order. Whatever the excuses for their new way of thinking may be, the fact remains that they are all victims of the master deceiver of the ages. The Bible calls him “the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). He is responsible for transforming theological thinking in such a way that it complies with the principles of hís kingdom and no longer with those of God’s kingdom.

When Satan’s most important strategies for the revelation of his kingdom are investigated, it becomes evident that he has a thirteen-point plan for the final deceiving of the world with a view to taking it over. The application of the plan leads to such a distortion and misrepresentation of God’s kingdom that humanity, including a large segment of the nominal Christian church, is becoming involved with efforts to reveal the alternate kingdom of Satan. They are doing it under the false assumption that they are still involved with God’s kingdom.

Satan’s major battle is against the Bible as it contains facts on the revelation of God, His plan of salvation for humanity through Jesus Christ, as well as clear prophecies on what the future holds for the world and its inhabitants. The subversive works of the kingdom of darkness are also revealed in the Bible, as well as God’s judgements upon Satan and his kingdom. These divine truths stand out like a beacon of light in a dark world, and refute everything that is contrary to it. God is truth, His Word is truth, Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth who guides us into all truth (John 14:6; 16:13; 17:17).

Satan realises that he first has to try and do away with the Bible as the source of Christian doctrines before he will be able to institute his plans for an alternate faith. When the basic statements of faith in the Bible have been successfully questioned, spiritualised or distorted, any possible meaning can be ascribed to them. That will lead to a far-reaching transformation of thinking in support of a satanic new world order. This new way of thinking which is propagated by false prophets, is spiritual in nature and occurs in the following 13 areas:

1. The truth of God’s Word is presented as a lie

Satan will not at all be able to reveal his kingdom without resistance in the world as long as there are significant numbers of people who regard the Bible as credible. That is the reason why throughout the ages he has been waging relentless attacks against the Bible. He does not at all want people to believe in the Bible as the inerrant and literally inspired Word of God as such people are not open to other convictions and will therefore not become his followers.

There is no end to the attacks made against the Bible by deceived theologians. They allege that the Bible is a compilation of humanly-conceived books on religious and moral matters, and not God’s word to humanity. They regard it as predominantly of a mythological nature and therefore not historically authentic. Most of the biblical accounts are belittled as myths, including the creation account and the description of Satan’s kingdom in the air.

Many of the statements on the person and attributes of Jesus Christ are described as mere speculation or wishful thinking, e.g. the ‘unscientific’ supposition of the virgin birth of Jesus, and also the belief that He is God, that He was resurrected from the dead, ascended to heaven and will bodily return to the earth. Biblical prophecies on the end-time and the second coming of Christ are not literally interpreted and considered in a futuristic sense, but regarded as historical (preteristic), symbolical and allegorical descriptions with little value.

The implication of the sustained campaign of subversion against the Bible is that the statements which fundamental Christians accept as literal and unchangeable truths are actually all lies. As far as the henchmen of Satan are concerned there is no Triune God as Jesus was only an ordinary prophet and not God; the crucifixion of Christ was only a political act without any spiritual significance; there is no heaven, hell or devil; there will not be an Antichrist, a great tribulation or a literal battle of Armageddon; the Lord will not physically intervene to remove believers before the time of judgement; and there will not be a thousand-year reign of peace or a final judgement.

We have reached a stage in which deceived theologians on a large scale are discrediting and rejecting these biblical truths. The way is now open for the propagation of an unbiblical worldview in which Satan’s false kingdom is gaining credibility. The truth of divine revelations has been replaced by the lies of Satan’s kingdom which are based upon imposture. Much more than during the time of Isaiah we are living in a religious environment in which people backslide from the Lord, eventually deny Him and also abandon the truth of His Word:

“Our sins testify against us… in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter” (Isa. 59:12-14).

However, the lie is not always easy to discern because Satan is offering his alternate kingdom to people in the name of God and also in the name of Christ (cf. Matt. 24:4-5). But his kingdom will be multi-religious as the followers of all religions will worship the Christ of the new world order and also follow him as their conqueror and prince of peace (Rev. 6:2; 13:3-4). These lies are so strongly established by now, also in the traditional Christian world, that the time for the planned revelation of Satan’s kingdom must be very near.

2. The lies of the non-Christian religions are presented as truth

Concurrent with the period when the Bible loses credibility among apostates, the doctrines and holy books of the non-Christian religions are increasingly recognised and adhered to. In various multi-religious textbooks which have been published in South Africa and are also used for the training of teachers, the positive value of the non-Christian faiths is acclaimed.

It is alleged that Westerners have lost their spirituality because of the big impact of materialism on their lives. As a solution to this problem Christians are encouraged to take over from Eastern religions, e.g. Buddhism and Hinduism, mystical techniques such as transcendental meditation to spiritually enrich themselves. The opinion is also held that we can learn much from the nature religions. The collective consciousness of the San (Bushmen) and their ecological relationship with nature can, for instance, be taken over to great benefit.

In the light of these postmodern reforms, traditional Christianity is regarded as narrow, judgemental and out of step with reality. Consequently, it is now presented as being composed of lies and half-truths. The things however which the Bible exposes as lies and camouflaged Satanism, e.g. idolatry (cf. 1Cor. 10:19-20);
2Cor. 6:14-18), all of a sudden become acceptable practices and the discovery of new truths.

3. The true Christ becomes the Antichrist, or cosmic Christ

A very important objective in Satan’s strategy for a takeover is the deconstruction of the biblical image of Jesus Christ. In the process, Jesus is rendered another Jesus to enable the Antichrist to come in His name. It is evident from this approach that the devil is not out to destroy religion but to change it in such a way that he and the Antichrist can be worshipped by all people. That will indeed happen: “And all the world marvelled and followed the beast. So they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast?” (Rev. 13:3-4).

Evangelical Christians do not participate in deconstructing the image of Jesus as that would amount to rejecting the Bible and the misrepresentation of Christ. They are aware of the dangers of denying or changing God’s Word. However, nominal, ecumenical-minded Christians who were deceived by the devil, fully support the transformation of the biblical Jesus to the multi-religious Jesus of the new world order, who will be accepted and worshipped by the followers of all religions.

Theologians who hold this opinion allege that the biblical account of Jesus as God and Son of God, who is the only Saviour of the world, is a false one. They refer to Him as the cultic Jesus or the Jesus of faith. That is unacceptable to them, and consequently they are replacing Him with the “historical Jesus” who was in their view only an ordinary prophet. This approach enables them to relegate Jesus to the same level as the prophets of other faiths, e.g. Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed.

Religious leaders in the non-Christian faiths followed suit and devised theories which either closely associate the historical Jesus with their own religions or even render him inherently part of their faith. Some of these leaders openly state that the world messiah who is expected shortly will fulfil multiple roles by being Christ to the Christians, Krishna to the Hindus, the fifth Buddha to the Buddhists, and the Imam Mahdi to Islam. He will therefore be the cosmic Messiah, or the Messiah of all faiths. According to the Bible he will be the Antichrist.

The important question, therefore, is not so much if Christians in the traditional Christian world accept or reject Jesus, but rather which Jesus they accept and follow. It is either the Son of God who is the only Saviour of the world (Acts 4:12), or it is the interfaith messiah who will deceive all religions to accept and proclaim his false gospel (Rev. 17:3-6). The true Christ will be the King in God’s revealed kingdom (Rev. 19:11-16), while the false Christ (the Antichrist) will be the king who will rule over Satan’s kingdom of darkness (Rev. 13:2).

It is obvious that the lies of Satan are increasingly getting the upper hand in large segments of the Christian church, thus rendering them forerunners of his false Christ.

4. The Triune God becomes the universal God of all faiths

Satan is not only intent on making the Antichrist acceptable to the world as Christ and eventually also as God (2Thess. 2:4), but he himself wishes to be worshipped and honoured as God. Consequently, in his strategy for taking over the world he does not only conduct a campaign against the biblical Jesus but also against the idea of a Triune God. A God who revealed Himself to the world only through His Son, thereby excluding all other faiths, is not acceptable to the devil. That is the reason why he not only renders Jesus the cosmic Christ of all faiths, but also presents God as the universal God of all faiths. Satan fulfils this role as he is the god of this age (2Cor. 4:4).

Any person who supports the statement that all faiths worship the same God has become a victim of Satan’s deception and therefore also a follower of this false god. The world at large has already been induced to shun the Triune God of the Bible and to bow the knee before the satanic triumvirate – the God of this age, the cosmic Christ and the false prophet.

5. Spiritual rebirth becomes a mystical spiritual experience

The Lord Jesus said: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Because of this very clear statement Satan is also specifically intent on keeping people from being born again, thereby becoming members of God’s kingdom. If he succeeds in preventing rebirth by offering people false foundations such as baptismal regeneration and good works, he would ensure his continued influence upon them in the kingdom of darkness. Satan approaches them in the image of an angel of light to blind them to the truth and justify them in their unsaved condition.

Many people are looking for an ecstatic spiritual experience whereby to declare themselves as being born again. Satan gladly supplies in this need by, among others, slaying in the spirit when people fall into a trance and do strange things like uncontrollable laughing and the uttering of animal sounds. But this experience does not lead to conviction of sin and true repentance. When these people rise from the floor they nevertheless regard themselves as being born again because the Spirit of God had allegedly fallen upon them.

Mystical experiences, or trance states, can also be induced by listening to certain kinds of music, by loudly singing and repeating specific songs, by practising transcendental meditation in which certain key words (mantras) are repeated over and over, and also by using mind expanding drugs. Such people come under the influence of Satan’s deceiving spirits (1Tim. 4:1) and are therefore being prepared for his kingdom.

6. The narrow way to heaven becomes the false road of conflict

Satan casts a dark shadow of doubt upon the narrow way which leads to heaven (cf. Matt. 7:14). He does not want people to walk on this road because they belong to the Lord. He finds it more difficult to deceive such people as many of them have a good knowledge of Scripture and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit; because of that, they are outspoken adversaries of the kingdom of darkness.

True believers strived hard to gain access through the narrow gate of rebirth onto the way which leads to heaven (Luke 13:24). They believe in the biblical Jesus (not the historical Jesus who was only a prophet) and confess the saving power of His death on the cross. They also believe that He is the only way to heaven and that all people outside of Him are lost (John 14:6; 1John 5:12). They are fundamental believers.

Through the devil’s doing the narrow way of the true life of faith has increasingly been given a bad name. It is alleged that these believers have a negative and judgemental attitude because they think that only they are right and all the others are wrong. They are loveless people and worship a loveless God who condemns the majority of people to the everlasting lake of fire because they are not Christians.

There are various well-known Christian preachers who hold the view that fundamental Christians pose a great threat to the emerging church of the 21st century because they strongly insist on the honouring of biblical principles. Such Christians resist the ecumenical movement and undermine the forging of unitary ties among the various Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, while strongly condemning any ties with the non-Christian religions.

Because of these factors the narrow way of Christian fundamentalism is rejected. Through continued deception more and more people are negatively inclined towards evangelicalism and that accounts for their increasing openness towards the false gospel of Satan’s kingdom in many parts of the world.

7. The broad way to hell becomes the accepted way to harmony and peace

The discrediting of the narrow way to heaven opens the way towards the acceptance of the majority’s broad way in which everything and everybody is permissible. This is the multi-religious way in which people may approach the universal God of all faiths through different mediators. Because of this practice, various multi-religious movements have been established in the world in which members of all faiths can join hands and congenially collaborate with one another.

This is the way of harmony and world peace upon which all people can become one through compromise and adaptation to their new spiritual environment. The devil is the only winner in this situation since all the spiritually lost people are justified and praised. They are fellow builders of a modern tower of Babel and they will all inherit Satan’s kingdom when the Antichrist is revealed after the rapture (Rev. 17:3-6).

However, these deceived people’s hour of glory will be short-lived. When the Antichrist declares himself to be God in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, all his followers will be forced to unconditionally worship him as God. All forms of religion will then be declared redundant and abolished. Those who refuse to comply with the demands of the Antichrist will be executed (Rev. 13:15; 17:16).

8. Prayers to God become meditation and the invoking of spiritual powers

Intensified efforts are made by Satan’s kingdom to sever all contact between people and the true God. Not only are Christians kept too busy to pray but the very nature of prayer is distorted. This is achieved by teaching people how to substitute prayer for transcendental meditation, which is an exercise in mystical contemplation through descending to the so-called deeper, creative levels of one’s right-brain. A single word or short sentence is repeated over and over until the person enters a hypnotic or trance state which is referred to as an altered state of consciousness.

In this state of mind and spirit the meditator becomes aware of the god within him, he sees the world in a new light in which everything converges into a harmonious unity, he experiences peace in his heart while fully relaxing, and he also finds solutions to all his problems. In actual fact he practises Eastern meditation in which a person empties his mind of all thoughts, thereby opening it up to influencing by occult spiritual powers. This is exactly the channel which the devil needs to communicate with people and instil a consciousness of his new world order in them.

9. The Christian faith becomes an ecumenical alliance of all faiths

The multiple religious influences which Satan imposes upon modern humanity causes Christianity to lose its unique character and eventually diminishing itself to one of many communication channels with God. Ecumenical Christians then join hands with other faiths in terms of the deceptive premise that God revealed Himself to humanity through all faiths and cultures.

When that happens, common belief in the Triune God no longer unites people, but belief in the universal God of all faiths does. That is not the God of the Bible but the false god of this world who blinds the minds of people that they should not know, worship or follow the God of the Bible (2Cor. 4:4). When that happens, the time for the revelation of Satan’s kingdom has drawn nigh.

10. The temple of God in Jerusalem becomes Satan’s temple of all faiths

The devil also has a specific strategy for deceiving Israel as God’s people. He knows that the spiritually restored Israel is destined to play an important role in the kingdom of God during the Millennium. It is consequently a highly prioritised strategy of the devil to subject the entire Israel to the authority of the false Messiah, thereby ensuring that they will be under his full control. The true Messiah has warned Israel more than 2000 years ago that they would conclude a covenant with the false Messiah (John 5:43).

The prophet Daniel also indicated that Israel would conclude a covenant with the Antichrist for one year-week of seven years (Dan. 9:27). As part of this covenant they will be granted the right to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. But that will specifically be a temple for the world Messiah, i.e. the common Messiah of all faiths.

To the utter amazement of many people, this antichristian and interfaith approach has already taken root in Israel. A modern Sanhedrin was established in October 2004, and they follow a multi-religious approach in terms of scriptures such as Isaiah 56:7: “For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” This statement is erroneously interpreted in a multi-religious way by also giving recognition to the non-Biblical faiths. There is a Jewish website which promotes the view of “God’s holy mountain” for all faiths, i.e. www.godsholymountain.org

From the Bible we know that the Third Temple which will be built in Jerusalem will be the temple of the false Messiah. In this way he will try to ensure that the Jews do not accept the once for all sacrifice of the true Messiah on the cross. Furthermore, he will use this temple to declare himself to be God in the Holy of holies (2Thess. 2:4; Dan. 11:31; Matt. 24:15-21). By then, the temple of God will have become the temple of Satan.

From all these developments we know that the coming of the false Messiah is at hand. It may happen any time.

11. Divine revelations in the Bible become extra-biblical revelations

Information on the future revelation of Satan’s kingdom on earth is given by false prophets. They present it as God’s kingdom in which people of all faiths will live together in peace and prosperity. They reject all biblical warnings on an end-time tribulation under the dictatorship of the Antichrist, and for that reason all biblical prophecies are distorted, spiritualised, ignored or merely regarded to be irrelevant. The only accepted information on what the future holds for us comes from major contemporary prophets who wrongly claim to speak on behalf of God. They only predict mighty revivals, good times, and a peaceful world empire – no tribulation, judgements or suffering.

12. The futuristic kingdom of God becomes a humanistic kingdom-now

According to the Bible, Satan knows that Christ will return to the earth to destroy His enemies, save the remnant in Israel, and then establish His kingdom on earth with Jerusalem as capital. In an all-out effort to avert this turn of events he will, before the second coming of Christ, establish his own government on earth under the leadership of the Antichrist. The devil’s idea of a kingdom here and now, before the coming of Christ as King, has by now become so firmly rooted in theological thinking across the globe that most of the leading Christian churches actively support and promote this idea. The strong humanistic and multi-religious nature of this kingdom will render proof of its unbiblical and satanic character.

Preparations for this kingdom are in such an advanced stage that an interfaith messiah has, at this stage of the world history, a very good chance of being universally accepted, followed and even worshipped (Rev. 13:3-4). When this kingdom has been well established, the Antichrist will instigate his followers to fight against the true Christ on the day of His second coming in an effort to kill Him. They will know that Christ will return to earth at the end of that particular year-week to destroy the Antichrist and his world empire, therefore they will mobilise an international force to fight against Him (Rev. 16:13-16).

But it will be a day of great tragedy for this multinational force when they try to fight against the One who has all power in heaven and on earth (Rev. 19:19-21; Zech. 14:12-13; Joel 3:2; Isa. 13:9-13).

13. The rapture of believers becomes the removal of rebels

The Lord has promised to take away His bridal congregation before the dawning of the coming time of judgement (Luke 21:36; John 14:2-3; 1Thess. 4:16-17). The true believers are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and their presence on earth withholds the revelation of the Antichrist and the institution of his satanic world empire (2Thess. 2:6-8).

When the evangelical Christians suddenly disappear the Antichrist will be revealed as a false prince of peace in the name of Christ, and also in the names of the other messiahs of the world religions. He will give a bad name to the evangelical Christians who have disappeared, by alleging that they promoted hatred and conflict because of their refusal to enter into brotherly relations with the members of other faiths. They will be branded as stubborn rebels, and all sorts of theories will be advanced to explain their disappearance as a divine act which was needed to allow unity and peace to prevail on earth.

The promise of the rapture will, therefore, be changed in such a way by the enemies of God that it will not be seen as the catching away of true believers but as the supernatural removal of the fundamentalist troublemakers. They will be described as the stumbling-blocks in the transition to a new dispensation, and that will justify the act of removing them.

Conclusion

Satan’s thirteen-point plan is composed of religious lies which are used as propaganda for the revelation of his kingdom. These lies are successfully proclaimed by his large number of collaborators, since public support is vital for the implementation of his plan to take over the world.

The first half of the Antichrist’s rule will predominantly be characterised by deception. During this phase he will voluntarily be recognised and worshipped by virtually all people. It will only be towards the middle of the tribulation when opposition against him will be mounting, and that will induce him to institute the most severe military dictatorship in the entire history of humanity. The Lord Jesus describes it as a great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world, and that it will bring humanity to the very edge of total annihilation (Matt. 24:21-22). Only then will Christ intervene at His second coming to save a remnant of Israel and the nations (Matt. 24:29-30).

The Lord Jesus has good advice for a time such as this: “Take heed that no one deceives you…” (Matt. 24:4). Abide in Christ, abide in His Word, walk in the Spirit, resist the present evil world and put on the full armour of God that you may remain standing against the wiles of the devil. The Saviour has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).