BE NOT DISMAYED

Be Not Dismayed

Taken from Matthew 16:18 - "...I will build My church, and the gates of (*________),

 - ...will not...

 - ...shall not...

(**  _________________)

There are many various and varying ways that several of the English translations render this verse.  For example the word with just one star (*) above is translated as:

Hell; Hades; Sheol; and even rendered as "death" in one translation - the "Good News Translation".  And for the purposes of my query here, I am not concerned with the specific accuracy or even possible inaccuracy of any of those words.  Suffice it to say, the implied meaning is one that refers to Satan, his home "hell" and all of it's powers (or lack thereof) over us CHRISTIANS.

The next two words either "will not" or shall not"; 11 of the more common 18 English renderings use "shall not", with seven using "will not".  Once again my intent is not to debate whether the original texts should be "will not" or "shall not" (or possibly even some other variant).  For the purpose of this posting, either is more than adequate.  In fact, for the sake of simplicity, I will later use the phrase - "will not" and the word “Hell” for my conclusion.

Finally the word / space with two STARS (**) can be rendered as:

"...overcome it." - Once

"...conquer it." - Twice

"...prevail against it." - 11 times

"...overpower it." - Twice

"...withstand it." - Once

"...triumph over it." - Once

Now, let's consider each of these six words / word combinations, each with the prefix "the gates of Hell will not" thusly:

"...the gates of Hell will not overcome it." - "defensive stance"

"...the gates of Hell will not conquer it." - "defensive stance"

"...the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." - "OFFENSIVE stance"

"...the gates of Hell will not overpower it." - "defensive stance"

"...the gates of Hell will not withstand it." - "OFFENSIVE stance"

"...the gates of Hell will not triumph over it." - "defensive stance"

Of the 18 various English renderings (http://bible.cc/matthew/16-18.htm) only six render the passage with a meaning that implies that the church will not be "conquered by" Hell, the remaining 12 English renderings all carry a clear implication that it is IN FACT Hell, specifically the Gates of Hell, which cannot, will not stand firm against an ATTACK from ... wait for it...:

...an attack from THE CHURCH folks, an attack from / by the CHURCH!!! 

The gates of Hell will not stand (prevail) against God's (Christ's) CHURCH.

If one looks to the Amplified rendering, one will quickly see both defensive and offensive application. 

"...I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the [c]infernal region) shall [d]not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it]." Matt 16:18 (AMP)

You see folks, depending on how we look at any one or a series of any of the various ENGLISH Interpretations *** / Translations *** of God's (Christ's) Holy Word, we can see various and varied implied differences in single passages.

God (Christ) of course is now, and always will be, our protector.  With that said, we must remember that God (Christ) wants us to be BOLD, be STRONG... "...Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9 KJV

Why, you might be asking, am I writing this?  The simplest of answer is this; I have been reading / hearing a great deal lately about the soon coming:

Dark Days, End of Times, Tribulation, Mark of the Beast, (FEMA) Concentration Camps ... and as a Bible BELIEVING Christian, I do very much believe that said evil times are a comin'... BUT, we Christians are NOT to be caught in these last days crawling, cringing, and cowering... hiding as if in terror from the enemy.  We ought to be staring that DEVIL down, looking him (it) square in the eyes, and boldly declaring "in Jesus mighty N' Holy name, you are NOTHING!"

Please do not misunderstand me on this, I am not in any way attempting to be flippant about this subject.  The evil that we Christians WILL BE faced with, in the last days, as this age draws to a close, is going to be horrifically evil.  But OURS is the Victory... IN JESUS / Yeshua's Mighty Name!  Have you any interest in “KNOWING” a real and true, Loving God?

“Know Jesus, know peace whereas no Jesus, no peace” 

How does one get to “know” Jesus?  Simple, invite Him into your heart, as Jesus says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” [Revelations 3:20 NIV]  How can we be assured that this Jesus stuff means anything, well because the Bible tells us so, as the Apostle Paul wrote:

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” [Romans 10:9-10 NIV]

And for those of you who say to me, I can’t be bothered reading the Bible, “it’s confusing” or “it’s a waste of my time”, may I draw your attention to what the Bible says about wisdom: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” [Proverbs 9:10 NIV]

If nothing else, PLEASE read two chapters from the Bible – (don’t own one, sorry NO excuse, if you’re reading this, you can access this: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:16&version=NIV) John 3 and John 14!

John 3:16 says:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

And John 14:6 says: “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Added reading:

2 Corinthians 5:21 – Christ made to be (virtually be) sin

Romans 13:14 – Clothe ourselves with Christ

Ephesians 6:11 – Armour of God; and

Joshua 1:6 – Be strong and courageous

Well that’s it, that’s Da Bauz’s take on, Not Being Dismayed – this 14^th day of March 2012 © 2012, All Rights Reserved. wr (Da Bauz, Christian Zionist “creationist” too)

*** RE: “Interpretations *** / Translations *** of God's (Christ's) Holy Word”  Like it or not folks, every single rendering of the Word of God / Holy Bible in the English language is to some extent an interpretation.  An interpretation by a human being (albeit a very scholarly and skilled one or set of scholars), and as such there are subtle nuances, variances and differences in many of the “non-essential” transliterations, passage-to-passage, between the numerous English versions available.  That said, the KEY message of the Holy Bible, God’s (Christ’s) Holy Word from Genesis through Revelations remains intact and unchanged from the original texts, and is every bit as powerful and relevant to this very day, as when first penned.