America’s decline has more than several contributing factors – all of which have escalated during the reign of the current Administration.  Many with a spiritual worldview and clear vision would readily acknowledge that Mr. Obama in honoring his pledge to fundamentally change America has done his best to open the gates of hell and bring all types of destruction upon us.  Jesus had something to say about the gates of hell that we should pay be paying attention to.  In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus confirms His deity and then says to Peter in verse 18-19 something very significant.

Jesus says:

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (hell) shall not prevail against it.

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

What are the gates of hell?

A vision of hell. Graphic by User LoggaWiggler on Pixabay; released to public domain.

While a complete and thorough study of the above verses is impractical in this format, some of the basics are too important not to apply to our current situation.  In verse 18 above, Jesus is telling Peter (who just proclaimed Him to be Christ, the Son of the living God), that he, Peter, is the rock upon which Christ will build His church.  He goes on to say something else that is extremely important:  “…and the gates of Hades (hell) shall not prevail against it.

We would do well to first understand what Christ meant and then to understand how it applies to us today.  There are many commentaries available on the Internet that address the meaning of the “gates of hell.”  The following are some of the principles that we should bear in mind:

• As used in the verse, the gates of hell are actively assaulting the church;
• The verses also imply that the activities that are trying to prevail are forces that are hostile to the causes of God;
• The theological understanding for the time was that “gates” lock in the dead and lock out their resources;
• Death, which is represented by Hades or hell, will not have victory over the church just as death did not defeat Christ;
• Gates at this time in history were also spoken of as symbols of power and authority.

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So if this is a Christian nation, why does it seem as if the dominions of hell, which have been loosed upon us, are prevailing?  After all, we have it as a promise from Christ Himself that evil will not triumph over us. Do not take this question lightly.   It is extremely important and it requires thought.

Consider this:  if we have it on good authority that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that acknowledges the deity of Christ, why is our country that is based on Christian principles, falling apart at the seams?

Who says the church finishes last?

The answer is in the next verse.  Through propaganda and all kinds of deceptive means, we have been led to believe that the battle is nearly lost.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  The propaganda may be persuasive but we stand on a promise of God, which somehow we have forgotten, and instead of understanding that the victory is ours in the name of Christ, we act like a bunch of defeated wimps.  You see, the authority to overcome all the evil that has fallen upon us is within our hands but we have neglected to embrace it – partly because we have believed the propaganda that the battle is already lost; and partly because we do not stand on the promises of God; and partly because we use the weapons of the world to fight the battle that we should be fighting in the spiritual realm first.

If we are to fight such a strong evil enemy, we must use the right weapons and not the weapons our enemy tells us we can use.  George Washington understood this, which is why you see a portrait of him kneeling beside his horse.  And Ben Franklin also understood this, which is why he called for prayer during the Constitutional Convention. It’s time to take authority and do as Christ told us we can do:  bind the enemy in the name of Jesus.  And once we have done all to stand, then stand.  The kingdom of God does not belong to cowards or to any doubting Thomas; it belongs to the children of God who believe His Words, stand on His promises, and walk in His ways and stop acting like victims. All others will fall by the wayside.

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