I awoke this morning to some ideas that are no doubt strange to, as Yogi would have said, “the average bear”. If this quote is unfamiliar, ignore it. If you know, well, we’re from the same generation. Where was I? Oh yeah, my first thoughts. The gates of Hell. Who wakes up thinking this? Welcome to my world. Through my bed making, and tripping over two dogs demanding breakfast, and all the rituals we negotiate each day, I kept wondering why this idiom was demanding my time. An article on page twelve of my local paper was instrumental in ending my mental gymnastics. It would seem that another torturous verbal sparring between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain ensued yesterday, and this very passage was used. In the bantering back and forth about Iraq, al-Qaida, and our role in that sphere, Mr Obama quiped that, “There was no such thing as ‘al-Qaida in Iraq’ until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq”. Later, Mr Obama took the opportunity to press home his notions. As Mr. McCain is partial to using this very phrase in front of his enthusiastic crowds, saying that he would follow Osama bin Laden to the, “gates of hell” to catch him, Obama asserted to his new converts that, “All he has done is to follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq.” And so, in my mind, the connection was made. Iraq. Hell. Jesus used this phrase. In addressing Peter, he stated, “…I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”. (Matthew 16:18) Jesus, we are told, was referring to Hades or Orcus, the Greek netherworld of disembodied spirits, ruled by the god Pluto. I am convinced That Jesus was not speaking in the metaphoric sense. He knew that the prison containing these evil lesser gods and contained spirits would press against their confinement, and seek to break free, in order to war against his own. It is believed that this area of our world may just be the home of gates to another dimension, a portal if you will. The builders of the legendary Tower of Babel (located in what is now Iraq) were pressing into this wicked expanse when God stopped their designs. And now, we find the focus of the world on this very area. This unseen region, I believe, may in some way contain these dark spirits. Perhaps our confusion about the focus of this war is rooted in our refusal to dig a little deeper. Understand this… every word a politician utters has been carefully weighed and is then maneuvered in such a way as to elicit a certain response. I am convinced of this. And so, as the phrase has been liberally bandied about, it is for a reason. Was a message sent? Are we there, in a ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ mad scenario to find this portal, and make use of the inhabitants contained therein? Perhaps. In reflecting last week on the strange phrases our Commander in Chief has used, I looked up the speech he made aboard the ship Abraham Lincoln, in his announcement of our, “Mission Accomplished”. Remember that? At the very tail of the speech, he put this out, ” To the captives, come out! and to those in darkness, Be free!” This is taken from Isaiah 49. The prophet is speaking of a time when The Lord himself shall fulfill the established covenant with his people. The Biblical text on either side of Bush’s words reveal God’s intent. Mr. Bush, however, selected only the command. He chose to cut out the surrounding promises. I must therefore ask myself, to who or what was he addressing himself? He may not have been addressing himself to God’s covenant people. Remember my rule for interpreting the speech of politicians? If they said it, it was said with specific intent. No extra words need be used, and every word used is with purpose. Might he then have been literally commanding, from these gates, these portals, something else? Dear Lord, I pray not.
very insightful as always, please keep us all updated on your research.