Spirit – Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace: Cairns, Australia

By Ps Barbara Miller, 11 March 2023

The gates of hell which Jesus referred to in Matthew was a physical place. It was located in Caesarea Philippi in northern Israel. Yet many theologians agree it was a reference to a spiritual reality as well. The current culture war against the church shows the truth of this statement.

While in prayer, I saw a vision of the gates of hell opening and flies pouring forth from it – demonic entities. I also saw a vision of the mythical Pandora’s Box being opened and demons had flown out of it, unleashed for the end times. I was aware that illnesses were released from Pandora’s Box in the myth but after this vision, I found a website that said evil spirits were released. This seemed like a confirmation.

The Greek myth goes that Pandora was given a box of special gifts from the gods and told not to open it but because of her curiosity, she did. “She opened the box and all the illnesses and hardships that gods had hidden in the box started coming out. Pandora was scared, because she saw all the evil spirits coming out and tried to close the box as fast as possible, closing Hope inside.” 1

The Wuhan lab in China has been called Pandora’s Box by a number of commentators. It is believed by some scientists that a leak from that lab unleashed Covid 19 which killed 6 million people worldwide, caused havoc with our lives, and resulted in democracies becoming more authoritarian.

These visions came about in a recent time of prayer during WorldPride which Sydney was hosting and Purim, the feast of Esther in the Bible. The Lord impressed on me that the same spirit was behind climate change and LGBTIQ. It was Pan, the ancient god of nature and sexuality.

When I first started praying, I kept getting the word Baphomet. I pressed in further and the Lord reminded me of Pan. I wondered if there was some relationship between Baphomet and Pan seeing the Lord gave me both.

Later, doing some research I found that Pan was also known as the high-level Egyptian goat god called Mendes and can be found today in the form of the horned goat god of the Knights Templars and other occult groups like the Church of Satan – Baphomet. The Egyptian city of Khemmo (City of Pan or Panopolis) was dedicated to Pan. He was often depicted with an erect goat-like phallus. 2

Caesarea Philippi – the Gates of Hell or Hades

The Lord reminded me of our visit to Caesarea Philippi in 2017 when we led an international team of 50 people on tour of Israel. We saw the cave of Pan and the gates of hell. This cave got this name because of Baal worship there and also as it was believed that Baal (the ruler of the underworld) would enter and leave the underworld through places where water came out. A spring came out of the cave in the past before an earthquake.

Barbara & team at Caesarea Philippi ruins photo by Norman Miller

Even today, a nearby stream feeds into the Jordan River. 3

Jesus took His disciples there to reveal who He was and to announce He was going to build a church. He asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter had a revelation that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah and Son of God and Jesus told Him that He had received that revelation from God, not from his own understanding.

He then said he would give Peter and the church the keys to heaven of binding and loosing, a powerful prayer strategy. Mt 16:15-19:

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

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. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 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.”

Until I visited this site, I didn’t know that Jesus was talking about a physical place as well as a spiritual place. This was a cave into which sacrifices had been made to Pan and it was a place of pagan worship. It was the literal gates of hell.

But Jesus made a very important statement here that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church and we can use this as an assurance when things get difficult that we the church will be victorious and we are not to run from challenges but confront them with confidence.

So how did this place, which is today called Banias, because there isn’t a P in Arabic, get to be such a dark place and who was Pan? In Old Testament times, the NE of Israel became a centre for Baal worship.

In 926 BC, the Israelite king Jeroboam in the city of Dan nearby built a high place to the golden calf leading the Israelites to worship false gods. He also built an altar to the golden calf in Bethel. This was to prevent the 10 northern tribes going to Jerusalem to worship after Israel split into northern and southern kingdoms.

Later in the Hellenistic period, 323-31 BC, the worship of Baal was replaced with worship of Greek fertility gods like Pan. The Greeks named the city Panias in Pan’s honor.

It was the largest centre of pagan worship in the world and people came here from all over the world to worship Pan and get favour from this fertility god for their children, crops, business etc. They even sacrificed live babies by throwing them into the water of the cave.

To entice the return of their god, Pan each year, (as he returned to the cave during winter), the people of Panias engaged in human sacrifice, the sacrifice of goats, prostitution, and sexual acts between humans and goats. Their sacrifices were thrown into this abyss or chasm. 4

In 197 BC, Antiochus III overthrew the Egyptians at Panias. Following this, Antiochus IV persecuted the Jews leading to the Maccabean Revolt against the Greco-Syrians. The Greco- Syrians had even desecrated the temple in Jerusalem with an altar to Zeus. The cleansing of the temple and freedom to worship is now celebrated at Hanukkah.

Having earlier conquered Judea, the Romans declared Herod the Great “King of the Jews” around 40 BC. He received Panias from Caesar Augustus in 20 BC and constructed a temple there of white marble in honor of Caesar.

Eighteen years later, Herod’s son Philip inherited the site and named it Caesarea Philippi after himself, and to distinguish it from Caesarea Maritima on the seaside.

There were a number of temples which were in ruins when we visited – the Temple of Augustus over the mouth of the cave, the Court of Pan, the Temple of Zeus, and the Dancing Goats upper and lower temples.

Jews would not come here because it was a pagan Gentile area. However, Jesus chose to take His disciples here towards the end of his time on earth to reveal who He was, the Messiah, the Son of God. He was virtually commissioning Peter and His disciples to the huge calling of building the church in the very places that were most morally corrupt and diabolically opposed to Jesus’ work.

It is interesting also that Jesus chose the backdrop of this city which sits at the foot of Mount Hermon and is adjacent to a large cliff called the ‘Rock of the Gods’ because of the many shrines built against it or into it. He declared that Peter was the rock and upon that rock He would build His church. Jesus is also our rock.

There would be more than one interpretation of this but Jesus is saying that it is on the revelation that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, that His church would be built and it would withstand any challenge.

Jesus didn’t want His followers to avoid or hide from these hellish places and values. He wanted them to break down the defences of the gates of hell. In those days, gates were defences as well as entry points. There are places that are physical and spiritual portals and bastions of certain ungodly viewpoints. I wondered if there has been recent occult calling forth of the old gods at this place.

Jesus or Yeshua told His disciples not to be ashamed of the gospel or fear offending others. This challenge is also for us today in this age of political correctness. You can find out more about this place in this short video. 5

Could this ancient spirit attack us today?

The Lord had shown me this spirit coming against Scott Morrison, then Prime Minister, when we were preparing for our Australia Day prayer in Canberra in January 2020. It is an earth spirit and sexual spirit which plays pan pipes, is shrill and intimidating, causing fear and panic.

There has been catastrophizing over Covid 19 and currently re climate change. This spirit intimidates those who disagree with it. For more on the Covid 19 pan(demic) see my article. 6

This is an excerpt from my report on the Australia Day Prayer conference we hosted in Canberra:

“That night (25.1.2020), I shared an earlier vision I had of PM Scott Morrison in a game of cricket against the ALP and Greens and they were not happy he won (federal elections) and pulled back on climate change and their opposition to religious freedom.
However, with bushfires and drought, their confidence came back and they were attacking him on climate change, even hitting him with a cricket bat and bowling underarm.
As I shared my message, I had a cricket bat and ball with me and decreed that Scott Morrison would not be hit with the bat of climate change or receive an underarm bowl.
As I saw a demon vomiting green matter during that vision, I prayed re the spirit behind this climate change attack on the PM and the Lord showed me Pan, a nature god, half man half goat, a form of Satan.
The Lord reminded me that Norman and I took a Christian tour group of 50 from many nations to pray at Pan’s grotto and Pan’s temples as part of a tour of Israel in 2017. Pan was known to cause panic which is where that word came from. He was lecherous and his stentorious voice could cause fear and death. This is why we have a panic re climate change.
In Mt 16:17-19, Jesus says that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church … Later after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, the Romans, who also worshipped Pan, took captured Jews there and cruelly killed them in games.
This is not to say that climate change is not an issue and we need good policies to deal with it but the panic mode button has been pressed and it is used for political manipulation. I made decrees regarding climate change and Pan.” 7

In preparation for our Canberra event, I looked up Scott Morrison and cricket on the internet and found that in November 2019, there had indeed been some verbal bashing of Scott Morrison over a tweet re cricket and climate change

“Scott Morrison has weathered backlash over a tweet saying the Australian cricket team will give fire-impacted communities and firefighters ‘something to cheer about’.
… He sent the tweet out with a photo of him at a training session on Wednesday at the Gabba in Brisbane ahead of their Test match against Pakistan.”8

On 20 November 2019, Troy Simpson e.g., tweeted, “The link to bushfires you’re looking for is climate change, not cricket.” This seemed to be a confirmation of my vision.

Strategies and Visions

I asked the Lord for His strategy to deal with Pan and I believe He said:

(1) to declare and decree what Jesus said about the gates of hell not prevailing against the church Mat 16. More information on how to make decrees can be found in my book Decrees and Dangerous Prayers: 7 Steps on How to Change Your Nation or Community. 9

I also asked the Lord if we can ask the angels to put the demons back in Pandora’s Box and close it. Is there a set time for them to be released before the Lord deals with them?

(2) In response, I had vision of a seal (like wax) being put around the Wuhan lab so no more demons could be released from there. I can still see it. It was like the whole of the front of the building was covered in thick pale yellowish wax. I think this was done by angels.

Later, my husband Norman looked for scriptures re wax and seals in the Bible and found Rev 5:1 where wax is used to seal the seven seals on the scroll.

Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the high seat, a book with writing inside it and on the back, shut with seven stamps of wax. (BBE or Bible in Basic English) 10

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (NKJV)

I asked if a lid could be put over the cave entrance at Caesarea Philippi and then I saw angels put a lid on the gateway to hell there.

I had a fleeting vision of angels with a basket and it reminded me of the angels with a basket in Zech 5:5. I looked it up later and there was a woman called wickedness in the basket and the angels pushed her back in and put a heavy lid on it. They then took the basket with her in it to Babylon. I think this is a confirmation for me of the angels putting a lid on the gateway to hell at Caesarea Philippi.

I asked the Lord again if this was the strategy to deal with this Pan spirit? That is, pray for the angels to seal the Wuhan lab and put a lid over the gateway to hell at Caesarea Philippi? I wasn’t sure if the angels had done this while I prayed or if we still needed to pray they would do it.

I was concerned that if the Lord had caused or allowed the release in these two places, should we be praying for a seal or lid to prevent more being released and can we pray for what was released to be forced back to where it came from before these places were stopped up?

(4) I sensed the Lord gave me the prayer of Abraham to save Sodom and Gomorrah (if 50 or even 10 righteous could be found there) from the destruction the Lord planned for their evil. In other words, yes you can intercede even though the Lord has planned destruction. Of course, we need to be guided by Him how to pray as we don’t want to pray against God’s will.
(5) Conference called Culture Wars and the Church

I sensed from the Lord another strategy to have a conference called Culture Wars and the Church and to invite speakers from ministries with similar visions and concerns.

Just as an interesting aside, the popular children’s story about Peter Pan, a mischievous boy who could fly and didn’t want to grow up has similarities to the god Pan and amazingly has Peter as his Christian name.

So, what is the culture war against the church all about?

As a working definition, I would say that culture wars are opposing worldviews and values which are competing for our hearts and minds, clashing in the process. The teachings of Jesus are being increasingly challenged.

Where Christianity has been an important foundation for our way of life as a nation in Australia and much of the western world, there have been challenges from secularism, humanism, atheism, and pantheism etc. so serious as to erode the respect Christianity and Christians once had.

Pantheism is defined as, “the doctrine that the universe conceived of as a whole is God and, conversely, that there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe.” 11

Immigration has brought with it multiculturalism and multifaith. Sexual abuse and other sins by clergy have eroded people’s faith in the church.

Cultural Marxism is a version of Marxism that no longer just promotes class war but also race war, sex war, and gender war. The long march of cultural Marxism through the institutions of Australian society is so advanced that it occupies these institutions.

One example is of white boys being shamed in class for being white male “privileged.” It is a very divisive identity politics that has come up with the concept of intersectionality.

The dictionary defines intersectionality as, “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups. 12

In other words, if you are a black female working-class lesbian or trans person, you are in the most oppressed category. This disregards human agency and other life circumstances. It also flies in the face of our identity in Christ and tears apart our cohesion as a society, bringing division.

Vision of Our Society Being Ripped Apart

I had a vision in another prayer time of a piece of paper being ripped in half and I sensed this is a picture of how our society is being ripped apart by identity politics. I will end with one of my favourite verses in the Bible:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek (race, ethnicity), there is neither bond nor free (class), there is neither male nor female (gender): for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28)

have some additional prayer points for those interested. It is at the end of my video message on the same topic.

Tag: Spirit

THE GATES OF HELL & THE CULTURE WAR AGAINST THE CHURCH

Caesarea Philippi – the Gates of Hell or Hades

Could this ancient spirit attack us today?

Strategies and Visions

So, what is the culture war against the church all about?

Vision of Our Society Being Ripped Apart