The Gates of Hell have not, HAVE NOT prevailed against the Church

Here* is a Baptist who certainly gets the second part of Matthew 16:18 correctly.

Whether St Peter is or isn't involved as rock in the first part, let's leave that aside. For this occasion, not for ever and always. Second part promises perpetuity of the Church.

Here is an explanation:

“…Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” the Lord says here. What He was actually promising was first of all that death will never put an end to the church. Sometimes the enemies of Christ may think that the church will pass away as soon as the fanatics who now lead it die, but the Lord promises here that death cannot stop the Lord’s church. The gates of death will never swallow up the church. The church will always live and defy the power of death.

Secondly what the Lord is promising here is that the powers of Satan will not be able to terminate the church. The principalities and powers of hell will never be able to stamp out the churches of Jesus Christ .

The main point of this promise is clear. The ekklesia will not cease. The powers of death shall not close it down and the power of Satan and his workers shall not defeat it. Neither death nor Satan and his hosts will be able to stop churches from holding, preaching and maintaining the doctrines of Christ in His Word. Neither the grave nor Satan shall finally and totally gain victory over the church in this world.

Perfect. No Roman Catholic (or Greek Orthodox) could have said it better.

Next part:

The gates of hell shall not, shall not, SHALL NOT prevail against the church!

Look here, what tense are you using?

Future? Did the conversation at Caesarea Philippi take place this morning?

Sure, a future is implied in the words as given, and there is still certainly future left of it (Doomsday hasn't crowned Church Militant yet). But a bit less than two millennia of the promised future are already past.

For the promise to be true, we don't need to look only at "will Chuck Missler and Kim Clement have successors? are Trey Smith and Sid Roth still Christians?" but also back in time.

I saw someone claim "the great apostasy was universal, God restored His Church from that" and when I challenged him, "you cannot limit God".

I can hold God to His promise. And in context of when this was said, it doesn't mean something only for our future, but very clearly also for our past. God restoring His Church would be an oathbreaker belatedly summoned to keep a promise already previously broken. God is not like that.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
Annunciation of Our Lady
25.III.2019

* Bethel Baptist Church : The Perpetuity of the Church
https://bbc-lawton.org/the-perpetuity-of-the-church/