Analysis. What do the COVID-19 virus; the Chinese Belt and Road initiative; the presence of Chinese spy balloons in U.S. skies; China’s seemingly endless purchases of U.S. land; China’s aggression against Taiwan; and maybe even the commotion over Hunter Biden’s laptop all have in common? They could be considered part of China’s 100-year attempt to surpass the U.S. as the world’s only superpower.

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In an article for The Trumpet published in 2016, contributor Andrew Miller skillfully describes the geopolitical strategy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. That strategy is one that was initiated in 1949, at the communist takeover, and which was targeted for completion by 2049, exactly 100 years later. In a book entitled The China Dream: Great Power Thinking and Strategic Posture in the Post-American Era, Liu Mingfu, a retired Chinese military officer, describes a 100-year “marathon”: “The competition between China and the United States will not take the form of a world war or a cold war. It will not be like a ‘shooting duel’ or a ‘boxing match’ but more like a ‘track and field’ competition. It will be like a protracted ‘marathon.’ ”

That book is a bestseller in China. Like many other Chinese nationalists, its author believes that China’s 100-year marathon will involve a struggle for supremacy over economics, trade, currency, resources, and geopolitical alignments — a struggle in which Beijing will need to have a military power far exceeding any other. The goal is the establishment of Tianxia (“all under heaven”): a China-led empire that values order over freedom, ethics over law, and elite governance over democracy and human rights.

And the primary strategy is not a direct military confrontation, but rather a gradual lulling of the target nation to sleep, until it’s too late for that nation to realize who the enemy was all along. This strategy has its roots in China’s warring past and appears to be behind China’s global economic policies. The Belt and Road Initiative, for instance, invests heavily in improving the infrastructure of impoverished countries as a loan, and then it demands ownership of land, ports, and businesses if the country can’t repay. This seeks to establish a global connectivity that China can use at some point for military purposes. And it’s linked to another strategy that communist China has drawn up from its ancient past: shashoujian (or “assassin’s mace,” a weapon held secretly that can strike a deadly blow at any time). Citing this metaphorical principle, Chinese military strategists have pointed to the need for tactical laser weapons to be used in anti-ship missile-defense systems, electromagnetic pulse weapons, radar-jamming technology, and cyber weapons to strike at America’s overreliance on high-tech computer systems, satellite technology, and long maritime supply lines for ammunition, fuel, and other resources for waging war.

There is little doubt that China wants a weak America. While we supposedly change course every four years, China’s political ambitions and ideologies have stayed in place with remarkable consistency, and it is easy for us to lose sight of that. On top of that, our freedoms make it relatively easy for the Chinese to infiltrate our nation and exert influence in many facets of our political, economic, educational, and military life.

The suspicious appearance of the COVID-19 virus during a critical election year, land grabs around our military bases, the emergence of several spy balloons, the presence of military-age Chinese nationals at our borders illegally, and what looks like assistance in seating a “woke” U.S. government under a China-friendly president whose policies have severely weakened our law enforcement and military — all these are dots connected by a 100-year China strategy to dominate the world.

China and the Spirit of Antichrist

Perhaps it is hard to see, but there is a spiritual significance to China’s push toward world domination. Its strategy is rooted in a “Mandate From Heaven,” in which a divine mandate is bestowed upon a ruler. But how is that possible in a political system that takes such pride in being “anti-religious”? Well, communist dictatorship is merely a modern form of that same absolute rule of ancient monarchs who sought complete control over their people by claiming that their rule was of divine origin. The pharaohs of Egypt were worshipped as incarnations of gods, and so were the kings of Assyria and Babylon, and so were the emperors of Rome. Fast forward to the 20th century, and we see a similar pattern among such totalitarians as Hitler, Stalin, and the Kims of North Korea. In the case of the latter, the personality cult surrounding founding father Kim Il Sung and his successors, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, through a philosophy called Juche, has created a myth that Kim Il Sung was born on the sacred Mount Paektu, which gives them their divine aura. In China, the communists are cracking down increasingly on Christianity and religious groups like Falun Gong, while “Xi Jinping Thought” is promoted as the only acceptable form of religion.

What drives the worship of totalitarian leaders is the spirit of the Antichrist: … and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:3). The spirit of the Antichrist is seen in any demonic activity that draws worship away from Jesus Christ and redirects it to the worship of created beings or false gods. This will ultimately lead to the coming of an actual being who will force and draw the world into worship of himself (see Revelation 13). It remains to be seen how China’s 100-year plan to establish world domination and create networks of global connectivity that a mere handful of people can control will enable Antichrist to subjugate the world.

For that reason, it is actually the spirit of the Antichrist at work in and through China that is waging war on the U.S. We are not just the sole remaining economic and military superpower, but also a spiritual superpower. Unfortunately, much of the Church has forgotten that we are that.

Miller sees this as one reason God is allowing China’s nonmilitary incursions on the U.S. and on the former superpower of Great Britain: “The fact that Britain has fallen from greatness and that China is eclipsing America does not escape God. We must see such seismic global power shifts with His perspective. In the end, the problems afflicting America and Britain are actually correction from God to help the Anglo-American people see their sins and repent.”

Our Prayer Strategy

In light of this, I suggest a four-tier strategy of prayer:

1. Pray that the Church in America will reawaken to its God-given role in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, repent of its worldliness and lukewarm spirit, and reengage in world evangelism with courage and fervor.
2. Pray for the quiet revolution against the Chinese Communist Party to grow ever stronger as tens of thousands of Chinese turn to Christ and renounce their allegiance to the religion of Xi Jinping.
3. Pray for God to thwart every Chinese attempt at hegemony and infiltration into the U.S.
4. Pray for the establishment of a government in our nation that understands China’s plans and puts the necessary measures in place to stop the infiltration.

Mighty Father of nations, we agree in prayer that the spirit of Antichrist is driving the Chinese push toward world domination. We cry, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” Raise Your almighty hand against China’s war on the world and on the gospel, and reawaken Your Church in America to the role and the power You have given us to reach the world with the gospel. And cause Your Church in China to multiply to the point of eclipsing the Communist Party in membership and influence. Establish a government in the U.S. that recognizes the China threat and which will, with Your help and divine wisdom, put measures in place to powerfully protect our nation. In Jesus’ name! Amen.

Share your prayers below for the nations and for the eternal rule of Jesus Christ.

Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual-growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the U.S. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and pastored his first church in Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. in 1986. He and his wife, Jennifer, live north of Atlanta. When not writing books, he blogs at www.deeperlifeblog.com and assists his wife as a content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo Credit: MediaProduction/Getty Images Signature via Canva Pro.