The Gates of Hell Shall NOT Prevail

 

Banias near Caeserea Phillipi, known as the Gates of Hell
because of the human sacrifices made in idolatry there.
As Yeshua was preparing His close disciples for His coming death,
they walked in the valley below this site, and what He spoke to them
was about the keys of the kingdom He was leaving with them with
so “the gates of hell” would not prevail over the ekklesia He was building.  
Let this reignite in your spirit as it has in mine the first days of 2024.

The Gates of Hell Shall NOT Prevail
by Donna Diorio January 2, 2024

     Thirteen years ago in May 2010 I wrote about the passage of Matthew 16:17-19 speaking of how Yeshua has given us the keys of the kingdom and because of it, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the house of the Lord He is building. I wrote it as the Holy Spirit led me and I believed it, but I cannot say that I have walked in it anywhere near fully...more like spottily. Still, as this passage became reignited in my spirit on January 1st, I am at a new level of expectation about what God means to do with us, the ekklesia that Yeshua is building of us, living stones in the Temple of God.

     Then weeks later in July 2010, with new information I received after Jim Melnick, a friend read my article. Iron sharpens iron. So I wrote this in The Gates of Hell, Part 2: "Yeshua did not snatch the term 'gates of hell' out of thin air, but in true parabolic form gave His disciples an object lesson about the spirit realm in the very geographical location that demon spirits and false religions had claimed so many victims by sacrifice.

     "The time frame of this conversation was at the beginning of His preparation of the 11 for His death as the Passover Lamb that would take place in Jerusalem. He was preparing them to graduate from being His disciples to becoming His apostles. This conversation was critical to that transition, which they did not know yet would be profoundly distressing and troubling in the process of unfolding. They were on a mighty threshold of transition and didn’t even know it yet.

     "What exactly was Yeshua communicating to His disciples? We are not just looking at the words but at the context His disciples would have readily grasped from the location this conversation took place. When Yeshua used the term 'the gates of hell' at that site notorious throughout Israel for idol worship and ritual sacrifices, it cannot be without significance.

     What strikes me now the opening days of 2024 is the vexing things we have been looking at here at the end of 2023. I sense we are in a position like the disciples were when Yeshua spoke to them preparing them for the unimaginable times ahead. He was telling them that no matter how bleak, disappointing or hopeless it would look to them in the days ahead, He was giving them something that the gates of hell could not prevail against.
 

There is a black saint of God who has always been consistent praying at the microphone of the Prayer Room at IHOPC, but Lillian had disappeared for the past few weeks. I wondered about her often because she was so steadfast, praying with great wisdom daily many times at the microphone. Mostly her intercession was on behalf of Israel. I believe she was likely given so much access to the mic because her prayers for Israel are so right on. She has been hearing from God on the subject. That access appears limited now and I believe it has to do with those who have taken charge.
    January 1st I was thrilled to see her once again take the IHOP Prayer Room mic to pray. She only prayed once, not many times as she usually has. She has a deep heart for Israel, so I was glad to see her and hear her praying. I believe she has been hearing God’s opinion, and that is the only opinion that matters!
     The worship teams at IHOP called a fast & prayer from 1/1-1/7/2024 – especially to intercede about all the chaos and division among them since the accusations against Mike Bickle were spoken of publicly. There has never been a biblical due process over the past weeks, but accusations have been accepted at IHOP and Bickle severed from IHOP "forever." This has deep ramifications for the Israel Mandate because the Accuser of the brethren has walked into that congregation.
     They are all being impacted because of the division unleashed. Behind the scenes there are those, even in Israel, who are speaking to them that due process must take place - biblical due process, not according to WOKE standards, but according to God's standards. In my view, WOKE standards are idolatry and this is something to add to our prayer list for Israel. Unless God’s due process prevails for IHOP, I believe honestly their prayer for Israel will begin to break down very quickly. I even heard one of the worship leaders praying about Israel and “all the sin they are enacting in war." After contacting him for clarification he said it was because he was seeing children in Gaza dead from bombings and he believes that is always sin.  I attempted to lay out the facts about that, because it is sin, it is just not Israel’s sin, it is the jihadists’ sin. But today, I do believe they are going to try to push past everything and try to maintain all is well at IHOP regardless of how they have dealt with Bickle and the leadership that they have severed.    

     When Lillian prayed at the mic yesterday, that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church," this covers every bit of chaos, division, warfare we are looking at as the reality of our days. That means in the war Israel is engaged in, in our personal battles, in the current state of IHOPKC.  If things are not carried forth by God's standards at IHOP, I believe that house of prayer for Israel will break down very quickly.
     Don't get me wrong: I am not saying we ignore sin in leadership because of the great things Bickle has done for Israel, but I am saying we don't convict men on accusation alone, without proper judgment within the body of the LORD, not in public opinion or court systems we know would love nothing better than to put their finger on the scales of justice to lock up a man of God and throw away the key. That's not Jesus.

     Even now, I believe that we can use our keys of the kingdom to call for God to bring HIS justice to Mike Bickle and to cast out the Accuser of the brethren operating in the midst of the congregation. I believe there is repentance and restoration for all concerned...but only if it is done God's way.  

     There are some things in this spiritual battle we have entered that are not changeable because the rising darkness over humanity has been prophetically uttered by God, but not all the darkness is unchangeable. There is still much impact we can have because God has determined in Messiah to build an ekklesia that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. That will include many of the people you are praying over, in your family, in your nation and in Israel.
     How do we know what God wants? Yeshua explained the path is lit by "hearing" God.

Matthew 16:17-19 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.  18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.  19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

     Without the benefit of understanding Hebrew, Catholic leaders interpreted that passage to say that the apostle Peter was to be the foundation rock of Catholicism, therefore the first pope. It suited their plans. But Jesus was really pointing out Peter's formal name "Simon" is based on the word "hearing" and He was telling Peter that he had a revelation of the truth because he was hearing from God, not man.

     Then He uses the name Peter was known by to his friends, Peter, which means a rock and "used metaphorically of a soul hard and unyielding, and so resembling a rock."  Jesus is telling Peter he is a rock-hard man, but it will be on based on the revelation of hearing God, that Jesus will build His church, and the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it. Rock hard men and women, men and women of strength, unwavering can only get so far.
     It is only in hearing God that the church can prevail against the gates of hell that come against the church, only He can speak true enlightenment for our times. Woke ideas will not deliver justice as God’s Word does.
     IHOP cannot simply dismiss the Hebrew understanding of how to judge matters of sin in the congregation and expect to go on like there was just a minor bump in the road. Especially in a congregation that was raised up for 24/7 prayer and worship for Israel in such a time as this.