THE GATES OF HELL
“The gates of your land are wide open for the enemy to enter” (Nahum. 3:13). “A lion has gone out to destroy and devour your city and your country.” (Jer. 4:7; 1 Pet.5:8) Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1Peter 5:8).
First, plunder the plunderer, and then gather the harvest (Matt. 12:29-30). God blessed Abraham and his descendants to possess the gate of their enemy (Gen.22:17-18).
Yeshua came to build His Ekklesia to demolish the bastions of the Bully, plundering the gates of hell and populating heaven with lost and found sheep (Matt. 16:18; 1 John 3:8).
The gospel did not come to you in words only, but in power to demolish the hubs of deceit founded on ideas, ideologies and isms (1 Thess. 1:5; Cor. 10:3-5).
When the Great Commission is kept in the cold storage, the demons get busy turning the chosen generation into frozen generation.
“No weapon formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD (Isa. 54:17).
THE GATES OF HELL ARE ENTRY POINTS FOR DEMONS
Caesarea of Philippi was an outpost of Rome, to which ambassadors from many nations brought their own gods and goddesses, the most idol-infested city in Palestine. When Yeshua asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” only Peter gave the right answer. They were, standing at an entrance to caves that, to this day, are called the Gates of Hell (Greek: hades, the grave, death). This is where He said, “I will build my Ecclesia, and the Gates of hades shall not prevail” (Matt. 16:13-19). The gates of hell are legal entry points for evil spirits into a person’s life. People allow them entrance through idol worship, lying, stealing, exploitation, pornography, deviant sexual behavior, alcohol, abortion, violence, etc. When people indulge in these, evil spirits can make a legal entry and erect a stronghold. There exist both individual and national strongholds, and at the current rate of rampant soul poaching by Satan, it may be too late for millions of people. Wherever the Great Commission is kept in the cold storage, the chosen become frozen.
DEMONS INFLICT GENERATIONAL CURSES
An evil spirit cannot enter anyone without their consent. In fact, without our consent, not even Yeshua will enter our heart or home. Yeshua is knocking at our door, and only if we open it, will he come in and have fellowship with us (Rev. 3:20). He will also intercede only for them who come to God through Him (Heb. 7:25). He died for atonement of all but only those who accept will be saved. There is no general pardon for all. God warned Cane that the Devil is crouching at the door, still Cane disregarded the warning and ended up murdering his own innocent brother Abel (Gen. 4:7).
Yeshua warned us that the Devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). The Scripture warns us to be alert because the Devil comes like a roaring lion (1Pet. 5:8). If we compromise with evil spirits, then they may dominate for generations, appearing in the form of curses upon our family. Therefore, it is essential to break these generational curses for a productive life (Exo. 20:5). Because we are tempted daily, rebuking the Devil should be as common as brushing your teeth.
THE DEVIL CONDUCTS SATURATION STRONGHOLD PLANTING
The Devil has opened gates of hell in almost every home, as well as in every community. Many homes have “pooja” or “worship rooms” full of pictures, icons and idols. In other houses, the stone idols have been replaced with TV or Internet, which also operate through a chip made from a stone called Silicon. Yeshua had already prophesied that, “these very stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Yet others worship Mammon (Matt. 6:24). All these gates lead directly to hell. By this criterion, almost all the homes have become corroded, such that there are today millions of gates of hell through which demons can enter legally with authority to destroy homes, communities and even nations. The assignment given to these evil spirits is to create spiritual blindness through lies and deceit (2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19). The assignment given to us is to open the eyes of those spiritually blind who sit in darkness and in the shadows of death (Acts 26:18; Matt. 4:16).
THE DEVIL ENTERS CHURCHES LEGALLY
The Lord is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, primarily with dreams and visions that expand His kingdom. Because the Lord came to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8), there is a battle royal waging, in which the Ekklesia is the heaven’s outpost on earth designated by the Lord to fight on His behalf. Unfortunately, the Devil is openly doing an inside job, by pouring out his evil spirits to piggyback on Christians, opening the gates of hell right inside the churches. This conflict is seen in disputes, back biting, corruption, drunkenness, fornication, sorcery, jealousies, wrath, dissensions, greed and worse (Gal. 5:19-21). The church often ends up playing the dubious double role of hunting with the hounds and running with the rabbits. Queen Mary of England had Hugh Latimer executed at Oxford in 1555 for calling the Devil the most diligent Bishop in all England.
THE GATES OF HEAVEN REQUIRE NO BUILDINGS
In a dream, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending by a ladder from heaven. Although there was no house, he exclaimed, “Surely this is Bethel, the house of God” (Gen. 28:10-22). So, we do not need a building, to call it a house of God. Any place from whence folk go to heaven is a house of God. In contrast, any church, however ornate its architecture or professional its music and moving its worship, cannot be called a house of God unless it is opening the door to heaven for the lost people.
PLUNDER THE SPIRITUAL AND ECONOMIC GATES OF HELL
The Devil got Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden, dispossessing them of all their authority to “…subdue the earth and have dominion over it” (Gen. 1:28). The Devil led Yeshua to a high mountain showing to Him the glory of the kingdoms that the Devil possesses. The Devil even had the audacity to offer it to Yeshua, the Creator and owner of the universe, if He would bow down to him. But Yeshua had come to dispossess the Devil of his kingdom, by giving it to His Ekklesia (Luke 12:32; Dan. 2:44). Paul destroyed the demon controlled economic system of making money by making silver shrines of Diana in Ephesus (Acts 19:2327). Today, salvation comes through grace by faith in the Ekklesia, while the wealth of the nation’s remains with the Devil.
The Scripture says, “Kings and nations will bring their glory and honor into the Kingdom” (Rev. 21:24-26). Also, the servants of the Lord shall eat the riches of the Gentiles (Isa. 60:11; 61:6). Even the sons of Ishmael will come praising God bringing caravans loaded with gold and frankincense and God will glorify His house with them (Isa. 60:6,7). Already ten times more Iranians are entering the Kingdom than previous years.
Yeshua clearly taught that unless you first expel the Devil, you cannot plunder his possessions, which includes the wealth of the nations. Even though that wealth belongs to us in the first place (Matt. 12:28-30), the Ekklesia must learn to restore abundance to believers, its rightful owners. Along with spiritual strongholds, the economic strongholds, too, must be demolished, not by preaching prosperity or a license to earn wealth to become rich, but by expelling demons from all spheres of life, until “His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.”
EMPLOY THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
The walls of the sinful city of Babylon had a hundred massive bronze gates. God promised that He will go before the Israelites and break into pieces all those gates (Isa. 45:2). Likewise, the gates of Hell can only be destroyed with supernatural intervention. Yeshua has given the keys of the kingdom to the Ekklesia, with authority “to bind and to loose” (Matt. 16:19). The key to expanding the kingdom of God is to bind demons while loosing those in bondage. Yeshua said, “If I cast out this evil spirit with the help of the Holy Spirit, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28). Yeshua took this help deliberately from the Holy Spirit to tell us that the same Holy Spirit is available to every believer to expel demons (Mark 16:17). Every human habitation needs its own key holders who can close all the entry points of hell while opening the gates to heaven. It is important to fight a pitched battle with the demonic agents until all their entry points are sealed shut so that social, political, economic and spiritual transformation of the city takes place (Acts 19).
WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE DESOLATION OF OUR CITIES
One day, slaughter will begin at the sanctuary. God has commanded to spare only those, “who sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done within the city” (Ezek. 9:3-6). Yeshua cried and sighed by name for the city of Jerusalem (Luke 13:34-35). Paul planted a network of citywide assemblies and travailed for them (Gal. 4:19). We have been warned, “The gates of your land are wide open for the enemy to enter” (Nahum. 3:13). The Scripture warns us, “A lion has gone out to destroy and devour your city and your country” (Jer. 4:7). “Therefore, be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pet. 5:8).
It is amazing that, despite so many Christians in our cities, the adversary has managed to enter through the city gates. This is only possible when we are not functioning as responsible watchmen over our cities (Lam. 4:12-13). “The city has become the habitation of demons and a prison for every foul spirit” (Rev. 18:2). The Devil offered all the glories of the kingdoms of the earth to Yeshua who rejected it (Matt. 4:8-9). But when the Devil dangles the carrot of city life in front of Christians, they quickly grab it. Well-off Christians will be lamenting on the day when their city is destroyed, because they will lose all the luxuries and benefits of urban life (Rev. 18:8-9).
The Israelites rejected God’s manna, while longing for the leeks, cucumbers, watermelons, and flesh pots of Egypt, and perished (Num. 11:4-5). Many Christians prefer to spend their money on meat, melons and melody rather than on basic needs of Kingdom multipliers. Consequent to our iniquities, “Sheol has opened its mouth beyond measure and multitudes are descending into it” (Isa. 5:14).
THE PRIMARY JOB OF THE EKKLESIA IS TO RESCUE THE PERISHING
Yeshua in the Hebrew language is the common, short form of the name Yehoshuakh that means “Yahweh Is Redeemer” or “Savior.” The literal meaning of the root shûkh is “(to open the door) to save.” The church needs to get out of its safe haven and go into choppy waters to open the door to save the perishing. When Yeshua went down to Hades after His death, He released all the saints who were held captive by Satan, leading them triumphant into Paradise (Eph. 4:8-9).
God made a covenant with Abraham: “Your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies” (Gen. 22:17-18). As you go prayer walking, expelling demons and closing the gates of hell through spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18; 2 Cor. 10:3-5), the city becomes a dwelling place for God’s people. The Ekklesia is the gate to heaven where the spiritually sick and those in bondage can receive health, healing and wholeness and enter heaven. When there is love, unity and obedience in the citywide Ekklesia, “the God of peace will crush the Devil under your feet” (Rom. 16:1920). And the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ (Rev. 11:15).
One day, the slaughter will begin at the sanctuary. God has commanded to spare only those, “who sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done within the city” (Ezek. 9:3-6).
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