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Chapter:# 38
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Cephas, The Apostle Peter, The Gates Of Hell |
Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He
asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they
answered, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or
one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I
am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then
Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My
Father Who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros--a large
piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek,
Why look ye askance, ye high mountains, At the mountain
which God hath desired for his abode? Yea, Jehovah will dwell in it for ever.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon thousands; The
Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary. Thou hast ascended on high,
thou hast led away captives; Thou hast received gifts among men, Yea, among the
rebellious also, that Jehovah God might dwell with them. Blessed be the Lord,
who daily beareth our burden, Even the God who is our salvation. Selah. God is
unto us a God of deliverances; And unto Jehovah the Lord belongeth escape from
death. Psalms 68:16-20 ASV
And he came to
The coming of The Lord Jesus
Christ and the revelation of His full glory and power will not be seen in this
world until the full measure of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil has run its course. That tree, created originally in
We have entered the time wherein
we will see the Spirit of the Lord move in this creation in a vast display of
wrath and of judgment. The motion of God’s Spirit in the earth will be fearsome
to behold if one is not in correct alignment with the will of God in all
things. This is indeed the time of great trouble because of the fully grown
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
However, this needs to be
understood as to what God is doing. He is REVERSING the order of things and
TURNING UPSIDE DOWN all that the curse brought to this creation.
“From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs,
even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!
the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers
have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee,
O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from
the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the
midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken
down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and
the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not
rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish
the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the
earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the
pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD
of hosts shall reign in
“They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” Psalms 82:5 KJV
The Gates of Hell need to be
defined, and in our day it is quite easy to define them. There are three names
for hell, but it is my determination that the hell that Christ said He would
oppose and overtake would be those in the valley of Hinnom, or rather GEHENNA.
The valley or land of those who are lost. I see hell in two places when it
comes to those who would Overcome for the purpose of this writing is to build
up the faith of the Overcomer so they may conquer HELL, GEHENNA, THE VALLEY OF
HINNOM.
Hell occurs first IN YOUR OWN
HEART, for your heart dear Overcomer is desperately wicked and untamable and is
filled with the full measure of iniquity. Your heart is deceitful above all
things and if you follow your heart in this hour you will fall into the ditch
of despair and destitution.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is
exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it
[perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]?” Jeremiah 17:9 AMP
“For this nation's heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and
their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly
closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the
sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and
I should heal them. [Isa. 6:9, 10.] But blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be
envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.
Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in
right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and
to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:15-17 AMP
“For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come
base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery,
Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive
wickedness, deceit; unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy),
slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride (the
sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of
sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness). All these evil [purposes and desires]
come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed.” Mark
7:21-23 AMP
“But you did not so learn Christ! Assuming that you have
really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied
and personified in Him], Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and
discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of
life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;
And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and
spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in
God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians
4:20-24 AMP
The Apostle Peter was a
perfect example of this duality.
Your heart at the same time has
a DUALITY which reveals the Gates of Hell and the abiding place of the Lord in
the Holy of Holies. For at the very same time dear Overcomer, your heart houses
in a
Hell, Gehenna, the
Upon the faith and the rock of
the Apostle Peter, the lowest course of stones making up the initial layer of
The New Jerusalem is the building Christ called His church. And in the very
same sentence He exclaims that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail, or be able
to stand before this Church. Into the hell of this present world this City
shall descend and settle, right upon the very dust of it. The same dust that
the serpent was to eat as a part of the curse. It is in this dust (humanity) in
this world that The New Jerusalem shall descend and settle upon. Christ is the
builder of it, each man taking heed as to how they add their bit of mortar and
stonework, their calling and ministry. Each one who is called to this is part
of this glorious house called the Church of the Living Christ, He who is Holy
and Glorious and full of the anointed oil of gladness. And as Overcomers IN
this church we have one forward motion to make. And each step any Overcomer
takes is a step that crashes down the Gates of Hell to set the captive free.
Captivity in their own heart as well as in all they who dwell in the earth
under the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil. When the New Jerusalem is
seen in its descent and in its out-ray of light and glory, it will be seen as a
City whose first purpose is to destroy the Gates of Hell to make way for all
mankind and creation to enter. For it is in this City that we find the tree of
life in the midst of the paradise of God. What a calling dear reader!
So then, the Overcomer as part
of the triumphant entry of Christ into the world of men will be seen for who
they are. As those who overcame hell in their own hearts FIRST, then in
patience and love they set the rest of mankind free into their very liberty. A
work done not by money or means of carnal denominations, but a motion of God’s
Spirit through them. Of if you will, a fruitful bough of the branch bearing
fruit eternal from the tree of life in the midst of their souls. The Overcoming
company will be the extension of the arm of the Lord in this world to set all
captives free. As we storm hell and crash down the gates, we follow the faith
of those who have gone before such as Deborah and Barak and Samson who carried
the Gates of Gaza ( a strong goat – rebellion, distant from the Lord ) and
discomfited that city. Do you think that you are in bondage to this world and
the Spirit of the Lord is yet a mystery to you and you cannot perceive the
motion of His Spirit in your life? Think again. The time you are in dear
Overcomer is the separation of flesh from spirit IN YOUR HEART. The revelation
in you of Christ, the King of Kings and the Gates of Hell. In all areas of your
heart this revelation is being made known to your understanding so that you
will arise with the one predominant hope of His soon appearing. For when Christ
appears in you, the duality of your heart will end forever and you will be a
fruitful bough of the tree of life in the midst of the millennium.
Are you, dear reader of this
paper, stuck in the nitty gritty of every day life, paying bills, laboring for
your daily bread by the sweat of your brow? It is in that very nitty gritty of
life that the Lord is drawing in your heart the distinction between the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Not by loud clanging
cymbals or the noise of great wars, but
by daily living out your life with the quiet confident hope that Christ will
appear in you and glorify you and finish in you the full measure of your faith.
That your life will come to a successful conclusion at the revelation of His
person within you, that you, as a mirror image of Jesus, will emerge out of the
place of confinement and into the glorious light of liberty amongst those whom
are known as The Army of The Lord.
So then to those in the bondage
of flesh, the bondage of addiction, the bondage of war and of self
preservation, to those shall you go, to those shall the gates of hell be
banished and the soul held captive shall be gloriously set free. Marching
forward shall this liberated company of Overcomers, declaring “from ancient times the things that are not yet
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Isaiah 46:10. Such is the honor
of those who storm the gates of hell. Not one soul in captivity will be out of
the reach of the Overcomer. Not one measure of bondage shall remain unbroken by
the reach of their hand. The Overcomer in this time of the revelation of Christ
will discomfit everything that holds this creation under the curse of the fall
and not one soul shall perish out of this magnificent display of the life of
Christ.
The world filled now with the
mystery of iniquity will find total bewilderment when that mystery suddenly has
no more power. For this cup will now be judged, and the answer of judgment will
be the open display of the Army of the Lord, the Army of Love. This Army will
bring to a conclusion world history as we know it and will finally lay to the
roots of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the battle axe of God
Almighty, even the great I AM THAT I AM who will end this perdition and will give
to creation the new world wherein dwells righteousness. This is about to be a
tumultuous time, a grievous time for those who love evil and darkness, but it
will be a time wherein all unrighteousness will be ended and the Kingdom of
Christ and His Overcomers will emerge in complete victory. Such is your part
dear reader, this is the promise of God, even unto you.
To be continued…………….. Kenneth B Visscher
Copyright