The Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell shall not overcome the Community of God

  I am sure by the computer graphic I created and the topic, that you already have a preconceived idea of what this article may be about. Hopefully, I will be able to disappoint you with something better.

  Yes, I could talk about all the evil stuff that is now moving forward into the open like the things happening at the UN. 

  Or the new group that handles all the “religious needs” at the UN.  This group officiates all the openings, in fact, nothing happens without their “blessing.” The Lucis Trust, are the guardians of the inner light and are better known as the Lucifer Trust. But let’s be honest at this point in history, does anything really surprise you nowadays? I didn’t think so…

  So let’s stop looking in that direction for a moment and turn into the wind of God so to speak.

The House of the Lord

  This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 66:1-2

  It is important to take note that when the Lord asked this question Solomon had long since built the temple. And it continued to stand for some time after Isaiah passed away. So it seems odd to me at first glance that the Lord is still asking this question, “…Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?…” Perhaps the second verse was meant to give a hint, a clue to future generations when he speaks of the fact that His hands, “made all things…”

Digging Deeper

  “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Cor 5:1

And

  “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of Heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.” Acts 17:24

  We effectively are now the mobile temples of God on Earth. This fact has been generally undervalued and undertaught in many modern streams within the Body of Christ. The plan was from the very beginning of human history that God and man would walk together in true fellowship.

  If you take a close look at the book of Genesis, one could argue that the Father has been alone ever since we separated from him. Yes, he has the Angels, and strange beasts beyond description that surround the throne, but he did not die for them. He died for his friends. Modern religious systems focus to much on performance and outer, earthly things to keep the ministry moving forward. As the inner core of our fallen nature always seeks to make things complicated. We are generally blind to the obvious, simple child-like truths of the Bible.

  The very word community is a truth we paste religious veneer over the top of. Community is, broken down, which speaks to the common unity we are called to not just walk in, but live, thrive, and blossom in like the greatest rose in the garden. The truth the ancient Christian Celts discovered, whispers of a mystery a bit deeper, so our minds struggle as we try to understand that not only is God three in one. But that God and Community is incomplete unless we step into our role and complete what He has made with his own hands.

  It is in that moment of wonder, goodness, and mercy we can finally rest, and we finally surrender our greatest fears. Here we behold the beauty of the sabbath rest. There is healing in the rest, there is a joy that defies description that human words struggle to compose.

  “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 This scripture has generally been misused in history as a proof text to claim that the authority of Rome is built on Peter, as the first Pope. This is the result of dark pernicious twisting thinking that started when Constantine separated Gentile believers from our Jewish brothers. Because of this, it is like trying to run the US government without the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. All our understandings are incomplete and therefore partly flawed.

  Let’s take a Jewish look at this scripture.

  “And I also say to you that you are Shimon Kefa and upon this TSUR I will build my Kehillah, my Chavurah and the shaarei Sheol shall not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18

  The word TSUR generally means a big sharp rock, possibly on a cliff that everyone can see. It is also used to describe YHWH (Yahweh-God) and implies Redeemer & Salvation.

  So Jesus is saying that upon this big sharp rock (himself) on a high place that everyone can see he is going to build something on the rock of salvation.

  Kehillah,  is a Jewish word that speaks directly to living in common unity, a communal structure of life. Chavurah is a word that speaks to a group of like-minded people who assemble together for shared experiences.

  So what is Jesus building? He is building a group of people, deeply connected, interlocked in heart, mind, and purpose. He is building this community on the rock of salvation as a spectacle for the world to see. This is his house, this is his resting place, This is where His Spirit will abide and Tabernacle with his friends. This is, at the very core a true biblical community.

  Historically, the Gates of Hell has feared this one fact more than any other thing. It has moved armies to crush it wherever it is found. The gates of hell have distorted, lied, and manipulated local laws and scripture to make the community of God go away… at any cost. Recent studies suggest that over 50 million Christians died in Europe alone at the blade of the Catholic orders. Many were crushed, burnt, stabbed, dragged, starved, drowned, and tossed off cliffs just for living this truth. And the records are clear that those who escaped were often hunted like prey through the forests, and mountain snows until they found them. The Gates of Hell could kill these people, but not the hope they carried. The truth of what Jesus died to give us still survives, and so do the testimonies of the dead.

  In southern Europe, we were known as the “Insabbati.” The people of the Sabbath. And before the rise of the Waldensians, Leonists, and others. Our protests were growing into a spiritual rebellion against the introduction of pagan practices into Christianity by the Catholics whom our Christian brothers referred to as ‘The New Comers.’

  The Fires of Spirituality 

  The perfect common unity is that the Trinity created all creation. He sees all of the time, radiates perfect Love, Joy, Holiness, and Justice, and bends with compassion unhindered toward the lost. In wisdom and righteousness, he guides, corrects, rebukes, defends, and raises up the least of us into maturity with the gentle, firm hand of a loving Father. With all this and more that is beyond our comprehension. Through the act of the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross, he has opened the door for the lost to be adopted into His house as a family. 

  The relationship between us and the Godhead is meant to be dynamic, abundant, and captivating to the point that the best of the things of the earth pale in comparison to the greater reality of the life we shall learn and inhabit. We are not only the ‘three strand cord’ but we are also woven tightly together with Him. So much so that Scripture uses the symbolism of the bride and bridegroom. With the full understanding in other places in scripture that upon marriage we become one flesh! As one ”...as we are one.” John 17:19 This means that all the qualities of the Trinity are also within us, and by extension, the community. This is because if he inhabits us, we then also inhabit him. All that is within him, is the potential of what we may have under his guidance. This is the reality of a physical marriage between a man and a woman. Just as the wife now has all the man has, including his name. We also now carry the name of our beloved.

  A true devoted wife has no desire to dishonor her husband, and this should be a clue and a model for the Body of Christ to follow in our devotion to him. As a result, it raises the bar for our own actions. For us to deal with the lost, hurt, and lonely of the world in an un-compassionate manner is an outward sign of an unchanged heart. When leadership is making excuses with “fine-sounding arguments” for not protecting the flock or they are justifying their manipulation of people to gain more money for a project. This is a disqualification of the very office many in bigger ministries like IHOP and others pretend they hold. If evidence of an unchanged heart exists in leadership, it is best the flock moves on to find the Lord’s true shepherds.

  There is no bottom to the well of life the Trinity has, you can not out swim it or outdrink it, for it is just as Eternal as He is. And the crazy part is that He will plant the well in you for others to drink. (John 4:13)

  In unraveling this upside-down Babylonian, anti-Christ system that has culturally shaped the thinking of the modern Body of Christ. I find that I keep thinking that the understanding of the Trinity being central to all things is a high priority that should be reclaimed by the Father’s household. 

  When Jesus prayed that, “...they might be one even as we are one” (John 17:19) and that we were made, as it says in Genesis 1:26 “...Let us make man in Our image...” Then I feel that a greater understanding of the Trinity should be explored. We see “hints” of why, sprinkled like seasoning on food all over scripture. The salt and the other spices of this mystery are meant to be explored, pondered, and reflected on. I suspect one of the main end goals is hidden within the book of Colossians: “...to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the Glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27 NASB). 

What is the Assembly? 

  The very word that was, unfortunately, badly interpreted as ‘church’ instead of Assembly is in my mind a compound of thoughts. Ekklēsia or Ecclesia is a compound word meaning the ‘called out ones’ or the gathering (assembly) of the called out special ones. All are possible interpretations depending on who you read. Regardless, it displays a more profound desire of the Father’s heart towards us than we have traditionally been given. 

  The question of why may be hinted at when we look at the Creator and His actions. Community (Common- unity) begins in the heart of God itself. At the very core of His nature is the inseparable blend of three in one, forever in unity, forever in fellowship with Himself. Self-sufficient in all things, including love, God created man. “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26 NASB). 

  Our “likeness” is a reflection of His image and together we walked as friends in the garden. God could have left it at that because it is implied in the ancient language that we were “artistically created.” But even with all this, God knew we were still alone, so he artistically created Eve to be with Adam. Now mankind was in community with itself and the Trinity, as a reflection of the common unity with God. 

  I do believe we see a hint of God’s compassion toward us after the fall when he told Adam and Eve to multiply. He did this because God and Man could no longer remain at the same level of fellowship we once had. So, caring for His creation, He knew our parents needed more to fellowship with. 

  Centuries came and went. Wars, death, floods, earthquakes, and nasty rulers all took their toll. Many times God had to be very firm with His creation until He took Himself and created Jesus as the promised Messiah. 

  We all know the story, Jesus grew up and was tempted in all things just like us. But by taking on our sin at the cross, a door was opened for us to enter. Let's step back and take a slightly different look at this, God who is self-sufficient desires to resume the fellowship that He once had with man. “No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not have an instinctive perception of what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because all things which I heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15 WET). Friends like to tell each other everything, and as much as someone may wish to think this is an isolated instance. Echos of it are found in the Old Testament as well. “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7 Like I said, friends like to tell each other everything.

  Another example of His heart is found in the parable of the wedding feast. The master invited many people to the feast who all had great excuses why they could not make it. Angry the master sent out his people to gather the uninvited in, “...order that my home may be filled...” (Luke 14:24 WET). 

  The New Testament is filled with scriptural evidence of the Father’s heart towards us. He is willing to move Heaven and Earth to make this eternal fellowship happen, even to the point of the death of His son. Let that sink in just a little further. The very concept is that He is willing to do extreme things to resume this ancient fellowship. Why, does it have to go this way? One of the interesting things is that God does not change, and the “rules” He lays down are often the same ones He applies to Himself. 

  Ponder this, if the fellowship He built was broken, could that not mean that God was alone? Have you ever considered the idea that God was alone? That one thought brings up questions in my mind. If He was alone and we were created in His image, then does that mean that we are His preferred people he wants to spend time with and not the Angels? 

  Question, What is God's solution to loneliness? The solution is a home and a family. “God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious live in parched lands.” (Psalm 68:8 NASB).

 Maybe this is why God puts such an emphasis in Scripture on orphans. And maybe this is why Jesus said “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18 NASB) Remember, the concept of family was created by God, not the devil. And the devil hates anything and everything the Lord has created. 

  God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always is, always has been, and always will be in perfect community within themselves. Complete, perfect with no shade of darkness, this flies in the face of the occult understanding of yin and yang and challenges our modern concepts of true Holiness. Did you know that one of the ancient Celtic symbols for the Trinity was the Celtic knot? A three-strand cord, en-twisted upon itself to make three lobes bound forever as one. 

  Interwoven, we become a part of the complexity of life he has envisioned for this world. A house of rest that angers the gates of hell. As scary as the idea and words are concerning the topic of the end times. Just remember two things.

#1 It was Jesus who opened the first seals to get all this started because he wants to bring us to come home.

#2 We will watch as the Devil expends his full force, and it still will not be enough to stop the Father’s plans.

Once Again.

  This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. Isaiah 66:1-2

  Think about this for a moment, He WANTS to rest with us… is that thought not profound?

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