Today, some believe that we are watching the final contest between good and evil that the Bible talks about. End-time prophecy indicates that Satan will be at the heart of that struggle to set up a global religion and a global political system.

Since the birth of Roman Catholicism, most of the popes have taught that they need to be recognized as the world’s spiritual head.

A Politics For The World

And in recent decades the popes have increasingly supported a global political philosophy codified by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Their writings floated to the surface of the philosophical, religious, and economic whirlpool of the “enlightened” 19th century. From the Marxism root sprang our modern Socialist, Communist, Collectivist, Progressive steamroller.

On cue, the 20th century saw this whirlpool expand to threaten the entire world. Russia was the first major country captured by Marxism. It came under the label of Communism because it purported to be a communal economy where everyone technically owned everything, held in trust by the elites in an all-powerful central government.

Flawed Humans

China and a number of lesser countries also fell under the spell of this “revolution” against the supposed (and often real) oppression of their existing political masters. But the Communist leadership was made up of equally flawed humans. The new masters were just as power-hungry and the oppression in most cases became more extreme.

But Marxism’s expansion provided a political power base that could be focused on subjugating the rest of the world. After several decades of saber rattling, modern technology provided a more subtle and effective psychological warfare.

Early Red Flags

As early as the mid-20th century, alert observers saw this shift and began waving red flags. One historian was W. Cleon Skousen. His 1958 book “The Naked Communist” sold widely and carried many accurate warnings.

One famous chapter in the book was called “Current Communist Goals” and listed 45 devilish strategies to achieve those objectives. Over the years, many have been alarmingly successful.

Number 16: Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions [like Biblical marriage] by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17: Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of the teacher’s associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

19: Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20: Infiltrate the press. Get control of the book review assignments, editorial writings, and policymaking positions.

21: Gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures.

24: Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and free press.

26: Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, and healthy.”

27: Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”

28: Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

29: Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

31: Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of “the big picture.”

32: Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

35: Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36: Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

40: Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41: Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents.

Allowed By A Vacuum

This is just a sampling of the full list from Skousen’s book, but it is easy to see how it fits Satan’s big plan. The progress in these areas that we see today, crept into the vacuum left by the elimination of the Bible and its principles in government, education and the family.

America’s prosperity is the direct result of obeying these biblical principles. We are already seeing significant degradation of our standard of living.

Soul winners, we need to watch and pray—and work at reminding everyone who will listen how late the hour is.

Historically, saturation with no-nonsense gospel tracts has been very useful for this.