Satan is a Gradualist

Satan knows that he can corrupt one person at a time. His plan is simple and effective.

1 John 4:4 ~ "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

He works on one person at a time, gradually through the influence of power. This is why he seeks to seize the media, music, city and government offices, because he moves to corrupt those who have influence over others. This is the very reason Christians should be involved in every area of authority, military, politics, school boards, city and government offices to shine the light into the very dark places.

Revelation 12:3-4 ~ "Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads, and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born."

7 heads are kings, or in modern times prime ministers, presidents or representatives in leadership roles in their nations. The 10 horns are kingdoms, regions or domains. The world will be divided into 10 kingdoms or governments with 7 leaders of influence over them. The entire globe will be divided into 10 prominent regions with 7 global representatives. Think this is impossible to imagine. Look up the G-7 group. It is now comprised of 8 global nations because Russia was just added. It used to be just 7 groups. They meet once a year to  make decisions regarding economic and geopolitical aspects that impact the global communities. The principles are being put into place for this to happen on a larger scale.

Satan understands that if he can influence a leader in any office, he gains a foothold to influence more. Want a birds eye view of Satan's future and retirement plan?

Isaiah 14:9-12 ~ "The grave below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you - all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones all those who were kings over the nations. They will all respond, they will say to you, "You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us," All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!"

If you want to know who the fiery red dragon is from Revelation 12, skip ahead.

Revelation 12:9 ~ "The great dragon was hurled down - that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him."

This is the definition of just who the dragon is, not a descriptions but a symbol of his nature and character. As the church vacates its position in the world, demonic and evil influence steps in to fill the vacancy. Satan is desperately fighting for total control by attempting to overthrow the angelic realm.

Revelation 12:4a ~ "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth." 

Notice that the verbs in this verse are all past tense. The stars are angels of heaven. Satan deceived a 1/3 of God's created angels. Be careful how easily we can be fooled into thinking we are all powerful when it comes to dealing with evil. The power comes from the Lord, not from us. Whenever we pray, our power is tapping into heaven.

Satan therefore, will come to tempt us with beautiful and wonderful things.

2 Peter 2:4 ~ "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, byt sent them to heal, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;"

Jude 6 ~ "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day."

This is proof that angles have sinned in the past. Satan is conspiring to stop God's plan of victory. What is the devil up to here? Who is this child in Revelation 12:4? It is amazing because the Bible records in perfect detail the acts of war that Satan has launched against the coming of Jesus Christ into the world ever since the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:14-15 ~ "So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put an enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Satan possessed the serpent, notice how God curses the snake to crawl on his belly for his act in this and it makes you wonder, that the snake did not always crawl on its belly before this time. The word "enmity" is defined as warfare and the woman mentioned here is Eve but through further interpretation is is also a build up of the lineage of Christ. Eve>Israel>Mary>Son of God, Jesus Christ. It began against Eve, then moved on to the nation of Israel, then onto Mary and her Son, Jesus Christ. It was a plot to do anything and everything to destroy the royal seed. The virgin birth is prophesied in this verse. The announcement is being made that it will be in the DNA of the woman, not the man that will destroy evil once and for all.

The Passion of the Christ, clearly depicts Genesis 3:15 when Jesus moves to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane when we see the serpent coming to Jesus as Satan in disguise! Satan's plan for total control to conspire to stop God's plan of victory continued with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, then again through Noah and his generation. The Bible says that Noah was perfect in all his ways, it doesn't mean he was sinless, but he was genetically not polluted. The attacks of the Patriarch Abraham, the plans to destroy the children of Jacob; the attempts to slay the Hebrew (male) children in the land of Egypt; the off and on evils of Israel's kings; Esther and the plan to kill all the Jews: numerous plans to annihilate Israel; the killing of the male Hebrew children of Israel by King Herod; when Satan tempted Jesus to sin; and then we have the brutality and horrors of Jesus' final days on earth. You can imagine how please Satan must have felt when Jesus died. He probably thought he won that victory after all. But then Sunday came.

Luke 10:17 ~ "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

When you pray, Satan is upset. That is why prayer is so hard. Whenever you pray, your mind wanders and you get tired or distractions come. This is the same reason witnessing is so difficult. It's like a fire fight. Satan always counters when we attack. We are fighting from a position of victory. We lost battles but we win the war.

Preaching, teaching, evangelism and mission work are Satan's targets, these are the very areas we must advance in! The prophetic players that Satan will attack in the End Times and Last Days, (1) the church, (2) the nation of Israel, (3) political kingdoms, and (4) ethnicities. The more we know about our enemy, the greater damage we can inflict.

Remember this is NOT a recovery mission, it is a rescue mission. We need to be focused on saving the lost and praying daily for those in areas of influence, even those that we question their motives. They need all the prayer we can muster.