Revelation 13:7: And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Satan was first given power to make war with the saints in heaven before the creation of this earth in Revelation 12:7.¹ When Christ was crucified and completed the atonement, Satan was filled with wrath² and made war against the saints in Christ's ancient church, as recorded in Revelation 12:13.³ Satan had limited success initially because the ancient church was nourished in the wilderness of the Roman Empire during the apostolic era for 35 years.⁴ The tide of war changed, however, no later than the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, which John symbolically described in Revelation 12:15.⁵ Satan (the Dragon) was then given great power to make war on the remnant of saints in Christ's ancient church in Revelation 12:17. This he did through the instrumentality of the Roman Empire represented by the image of the First Beast that rose from the sea in 70 AD, as recorded in Revelation 13:1.⁶

Satan's religious wars on the saints continued worldwide⁷ until power was given unto him⁸ to make war with the saints,⁹ and to overcome them.¹⁰ The saints were overcome at different times in different localities. For example, early in the second century AD, Satan spiritually overcame the saints from Christ's ancient church among the Jews.¹¹ By that time, the seven remaining churches in Asia Minor fell into complete apostasy.¹² On the American continent, Satan spiritually overcame the Nephites during their apostasy that began in approximately 200 AD.¹³ He overcame them physically when they were destroyed during the final battle at Cumorah in 385 AD.¹⁴ Moroni was the last legal administrator of the priesthood in America, and he died sometime after 420 AD.¹⁵ Ultimately, Satan overcame the saints completely on a worldwide basis¹⁶ in 570 AD when the Lost Ten Tribes were translated.¹⁷ At that point there were no legal administrators of the priesthood¹⁸ left anywhere on earth.¹⁹ For the next 1260 years of the Great Apostasy (until 1830),²⁰ Satan had power given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations as described in Revelation 13:7.²¹

The year 570 AD is the setting for Revelation 13:7, when Satan had universal power in the entire world. However, Satan's war to achieve that pinnacle of power began 500 years earlier in 70 AD.²² By that early date, all Christ's apostles were dead except John.²³ The apostolic era had come to an end²⁴ because apostolic authority no longer governed the church.²⁵ This was also the time of the Flavian dynasty in the Roman Empire, which ruled from 68 to 96 AD. The emperors in this dynasty generally followed Nero's precedent of criminalizing and killing Christians.²⁶ Domitian, the last of the Flavian emperors, made the persecution and death of Christians a matter of public policy throughout the Roman Empire.²⁷

The Antonine dynasty which ruled from 96-192 AD, was generally a more tranquil time for Christians.²⁸ Christianity spread rapidly, but in an apostate form.²⁹ During this time, for example, the emperor Trajan upheld death as the penalty for professing Christians, but he also decreed that they should not be sought out and he granted them a measure of due process.³⁰ Unfortunately, Trajan's successors dramatically changed his tolerant policies.³¹ Decius Trajan exterminated large numbers of Christians in the mid-third century during one of the most severe periods of Roman persecution.³² Nevertheless, when persecutions generally subsided again in the late-third century,³³ apostate Christianity continued to grow.³⁴ However, every manner of false doctrine accompanied this period of growth.³⁵

The fourth century brought renewed persecution of Christians.³⁶ Emperor Diocletian issued four progressively severe edicts between 303 and 305 AD³⁷ that were designed to stamp out Christianity entirely.³⁸ These were the last deadly edicts of the Roman Empire against Christians. Thus, Satan's bloody campaign against the remnant of Christ's ancient church‒represented by the seed of the woman in Revelation chapter 12‒continued for more than two centuries after 70 AD.³⁹ Early in the fourth century, Satan and the First Beast ceased to wage their physical wars against Christianity⁴⁰ and they embarked instead on a new strategy. Less than a decade after the deadly Diocletian edicts, Satan made war against Christianity from within by adopting rather than destroying apostate Christianity.⁴¹

This process began when Diocletian abdicated the throne suddenly in 305 AD.⁴² Galerius succeeded him in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, but Galerius was even more committed to the destruction of Christianity than Diocletian.⁴³ However, on his deathbed from a loathsome disease in 311 AD, Galerius issued an Edict of Toleration in favor of the Christians and he sought their prayers for himself and the empire.⁴⁴ Meanwhile, Constantine the Great became the emperor in the western part of the empire in 306 AD,⁴⁵ and in 313 he issued the Edict of Milan.⁴⁶ This edict paved the way for apostate Christianity⁴⁷ to become the state religion for the entire Roman Empire.⁴⁸

Constantine adopted Christianity even though he was a pagan.⁴⁹ He played the role of both pagan and Christian as a matter of political expediency⁵⁰ until his Christian baptism near the end of his life.⁵¹ According to one popular legend,⁵² Constantine was miraculously persuaded to promote the cause of Christianity when he saw a burning cross in the sky with a Greek inscription that said: By this sign thou shalt conquer.⁵³ After this vision, Constantine and his Roman army adopted the standard of the cross called the labarum.⁵⁴ Under this banner, Constantine prevailed in his 18-year civil war against rival emperors and he became sole emperor of the entire Roman Empire in about 323 AD.⁵⁵

As sole emperor, Constantine reversed all prior anti-Christian edicts throughout the empire.⁵⁶ He adopted as the state religion a form of Catholic (meaning universal)⁵⁷ Christianity⁵⁸ that was already apostate.⁵⁹ Long before Constantine, Christianity had already adopted pagan doctrines⁶⁰ and pagan practices that appealed to parishioners with a pagan mindset.⁶¹ Even though paganism existed within Constantine's adopted church, paganism outside the church was subsequently outlawed by emperor Theodosius in 383 AD.⁶² The Constantinian church became rich and worldly in the extreme.⁶³ John describes the form of the Constantinian church in Revelation 17:3-4 as a woman on a scarlet-colored beast arrayed in purple and scarlet.⁶⁴

Citizens in the Roman Empire were forced to accept Constantine's apostate form of Christianity at the tip of his sword.⁶⁵ The once-persecuted Christians⁶⁶ became bitter persecutors of all non-Christians after Constantine.⁶⁷ This continued for centuries and is evident in the Christian crusades against so-called infidels in the Holy Land.⁶⁸ The Roman church regulated holy wars that were all too common throughout the Dark Ages.⁶⁹ These warring Christians had no likeness whatsoever to saints in the ancient church of Jesus Christ.⁷⁰ There were no saints in the church of Constantine in the traditional sense of that word.⁷¹ Furthermore, since there were no saints of Christ's true church anywhere in the world by 570 AD, John correctly foresaw in Revelation 13:7 that Satan had power given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.⁷²