Bethel: The Corrupted Portal to Heaven

This episode is going to pick up on some threads we left hanging last week in regard to portals into the spiritual realm.

To briefly recap, I submitted the idea last week that spiritual beings, such as angels and demons, cannot enter our world or our physical realm wherever and whenever they want to. I believe there are particular locations on planet earth- which we might call “portals” in modern times, but the biblical term for these are “gates”- which spiritual beings use to access our reality.

Now, that’s a lot to swallow for some people. That’s why I left it there for last week, but let’s build upon that idea this week. I want to study out one of these gates here in Scripture, the gate that was established in the city of Bethel. 

Bethel is “the house of God.” This is the location where Jacob spent the night and had a spiritual experience where he saw a portal here: a stairway to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. 

When he woke up, he said: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

As we talked about last week, this city was the gate of heaven: an entryway that angels used to enter our realm from the heavenly realm. We’re going to trace this out today and study Bethel’s story, because we’ll see that this was a physical location that was greatly blessed by God.

And yet in the prophets later on in the Bible we start to see them speaking against Bethel. 

In fact, in Amos 5:5, he says

Do not seek Bethel… [and] Bethel will be reduced to nothing.

Why would the prophet say something like this? In fact, Hosea also even changes the name of Beth-el, which means ‘the House of God,’ to Beth-aven, which means ‘the House of Wickedness.’ Why would the prophets say this about such a sacred city? 

What happened to the Gate of Heaven?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. 

Turn to Genesis 28, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:30 - Genesis 28

6:00 - Genesis 35

12:00 - Judges 20 and I Samuel 7

14:00 - I Kings 12

19:40 - II Kings, Amos and Hosea

24:00 - Closing Thoughts and What’s Coming Next

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Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!