While one could rule, he does not. He has had many attempts and they have all, thus far, fallen short, because as sure as day follows night, his ploys continue to be thwarted.

You have a point, Rule implies absolute control.

He does not fear revolt, in fact, he stokes it, because it invariably guarantees to self destruction of ever more of God's children. His influence is only unwaning because people do not harden their hearts and minds against it.

This is contradictory though. If his influence is lessened by revolt against him why would he not fear that and take precautions?

he can only whisper and stoke feeling, he cannot rule here anymore than an ant can rule over a mountain, he does not control the battlefield itself, his creator does.

One could argue that the ability to influence intelligent minds who have achieved the tech to manipulate physical matter and climate systems is enough to "control the battlefield". Comparing this situation to a computer program would be like me losing a game to an AI, which ive done many times. True i can turn off the game or manipulate game code to make me win but does that mean i control that digital battlefield if i lost in the first place?

Genuinely curious about this analogy