The Gates of Hell, by Robert Rosskopf

When it comes to the "Gates of Hell", there are a lot of misconceptions. Satan doesn't rule hell. People get confused because Hades is the god of, well, Hades. But that is paganism. Hades is the spirit world, in Greek mythology, where both the righteous and the wicked go when they die, the righteous to Elysian Fields, and the wicked to Tartarus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades#Artistic_repre...

Hades, the Greek God of the underworld, is often depicted with keys, a representation of the impossibility of leaving Hades. "Hades" is always translated as "Hell" in the King James and several other versions of the bible. So "hell" in this case does not refer to a place of eternal torment, but the spirit world where all go when they die. The Hebrew equivalent is Sheol. Sheol is also translated as hell, but once again, it is the place where all people go when they die, not just the wicked.

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ( Matthew 16:18)

A great deal of confusion surrounds the "it" in the verse. Does it refer to the church or the rock? Does the "rock" refer to Peter or revelation? It should be noted that two different words are translated as "rock" here, petros and petra. Petros refers to a small stone, like a pebble. Petra refers to a large rock, like a cliff. So the "it" is definitely not "Peter". The Lord isn't going to build his church on a pebble. So what is the large rock or petra upon which the church will be built? The focus of the conversation seems to be on the way that Peter learned that Jesus was the Christ. He didn't learn it from men. He learned it from God the Father. We call this prayer or revelation. The "it" is prayer or revelation from God through prayer. Paul (not Peter) later affirms that he is tempted to boast from the many revelations that he has received. (2 Corinthians 12:7) Revelation from God is the life blood of the church, not Peter, Paul or any man. Paul prayed that all the members would receive the spirit of revelation, that they might know God.(Ephesians 1:17)

Satan doesn't rule in hell. Satan is depicted has having a kingdom (Matthew 12:26), but his kingdom is on the earth (Job 2:2). So the gates of hell has nothing to do with Satan. The gates of hell is a reference to death. One goes through the gates of hell when they die. When we die, our spirits go to Sheol or Hell. Hell is the English word for Sheol, the Hebrew afterlife where both the righteous and the wicked go. So it is death that shall not prevail against the church. But the author could easily have said death. The Gates of Hell isn't just death, but the threat of death. That is one doorway that we don't want to go through. And the threat of death didn't stop the ancient Christian church, and it didn't stop Peter. There were a great many martyrs. It didn't stop Joseph Smith either. People were swearing out blood oaths to kill him and it didn't stop him from preaching the gospel that Jesus had commissioned him to preach. Joseph Smith told the early missionaries of the LDS church that their pay would be tar and feathers. Persecutions raged, but it didn't stop the message from being preached in all the earth. And a great many saints were martyred, including Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.
What was Joseph Smith's sin? The persecution started when he told people of the revelation that he had received from God. Revelation had not been the bedrock of any Christian church for a very long time.